Puraquequara - PQQ

Puraquequara


My wife and I were eating at La Hacienda, a Mexican restaurant in Orange City, Florida when she asked me how to pronounce an entrée that had too many L's and R's for my fat tongue to roll through. She was disappointed that the smartest man in the world couldn't say it. (I’m affectionately known as the smartest man in the world at home, but that’s another story.)

I said, "Oh yeah, pronounce this," as I wrote on my napkin, "PURAQUEQUARA."

"Purr - a - key..... I don't know." She stuttered.

I said, "In Brazil the R's are like D's in this word and it's pronounced, Puda - Kay - Qua - Da.”

I repeated it and she was amused… for a moment.

When the waiter asked for our orders I said, “She would like Number 7, please.” (Smartest man in the world strikes again!)

After we finished eating, one of the four people across from us got up and asked me, "Excuse me, did you say 'Puraquequara'?"

"WOW!" I said, "You must be with New Tribes Mission."

He was, but now he is a pilot for Wycliffe Associates.

He said, “The man sitting next to me is Dave Sharp. His dad built and named Puraquequara; it's the only place in the world with that name."  PQQ, as the students call it, is a New Tribes Mission’s boarding school for missionary kids. It’s about a thousand miles up the Amazon River, near Manaus.

I said, “Yes, I heard his name when I was in training with New Tribes in Pennsylvania.”

The pilot, Dave Byron said, “My wife grew up at New Tribes in Pennsylvania.”

She was Becky Sanford, daughter of Dick and Lucille Sanford. Her Dad was the northeast representative for New Tribes. Becky was in high school when I was in training there.

Dave Byron said that although he is a pilot, he's been tasked with writing the Crisis Response Plan for the missionaries in Peru.... and he doesn't have a clue where to begin.

Amazing how God used the word ‘Puraquequara’ to bring us together, isn’t it.

I told him that I might know something about that, I'm been a Risk Manager for 17 years and write disaster and crises response plans. I also know an organization of risk managers that are responsible for their faculty and students traveling abroad. I was a member of the University Risk Management and Insurance Association for eight years.

A few weeks later, I met Dave for breakfast in Sanford. We went over a lot of plans I wrote or stole from the Internet and then I hooked him up with Vincent Morris, Risk Manager of Wheaton College. And wouldn’t you know it, Vince was at the annual URMIA conference when I called and was being honored as Risk Manager of the Year. God always sends His best, doesn’t he!

Dave’s experience on the field was the greatest starting point. He just needed help in getting the creative juices flowing. I was just thrilled to see God take the smartest man in the world and allow him to be a servant again for a cause so dear to his heart.

God sure has a great sense of humor, doesn't he!

Puraquequara indeed!