Sivini - Part II: Seek Peace and Pursue It

Stories from the McFarlands ( by Bruce, from his 20008 Wycliffe speaking tour.)

" But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure;
then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.
Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness."

-- James 3:17-18

At Christmastime 2006 in the town of Kainantu, before Sivini became a Christian, there was some fighting between two clans of the Kamano people. An AK-47 type gun was used in the fighting. Eight people were shot and three died. The Kamano people reckoned it was Sivini’s Usarufa people that provided the gun. So the Kamano were obligated to get them back.

In early June 2007, after Sivini became a Christian, an Usarufa public motor vehicle ran out of fuel while traveling on the road through Kamano territory. For the Kamano who had lost loved ones in the fight at Christmastime 2006, this was seen as a golden opportunity to get even with the Usarufa for the killing they were responsible for. So a group of Kamano people attacked the Usarufa using bush knives and guns. Of the five young men that were on that public motor vehicle two were able to run away without getting hurt, but the three others were shot. Of those three, two were wounded, but one, a man from the Usarufa village of Moife, was killed on the spot.

The next day many Usarufa people gathered around their fighting leader, Sivini. They wanted to get the warriors together to go take care of the attackers. Sivini wanted them to stop talking about fighting back. But what could he do now? Everyone was looking to him. What he says goes. He called six men to him and set out to talk with the Kamano leaders. Three of the men were carrying guns.

On the way there he began to feel pain coming to his stomach. These were the same feelings he used to get before a fight. Whenever he got this pain, people always died. So, in front of the men he got on his knees and started to pray, “God you know I am a changed person. You know I am not going to fight but I go for peace now. Please stop this pain so no one will die.” He felt the pain instantly go away.

Then he put some special leaves on the guns. Through this old, cultural custom he was showing the Kamano people that, even though the Usarufa people had guns, they were coming in peace.

Sivini chose to talk with some Kamano Elders at a place called Amboi. Amboi was where, not too long before this, a peace treaty had been signed between the Usarufa and Kamano people.

Sivini told the elders that the people from the village of Moife did not want to fight. He said, “Go back and tell all the Kamano people that we will not be paying them back.” Sivini went on to tell them that he had killed many Kamano people, but God has changed his life. He told his testimony of how he confessed his sin to God and that Jesus was now his Lord. He shared how he is now working with a Bible translation team.

Later, back in the village, the other men told everyone what had happened. People were shocked that Sivini told the Kamano that he had killed some of them and admitted that he was the key person to plan the attacks. His people said, “You shouldn’t have said that; now they will come and kill you.”

Sivini's response will warm your heart. Sivini told them, “It is OK if someone kills me, for I have accepted Jesus now and am ready to die if He wants me to. I have confessed everything to God, so I am not afraid.”

It is known that Sivini plays a big role amongst the Usarufa people. If Sivini says to fight, they all will fight, but if he says not to, they will respect that. Both Kamano and Usarufa people everywhere are asking, “What has made the big change in Sivini's life?”

Sivini - Part I: Swords into Plowshares

Stories from the McFarlands ( by Bruce, from his 20008 Wycliffe speaking tour.)

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,

he is a new creation;

the old has gone, the new has come!"

-- 2Corinthians 5:17

One day in mid-2007, Sivini, the feared warlord of the Usarufa people came to Ukarumpa looking for farm equipment. Unbeknownst to him, at the same time there was a Translators Training Course ready to begin at Ukarumpa. The purpose [of the workshop] is to teach … translation teams the skills they need to work independently to translate God’s Word into their own language and also to become translators for other languages in PNG. Men from Sivini’s language group were to be a part of this workshop, but some of them were not able to come. Since they needed more participants from the Usarufa language, and Sivini was there at Ukarumpa, they invited him to join them in the workshop. When Sivini agreed, he had no idea that this was the hand of God working in his life … so that he could hear God’s message of salvation!

The course began and the intense study and translation of God’s Word gave Sivini a new understanding of who God is and taught him that he could have a relationship with Him.

When the students were reading the story in Genesis about Cain killing Abel and Abel’s blood calling out to God from the ground, the words pierced Sivini’s heart. He felt as if the blood of those he had killed was calling out to God from the ground.

You see, Sivini is a leader in his community and the fight commander for the Usarufa people. When someone in his village is attacked by people in a neighboring group, it is his responsibility to lead Usarufa men in seeking revenge. In this way he had killed many people. There were many times when bullets should have caught him, but they did not. For this reason, people from Sivini’s village, both young and old, respect him.

But when the students were translating the story of Cain and Abel, God spoke to Sivini’s heart. He knew he had been wrong and he wanted to be clean from his past. The next Sunday at the Pidgin-language church service in Ukarumpa, Sivini went forward to repent of his past and to ask for prayer. God lifted the burdens he had carried for many years. David Wake, the Summer Institute of Language Advocate for his language group, says even Sivini’s looks have changed since he accepted Jesus because now he no longer carries the weight of the guilt from his past. Who but Jesus could do such a wonderful thing?

Sivini knows he cannot continue as the fight leader in his village. Instead, he wants to spend his time helping the translation team in turning God’s “talk” into the Usarufa language, so that his people can know the Lord, too. He wants them to find peace, freedom and forgiveness from sin – just like he has!