Sitting squished among dozens of Banwaon brothers and sisters in Christ, my family and I laugh and joke as our fingers delve into the freshly cooked mountain rice. What a harvest!
Teenage girls meticulously laid out the thanksgiving feast on clean banana leaves. Several young men then carefully portioned out the real treats – two wild pigs that had been caught the day before, cooked and cut into small pieces, bone and all. They were served with boiled egg noodles mixed with sardines in tomato sauce.
If your standard fare is sweet potato and green leaves picked from the jungle to serve as vegetables; or if salt is a treat and the rice which you really prefer to eat is only to be had occasionally, wouldn’t you count this a great feast?
Enjoyment ripples through the crowd as each person savors the delicacies. Any leftovers are carefully wrapped in banana leaves to take home for the next day.
It takes five sittings to serve everyone.
When it’s time to gather into the meeting-house, people wriggle into place on the wooden slat floor. Others overflow into the yard. Several Bible teachers, including two who are visiting from another tribe, share from God’s Word.
When I stop and look, my discomfort on the hard floor is replaced with wonder. I am surrounded by Banwaon believers, faces lifted eagerly to hear the preacher’s words, and smiling as the teens sing songs of praise and worship.
Yes, at times my family has experienced discouragement, weariness, malaria, snakes, rebels and fears; and we miss our extended family; but it's worth it.
Before the Banwaon people knew Jesus as their Savior, they made thank offerings to the spirits for the mountain rice harvest. Now they celebrate God’s bounty to them.
And the spiritual harvest of more than 500 men, women and children ... and counting … is an even greater cause for thanksgiving!
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