Benjamin Grimm
Field Director
Benjamin Grimm was born in Oregon in 1978. He spent his high school years in Alaska where at 14 he made a profession of faith at a Christian youth group; but during much of his growing up, his Christianity was more identity than practice.
In high school, he poured himself into competitive swimming. After two years at University of Alaska he joined US Air Force special operations. Over the course of five years, Benjamin trained and served in various Stateside locations and was deployed for a time in Afghanistan.
As an adult, his faith faltered. He devoted years to athletic pursuits, living with little moral direction or life purpose outside of personal fitness. Finally he came to the realization that he was squandering his gifts and abilities on selfish pursuits. He moved back to his home State of Oregon to be nearer to family and to start over. He joined the National Guard, explored various career paths, and finally wound up working in a group home for Foster teens. He met his wife, Mary, there in 2013.
During the time they were dating and in the beginning years of their marriage, Benjamin’s faith and practice grew exponentially. He discovered a passion for community development and an application for his past in health and physical fitness in the form of teaching communities about healthy nutrition. While putting his wife through school, he began studying sustainable agricultural models and herbal medicine.
Benjamin is engaging in sustainable agriculture projects and exploring low-tech ways to improve quality of life in rural villages and settlement areas in the country. He also provides training in first aid and CPR.
Mary Grimm
Translation/Literary Consultant
Mary Grimm (formerly Mary Owen) was born in California in 1989. Her parents were part of the Mormon church until the Holy Spirit led them out when Mary was 9. She met God at an early age, but did not come to an understanding of salvation until she gave her life to God at the age of 13. Shortly after that, she was baptized and went on her first missions trip, a week long youth mission to Mexico.
In Mexico, she felt a strong pull to long term missions. Informed of this, her pastor at the time invited her to accompany himself and his family to Papua New Guinea in 2006. There she learned about the need for Bible translation. It was not until 2008 on a return trip to PNG that Mary accepted this as God’s particular calling on her own life.
Returning to the states, Mary spent 5 months hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and then dove into undergraduate studies at George Fox University. Shortly before her last semester, she met Benjamin Grimm while working at a group home for Foster teens. They were married the day after she graduated and moved to Washington the next month where she began her Masters studies at the Canadian Institute of Linguistics and graduated in December 2015.
Mary works with the Yamano speaking communities as a consultant on the vernacular Bible Translation and the literacy programs. She is currently training literacy teachers in the Port Moresby area and working with her local community on a learning center startup to provide low/no-income families with education opportunities for their children.
Clemence Komnapi
Staff member
Clemence was born in Baku village on the East Sepik. He went to school in Ambunti where the Lord began working in his heart. In 1985 he began attending Assemblies of God Bible College. It was there, through prayer and Bible Study, that he came to know Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world and his own personal Savior and Lord. After graduating with a diploma in Biblical Studies and Christian Ministries, Clemence taught in one of the regional Bible Colleges as a lecturere and later served as a Principle for 10 years.
Clemence then became a pastor and minister with the Salvation Army and served with his family for 12 years until his wife suffered a mental breakdown that forced him to retire. It was shortly before this event, that Clemence invited Mary and Benjamin to come to PNG and join him in Bible Translation and outreach to his home community on the Sepik. They arrived in 2017 and after his retirement from the Salvation Army, Clemence left Wewak town to accompany them in ministry to the Yamano villages.
Clemence is passionate about the vernacular Bible Translation, discipleship, evangelism, and partnering with his community towards development goals. He has been leading multiple ministry teams in his own Community as well as taking opportunities to share the Word of God to other communities on the Sepik. His heart is to reach the remote Sepik with God's Word and the Light of the Gospel, and to see his people set free from the crippling cycles of fear and poverty.