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Sept. 19, 2003
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March 15, 2001
March 1, 2001
Dear Friends,
Visiting people in the village is always an interesting experience, both for them and for us. Recently Marcus, Hannah and I went to visit a lovely little old woman named Mary Theresa. She doesn't speak hardly any English, which makes her a wonderful language tutor. What happened when we visited her is the same thing that almost always occurs when we go see someone. She apologized about 50 times (maybe that's an exaggeration) for her little bush house, told us that it is not as nice as white people's houses, and stood outside awkwardly, probably wishing we would leave. We sat down in her cooking hut and tried to assure her that we liked her house. She looked embarassed. We stayed for a little while, and eventually she seemed to get used to the idea of "rich white people" visiting her, although she never did invite us in.
Of course, she is right that we have a different kind of house from hers. Life in Alotau is vastly different from that in the surrounding villages. We have electricity, running water, internet access, and almost all of the other luxuries to which we are accustomed. While we appreciate the conveniences, we also are aware of a huge gap between our lifestyle and the lifestyle of the people who live around us. This gives us special challenges. In order to minister to people, we have to understand them a little. In order to understand them better, we need to spend time with them and see what their lives are really like.
Recently, Marcus, Hannah and I have been given an opportunity to stay in the village closest to here, Mutuyuwa, for two to four weeks. The house we are being offered (see the attached picture) is a bush house similar to the ones most of the people in the village live in. We hope not only that this experience will assist us in learning their language, but also that it will help us to better understand what daily life is like for our friends there. We plan on tagging along with our temporary neighbors as they go to their gardens, cook their food, wash their laundry, and go about their other daily business. We are excited about the opportunity to "become flesh and dwell among them" for just a little while. In some ways it is just an extended camping trip for us, and we look forward to early nights without electricity and early mornings sitting by the nearby river. But we also want this to have maximum benefit for our ministry here. Please pray that the people in Mutuyuwa will accept us even more than they do now and that we will make good progress on learning their language.
Tuesday of this week I was sitting by Mary Theresa, and shooing the flies off of both of us with a dish towel, when she patted me on the back and said "a hanapugeya tulau". That means (I think): "I know you are my friend." I hope that the more we are able to interact with people, the more they will see that is true. We are their friends, and we want to love them and spend time with them, even if their houses are the bushiest in the bush.
Love, Diane Reese (with Marcus and Hannah)
bush house
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