was believed that only about 30,000 people lived in the high blue mountains of central and northern Papua but soon it became apparent that reports about large populations hidden in lush mountain valleys were true. Some said as many as 250,000 people inhabited the region. At this point Catholic Church officials became very interested in exploring the area. Fr. Alexis Michellod MSC with Br. Jean Delabarre MSC were sent on this exploratory mission. Bishop Andre Sorin, headquartered on Yule Island, and the French MSC superior regular Fr. Pierre Guichet MSC, his vicar, are credited with taking the initial step of sending the missionaries to investigate this little known mountain region of the Port Moresby vicariate. While this was going on, a very energetic Archbishop Romolo Carboni, new apostolic delegate to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, had set out on his own mission to find religious congregations willing to provide missionaries for the Mendi mission and the many other territories that need them. Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, Society of the Divine Word, Marist and Franciscan Friars were already in place. By the time Archbishop Carboni left office a few years later the Passionists, Marianhill Fathers, Montforts, Capuchins and Dominicans had been added to the list. Capuchins from the St. Augustine Province of Pennsylvania in the USA accepted the Mendi Mission two weeks after receiving a formal request from Rome to do so. This news reached Yule Island shortly before Fr. Michellod and Br. Delabarre were about to conclude their two-month exploratory mission in the Southern Highlands. Preparing to fly from Tari, the second government centre he had visited while in the Southern Highlands, and return to Mendi on his way back to Port Moresby, Fr. Michellod received a short message from his superior that would determine his fate for the next two years. "Stay.", came the order from Fr. Guichet, "Start foundation of Southern Highlands. Helpers coming soon." Br. Delabarre returned to Yule Island and Fr. Alphonse Rinn MSC, who opened the Ialibu mission, the third of the three original stations, joined Fr. Michellod. Shortly thereafter three Mekeo lay missionaries arrived, Ferdinand Maino Kap, Louis Vangu'u and Peter Peleka. Fr. Alexis put them to work teaching in a little school he had begun at Kumin. Fr. Rinn brought Br. Paul Idomaka and Br. Felix Walaba of the Oblates of St. Joseph, a local Papuan religious congregation also known