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Meet Wana tribal members...Elisha and Juarni Bowa family
We would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to Elisha and Juarni Bowa. Elisha is from the Wana village of Paramba and accepted Christ as his Savior as a young lad during our outreach to his village in the early 1980's. After finishing grade school he began attending Junior High and High School in the provincial capital of Palu. Upon graduation he was confused as to what he should do with his life and wanted to have a talk with us missionaries because he wasn't sure if he should join the military or maybe be a missionary. Through prayer and fellowship with other believers the Lord made it clear to him that he should give his life to serve the Lord and take the gospel to other areas. He made application to attend our Missionary Training Center in the northern part of our island in the city of Manado. There he met his future wife, Juarni, and they were later married. They both felt the Lord tugging them to be missionaries in East Indonesia in the province of Papua. This has been exciting to us as Elisha and his wife are our first missionaries from the Wana tribe to go to another island. They left for Papua about three years ago. After having been there for about a year, they had to be evacuated due to violence on their island. So they returned to the city of Manado. We asked if they could join our Wana Translation team which they agreed to do until they could return to Papua. They have been working with our team now for a year and a half going over chapter after chapter of translation work, doing village comprehension checks, helping make the translation more understandable, and making trips interior to be an encouragement to the believers. They have been a tremendous help and blessing to our team. Things have now settled down in the Province of Papua, so they are now making plans to return in June. They will be joining two other Western missionary families, and will be involved in surveying some new areas which might be open to taking the Gospel. We will appreciate your prayers for them as they return to Papua and as they begin their new ministry there. They are excited and we are excited for them. |
