Effort and Dependence.
After watching a few Olympic Events this week (Thanks very much Bill!), the boys were jazzed up when we made them a track and a high-jump on the chopper pad. This week also marked Noah’s 10th Birthday.
Graceful or no, we are moving ahead.
Some of the things that we have learned as we work on analysis of Pal discourse are not really about discourse, but about the thinking of the people and will be very important to understand when we begin chronological bible lessons with them. Here are a few things that we filed this week:
“We put the anina on one side, the men�et� on the other, some teterumaya underneath, and then cut the belly button with an arrow.” � a Pal friend explaining the way that they insure strength and effectiveness in life for a newborn baby. (If you don’t recognize a word it is a Pal yam or other significant plant).
“Sikikipia (whack!)…. Uh…. Ke kokom kusin” � an older Pal man was seeking to plainly explain a term associated with magic and spirit strength to me when his elderly wife who was sitting nearby gave him a good whack and a little talking to for talking openly about a significant spiritual power word. This particular word (sikikipia) is a key term related to deserved punishment and is related to another Pal word for creating. Reminder: the Pal people basically believe that the word creates the thing (or gives power to it) and our physical labor merely reveals it.
“Yeah, we say special words when we plant our yams…. Oh, you don’t necessarily say things when you plant your gardens?!... Oh, then neither do we.” � A friend asks about what white people generally do after I had asked about his garden routine.
And there are many more examples. A fellow missionary once wrote me a note that said he would be praying for just the right guys to ‘whisper a secret in the dark’ to us. In some of the areas that we are currently hearing about, we feel very much a need for that. More and more we see that most of the Pal talk that we generally hear has a double meaning associated with a hidden understanding linked with Pal spiritual beliefs. We are asking the Lord for just the right guys to come along and pull the curtain back. Probably the greatest hindrance for this is the Pal belief that if another person finds out your power words, all of the wealth that should have been yours will go to him.
Thankful
Here are a few things that you can be thanking the Lord with us for this week:
・ Replacement solar panels for our partners have been located in country (if we order from the U.S. it takes 6-8 months total to get them).
・ Increased interest in literacy courses that we are scheduling for next year.
・ Nate’s finger is well enough so he can type with it (as long as he is careful).
・ Noah celebrated 10 years with us and is growing in body, soul, and spirit.
・ Good fellowship as a team �we all have been able to meet each other in a few ways this week.
Thanks so very much for keeping us here with your prayers and gifts,
Nate for the 5 of us
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