1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:12,480 Welcome to the God's Goodness podcast where our mission is to encourage and highlight God's 2 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:18,080 Goodness and modern-day miracles. We are your hosts, Josh and Shelley Hankins. Today we have 3 00:00:18,080 --> 00:00:23,200 with us a special couple once again and you've heard them from them before and they're going to 4 00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:28,720 continue their Jungle Journey series. We have Pastor John Kent and his wife Belinda and they 5 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:35,200 went on this eight-year mission trip to Papua New Guinea and they have some tales to tell and they 6 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:41,040 are going to continue their series. This will be a book one day and we just it's like a sneak peek 7 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:46,080 getting to listen to these and so with us we're going to have Belinda open us up with an opening 8 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:52,080 prayer and then we'll get into it. Thank you Lord for this opportunity to share your goodness and 9 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:57,920 your grace and just stories of remembrance of what you've done in our past and that I pray that they 10 00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:04,080 would encourage and bless somebody else and just maybe tweak somebody else to say, yes, I want to 11 00:01:04,080 --> 00:01:10,480 go do this and serve you in this way and just be with us today and we thank you for your Holy Spirit 12 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:17,840 in us. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Thank you for that. Well thank you so much for inviting us once 13 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:29,200 again to be part of the God's Goodness podcast. You know it's just pondering coming over the amazing 14 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:38,800 goodness of God, the way He puts His hand on us and sends us, uses us sometimes in ways that we just 15 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:44,640 don't anticipate. At our church today we had a little baby dedication and I read from Jeremiah 16 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:53,840 1.5 where it says, before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I consecrated you 17 00:01:54,960 --> 00:02:01,440 and I appointed you to be my spokesman, my prophet to the nations, he says to Jeremiah, 18 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:08,480 but I think each of those are just such pivotal parts of all of our lives. He knew us before He 19 00:02:08,480 --> 00:02:15,520 formed us, consecrated us to His purpose and appointed us to a specific mission and I'm just 20 00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:21,680 so grateful for that. Oh yeah, hey, I'm going to share a story, Blin will share a story and then we'll 21 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:26,960 maybe have another story after that. See how it goes. Sounds good. Maybe just brief recap if you're 22 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:32,160 joining the podcast, coming in for the first time here, Blin and I spent eight years in Papua New Guinea. 23 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:40,400 It's by Australia, at least if you don't know. Second largest island in the world, 1500 miles long, 24 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:47,680 500 miles wide, 20 feet of rain a year. We were 270 miles from the nearest town, 25 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:56,800 90 by mud road, 180 by long canoe up the river. So we were among this primitive tribal group called 26 00:02:56,800 --> 00:03:04,720 the Iwam people and God planted us there among that tribe for eight years. But they weren't the only 27 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:12,960 tribe that we ministered to. The Iwam tribe were river-based people. They had permanent villages, 28 00:03:13,520 --> 00:03:21,600 the primary protein was fish from the river and basically anything else that moved, but that fish 29 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:29,920 was their main food and then lots of foods that they scrounced from the jungle, gathered from 30 00:03:29,920 --> 00:03:35,040 the jungle and a few that they grew. But there were other tribal groups and I want to tell you the 31 00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:43,520 story about the Drupals people. The Drupals people were another hunter-gatherer group. Some time ago, 32 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:49,360 I told you about the Epamo people where I spent three days without food. We had to track them down 33 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:58,560 because they were dramatic. Yeah. So the Drupals people were similar living in a different direction 34 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:04,720 and we had been there at May River a year or two and then I began to get messages coming out of the 35 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:12,880 jungle from this tribal group saying, we want you to come to see us. And we were just so busy with 36 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:19,120 so many things and that message just kind of fell to the wayside for some time and 37 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:24,080 again and then probably a third time this message came, please won't you come see us. 38 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:32,640 And the problem that we faced was even if we went, what would we do? We just didn't have resources 39 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:38,960 or people to send. Our Iwam people weren't far enough along in their journey to be missionaries yet 40 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:44,640 and so what were we going to do? So I put a little word out to a friend of mine, he was actually a 41 00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:50,000 pilot for a mission, you know, a mission pilot ministry there, a mission plane. They would 42 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:55,360 support missionaries and so I put a word out to him because he also lived right near a little 43 00:04:55,360 --> 00:05:00,080 training school, an indigenous training school where they would train indigenous 44 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:07,360 Bible workers and church planters. And so I sent a word out to him and said, hey listen man, we need 45 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:12,400 somebody. We got this tribal group that keeps saying, you know, they want somebody to come. 46 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:16,960 We don't have anybody to send there. I haven't gone yet, but I'm just, you know, giving you the 47 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:22,640 word if you come across somebody that might qualify from another tribal group that we could 48 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:29,360 maybe send back there, you know, let us know. Well, he said, he said, John, he said, you know, 49 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:34,800 we really don't have anybody that I could think of right off the top of my head. You know, it 50 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:39,840 could be a little bit before we come up with someone. I said, that's fine, we haven't even been back 51 00:05:39,840 --> 00:05:48,720 to find this tribal group yet. And so literally it was a day or two later that he radioed us on our 52 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:54,320 radio and said, John, I've got somebody. I've got a young family that they've come through training 53 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:58,960 and they want a place to go to serve as a missionary. And you know, these are indigenous 54 00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:05,120 New Guineans who love Jesus and you know, just want to share their faith. And so I said, well, 55 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:09,520 you know, and he said, here's the thing, he said, if you want him, I'm going to bring him tomorrow. 56 00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:16,320 And I said, we haven't even been back to the tribal group yet. I have no idea what the 57 00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:22,080 circumstances are. He said, John, this is the chance if you want him and his wife and his two 58 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:27,440 children, you know, I can bring him tomorrow. And if you don't take him tomorrow, I don't know. 59 00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:32,560 Yeah, it's kind of take it and leave it. He may go somewhere else. So, you know, we said, okay, 60 00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:37,920 bring him. So we have a little grass airstrip four or five miles upriver. So the next day, 61 00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:45,680 the pilot brought Andrew a coyote and his wife and two children and landed there at that little 62 00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:50,240 airstrip. We went up and picked him up in our log canoe or boat, can't remember, brought him down 63 00:06:51,120 --> 00:06:57,440 and got him settled temporarily and spent a day or two together. And then I said to Andrew one day, 64 00:06:57,440 --> 00:07:03,120 I said, Andrew, I think what we should do is tomorrow, why don't we take an exploratory trip, 65 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:07,920 you know, just leave your wife here, your kids, and we'll just we'll just take a trip because we 66 00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:13,440 don't know exactly where they live. I've had no personal contact with them. We don't know what 67 00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:18,960 the circumstances are. And I said, I think just you and I and, you know, a couple of my helpers, 68 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:26,080 we should we should take a trip there. He said, no, I'm not doing that. If I go, I'm taking my 69 00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:31,920 wife and my kids and we're going to go. And I said to him, but Andrew, you know, we have we've just 70 00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:37,440 we don't know the circumstances. There's probably not going to be a house for you. You know, where 71 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:41,680 are you going to stay? He said, John, I didn't come here to hang out with you was basically what he 72 00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:49,840 said in the language. I came to be a missionary. I came to share Jesus with people that don't know 73 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:56,400 him. And so I said, well, if that's what you want to do, so that, you know, we pack them up the next 74 00:07:56,400 --> 00:08:01,680 morning, all their bags and billums, you know, string bags of their personal supplies and 75 00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:08,640 put his wife and these two children. And then we began this journey back to this tribal group, 76 00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:16,720 which required going up our river into a tributary, going up this tributary that just got narrow and 77 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:22,800 narrow until we really couldn't go anymore. Then we had to climb up over a mountain, drop back down 78 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:28,320 the other side, wade the stream, the river with kids and supplies, kids supplies, everybody carrying 79 00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:35,440 everything in their backs. And yeah, you know, so literally it took like eight hours to get there 80 00:08:35,440 --> 00:08:42,000 from the time we left till we got into the where they're a semi permanent village is. And so, 81 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:50,720 you know, and I'll never forget it, you guys. So we got there. And what is there? This tribal group 82 00:08:52,720 --> 00:09:02,640 who didn't know Jesus, this tribal group who'd been sending messages that we want to hear about 83 00:09:02,640 --> 00:09:09,600 the Christian God had built a house for someone to come tell them about Jesus. 84 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:16,000 That's great. It was already built. They built a little bush house for a missionary 85 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:24,080 to come tell them about Jesus. And not only that, they built a little bush church, 86 00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:31,680 a bush house that they could start worshiping a God that they didn't even know in being taught by 87 00:09:31,680 --> 00:09:37,680 a missionary that they had never met or never seen or never had a promise that they would actually 88 00:09:37,680 --> 00:09:45,760 get one. But they'd done it all in preparation for that. And the story of the, you know, the two 89 00:09:45,760 --> 00:09:51,920 farmers that prayed for rain and one of them planted right and showing their faith in God. 90 00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:59,520 You know, when I speak of that his his signatures and all of creation, right, that you can see God 91 00:09:59,520 --> 00:10:06,480 and everything that they saw God in it enough to build things enough to have faith, which is incredible, 92 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:11,920 like tremendously incredible. And then God blessed them with what they were longing for, 93 00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:16,320 people to guide them. Yeah, just amazing. You know, I just remember it brought tears to my eyes. 94 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:22,160 Now, so this family, it reminded me of you because he had two kids and the wife and said, 95 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:26,720 we're going and then you didn't know what you were going into really. And then you're like, 96 00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:32,320 I'm taking a family anyway. And so it was like them. Like, but different because he knew because 97 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:36,960 he scouted ahead. He went ahead and then he collected for sure. But and they were just like, 98 00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:43,920 let's do this. So at what were you scared for his kids and his family because there wasn't that 99 00:10:43,920 --> 00:10:50,400 possible. There was no certainty that there is there is an again, unknown area that you're going to 100 00:10:51,040 --> 00:10:55,840 or not well known. And if something happens, you are cut off. Easy. 101 00:10:56,640 --> 00:11:00,960 But it's like, how uneasy that make you feel before you were like, fine, you want to go, let's go. 102 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:06,720 Well, you know, Andrew and his wife, Anna, right? Anna was his wife, I believe so. It's been a long 103 00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:13,040 time. But yeah, Anna was so and you know, Andrew and Anna were New Guineans used to living at a 104 00:11:13,040 --> 00:11:18,720 village level, used to growing stuff in the jungle. So it wouldn't have been like me going in there. 105 00:11:19,520 --> 00:11:23,440 Right. But still, it was completely unknown because they could have we could have gone there. 106 00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:29,680 There would be nothing for them to live in. Right. But when we got there, there was a house 107 00:11:29,680 --> 00:11:37,360 and a church that they had built for that purpose. So they wouldn't face the same risk that I would. 108 00:11:37,360 --> 00:11:44,080 We knew that the tribal group wanted someone to come. So we kind of expected there would be openness. 109 00:11:44,080 --> 00:11:49,280 We just didn't know the level of preparation. Yeah. You know, but God meant God, he was done. 110 00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:56,400 You know, he was just done, which was amazing. Just like your house. So yeah, exactly. So I'll 111 00:11:56,400 --> 00:12:04,000 never forget that night. You know, I met with a village leader and leaders and I said, listen, 112 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:09,760 I want you to gather your people tomorrow. Get gather, tell them to come here so that we can 113 00:12:09,760 --> 00:12:16,560 talk about what it means to have this man and his family come be here to tell you about God. 114 00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:21,120 And so they said, okay, and so I'll never forget. I went to bed that night 115 00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:28,400 and get up early the next morning and came down to the river to kind of wash, you know, wash my face 116 00:12:28,400 --> 00:12:35,120 in hands along the edge of the little river there. And as I'm kneeling there, you know, 117 00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:41,840 splashing water in my face and kind of cleaning up a little bit, I look up and come in, you know, 118 00:12:41,840 --> 00:12:48,880 from up the river and coming from down the river and coming from across the river where people 119 00:12:48,880 --> 00:12:54,880 streaming these. I mean, I don't like using the word primitive, primitive by our standards, 120 00:12:54,880 --> 00:12:59,760 but you know, it's just how they live, right? You know, but these men and women coming out of the 121 00:12:59,760 --> 00:13:07,280 jungle, nothing but grass, skirts for the women, mere nakedness for the men, carrying children, 122 00:13:07,280 --> 00:13:13,600 you know, coming streaming together into this place to hear the word of God for the first time 123 00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:19,760 in their lives. It's just amazing, you know. And so we gathered them that morning and, you know, 124 00:13:19,760 --> 00:13:25,680 just, you know, talk to them. I had a little worship with them, you know, began to tell them a 125 00:13:25,680 --> 00:13:31,920 little bit of the story of God. And, you know, we prepped Andrew with the resources he needed. 126 00:13:32,560 --> 00:13:36,720 And you know, just talked what it meant for them to have him there and how they needed to care for 127 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:42,880 him. And of course, God had already been preparing their heart for that. And so, yeah, Andrew and 128 00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:51,360 Anna moved in with their children. And today, there's a church and Christians, many Christians 129 00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:57,440 that live there at that village because of what Andrew and Anna did. They moved in, they began 130 00:13:57,440 --> 00:14:04,160 sharing, they sacrificed, because it was a sacrifice for them. Eventually, they left and we sent our 131 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:11,200 first, May River, our first EWAP missionary, went back to continue the work that they did. And 132 00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:15,680 eventually, you remember a session or two ago, we talked about young Jacob, little Jacob with the 133 00:14:15,680 --> 00:14:22,880 wheelbarrow. Jacob and his wife went there to continue that work. And, you know, that was his 134 00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:29,680 first mission venture. And so, yeah, because of the work that Andrew and Mottipus and Jacob, 135 00:14:29,680 --> 00:14:36,720 a church was planted there among that tribal group. And just, just amazing, you know, amazing what God 136 00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:44,720 does. He keeps showing up in these stories over and over. I love it. It would be hard as a Christian 137 00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:51,360 to not see Jesus or God in the story that you just told. And when you consider all of them that you 138 00:14:51,360 --> 00:14:58,720 have shared with us in culmination so far, and every single one of them has, oh my goodness moments, 139 00:14:58,720 --> 00:15:03,440 like, oh praise Jesus moments, every single one, what a blessed encounter that you had. And, 140 00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:09,040 you know, you could easily walk away looking at your eight years as being one holy, perfect, 141 00:15:09,040 --> 00:15:14,640 righteous, touched, amazing, miraculous event. And you would lose sight on all the suffering that 142 00:15:14,640 --> 00:15:20,160 you guys did in order to experience all the same things, right? Because it wasn't, it wasn't a cake 143 00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:26,720 walk. It was not a cake walk. It was, it was nothing but blood, sweat, and tears. Yeah. And 144 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:36,640 extreme heat. And hunger. And hunger. And malaria. Hepatitis. Crocodiles. Yeah, that's a story for 145 00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:42,640 another time. Well, hey, you know, while God was doing that, Belinda was doing a lot of other things. 146 00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:49,680 And so we're just, Belinda is going to tell the story of her ministry among the women there. 147 00:15:50,320 --> 00:15:54,480 So when we moved there, I was trying to figure out what I could do to reach out to the women. 148 00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:59,920 And quite a few of them, the government there in Papua New Guinea, the language of education was 149 00:15:59,920 --> 00:16:04,720 English. So they had sent out periodically, they'd sent school teachers out to May River. 150 00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:09,360 But the school teachers, it was way too primitive and they could never get them to stay very long. 151 00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:14,640 So the education there, every year, you know, kids would join and get a little bit of schooling. 152 00:16:14,640 --> 00:16:18,480 And then the teacher would leave because they'd go out to get their pay because they didn't have 153 00:16:18,480 --> 00:16:22,960 good support. And then they wouldn't come back. And it just happened year after year. Anyway, 154 00:16:22,960 --> 00:16:28,960 so a few of the women had had schooling and learned how to read English. But English was not 155 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:34,320 language that most of them were comfortable in. Ben, when we worked with him, he knew English well 156 00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:38,960 and we could speak English until we learned the language. But most of these women didn't know 157 00:16:38,960 --> 00:16:45,520 English well. And so I decided that Wycliffe translators had just gotten the Bible translated 158 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:50,720 into the trade language, Melanesian talk, Pigeon. When we got there, it had just been printed. 159 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:57,120 And so we had brought a bunch of Bibles with us. And Melanesian Pigeon is a very simple vocabulary, 160 00:16:57,120 --> 00:17:03,440 I think just 1300 words. And it's a mix of German and English and Spanish and tribal words, 161 00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:08,240 tribal words all put together. But it's very phonetic, very phonetic. And at the same time, 162 00:17:08,240 --> 00:17:13,680 our oldest son, Aaron, I was just trying to teach him how to read. And so I said, you know, 163 00:17:13,680 --> 00:17:19,280 I can use these same principles to teach the women how to read and talk Pigeon. So we got the Bibles 164 00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:27,280 out. I got my phonics cards out in the bowels and started to gather a group of women every afternoon. 165 00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:32,480 I'd homeschool my oldest son, the oldest two in the morning and then in the afternoon while the 166 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:37,600 kids were playing under the house, I'd get the women together and start teaching them phonics 167 00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:42,160 and different things and how to put words together, how to put the constants together with the words, 168 00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:49,600 the bowels. And anyway, so several of the women started to take off and started to really learn. 169 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:54,160 And my goal was so that when we gathered for church, they could read the Bible for themselves. 170 00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:58,240 It wasn't just a man thing because a lot of them could read automatically, but the women, 171 00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:04,480 it was they hadn't had nearly as much chance for education. And so several did really well and we 172 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:10,480 got off really well. But there was one every week, she would come down from another village 173 00:18:10,480 --> 00:18:14,880 upriver and her husband would come and John was actually working with a group of men from that 174 00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:19,360 village to start a church there. And they would come and do Bible studies with John. And so the 175 00:18:19,360 --> 00:18:25,520 women would gather at my house. And this one woman, her name was Leti. And she was just, 176 00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:30,560 they all, when they, a lot of them, when they were little, they had malaria and the malaria, 177 00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:34,640 because if you don't treat it well and stuff, they didn't have all the medicine right away. 178 00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:39,040 I can't even remember the word, but they, their brains were not well. I mean, 179 00:18:39,040 --> 00:18:45,840 super high super high gavers and affected their brains. And so set what, quite a few of them just 180 00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:50,480 struggled, you know, I'm not, I don't want to say they weren't intelligent, but they just had a 181 00:18:50,480 --> 00:18:54,480 harder time because you knew that you saw them and you knew the her brains were burned by 182 00:18:54,480 --> 00:18:59,840 malaria, little fevers, you know, if it just really affected them anyway, Leti just struggled and 183 00:18:59,840 --> 00:19:05,360 she could not get the blending of the vows with the constant soup. You know, when finally the kids 184 00:19:05,360 --> 00:19:09,680 get it, when you blend the constant and the vowel, I can read and put words together, you know, 185 00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:14,320 but she just never got to that point. And every day, every time she came down, we struggled. 186 00:19:15,040 --> 00:19:20,960 And so there was one day she came down and oh, at the same time, we had another couple join us 187 00:19:20,960 --> 00:19:25,760 two years in, they were both nurses and they helped us run the health center that was given to us. 188 00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:30,720 So they lived just, just down the hill from us. We built a house. We were really close. 189 00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:36,560 Anyway, Holly Lackey, she, we had gotten these sewing machines that were just hand crank, hand 190 00:19:36,560 --> 00:19:42,320 crank sewing machines. And she was teaching and you could get both the material quite easily, 191 00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:47,520 quite cheaply in the stores in town, Chinese stuff. And so she would bring back both the 192 00:19:47,520 --> 00:19:51,760 material and then she would have sewing classes for the women to teach them how to 193 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:56,800 make simple clothing. And she'd actually gotten, we'd gotten money and she'd invested in a few 194 00:19:56,800 --> 00:20:00,800 machines that hand crank machines that she sent out into the villages where women could start 195 00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:06,640 sewing their own clothes. Anyway, so she'd had a sewing class in the morning and then the 196 00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:12,800 Leti and several others came to my house and that, in the afternoon to do it for the reading class. 197 00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:17,600 And so Leti sat there that day and as I held out the flash cards and put the vowels out and the 198 00:20:17,600 --> 00:20:23,120 constant sounds, she got every one of them. She just went through every one of them and she was 199 00:20:23,120 --> 00:20:28,160 kidding it. And so I finally looked at her and I said, Leti, you know, because I had just a 200 00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:32,240 spirit of Leti learning, you know, I just said, she's just not going to be able to learn. And I 201 00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:37,760 looked at her and I said, Leti, what happened? And she said, well, you know, down there at Holly's 202 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:43,440 class and Holly always started with a Bible study and just praying with them. And Holly was just 203 00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:50,000 an amazing prayer warrior. And Leti said, just Holly just prayed for us. And she said, I know that 204 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:56,320 my brains, you know, the pigeon term was her brain was closed, my brain's closed and I can't get 205 00:20:56,320 --> 00:21:01,520 anything in. And she said, Holly, just prayed for our brains to be open and for God's light to come 206 00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:08,000 in. And she said, I just felt God coming and opening my brain. And she just picked up after that. 207 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:13,440 She just picked it up and was able to read. And pretty soon we had a little church going up there. 208 00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:18,560 Her husband was the main leader of our church up there. But it was just an amazing experience to 209 00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:25,280 see these women and most of the women while I was there, were actually what we're able to learn to 210 00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:30,160 read and write and let out in our worships and in the afternoon services. Every Saturday afternoon, 211 00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:34,960 we had a little Vespers and they would lead out and just to see their Bibles open and they could 212 00:21:34,960 --> 00:21:39,440 follow along. And it was just, it was just an amazing experience. It must have been a relief. 213 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:46,160 Like, Oh, she got it. Yeah. At the same time, though, you know, answered prayer like immediately, 214 00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:52,480 prayed for some healing, prayed for restorative power and see the fruit of it to see like you 215 00:21:52,480 --> 00:21:57,280 knew you knew that she was you couldn't be on your capability and your resources to help her. 216 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:03,920 And you saw her read. Yeah, that is amazing. Blows me away. Yeah. You mentioned earlier 217 00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:09,040 that a lot of the men could read, but the women couldn't. Is it because they wouldn't 218 00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:15,040 bother sending the girls to school? It wasn't as much of a priority. I think back then. So again, 219 00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:24,640 what would happen every year the government would try and send out a teacher. They would be there 220 00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:31,520 for a few months and the kids, the boys just seemed to get it and the girls just didn't get as much 221 00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:36,640 priority. Yeah, I think they were needed at home to help take care of the younger children or the 222 00:22:36,640 --> 00:22:43,120 babies or, you know, and just not as many wasn't just a priority for them. And so just to continue 223 00:22:43,120 --> 00:22:48,000 real quick after I taught the ladies to read and write, after that there was a group of young people 224 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:54,960 that I'd worked with. I started our Sabbath school, you know, Sunday school with them and then got 225 00:22:54,960 --> 00:23:00,080 them through all the divisions, got them older and older. And I trained women to take care of the 226 00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:04,800 younger kids. And I kept working with the older ones every week to teach them Bible stories and 227 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:09,600 stuff. And there was a group of them that had had some schooling too, and we're fairly bright and 228 00:23:09,600 --> 00:23:15,200 we're good at English. And so we decided that they needed more education and our church actually had 229 00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:21,760 a mission school out in a couple hours away. I don't remember where, oh, down. About six or eight 230 00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:26,560 hours. Yeah, so we decided that we'd invest in them and send them out to mission school, but I knew 231 00:23:26,560 --> 00:23:31,440 I had to get them up to par. So I started teaching them so that they could start at sixth grade, 232 00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:35,920 because the mission school started at sixth grade and most of these kids had it. They weren't really 233 00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:40,480 sixth grade equivalents. So I would start working with them to teach them to read and write in English. 234 00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:45,440 I got a bunch of books in English and just up their vocabulary because all that mission school was 235 00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:51,680 going to be in English. And so I taught the math. And so we sent four or five out to the mission 236 00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:58,160 school. And one of them actually, Jacob was one of them. And he's the one that is our leading pastor 237 00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:03,200 there now in the area. And he actually went to the Kameke. And he's quote seminary, you know, 238 00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:11,120 not university, but like a Bible school that just gave him more advanced education and leadership 239 00:24:11,120 --> 00:24:18,160 skills. But it's one of those, I think most of those kids, young kids back then are all still main 240 00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:25,840 leaders in the churches that are there now. That's awesome. All right. You know, the journey there, 241 00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:32,560 Joshua, you referenced earlier, you know, that it wasn't all roses and butterflies. Right. 242 00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:36,400 It wasn't just from one miracle to the next through the next experiencing God's kindness and all 243 00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:42,480 its splendor. Yeah. And so I want to tell a story that kind of goes down that path. There was a man 244 00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:50,160 by the name of Moby who was one of the key elders in the village, village level elders, not church 245 00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:56,320 elder, but he's an elder in the village. The Iwan people didn't have a main leader, but all the old 246 00:24:56,320 --> 00:25:02,000 men were your leaders. You know, they were the ones that they were called the big men. They were 247 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:05,840 the men that everybody looked to because they knew the history and they knew their people and they 248 00:25:05,840 --> 00:25:10,720 knew the culture and they knew the customs. And so with decisions had to be made, you know, these 249 00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:16,160 were the men you look to. And Moby, he tolerated us, we'll say that's probably the best word. 250 00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:24,160 But as people began to come to Christ, while on the outward side, he was friendly, 251 00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:30,240 he behind the scenes was always working to drag people back into the culture, into the 252 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:36,240 fear and manipulation of spiritual forces. And so it was always a struggle with Moby and 253 00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:42,320 you always knew that influence was there, you know, keeping him from, I mean, that influence of 254 00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:47,200 trying to keep people from leaning into Jesus. And he was doing it because he's afraid, right? 255 00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:52,480 That's all it was. He was afraid that, you know, if we leave our culture, what's going to happen? 256 00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:59,200 You know, the spirits are going to react. And so, you know, this went on for some time and then 257 00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:06,160 Moby got sick. And coming to our clinic and our flying doctorate program, we eventually found out 258 00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:12,160 he had spinal tuberculosis, which was nothing that could be done for, you know, for that. 259 00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:18,000 And that was in that environment, this primitive, primitive environment. And so, you know, he just 260 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:24,320 continued to deteriorate. And one Friday, I'll never forget, I was at home and I heard the 261 00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:32,720 wails from across the river. And I knew that Moby must have died. And I knew that that meant that 262 00:26:32,720 --> 00:26:38,080 that evening I was going to need to go down the hill, cross the river, and go over to the village, 263 00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:45,360 and go up into the morning hut with the village. And so after getting our kids to bed that evening, 264 00:26:45,360 --> 00:26:51,760 you know, I did go down the hill, got him my little log canoe, paddled across the river in the dark, 265 00:26:51,760 --> 00:27:00,560 and went up into that hut. And as I go into that hut, you guys, there is, it's a scene that is forever 266 00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:07,760 printed on my mind. I've gone through it several times there, that this was the first. And, you know, 267 00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:16,880 as I climb up into this large, primitive hut, the body is laying in the middle of the floor. 268 00:27:16,880 --> 00:27:24,800 And on that body are probably 10 to 15 men. They're just writhing and screaming and wailing on top of 269 00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:32,240 the dead body. And the truth is, as he near death, they probably actually crushed the life out of them 270 00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:39,600 in those final moments as they pressed onto him. And they're mourning, they're wailing, they're calling 271 00:27:39,600 --> 00:27:48,160 out, you know, oh, Moby, what happened to you? Who killed you? Who cast the spell? Because in the 272 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:55,840 Iwan imagination, in the Iwan belief system, all death has spiritual causation. All death. You 273 00:27:55,840 --> 00:28:01,920 just don't die. It happens because the spirits of God evolved. You did something wrong, or somebody 274 00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:08,640 cast a spell on you. And the reason they're wanting to know, the reason they're calling out to Moby's 275 00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:16,240 spirit is because if they can find out who did it, then they can revenge. They can get revenge by 276 00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:23,520 casting a spell or just keeping a cycle of pain and trauma going on, you know, in the tribe. And so 277 00:28:23,520 --> 00:28:29,600 these men are on top of this body, and they're just wailing and the nasal mucus is just streaming 278 00:28:29,600 --> 00:28:36,640 down their faces and onto themselves and onto the body. Around the body are probably 15, 20 women 279 00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:42,640 and nothing but grass skirts, and they have sharpened spears and canoe paddles and arrows, 280 00:28:42,640 --> 00:28:49,680 and they're just dancing around the pile of writhing human flesh. And they're dancing around it, 281 00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:58,160 and they're poking the pile. They're just poking the pile, and it's all an attempt to show Moby, 282 00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:05,360 in this case, how sorry they were for his death. They were demonstrating that we were just devastated 283 00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:11,040 by this Moby, because they're also wanting Moby not to be unhappy with them in the end, 284 00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:19,040 and do something that is not favorable to the village or to the community. And so it's a site, 285 00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:24,880 and just imagine, you know, it's probably 95 degrees inside that hut, and the humidity is 286 00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:30,960 near 100%. And you've just, you know, I'm in this large hut, there's probably 50, 60, 70 people in 287 00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:38,240 there. And it's just, it's a shocking site. It's impossible to really describe how shocking it is 288 00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:45,680 to see this. And so I went to the site, and I sat along the outer wall, and I watched, and I sat there 289 00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:52,880 for hour after hour after hour after as they wailed, and they mourned, and they sought spirits 290 00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:58,960 to determine what happened with Moby. And it was finally near midnight when I got up, you know, 291 00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:05,680 I was sitting with some mother-man and talking, trying to discern, you know, learn what's going on. 292 00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:14,160 And finally, about near midnight, I got up to leave. And I said the appropriate words to people, 293 00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:22,160 and then I crossed the hut, and as I went down the notch log ladder, and I made my way toward my 294 00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:32,000 canoe above and beyond the human whales, I heard the voices of demonic beings mixing their whales 295 00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:39,840 with the cries of a lost to deepen their sense of lostness. It was so powerful. It was so overwhelming. 296 00:30:39,840 --> 00:30:46,640 And actually cast me into the bottom of my canoe, every hair on my head, on my body just standing 297 00:30:46,640 --> 00:30:52,560 up, and I just fell on my face in the bottom of that canoe and just began pleading with God, 298 00:30:52,560 --> 00:30:59,200 pleading with God, because I realized, you know, Josh and Shelley in that moment, if ever up to 299 00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:05,920 that point, I ever believed that John Kent could do anything to save the Ewok, it was forever 300 00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:13,680 eliminated in that moment, because I knew in that moment that Jesus and only Jesus could ever deliver 301 00:31:13,680 --> 00:31:21,840 the Ewok people from the power of those demonic forces who were not just ideas, these were real 302 00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:30,320 beings that they interacted with on a daily basis. They interacted with these demonic beings. 303 00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:36,480 And, you know, it just, it really was a place of profound humbling, a profound sense of, 304 00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:43,280 you know, ineptitude, really, inability to do anything at a human level. And, you know, 305 00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:49,520 just part of the journey of learning how to trust Christ more and more and more as we 306 00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:54,400 leaned into the, to the journey of bringing the gospel to the Ewok people. 307 00:31:54,960 --> 00:32:02,480 It's interesting that you said that he openly was friendly. He openly was nice. He openly was kind, 308 00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:08,640 but behind he was trying to drag people back to his way of life, the original way of life. 309 00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:15,760 And at his funeral, that you hear these voices at his funeral, that he is that instrument in 310 00:32:15,760 --> 00:32:20,560 their village, and that's what you hear. I find that very interesting that that was attached to him. 311 00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:27,680 Because you didn't hear that all the time. No, no, no. In fact, it's the first and only time that I, 312 00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:37,280 you know, actually audibly heard the voices of demonic beings. So, yeah, you know, the journey, 313 00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:44,480 it was full of emotional ups and downs and places of amazing miracles, like a village, 314 00:32:45,040 --> 00:32:51,200 you know, building a house and a church for a missionary to teach them about a God they didn't 315 00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:57,920 even know before he ever got there. You know, moments like Leti and God doing a miracle in her 316 00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:05,840 brain at the same time, the constant awareness that we're fighting a spiritual battle that's not 317 00:33:05,840 --> 00:33:12,640 something that we can, you can't just deal with that on human terms, right? Right. In this space, 318 00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:17,520 Jesus and only Jesus can do it. It reminds me of the book I've been listening to, 319 00:33:17,520 --> 00:33:22,320 because reading it is a little too hard. Well, it's an easy book. It's just hard to fit in, 320 00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:27,840 so I listen to it. The Third Heaven Authority, it teaches you how to pray from heaven's perspective. 321 00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:35,280 And so you are at the throne with Christ, and you pray over the situation, not from underneath it. 322 00:33:35,280 --> 00:33:41,840 And then he tells you, take your warfare from here, and you cast confusion among the ranks of 323 00:33:41,840 --> 00:33:50,880 the demons and just break off all opposition and it's just pray over the situation instead of from 324 00:33:51,760 --> 00:33:58,000 your heaven or your earthly perspective. So what went through your mind when they were morning 325 00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:01,520 until midnight, like when you're sitting there, were you praying for these people 326 00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:07,520 in the morning hot? Like what was going through your head? Yeah, so absolutely. I'm just, I'm 327 00:34:07,520 --> 00:34:13,440 there praying. Two things are going on. Number one, I'm observing, just trying to understand, 328 00:34:13,440 --> 00:34:19,040 to observe what they're doing. And because I believe that's really important in missions and 329 00:34:19,040 --> 00:34:23,600 in ministry, we need to be intelligent. So I'm just trying to understand their culture. 330 00:34:24,320 --> 00:34:30,320 I'm just asking a few questions to those around me to help me understand it. But definitely, 331 00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:38,320 you know, the shock of it, again, there's, it's very difficult for anybody not having been there 332 00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:47,200 to actually be able to grasp that picture, right? And the smell and this noise, the sights, the sounds, 333 00:34:47,200 --> 00:34:55,360 the smell, you know, everything about it is just visceral to me today. But yeah, so I'm just praying, 334 00:34:55,360 --> 00:35:02,080 you know, Lord, you know, how do we reach this people? You know, what do we do? How do we continue 335 00:35:02,080 --> 00:35:07,840 to bring the gospel to them? How, you know, and I'm seeing a picture of something that 336 00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:16,480 I hadn't seen before, which only deepens my own sense of need for Jesus and for his power 337 00:35:16,480 --> 00:35:25,120 and his presence as we reach out to the people. Yeah, I believe that's 100% a Jesus thing that 338 00:35:25,120 --> 00:35:32,160 you recognize your need for him, no matter how far advanced you think you are from another person, 339 00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:37,200 you don't consider it. You consider your need for Jesus like anybody else's need for Jesus. 340 00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:42,080 I think that's what separates us from most non-Christians is the way we think of things. 341 00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:50,000 We're willing to put ourselves at the same level as other people and we shouldn't be willing to 342 00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:54,960 laud ourselves above other people in any way and that should be the dividing line. 343 00:35:57,760 --> 00:36:02,800 But also that different perspective, when death comes, you're like celebrating like, hey, 344 00:36:03,920 --> 00:36:09,520 you don't have to deal with this realm anymore. It's good for the one that it's going to Jesus, 345 00:36:09,520 --> 00:36:14,480 not so good for their family. Yeah, the ones that live behind. Well, thank you so much for 346 00:36:14,480 --> 00:36:20,320 sharing these stories. I love how God keeps showing up in the most unexpected ways, like you're 347 00:36:20,320 --> 00:36:27,760 praying with anticipation and faith that things are going to change and then sometimes when you 348 00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:35,840 give up, that's when he shows up. For instance, I had no bookings for a while and it was our move 349 00:36:35,840 --> 00:36:42,640 and all these things were just the schedule wasn't regular because of the move. I couldn't book. I 350 00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:49,360 had a whiteout and I said, I prayed for the bookings but then I said, thank you so much for all my 351 00:36:49,360 --> 00:36:56,320 bookings and once I found the right next person, all the rest fell in line. It's just like when 352 00:36:56,320 --> 00:37:02,080 you surrender and you just you're at the end of your rope that gives God the chance to show up. 353 00:37:02,080 --> 00:37:06,800 Yeah, we were talking about this morning how difficult it is for certain people like my wife 354 00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:12,400 who has this need for controlling every aspect of how she wants to get this done 355 00:37:13,680 --> 00:37:20,960 to have to surrender that to God is very difficult for her. But she did it and look at her go. 356 00:37:20,960 --> 00:37:25,680 And now I have plans because I like going like that. And all it does is for him to teach her 357 00:37:25,680 --> 00:37:30,880 more and more to release that to him more and more and stepping into it and granted giving her 358 00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:38,880 baby steps so she doesn't fight back too much. Well, listen, or if this episode has blessed you, 359 00:37:38,880 --> 00:37:44,880 we ask that you pass it along. Check out the other episodes that the kens have been in and 360 00:37:44,880 --> 00:37:49,120 you will be blessed. I feel that God has a message for everybody in every episode. 361 00:37:49,680 --> 00:37:53,920 And he wants to speak to you. He wants that relationship with you. So call out to him, 362 00:37:53,920 --> 00:38:00,320 reach if you're distant from him. He is just waiting for you and he is, he just can't wait. 363 00:38:01,280 --> 00:38:07,680 And also if you'd like to help us with our little mission, we have links for donations 364 00:38:07,680 --> 00:38:12,400 in the about section of the podcast. So whatever you're comfortable with and whatever the spirit 365 00:38:12,400 --> 00:38:17,760 leads you to, that would be amazing and it would help us a lot. And we'll also take prayers. 366 00:38:17,760 --> 00:38:25,120 And with that, we'll talk to you next time.