Sunday, February 15

Note: I am republishing this one because I discovered it was incomplete. Here is the full post.
Sarah and Aaron got home last night around 8:30.  They left the other village just as supper was being served, so we pulled out some leftovers and triumphantly presented the caramel corn as a Valentine's Day treat.  The parents and teenagers stayed up late chatting over the happenings of the day.

We learned that Sarah helped her Aunties decorate for the welcome of the diocese bishop.  She also sang in the Marulaon choir who was assigned to the official welcome.  I'm so proud of the lovely young woman that Sarah has become!  This morning, that alarm seemed to go off super early, but we dragged everybody out of bed and made a quick pot of oatmeal to fortify us through the long morning.  Officially, you aren't supposed to eat before a communion service, but I knew I wouldn't do well without some food in my tummy.

We were down at the beach just a few minutes after 6:00, and Belza showed up a few minutes later to whisk us away in his canoe taxi.  The sunrise and the view were absolutely beautiful.

Belza is such a good driver.  When we came out of the shelter of the smaller islands and entered more open sea, the swells increased.  Belza knew exactly how to maneuver the boat, slow down and speed up, whatever it took to ease the ride.  So thankful for his skill in driving!

Nukofero Village is located on "mainland", one of the larger islands that make up our area.  This village is nestled at the bottom of some mountains, and we watched the tiny speck of the bishop's ship, the Southern Cross, come into view in the little harbor in front of Nukofero.

Unbeknownst to us, the service was following clock time, not Solomon Time, and we pulled up on shore just as we heard the bell signaling that the service was beginning.  We carried Marulaon's contribution of cooked pig and the contribution of a beautifully carved table up the hill, and then Aaron and Sarah slipped into the choir while the rest of us found seats at the back of the very full church.
The first time I knelt down in the church, I felt little fingers scraping the dirt off the sole of my feet. It tickled, and I fought the urge to turn around and see who was helping me have "clean" feet. The service rang with at least five different languages, the most multi-cultural service I think I've ever attended. The three hour service was in English, but the bishop brought his own choir who responded to the service in their own language and sang in their own language, too. Marulaon's choir sang in Pijin, English, and Lavukaleve, and the announcements were made in Pijin and Tikopian, a Polynesian language. Even though this village is in the Russells, most of the inhabitants are Tikopian and retain the language and customs of their native island.

After church, the village fed the Bishop and his guests, but the rest of us went to find some shade and hang out for a while. I was so thankful that we brought a hand of bananas and some precious hard boiled eggs. My friend, Kiko, was glad we brought bananas, too. I think she ate four of them in a row! Most of our friends chowed down on betel nut to push through the hunger until the feasting began in a few hours. We enjoyed a really sweet time of visiting with old friends and making new ones as we waited for the festivities to begin.

The whole family was invited to come sit on the benches with the "big men". The kids and I declined, preferring to stay with our friends from Marulaon, since each village had a section in the shade. Finally, I joined some of the "big women" from the bishop's visiting group. They knew the SITAG translation advisor who had lived in their village, so that gave us some common ground. Watching my sweet kids and my friends sit on the ground together, wave flies together, visit together...all of it was so sweet. I'm thankful for the many ways the Marulaon community has opened its arms and hearts to our family.

Before anybody could eat, the speeches had to be given. Aaron was thrilled that he was not on the speech list this time! At one point during the speeches, Benjamin came over to us and whispered that he was going to go help Dawa tie up the pig that our church district was giving to the Bishop. Aaron just grinned and nodded his head.

Finally, the speeches were finished, and we enjoyed digging into the wonderful food that God has put in the Russell Islands, especially the fish, shellfish, and cassava pudding. I really do think that God had lots of fun creating this area that is so beautiful and so abundant with sea creatures.

When it came time for our district to make the presentation, we all started from far away, singing and dancing in the hot early afternoon sun, whooping and hollering while Aaron and Dawa laid the pig next to the Bishop and we all filed by and shook his hand.

In between the presentations, different groups presented dances. Again, several different cultures were represented: the visitors from Isabel, the Tikopian transplants, and our Lavukal neighbors. Each group was beautiful and fun to watch!

Towards the end of the dancing, the moves became less traditional and more inappropriate. When I made a comment to Grace about how I didn't like it, she said, "Sikalam" which basically means "Trash!" So, we got up and left and found that we weren't alone among our Marulaon neighbors. As my friend Julie wrote, "It must be exhausting/difficult to know which aspects of culture to accept and support, and which to try to bring into obedience with God's Word." Belza had two groups to ferry back and forth, and he was as eager as we were to get started on the long ride back home. We finally pulled up to Marulaon about 5:30, just as the Kosco was pulling out to continue its trip out West. Exhausted and thirsty, we traipsed up the hill for a quick shower, a bite of leftovers, and an early bedtime.