I went to Tama's church with several other NTM missionaries. The name of the church is Genoka Fellowship of National Bible Churches in Goroka (Acts 26:18).
In my mind, we would park by a sidewalk near the church and go in. No, that wasn’t quite right - it is very muddy and steep. Tama and his wife got up early to add some sand to the carved steps so we would not fall going down the mountain. The ground was very slippery from all the rain. The children handled it like mountain goats. Me, not so fast.
There were low benches and folding chairs but many of the women and children chose to sit on the floor. The national men and women were mixed in the congregation but did not sit on the same rows. If someone older than them wanted their chair, they gave it to them. The service and songs were in pidgin and they also sang several songs in their tok place (native language). There were 2 guitar players and a couple of tambourines. Tama spoke for awhile and then his dad preached on John 3:16. Whenever Tama gave a praise report; they would hold both hands up, Tama would say "one, two, three," and then they would clap their hands three times.
I understood very little, but I know the preacher talked about God having only one Son and that all can have eternal life through this one Son, Jesus. Tama talked about the upcoming Easter Sunday and that, while Christmas was the time to celebrate Jesus’ birth and give gifts to each other, Easter was the time to celebrate Jesus’ gift to us and by which we can have our own testimony. At least, this is what I think they said!
They were very friendly and the men would shake my hand while the women would either shake my hand or hug me. You see affection shown between the same gender in public but not between men and women. It is common to see people of the same gender holding hands as a sign of friendship.
After church, we went to see the house that Tama’s dad is building. The van was stuck in the mud when we got back to it. Tama had hired a young boy to watch the van while we were gone. Denitta, one of the other missionaries, also gave him some cookies she had made.
I took a nap this afternoon and then had dinner at Marcus’ house with his wife, their three children, and the Lee’s. The Lee’s arrived this week and will be here as volunteers for 3 months. He will work in computer department and she will work in the clinic as a nurse. They are originally from Korea but have lived in the US for 40 years.
"For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” Matthew 18:20
Shirley Falls - Connecting You to Tribal Missions in Papua New Guinea
