Tribal fighting in Papua New Guinea!

These are some of Bro. David Crowe's(the Missionary God has called us to work with) recent Prayer letters concerning the tribal fighting that is going on in Papua New Guinea! We do pray that this will give everyone a much clearer understanding of the people, culture, and issues that are in Papua New Guinea and how to effectively Pray for Bro. Crowe and his family!

( Brother Crowe and most of His family is on the left front side of this picture.)

September 22---Dear Praying Friends.  We would very much appreciate your prayer over the next 24 hours or so concerning the situation at the village of Tiute (Tee- oo-tay).  Because of the ongoing tribal fight we have been holding weekly meetings for over 10 weeks now, and many of the people are noticeably under conviction and wanting to trust the Lord.  We had an excellent opportunity to preach there again yesterday, and then this morning early the enemy tribe overran the village and one young guy was killed.  They have been fighting all day today with automatic weapons and now tonight the village is surrounded on three sides.  Unless the Lord intervenes there will probably be a blood bath early tomorrow.  These village people have welcomed us with open arms and I believe many of them are very near the Kingdom.  Please pray with us for the Lord to intervene in such a way that all would know beyond a shadow of a doubt that "This is the hand of God'.I will send out an update tomorrow as to how things turn out, I'll also be sending a report on how the Lord blessed our annual youth camp last week.

Thank you that we can enlist your help in this very serious prayer need.

Bro Dave in PNG

September 23---Dear Friends. Thank you for praying for the people of Tiute yesterday, The village was surrounded on all sides on Monday and they were expecting the lines to break Tuesday morning.  It seems that one of the enemy villages, Jena, on the western side, decided not to join the fight which enabled the men in Tiute to hold off the enemy coming from the south east.  This was a very obvious answer to prayer, and we would ask you to keep praying until such time as the whole thing dies down.  It is a long involved story to explain how the whole conflict has erupted, just briefly, accusations of witchcraft over the death of a small child, and disagreement over the dividing of a large sum of money payed to the clan for use of their river stone by the company working on the road, are at the bottom of the conflict.  Tiute is situated between Yababi (Where we have an established Church) and Amumpoi where we have a number of families wanting to see a Church started.  The village of Jena sent word the other day that we are welcome to preach there also as I think the elders of the village are fearful of the outcome of full scale tribal warfare.  Please pray with us that the People of Tiute would see the Lord's hand in all of this and turn to Him before things get worse, we are hoping to see a Church started in Tiute as an outcome of all of this preaching and prayer.  Thankyou for taking up this burden with us, we will keep you informed as to the outcome.

Bro Dave in PNG

September 27---Dear Praying Friends.  It's Saturday night in Papua New Guinea, and in praying and thinking about the Lord's day tomorrow (Which is probably already today for most of you) I thought it wise to ask prayer again for the situation in Tiute (Tee-oo-tay).  Tomorrow is our 12th week preaching to a very attentive and captive audience in the open air market area adjacent to the fortified man house in the centre of Tiute village.  This last week the village has been surrounded by enemies attempting to break through the lines, with the obvious intention of murder and mayhem.  Thus far a number of houses have been burnt down on the outskirts and one life has been lost.  We put it down to nothing short of a miracle that there hasn't been an all out massacre as the Tiute people are completely out gunned and out numbered. Tomorrow, Lord willing we are going to be visiting both sides of the conflict which will make for a challenging Sunday to say the least.  The Tiute people, being hemmed in and extremely vulnerable have been very open and thankful for our preaching ministry and prayerful intercession on their behalf, The enemy clan are somewhat of an unknown quantity, they are ardent Seventh Day Adventists, not to mention animists, (A very deadly mixture) and we are not sure what to expect when we go down into their village tomorrow.  We ask that you would pray for us that the Word of The Lord would have free course, and that we would be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, for as you all know, all men have not faith, (2 Thess 3:1-).  These men are dark, dangerous and filled with wrath and bent on revenge, not towards us primarily, but they certainly are not exactly sympathetic to our cause either. 

    There is another volatile situation just up the road from Tiute in the village of Irafo.  We have asked prayer before for Mark Shirley and his wife Lynne who run an English Speaking Christian School in the village. They currently are in the midst of a huge conflict involving the two clans in their village.  Somebody was murdered recently over a suspected witchcraft issue and the village is at war.  There is a small fellowship in the village right near Bro Mark's house and the new believers are meeting together prayerfully each week praying for a peaceable outcome.  Bro Mark, Bro Fregol and the men from Kagu preach at Irafo regularly, and a number of young people attended camp recently and went home greatly encouraged.  Mark & Lynne are trying to reopen the School in the midst of all of the mayhem, and I know they would greatly appreciate your prayer. It seems the Highlands of PNG are under a sort of demonic oppression of late with fighting and violence breaking out all over the region. This has happened many times over the years and we feel it wise to make it a matter of prayer for everybody's safety and well being.  Our recent youth camp was directly affected by violence and murder on the Highway as the highway was blocked for a whole week hindering many campers from getting here.  Anyway, enough for now, Ill close with yet another appeal for more fervent and urgent prayer for the warring clans in and around Tiute, and for the missionaries to have the power and grace of God upon their lives for the difficult tasks ahead of them as the Lord tarries.

Bro Dave for the Lord's work in PNG

 September 28----Dear Friends, we need you to pray with us today, Tiute village has been overrun this morning, people have been shot and houses are being burned whilst I write, we don't know how many lives have been lost as yet but it sounds extremely serious.  We preached yesterday and felt impressed to warn the people that if they didn't turn to the Lord there and then disaster was at the doors.  We visited the enemy clan earlier in the day and it was obvious they were ready for an all out attack.  There were wild looking men everywhere a number of whom were hired guns, so things don't look good for the people of Tiute.  We will let you know the outcome as soon as we hear.  Please pray for a man named Raphael & his family as they have been our main contact and the most serious concerning the preaching.

Bro Dave in PNG

September 29---Dear Praying Friends, yesterday afternoon we made a rather disheartening trip to Tiute and Amumpoi.  Both villages are no longer. 6 lives are confirmed lost with others who have likely also been killed still unaccounted for.  This morning back here in Yonki we heard of two more confirmed dead, one of them a brother in Christ, the other a young boy of about 12 years old who perished in a ditch beside his father's dead body. Sadly all of those shot dead in Tiute were regulars at our weekly meetings. The villages were surrounded before daybreak yesterday morning and at the first sign of movement the enemy moved in for the kill.  It is nothing short of miraculous that there weren't dozens more killed.  The village people scattered and fled for their lives as the few armed men sought desperately to hold off the onslaught.  Throughout the morning the enemy methodically burnt their way through the villages, killing animals and destroying gardens and coffee trees.  By the time we arrived yesterday afternoon the worst was over and the survivors (a number with bullet wounds) were emerging out of the gardens, undergrowth and coffee plantations.  The place was a mass of destruction and smouldering ruins.  We rounded up a number of family members who had attached themselves to us over the last couple of months of our preaching ministry in Tiute and brought them back here to our mission station, where they spent the night waiting to hear by mobile phone news of loved ones still missing.  On the way out of the fighting zone late yesterday we caught up with the armed men from Amumpoi and Tiute who had taken the brunt of the attack, they had the look and smell of hell on their faces.  The whole ordeal has been a huge wake up call for a lot of people, ourselves included.  Many of those who's houses and loved ones have been lost have been under the sound of the gospel for years without a serious response.  We have been preaching and visiting the village of Amumpoi regularly since 2010.  The Church in Yababi was actually started as a result of our preaching outreach in Amumpoi.  Sadly the fellowship was shut down a year ago because of sin in the camp, and those responsible are now feeling literally the truth of Romans 6:23, 'the wages of sin is death'.  I should probably explain briefly that yesterday's atrocities were simply the evening of the score, the Tiute people actually were responsible for the first move in this particular conflict when they shot dead two young men 3 months ago.  The aggrieved party retaliated, killing a young man at the river two weeks later. Tiute then responded by a sneak attack on the enemy camp over near Kainantu killing 5, one of those being an innocent party, that innocent man dying brought another more powerful clan into the fight, which had its climax yesterday with the two clans joining forces with other hired guns, and the rest is history.  That typically is life in the Highlands of PNG.  All of this against a back drop of Militant Seventh Day Adventism.  All of the above mentioned villages are Adventist in name and conviction.  Our greatest difficulty in getting into any of these areas has been the Pharisaical and Legalistic church leaders opposition to our every attempt. We are praying that this huge mess will be an eye opener for the community, as all of those embroiled in the conflict are all of the same denomination, SDAs shooting SDAs, surely some of these people will have to see through the smoke screen.  We really need your prayer now as we will need to go back into the place again this weekend to try and gather up the fragments of our fellowship, and also visit the people of A'jena who perpetrated the murderous attack.  Not that their hostility is directed necessarily against us, but the fact that they have much blood on their hands will make for a difficult visit.  It is looking like both sides will be willing to sue for peace as a result of the evening of the scores, so we will need wisdom as to what part we play in the negotiations, as the SDA Hierarchy will be determined to try and save face by initiating a ceremony of sorts.  Please pray much for us over the next few days, especially that the families of those who were killed, and those who miraculously escaped would see their need to turn to the Lord.  Despite the obvious dark side to this situation, we can see the Hand of the Lord in many ways, God has vindicated his cause and His Word, and many have already testified to having seen the mercy of God upon their lives.  We will keep you informed as to outcome in the days ahead. 

    Thanks to all who have been bearing the burden of prayer on behalf of these lost and unfortunate people.  I am afraid, that often in the Western World we fail to see how blessed and privileged we are to be spared from so much misery, suffering and atrocity, and how much we complain and murmur about the slightest inconveniences.  Throughout the whole course of this disastrous and destructive mess, I haven't heard even one complaint from these now homeless and displaced people, they amaze me continually how they take everything, even devastation and death in their stride.  The time is at hand I think that we ought to be sending Papua New Guinean Evangelists to Australia to teach us at least how to recognise and appreciate the goodness and the grace of God in the abundant outpouring of his provision, safety and blessing upon our lives.  Lord forgive us for our unthankful and complaining spirits.  If you suffer from a disgruntled and discontented spirit, maybe a trip to Papua New Guinea, Zambia, Thailand or Vanuatu would do you the world of good. 

Bro Dave, on behalf of those innocent parties (The women & children & elderly) who have suffered great loss in Papua New Guinea