Smile, its Christmas

Life in PNG offers all kinds of variety and new opportunities for us westerners…

• ·        I doubt you’ve recently heard a story where the climactic point consists of an entire village puking its guts out. (A story here about how yams were first used)
• ·        I doubt you regularly get sent home from minor social visits with a fruit the size and weight of a medium pumpkin. (Which wouldn’t be too bad if you weren’t two miles from home and on foot.)
• ·        I doubt that you regularly watch children as young as 3 handle fairly sharp machetes. (yes they swing them and yes it is scary!)
• ·        You probably would not assert that the starch made by beating the inside of a tree to a pulp is the ‘one true food’. (Even better for babies than mom’s milk, say some.)
• ·        I doubt you regret forgetting to apply bug spray before going to see your good friends at their home.
• ·        I doubt you would consider it a compliment if someone called you fat. (‘Yu tripela meri tru!’ – proper response: ‘Tenk yu’)

At the same time, some things are not so different…

• ·        Frenzied clean-up around the house when visitors arrive. (‘Quick, lets shove the 8,000 lego pieces into this closet before they get to the door.’ has a counterpart here: ‘Quick, lets shove all these coconut husks under the house before he makes it up the path.’)
• ·        Personal style is important – especially to youth. (One hip thing right now is the ‘one legger’ – wearing long pants and rolling up one leg to the knee.)

There are other things that we have been noticing, but we’ll save them for a future update. We certainly hope that your Christmas is grand. For us, it is a time to rejoice in God’s great gift and to look forward to the day when all people will be able to hear of Him.

Thanks for the prayers,

Nate for the family.