By Dorothy Brotherton

THE Kelowna Daily Courier recently noted in its ‘50 Years Ago’ section that in January 1958, a young hometown man would go to Dutch New Guinea – believing he was called to a lifetime of missionary work.

Fifty years later, almost to the day, David Martin left again from Kelowna International Airport for the same country – now called Papua. Although retired, Martin continues to do several missions teaching trips each year.

In 1958, the Courier quoted the 21 year old bachelor:  “I know it will be worth it. It is the work God has called me to do.”

He went to a tribe where many people had never seen a white man – some living in Stone Age conditions, and some cannibals.

“It is only the gospel of the Lord that can change these hearts,” Martin declared.

On his first journey, he rode a bus to Kamloops, train to Vancouver, and propeller flights to San Francisco and Sidney, Australia. Smaller planes hopped him up the chain of Indonesia islands.

Soon after his first visit, his fiancee Margy finished nurses’ training – and the couple were married. She had some idea of what she was getting into.

“Dave had written detailed letters, so I was not overwhelmed. I felt like I’d come home,” she said of her arrival.

The people they faced stood nearly naked, with greased hair and bones through their noses. They suffered from yaws, an ugly ulcerous condition. They worshipped evil spirits, waged war against neighbouring tribes regularly, and went nowhere without weapons.

The couple served with Regions Beyond Missionary Union, which later merged into World Team. They worked with the Dani tribe, about 100,000 isolated people.

The first outsiders who came to stay among the Danis were missionaries, who arrived in 1957. The Martins joined two couples already at work. The country’s name changed to Irian Jaya in 1962 and later became part of Indonesia.

“The Dani didn’t appreciate our clinic much. We got a few dozen people a week,” remembers Dave. But a yaws outbreak persuaded some to try the oil-based penicillin Margy offered, and it worked like a miracle. Clinic visitors jumped to more than 200 a day, and Dani began to question age-old beliefs that spirits caused disease.

Dave and Margy built a house on stilts with local studs, palm bark outside and woven bamboo inside. A Missionary Aviation Fellowship plane from 165 air miles away brought mail and supplies every three weeks. The clinic grew into a hospital. Literacy and agricultural programs were well received.

The Dani lived in fear of spirits, enemies and especially death – but were soon turning en masse to Christianity. The key was found as Bible translators looked for a Dani word to explain the concept of eternal life.

The Dani told a story about a bird and a snake who had a race long ago. The contest decided which species would control humans. Pirikobit, a black bird with white patches, won the race – because he could fly much fast than Wabit the snake could slither.

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“That’s why we die,” the Dani reasoned, “because we are like the bird. If only Wabit had won, we’d be like the snake who seasonally sheds his skin and comes out new. We’d have nabalan-kabalan – eternal life.’’

Translators seized on the word, and explained that true nabalan-kabalan is found in Jesus Christ. The Dani understood, and the missionaries had found their breakthrough.

Today, the Dani people number some 200,000 and have 176 churches – all led by their own people. Clinics and schools are self-governed. The Dani send missionaries to other tribes.

Dave Martin explained that they have stayed true to their own culture, with Christian concepts set to tribal chants. The missionaries did not set out to change their style of dress; but the government provided clothing, and today most people wear it. The missionaries tried to preserve the way the people cared for one another, and welfare programs and orphanages were not needed.

“The gospel did destroy some parts of their culture,” said Martin.

“For example, once they burned a witch to death in her house. That sort of thing stopped after the gospel came. But largely the gospel fit their culture. The gospel wasn’t originally Western anyway.”

In a recent teaching visit, Martin was greeted by several hundred people – most with spears. They lavished him with gifts – a rattan bracelet to aid in making fire, a fur bracelet and a native headdress.

They regaled him with complaints against the government. Indonesia has been a hotbed of unrest in recent years, and even remote tribes have not escaped trouble. Agitation to be free of the government is strong, and bloody skirmishes break out frequently.

Martin listened to their frustration, while noticing how many were armed. He noted that the weapons were the kind used for war, not hunting.

He told them: “Remember Jesus said his kingdom is not of this world. Don’t fight.”

But the words seemed to have little effect. Martin recalled the Dani are a visual people, who value symbolism.

He grabbed an arrow from a man standing nearby and broke it over his knee, then again – so he had four pieces. He held them over his head so all could see.

“We are not to fight,” he called into the tense silence.

A tribesman asked for the pieces, saying he would take them to other villages and pass on the message not to fight. The group relaxed and buzzed with murmurs of approval.

Later, one of the leaders told Martin: “We were on the edge of a cliff and we almost fell over. God brought you to us to stop us.”

Dave’s current visit is to the Danis in the Toli area. “We are going to encourage the believers,” he says, “and urge them to remain faithful to the Lord and his word – no matter what the future may bring.”

As for Dave and Margy’s future: they plan to keep doing missionary work – as long as God gives strength.

March 2008