This is the story of Father Alphonse Schaefer SVD, one of the early pioneers in Papua New Guinea and one of the truly outstanding missionaries of the century. Through the publication of these Memoirs we hope to acquaint a wider audience with the courage and missionary zeal with which the early pioneers faced so many difficult challenges. May it also stimulate further research into the history of the period and the role played by both the foreign missionaries and the New Guinean Catholics in the common task of founding and building up the Church here in Papua New Guinea.