Bonding

Last weekend Bill and Briana flew to Tetebeti to take the Union President, Pastor Davai, to a campmeeting being held there. Unfortunately neither Bill nor Briana are photographers so I don’t have many pictures to share. It took about a half hour hike to get from the airstrip to the campground. Suddenly, as they were hiking along, several people covered in leaves and mud leaped up out of the bush and started wildly dancing and singing on the trail in front of them. This was their welcome committee. This campground has been permanently built by church members for their district meetings. Bill and Briana, along with Pastor Davai and his wife, were assigned their own little hut to stay in. Baths were taken at the local spring with all the women going at one time and then all the men at another time. Apparently Bill’s reputation as a guitar player has travelled far and wide because someone brought out an old battered guitar and begged Bill to play along for congregational singing. Bill obliged them even though playing on such an abused instrument was painful for him. It was a great father/daughter bonding weekend.

Meanwhile Betsy and I were doing our own mother/daughter bonding by both coming down with a miserable cold. In spite of this, we joined the AAS team for a two hour drive up to the town of Lufa on Sabbath, where another campmeeting was being held. Roger had been invited to preach and hold a baptism afterward. The town of Lufa sits at the base of Mt. Michael. At 12,303 feet it is the 2nd highest mountain in PNG.

(Mt. Michael in background)

The stage was decorated with sweet potatoes, taro, bananas, grass, etc. I found it a bit amusing as I don’t personally find roots very attractive.

The baptismal “tank” was a hole dug in the ground, lined with a tarp, and the water covered with flower pedals. Ingenious to be sure!

After the church service the pastor invited us to his home for lunch. As we were walking to his home this little old man took it upon himself to be Roger’s “bodyguard”, keeping everybody at bay with his stick and umbrella. If you got to close you got a good womping!

A feast was prepared for us.

There was no furniture in the house but we were graciously invited to sit on the floor to eat our lunch.

As we were leaving, the church members brought us more food to take home with us.

This old grandma just loved Betsy and kept kissing her hand.

Along the drive we passed many of these little “gas stations.” I guess it gives you enough fuel to make it to the next “gas station.”

Being the artistic person that I am, I always get great enjoyment out of seeing signs of creativity. I absolutely fell in love with this little hut with its heart shaped windows.

Thus ended a perfect Sabbath for all of us.