Kaininga Pelep (Good Morning)

One of the younger Pal citizens enjoying our ‘Thank you’ feast.

Learners

It seems as though every day we are learning new things about the Pal people and their way of thinking. For example, when a friend comes over to ask for something or about something, we often are not aware of the true reason for the trip for the first 45 minutes of the conversation. It could be just as the boys have exhausted themselves (crawling around in the mud ‘spying’ on Dad is considered high entertainment here) and are ready to head inside covered with enough dirt to pot several reasonably sized house plants that the real conversation begins (usually  with  the pigin equivalent of  ‘Friend, there is something troubling me…’). Our whole family is learning to flex with these conversations when we can and to politely excuse ourselves when we cannot. Please pray for us that we would live out a clear picture of Christ-likeness to the Pal people.

The Leech Club

“Dad! Dad, I got a leech!”  - Noah

“Cool. Now you are in the leech club.” – Elias

“Am I in the leech club?” – Tim

“Yeah, remember that one that got you on the first day.”  - Noah

“We’re all in the leech club!” – Elias

“Yech.” – Mom

Alien Goo and Bugs

Well, work on our house has been progressing – this week we were able to take care of most of the mold on the walls and put nearly a case of Great Stuff© expanding foam insulation to good use – filling every hole in the walls with fast hardening alien slime. (Elizabeth wonders if it will suddenly attack her if she walks to near one of the globules… I am ready to buy stock in the company.) That said – merely by covering the holes in the walls, we have drastically decreased the number of bugs that invite themselves in every night. It is a total blessing not to have 20 bugs floating in our drinking water in the morning. There are a few more things that need to be done in order for us to begin studying the Pal language and culture in earnest. You can be praying for multiplied time this week as we finish up the main portion of our house work.

Thanks so much for your partnership,

Nate for the fam.

PS – Noah has contracted conjunctivitis – by the looks of things, this will be a regular occurrence in the Claasen household for the duration of our time in Pal.

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