A Pet Chicken and other Adventures

Some of our Pal friends pose in front of their house  for a family portrait…

A Jumpy Bird….

A week or so ago, six guys, a few ladies, and a couple of kids showed up at our houses with an urgent matter to discuss. They were from Kobol, one of the neighboring language groups to Pal and were intent on asking us if we could send a missionary to them as well. To emphasize their desire, they brought us gifts including yams, onions, a smoked tree kangaroo, a smoked rat, and a live (and very nervous) chicken. It must have been a good kind of nervous though, as shortly after the hen’s arrival, she deposited a fresh egg on the ground. That one act started us thinking and saved her from immediate consumption. We have now adopted ‘Noa Peki Snow Pecker’ as the official team pet and the kids daily are given the job of hunting through the bush around our houses for a tasty ovoid.

Making Progress

Well, at least we think it is progress. When we started language learning in earnest two months ago, there wasn’t a single conversation that we could follow in tok ples. Now we sometimes surprise ourselves when we are able to pick up on some of the central topics and actors in a story. Since the verb in Pal includes both actor and tense in its suffix, we still often make mistakes when we try to say things. For example, yesterday I tried to say ‘I fell down over there.’ but ended up commanding a group of Pal men to fall down (from a great height – I even got the verb root wrong…). You can continue to pray for us as we daily invest hours of investigation, study, and review.

Urgency

Thursday I was walking through a village on the way to meet some friends in a garden when the village grandmother stopped me:

“Good morning grandson, what are you learning today?”

“Good morning mother, I am going to meet some friends.”

“That is good.”

“Mother, why do you have charcoal covering your face?”

“Because I am old and about to die.”

“But mother, how will we know you and your stories if you die?”

…another friend jumps in to explain…. “She isn’t that close to death, she has chest pain and a little trouble breathing.”

 (probably pneumonia which can in fact be life threatening here in the bush)

“Oh mother, I am so sorry that you are sick, make sure that these little ones look after you well.”

Will you pray for the Pal elderly, that they would have renewed strength and a strong will to live.

Other short notes:

·         Please pray for the email situation here – our radio modem has been very touchy and the change of seasons has affected the atmosphere and our ability to communicate with the outside.

·         Pray for health – there are a number of sicknesses going around here right now – colds, flus, and we suspect that Tim has malaria.

·         Pray for balance – we are spending lots of time with the people doing what they do, and then there are lots of them that like to come and see us.

·         Pray for understanding – as we navigate deep waters of tribal politics we desire to emphasize to our friends that this message is for them all.

·         Pray for the right balance of rain and sun. Since we collect rain water to use and sunlight for our electricity, we need  a fairly regular supply of both to maintain our work here. We are now entering the dry season and that could begin to stretch us a bit on the water side. (We had a record power day today though – 3.1 kWh)

Thanks so very much for your partnership,

Nate and Elizabeth and the three amigos.

Posted via email from PNG Time