Whats in Your Refridgerator?

Nate and a friend talk trapping – and how to hide your snare from a rat.

Food Preservation…

Other than smoking it above their fires, the Pal people have little way to preserve their food. I was thinking about this on the way to the freezer this morning when (I was pulling out our frozen egg cubes to make a special pancake meal for the family) I came the closest I have ever come to having a cartoon light bulb appear over my head and flash on and off. I suddenly realized that the give and take of food in Pal culture functions much in the same way as that 16 cubic foot side by side Kenmore does in an American Kitchen.  In essence, here in Pal, when my harvest comes in whether it be bananas, mangos, greens, or anything else that is perishable, I need to either eat it all right away (oh my aching stomach) or put in in some kind of storage place (here friend, you eat some). Then when I am hungry, I just go to the refrigerator (hey buddy, has your harvest come in?) to get out what I put in or something similar.  Pretty nifty huh?

A bunch of Pal friends came over yesterday and told me they were going to help me put in a garden… the result – the fenced area on the right of the picture.

Justice

When our friends all cleared out of the village for three days this week, it set us thinking about the way the justice system works here in PNG. Turns out, that if you want to have a hearing or a court or anything, you’ll need to throw down a pretty serious chunk of change along with a pig to get the attention of the authorities. Last week, one Pal village made various accusations against another Pal village and paid some money to bring the police in from town. Once at the designated place, the court was held and the accused lowered their punishment from jail time to a stern warning by paying the police another fairly large sum and another pig. Meanwhile, everyone in our village (who were related to the accused) conveniently left for remote corners of the Pal lands – without leaving forwarding addresses. Once it was clear that the police had left, the village quickly filled back up.

As a result of all this there is a large rift in Pal, that will potentially affect the spread of the gospel here. Would you pray with us for resolution of these conflicts and restoration of relationships between the villages?

This is a view from our house the other day – a mountain splitting sunny skies from an intense jungle rainstorm. Trust me, it was glorious… the web really doesn’t do it justice.

Much in His Grace,

Nate for the family

Posted via email from PNG Time