{"id":224,"date":"2016-05-21T07:52:40","date_gmt":"2016-05-21T11:52:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jonathan-kopf\/?p=224"},"modified":"2017-06-03T11:57:54","modified_gmt":"2017-06-03T16:57:54","slug":"ancestors-in-my-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jonathan-kopf\/2016\/05\/21\/ancestors-in-my-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Ancestors in my house"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Kolumbi\u2019s Mirror (From April of 2008)<\/p>\n

\u201cMother, mother,\u201d the old woman said over and over, motioning with her hand into the mirror that was hanging on the wall of our little house. \u201cMother, I can see you,\u201d the voice of the matriarch trailed off as she gazed at herself with a nearly toothless smile, not realizing her aged face had taken on the appearance of her deceased mom.<\/p>\n

Kolumbi had responded to my wife, Susan\u2019s, invitation to come into the house we had recently built in a small village in the Hewa mountains of central Papua New Guinea, and once she had climbed the stairway and was standing in our living room she caught her reflection in our mirror. She was captivated by the image, not realizing it was her own.<\/p>\n

Susan covered her mouth to hide her surprise. She watched as Kolumbi called out to a different era.<\/p>\n

\u201cMother, so much has changed since you died.\u201d<\/p>\n

Susan looked away, suddenly feeling guilt for eavesdropping on a personal conversation, but then stifled a laugh as she realized the old woman had never seen herself in a mirror. Susan found herself wanting to take a peek to see what the woman saw.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people have died since we put you in the grave,\u201d Kolumbi continued, undaunted by Susan\u2019s presence. \u201cThere was your daughter, Wofiya, (Yanis\u2019 mom) and Ankale, oh and recently your great grandson Elele.\u201d She raised her hand to her fading hairline, dropping her eyes, and then continued with a faraway tone, \u201cSo many have died.\u201d<\/p>\n

Susan wanted to say something to make sure her friend knew she wasn\u2019t speaking to a departed spirit, but was also concerned she may offend the old woman.<\/p>\n

Kolumbi noticed Susan was standing close. \u201cMother,\u201d she said in a revived tone, \u201cSusan and Jonathan came to live with us. They built this house in our village and now I can see you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oh no, Susan thought. I hope I\u2019m not feeding some sort of ancestral cult belief!<\/p>\n

Then Kolumbi turned to Susan. \u201cCome talk to my mother,\u201d she said, jerking on her hand. \u201cShe will want to see you. Tell her about your family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suddenly Susan knew she was in too deep. \u201cUh . . .\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTell her about your family,\u201d she insisted, raising straight from her usually hunched position to look up into Susan\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n

Susan stumbled forward in shock and found herself facing the mirror. She was searching for the right words to say when Kolumbi\u2019s voice cut her off.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, look,\u201d she said, her eyebrows raised in surprise. She turned to Susan. \u201cYour sister is here too!\u201d<\/p>\n

Susan\u2019s jaw dropped. \u201cWhat?\u201d She turned to look back into the mirror and there she saw the image of the white haired woman and herself. She must think my reflection is my sister!<\/p>\n

Susan wanted to speak kindly to Kolumbi out of respect, and didn\u2019t know how to start. Does she think my sister is also dead and now living behind the wall of this room? I can\u2019t let her believe that or terrible rumors will spread through the villages!<\/p>\n

But then, the old woman quickly turned and descended the stairway at a remarkable speed. She exited the house without closing the door.<\/p>\n

Susan laughed out loud. \u201cNow what am I supposed to do?\u201d<\/p>\n

But then, only a few minutes later, Susan heard the very excited voice of the old woman as she was returning with her oldest living daughter. \u201cCome quick, come quick!\u201d she was saying, out of breath with excitement. \u201cCome see my mother. She\u2019s in Susan\u2019s house!\u201d<\/p>\n

By then I heard the commotion from where I was translating the New Testament in my cubby hole under the house. \u201cWhat\u2019s going on?\u201d I called to Susan.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou better get up here quick,\u201d she answered down the stairway. \u201cKolumbi thinks her mother lives in our mirror and now she\u2019s bringing Fisa.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d I laughed, jumping from my seat. I ran up the steps before the mother and daughter made it through the door.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you serious?\u201d I asked. \u201cThat would only feed the Cargo Cult teachings of the witch doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat should we do?\u201d<\/p>\n

I turned to see the two grey haired women arrive to the top of the stairway and elbowed us aside. They were looking into the mirror, chattering with excitement.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo we really have to say something?\u201d Susan asked. \u201cThey\u2019re so happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

I laughed as my wife\u2019s heart of compassion made the easy answer the hard one. \u201cFisa,\u201d I said to the daughter. \u201cIt\u2019s just a mirror. Your grandmother is not here. It\u2019s just your mother\u2019s reflection.\u201d<\/p>\n

She appeared to be ignoring me but then I remembered both old women were nearly deaf.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just your reflection!\u201d I yelled, hoping I didn\u2019t sound angry. \u201cIt\u2019s not your grandmother.\u201d Then I remembered back to how Kolumbi\u2019s grandson, Yanis, first told me the Hewa word for reflection was the very same word they used for a person\u2019s shadow, and this was also the same term used to speak of the soul, or in this case, the spirit of the dead woman. It wouldn\u2019t help to explaining the soul\/reflection was actually not a soul\/reflection, but simply a soul\/reflection. By using the Hewa terms I would only confirm what she already thought!<\/p>\n

Then I had an idea. I ran to the bathroom drawer where Susan kept her little makeup mirror. I arrived back to the happy women and tapped Fisa on the shoulder. \u201cHere, look at this,\u201d I said. \u201cHaven\u2019t you ever seen yourself in the mirror I gave to Yanis a while ago?\u201d<\/p>\n

Fisa looked into the little mirror and caught her reflection and then turned to look at the larger mirror on my wall. She nodded but then continued to talk. I couldn\u2019t tell from what I heard if she was talking to her mother or her supposed grandmother in the mirror, so I stood with jaw dropped, having no idea what I should do next. If I couldn\u2019t convince them, they might perpetuate the idea that Hewa ancestors lived in our house. This could potentially excite the witch doctor as he would be convinced of his previous hope that we missionaries were actually long-lost ancestors who had returned to our descendants in order to teach them how to obtain instant wealth through ancestor worship.<\/p>\n

But then it was over. For no apparent reason the conversation was suddenly finished and mother and daughter descended the steps and left the house, once again leaving the door wide open. I looked at Susan in disbelief. \u201cWill the surprises never stop? Will we ever get to the place where we are no longer shocked by the things that happen?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou better go tell someone about this before the whole village arrives to speak to their deceased loved ones!\u201d<\/p>\n

When I found Yanis and told him the story, he laughed. \u201cDon\u2019t worry about her,\u201d he said. \u201cWe all know she\u2019s so old she has lost her reasoning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut what about the others?\u201d I persisted. \u201cWhen she tells people she saw her mother in my house won\u2019t people think I have a connection with their dead ancestors? Maybe they will think that\u2019s how I got my clothes and cooking pots and tools?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou worry too much,\u201d he answered with another laugh. \u201cThat\u2019s how the men used to talk but not anymore. We gave up the ancestral myths when you taught us God\u2019s story. I\u2019ll talk to grandma, but don\u2019t worry because we know better now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Please pray for the Hewa and the other tribal groups of Papua New Guinea who are still holding to their ancestral cargo cult expectations. When we first arrived to Hewa in 2000, we learned that many people thought we would one day tell them a secret prayer or song or chant that would open the door for them to gain instant wealth from God, and today there are still groups that are tenaciously holding onto this way of thinking.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We praise the Lord for Yanis (pictured with family) and others who have responded to the truth of the Gospel, but are concerned for the others who think the secret to material wealth is something we still need to reveal to them. Please pray the Hewa will long to have a friendship relationship with their Creator and that true faith in Jesus will spread all over these mountains.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kolumbi\u2019s Mirror (From April of 2008) \u201cMother, mother,\u201d the old woman said over and over, motioning with her hand into the mirror that was hanging on the wall of our little house. \u201cMother, I can see you,\u201d the voice of the matriarch trailed off as she gazed at herself with a nearly toothless smile, not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1093,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[649,125,1116,1926,638,567,103867],"class_list":{"0":"post-224","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-ministry","7":"tag-church-planting","8":"tag-culture","9":"tag-discipleship","10":"tag-hewa","11":"tag-papua-new-guinea","12":"tag-png","13":"tag-praise-and-prayer","14":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jonathan-kopf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jonathan-kopf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jonathan-kopf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jonathan-kopf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1093"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jonathan-kopf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jonathan-kopf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jonathan-kopf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jonathan-kopf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jonathan-kopf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}