There we were, sleeping in the middle of the jungle, with a decapitated pig’s head three feet away.
Yes, that was one of the highlights of our team experience when we went to the wedding of our dear friend, Muhm.
Muhm works on the farm and is an active member of the church in the village of Laoka. The entire foreign team knows him. A young man, he is very hardworking and faithful. He has been working since he was a child. Although he never went to school, that does not stop him from earning a living. He is an excellent farmer and a professional motorcycle driver. We say that no one can ride in the weather conditions that he rides in. We have seen him ride a 100cc motorcycle on a mud slope in torrential rain with five bunches of bananas behind him—all without even flinching.
Muhm recently turned 18, and he told us he was meeting a young woman, a sweet and respectful girl. When we met her, she bonded with Rene more than anyone else.
When we saw that she started going to church, we knew the relationship was serious. She helped read the Bible during the programs because not many in our group could read. A few months later, we received the news: they were getting married in April, and the wedding would be in her village. What we didn’t know was that getting to her village represented one of the most extreme, tiring, and funny challenges we had ever had as a group.
How difficult was the road?
MaDavid is a group leader in Laoka and is like a mother to Muhm. She brought him to church and has always cared for him as if he were her own. “The wedding is at 4:00 p.m.,” she said, “and although the village isn’t far, I recommend starting your trip at 11:00 a.m. Cars aren’t going to make it to the village, only motorcycles.”
We won’t deny it, it scared us a little: “Was the road so narrow? Was it so difficult to get in that our trucks couldn’t make it? Was it so difficult that it would take so long?” The answers to these questions would be: Yes, yes, and yes.
Since Muhm is very dear to us all, we decided to take the risk. Regarding the road, all our fears came true. I do not think I am exaggerating when I say it was the most difficult road we have ridden on a motorcycle so far. Tree stumps, large and sharp rocks, climbs that seemed to get higher if you looked at them closely, and descents that seemed to disappear into the trees. It was a narrow road, literally in the middle of the jungle. In some places, the weather was so dry that the ground turned to dust at times, which is horrible terrain for riding a motorcycle. Add to that the humidity and the lack of experience many of us had with motorcycles, and you have a perfect combination for disaster.
But let us not forget that our Pnong brothers are beautiful people. They came with us, and not only that, but the same number of people came, equivalent to the number of motorcycles we had. If we fell or had a problem, they would steer our motorcycles and give us a ride. What an altruistic and selfless gesture.
One by one, we fell off, and they took our place. We traveled for 20 minutes, and Deon’s motorcycle died. One of our Pnong brothers took Deon, while another took Rene. The motorcycle stayed there until we picked it up on the way back; no one would steal it in the middle of the jungle. All of us foreigners fell off our motorcycles, nothing serious since we were going slowly, but I carry with me the pride that even though I arrived beaten up, tired, and sore, I arrived riding my motorcycle. Given my little experience, it was a tremendous achievement.
I cannot say it was not fun. Doing these things in a group, I might even say it is enjoyable. After a detour to a nearby waterfall to get wet and regain our spirits, we arrived at the wedding at 4:00 p.m.
When MaDavid saw us all arrive, her eyes grew twice as big with excitement and joy. I think a tear rolled down her cheeks. We did not look appropriately dressed or styled for a wedding, but they did not care; they were just happy to see us.
They served us food, and we enjoyed a wonderful time together. Even the bride and groom came to greet us and eat with us. It was such an honor.
We realized the time when we saw the sun worryingly close to the horizon and thought: Do we have the energy to go back? Will we be able to make it back before nightfall? Is it safe to risk being caught by nightfall and risk encountering snakes and wild elephants? The answers to these questions were: No, no, and no.
Without planning, we decided to stay there and sleep just as the Pnong sleep, with a good but very thin mat on the floor.
For the student missionaries, this was not even something they needed to think about. They wanted to stay. Silvan, Christoph and Luc were constantly meeting new people and taking photos with them.
To give some context, this village has only 20 families, there is no phone service, and you do not often see foreigners there (I am sure our male student missionaries felt like celebrities for a night).
For the girls, chatting about everything that was happening and enjoying some games among themselves inside the house after dark was enough. For Rene, Deon, Sol and me, making sure the student missionaries were safe and observing the dynamics of the people at the wedding was more than entertaining. It was definitely a very enriching cultural experience for us all.
The night passed, and although we slept very little (especially Deon, who could not help but be on guard all night with his background as a police officer), we do not regret the experience.
One thing to understand about this family is that they have not converted to Christianity yet, and at Pnong weddings, it is normal to hold spirit worship ceremonies. This they did before we arrived, out of respect for us. But we could see traces of that ceremony: jars of rice wine offered to the spirits, jars with blood sitting on the floor, which were offered to the spirits outside the house, and animal parts scattered around the house. I do not know if our student missionaries noticed, but next to where they were sleeping, there was a decapitated pig’s head next to a jar of rice wine (if they didn’t know, they will when they read this article). Muhm knew about these sacrifices, and although he could not prevent the families from performing these ceremonies, he asked to be allowed to stay out of them, which was accepted, and MaDavid was there to enforce the agreement.
We know that sacrifices like these can sound shocking. They make us aware of the challenges of preaching the gospel in other cultures. As Western Christians, we tend to think of our culture as the norm, but when we step outside of it, we realize the world is very different.
Although we always try not to stay too late at weddings, in this situation, we could not avoid being there. We had taken all the precautions we could, and we trusted that God would protect us in this situation. He did. We felt safe at all times.
Did something similar not happen to Abraham in his homeland of Ur many times, or to Elijah in a time of great paganism in Israel, or to Daniel in Babylon? Although they could not avoid what was happening around them, they could control what was happening within them. In that way, they were a light to those nations.
The next morning, we got up at 5:00 a.m. to leave. The competitive rooster crowing and the dogs barking helped us awaken quite early.
Before leaving, we greeted everyone and thanked them for allowing us to stay in their home. They had given us their pillows, blankets, and rooms to sleep in, while they slept in hammocks downstairs. How could we not be grateful?
I approached the man of the house and said, “If one day you want to learn about the Creator of all things, and want to know how He created this world, let me know. We would be happy to come back and spend time with you.” He thanked me for the invitation and bid us farewell with his best wishes.
Now, we must pray for them. They already know us, they know we have a special message to share, and they have Muhm as an example. We would not have had the opportunity to offer them a chance to learn about Jesus if we had not taken the risk as a group, traveling all the way there, falling off our motorcycles, and spending a night there in their home. That is why we believe it was worth it, and if we have to do it again in the future, we will.
We pray that our God, who respects time, processes, and cultures, will work in them, impact their minds with something we have done, or give them dreams or visions, so that one day, they will call us again and this time we will return and be the ones sharing something, Someone, with them.
Knowing all the positives that arose out of this situation, is it too off-putting to sleep next to a pig’s head? Not in my opinion.
