Two thousand Bibles were delivered to a Papuan tribe
The Papuan tribe joyfully welcomed the plane that brought extra copies of the Bible in their own language. However, the story was very different five decades ago in the community when missionaries were received with hostility.
The people of Yali tribe rejoiced as they received more than two thousand copies of Bibles in their native language. However, in 1968, this same tribe attacked the two men who visited their island to convert the people to Christianity shooting them with over 200 arrows until their bodies gave in.
The story did not end there. Just three months later, a plane sent by Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) tragically crashed nearby. Everyone on the plane perished except for 10-year-old Paul Newman. He escaped the wreckage and a Yali man who had opposed killing the two missionaries, rescued the boy until he could hand him over to search team.
The Yali people took this second encounter with the outside world as a sign and asked for a missionary to come live with them.
Linda Ringenberg from MAF in Papua shares the excitement of these tribal Christians. “They were so thrilled to be getting these Bibles…. They had run out of Bibles for the community, so their church organisation — known as GIDI here in Indonesia — had arranged to purchase more Bibles and to ship them here to Papua and to distribute them through MAF.”
Source: Perscution.org
