Friday, September 19, 2008
I've been reading Elisabeth Elliot's "Keep a Quiet Heart", and it has been such an encouragement to me. From her article "The Weapon of Prayer":

"If you, bad as you are, know how to give your children what is good for them, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him?" Matthew 7:11 NEB

"Are you as often tempted as I am to doubt the effectiveness of prayer? But Jesus prayed. He told us to pray. We can be sure that the answer will come, and it will be good. If it is not exactly what we expected, chances are we were not asking for quite the right thing. Our heavenly Father hears the prayer, but wants to give us bread rather than stones."

Her words prompted me to once again thank those of you who are praying for our family as we are continually flooded with new information here at POC. The Lord continues to give us "bread rather than stones" as we learn through the ups and downs of each day.

Our waspapa, Henson, has been given bed rest for a week. When I ask Dorcas what we can do to help, she always says, "Thank you for your prayers". She never complains about the extra work she will have to do in the garden tomorrow or throughout the week. Aaron made some bread this afternoon, and we sent her home with a loaf. We've told them that they have people all over the world praying for him, will you please send them some e-mails? He has served SIL since 1973 and is a vital part of the ministry here.


Thursday, September 18, 2008
We visited our wasfamili for supper tonight. Our wasmama came and walked us over to their house since our waspapa is still sick. They are waiting for blood tests to come back to see if he has something in addition to malaria. Dorcas had worked all day at POC then cooked us a fabulous meal even though she knew we were bringing enough food to feed everyone. We learned that what we would call an "ear of corn" is "bel bilong kon" (heart of the corn) in Tok Pisin. We also make plenty of mistakes, both in language and in culture, when we visit with our wasfamili. We knew that women can't step over things, especially food, because those things will be considered defiled. We had been warned about stepping over the aisles in the market already. But, tonight, we saw this in action. Twelve of us were eating while sitting in the floor in two lines with our backs against the walls. Benjamin had scooted out a little bit and had his back to me. What I couldn't see was that his plate was in the middle of the floor! I served my family, then I sat down. Sweet Dorcas began to serve her family. Benjamin was right next to her, so she kept stopping at his plate and asking her family to come get their food instead of taking to plate to each person. I finally realized what was going on, so I asked him to scoot back against the wall. Even then, Dorcas held her skirt close to her body (for which had been told to look) as she walked through the middle of the small room. Someday, we'll learn the culture and the language, until then, we'll just learn to laugh at ourselves!

A side note: I started anti-fungal ear drops today to see if they would help my ear feel better.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008
After tea time this morning, we listened to two men from PNG while they shared stories. One of them was a little boy during WWII, and we were amazed at the things he remembered – like sneaking food to an American POW. We also learned that POC sits on the edge of an extinct volcano! The men could trace the edge of the volcano and tell us who lived on which side of the crater. The wealth of knowledge found in our teachers is amazing!