What concepts in the Sawi culture intrigued / reviled / saddened / angered / surprised you?

Reading the "Peace Child" gave me a general scope of the Sawi culture. The most intriguing concept was in chapter 14, when Yakub announces his marriage with Fasaha as his third wife but Nair decides against this, and for this reason a fight breaks out between the two sides. Yakub and his two friends Mavu and Sinar against Nair and his brother Paha. When Don Richardson enters this scene and seeing how serious the injuries are, he calls Carol to bring bandages and penicillin while Don stays at the scene, trying to deter Mavu from taking further advantage of his opponents in their weakened condition. When Carol returns, they together bandage up their wounds and by the time they are done with treating the lesions and injecting penicillin, their hands are bloody. Don mentions that he was "burning with desire to say something to him," but assumed that if he reprimanded Mavu for nearly killing killing two men, "he would only shrug his shoulders as if to say, "So what?"" Because Don thought that chastising Mavu would be futile, he says instead, "You have made my wife's hands bloody." The response to this is intriguing:
"The remark took him by surprise He glanced quickly at Carol's hands and a sudden realization of the inappropriateness of the scene he had helped to create seemed to startle him. Mavu winced, fearing he had unwittingly committed some dark impropriety of cosmic consequence."
The reason why I found this so captivating was because it seems, according to the implication of this passage, that Mavu never got to realize the damage that follows his actions, chiefly because no one ever told him. So when Don points out the consequence of his actions, Mavu is surprised and fears that he has "unwittingly committed some dark impropriety of cosmic consequence." I can extrapolate from this observation that the reason for the Sawi culture being the way it is is because they have never been exposed to anything else besides it.

What does Jesus want us to do for the Sawi?

Before Jesus ascended into heaven, the last words He spoke were: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Matthew 28:19-20). This command is known as the Great Commission, in which numerous mission organizations base their ideals upon. Even though these words were spoken more than 2,000 years ago, it is still applied today. Jesus wants Christians to "go and make" (active) "disciples of all nations," therefore including New Guinea. Although Don Richardson was able to make Sawi disciples, we should continue to pursue after those who still have not been exposed to Christian principles. And the beginning of this mission should start with prayer: "I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people...This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth" (1Timothy 2:1-4).

What should we do when we are confronted with other cultures?

"When in Rome, do as the Romans do." This was my initial response. But when doing so, our motivation should be out of love. When we are confronted with other cultures, the key to keeping a good relationship is to think, say, and do everything through love. And when we do so, we will learn to respect and furthermore learn about the people and their culture. Leo Tolstoy once said, "All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love." Through love, we can open ourselves up to different cultures, even though certain aspects of the cultures may seem extremely bizarre or even "uncivilized." According to 1 Corinthians 13, when confronted with other cultures, even if we learn to speak without flaw to the people in their language, but do not speak to them in love, then we are nothing. If we know everything there is to know about other cultures, but do not have love, we are nothing. If we have a faith that can move mountains, but are without love, we are nothing. And even if we give everything we have to the poor and surrender our bodies to the flames, but have not love, we gain nothing. Ephesians 3:19 claims that the love of God surpasses all knowledge. Understanding even just an infinitesimal measure of the love of God can enable us to accomplish the impossible by loving people from other cultures, ultimately drawing us closer to them through a bond that is stronger than anything. Don Richardson portrays this remarkable concept in the "Peace Child." Just before Don Richardson starts building his home in page 102, he asks himself, "would Sawi culture and the Scriptures prove so opposite in their basic premises as to render this two-way loyalty impossible?" The answer to this question is clearly revealed at the end of the book, but it is the process that makes this possible. His faith in God and love for the Sawi people was what compelled him to persevere even when situations were not held in his favor.

How do I relate to faith? How did Don Richardson relate to Faith? How do the Sawi relate to faith?

Faith, according to what I consider as the Truth, is "confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." My life relates this this faith in every way possible because my existence wholly depends on this faith. Even though I cannot physically see God, I trust and know with all my heart that there is a Creator of this universe, and that this Creator is also my Father. This is the faith that Don Richardson, just as all other Christians, relates to. Specifically in his book "The Peace Child," there are several instances which manifest Don Richardson's faith in God. The most obvious example is that he was convicted God wanted him to move with his family to the land of the Sawi, and as a result of this faith ended up becoming a missionary to Papa New Guinea, turning the Sawi people to God. The Sawi people also relate to a faith, but in the beginning of the story this faith is not the same faith as Don Richardson. However, the definition still applies. They are confident in what they hope for (in betraying of their own Sawi brothers and sisters) and assurance about what they do not see (that this act of betrayal is the honorable thing to do). I believe that it is safe to say that most humans who posses a developed brain to some extent has faith in one thing or another, whether it be gravity, God, or the concept of betrayal.