Super Eddies -- The River that Flushes like a Toilet bowel

Posing with some of the Government officials and ones who’ve come for training in hopes that someday they can be Global Pioneers to reach the unreached villages further up river with the Adventist Message
The Mamberamo River is Indonesia’s largest river in terms of volume of discharge and width at the point of discharge.   While not the longest river in Indonesia its certainly one of the more wild long rivers in the world.    It is the second longest river in the world to not have a dam on it.   Only the Fly river on the Papua New Guinea side of this same island is longer and has no dams on it and is longer.
When I first heard the reports of “the river that flushes like a toilet bowel”  I thought it was an exaggeration or metaphor.   The person telling me said he watched a 15 meter long boat get sucked down the funnel that suddenly appeared in front of the boat and the passengers and all were never to be seen again.    Let me explain a bit.    About half way up the Mamberamo river near Kasonoweja are a series of rapids and large rocks.   Vast amounts of sands and rocks are being washed along the bottom of this mighty river.   Big rocks the size of several story tall bank buildings stand upright in the middle of the river.   Perhaps they are fastened to the bed rock below the river because they seem to not move.   When the moving rocks and sand hit these large rocks.  Then add giant logs 100 foot long or more and 3-5 feet across floating down the river.   Suddenly a bolder or sand or log strike these mammoth bank-building-size rock formations and the water upstream has to go somewhere.   So a giant swirling eddy is formed.   When two or more of those are formed side by side and they work together like the gears on a transmission – “somethins’ fixin’ to get altered.” (said with your best Tennessee drawl).   If that something happens to be a boat or, God forbid, humans, there’s not much chance of survival.
Last Wednesday, I flew to train 11 men who want to work as Global Pioneers if money becomes available.   Global Pioneers go to unreached areas with the Adventist message.  The location of my training was near this section of the Mamberamo river.   They took me by boat to the section of the river where this phenomenon of super eddies happen on this mighty and untamed river.   I witnessed first hand a log 3 feet across and 40 feet long suddenly got sucked into an eddy that seemed to come out of nowhere.   The log resurfaced perhaps 1/2 mile down river with a 5 foot gauge on one side.  The locals report that the worst time is during the dry season.   Right now is rainy season and so there is enough water to quickly over run the forming eddy.   One man reported hearing a suctioning eddy from his house 2 kilometers down river during dry season.
This section of the river is the major barrier to large transportation barges and ships coming from the Pacific ocean to the north   More than 1 missionary have lost their mission launch in this section of river but fortunately were able to save their life.
The government has plans for building a mass dam and lock to allow transportation to the interior, to provide electricity to the Mamberamo region of Papua and to provide irrigation for rice production.   Already government offices are being built on higher ground and whole villages are being bought and helped to move.   I was saddened to see poor planning to preserve the virgin jungle.   One very educated government official is trying his best to help local politicians make wise decisions to minimize the environmental impact of this proposed project.   He admitted to me that he felt like one of those logs on the Mamberamo River being sucked along against a mighty flow of different opinion.   Yet this official knows that change is inevitable.
Teaching 11 men who want to be Global Pioneers about the 5 Key’s for successful Evangelism

Two small ships stopped at the last village before the transportation stopping eddies.

Me and Pastor David Relelly (orange hat).   I’ve thrown a sheet over my arms to prevent sun burn.   We’re on the watch for logs, crocodiles and super eddies.

This little church close to the “super eddies” is our Adventist church in a village where nearly all the 241 villagers have become Adventists in the past 10 years.   This church needs serious addition and rebuilding because it can’t handle everyone who comes to church there anymore.   Funny to see a village without pigs and bettle-nut trees in it.

In Papua Mission un-ordained pastors are not allowed to baptize except by special occasion.   So Pastor Relelly and myself baptized 20 people that Pastor Edson Repasi had prepared for our coming.    7 couples also got married as a part of getting their life in alignment with their new found values as Christians.   Here we’re waiting on the deacons in the church to get everyone organized.