Christmas Gifts

What do you give someone who has everything?

The perennial question at Christmas time. Each year we have had to be pretty creative in getting Christmas gifts for each other. Sometimes we have had something brought from the US. That, of course, requires advance planning. You need to have some kind representative do the shopping for you, or buy something on line, and have the gift shipped to someone who is traveling to PNG, and make sure you get it to them on time for their trip.

Some years we have found a nice item here in PNG. There are stores in Mount Hagen that have a fairly good selection. One year Judy found a really nice coffee press for me. And one year I found a wall hanging with a maple leaf on it--the perfect gift for my Canadian wife. Well, at least the best I could come up with under the circumstances.

So this year, Christmas loomed closer and closer. I knew that I hadn't found anything, and cryptic comments from Judy indicated that she hadn't done any better.

The Nazarene church here in PNG has been planning it's every-four-yearly Nazarene Youth Conference. This is a time when the young people have an event planned and tailored just for them. Speakers who are known to be gifted at communicating with youth, classes and Bible studies that address their special needs. Hearing about this brought back memories of a similar event in 1970, back in the US. Decisions that I made that week continue to shape the person I am today. That I am a missionary in PNG today is due in large part to commitments I made to God that week.

So we believe in NYC. There are 5 young people here at Kudjip that we also believe in, and whom we felt very strongly should attend NYC. This year NYC is to be held in Wewak, on the north coast of PNG. Travel costs are therefor higher than in previous years. From the Highlands were we live, the best way to get there is by road to Madang, and then by ship on to Wewak. Some groups are trying to save costs by hiking overland, but we didn't want "our" kids to do that. They will travel with a group from here, in a van driven by one of our hospital administrators.

We decided to direct some of the funds that you, our friends and family have given to our work to be used to pay their registration and part of their transportation. We also decided to help the kids with food costs on their trip. Then we realized that none of these 5 have ever owned their own Bibles. So Judy bought 5 small Pidgin Bibles, and made up small packages with the Bibles, a pen, a notebook, and a 50-Kina bill, each in a little canvas bag with a Christmas name tag. The day before they were to leave for NYC, they gathered in our living room. I explained to them what NYC meant to me, and why it was important to us for them to attend. We prayed for them and gave them our gifts.

Of course, we didn't explain that those were our gifts to each other.

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