Sequel to Snakes, Crocodiles, Malaria and Dengue Fever

Just sent a national pastor and his wife and kids out today to a place near to where 2 of our missionaries have died in the past 3 years.   This pastor lost his first wife in child birth 6 years ago.   The baby lived and is 6 years old today and has the singing voice of an angel.  He has a new mommy who loves him just like her own.   His daddy was nervous today to go back even if this is only for a short while.   He has been the pastor in this area for the last 2 1/2 years but they had a recent scare and he sent his new wife and children out of the jungle.

I had to go cry as he told the story of sending a man 6 years ago to the nearest 2 way radio post 1 day up river because his wife was in premature labor.   He knew that his first wife would likely be dead before help could return.   He and his new new wife have a borrowed Satellite phone and plenty of  fuel for the boat trip this time around.   They are going to pack there household possessions as they have been reassigned to a less harsh environment.   Pray as we are having a hard time finding pastors to go to these types of locations.   The native tribes along this mighty river will never hear the gospel unless we send some to this place.

Praying for our moving pastor as he closes this part of his ministry on this final trip.   He’s moving to the city where Hospitals are just around the corner.    But the cities have their own set of perils.    Praying that one day we will have the money to build pastors homes that have screens to keep out the harmful critters and solar panels or hydropower and 2 way radio’s or satellite phones in every place.   Praying that one day we can find a cure for Malaria in particular.

Some of the things I’m studying to help boost our Teachers, Pastors and Student Missionaries are:

1) better ways to grow vegetables and fruits.   Just learned today that some missionaries are growing vegetables in greenhouse bags (like green house pots).   They plant a few vegetables every 2 weeks so they have a constant supply.

2) Better ways to communicate

3) Better ways to cook so that the workers don’t have to spend so much time just surviving.   Cutting wood on top of the normal everyday duties makes life challenging.

4) Better source for electricity.

5) Better transportation

6) Better ways to get medicine to them when they need help.

7) Ways to boost their moral when times are tough.    Like making plane drops with stuff for their Birthdays and Anniversaries and Holidays.

8) Someone who can buy supplies in the cities so that when they are out for R and R they don’t have to spend their whole time shopping and preparing to return.

How will people ever hear if our missionary pastors and their families spend so much time struggling to exist?    Pray for our leaders.

Snakes, Crocodiles, Malaria, Dengue Fever

I’ve been given more responsibility thus less time to write blogs but more need to be blogging to let you guys pray and help.   So part of my additional responsibility is to help create new churches all across Papua and West Papua provinces of Indonesia.    Some of these projects are already under way and have been for a number of years.   Others have yet to be dreamed.   But in an effort to understand the needs I’ve been interviewing a number of pastors.   Trying to get a grasp of what they need.    
Pastors in Papua are often called to serve in districts where snakes are more like some pre-flood dinosaur  -- huge and vicious.    Then consider our three pastors who serve the 13 locations along the Mimbramo River.   They have vast territories along a river with edies large enough that a floating log 75 feet long by 15 feet around can disappear into the hole in the water and come up a mile down the stream.    Boats and passengers disappear into these edies never to be seen again.    If you make it past the edies and you happen to make it as far as the “falls” or rapids on the mighty Membramo River your next challenge is hitting rocks and tremendous current as you try to shoot the rapids going up hill.   If you get knocked out of the boat in the rapids sitting all along the banks are apparently lazy crocs waiting for opportunity to grab fast food.
If you make it past the rapids mid way up the river on your way to the highlands some 300 river miles beyond the rapids there are more snakes, and crocs waiting but the biggest killers of our Pastors, Missionaries and teachers through the years has been complications from lack of quick medical attention caused by Malaria or Deng Fever.    In the past 5 years we’ve lost 3 of our pastors or teachers or volunteer missionaries to Malaria.   All of them had run out of the right kind of medicine.
So far what I’m learning is: 1) a balanced diet is hard to come by on the river, 2) boats cost a lot of money to go up stream because of the fast volume of water pushing you down stream, 3) communication along the river is almost non existent so if you get sick and need help by the time help comes your either better or dead, 4) The utter isolation for months on end for the average person use to roads/stores and modern convience makes this a hard place to stay permanantly. 5) This is truly the worlds last frontier, 6) languages along the river are different every few miles and often take years to learn.  6) in the past we’ve sent kids from those language groups to schools and made great incentives for them to return to their home area to be Bible Workers, teachers, medical workers and more but for various reasons few ever return to this difficult life once they learn of a better life, 7) Radio communication in a place where humidity stays near 90% frequently ruins ham radio and other communication devices, 8) Frequent rain changes the course of the river almost daily.  9) World views even between city based Papuans and rural based Papuans are vast chasms apart. 10) you have to take 4-5 complete doses of Malaria meds for most of our rural Mimbramo River locations because your often out there for 3-6 months before the next supplies make it in.
And yet in all of this. . . Pastors still go risking it all for the sake of the Gospel.   Today, I preached in a suburban church and I appealed to the young people, Who will go and face the giant of Crocs, Snakes, Malaria, Deng Fever for the Sake of the call, wholly devoted to live or to die for the Sake of the Cross?   11 young people stood and said we will get the training and go.   Four of those young people were my own sons.   I’m proud of them.

“We’re going to burn your Church and School up!”

Aubrey and Andrew joined me December 27 – January 2 on a trip to Ndugu-Ndugu.   This is the place where we are helping the people by helping them with their Airstrip project.    They are building this airstrip by hand with wheel barrows, picks, shovels, crow bars and with their hands.   Some wonderful financial gifts have allowed us to deliver food that keeps them digging.   One day this air strip will benefit the Adventist's and many other Christian groups as they seek to spread the gospel.   This will also benefit the community with better assess to food and a way to sell food from their gardens.

After hiking 3 and a half hours up intense trails to the village of Ndugu-Ndugu in the Moni tribe to help organize their church and to see the update on their airstrip project they wanted to meet first.

First they greeted us with the top officials of the Adventist Church dressed in mostly traditional attire.   If you go to previous blogs on this subject you discover that this was once a big hill and is now a flat area of the airstrip.   150 meters long by 5 meters or more high by 45 meters wide has been leveled by hand.   But more has to be done.

The Moni tribe love to Yell!    In fact the Chief told me that that “the people don’t listen unless we yell at them.”   On Thursday afternoon when we arrived the whole village had been invited for celebrating the new church being organized.    Before we could organize the church they demanded (shouted) that we needed a meeting.    Their shouting was something like this. . .  in about 90 decibels or more.  “We’ve been here for years trying to build an airstrip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Now we need tools and we need rice for everyone, every month until we are finished.   Since it was your church who has kept us focused on this project you need to pay, NOW!!!!!!!!!    If you don’t pay, Now!!!!!!!!! we are going to burn your school down and we will burn your church down and kick your pastor out of the village.  We are going to bust you to pieces.”    This was the non-converts but the converts were only mildly different in their threats.  

I felt powerfully impressed that what they were seeking was not what they said but what they really wanted to know was how much was the Adventist Church behind them as a people and village.   So I practiced active listening.  Quiet response to the intense yelling.   Trust me it takes Heavenly angels to keep yourself from screaming right back when people are saying utter falsehoods but in the end if had I yelled back the relationship would have bee severed.   A long time ago I learned from a pastor friend who has since died, “When the people yell you whisper.   Then they have to stop yelling to listen to you!”      Keep in mind we had to translate this from English to Indonesian to Moni.   It was very intense – 4 hours intense.   Repeatedly I had to tell the speakers to translate even my body language and tone.   I had to tell myself listen well.

Culture here is to put up a lot of “smoke screen” before they get to the real issue.     The issues they argue with passion may not be the real issues in the Moni tribe.  

  But in the end the issue was that some of our Adventists members had become proud of our school and Student missionaries from 1000 missionary Movement  and our airstrip project and the school and more.     Because of the perceived pride in these few people, the pagans, and the Catholics and Lutherans and Pentacostals were going to insure that our church was going to be humbled as a result.   After talking all of this through we had to listen but reiterate that Money doesn’t grow on trees and we are sorry for portraying that we were a rich church.    “Each church should join with this airstrip project that blesses you whole village.   This airstrip will bless you and us too.   We will do what we can but don’t be unrealistic in demanding too much,” I told the people!  

Within many parts of Papua there is something we missionaries call the “Cargo Cult”.    Cargo Cult is the idea that “if your church can give better gifts than my church I’ll join your church.”   Of course we can’t fall into that trap because we are a small church in size in comparison to some of the churches in Papua, Indonesia.    The real issue was that some of the churches felt we were trying to bribe their members to join ours by building up a school, church and airstrip.

As we neared the end suddenly an illustration from the Bible came to mind.   “Silver and Gold have I non But such as I have give I thee.”   “We didn’t come to give you rice or tools or pans or airstrips or churches or new schools.   The reason we build clinics and airstrips is not to bring you economic success but rather so that we can more easily spread the gospel.    So that the Name of Jesus Christ can go faster, further and with more depth than ever before.    Suddenly that illustration from Acts 2 was the thing that caused the people to settle down.   Amazing what God’s word does to settle an issue!

A panoramic view of some of the ones who yelled and demanded that the Adventist Church had to pay them for absolutely everything.    One of them yelled, “I demand that I get paid to eat.”   In the end when they recognized that we were not doing this to be “Cargo Cultish” then they were much happier.