I heard this line from a friend of mine (pictures below); “if I didn’t have my cigarettes life would be dark.”  It’s a sad testimony of the addiction of many if not most of the men here in the village.  Beyond the health issues, there is in my mind the greater sadness that there is nothing more precious in his life than the joy that comes from lightning up!  I questioned him, prodding to see if he was just overstating the fact, he insisted (and others agreed) that smokes were “a companion at all times”.

The people here have seen huge shifts in their worldview over the past 40 years.  Many of the men and women that we live among grew up in what would be easily considered a primitive tribal setting.  Their clothes were made from tree bark and their food was almost entirely collected from the jungle around them.  Their customs and history were passed down, preserved in stories told around the camp fire.  The rice field and its cycle were the center of these peoples lives as well as the sacrifices to the spirits, associated with that cycle.

Fast forward now 20 years to 1990 when roads were first really punched through into these areas.  Life as the tribal person knew it changed.  Before that time some of the men had traveled out to see the “world”, a trip which took weeks if not months, and they would come back with stories and some trinkets to show for it.   Now the “world” was coming to them and bringing all their hearts could desire, or so it seemed.  These days it is not uncommon for tribal people in this area to live indebted to the local country store owner.  Some people live that way their entire life, they “need” whatever he is selling.  TV’s are common now in almost every household.  The sign of real affluence these days is a motorcycle.  If you want to be up with the world you need to have a cycle.  Cell phones now are also making strong inroads jumping from zero access to 24/7 access overnight.  Now they can call around the world as long as they have the minutes.  These things do not just add to a culture, it actually affects worldview concepts.  I have been told by the older generation here; if you (Tim and Andrea) had come 50 years ago we would have thought you were a god of some sort, but now a days we realize that you are just like us.  Boiled down, what I have heard from people here is that they see the outside world and they know now that all there is to life is, “beuyang duit”.  You will never guess what that phrase is but when I tell you, you are going to understand a sad reality that holds up this world system.  I’ve heard it over and over again, life is about money.  ”the love of money” Paul says “is the root of all sorts of evil”.  That is what these people have seen from the outside world and they are more that eager to get in on it.

These are not difficult things for the Lord.  Just like Elisha reminded the king of Israel and Judah when they were facing some difficult circumstances.  ”And this is but a light thing in the sight of the LORD” as it reads in the KJV so we do not lose heart when it seems like all around the world  a system which is demonically driven and fueled is capturing the hearts and souls of these once remote people.  They were just as far from the gospel when they were remote tribal people as they are now but as the popular culture floods in, it seems that the walls grow higher and higher around their souls.  Of course it is not the stuff of the world that these people are held captive by according to 2  Cor 4:4 it is none other than the god of this world, Satan who blinds and deceives the coming ultimate damnation.  Yet “we faint not” at least that is what Paul said.  Because he had received mercy from God he endured in the ministry God had given him.

You are our partners in extending the gospel to these least reached people here along the Jelai river.  Thanks for standing with us for the long term!

Grace and peace to you,

Tim & Andrea Ullum