Page 140 - uji coba EBook INJE 1

due to no information and we still stayed in the no-cellphone-signal area. Meanwhile
the Wandouw people who escorted us to the port and the speed boat had already
gone and disappeared from our sights. We were at our own, yes, solitary and alone!
At the side of the river and the jungle in the evening time with the glooming darkness
started to haunt us. Again, another critical decision had to be made: the team, the
NJE and Sota groups would walk crossing the jungle on foot because no other choice
was available. We prayed and strengthened our hearts, Ebenhaezer!
At 17.30 the jungle-crossing journey was finally started. The more or less 30-km
distance in a jungle at night might be done in 6-7 hours by means of ‘on foot’. No map
was available, so we had to rely on the guidance of 2-3 people from Sota’s church
who had some experiences to cross the jungle. Most of the routes were narrow
walking paths with scattered holes full of water along the paths. The team had only 3
flashlights so that the team was divided into 3 groups i.e. each group of 5-6 people.
There were in total 16-17 people i.e. 4 people of evangelists-and-pastors from
Jakarta, Manado and Merauke, 5 people of the family members of the Sota pastor
and 7-8 people from the Sota church’s members excluding the motorcycle team.
Some parts of the routes were natural bridges and each of them was made of one
tree stem falling across a small river. The tree-stem bridges could be slippery if one
walked on it. So an extra care had to be exercised. Moreover, the nature seemed to
be unfriendly to us at that night.
Suddenly a torrential rain poured down from the sky, at one point in our jungle
crossing route, and surface runoff water became a lot around us. As the time passed
by it got higher and higher, and very soon we were trapped by the flood in the middle
of the jungle at night. Ohhh my God! Why had we to pass this miserable hostile
environment? Didn’t we deserve some better treatments or easy walks after serving
God’s work? Some more questions might come up in the hearts of our team
members. But everybody also knew that such questions and/or complaints did not
help at all and would not improve the situation. Finally, praise God for He is always so,
sooo…….good!

2017: Crusade in Wandouw, PNG – Crossing the civilized semi-permanent bridge in the forest.