I've been back here in Wabuku for all of ten days now but it seems like it's been ten times that somehow! Coming back with a stealing incident to face right away sure made the first few days melt into one long day! I shared with you of the incredible journey the Lord took me on to Memphis and back – and how tired my old body was as I got back to Wewak. I stayed a few extra days to rest up and my coworkers, Elias and Jose Struik came back in on the Tuesday. I had packed up a bunch of stuff and sent it in with them to help cover the weight I left in not going in. J Then on Thursday, my other coworker, Matt sent me an email to let me know that one of the kids had stolen one of my boxes – hiding it under our dinghy (that leans against the back of the fuel shed). Then three other boys joined him after dark to tear into all the treasure in there. It was especially hard as it was the box filled with the gifts and purchases from the US. Parents of the kids from ECS had purchased some things for me and then the parent teacher fellowship had given me $200 to go shopping. The lady who does my mom's nails had sent nail polish and a pedicure kit to me and my mom had brought some Mary Kay stuff I was running out of. And the majority of those things were in that box. There were some really nice things in there – three bags of Starbucks coffee, chai green tea, three bottles of nail polish, hot tamales, a spa kit from one of the moms so I could pamper myself in the jungle, note cards, Croc flip flops, dried blueberries and then things like shower curtain liners and big storage-sized Ziploc bags. I'm not the first person in the Sepik to have tribal people steal from them. Many have had much bigger things stolen from their houses or boxes missing on the trail so I'm not alone in this. And that made it almost harder for me. It was just 'stuff' – it was not anything that was going to keep me from functioning in the tribe – but everything in that box basically was a gift. And it was all from America – and couldn't be replaced in Wewak or anywhere in PNG.
I'd like to say that I handled it with grace and joy but that was far from my reaction. Many have been there – the stages of anger, hurt, betrayal and all the rest that goes with it. Hope, a missionary living in Wewak was the first person I saw after reading the email and I felt a bit numb at that point but then shared with her what was going on. She was really sweet and encouraging while I was just mad the more I thought about it. I cried often that day as I thought of it – more about the fact that these ladies had been so insistent in getting these things for me and now they were gone. Then knowing that these kids get candy from me every cargo run as they help carry our stuff to our houses – and now they'd stolen from me. I was going to eat lunch with two couples, one of which had just arrived on the field soon after I found this out. Hope came over with a shower curtain she had – to replace one of the ones taken – so sweet and it just made me cry all the harder – as I shredded carrots for the salad. It must have been some sight – tears running down my face as I shredded carrots with more gusto than perhaps ever before in my life! Hope was encouraging and such a help to me at that moment! So I dropped the salad off at Tara's and went to the radio – to see if anything had been returned or if it was all just shreds of bags and such. Yep – pretty much gone, wrappers had been returned! Anyway – I felt ridiculous as I headed up to Suttons – tears in my eyes and obviously having been crying – just in time to welcome the Georges to the Sepik! Can you picture it? So ridiculous – but they were gracious and at least acted like they didn't notice. Tony was talking with the new couple in the living room as I snuck in the door and cried on Tara's shoulder for a couple minutes in the kitchen and explained what was going on. No one died – it was just a dumb box that was stolen. Oh – why can't I just accept it with a song instead of tears? But again, Tara was super sweet and was ready to hang some boys up by their toe nails for me!
Anyway- made it through lunch and the rest of the day but I was no longer so anxious to get back into Wabuku. My brain was still trying to make the transition from the US to Wabuku and this sure wasn't making me feel loved and welcomed back into the Wabuku fold. I also knew that the believers were upset and not happy about this either. I knew that there were some folks that were looking forward to my return but as mad as I was about this too. I was mostly sad that we would all be talking about this stupid box instead of all that God had done through my trip. I was so excited to share with them about these kids and their parents' reaction to hearing about Wabuku and the believers – and how excited they were with their little string bags, etc. It was so fun to be able to share with these kids that there were ladies in Wabuku praying for them – and now to be able to share their responses with the folks here was going to be so cool! But instead the first thing we'd be talking about was stealing. Ugh. The enemy seemed to be still trying to derail all that God wanted to do through this opportunity. But I knew that God would prevail – He would still use this for His glory! Then I read this devotional on Thursday night, with tears streaming down my face. It said something about saying to yourself, 'All is well,' no matter what difficulty or hurt you find yourself in – not as a mantra but as a healing balm and to say it until it had pulled the poison out of the sting. I went back to that thought several times in the next couple days – it did seem to pull the poison and its sting out.
I knew that God wanted to do something through this – in my life, in the lives of these ladies that supplied everything and in the lives of the Wabuku people. I knew that He could enable me to not only forgive these kids but continue to love them. Another missionary made me cry again as we met in supply Friday morning and he prayed for me and the Wabuku folks in this – I was fine at that point but his compassionate plea for God to undertake for me and these kids was so encouraging and helped to heal the hurt a bit too. God was using His people to minister and encourage me in so many ways!
We landed in Wabuku and Imi, my sister and perhaps the strongest female believer in here hugged me and we were both just about in tears by the time it was all said and done. It was a bit strange and as my coworkers all said how good it was to have me back – I wasn't quite ready to say I was glad to be back. That wouldn't have been completely truthful at the moment. J One of the missionaries in Wewak had shared some great stuff on Easter Sunday – how Christ had kept his eyes on the joy set before Him as He endured the cross – and we needed to do that too. I kept thinking back to that – and that God wanted to do something through all this. I wanted to be able to love these kids and their parents but also knew I'd need His strength to do it. My flesh wanted to knock some heads together and it sure wasn't feeling like loving these folks. But God….however we responded to this needed to be with the church in mind – another incredible opportunity perhaps to display grace and forgiveness.
Anyway, I went to dinner at Struiks that night and had a good meal and good fellowship with them. Then I came home and started unpacking different things – we were going to meet the next day as a team to decide how to handle the stealing incident and I needed to make my list of things that were in that box. The two shower curtains had been returned as well as the Ziploc bags and a partial bag of coffee. And don't forget all the nasty panty liners and the bits of one note card and an empty tube of eye cream and filing sponge. But I didn't have those in hand yet – just knew that they'd shown up at the other houses so far. I had this list of things in my mind that were in that box and was sad about the loss of things like latex-free band aids and a coffee mug and dental floss that were in the box. The mug was a one of a kind type of thing – a random single one that would be hard to replace. And the floss was a new kind so how could I tell my mom what to get? And although a friend in Wewak had given me a box of latex-free band aids and Hope had shared some latex-free tape with me, I was more sad because of how much work the one lady had gone to get them – she was so afraid she wasn't getting the right thing. Anyway – those things were in that box too as far as I could remember. But as I opened another box, I found the band aids, the coffee mug, and the dental floss in there! It was like the Lord had placed kisses of His grace in the midst of all this loss! All I could say was 'thank you.' I don't even really know how to put into words the comfort and love I felt in just having these couple things. But I definitely felt His love and presence through them. The icing on the cake was that on my way back, I thought I had lost one of the earrings that another missionary gave me for my birthday but as I unpacked, I found that I actually had both of them! That was the final kiss – and it was sufficient for the moment!
I cried my way through the team meeting - mostly because of the betrayal I felt. The kids are all unbelievers but it was frustrating to see that very little was coming back – parents and adults knew and weren't doing anything to show support for us. We met with our committee guy and it was funny – he mentioned things that I'd forgotten were in the box – like a book and pen. I'd forgotten about the flip flops until someone started mentioning to Matt and myself that one of the kids had given them to someone from Busan, another one of our villages. In the meeting with the village the next day, we saw a mixture of both. We saw a clear line of demarcation of those that are with us and those that want nothing to do with teaching and are not supporting us. We weren't surprised by it – expected it actually but it was encouraging to see those that are behind us stand up so clearly. I brought the letters these kids had written to Wabuku kids and recounted how these kids have been praying for the Wabuku people for the last year – and how the moms wanted to do something to help me since I live so far from my mom, without a husband or family to look out for me. And the very kids that these folks were praying for had stolen those 'memory' things. The total loss was almost 800 kina but I knew that we couldn't really charge them that full price or people that had had nothing to do with it would pay – and I didn't want their money. We ended up charging each of the four kids 50 kina – and although we'd already decided as a team that we'd settle for that figure, one of the guys said that so we knew that it was acceptable. So Boni, our committee, tried to get some of the stuff back and the flip flops did come back, as did several empty bottles that had lotion or whatever in them. But the nail polish was on lots of kids' fingers as well as Diksen's, one of the men and chief thief in the village. It was sad to hear that some of the male believers had eaten some of the things along with the thieves – 'we just tasted it, we didn't fill up our bellies on it' but they sure didn't tell any of us that it had been stolen! It was a 12 year old boy that came to Matt to let him know that a box had been stolen. On the other hand, it was neat to see Tyob, one of my main translation helpers stand up and pay his nephew's 50 kina quickly and state that these kids had brought shame on the village and parents and that he would never say anything about having to pay this money – it needed to be paid. It was 'right' that it be paid. He hugged me and apologized for his nephew's behavior. The other three kids' relatives were slower in coming up with the kina but it showed up. Then three of the four kids and their parents shook my hand and admitted their part in it and that they wouldn't do it again. The fourth kid and his parents didn't bother - and that wasn't surprising really either. The dad made the choice to even be in the village at times and refused to come to the teaching so we don't see his support and didn't that day either. I was amazed that I was able to share all that I wanted to share in a calm voice without tears. I figured I'd cry my way through it but again, the Lord knew what the Uriay needed and perhaps the tears would have brought more shame to those that were already feeling bad for me. Perhaps it would have made it harder for me to share the things I shared – I just know that I kept asking the Lord to undertake – that I could reflect Him well and He could be glorified through a situation that was not good so I have to trust that the control He gave me must have been for the best. I must admit that as I see my nail polish on kids' toes, I have to check my attitude but I can shrug the things off without wanting to strangle kids either. For a couple days, I'd remember something else that was in the box that I'd forgotten about – like some note cards for Jose's birthday or whatever. But I don't feel the anger or hurt anymore – just a wee bit of disappointment. Mostly I feel His grace and support and can say, it's just stuff and it doesn't matter. Only by the grace of God….
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