“What makes them become this defensive and hostile?”
“It’s weird — actually no, it’s natural: I’m scared. There, I said it. Also frustrated and uncertain — is it worth me going a foot to meet them?”
“I don’t want to die!”
These are the words of John Chau. He was only 27, so he could have come to our group. The New York Times reports:
Last week, he paid some fishermen to take him to the island. He set off from Port Blair, the Andaman chain’s main port, under the cover of darkness.
“The Milky Way was above and God Himself was shielding us from the Coast Guard and Navy patrols,” he wrote.
Mr. Chau, 26, from Washington State, was an ambitious adventurer. He loved climbing mountains, camping in isolated places, hiking, canoeing, seeing the world.
He paddled his kayak, under cover of night, onto the shore of a remote Island off the shore of India–an island which is under restriction by the Indian government because of the hostility of the people who live there. He went to share Christ with them. And he gave his life.
On the afternoon of Nov. 16, the fishermen told police officers, Mr. Chau reassured them that he would be fine staying on the island overnight and that the fishermen could go. They motored out, leaving Mr. Chau alone for the first time.
When they passed by the island the next morning, they saw the islanders dragging his body on the beach with a rope.
No one knows what exactly happened. Police officials said the islanders most likely killed him with bows and arrows.
I recommend the NY Times articles on John’s mission and the people who inhabit the island.
Here is the post on his death by All Nations, a missions organization.
And here is his Instagram account. The NY Times article ends:
Before setting off that final day, Mr. Chau finished his note with a message to his family.
The handwriting gets sloppier, the lines more crooked.
“Please do not be angry at them or at God if I get killed,” he wrote.
“I love you all.”
John Chau