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| I Demand Justice!
Greetings from Lembena! These last few months we have been going deeper into Lembena language and culture. One of the areas of culture that we have been diving into has been the justice system, which is very different than our justice system back home. Every few weeks, leaders in our village who have been chosen as “judges” meet and hear complaints at the village court. These court sessions have been very eye opening for us as to how our people view justice and what things are important to them. One such court was particular interesting. |
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| This is Piwa. He has become a good friend of mine over the past year. Piwa does not speak any of the trade language so our only way to communicate is in the Lembena Language. As my ability to speak in the language has grown, so has my relationship with Piwa. He is a skilled hunter and is often killing wild pig in the thick jungle in the mountains surrounding our village. At the village court one week, Piwa was accused of killing and stealing a pig from someone’s camp in the mountains. The argument at the court became very heated with Piwa claiming that the pig he killed was wild and that all of his clan had eaten the pig with him and can verify that it was wild. The judges at the court decided that Piwa was not at fault and cleared him of all charges. At this point, the man accusing Piwa became furious and threatened Piwa and his clan. I remember Piwa coming to me after the court very worried, he told me not to go up to his pig house because he was afraid this man would follow through on his threat. Because of the threats of violence, Piwa purchased a 1,000 Kina pig (about $300) and gave it to his accuser so the man would not do what he threatened. Even though he was ruled innocent, he decided that in order to keep peace, he should compensate the man for his loss. It’s important to note that there is no law enforcement in Lembena, so when the court gives a ruling there is no one to make sure that ruling is kept. Those who are known to be violent almost always get their way so that peace can be maintained in the community. |
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| Shortly after Piwa’s court, we got to experience the Lembena court/justice system first hand when a villager brought an accusation against us. Early one morning, we were told that our dog had killed another villagers cassowary bird. Our people raise cassowaries in large cages and use them for bride prices or sell them for large amounts of money. I went to see and sure enough the giant bird was dead and its head had been eaten completely by a dog. When I got there, they were demanding that we pay hundreds of kina to compensate them for their loss. Thankfully, a friend of mine in the village showed up and pulled me aside. He told me that nobody saw it happen and they were only accusing us as the missionaries because we have money. I went back to the house and checked our security camera and saw that our dog had slept all night on our porch and hadn’t left. Even with this evidence and the fact that no one saw it happen, the family still wanted us to pay. We met with the village leaders under our house (picture above) to decide what to do. We told them that if we are in the wrong that we want to make it right, but we also don’t want to end up paying for every pig, chicken or animal that is killed in the village by a dog. This is when Piwa stepped in and came to the rescue. He said that because he helps take care of my dog and hunts with it that he would take responsibility for it and if they demand payment for what happened that he would pay it. I tried to argue and say that we wanted to help but he refused. He said that if he took responsibility then they would drop the case because they know they have no right to accuse and only are accusing us because we are the missionaries. It was humbling to have him take on this hardship for our sake and he was correct that the case was dropped as soon as he stepped in. Though not the justice we are used to, it was amazing to learn areas of their culture that can be used as a bridge for the truth of the gospel. The story we will one day share tells of a man who took on injustice for the sake of peace. Even though he was innocent, he was accused so that others could be free. Be praying for Piwa and his family, that they will listen to our message when it comes time to share it and that he will believe. |
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| Computer Woes
Being in a hot, humid, and wet environment, electronics don’t have the best life expectancy here. A couple months ago the main computer that I (Micah) use daily that held all my language data, recordings, and culture crashed and would not restart. Very little of that data was saved elsewhere. I spent several frustrating days trying to fix it and finally decided it needed to be sent out to a specialist. The day I was going to send it out on the plane, I opened it up one more time and miraculously it booted right up and everything was there! Praise God! I immediately backed up everything on our cloud drive and the computer continued to work for another month before crashing again. Thankfully almost everything was saved and I was able to log in to another computer and all my work was there. |
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Upcoming Plans
This is our last month in Lembena before we head back to the US for our home assignment. We arrive in Seattle on June 2nd and will be staying at the Lake Tapps Community Church parsonage. We are so blessed and thankful for our church family getting everything ready for our arrival. Thank you to everyone helping with that! God has also provided a vehicle for us to use! The parsonage is a perfect place for us to be able to reconnect with our friends, family and supporters while home and also a great location to be able to get involved with the church at Lake Tapps. We would love to get together with you during our home assignment! Please feel free to reach out to us and we can schedule a time to catch up with you and share what God has been doing here in Papua New Guinea. |
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- Pray: For our teammates, the Hughes, as they will be alone in Lembena for about a month before our other teammates, the Fergusons, return from their home assignment.
- Praise: We had a language evaluation at the beginning of this month and were encouraged by the progress that has been made! Micah was able to tell stories and will be moving into telling and understanding longer stories when we return from home assignment.
- Pray: For our travel back to the US. Traveling in PNG can be unpredictable and many of our friends have been dealing with cancelled tickets and flights. Pray that we are able to avoid these issues and for our sanity as we travel 10,000+ miles with a 5 year old and a 2 year old.
- Praise: For God providing a house, vehicle and so much more for our home assignment. Praise God for such a loving group of family, friends and supporters!
In His Strength and Power Alone,
Micah, Laura, Adalia and Declan |
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Micah and Laura Myers 