In the Night

Karl standing next to the remains of last night’s fire (that burned through the floor while we were sleeping in the house with lots of other people)…

Rounding

We’re back in Pal land now (after our annual regional conference) and we’ve been enjoying sharing a bit of our life here with some friends who are stationed at the support base near Goroka. Karl and Nate even took the opportunity to visit  some Pal villages that we have not been to since our second survey of the area in January 2009.

The trip turned out to be quite an adventure. The guys found out after hiking six hours that an important man had just died and that all of the people they were going to see were meeting in another village for the time of mourning over the body. They deliberated with some Pal guys and then (at the advice of the Pal men) decided to go and stay where the people were gathered. Among the many novel things that Karl experienced were hiking a jungle trail at night, being shepherded away from the village to avoid the ‘sorry’ arrows that were being shot into the air, sleeping in a 12 x 16 hut with many Pal people, nearly having to flee the hut when a fire began to burn through the floor, and trying a few of the many kinds of foods that life in Pal offers.

As far as the connections that were made with Pal people that we rarely see, the trip was a great success. Quite a number of the folks expressed interest in how we are working on learning the language and, when shown a bit of the process, told us that they would like to come up the mountain to visit us and help out some more. Please pray that the rumors that (sometimes) are spread about us and the things that we are doing would not breed mistrust in the people in those faraway places.

Fear

It was  good for us to attend the mourning unannounced as we did because it provided another window into the culture and thinking of the Pal people. Some of which they are hesitant to show us because they are afraid of what we may think of them and their beliefs. What we saw was a community united in fear.  The men were carrying their bows everywhere, arrows were shot into the air in many directions to keep angry spirits at bay, and meetings were held in the clan groups to determine the true cause of death. While it is not the first time that we have attended funeral proceedings in Pal, it is the first time that we have seen everything that goes on in between. Please pray for us that we would continue to grow in our understanding and empathy for the Pal people and their struggle with fear.

One Month More

We are down to our last month in Pal before furlough. In these next four and a half weeks we’ll be working hard on cementing relationships, progressing in the language and culture exploration, and battening down the hatches of our house for its 9 month stint without us.  It is going to be a busy time and we are already noticing the hours in our days are too few. Please be praying for us for energy and that we’d make quick work of the things that need to get done.

Thanks for the prayers!

Nate for the family

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Posted via email from PNG Time