Blending in among Gebusi: Bruce with villagers on Sunday morning following a Catholic Church service, 1998. Increased access to western clothes has become one of the biggest visible signs of change among Gebusi. |
7.39 The Nomad Catholic Church, on the outskirts of Nomad near Gasumi Corners |
7.40 The lay pastor of the Nomad Catholic Church, a man from outside the Nomad area, preaching to parishioners from the Bible. |
7.45 Girl standing by the altar of the Nomad Catholic Church |
7.46 The Catholic pastor at Nomad harangues the congregation using the moral lesson of a Bible story. |
8.5 Christian conversion poster #1: Dark heart of man closed to God. The devil and forest spirits reign supreme, while the Bible is closed and the fire of the Lord is left outside. |
8.6 Christian conversion poster #2: Black heart of man who resists God. The Bible and the fire of the Lord exert force, but the pagan heart resists and turns black |
8.7 Christian conversion poster #3: The death of a heathen man. A man who has been sinful in life -- drinking beer, playing cards, hoarding money -- dies forever. His soul burns in hell, accompanied by devils. |
8.8 Christian conversion poster #4: Gray heart of a man beginning to hear God’s word. The Bible and the fire and the eye of the Lord are inside the man’s heart, but the Bible remains closed and the fire is small. The devil and heathen spirits of the forest gather around the heart, attempting to get back in. |
8.9 Christian conversion poster #5: the bright heart of a man who hears God’s word. The book of the Bible opens to the “good news,’ the fire of the Lord burns brightly, and the eye and the mouth of the Lord grow large. The man’s heart is enlightened, while the devil and pagan spirits are repelled. |
8.10 Christian conversion poster #6: The enlightened heart of a converted Christian. The man’s heart enshrines knowledge of the Bible and its various stories and verses (note the scriptual notations). The Lord reigns supreme, the man smiles fully, and the heart is bounded by a bright red wall against the devil. Pagan spirits of the forest have disappeared. |
8.11 Christian conversion poster #7: The death of a good Christian man. The man dies with a smile on his face and the Bible open on his chest. Though his wife weeps for him, a white angel ushers his spirit upwards to everlasting life in a golden shining heaven. |
8.12 Small hamlet church of the Seventh Day Adventists, near Gasumi Corners. Yuway stands in a white shirt in the center of the photograph |
8.14 A woman listens to the pastor’s sermon in the Evangelical church |
8.15 Men listen to the pastor’s sermon in the Evangelical church |
8.19 Uwano’s corpse, dressed in his white Sunday shirt, wreathed in leaves, and placed in a grave. |
8.20 People of Gasumi Corners cluster around Uwano’s open grave while a Catholic lay pastor reads a passage from the Bible. |
11.42 A Christian skit of the Second Coming at the Nomad “dramas” for Independence Day. Jesus, in a white crown, is flanked by the Angel Gabriel (just to his right, holding a trumpet). To the right, maidens who have been singing and dancing bare-breasted tremble, die, and are damned to hell for their heathen practices. | | |
