We had communion this morning and attended a service that was a very good study laying a foundation explaining why Christ had to bear what he bore.
Afterwards we all went home, and from the beautiful veranda in back I began to tell the kids the story of Christ on good friday. They had heard it before but I tell it different each time.
Today I took the perspective of wood. They sat on wooden chairs, and wood comes from trees, and the cross was made of wood.
As we spoke, I saw a few men with axes approach the grove of bamboo trees beyond the fence in our back yard. They were many meters away, but I knew they intended to cut down a tree.
The owner of the house specifically mentioned to refuse to allow people to do this. So I watched and they left.
After the story was over, and after we ate lunch, they returned.. with the axe.
It is at these moments that I truly desire to understand Tok Pisin better. It's my own fault, I bucked convention and came here prior to attending POC which is where most folks learn the language well.
Today I had to fend off a strawberry salesman, with very limited pidgin, and also I had to talk some men out of chopping down the bamboo trees that are jsut beyond our back yard.
My pidgin is so bad, but I got the idea across.... DON'T CUT THOSE DOWN!
After much debating, they said something I didn't understand, but hand motions indicated he wanted to chop down one, I kept saying no... no...
and he left after tearing down a single branch...
now that I look at it, it very well might have been he was after sugar cane. I can't tell.
That's twice today I had to tell a national he couldn't do something. And to be honest I'm not exactly sure what they're trying to do. It is a challenge to figure out the right thing to do, but I'm confident that we'll learn the language and figure things out soon.
