Elijah and Moira Hall TRIBAL MISSIONS - Reaching the unreached 
Elijah (second from L) and Kanuka friends, 1992
Loud wailing greeted the boy as he neared the village – screaming sobs that announced the death of a Kanuka man. Elijah had hiked for hours with his father, who was a missionary to the this tribe in the dense interior of Papua New Guinea, to observe the funeral. They were hoping to see deeper into the minds of the Kanuka* people in order to better communicate the Gospel with them.
The ceremonial wailing continued long into the night. Part of the weeping was genuine sorrow for the dead; part of it was driven by fear, because the Kanuka believed that the spirit of the dead man was still lingering in the village. They were hoping to to appease the spirit so it would leave. Elijah wondered what else they believed… many of the rituals performed by the tribal people were motivated by the fear of spirits…but he was only thirteen years old, and fatigue was beginning to overtake him… (more…)
