Up to our elbows in it.

Tim demonstrates what it means to get down and dirty in Pal

Not a clean process

I was thinking the other day that the tongue would be a particularly bad place to get a cramp. Think about it, not only would you feel the intense agony that is a cramping muscle, but you wouldn’t be able to utter anything meaningful while it was happening. Instead you’d probably have to stand there bearing the pain by making gurgling noises and looking like an untimely escapee from the dentist’s chair.

That is a bit like what we get to do all the time… without the cramp part.  As most of you who have learned another language know, some of the sounds or combinations of sounds that occur in another culture are often very different from our own. Take the Pal word for “We are long way off from knowing that” for example: keaboomagalogago and try to drop it casually in conversation. Not only will you risk a tongue cramp (see above) but you might just start to sound like a pirate with the hiccups.

What’s the point of all this, you may ask. Well, we just wanted to take the time this week to laugh at ourselves and just how funny things are when put into perspective. We are learning how valuable it is to sound goofy – there is no other way to learn how to say things. Literally we are exercising our mouths, continually refining our techniques and production so that someday soon we’ll be able to be clearly understood when we talk about the things that really matter.

Lightning often provides our evening entertainment….

Conference

We are out of the bush for a week meeting with the other missionaries from the Madang region, being encouraged in the Word and learning some new skill to aid in the work in Pal. It is lots of fun to be with others and compare notes. We’ll be out for 6 days and then be flying back into the bush with a small work team who will be helping us fix our entrance before rainy season.

The water brigade. These young girls haul water for their families every evening.

Praying

You can be praying with us as we are trying to us the time here in meetings to evaluate our next steps – what things have to be in place when (translation training, literacy workshops etc). Pray that we would be able to have an accurate picture of what is going on in Pal and in the hearts and minds of the people so that we would make wise decisions.

Thanks a bunch for your support,

Nate for the fam

Posted via email from PNG Time