Episode 33 - Games Night

As you may well know, I love to play games. It doesn’t matter what the game, or even if I win or lose, I just love playing games. As you may also know, I’m not the sort to put on an event or host a party. Now that’s not to say that I don’t bring the party with me, even if I am the quiet and reserved type – but that’s just it, I bring it with me rather than invite people to it. To do it any other way would involve way too much effort, and forward planning and being organised, and well, having a tidy house. Furthermore, apart from being ill-equipped for such an endeavour, I had never seen the reason or felt the desire to become a host. Previously there had always been plenty of people who were far better at it and enjoyed hosting far more than me to organise such things, and there had always been plenty of alternatives for ways in which to spend time with groups of your friends.

Games Night + Giant Whiteboard = Pictionary!

Now here in PNG my friends and I spend lots of time together. Apart from the eight hours a day we spend together at work (which is a great way to come close to each other and learn to trust one another) there are plenty of opportunities in the evenings to attend prayer meeting and bible studies, (which is such an honour to grow together in that way), but getting together just for the sake of coming together and having fun does not come about so easily, especially when during the evening there is much available for us to do outside of the corrugated iron confines of our compounds. Now please don’t get me wrong. We do spend a lot of time together just enjoying each other’s company, an incredible amount of time actually. I’ve never lived my life with a group of people who put so much effort in ensuring that we all spend time together just for the sake of being together, because we want to be.

Turns out the boy can cook!

Work is always there and all the other meetings that fill our time are essential to our purpose of being here, so we know that we must make them happen, but it would be easy to neglect our time together as being too hard and as being merely an indulgence as opposed to a necessity. But no-one here does. My friends are committed to being friends and staying close and enjoying each other’s company even though it would be easier not too. It’s very special to be loved in that way, and it’s contagious. And so on Saturday night I held my first ever games night. I didn’t even care about the effort. In fact I enjoyed it, it somehow made it more special. I even made food (mainly just to prove to my friends that I could…). We managed to fit twelve people into my little house and we all had a great time. But this blog isn’t about the games night. It’s about the people who made me want to host it. I have incredible and inspiring friends here, and I am so well blessed to have them in my life and to be able to call them that.