The Little Bride

She came walking down the muddy jungle trail… crying so hard she could hardly see where to place her feet.  She was only 10 years old, dressed in a small palm skirt. As she wiped away her tears and dried her hands on her skirt she would pause, look back up the hill and start crying again.  Each time she looked the two men on the ridge started laughing.

The missionary explained to me that one of the jeering men was her father. He had just sold her to be the wife of the other man. Using shell money they bartered on her bride price. Now she was obligated to follow her new husband hours away to live with his other wives and children. She was a piece of property just like the pigs that would sleep inches below her in the women’s house.

The father carefully tucked each piece of the shell money in a special knit bag and trod down the trail to get his little girl ready for her trip.

Tears and laughing happen at our well planned marriages as well.  But not these kinds of tears and not this kind of laughter. This is much different – It happens in an animistic society where women are treated as property and can be bartered and sold.

Things are changing.  God is changing lives among the tribal peoples where New Tribes Mission works. At www.ntm.org you can find stories of how marriages and families of tribal believers impact their communities and bring light to those around them.  

Recently in a small tribal village in the Sepik I heard the story of tribal husbands working for days and then using their wages to purchase their wives gifts. And another where a believing husband refused to beat his argumentative wife and ultimately led her to faith Christ.

I thank the Lord for you who have partnered with us to see God’s Word change lives.

And you, who are wondering how you can get involved, read these stories. Visit ntm.org and follow what God is doing. We post daily the most amazing stories and give you opportunity for an online gift.  Together we can be a part of the incredible work that God is doing in some of the remotest areas of the world.