Prayer Letter - New Guinea
News
April 21, 2005
The Neighbor is a Ghost
The tree "where he lives" with our house in the background
"The evil spirit kept hitting me on the head with the plank, and
that is why I had such a bad headache," I was told by the man who
held his head reflecting on the pain he had experienced. We had just
returned to the tribe after the week long annual missionary
conference at our mission base in Hoskins. I had asked a man and his
wife (from Patpatar) to stay in my office while we were gone to
watch over the houses. They had agreed.
When I asked the man how things had gone he told me pretty well
except for the spirit that lived in the large tree near our house.
This was news to me so I asked him about it. He told me that the
first night he had a terrible headache. He couldn't figure out why.
He went down on the beach and tried to sleep. While he was sleeping
he saw a spirit (like a man) in the big tree. He came down from the
tree and started hitting the man on the head. The man told me that
he asked the spirit to stop, but he wouldn't because he (the man)
did not belong in this area. The man woke up with a throbbing head
and left the area. When he did, his headache stopped. When I asked
him more questions he told me that he had gone around and asked
several people if a spirit lived in that tree and many told him that
one did. The one thing he couldn't figure out was why the spirit
hadn't bothered us and made us sick.
We are well aware that the spirit world is real. As we get to
know the culture more and more we are hearing more stories like
this. Whether this story I was told is simply a fear of myth because
of the darkness they live in or if it has some truth to it we do not
know, but we know that "greater is He that is in us than he that is
in the world." We also know that He desires the Patpatar to know the
truth, and the truth will set them free. Thank you for your prayers
for us, our ministry, and the Patpatar people.
We just got word that our partners the Kunzers will be returning
to Patpatar in July. Please pray: for their last few months in
America; for their travel arrangement and details; and for the
needed finances to pay off there tickets and some other costs.
All For Him,
Aaron (for the family)
