Since I've been back from Papua New Guinea not one day goes by that I don't think about my experience with the tribal villagers in one way or another. I'm constantly humbled knowing how grand our God is and how small I am. It was such an incredible experience for me to see his love poured out to me in the depths of the jungle. On our side trip we had to take an 18 seater plane for 1 1/2 hours, a boat for 1 hour and a 4 hour hike into the jungle through streams etc. None of us knew what we were about to embark upon when we came into this village called Gegering. Looking at these people through Western eyes you would perceive these people to be poor beyond belief, dirty and tattered but there was something so content about them. I came into this village not really knowing what to expect and if I try to describe in human words how I was impressed upon it would pale in comparison to the real life experience. God is so marvelous at teaching us in His own way.

These people were glowing with the knowledge that they would spend eternity with their maker. They looked for every opportunity to listen to our stories, share their culture, feed us and make us feel welcome. We spent 5 incredible days with these people stuttering and trying to express to eachother the thoughts running through our minds. When words failed us we just smiled and giggled. On the last day ALL of the people in the village young and old lined up to shake our hands individually. We shook their hands for about 45 minutes in gratitude thinking that we would never see these people again until are days are done on this Earth. As I came upon one of the ladies that I'd been building a friendship with she shook my hand and slipped me a kina which is a small metal coin in the equivalant of a dollar in U.S. currancy. I was shocked and didn't really know what to do but I hugged her and gave her my bracelet to remember me by. We both stood there staring at eachother as she spoke to me in Pidgin saying that she was praying for my safety back home. I continued down the path of villagers and came upon another woman who gave me 2 kina. By this time I had reached the end of the line of villagers and started heading to the path into the jungle. As I arrived at the path I began to cry thinking of the EXCITED generosity of these people. Immediately it made me ponder if I looked for every opportunity to be a blessing. These people reminded me of the widow who put in her 2 mites to which Jesus replied this is the offering that pleases me. Out of their poverty they gave. Just to put this into context for you a kino is equal to about an hours worth of hard manual labor in their culture. Not only did these women give to me but to almost every single one of my classmates (14 in total). Calculating all of that up would be about two days of their wages.

Arriving back into the U.S I was pushed back into the rush of society. Everything in me longed to go back to the simplistic way of life that I had experienced for this month. Everybody around me said,"That trip just flew by " and I thought in my head not really. A day in PNG really feels like a day, meaning that you live in every moment. There's nothing really to occupy your time besides work and relationships. If you came to meet with a villager and you wanted to talk they would cease from their labor and talk with you for hours until you were done. Coming back into the states I felt as if everything around me was the same yet I had changed so drastically internally. I am still learning day by day how to apply the things that I've partaken of in the depths of the jungle. May I look ofr opportunity to be an excited giver. Whether that is scrapping my agenda, listening to somebody, sowing financially or just letting my life be a vessel for Him to pour out of.