“How do I know if bananas are ready to be cut?” I asked a local man.
“When the leaves are brown, then you can cut the rope of bananas,” he replied. Locally, a rope of bananas is how people refer to a stalk of the fruit. With his guidance, I now thought I had enough schooling to know which bananas to harvest.
At that time, Joella and I were in Tipas, preparing to head to a training that Dale Goodson, our field director, was going to hold in May River. Several villagers from Ama were also excited to be heading to the training. I knew it would be helpful to have extra fresh fruit available for our group, so I wanted to harvest some bananas. It was fun. I like picking fruit.
I grabbed a tall ladder and a kitchen knife to cut down the heavy ropes of bananas, then looked for the ones with some dry leaves above them. I thought that was sufficient proof that they were ripe enough to be harvested. Then the cutting began.
But upon laying the large stalks of bananas on the porch, it was not long before another local man kindly showed me my mistake. Some of the bananas were so green that they were not fully formed. Many were too immature to ripen. I know there were some laughs about what I did. And a kitchen knife is definitely not the local tool for harvesting. (I should have used a machete.) They were kind enough to tell me that I am still learning. So true!
Thankfully, a few bananas were ripe enough, and we have been enjoying them during our training. But many very green bananas had to be composted. Had I waited to cut them down, they could have continued growing and produced a good harvest later.
What a lesson! Because I have been learning Tok Pisin and Sawiyano, it is tempting to think that I can move rather quickly into harvest mode with the Ama. I long for them to make decisions for Christ.
But like waiting to harvest the green bananas—which, if harvested too early, will never ripen—I am learning to wait and discover more about the Ama’s culture, heart stories and language to understand better what it would look like for them to follow Christ as part of a Seventh-day Adventist church-planting movement.
Though Jesus said, “I have yet many things to say unto you” (John 16:12a), He did not tell His disciples everything at once. Thankfully, Jesus promised that He would send the Holy Spirit to guide them into “all truth” (John 16:13). Please pray that the Holy Spirit will give us insight into what is appropriate to do and share at this early stage of our ministry to the Ama. Please pray for the hearts of the Ama to be ready for more truth when they are ripe to receive it. And please pray that I do not harvest any more green bananas (literally or spiritually). Thank you for supporting our mission to the Ama.
