Sierra playing “parrot dress-up” with the local flora.
Parrots! You know the colorful, mimicking birds, that everyone who sees it in the pet store asks if it wants a cracker. The intelligent pet, the picture of paradise, the parrot. Well, opinions do differ. For instance, most of the Patpatar would describe them as annoying to the ear, a nuisance to the garden, but a delicacy to the menu, with the perk of beautiful feathers for the head dress.
Despite that general opinion, there are a few in the village who have kept them as pets. We too have had the privilege of owning and caring for a few through our years here in Papua New Guinea. Though the opinions of parrots differ, it seems that a common factor is our intrigue with the birds ability to mimic sounds that it consistently hears. Through my years here I have never heard one say, “Polly want a cracker.” But I have heard them speak words of Patpatar. Whatever it is around it tends to mimic.
The reality of this fact, doesn’t just stay with the feathered friends. This truth hit me recently when one of the Patpatar believers brought me 3 pages full of writing from top to bottom. He had been reading the first chapter of the book of John and had decided to write out a lesson from the truths of these verses. In looking over his notes, I was pleasantly surprised to see how thoroughly and accurately he had outlined the passage. I was equally surprised though, to see the main points hand written in bold font, boxes drawn around the verses, and illustrations and applications boxed off with a hand drawn icon. Everything was just like the typed Patpatar Bible lessons that I hand them every week.
Another thing, we have taught the Patpatar is about prayer and how to pray and I have tried to model it. Now I am hearing Patpatar phrases that I have used come out of the mouths of my fellow believers in the tribe as they pray to their Father. When you hear a pet parrot mimic what you say it is pretty exciting. But it can also be a little scary knowing that the bird will have a tendency to say whatever he hears the most from you. Likewise, I am excited to see these young believers apply truth, but am a bit scared with the thought of being mimicked.
Now days while I am in my office working, hardly an hour goes by without one or more of the Patpatar believers approaching my door, taking off their flip-flops, and entering. They come to ask a question, discuss a passage of Scripture, tell me a story, help with a lesson, or just to sit and watch. Though the visits definitely slow down my progress for my list of things to accomplish, it has created some wonderful times of teaching and discipleship. Pray for me as God has allowed me to have this responsibility of leadership and teaching. Pray for me too as I try to properly balance the many different aspects of ministry here. And pray for the “Patpatar parrots,” that as they grow they will actually be mimicking Christ their Savior.
On another note we also want to keep you updated and have you pray for:
- Madonna, our partner – Her surgery for breast cancer went well. She is now recovering. However she also had 17 lymph nodes removed and 10 of those have shown positive to having cancer cells in them. Madonna writes, “It looks like I will probably have 6 months of Chemo followed by 1 month of Radiotherapy. My doctor advised me to consider staying in Australia for a year, in order to boost my immunity and strength before returning to Papua New Guinea.” Her treatment begins March 30th.
- Also Bles, a Patpatar believer – I asked prayer awhile back for his neck which was swollen. He continues to have problems and despite many different types of anti-biotics, his condition has not gotten much better.
Thank you for your prayer and for joining in our work among the Patpatar.
Trying to mimic Him,
Aaron
Patpatar trivia: The Patpatar way to say “window” is “matanakalangar” meaning “eye of the parrot.”