Road to Indonesia---Two Stories

 Two testimonies to relay from the prayer and praise time in church this morning. 

One was from one of the missionaries who ministers to the Dem people whom I have mentioned before: the tribe who received the Gospel so joyfully, after years of waiting.  The missionary reminded us that it had been about a year since the Bible teaching team had gone into the Dem.  The result was about 70+ tribal members becoming believers. The missionary said that last week they had a mini war in the community.  One of the new believers had his foot wounded. They pumped his foot full of lidocaine and pulled the arrow out.  The next Sunday the two warring groups still showed up at church.  Old beliefs die hard and they feared not showing up for church in case God would punish them severely for not attending. By custom of any tribe in Papua if you have been hurt you seek revenge. It was expected the injured man would demand 20 pigs and 50 million rupiya ($3,000 USD).  Instead, the man who was injured and had been a Christian for less than a year, stood up and forgave the man who had shot the arrow.  God at work.

The other prayer request is not so encouraging. In the highlands there is a large movement that wants to have its own nation, separate from the current government. They have stated that they do not want any incursion from the government, even if it is for economic/infrastructure advancement.  Anyone at all coming into the area from the outside would be treated as enemies.  A group of 8 technicians came in last week to do internet repairs and was slaughtered.  The local citizens are caught between the 2 groups and have suffered terribly.  This is even true in the villages which are Christians.  Prayer.