Wikipai has died.
The Dao Bible teacher seemed for a time to be recovering from the illness that struck him as he taught in an unreached Dao village. However, the missionaries to the Dao people learned this week that he had unexpectedly died last week, leaving behind his wife, Moipi, and their two children.
At least Wikipai was prepared. Earlier he had said:
No man knows the day that I will die, but the Creator knows. Will I die while I am young? Will I die while my wife and I have only cut the cords of two children? Will I die when I am old and have lived a long life? No man can know such things, but the Creator knows. And if I die while I am still young, then the Creator has chosen that for me. I am ready to go up to that good place above the sky and live with Jesus.
And in a way, his eulogy was presented before his death.
The leader of the organization that provides helicopter service to many missionaries in Indonesia, Switzerland-based Helimission, was coming to the area and asked to visit the Dao people. The missionaries and the people were glad to welcome Simon Tanner, and the Dao believers decided to have a feast to show their appreciation for him and his organization.
At the celebration, Kopeedi told him, “If it wasn’t for you …, we would still this day be living in darkness with no knowledge of what Jesus has done for us. We thank you for carrying the message bearers here so that we could hear of Jesus!”
Then Simon turned the celebration on its ear – in a good way. He told them it was a privilege to be used by God to help take the Gospel to people such as the Daos, and then he spoke about Wikipai and his fellow teacher, Daapoi.
“I have heard of how they have been faithfully teaching God’s Word here. … I have heard about how they have encountered many challenges and sicknesses in they’re trying to carry the Message of Jesus to [another village] … and I have great respect for these two men.
“We have come here also to show our appreciation to them.”
With that, he presented each of them with a SwissArmy knife, which he had carried all the way from Switzerland for them.
“The Dao people thought that they had gathered for a special feast just to honor Helimission,” wrote missionaries Scott and Jennie Phillips, “but it … ended up being a feast that the visitors had used to honor the first two Dao Bible teachers and evangelists, Wikipai and Daapoi.”
Scott and Jennie are deeply saddened, but they know God will use even Wikipai’s death for His glory. And Scott feels he has learned something important from Wikipai.
“I feel like he has shown me how to die well,” Scott wrote.
“Because when I die, I want my last weeks to have been spent on the front lines. I want my last days to have been spent commending Jesus to the unreached with a smile on my face no matter how much pain I may be in. And I want my last words to have been spent pointing my family, friends and all those around me towards the Creator so that He is the one people are left looking at – not me.”
[…] You see, he had heard that ever since Wikipai, a Dao Bible teacher, died, people have heard strange noises and what they call “evil spirit voices” from the direction where he is buried. In October, we told you about his illness and his death. […]