Triplets...every time.

Target practice with slingshots. For our boys, just another day of fun; for their Pal friends, klunking a bird means a tasty meal.

So About that Belly Button…

Are you familiar with your navel? Have you ever looked down at it and said to yourself, “Wow, that totally reminds me that I’d better be really nice to my mother’s brothers”? You who simply answered ‘No.’ can count yourselves in the minority (there may even be something wrong with you). For the rest of you, who answered ‘Huh?’, give yourselves high-fives and read on (‘No’ s can read on too, but make sure you are in the company of at least one ‘Huh?’ just to be on the safe side.)

The fact is, in the Pal way of thinking, all babies are triplets. There is a first spirit baby that is thought to be born before the birth, then the actual child is born attached by the umbilical cord to what is considered the third (spirit) baby. Without going into too much detail, the spirit babies are thought to be tied to you for life – and your success in whatever you may turn your hand to depends on how near to you they stay – and how happy you keep them. Since the spirit babies are thought to come from the mother’s side of the family, and her oldest brothers are thought to have control of the hereditary family spirits, they would then seem to have oversight over your particular spirit siblings and thus be able to control your particular life.  

So… if you, as a Pal person, were staring at your navel, you would be reminded of your birth and your spirit siblings (who are constantly up to no good, by the way) and you would think about how your life is going (or not going) and you would be prompted internally to call those uncles over for a barbeque just to make sure things were still all good. TaDa!

While the OSHA jury may be out on the safety of this particular scaffold system, four Pal guys were simultaneously willing to risk their necks on it to put up the last of the siding on the Hostetters house.

Enjoyment, Call to Prayer.

While I do get quite a chuckle out of writing half a prayer letter about navel gazing, I want to put out there that we are really at the place where we are not smiling about the work we came here to do. There is nothing funny about the entrapment and years of bondage that traditional beliefs have brought on the Pal people. Neither is there anything funny about the significant number of unforeseen challenges that seem to be filling our days of late. We are locked in a struggle, knowing that our Lord promises to have His way, and at the same time feeling a great need for His people to rise up and faithfully pray for the Pal work.  Would you be willing to pray for us whenever you have your own quiet space? And, would you be willing to take the Pal work and prayer for us with you as you meet with other Christians? Please let us know what we can do to help you in this.

Nate just clowning around with some Pal kids.

Thinking and Praying

This week we are going to try a little something new. Please read the following, and from your own understanding and experience pray for us and the people we live with.

While it may seem distant, and the trappings of life may be very foreign to you, relationally, Pal is like every family, small town, church group, and community you’ve ever lived with. There are cliques, loose associations, aspiring leaders, inter-clan and within family rivalries. A young man may resent the authority of his oldest brother. An older brother may be frustrated that his lead is not followed. A fight over who should clean up the village could send one family to another village for a while. Appearances must be maintained at all costs. The ideals of sharing and helping are engaged when convenient and ignored when not. Relational pitfalls are everywhere. Somehow in the midst of this muck and mire, we know that God will bring together a group of people to hear what He has to say and let it change them.

Please pray with us.

Nate for the family.

Posted via email from PNG Time