It’s officially day 2 and I am typing this on my phone while waiting in line for a currency exchange. The temperature is sweet, not too hot or too cold. Like being in a warm bath without the need to get out.
This morning Miriam and Leon (brother and sister) shared with the team their love for the Pacific Islanders. Miriam’s first trip was in 2005 when she was 10 – coincidentally the same year I met her and Leon (then 14).
I would soon become Miriam’s youth leader, then Leon and I travelled to Vanuatu in 2011 for a missions trip. Although much time has elapsed our shared love for missions and the pacific has led us to join together again.
Leon speaks fluent pidgin (local dialect) to the surprise and enjoyment of our hosts. Miriam seems to blend into the culture here as if it were her own. We may have to leave her here.
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On the night of our arrival (last night) we attended a welcome service. Several key church members welcomed us with a ceremony before we worshiped together.
As we worshiped it seemed as if we could go on for hours. The reverence Solomon Islanders hold to the Lord is unlike our casual western culture where we have brought God down to be like one of us, the Solomon Islanders seem to want to go up to him, as if we could become like the angels.
The songs they sung are not from America, they are local. They don’t sing about the land, the self or the church. Their songs are about God, here’s my rough paraphrase of what I could pull from their lyrics:
The 24 elders gather around the throne
And they sing worthy is the lamb
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
After this service and a discussion with the serving church leadership (we talked about ‘speaking of Christ as if he were in our midst’), I was left wondering what on earth we could possible offer these people who for the most part life without cell phone addiction and global economic wars.
Yet here we are and I am still asking, “God what are you doing here?” I thank him in advance for his answer which is coming…