Easter, 2000

This is the story of my experiences attending the celebration of the Ese people getting the New Testament in their language.

About 20 people went from the Ukarumpa centre here. We took 3 small airplanes and a helicopter. I went in one of the small airplanes that held 6 people very close together. The terrain of PNG is beautiful from the air - green mountains with an occasional village or dirt airstrip. We also saw a few waterfalls and a downed B17 bomber from WWII. We were shuttled in by helicopter 5 minutes to the village - it would have been 5 hours to walk it (which of course I couldn't have done anyway because of my knee - thank God for the helicopter!) They had built a brand new helicopter landing area for the dedication so that they could have a procession up to the village. (and probably also because if they'd landed where they usually did with that many trips it would have blown the roofs off their houses!)

As we landed we saw a big crowd of people at the top of the hill and a few at the bottom as the first welcoming committee. They gave us each a coconut to drink the milk as we waited for everyone to arrive. When everyone was there, we started the procession to the village. Partway up the hill some villagers came out of the bushes covered in mud and with spears and bows and arrows pretending to attack us. It was quite daunting, but made for a memorable welcome.

As we neared the entrance to the village there was a sea of faces and a sign "Welcome to Ese Bible Dedication". Once we entered we could see that there were some dancers dressed in traditional costume and beating their kundu drums. Think of Native American costume and you will be close - elaborate headresses with Bird of Paradise plumes, bead necklaces, and tapa bark cloth sparse clothing.

We walked through that section of the village with them playing first in front of us, then going on either side of us. The other villagers walked along both sides, staring at us. They had hired additional police for the weekend to insure that everything went smoothly.

We came to an arch and the music changed from traditional to Christian music in their Ese language accompanied by guitars. They were waving big palm leaves on either side of the path on which they put out a woven mats for us to walk on. When the last of us was past, they rolled up each one and moved it to the front for the first people. They gave us flower necklaces they had made (like leis we associate with Hawaii) - I was given 4 of them. When we reached the end they had a little welcome ceremony, then we were shown to the houses where we would stay.

The village houses were set off the ground on stilts. They were quite clean and comfortable - they even had walls within the house so there was some privacy. I was glad to learn that there is no malaria in this area, so we didn't have to sleep under mosquito nets or be really careful about never getting bitten.

People had traveled a very long distance to get to the dedication. They walked up to a day each way over big hills that could be called mountains.

The official ceremony happened the next day, on Easter. Before the ceremony we visitors had breakfast together and sang a few Easter hymns. The ceremony was scheduled to start at 8:00, but they didn't even blow the conch shell for people to start coming until almost 9:00, and it started at 9:30 or so. The weather was perfect - cloud cover so that it didn't get too hot, but no rain until at the very end. Many different people gave little speeches - the Papua New Guinean translators and church leaders, a pastor from Port Moresby, a director from SIL/Wycliffe, etc. They were all good and encouraging speeches about the power and value of God's word. They had a skit about how at first they were scared when Jim and Jaki came to translate for them, but then they realized that God's words are good - as delicous as salt. (They think of salt the way we would think of sugar). Then they brought in the Bibles with much ceremony, dressed in traditional wear and singing songs written especially for the occasion in the Ese language. The whole ceremony was about 3 or 4 hours long. Then the people could purchase the Bibles for 3 Kina each, which is about US$1. The rest of the cost comes from other sources like the Bible Society and SIL/Wycliffe. There were between 1 and 2 thousand people at the ceremony.

Later in the afternoon I went for a walk with some of the other visitors and one of the Ese pastors' wives offered to show us around the village. We saw people reading their new bibles and sitting around the fires in the middle of their houses discussing the events of the day.

Another highlight of the weekend for me was worshipping with the people. They are really on fire for God and love to worship. There were church services each night. They sang songs in English, Tok Pisin, and Ese. They danced and raised their hands and sang in loud nasal voices. Sometimes the speaker would yell something and eveyone would yell "Jesus!" together.

The weekend passed quickly and it was time to go. There was a big crowd of people to say goodbye to us too. We took off in the helicopter and could look down from the air and see everyone waving back at us. We said goodbye, but a little bit of our heart will always be there with the Ese people after sharing such a special celebration with them.

Pray for the Ese people that they would read their new Bibles and come to a fuller knowledge of God through them. Now the translators Jim and Jaki Parlier will be working to unite the people under correct doctrine, combat the false teachings, and assist the Ese pastors by working with them in the translation of some Old Testament books.

I hope that my account of the weekend has encouraged you and helped you to see more about the Papua New Guinean people that I am ultimately, although indirectly, here to serve.