Date: 18th Nov 2011 [Part No. 8]
Dear Pastor, Church & all Supporters;
(Col 3:16)” Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God.”
(Col 3:17) “And whatsoever ye do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
19th Aug 2011 [Friday]
0600 hrs I started my day, there was much to do and access since my last time of being at the Tanggi Mission Station. Hepe had waked at the timetable I had appointed him (0500 hrs) to have the wood stove burning and ready for cooking. We made coffee, had our daily bible reading and then I determined to get a visual of the house, and mission station.
I had a few days to organize others and myself before starting out on the mission patrols to the churches. During the morning hours we took stock of what was in the house, or should say, what was NOT in the house. When dad built the house back in 1962 there was no theft, no crime, as we know it today, the PNG Natives lived under and with a very strict code of ethics. Law as stiff and swiftly carried out, therefore a healthy respect shrouded the lives of the Huli and Duna people. It was not until the inception of a National government, and ‘democracy’ which, signs of crime-started showing amongst the people.
As with all Nations and countries it’s only a matter of time when development comes in that things will start to change. The PNG Natives were completely content and happy the way they were for many generations. Now, TV, videos, mobile phones, corrupt government officials and oil companies have penetrated even the interior of PNG.
With the access of alcohol, and [beetle nut – a local palm nut which is harvested, mixed with lime and chewed, causing a narcotic effect) this mixture, produces a very unstable and highly volatile arena that one has to deal with when travelling through the Highlands. Look at it this way, most of the Highlanders, from the Eastern Highlands to the Southern Highlands are filled with Tribes of Warriors whom many are battle scared.
If given any reason to start a dispute it will become so, most often will end in bodily harm, in which, turns into warfare and continues so until the offended party has met compensation. This issue, can and does affect the main network of roadways, transportation which, in turn affects ones life, home, shopping, needs etc… the list goes on.
There is only one main road from the coastal town of Lae, all the way to Lake Kopiago (25 miles from Tanggi mission station). The only other way to get out is by air or hiking through the bush. I said all that to say this, the house at Tanggi was built out of timber with wooden doors, louver type windows and over the years with the increase of crime, people have broken into the house and stolen most things that were left there by my father and myself from the 80’s.
Over the past ten years when I would go back to PNG to visit the work and encourage the brethren, I would take simple things such as back-packing equipment and leave some things behind so in order to lighten the load the next time around. That was a great idea and would have worked had the times still be in the 70’s and 80’s; however now is a different story and what ever I take now to use, I must carry back across the big pond in order to have for the next time.
I spent some time with Hepe and organized the timetable for the meals; this has to be accounted for due to the fact that it rains every day in PNG, and the time of daylight, which is about twelve counting from 0600 hrs. Bathwater must be heated, the meals have to be prepared etc… due to the fact that we did not have a extensive grocery list and were reduced to some basic menus.
Sweet potatoes provide a large portion of the diet with rice as a base and plenty of greens and corn beef. Out at Tanggi mission station, there are no shops to go to, no grocery shops if one did not purchase it in Mt. Hagen (some ten hours away) then most likely you will not have it for a while.
The open markets are not what they used to be… due to the following reasons – most of the younger generation have left their villages and homes to seek out employment with the changing of times and development. Leaving most of the older folks, the women mostly tend to the gardens and with the induction of coca cola, soft drinks, and factory made non-perishables, some have engaged in small trade shops.
This has led to less and less veggies being grown in the gardens and therefore, less sold in the markets, so the turning of the wheels of ‘development’ come change, not for the better but for the worse in many ways.
My wife and I took a walk from the mission station down to the Tanggi market where I can remember as a young lad, seeing the Natives bringing their produce to sell, and trade. I remember the market being filled with both people as well as good healthy produce from the gardens.
Its 2011, the men are all but gone, now the markets are replaced by a few women, old men, and children. Instead of sweet potatoes, greens, fresh veggies etc… it’s now replaced by mostly mineral drinks (Coca Cola, Fanta etc…) and basic biscuits (crackers), which are PNG, made. It becomes a sad day in my life to see this ‘so called development’ not only changing but transforming the lives of the PNG Natives into a people who become trapped and confused as to where they fit in.
Do, they continue and carry on as their ancestors did, or do they somehow merge and compete with the educated, modern world of oil companies with stat-phones, helicopters etc… Only the LORD knows where it will all go and how it will affect their lives.
I speak to several of the people around the market and they express great joy and happiness that I have come with a wife and as they put it, the missionary is now ‘complete’. I will just insert this, as it seems to be timely there were some who opposed me getting re-married, as there will always be that crowd, they would have been quite happy for me to remain a Eunuch.
I do not have any axes to grind or on a mission to convert anyone. There have always been the two schools on this subject and will no doubt always be till the coming of our LORD! I will simply say this, there are primitive Natives who know when a man is incomplete and not, end of story!
We walked back to the mission station as it was afternoon hours and the rains were setting in. Around three to four pm the rains set in and will usually rain for an hour or so, knock off and then the night rains come and continue all night.
The evening hours cool off with the house temp dropping to a brisk (61 dg F), without any house heating this is a bit cooler then I like, so the heavy sleepwear goes on. The only room, which is warm, is the kitchen simply because of the wood stove.
Our bath water is heated and we take our bucket baths, though it seems to be a simple way, the ending result is the same, i.e., one gets clean, that is the point! For all of you who may be reading this, when you take your bath, or shower, and you turn on the water tap and let it run endlessly, I would like for you to consider something… If you had to pack the water in a bucket, heat it on the fire, would you do the same?
How will you answer the LORD when HE asks you were you a ‘good steward’ of what I committed into your care’ (Lu 16:1) ¶ “And he said also unto the disciples, There was a certain rich man, who had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he was wasting his goods.”
Missionary Peter A. Halliman