Aamilah’s Dream

Aamilah is not her real name for to tell her name would likely mean death for Aamilah or her children.    She’s from a village called Akutuh which again is not the real village for to tell the real name of Akutuh would be double jeapardy.   She’s from a region nearly 4,500 miles away from where I heard of her.    But that’s the even stranger part of the story.    I was in a village where Men wear grass loin clothes and women wear grass skirts yet Aamilah wore full mulsim attire.    What was she doing in this place?   Even more important why was she in our Adventist Church worshiping with us?

On July 28th, 2014 Ramadan had drawn to an end.   During this month - long fast Aamilah had petitioned Allah 5 times a day for help.   Aamilah’s husband had died from an unknown cause just 2 months earlier leaving her a widow of 26 years old  with a 3 and 5 year old.   Fortunately, for Aamilah, her husbands businesses has left her with enough money to provide for their needs.   But for a Muslim woman in Akutuh to be single was not considered to be an option.   Likely the teacher in the Mosque would try to arrange a second marriage for one of the already married older men in Akutuh.    She dreaded that day.   

“Oh Allah hear my cry.   Can I not just remain single?    Show me your ways Allah!”   She cried.

As a very faithful Muslim woman she determined to read the Quran from cover to cover over Ramadan.    She had large sections of the Quran memorized and had read the Quran more than 40 times but this time she determined to dig deeper and learn more.   One day she noticed a verse in the Qur’an that says, “The people of the Book know this as they know their own sons; but some of them conceal the truth which they themselves know.” 2:146   She for some reason was bothered by this text.     She contemplated it all day as she fasted.    When the sun went down that night she hurried to her fathers house to ask him what he thought it meant.    She knew that Muslims long interpreted that the “people of the book” were those who believed in the first five books of the Bible.  Jews and followers of Abrahams ways.    “Who are these people and what is this truth that they are concealing, Daddy?”   

“Don’t worry about it my little Aamilah!”   her father had said.    “Just be a good Muslim and let the men determine this.”

But that night she whispered a prayer that would change her life forever.    “Allah of heaven and earth, the one and only God, show me what this hidden truth is so that my son and daughter can know just what it is.”

Aamilah drifted off to sleep.   Around 3 am she dreamed an amazing dream.     In her dream she saw Allah’s Angel pointing to a certain spot on the map of Papua.    The map zoomed in until she saw the very village the Angel was pointing at.   Then she saw people studying the Torah, those first 5 books that the Qur’an refers to again and again.    Her eyes were then drawn to a section on the page that they were studying.    The words seemed to be highlighted or glowing.    The angel said, “Memorize this dream and the words of this passage and I will show you Allah’s ways.  Now go with your son and daughter to this place in Papua. These people will teach you all the words of the People of the Book.”

Aamilah awoke to the sounds of people still celebrating the end of Ramadan.    Mosques blared, from their speakers, a continual prayer of thanksgiving to Allah.   “Aamilah, Aamilah come lets go to the womens prayers.”   Her mother said.    Obediently even though she was a Widow and 26 years old she followed.
It took Aamilah several months to gain courage to leave Akutuh.    Money was not the issue but how as a single mom could she leave.    Then one day the bankers from her husbands business dealings called with a settlement statement for one of the businesses that had sold.   They asked her to travel to Jakarta.    Aamilah asked, “I am a widow. . . May I bring my children, too?”    Of course she could have left her children with her parents but she wasn’t thinking of the parents.   She was thinking of her dream and prayer she had continually been praying since.”  “Show me your ways Allah! and Help me to find a way to get to the village in Papua.”

November 12, 2014 She and her now 4 and 6 year old boarded the boat bound for Jakarta.    “Mommy why can’t we stay with grandma?”  her daughter asked.    Aamilah nervously changed the subject.    So far she had managed the impossible which was,  Traveling alone as a widow with her 2 children.    But then Jatung her teenage cousin boarded the ship just a few minutes before departure.    Aamilah could see him coming up the ramp.   He texted her.    “Aamilah, I need to give you something you forgot.”    She was worried to answer the text lest it was a trap.    How did the family even know?    She had told them a few stories to throw them off.    “She’d be back in a month or so.”     “She has another cousin going with her once she reached the nearby city” she lied.     Aamilah didn’t answer the text and Jatung jumped off the ship just as the ramp was being raised.   Evidently, he had not wanted to go along and perhaps had a letter for a friend of family in the main town 3 hours away.    She would never know because Jatung never did text again.

Aamilah made it to Jakarta just fine and went directly to the Bank.    The settlement of the funds was sent to a new bank account that had branches in Papua, too.  She made sure of that.     Aamilah then arranged to continue on to Papua by ship.   Papua is perhaps another 2,500 miles further to the east.    After more than 2 continual weeks on a boat with only a half day break in Jakarta Aamilah arrived in southern Papua.    She asked local Muslims about the area she had seen in her dream.     They said, “Oh you can’t go there because those are just native people.   There is no mosque there.”

But persistently Aamilah with her 2 children pressed on.   By now she had told her children of her dream at the end of Ramadan.     They readily embraced their mothers search for more truth.   Then her son came running up from his new Papuan friend.    “Mommy, that boy, my new friend, is going with his parents to Digul.   Do you think its near the place of your dream?”    

Immediately Aamilah recognized the name of the place as a place near to the village she was seeking.    She had somehow seen this name on the map near to where the Angel of Allah had pointed.    She boarded the small ship and together they rode for another 2 days.    After a day they turned up a large river.    Her children sat glued to the windows.    “Mommy, what’s that big lizard over there at the edge of the river?”  her son had asked.    She shuttered as she watched a 4 meter long Crocodile sink out of site beneath the muddied waters of the river.    Later a man rode a speed boat up close beside their ship and one of its passengers jumped aboard the ship with a large sack.    Out of the sack was produces a 4 1/2 meter long Python that the man wanted to sell to the passengers.   Aamilah prayed, “Oh Allah protect my children from this harsh land.”   At night mosquitoes swarmed their bodies.    “Allah protect us from Malaria.”

Then around 5 am at the end of the 2nd night she awoke to  hear sailors preparing to dock their ship.    On the dock were lines of men with toothy grins walking around spitting Bettlenut and smoking home rolled cigarettes.    She asked,  “where can I find a boat going to Felo?”     She knew this place was not far away yet know one seemed to know of the place she was asking about.   Suddenly a man approached her.    “How can I help you?”     She immediately recognized him as a man who had stood behind the Angel of Allah in her dream.   

Aamilah asked,   “Do know where Felo village is and how I can get there?”    

“Yes!   I am from the next village up the river from Felo.    But you don’t want to go to that village because those people study the Word of God and worship on a what they call the Sabbath!”     The man said.

Aamilah immediately thought of the text the angel had highlighted.    “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.”

“Yes I do want to go there! “   She said in a sudden blurt.   “I’ll pay for your gas and oil to take me there on your boat.”

The man agreed but soon it was evident he didn’t really know the village she was talking about so Aamilah asked him to stop at every village so she could inspect it to see if it was the place she had dreamed of.   The big Papuan man started to look nervous as they kept going from village to village.  His Papuan wife who was with them on the boat kept complaining that he was just flirting.   Finally, they arrived at the district village where the district head was and they found him at his home around noon.   “Do you know where Felo is?”   Aamilah asked.

“Yes,   Its not an official village but we allowed them to start a new village so that the people from another village nearby would not kill them.    They are very serious about God and their original village is not so serious.”   The district head said.

Aamilah asked,  “Do they worship on a certain day like Friday for example?”

“No they worship on Saturday.   Strange isn’t it?”   The district head asked.   “I mean you worship on Friday and I worship on Sunday but no one except these people and the Jews insist on worshipping on Saturday.   But one thing about them is they are amazing folks.    I went there recently to study building a school for them and discovered they had already built a school and church.   Then I sent a team from the local clinic and the nurses all came back in a couple of hours to say everyone was healthy and didn’t need them.   Then I sent the Agriculture man and discovered that every home had huge gardens and they didn’t need the agriculture department.   So I went again and discovered their name is Seven days and they’ve built a church.    Their leader has taught the village to read and write and how to compost and when they are sick he’s got a team of prayer folks who go and prays for the sick person and they get well within a few minutes.   Strange folks.   If you can promise me you won’t stir up trouble I’ll give you a letter to allow you to go there.”

Aamilah promised and soon she had the all important letter.    Within 45 minutes she was at the dock leading to the village.    A small boy was there but no one else.   He ran ahead to inform the Seven-days leader.

Aamilah has been in this small village for just over 3 1/2 months and together with a Bible and the Quran she has been on an amazing journey.    She has written letters back to her family and they have just sent reply messages that she is no longer their family member.    Aamilah cheerfully says, “My new family is even better than my birth family, but I’d sure like to have my birth family know this truth I am learning.”

Aamilah is helping to teach students math, reading and writing.   This is  greatly red ucing the work load of our Global Pioneer to help disciple the Adults of the village.    Aamilah is praying for a way to take this Truth from the “last day people of the Book” back to Aku one day.   Pray for Aamilah!

* The names of villages and people and locations have been changed to protect the innocent but the essential details of the story are as they were relayed to me a few days ago.

Sore Tail! Big Waves! Miracle Needed!

Sometimes when it seems impossible God does the Impossible just to show us that He’s in control.    On Sunday, February 15, it seemed as if my trip to southern Papua near Merauke was tangled in impossibilities.   First, we have no plane to get to the particular remote places that we needed to go to.   Gary Roberts and Hartley Sakul our mission pilots are not quite checked out for the type of places I need to go to.    Miss Bob Roberts in that he was one of the Senior Pilots in Papua and knew nearly every strip and weather pattern and lots of tricks to get into places others have to pass by.

Pastor Jerry Samokari (left) is our new pastor for Kepi in the Mapi Regency of southern Papaua.   There are 14 members in this town of close to 20,000 people.

I needed a Miracle.   I called Eric Roberts and briefly explained my situation as Gary is gone to Europe to purchase a new plane and Hartley was away for a seminar.   Eric flies for another organization and often knows of solutions I hadn’t known of.   Quickly he connected me with an Adventist Pilot who flies for a commercial company who is based in Merauke.   Within a couple of hours I was connected to this pilot.   He was able to get all the information that I needed and get me 3 seats on the right plane to the right location.    Miracle Number 1.      Really it is an amazing miracle because when I called the company said, “You have to get here first to Merauke and then we’ll see if we have a seat or 2 but not likely that you’ll have 3 seats on the same day.

I was needing to fly to Kepi and then Bade and get up the river and be home by Friday.    Big order unless you just have a plane at your disposal for your every whim and then that plane needs to be a float plane.   So off I went.   With me was a new Pastor Jerry Samokari who was going to be placed at our new Adventist Mission project in Kepi in the Mapi Regency of southern Papua.    Second, reason I went was to meet up with Pastor Melky Sakul who will be heading up the work in the Bade Adventist Mission project as well as helping to provide a base for our already established project in Sengge.

We landed in Merauke and I was surprised to meet not only Pastor Melky Sakul but a pastor that I had been told had already moved to his new district had been delayed and was still there.    So after going to check that the plane that the pilot from yesterday had arranged was still going to happen the next day and paying for it I went to the Adventist Church and set up my Hammock and mosquito net and then talked with Pastor Melky and Jerry for quite some time.  That afternoon the wind blew at a terrific rate and news soon came that our flight would be cancelled if the wind didn’t let up by tomorrow.   So we prayed and the wind slowly died down.    Late in the afternoon the Adventist Pilot from the commercial company came and talked with me – Sam B from Italy.

 

Turns out Sam mentioned several bits of information that got us into a long conversation and a lot of prayer.    In this case I felt used of God to be a listening ear.   Sam was flying home to Italy in a few days for vacation and was facing probably one of the toughest trips of his life.    It was a miracle that I got to meet him at such a time as this and have the privilege of adding Sam to my regular prayer list.

Pastor Melky Sakul, Myself and Pastor Jerry Samokari sitting in front of the small gathering temporary structure that will be replaced when we can help gather funding for a jungle chapel on property donated by the members in Kepi.

Tuesday morning dawned bright and early. . . I hadn’t slept much because the pastor and his wife had to pack their house up that night because they learned the boat was coming for their things at 7:00 in the morning.   So all night they packed and I heard packing tape until late into the night.

 

Off we flew to Kepi.   There we were met by a delegation of the handful of Adventists.   An Adventist Dr moved into this area about 8 years ago and has been trying to raise up some work in this area.  I wrote a proposal after my initial visit to this area last April just before Bob’s Crash.   We are finally able to bring a young newly graduated pastor to work as a Global Pioneer.   Dr Welem has found land and built a very small temporary structure for church but we need to help them raise money for a jungle chapel and a jungle pastors home.    After several hours in Kepi and a wonderful meal we were able to find a speed boat driver that was willing to brave taking us to Bade.

The First Hour we skimmed down the river in the speed boat on relatively calm Kepi River.   But when we met the mighty Digul and turned North upstream things got really wavy and dangerous.

The First hour on the Kepi River was quite calm but then we met the mighty Digul River and turned North upstream.   I took a look at the waves and grasp the bars that surrounded the edge of the boat.   Everywhere I looked I saw white-caps.   Yikes!   Lord we need a miracle.   The “Speed boat” that had been going along at 35 knots per hour suddenly had to time every 1 meter wave.    The Digul River at this point is mixed with salt water from the ocean and the Oceans Energy.   The waves kept building.   I kept thinking “if the next wave swamps this boat which shore looks closer and less inviting for the Crocodiles and Pythons that troll the Digul River.  Lord we need Your guidance.”   Then it began to really pick up in waves and the clouds grew black and heavy with threatening rain.   “Lord we need a Miracle.”    My back side began to get really sore after crashing up and down up and down for 3 solid hours and then 4.   “Lord will we ever make it”    Finally after 4:15 minutes and a heavy down pour we at last rounded a bend in the river to see Bade.

 

We had been trying to find someone to stay with when we arrived in Bade and when we arrived there a teacher friend of Dr Welem met us and graciously gave us a mat on the flour of his house.   But still the biggest question that I had been trying to think of a solution to for at least 2 months was, How do we connect with Fernando Krey our Adventist Global Pioneer that we dropped in Sengge/ Amk last April 3rd, 2014.   His village is another 4 hours north up the river from Bade and has no form of communication with the outside world.   I texted Ruth and said, “We need a miracle to get to Sengge because we have no way of reaching our worker there.”   In April 2014 I had forgotten my GPS and so I only had approximate GPS coordinates so it would be somewhat guess work if we just set out on the river.   And if we went to the wrong place it could be detrimental.   So the same God that had provided a Miracle in getting us Safely thus far would have to do the rest.

Fernando Krey, our Global Pioneer Bible Worker, after 10 months has a beard.

After resting my “sore tail” I said to Pastor Melky, “Let’s go find something to eat!”   So we borrowed a motor cycle and off we went.   I was on the back and praying the whole time that God would direct us to the right person who would know the way to Sengge so we could see Fernando Krey and his wife and child.   Suddenly, I noticed a heavily bearded man running almost even with the pace of our motorcycle and shouting  “Pastor, Pastor”   Who was this guy?   I didn’t recognize him at first.   There was only 2 Adventist in Bade other than Melky and myself.   Then all at once I realized who it was.   When I left Bade On April 4 Fernando had no beard. . . After living in the jungle for 10 months he looked different.    Then all fGo to Bade’.   Finally at around noon the voice became insistent so I got in the motorized dug out of one of our church members and we fought the waves for 5 hours.   When I arrived here I didn’t know why I was here so I just called the District Pastor in Merauke and he told me that you guys were suppose to come.   But Bade is about 5,000 people and many many houses.   How would I find you?   So I bowed my head and prayed and when I said Amen you guys passed in front of my on the motorcycle and I said, ‘Lord slow them down so I can catch up with them.’  And just then Pastor Darron turned toward me with the most confused look on his face and then Pastor Melky too.”

The “pastors” house or Global Pioneers house made possible because someone donated enough fuel to cut some boards with a chainsaw.   Thank you.

 

We rejoiced together at how God had brought us together.   The next morning we chartered another speed boat and made it to Sengge through more incredible waves.   I was literally bruised on my bottom from all the jarring up and down.    But when we landed in Sengge it was well worth the trip.   Fernando Krey has led almost 40 people to Christ and Baptism since we last saw him 10 months ago.   He has taught  together with his wife Grades 1-3 and his third Graders passed the regional exams at the top of the class.   He has built a simple Pastors house.   When the medicines that the Government gave him ran out he started a Prayer ministry that has seen miracle after miracle.   So many miracles that the local villages now go to his house before they make the trip to the district clinic because “His Prayers are way more effective than the Drs.”   Every home has a beautiful Garden that Fernando has taught the people how to make the land flourish by composting.     

Garden full of compost and pumpkins, root crops, tomatoes, greens and much healthier families than what I saw 10 months ago.

He told of the time he went hunting because he couldn’t get to town because the river was too dangerous to come.   He and his wife needed food.   He set a trap to catch a deer but the deer managed to step around the trap so he randomly threw his machete and it hit directly into the jugular veins of the neck of the deer killing it instantly.   They had enough meat until the river went down from the floods enough to be safe to make it to collect his Salary and get groceries. 

Antlers from the Deer that provided food just when they needed it most.

But I’ll have to share the best story for another blog.   

 

Miracles were needed and Miracles were gotten but not without a sore tail and a lot of scary big waves. 

 

Inside the Church with a few of the Members who were not out fishing or in their gardens when we came.

The Temporary Church and School in Sengge/Amk in the Bade District of the Mapi Regency.   Waiting for Funding and materials for a more permanent structure.