![\"3-16-2009_006-crop\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/randy-smyth\/files\/2014\/10\/3-16-2009_006-crop.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nA growing stream of visitors came to talk, gawk and inquire. People packed the porch in front of our dwelling.<\/p>\n
Children stared at us with wide eyes. They had been told we might\u00a0eat them.<\/p>\n
As darkness fell, a rhythm, beat out on a row of brass\u00a0gongs, prompted feet to move in slow martial arts dances with swinging machetes. \u00a0Tunics made of colored beads adorned some of the dancers. As they waved their fancy long knives\u00a0human hair dangled from\u00a0the bone handle.<\/p>\n
Villagers\u00a0drank from glasses filled from vats full of rice wine. \u00a0Everyone was asked to drink or at least touch the glass to appease the ancestral spirits. \u00a0Some also drank from glass bottles marked 100 proof.<\/p>\n
Voices of people speaking in a language we did not understand rose and fell all through the night. Loud gongs three feet in diameter punctuated the music into the early morning. \u00a0Though exhausted from two long days of river travel, we did not sleep much that night.<\/p>\n
That was the village where I learned to personally apply a previously memorized verse.<\/p>\n
Psalm 23:4 “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”<\/em><\/p>\n At times, it was a slow, deliberate choice to trust God. He brought us there. He would guide, provide and protect until He had something better for us.<\/p>\n How would we bring the Gospel to these people? Did they have any knowledge of the Creator God? \u00a0To whom did they feel accountable? \u00a0Did they have a concept of sin? What would it take to accomplish our objective?<\/p>\n Two years later, as we watched the Da’an people feed rice offerings to their wooden army\u00a0guarding the river, we had learned enough to grasp some of the answers. \u00a0They tied a large rattan vine all the way across the river to warn travelers: Do Not Pass. They cut back the jungle overgrowth, refreshed the armaments of their wooden army and placed food offerings on\u00a0them while speaking\u00a0special incantations.<\/p>\n In the village, they offered animal sacrifices of chickens or pigs to appease the spirits and collected the blood. They\u00a0waved special fronds dipped in the blood around the inside of the\u00a0houses to chase out the evil spirits. \u00a0They nailed a stick figure of a person to the door post, applied blood and, next to it, mounted a small basket of food.<\/p>\n Working their way systematically through the village, they arrived at the river. They built a raft on which they placed offerings of cooked samples of secret rices and included their normal\u00a0white rice, red rice, black rice and yellow rice. They sprinkled it all with blood. They bit down on a special bush knife (machete) with their teeth while washing in the river. Touching the knife to raft,\u00a0they sent the raft floating down the river in hope that the spirits of death and sickness would follow it to that place from whence they believed it all came. \u00a0The wooden army below the village was to repel the illness and evil spirits from returning.<\/p>\n Their beliefs held them firmly in constant drunkenness, immorality and conflict.\u00a0Rituals required constant hard work for gathering food, making decorations and performing ceremonies\u00a0to appease the spirits of the dead in an attempt to keep the living alive.<\/p>\n Only the work of God’s Holy Spirit through the presentation of God’s written Word could bring transforming truth into the lives of the Da’an people. A team of people would be necessary to bring truth to them.<\/p>\n For the Da’an people to understand the identity and character of the God who created them, some on the team of Christians would translate key portions of the Bible. Some would also teach. Some would buy food, pack boxes and ship supplies. Some would fly aircraft. Some would handle the accounting. Some would send support in gifts and logistical assistance.\u00a0All on the team of Christians would pray.<\/p>\n Reaching the Da’an people required a team of Christians to send and support messengers to communicate the message of God’s grace.<\/p>\n We were part of that team. Living among the Da’an people to\u00a0learn\u00a0their language and worldview\u00a0were\u00a0necessary to effectively communicate the truths of God’s Word to them. Traveling the rivers for fuel, supplies and medicine, we crossed their spirit barriers and prayed.<\/p>\n The Gospel was presented at great cost. Discipleship cost more. Supporters in many churches persevered in gifts and prayer.<\/p>\n The goal is the spiritual maturity of the Da’an church. Equipping Da’an people to do the work of the ministry was the objective. \u00a0They, too, could\u00a0represent Christ as His ambassadors to the people around them.<\/p>\n Working among the Da’an, common jungle illnesses plagued all of the missionaries and their families at one time or another.\u00a0\u00a0Malaria, filariasis, hepatitis, dengue fever, scarlet fever and the frequent infections of jungle living were common.<\/p>\n Among the missionary families to serve the Da’an people, one young family departed after much struggle from the stresses. A missionary wife nearly died there and was unable to return. \u00a0A husband had a tree fall on him breaking his\u00a0back. Another wife\u00a0battled cancer, persevering in ministry after recovery until her\u00a0husband died of a brain tumor. \u00a0Only last year\u00a0another missionary husband died of a massive\u00a0heart attack at age 36. \u00a0He was working on translating the Da’an Bible. The remaining\u00a0missionary husband has been diagnosed with an aortic aneurism.<\/p>\n Was it and is it worth it?<\/p>\n The better\u00a0question is this: Is Jesus\u00a0worth it?<\/p>\n The answer is YES! Jesus is worth what it costs to proclaim His glory in the most remote places on earth!<\/p>\n Today there are churches of Bible-believing Christians among the Da’an people. There will be people of the Da’an language singing praises around the throne of our Savior when we get there. The testimony of God’s grace in the Da’an church continues.<\/p>\n Still the Da’an church\u00a0does not have a completed\u00a0New Testament in their language. Will you pray for them?<\/p>\n Here is a translation of a\u00a0letter the Da’an church has written asking for prayer.\u00a0>>Click\u00a0here<\/a>. <<<\/p>\n There are many more people groups like the Da’an who are waiting for someone to bring the Way, the Truth and the Life to them. They are waiting for a team of Christians\u00a0who will invest in their eternal future. \u00a0Some have been asking for years for missionaries to come tell them about God in their own language. Each will require an investment measured in years. Perhaps this is why they are listed among “the least reached.” There are not yet enough Christians\u00a0who have caught the vision to meet the requests. Team members are needed!<\/p>\n Diana and I are working to build the team. Just as we were taught God’s word and shown the opportunities to get involved with reaching “least reached peoples” with the Gospel, we now have the opportunity to help others get involved.<\/p>\n