After 30 hours of flying and who knows how many layover hours we finally arrived in Jayapura, Papua, Indonesia. Then we hopped on a single engine prop to Terpones and then another one to Bias where we landed for our second time on a grass air strip. Then it was time to get in a hand carved canoe and go down river! We are talking five hours in a river that had crocodiles, piranha and snakes in it.
Finally we arrived at Kumiolen in the heart of the Papuan Rainforest. Where we were exactly is a mystery because that river and village do not appear on any maps that I have found! The medical/ evangelistic team was greeted royally by the Yetfa people in that village! Our group, including the Reynolds (missionary family) were the first Westerners (white people) to ever be there. After a glorious welcome that I will never forget we needed a bath, we thought. We walked further than expected and took a bath in the dark; in a creek that was at the bottom of a 20 foot muddy/jungle embankment (we only had one little flash light for all of us). Once we finished our bath and climbed back up the miry clay it felt like we were dirtier than before even though we smelled a little bit like soap. We got back to our tents that we had brought with us and went to sleep on our somewhat inflated air mattresses. When one is sleeping in a Rainforest it becomes clear that sweating while you sleep is really par for the course. The sounds of the jungle are really amazing at night with all the exotic birds and critters and I did manage to sleep a little.
When the morning came I awoke suddenly to a sound that was very unsettling and it wasn't a cockatoo. I heard what sounded like a grown man yelling, moaning, groaning and laughing and then nonsense noises like “owiowiowiowioh”. At first we thought this man was crazy and out of his mind because he walked around the village completely naked and very dirty. He roamed around by himself and was often hit and ridiculed by the kids from the village. Later that day we were eating and because he was hanging around we surmised that he was hungry and wanted food. We ran some of the kids off that were mocking him and motioned to him to come into the hut where we were. We offered him food and he grunted, hit his head a few times and sat down. We decided we would love him and share with him even though he was very unruly and quite a sight to behold. He began to calm down and he ate.
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As he sat there we tried to communicate with him but it was very difficult and he seemed to ignore us. Of course we thought it was the language barrier but even when Chase spoke Yetfa to him he seemed like he did not understand. After a while we figured out that this man was deaf and mute. Chase asked some of the older men and they told him that this man had been very very sick as an infant. The experience that we had with this man stayed in my mind and heart and I am sure in the minds and hearts of all that were in our group!
As I returned to the States a single question kept coming to my mind, “how is that man ever going to know the gospel?” I mean, he lives in a tribe in one of the remotest places on our planet. He has no Word of God, no written language and he himself cannot hear or speak! During the trip Chase spoke several Bible stories and the Gospel with the Yetfa in their own language for the very first time. What good is it going to do this man I wondered? How will this man be reached? God how are you going to do it? God I know you SEE this man! YOU ARE THE GOD WHO SEES (Genesis 16)! God I know you love this man but how will he be reached?
About 6 weeks later I was on facebook and I heard the following story from Eddie Williams a friend of mine who is a missionary to the Turkana in Kenya, Africa!
“I encountered another thing not covered in missions class. I preached today and led into the invitation. A few folks began to respond. Then an 15 year old girl comes crying (snot freely flowing...you know the type) and stands right in front of me. I asked how I could help her. She just stood there...bawling. I called pastor Emmanuel over to help. He told me the girl is an illiterate, deaf, mute. Great! She obviously has come for help...but how can I know what she needs me to do.
I remembered when I was in Bible college, I was taught that sometimes you have to become a fool for Jesus! I began a 20 minute game of charades with this girl, right in front of the entire church. Through gestures and grunts, I asked what is the problem. She points at herself and then down to the ground several times and cries harder. It took me a minute to figure this out. But THEN it hit me! She realizes (maybe for the first time) she is going to hell.
Conveying the concept of sin was made easy when her mama yelled out she likes to hit people. Once I was convinced this was why she was standing in front of me (and the entire church), I acted out the Gospel as best as I could. When I got to the resurrection, I asked if she wanted to pray. She nodded yes! She prayed and her entire countenance changed! Her tears stopped and were replaced with the biggest smile! The church broke into spontaneous shouts of joy, whistling, and applause (sorry for you if that kind of thing offends you).
How to share the gospel with an illiterate deaf mute? must of missed that class! But God still breaks through muted ears and silent mouths...IT WAS AWESOME!!!”
God is using so many awesome people and there are so many God things happening in our world today. In the trip to Kumiolen, Papua, Indonesia I saw God use so many people to accomplish His work! He used Translators, Nurses, EMT’s, Doctors, Mechanics, Pilots, Youth Pastors, Canoe Guides, College Students, Missionary Kids and many more.
Perhaps there is a teacher of the deaf, someone who knows how to sign or someone who is willing to learn! Maybe God is calling you to reach people like the Kumiolen deaf man and the Kenyan deaf girl! There is a huge need in missions among unreached people for this! Check out this article about such a ministry and see the need and the value of it! God is calling people to ALL THINGS!
“To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be a partaker thereof with you” I Corinthians 9:22-23
“When the disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:25-26
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