A Bible Dedication - Part 4

This would be the last day of our time with the Tuam people of New Britain PNG. I woke to the sound of gonging bells which was the announcement to the local area that there would be lotu (church) this morning. They must have a series of gongs that tell people how long before church startes, but I didn't catch enough of the pattern to know how it worked really.

Actually what they use for the bell gong sound, and you see this all over PNG villages, are old oxygen/acetalene tanks or other gas tanks (which they call bottles here). They hang them from a tree and use a peice of iron or something metal to whack them. They are suprisingly loud and make a really nice gong sound.

So I took the bells as my wake-up alarm for the day and headed over to the the Bugenhagen's house to see if they were awake and knew the agenda for the morning. In the original plan, we were just going to hang out and wait for the plane to be ready and then leave for home.

But this little Tuam village, which was small in comparison to the island villages, had something special planned.

As the other SIL guests trickled into the Bugenhagen's home. They served us a wonderful breakfast of coffee, pineapple, banana, toast, jam and coffee! They storied with us over our meal about different amazing things the Lord had done during the many years of translation work there. I heard the story of Stephen and James who were my two little buddies throughout the last several days. You can see my comment to the previous blog post for a bit of their tragic and yet triumphant story.

Before it was time for church to start, we all went over and visited in front of the covering where the service would be held. I had a great time meeting new people and hearing them tell me about their lives and about their village.

Church started with the sweet sound of young children signing. The village church experience in this culture is definately different that our western church and I'll have more to say about that in later blogs, but these children were all dressed in white and well rehearsed in their motions and singning. It was beautiful!

I have a video of the children signing but am having trouble converting it at the moment. So I'll try to get that posted later on. I definately want to share some of the sights and sounds of what that morning was like.

The service was their first using a Tok Ples Bible! I didn't understand the language that was being spoken, but I was worshiping my Father in Heaven the whole time as I joined with my brothers and sisters in Christ. I kept thinking of the day when every nation and tribe and tongue will be worshiping our Lord together in Heaven. It was a spiritually significant experience for me.

After church, we saw a big thunder storm approaching and had to grab our things and make a quick departure. As we walked the 20 minutes to the plane through the village and jungle, people would come and shake our hands and offer us gifts to remember them by. By the time I got to the plane, I had an armload of things to figure out how to pack so they could be stowed quickly and we could beat the storm! I was so honored.

The whole village attended our departure standing at the end of the make-shift runway and waving. I knew I would see many of them again someday. Probably not in this life but in heaven.

Flying home was bitter sweet. But I am so glad God had this experience in His plan for my life. It has definately shaped me and brought be closer to Christ. I hope my sharing of the experience with you will inspire and challenge you as well.

My God grant you grace and peace in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.