Trying Many Things

A friend and I spent the morning talking about traditional singsings. He had lots to say and invited me to come and play along with an appropriately sized drum – very much like being invited to come to a Harley festival on a 50cc minibike. Woohoo! At least I was invited.

Home Court Advantage (aka: The Prize Puppy Syndrome)

We are getting to the point in the Pal language where, depending on the subject matter, we may either sound like old pros or (with something new) yammering posers. It has been fun for us that our friends have taken pride in our progress. It is especially rewarding as well when they express to us their desire for the next steps in the work here (literacy, translation, teaching). At the same time, growing more fluent has brought with it new challenges.

I’m not really sure what brings it on, but it seems that whenever we get a visitor from a distant Pal village, our local friends go into show off the missionary mode – and it nearly always backfires. It doesn’t help that they talk up our progress beforehand. Nor does it help that they tend to speak more quickly and in a different style and on new subjects on theses occasions. So, instead of looking like a coherent human being who spends more than 40 hours weekly studying the Pal language, I tend to appear more like the a dog that through some tragic accident (head injury?) can only stand there staring blankly at the speaker. I’m sure it does a lot to increase the general confidence of the Pal people that they will eventually get the truth out of us.

Then again, there are a couple of times (Ok, I can count them on one finger) when we were trotted out to show off our stuff and, in the midst of that conversation, another subject came up (which I happened to be able to talk about). By the time that conversation was done, the folks from far away were ready to call our language study finished and were pushing me to begin the next steps. Feast or famine, feast or famine. You can be praying that we maintain good attitudes when we are trying to understand new aspects of the language – on days when there seems to be visible progress and on the other days as well.

The boys and I found a shallow swimming hole in the local river. It was a nice time out and Elizabeth had a great time with some ladies (learning language) while we were gone.

Pragmatic Meats

Growing up, it was not strange for me to see a neighbor’s barn adorned with weathered antlers, trophies of bucks long since consumed. I have been learning about a similar Pal practice this week; although the practice here has much greater significance. According to my informants – there is a special place that every man will make for the deposit of things related to the meats that he eats. It could be a broken arrow, a few leaves that were used to cap the bamboo that the meat was cooked in, it could be a few bones – jawbones are especially popular – that are carried to that man’s private spot and laid on the ground. Failure to put some token in one’s special spot is said to lead to extremely poor hunting luck in the future. Other decorations are placed there to increase the power of the owner; stinging nettles, perfumy plants etc.

One interesting fact that my investigation revealed was that many guys are not actively practicing this tradition – it was only those who’ve had recent trouble in getting enough meat for their families.

On the way to check on a woman who had been in labor for two days, I noticed a great view of our house across the valley.

It is not only in this area that the Pal people have taken a ‘whatever works’ approach. A sick woman will be washed with special water, bit by a cousin (to remove the ‘bad blood’), drink a couple of Tylenol and an Amoxicillin, and still be willing to try being prayed over in a group setting.

We are daily stretched to discern the minds and hearts of the Pal people. We pray that they will not approach the gospel when it comes as one more thing to try, but rather as the only way to find hope in a world of sin and sorrow.

Thanks so much for your support and prayers. We miss you all.

Nate for the fam

Posted via email from PNG Time