'Garbage Lady' no longer
Tintor, a Siar woman in Papua New Guinea, used to be known as the "garbage lady."
People in her tribe have called her this in public. She’s been beaten and ridiculed for not living up to cultural expectations. She never before went to school.
Missionary Chris Lujan, serving with his wife Erin, wrote, "When we started the literacy school she didn’t even know how to hold a pencil and it was extremely difficult for her to draw straight lines and circles."
But Tintor wasn’t discouraged. She continued coming to literacy classes.
The Lujans are two months into teaching the Siar how to read and write their own language. Chris gave the Siar homework last week.
"I wanted them to write a story that could be read to the class," he wrote.
He asked for volunteers to read their stories, and many did. And then, "right before I was going to close the class I asked for any more volunteers…" Tintor volunteered. She "stood in class and read her very own story. This was the first story Tintor has ever written and she did it in her own language."
In God’s eyes, no one is a "garbage lady." Tintor is "a lady that is loved by the God of the universe, the God that has created by speaking and the God who stretches out the heavens. She is a lady who needs her sins forgiven by the God who wants to and can forgive her sins. Tintor is learning how to read so she can read God’s Word in her language. Not too many things are more basic yet profound than that."
Please pray for her continued learning, and for the other Siar learning how to read and write their own language, that through it they will catch a glimpse of God and want to know more.
People in her tribe have called her this in public. She’s been beaten and ridiculed for not living up to cultural expectations. She never before went to school.
Missionary Chris Lujan, serving with his wife Erin, wrote, "When we started the literacy school she didn’t even know how to hold a pencil and it was extremely difficult for her to draw straight lines and circles."
But Tintor wasn’t discouraged. She continued coming to literacy classes.
The Lujans are two months into teaching the Siar how to read and write their own language. Chris gave the Siar homework last week.
"I wanted them to write a story that could be read to the class," he wrote.
He asked for volunteers to read their stories, and many did. And then, "right before I was going to close the class I asked for any more volunteers…" Tintor volunteered. She "stood in class and read her very own story. This was the first story Tintor has ever written and she did it in her own language."
In God’s eyes, no one is a "garbage lady." Tintor is "a lady that is loved by the God of the universe, the God that has created by speaking and the God who stretches out the heavens. She is a lady who needs her sins forgiven by the God who wants to and can forgive her sins. Tintor is learning how to read so she can read God’s Word in her language. Not too many things are more basic yet profound than that."
Please pray for her continued learning, and for the other Siar learning how to read and write their own language, that through it they will catch a glimpse of God and want to know more.