Benanu Scripture dedication
The morning of Monday, May 19, starts very early in Kovojap Dua. Before the sun rises several large fires have been started for heating stones. In the days before, a lot of firewood and stones were collected. Now these stones are heated on large wooden pyres. The chosen domesticated pigs are killed, slaughtered and chopped up. Then the meat is packages together with tubers and leafy vegetables and placed in a cooking pit, with the hot stones on top. Then everything is covered and all the food is slowly cooked till tender. This is a traditional “bakar batu” (roasting with stones) and in Papua, it is only a real feast when there is a "bakar batu".
Matt and Caroline Edelen, together with their translation team, translated the first set of Bible stories into the Benanu language through the One Story program.These stories are culturally relevant stories that follow salvation history. Today's Scripture dedication marks the official reception and commissioning of these Bible stories by the Benanu churches.
There is no road and no airstrip in Kovojap Dua, so Yan Wambraw and Usman Kobak, the Synod presidents of the Reformed Church and the Evangelical Church in Papua respectively, are flown in by helicopter to participate in this dedication. Both of these Churches have evangelists serving in the Benanu area. They are welcomed by the Benanu with dancing and singing.
There are several speeches, there are praises and prayers and lots of singing. Then the Benanu translation team officially presents the books and the audio players with the Bible stories to the two Synod presidents. The two presidents then bless the materials with prayer and thanksgiving and give them back to the translation team for distribution among the Benanu people.
And then it is time for eating the "bakar batu" food together. I can't participate iin that myself, because at that moment the helicopter pilot has the opportunity to fly me back to Danowage. This is wonderful, because by walking through the jungle it would've taken me at least two to three days and now we arrive in 11 minutes.
What's also nice is that the pilot, Matt Meeuwse, is a son of MAF's helicopter pilot, Mike Meeuwse, who flew for the first missionaries in the Korowai area in the 1980s and with whom I also flew as a child.
