During our time at home one of the things the girls have especially enjoyed is having tea parties with their Nana, and Grammie. On Valentine’s day one of these events happened with “Grammie.” The house was buzzing as we prepared to decorate Valentine’s cookies and have a wonderful tea party!!
As you can see from the picture it is a wonderful memory we will not soon forget. In this New Guinea News we want to share with you one of the things we’ve missed. I suppose you could say it is the Patpatar version of a tea party.
There were times in the village when we would have visitors late at night for a number of reasons….a death, people waiting for a boat to return with loved ones, or the regular once a month full moon where everyone just wants to walk around and find a good time. These are some of the times we would find Patpatar people at our doorstep after dark, possibly late at night….and possibly some of our most memorable nights.
We never knew that having lemon grass in our garden would come in handy so often. Our yard help, Ben insisted we have some in our gardens, and said they use it to make tea and to season food. When we decided to put the lemon grass to the test one night when we had visitors, we had no idea it would be such a big deal.
We had a yard full of people ready to play after dark. We went into our garden and picked lots of lemon grass, boiled it in water a few minutes, and brought it out with a load of mugs and sugar. What we had on our hands were some excited people seeing us use their resources as they would.
The night consisted of drinking tea, telling stories, and some of the younger guys playing on our swing set in front of our house, doing tricks and causing all to laugh when they fell off the set.
We do miss those times of relationship building. Please pray with us that these memories are still fresh in the Patpatar people’s minds, and that they are ready and willing to continue building relationships with us when we get back.
We have had fun building relationships with many of you lately. In the months of January, February, and March, we were in 9 different locations to spend time with supporters, speak in churches, and help with a youth event. We’ve enjoyed it.
Thank you to each and every one of you who have taken time for us, and helped us build memories we will not soon forget!!!
ALL for Him,
Aaron, Lori, Avalon and Sierra
PS. Our home church in Sioux City, Morningside Bible Church, is having their mission’s conference starting on April 2nd. We will be speaking during the Sunday School hour at 9:30 and the church service at 10:40. Anyone is welcome to come.
Aaron and Lori Luse missionaries to the Patpatar Tribe in Papua New Guinea