Barnabas' death is opening doors for me to have spiritual conversations with people like never before. We knew that after a visit to the graveyard, everybody went to wash their feet in the ocean to rinse away any evil spirits, but today I saw something new. As we walked back from the burial people were grabbing leaves and breaking them in pieces as they rubbed the leaves on the palms of their hands. I finally pulled aside a friend to ask, "What are they doing?"
At first she told me they were just making their hands smell nice, but when I asked again, she admitted that they were cleaning their hands from any evil spirits in the cemetery. When I asked about the name of the leaf, I wasn't surprised to hear that it is roroyo, the same leaf that will often be carried into the bush as protection from evil spirits. When Naomi lived with us in 2011, she told us that the same leaf was used in the area of the Solomon Islands where she grew up.
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The fact that Barnabas' death is opening the door for spiritual conversations is living proof of Rom. 8:28! If there is an appropriate way to express my condolences, please do. Some of the villagers may remember me as your mother or the white woman with mud stripes on her legs from working in the bush garden. :-D
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