People of the Trees (Full Episode)

new guinea 1970s a small travel group known as the core korowai begin to make contact with the outside world rumors of their cannibalism intense clown warfare and towering tree homes become the distinctive signs of the core y they are a unique and primitive culture in every sense but as the generations pass many coral why abandon their lives in the jungle begin to live in government established river settlements but still even to this day deep in the jungles there exists small pockets of traditional coral wine our mission would be to penetrate the vast jungles and reach these remote encampments but first we'd have to navigate the braza river and then form an expedition party at the river settlement of mabul the journey we were about to undertake was to a place and people where time stood still ooh so it's early morning and we got in late last night to this small little village encampment along the riverside which is mabu and from mabu then we're going to be moving into the jungle inside this vast jungle region here there's small little pockets and small little settlements of korowai that are still living in the traditional still houses we have our guide whose name is isaac and he knows this area he's blazed trails here before and he's going to be working with the local coral y porters and guides and people are going to be able to take us back in the bush we have so many porters that are going with us and one of the reasons for that is is they know certain encampments from where their home villages were before and this town of mabu is basically people who have come out of the jungle and decided to live closer to the riverside but they still know of places or still have family members distant family that's living in the interior and they're going to be able to guide us to certain sections in there here we go basically this is all low land so we're not going to be getting any mountain crossings or anything like that but we are going to be facing a lot of deep swamps lots of mud lots of mosquitoes lots of tough tough terrain from what we've heard from the guides we know we're going to have at least two full days of trekking before we even reach the first really remote settlement so this is going to be the beginning of our march day one on the core wide journey and here kind of the porters yelling back and forth to each other just so you know where they are but it's incredible that anybody's even back here i mean this is just staggering how remote this is that's that's exerting isn't it i know it's like hours we've been going through this really thick swamp just all water now we got kind of an impassable one oh man it is hot though look at this river out here trying to get these trees down so we can cross this fast moving water quick on this guy wow the core y and our expedition party are all young men from the river settlement they are strong and comfortable in the jungle they move through the forest barefoot and sing songs that bring calm to the tedious environment there's a kindness and a humility in their every action and where they have little according to the modern world they make up for and a lie free from the stresses that ensnare so many they are quick to help our inefficiencies and together we have begun to learn from each other at the first night's camp we asked the coral why on our team about knowing jesus all of them had a knowledge about christianity but a few knew about the salvation in him this symbol is the way that jesus paid the price for everybody as we explained the basics of the gospel and showed them the pictorial life of jesus there was a sense of hunger and yearning for the holy spirit but it was to pay the price for all mankind the truth of the gospel is never too far from any man and that night they all prayed to receive jesus ask you to live inside of me now and to save me our team was now ready and by day two there was a sense of excitement to reach even the furthest core wise settlements with the gospel day two and we're heading further into the jungle and hopefully by nightfall tonight we'll be able to reach the first of the remote coral y but today is going to be another brutal day of trekking in the bush so here we go it's a bridge how did you have your knife here i looked at my knife it was popped open i was walking basically like that because if you like slip and fall it's over that's dangerous if he like fell like that i mean that's bad i mean i didn't i literally sprung when i was walking it must have just popped open like that good we will spray yeah you know what you should just give that knife away you don't need it i i'm like dangerous you are crossing the section swamp here it's the last who knows you just kind of slogged down because your boots and everything filled with water there it is very thick getting through here what is that do you have a knife pull out your knife we have a leak look at this once more an unwelcome friend oh man you've been there before i think i feel something here so here's a wall here's level high and now we've been walking this one today here's where we are now so we're close to this river what's that river name okay so we're halfway i think between here in the river yeah after a long day of trekking to the bush in a final river crossing we came upon a grouping of tree houses oh yeah that's a settlement and then saw two elderly core white men emerged to greet us and it's basically a clan of these two elderly brothers who are living in a very primitive way it's probably the most primitive i've ever seen people living and now they're going to show us their their homes we came across one little settlement here and they're going to show us their the other homes up here which are indicative to the core why which are high up and off the ground like tree houses so this is the inside of one of the stilted houses and we're probably i'd say like 20 feet or so off the ground this is kind of the typical height of the homes that the core i live in in the past they used to build very very high homes but that was just during the time of war inside these homes all the life basically takes place up here there's so much rain that floods out this region they have to build the homes up and you see like the fire pits up here they have the dogs up here the pigs up here it's pretty incredible to see a lot of like bones from all the food that they'll eat you'll see the cassava bones which are the giant birds that kind of roam around through the jungle here the fascinating thing is it's very rare to even see these homes anymore within the next few years there probably won't be any core why living in stilted homes inside the the jungle most of them are coming into the bigger villages and kind of resettling and that's kind of what we've been hearing and you're basically just seeing like these pockets uh throughout the jungles just filled with like older people more elderly people it's pretty incredible because it's kind of a vanishing lifestyle with the message that we've come to tell them god above who created the heavens and the earth he loves you and he cares for you have they seen this symbol this man jesus was born a long time ago many thousands of years ago many families before and now we're actually up in one of the white treehouses and we just had a really good opportunity for ministry and he said look and see that i am alive and they could even put their fingers into the holes of his hand the people back here are so open to the gospel and there's a lot of things in there that they were saying you know that you wouldn't think of but both of the men said you know we've killed so many men in obviously tribal warfare and things like that so you're looking at these men who are carrying that burden their whole lives and then to hear the gospel is a really powerful thing but this is like the first introductions of uh of christ jesus but you know that's what we pray for we pray for opportunities to bring the gospel where it hasn't gone before and we know that god's going to show himself in great ways here and lord that he will know that it is your touch upon him father god that is healing him the power of the holy spirit anointing him right now in the name of jesus after days of trekking we are finally able to reach the first remote settlement and preach the gospel this was the start of our ministry and also an introduction to the korowai way of life is that sega larva this is high protein yeah they have to cook first oh you have to cook isaac bought some larva for the porters to eat because they love eating it because it's like high protein they had it in a little banana leaf shoot and uh mixed it in with some like greens and things like that you could see them kind of squirming around when they they put them in but uh that's that's kind of what they they like to eat here here in the coral region good and they're popping them in uh like live too when they're eating them it looks like a nice dish actually they're putting together with it tomorrow and the day after we we go all the way to to find the the more primitive yeah yeah people are uh enemies also you don't believe in god okay yes so basically now that we're in the remote core y area we're going to be heading out from here to reach minister every other encampment and some of these other settlements might be four or five days from here but you know we really know that there's going to be great ministry in the days ahead as we set out for the days ahead we knew that this would be the first time for many to hear the gospel and it was our mission that we'd leave no village unreached god loved the world so much that he sent his son to die on the cross even though his son was innocent but that was the price that paid for all of men's sins to those who believe in jesus what we love about when you receive jesus into your life he washes your heart clean makes it new and you have an eternal home with him so he makes everything new here and his spirit lives inside of you and jesus said when i hung on the cross i paid the price for all of man's sins if there was a person who was sick jesus would just lay his hand upon them and they'd be healed god loves us all equally he loves us the same he loves the danny the same me the same and nikora why the same they're all the children of god that he loves deeply him i thank you lord for saving me and i ask your holy spirit to come and live inside of me now lord that there would be help and healing over each one of them father god there'd be a complete strengthening of her body we prayed for the sick and explain the message of the gospel in detail i believe in you day after day passed as we move further into the interior so far from the known world that even our guides had never traveled this way before then on the seventh day of ministry we came upon a hidden settlement that they'd be one of the most remote encounters we'd ever have in our lives came across this this is very remote yeah we were hiking today after ministering in one and a long good portion of the day longer than it's taken to see anywhere else and we came here and you can tell that it's super remote because everybody in the in the small little tree house is you know totally unclogged and totally in traditional clothing and uh and then when i came here to the hut the man was touching my beard and the child was uh was petting my hair because they've never seen uh seen that before so this is this is a very very remote village here and everybody's super friendly they're very nice yeah and this one so we're just conversing with that with demand carrying and it's the first white people that he's ever seen to come back here he's never seen him before he doesn't go out to even mabu he just stays here in the jungle and uh so this is uh this is quite an encounter so he's never seen him before and when we were you know i was sitting close next to him he he was touching my beard and touching my hair and everything like that as well too so that's that's remote that's very remote yeah you know it doesn't get any more remote than this in the world so i mean this is very it's a very rare encounter with him and he's a small family here like this one and here's the orange here's the orange too he's never eaten it's the first time first time yeah lame day it has seed it is how did you get all this uh all these things yes these things yeah you buy which what what kind of things oh you trade yeah it's uh it's with money with um gosh i don't even know how to explain that or whatever um foreign so we're here tonight with this remote family and uh really just had an amazing encounter with them we're going to share a meal with them tonight and then preach the gospel to them in the morning and we're just standing that the lord's going to really do a great work here there was a man and a woman that god created and put on the earth and this man and woman lived in a place very similar to how the korowai living even god would talk to them man was separated from god for all of this time he told people long ago that he said i am going to send someone who is going to pay the price for all men's sins jesus the sent one the one who is before the foundations of the world the one who is perfect the son of man who proved himself in both word and deed for he healed the sick and broke the power of the enemy if there was a person who couldn't see who is blind jesus would lay his hands on them and say be healed and they could see if there's a person who couldn't walk he would lay their hands on them and they would walk if there was even dead people who were in the grave he would lay his hands on him and they'd raise from the dead and the words that he said he says i have come here to seek and save the lost he is the one who suffered and died for the sins of all mankind and it is through his death that would gain life and they made him take it outside the town and that they were going to put him on this tree then they put nails in his hand like this for it is through the punishment of the one that righteousness came to all a nail in this hand and then nail also in the feet so he was standing on the cross and for just as he has risen we are risen in him to a new life and the great thing is is three days later god rose jesus from the dead and then jesus appeared to the followers and he said see that i'm alive and see that i truly am the son of god and they could even put their fingers into the holes in his hand when you receive jesus into your life he washes your heart clean makes it new and you have an eternal home with him so he makes everything new here and his spirit lives inside of you dear heavenly father i ask you to forgive me in my sins i believe in you jesus thank you jesus for saving me okay there's victory in the gospel no matter how distant a person is there is a truth in it that is universal to all mankind people of every tribe tongue and nation hear it and desire to be united with the living god and it is for this reason that we speak of this good news and share it with those who do not know him so we press on moving closer to that glorious day when all mankind will hear if you would like to receive a dvd of the episodes you've just seen please go to traveltheroad.com or call 1-866-explorer our mission at travel the road is to preach the gospel to all creation and encourage the church to be active in the great commission the episodes we produce are with the sole aim to make an eternal difference and to inspire a new generation for missions to find out more about the ministry of travel the road or to order from our catalog of dvds please visit us at traveltheroad.com and together we can make a difference

Channel: Travel the Road

Views: 2,133,941

Rating: 4.2084813 out of 5

Keywords: Korowai, tribal, papua, west papua, jungle trek, jungle, travel the road, travel the road full episode, documentary, missionary, missionary work, jungle expedition, remote people group, unreached people group, great commission, missionary adventure, travel the road series, christian, gospel, preach the gospel, mark 16:15

Id: U4BM8tp-lrU

Length: 28min 30sec (1710 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 14 2015