The boys...

One half of the ‘Cougars Club’, the Claasen boys are always up to something…

Growing up in the Bush

With six boys between our two families here in Pal, there is rarely a dull moment for anybody! The boys are always exploring, making forts in the bushy areas around the houses, playing spies, sneaking up on dad, digging in the hillside, chasing each other, playing soccer and kick-ball on the heli-pad, working on art creations, building legos, and running secret messages back and forth between the houses.  They are learning to be great hikers as well (a basic requirement of life here – where three year olds and up are expected to be able to hike the steep bush trails between the houses and gardens of the Pal people.) They also have been enjoying school time with Elizabeth every day.  Here are some of the things they have been saying when asked “What do you like about life here?”:

“My favorite thing to do is GET DAD every morning!” – Elias

“HIKING.”  - Tim

“Establishing forts and spying out in the jungle.” – Noah

Thank you for praying for our boys this week.  We daily pray that:

 -they will know and walk with the Lord. 

-We also pray for their protection – spiritually, physically, mentally.  We live among a lost people.

-We will have wisdom to know how best to parent three children who are radically different in personalities, tastes and pursuits!

We need your prayers as we daily talk with people, answer questions, strain our brains to learn their language, and make a million decisions about what should be done and how to do it!

For example:

What to do

Yesterday I (Elizabeth) sat and visited for a while with a friend of mine who came up to see us.  She held her 7 month old baby (SO cute!) and talked with me about her last few days in the garden.  She is a good language helper – she used Pal for most of the description and I could follow the general gist of what she said.  She mentioned there was no water source near the garden she had been planting yams in and that she had come back to be near water so that they could all wash.  I tried out a few of the phrases I’ve been working on learning (much shared laughter J) and held her baby for a few minutes.  The baby promptly urinated all over my lap (no diapers here) and smiled and laughed as well.  After a while I needed to go finish making dinner and said so.  As we stood up she asked hurriedly, “I heard that in three days soap is going to fall from the sky here…and I want to know if it’s true.”  I was dumbfounded for a minute.  What to say?  What would YOU say?  I carefully shook my head, said I had heard of no such thing and that it must have been a rumor she had heard…sorry!  No soap falling here!  Nate reminded me later that we need to thank people when they ask such questions – it helps us to understand what they are thinking and help clear things up.

Please pray that even now God will be preparing the hearts and minds of our Pal friends to understand TRUTH from His Word when they are surrounded and bound by lies.

Posted via email from PNG Time