Imagine our surprise when Pastor Rob Lang responded to a thank-you note my wife sent to him about a year ago. Rob Lang is the Youth Director of the Georgia-Cumberland Conference of Seventh-day Adventists where I was a pastor for 15 years. A year ago we were still reeling in the pain of tragedy. Bob Roberts our fellow missionary in Papua Indonesia had crashed Adventist Aviation's plane and not survived. We went home on furlough not knowing for sure if there would be an aviation program to support the work that we do in Papua and West Papua Provinces of Indonesia. Our boys went to Cohutta Springs camp and Pastor Rob had discounted the price so they could all go. Ruth had sent a thank you card to pastor Rob and had mentioned, "If you ever want to come on a mission trip to Papua. . . we'd love to host you and your team."
Fast forward to April 1-8 of this year and Pastor Rob had come for a pre-trip to prepare for a December mission trip. The more we discussed the more convinced that we became that if at all possible a mission trip in August would fit better with the dry season for the particular site we had chosen – Hobotonggo.
Hobotonggo is a mountain village located deep in the vast wilderness of Central Papua highlands in Indonesia. The people belong to the Yali tribe. Even today the older generation of Yali prefer penis- gourds and grass-skirts over wearing clothes. Yes, they have clothes but cultural pride out-paces the need to be "clothed" in western clothes.
To bring even 4 Young Adults to build a prefab church in a fly in location is not exactly the easiest thing in the world. We had exactly 5 days from the end of our furlough until the day they were suppose to arrive on July 30th. But "thanks" to lots of air line issues in Seoul, Korea, Singapore and then Jakarta - the team of 4 arrived exactly 1 day later than expected. Which gave me 1 extra day to continue the mad scramble to get all the parts together and weighed and distributed to 1 of the 4 flights that would be made to support this church build. Yikes, I was exhausted from the cumulative effects of cutting Galvanized Steel (fumes are terrible) and Jet lag and getting re-adjusted to the swampy heat of Papua after a summer of Air-conditioning in America for Furlough and GC Session.
On the day that Adam, Seth, Tiara and Sierra arrived from America we boarded Aubrey and Andrew and Global Pioneer/Theology student Hermanus with a bunch of cement and rebar for the pre-team to go ahead and lay out the church building. While I situated everyone on Adventist Aviation Flight and we added Pastor Jasper a media expert from Jakarta International Adventist Church onto the flight, Ruth went to pick up the team of 4 Young Adults. Adam, Seth, Tiara and Sierra arrived and consumed the "Best meal of the whole trip thus far" in 5 minutes flat. Breakfast done and showers obtained the group launched into helping me weigh and load a truck load of metal parts and roofing to be sent by a chartered plane. The Chartered plane is 2 meters bigger inside the fuselog allowing longer pieces of metal to be sent. We got the truck loaded and then grabbed a bit of lunch and off we went to off load the stuff for the Monday scheduled charter flight for the building supplies.
The truck just needed to go 7 miles to the commercial airport but 1 mile into the trip the whole load shifted and went sliding off the truck onto the road. Probably 40 people stopped to help reload and re-position 1.2 tons of building materials. In 5 minutes the trucks contents were divided between 2 trucks and off we went again. This time without incident.
Adam and Seth came back from this experience with a story to tell of skiing on top of metal roofing sheets down the road. That's probably a stretch of the story on my part. From my perspective as the driver of the chase vehicle I saw them frantically holding on while the steel beneath them went sliding off the truck with no harm done to person or things.
Friday evening we welcomed the Sabbath with the team at lake Sentani and then a supper of home cooked soup and breads and "communion" bread. Then off to an early bed for the 4.
Sabbath Morning all were awake early and ready for church then a hike to the water falls in Harapan (Hope). All the Adventist Expats were along. We returned from the waterfalls in a tropical down pour. I never mind walking in a warm rain in the lowlands of Papua as long as I have a spot to tuck my electronic gadgets out of the weather. Glad that Seth had his day back along for that purpose.
Sunday morning we awoke really early to weigh all of our things in hopes that it would fit on the plane bound for Walma. Walma was our jumping off point or "point of no return" as Pilot Gary Roberts put it. After the plane leaves you in Walma you are dependent on 2 way radio for outside contact with the world below. If you get sick and need a flight out you have to climb to the airstrip 45-60 minutes that is if you are well enough to climb. From Walma we desended more than 1,200 feet to Hobotonggo our new home away from home.
Sierra, Tiara and my self likened it to down-hill skiing without the snow. In place of the snow were rocks, mud, pig excrement, more mud and still more. Every now and then a traverse of a muddy creek on a "slick as snot" log bridge. Most of us foreigners needed a bare-footed Yali person at our side to keep us from falling head over heels to our certain death down some precipice.
"54 minutes of eternal nerves-on-edge-descending and hoping you live to tell about it" is what 1 person said of the trip into Hobotonggo. Sub-Sandwiches packed in were scarfed down in 3 bites. How is it that a Foot long sandwich seems so short when you're in the bush? 20 minutes of discussion latter we convinced the locals to disassemble the low shelter they had called their church home for the last couple of rainy seasons. We assured them by faith that we'd be worshiping in a new church by the weekend to come. I could tell there were doubters amongst them. About 40 men and women surrounded the shelter and picked it up out of the ground and moved it about 40 feet to the edge of the small table of land so the new church could sit on the old site. Clearly they didn't want to take the church apart completely because we might not be able to do what I said would be done by Sabbath. I spat directions out in Indonesian and English and mime. "Level the land there. Dig a line of holes here. Put a stack of rocks and sand there. Let's add string here and make a square corner here." Then came a cold rain. After a hot muddy hike and a cold rain I was shivering from either sweat gone cold or was it the cold mountain rain? – probably both! Holes for the 24 pillars rapidly materialized. Upon these would rest 24 pillars upon which would rest this pre-fab church building.
Monday morning we poured cement and the whole village went to pick up the 1.2 tons of metal pieces that were on their way from Sentani International Airport via a chartered Cessna Caravan. Thank God for a whole village who were excited to help. One man carried over 110 pounds of roofing down the impossibly steep trail from Walma to Hobotonggo . I could barely lift what he lifted let alone navigate 45-60 minutes of "Slick as ice" trails. We finished our job of pouring concrete by 3:30 p.m. and off we went to explore the local swimming holes.
The local swimming holes are full of very valuable rocks. Agat, Granite, can be found in most streams in the Highlands of Papua if you search hard enough. Most is not worth the effort but it certainly fueled the imaginations of our group. "What if I could fund my college?" I was thinking things like, "If only this tribe could be taught to use these resources for God's glory and build schools and roads and airstrips and clinics and . . . The back story of this particular swimming area is amazing.
When Pastor Rob Lang and I came here in April we challenged the locals to provide sand, gravel and excavation of the area for their new church as their contribution. They went in search for sand and gravel but only found large stones and no sand or gravel. So they prayed. Within minutes of their prayer a small land slide happened at the edge of their village near the swimming holes where we were now at. They rejoiced because there was enough sand and gravel for their new church and close enough to be relatively easy to get. So they prayed a prayer of thanksgiving. Next day they went to go see the land slide and start digging sand and gravel but what they discovered was that during the night time rain the land slide had formed a huge gully and now they had enough to build the empire state building. As we were pouring cement on August 2 and 3 I kept thinking I was seeing glimmers of yellow in the sand so that's why we went to the swimming hole.
The simple faith of the Yali people said, "Pastor, we prayed and God sent down some of his pavement mixed with Sand from Heaven." Pavement from heaven for the foundation sand and gravel for His church in Hobotonggo certainly sounds better than my American "Thomas the Skeptic" mindset. Could it really be golden sand from heaven?
After a good look at the swimming holes and then a climb back up a mud slicked trail I needed a bath. So off to the solar shower and shower tent that I had hauled from America so the girls could have a place to bathe and change. But being the granola girl type that they were I only convinced them 2 times in the week to use the shower. At least I got to enjoy 3 or 4 good hot showers.
Tuesday morning dawned beautiful and clear but a slight bit cool and a whole lot muddy because of over-night down pours. Soon we were complaining of heat instead of chill. This was the day to put up pillars. We made great progress and after yesterdays hard work of carrying 1.2 tons of supplies on their backs many Yali just sat in awe as the basic shape of the building rapidly came into being. Grandmothers and Grandfathers came to click their tongues and softly chant "Wa! Wa! Wa! Wa!" as a way to keep us going. We all need cheer leaders to trumpet the work we're doing. . . to keep us feeling good. I bet you never had cheer leaders in the form of 70 year old grandmas in nothing but a grass skirt or a 70 year old grandpa wearing nothing but a penis gourd. Trust me there is nothing appealing about the body in such costumes. An observer you quickly moves on to the message of the cheer leaders and not the costume or lack there-of. Chants that can be translated as "Thank You! Thank you! Thank you! You're so awesome to come from the land beyond the sea with your pearly white skin to get filthy dirty. Thanks for coming so we can worship the Great God of all ages in a House from Heaven. You're awesome. Wa! Wa! Wa! Wa! Thank You! Thank You! Thank you!" Move over National Geographic we have one up on you! You can't brag of seeing what culture like this does when they are fueled by Holy Spirit zeal for God's grace.
The pillars were in place by 3:30 and we took off early for baths and chatting with the natives. There is so much to a culture this unique.
Wednesday morning we awoke to a cool breeze and we had to finish putting on the side walls of greenish tin and get ready for tomorrows building of the roof. It was an un-eventful day except that a man came by early in the morning who had just about severed his finger while chopping with his machete. He had stuffed the wound with grass and weeds to try to stop the bleeding but our team of "Docs" which consisted of Sierra, Andrew and our Missionary Denny and other onlookers got on the 2 way radio with my wife and Aunt Wendy Roberts and determined that it should be cleaned out. So without any pain-deadening meds they pulled junk out of his hand for over an hour. They then told him to get to the Doctors "office" a five hour hike away in Angruk. By Thursday morning the man was back around and had never gone to see the Doctor. "Why didn't you go?" "because the Doctor is probably not around anyway." A radio call to Angruk concurred that the "Doctor may or may not be here and the nurse may or may not be here." Generally in the mountains at the government clinics the Docs and Nurses spend more time out of the jungle clinics in the low lands than in the clinics in the mountains. Life is just too easy in the low lands and much more glamorous but the salary is too good in the mountains to out-right quit so since the inspectors and bosses always call first before they just show up the medical professionals get on the plane when the boss puts them on the plane and often come back on the next available flight a few days latter and try to remain scarce in the low lands. It angers me. As of this writing the man still hadn't been to the doctor. Without the referral of the Doctor in Angruk he can't go get he hand seen by a surgeon who could fix it in the low-lands.
Don't get me started on the school system in the remote places. Its worse! Teachers "work" for years without ever being in the village where they are "working."
Thursday morning we finished off leveling everything up so the trusses could be in place. By lunch time we had more than half the trusses in place. The day ended with all trusses in place ready for Fridays day of putting the tin on the roof and finishing the outside walls. Then a group of about 40 elders from the surrounding villages assembled and wanted to talk with me. In typical fashion they had spent most of the day formulating what the white guy could give them. They started their conversation with "We need 7 things from you."
In order to understand this type of demand-list you have to go back to the origin of white men coming to the tribes of Papua. They always came with gifts and bribes and money and power to "change" the heathen mindset. Out of this has grown a cult following of the white man who is obviously rich and increased with goods. I have learned to graciously listen and try not to make any promises that could later be used against me. On the one hand they have no ability to build in any other way than native huts because of the lack of tools and knowledge of how to use those tools. Consequently the buildings they build are in need of yearly rebuilding in many cases and with increased health it means increased population and decreased available trees for building these huts with. Building Schools and Churches and government buildings become the tipping point for wiping out the forests that one provided the trees to build with. So building supplies have to come from outside and trees have to be replanted and other styles of building have to be developed.
Its hard to know where the line of when helping hurts and when helping actually helps. So case by case we pray and try to teach others to do things more efficiently so the Gospel can go further and faster. Lack of communication and lack of transportation makes everyone in Yali land covet an airstrip and a 2 way radio. So every denomination who is doing anything gets requests for airstrips and for 2 way radio's. I am trying to ask one more question. What can a Yali (Or fill-in-the blank tribe) do to pay for his/her own stuff? Maybe that Gold is valuable after all. Are airstrips the answer? Or can they develop motorcycle trails or zip lines or both and get to town with less effort? What can be done?
A major request in every place I go is for, Medical Clinics and Schools. Usually the last thing people request is a church structure or a pastors home. I struggle with what to do. Sometimes the requests are not what is really needed. Usually what is needed is for lots of tender-caring teaching.
Friday morning dawned beautiful and the conversations quickly turn to Sunday mornings flight out of here. Everyone on the team is ready for a good hot bath and a clean bed and a great meal. Friday mornings breakfast of Oatmeal for the 5th morning running is getting everyone talking about the food back home. Sweet Rolls please!
Soon we are in full swing of putting the metal roofing on. We have two teams on the roof and a team building a rock wall to guard the church yard and a team building some tall movable scaffolding and a team carpeting the floor of the church with black sand from the gold studded land slide. Excitement is in the air. Grandmas soon take up the Yali Hallelujah. They dance like David before the sanctuary and sing praises to God for a church nearly completed.
By 2:30 the roof is mostly on by then the morning sun has turned to the afternoons cold drizzle and there are two of us high in the air trying to put on the roof cap and a rain slicked metal roof. I keep thinking about my paralyzed brother back in America who became so because of a fall from a scaffold much more sturdy than the ones we're using. Seth and I inch our way along with drills in hand putting the screws in the roof capping. I'm shacking in fear and from cold.
3:30 the roof is complete. Rain is pouring now but we want to finish the front siding of the church before we quit for Sabbath. So the scaffolding is moved into place and we try to figure the odd angles and then cut pieces and screw them in place and the Rain pours more and more. The ditches that one of the teams had dug earlier that morning were not keeping up so I asked one of the 1000 Missionary students to go fix the problem because the inside of the church now had a small river flowing in. Finally the problem lessened as he fixed the dam that had been created when someone dug a ditch with an up- hill slope instead of down-hill.
At 5:00 p.m. the front outside-siding is complete. We rush off to shower and eat and welcome the Sabbath.
Sabbath morning we slept in to 6:00 a.m. The outer tents in our line of 4 two man tents had lost the battle against staying dry so the inhabitants had moved into the living room of the clinic where the 1000 missionary students live. Tiara, Sierra and Aubrey were all inside. Andrew, Seth, Adam and me were outside still.
Sabbath was full of testimonies about the week and the stories and songs of a culture only few outsiders have ever experienced. Sometimes translation went from English to Indonesian to Yali. I wondered how much was lost each time the translation took place? I preached on Hebrews 11 and added that some like Hermanus, their own missionary, who was now our translator and a senior Theology student in our seminary back in Jayapura, could be added to the great people of faith. Hermanus has been left for dead like a modern day Paul, when locals became angry at his teaching. But now he is becoming a very influencial man in his culture. He knows how to use the culture to God's benefit in spreading the gospel. His story is another blog entry for the future.
Then comes potluck which makes me hesitant to go first through line. Not much to pick from. "Your Weeds and potatoes shall be sure" is what comes to mind as I go through line. Most of the "greens" in the vegetable pot were what we consider weeds in many parts of the world. The locals have learned what to eat and what not to eat. I always say if I go down in a plane crash in the Papuan wilderness and we survive I don't want to go down with a white man because we'd die trying to survive. And if I go down with a Papuan man we will not only survive but probably thrive because of his incredible survival instincts. Potluck in the stomach results in a sleepiness for Adventists world around and so the next hour everyone vanishes to tents and huts and grassy vistas.
Sabbath afternoon people fill with talking and fellowship and going for a little hike to the river below. I stop to look at the spot where the Yali tribe have cleared for a Helipad. It's the same spot where we have plans to build a school in the future. I jot down mental notes. . . We'll need a solar panel or two and the battery set up for the church so they can worship at night under lights. We need a bathroom or two in the back of the church because with the increased crowds the one hole over the creek is "Sketchy" at best. We need a pastor who can live in this area and communicate with us on a regular basis. We need to teach economic development and add variety to the gardening skills. Oh then there is Biblical teaching. What if they had a radio station? On and on my mental list goes. Then I am overwhelmed because over the next mountain and the next and the next and next lies a thousand more such villages. We are only doing 1,000th of what we could be doing. Who will go?
As we close the Sabbath there is talk of a bon fire and a cultural night but rain quickly ends all hopes of this so its delayed to first thing Sunday morning before the plane comes to pick us up. Off to bed we drift. Seth and I contemplate getting up at 4:00 a.m. to finish the back wall of the church and add some windows and put on the front porch but the rain didn't stop until about 5:00 a.m. It's a stiff south pole breeze that greets me when the roosters unceasing crow gets us up. I hear Adam and Seth mumble, "I'm ready for a Rooster Sacrifice." South breeze at 15 knots with higher gusts – there is no way a plane will land on a rain slicked and windy air-strip. Radio contact with the low land at 5:45. Pilot Gary says call back at 6:30 and see how the wind is by then.
We go to the Helipad where the locals are lighting the fire. And they give each of us a geode rock, a nokin bag (one that the ladies and men carry over their heads to carry everything in) and the 4 friends from America get an arrow from Hobotonggo. The ladies are dressed in their best grass skirts and even some of the younger men and women are dressed in . . . let's just say -- less. They are running in delight around the fire and chanting. "Their awesome. Their Awesome! Those folks from far are awesome. They brought our church from heaven on the wings of a plane. Their Awesome! Their Awesome! Thank you! Thank you! WA! Wa! Wa!
By 6:30 the sun is rising and the wind quickly changes directions and dies to nothing. By 8:00 we are climbing the precipices back to Walma to await our flight back to the land of food and white sand beaches lined with trees ready for our ENO and Ticket-to-the-Moon Hammocks. Blue tropical water waits us for a few days of R and R before the team of 4 short term missionaries return to GA-Cumberland conference. Thanks Pastor Rob Lang for sending these encouragers of our mission.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank You! Wa! Wa! Wa! Seth! Adam! Tiara! Sierra! You're Awesome! You're Awesome! Thanks for bringing the folks of Hobotonggo their church from the sky. You're Awesome! You're Awesome! Pastor Rob Lang thanks for sending this team. You're Awesome. You're awesome! Georgia-Cumberland Conference! You're Awesome! You're Awesome. Our God is awesome! God your Awesome! You're Awesome! Thanks for sending the sand and rocks from the sky! Wa! Wa! Wa! Wa!
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If you'd like to donate for more Jungle Churches or Jungle Pastors Houses or Jungle Clinics or Jungle Schools. . . Please, send your checks to "Papua Mission Evangelism" C/O Battlefield Community Church of Seventh-day Adventists PO Box 5306 Fort Oglethorpe, GA 30742 Please be sure to write a note that says "for Jungle Churches". Or you can go to their web site www.battlefieldadventists.org and chose "Give Online" and navigate to their giving location and add an amount for Papua Mission Evangelism.
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