Sunday, November 30

Sweet Sabbath

The guys had a GREAT time fishing last night! God gave them some playful dolphins, a gorgeous sunset, and phosphorescence in the water as gifts during their fishing trip. Even though the three of them only caught four small fish among them, Chief Leonard and his son made up the difference.  So our share of the catch was one big fish, and seven small (still good sized!) fish.  We had enough to share some with Naris in addition to half of our small pan of lelenga (cassava pudding) this morning.  Naris' husband, Dawa, was gone for a meeting in another village, so she wasn't going to make any lelenga.  Plus, she has been sick with this nasty cold virus going around the village.  It was fun to surprise her with the fish before church (so she could cook it the way she liked) and to follow the fish with lelenga after church.

We "milked" our fish.  Aaron cut it into pieces, then I placed the pieces in water and brought them to a boil.  After dumping the water, we deboned the fish and re-boiled it in coconut cream with salt and curry.  Yummy!

After a rousing Phase 10 game, we finally completed the music recital that we began yesterday.  Edi and Sarah sang a beautiful duet of "Infant Holy", and they they performed the world premiere of Benjamin's composition "Opus 1".  He set various scripture verses to music in four different movements.  We LOVED it!

Edi's home church has a great AWANA group that has adopted us for the year.  They sent a paper Christmas tree with picture ornaments from each child in AWANA.  Edi's mom was the impetus behind the tree - how thoughtful!  On the back of each ornament is each child's name, and I think Olivia already has the names and faces memorized.

Eta and Edi really hit it off!  We love Eta, she has a sweet heart and loves Jesus, just like Edi.  Today was the day of goodbyes, and Eta was leaving this afternoon to stay at the elementary school for the week.  I snapped a picture of these two lovely ladies before they went off to the church to pray together.  I think that prayer is one of the biggest gifts Edi brought with her.  It didn't matter if language was a barrier, Edi just "stopped, dropped, and prayed" with everyone God brought her way.

After church this morning, our friend, Hensy, made an announcement that there would be an engagement/farewell party for Edi and Brennen tonight.  Under our house.  In other words, the Choates were hosting the party!  We've enjoyed several gatherings under our house, but never anything so sweet.

We anticipated lots of people bringing food for the potluck, but God prompted my heart to make a triple batch of the stuff I was making to go on top of rice (thanks, Lord, for a good market yesterday!) and to cut up the huge watermelon we requested when Brennen came to the village.  Usually we devour watermelon immediately, but this time, we had so many different kinds of fruit at market that the watermelon still sat untouched.  Again, I think this was God's provision.

So after church tonight, we began setting up the table and chairs underneath the house, strung some Christmas lights, brought down buckets to hold the flowers our friends brought, and carried our platters of food down to wait. 

Our friends moved our two big chairs underneath the Christmas lights as the seats of honor.  They began to bring root crops and rice and set them on the table.  I kept looking for the other food, but by the time the party began around 8:00, I realized that there wasn't going to be any other food.  So thankful that we had plenty to share!  Chief Leonard explained that the Lavukal lead the new bride and groom by the hands to the seats of honor just after the wedding.  So the party began with everyone singing and dancing as my friend, Margaret, held Edi's hand on one side and Brennen's hand on the other side and led them to the seats underneath the lights.

After more singing and dancing, the "big men" (Chief Leonard, Aaron, & Brennen) filled their plates, followed by our family.  Then I helped a few women make plates for everybody else.  Usually, everybody brings their own plate, but I realized that I didn't see anybody with a plate in hand, so I quickly asked a friend if we were supposed to provide the plates.  She nodded yes, so I ran upstairs to grab every plastic plate and bowl I could find.  As we loaded plates with rice, a little bit of the Pakistani Kima I had made, a piece of watermelon, and half of a potato or cassava, I noticed plates that were empty quickly returning for another person to use.  We ladled food into the same dishes over and over again, but everybody got at least a little bit of food into their tummies using our nine plates and fourteen bowls.

After eating, it was time for the speeches.  Chief Leonard spoke, as did Aaron and my friend, Hilda, on behalf of the Marulaon women.  Aaron even led us in the fun action chorus, "God Made the Butterfly Fly".  Then Brennen and Edi took their turns.  What blessings they poured out on our neighbors and what sweet Christian fellowship we enjoyed tonight.  God's spirit was certainly present.  We closed with the traditional hand shaking as everybody lined up to dance and sing their way to shake hands with Edi and Brennen.  Margaret (a grandmother of at least nine children) almost brought the house down as she danced away with Brennen at the end of the song.  I think he made a special friend!