Sing for your supper...

Food is piled high as a gift to the singers. (This is a picture of extreme Pal generosity)     

Gonna sing all night…

Ever thought about how you might keep your own kids happy and healthy? Betcha haven’t thought to throw a big party for your wife’s extended family. For three years, a friend had been fattening up a pig and readying the necessary assortment of presents for a special kind of party. Last week, he told his wife’s family that everything was in place. They spent a couple of days preparing their end of the bargain (12 hours of singing and dancing) and then they came one evening at dusk, dressed to the nines, and carrying their bamboo drums. What followed was a high intensity performance lasting until well after daylight. At which point our friend and his brothers piled yams, tapioc, taro, tobacco, rice, betel nut, and newspaper (for smoking the tobacco) in front of the exhausted singers (did I mention the pig too?). This special party is meant to bring peace between the two families so that our friend’s children will not get sick or die. It creates a debt that must be repaid exactly (down to the number, kind, and size of each type of food) at some point in the future and assures no sorcery will be worked (on purpose or accidentally) against the young woman and young man. At the end of the party, the guys sat around the pig and prayed. When asked who they were praying to, they said that they didn’t know exactly… we look forward to being able to share with our friends about the God that we know!

Dad had to invent handles for the ‘sparklers’ to avoid fried fingers.

Independence

So… we let our kids hold sparklers for the first time this fourth of July. Good thing we live in a rain forest, otherwise all that would be left would be a few charred stumps. The sparklers that we bought in December (sometimes we do think ahead) were in the stores for New Year’s celebrations. I think they might be sent to PNG by the enemies of the state. Measuring about 8 inches from head to tail, they were basically thin wires that had been dipped in gunpowder of varying quality. When lit, some would sputter and glow emitting nary a spark but heating the wire handle to near red hot. This in turn led to howls and sputtering  from the kids. Others would burn down the 6” of gunpowder in an explosive instant. Suffice it to say, our fireworks (while small) made for an exciting evening. We trust that your fourth was equally memorable.

Thanks for praying

·         Our water tank is over half full again. We are very thankful for the several days of rain last week.

·         Language time is going well – but we still feel overwhelmed every day.

·         We are looking forward to a short break in August (after five months of being on call what seems to be all of the time, we are ready for a little space as a family.

Language of the week:

pal detuh tenga ________ gna mayandup nuvenguhi?                 How do you say____________ (action) in your language?

Again, thanks so much for praying for us.

Nate for the family.

Posted via email from PNG Time