If you know the 5 love languages (Introduced by Gary Chapman) the one love language that is definitely universal and works through all cultures is “GIFTS”. The four other ones are I think very dependent on the different cultures. In Papua New Guinea, spending “quality times” with people is part of their daily life, it will not mean a lot if you decide to spend extra quality time with them. In fact, if you don’t spend time with them, they’ll find it very strange. Coming as guest missionaries in PNG villages helped us see how “acts of service” was not always perceived as a blessing. I did the mistake several times to try to lessen the work of one of our host by doing my own laundry when she had decided that she would do the laundry for all of us. She would hand wash everything. When I intended my act of being helpful for her, she received it as a rude way of saying “I don’t like the way you wash my cloths”. Well I now know that “acts of service” are not the best way to bless PNG people! “Physical touch” is culturally very inappropriate between boys and girls (even wife and husbands don’t hang out together in public). And “words of affirmations” are well received but not very powerful against what the community tell to the people who they are.

1. GIFTS || Generosity at its extreme was a common way of showing us how much they appreciated our presence. They would give us an abundance of food to welcome us, give us their own house and sleep outside, give us traditional shirts and dresses, necklaces and all sorts of jewelry, …  This abundance of giving made me wished I had things to give too. I realized that when cultures are so different, giving gifts is a very international and intercultural way of blessing each other. That’s why one thing I wish I had brought on outreach was t-shirts or bracelets with the country’s colors. As I am now so proud of wearing PNG shirts that I’ve been given, they could have this nice feeling of wearing a shirt remembering this encounter between them and someone from the opposite side of the world!
2. BIBLES|| Going along with the gifts, before the last village trip, a friend and I went to a book shop to buy Bibles to bless the people who decided for Christ or Christians that had no access to Bibles written in their own language. That was one of the great ideas from our team leaders. So we bought a good amount of Pidgin Bibles and then my friend pointed small books at me. They were kid Bible’s stories books in Pidgin with images. I though “You’re a genius!” (and I also said it out loud I believe) and I bought five of them. Later in the village I was really happy to give those books to the kids I had the nicest times with. One of them was 12 years old and spent an hour that night sitting on his uncle’s laps trying to practice his reading skills on the “Prodigal son”’s story! It was absolutely adorable! So Next time I go to a country to share God’s love, I will try to bring Christian gifts for the kids. 
3. CARGO PANTS ||Finally, on a complete different aspect, I wish I brought one last thing. Because the climate is so hot and so humid all the time (even at night) we were sweating all the time. ALL THE TIME. And therefore, our cloths were smelling very bad very quickly. We had to change our entire outfit every day and wash it to avoid a difficult experience on the following morning. That is why I wish I brought one more pair of cargo pants. I only had one pair plus 2 skirts. And I quickly realized that skirts were not the best for coastal villages where swimming in the ocean requires a culturally appropriate outfit that would cover shoulders and knees … while swimming! So during our time at this coastal village I would wash my pants every night and wear it again the following day even if it was not dry! Well now I know that pants on outreach are better for everything (walking, swimming, working, …) and that 1 pair is definitely not enough with this climate!