Monday, July 9, 2012

Sharing Smells

Imagine trying to explain a smell to someone who has never smelled in their life. How would you do it? It’s like... it’s sort of like... well, think of... try to pretend...

Despite pictures and videos and stories and skyping and emails and phone calls and blog posts, sometimes I feel like when I’m describing life in PNG to all of you, I’m describing a smell to someone who has never breathed in that fragrance before.

But, when someone can come share that smell with you, inhale deeply the scent that you desperately want them to understand. Well, perhaps they will have a slightly fuller picture of what you have been living and experiencing.

For three weeks this past May, my aunt Wendy was able to come and breathe in the smells of Papua New Guinea. The Lord had worked timing and circumstances out such that at the time her schedule opened up, the internal audit team coming to Ukarumpa was short a team member. When her skill set as an accountant and auditor exactly met the team’s sudden need, it was evident the Lord was planning a trans-Pacific trip!

She stayed in PNG for three weeks (from mid-May to the beginning of June) where she learned the ins and outs of life on center, visited a local village, travelled down to Lae, and dipped a toe on this side of the ocean. Once the audit was complete, we flew together to Cairns, Australia, where I had my first vacation in about a year and she enjoyed being a tourist in the Land Down Under. Because her schedule with the audit kept her quite busy while in PNG, it was also a chance for us to spend more time together than we had while she was in in Ukarumpa.

Flying to Port Moresby
It was absolutely an incredible blessing to have her here and share with her this land and people I've come to love... including all the smells :)