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I remember the face but I don''t remember the name. It happened almost 4 years ago and his words are still ringing clearly in my mind. A warning -- a premonition. "Don't go in there uninvited! I'll be praying that someone comes out and invites you in. Otherwise, it's just too dangerous!"

I had just finished sharing with a church congregation about the burden the Lord had placed on our hearts to work among the tribal people of Irian Jaya. No doubt used some of the typical missionary snake stories to grab their attention. But what this man was referring to was an e-mail that I had read from an Irian missionary describing the darkness that some of the tribes still live in. I remember that that e-mail painted a rather vivid picture of the bondage they are in as well as their practice of sorcery and fear of evil spirits.

As we made our initial contacts with the Maniwo people there was naturally a good deal of uncertainty as to how they would receive us. During those first few interactions with them, everything seemed fined but we couldn't help wondering what they were thinking. Slowly we have embarked upon the "adventure" of gathering bits and pieces of the language. One particular word is "kioo" which means "to stay" or "to be in a particular location".

During my last stay in the tribe, a group of men came to visit us from another part of the valley. We came out of our temporary house to greet them. As usual there were smiles all around, Maniwo style handshakes, and the greeting "Aba, aba, aba". When the greetings started to die down somewhat, the oldest man in the group came over to me, looked me in the eyes, placed his hand on my chest, pointed to the ground and said, "Kioo, kioo, kioo". The command/plea could not have been clearer if he had said it in English. I felt a lump form in my throat as I watched him turn and move off slowly toward the cook fire. Such a gracious invitation! "Lord please be merciful to him. Allow him to live long enough to hear the Gospel. I pray that one day he will look up into Your eyes of compassion, feel Your nail-scarred hand on his chest, see Your finger pointing at the streets of gold and hearing Your voice say, "Kioo, nimjuaa (my child), Kioo!"

We have two pressing prayer requests that we would really appreciate your prayer on.

1) We do have some concerns as we take our children into the Maniwo. They can be a very crude people. Sex education is demonstrated openly and usually accompanied by gails of laughter. They are beginning to understand that we don't want to see this "stuff", but we really pray for the Lord's protection on our daughters and the children of our co-workers.

2) The Island of Papua has long been asking for its independence from Indonesia. Tension continues to rise and there does not seem to be any end in sight. Our leadership is closely monitoring the situation and will determine whether or not we should leave (this is fine with me as long as it is not any time within the next 20 years). Right now we are in no immediate danger or threat. However, we must be careful and pray that a peaceful solution is soon reached.

Thank you so much for your love, prayers and support. It's a privilege to be on the same team with you.

With grateful hearts in Christ,

Stephen Crockett