Upside Down and Backwards

Just decided it was time to remind you of how we look… Elias has a lightning bolt shaved into his hair – he just turned a very speedy six.

Chipping Away

I don’t know about you, but the last time I pulled an all-nighter, I was in college… and was pretty much useless the next day. Here in Pal, all-nighters are fairly common. Here are a few reasons that a Pal man might pull one:

·         Hunting – often this involves sitting alone in the dark near a tree whose nuts are ripe... (they say they do not sleep, but I know more than one joker who snuck up on a friend just to say ‘boo’)

·         Celebration – owe a pig to your in-laws? Invite them over for a bit of all night drumming and singing. Then in the morning tie your massive hog up to a post, make a speech, and let them have a go with the bow and arrows.

·         Dance – need a little more music in your life? Call up some friends, pull out all of that finery and keep everybody else awake all night too.

·         Sickness – if you or someone you know has been sick for a while, it probably has been caused by something that one of your family members has done. You’ll need to spend a whole night discussing what wrong was done and by who so that you know whose pig to kill to appease the spirits and heal the sick person. This discussion can go on for days sometimes as offences are remembered for (or conjured up from) great-grandparents or even mythical stories.

I was working the office with a friend this week and he confided in me that if a man were ever able to pay for the wrong that he had done then he would finally be free and could have whatever he wanted. I asked him, if he knew of any who have finished their paying back, and he said ‘no’. You can bet that I am all the more excited to tell my friend about the One who called out ‘It is finished.’

Please pray for us as we continue to hammer out alphabetic decisions and grammar documentation. We need to continue to lay a strong foundation for bringing the Pal people God’s word.

Chris and I went to help some guys put on a roof last week. They do it top to bottom…

Upside Down

So many things that we’d think should be done one way are done another way by our Pal friends. For instance, the roof that we helped put on last week. Very much in the spirit of the old barn-raising, the house owner had gathered roofing material, food, and refreshment for the big day and then let everyone know when to show up. It was when we began to put the roofing on at the ridgeline that Chris and I looked at each other and said ‘huh?’

Turns out from the top down is really the best way to put on leaf roofing. It allows you to adjust the spacing between rows to make sure that the leaves (random length) will be long enough to keep the rain out. It also is good in that, if you are a little bit short of materials (as was the case) that the middle of the roof isn’t left gaping  until you are able to get out and get some more. Also, once the leave is laid, there is no way to stand on it to get any higher up.

So it is with many things here in Pal, our assumptions are challenged, our thinking stretched, and our ways modified. Please pray for us that we would always be open to understanding what is going on around us with an eye to meeting our friends where they are at.

Thanks for praying for us,

Nate for us 5

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