Today is Thursday and we have found a place to live, praise God! We have volunteers to help us with the move and will proceed as soon as our application is accepted. Then off to School of Missions for two weeks in July and early June followed by missionary renewel, a four day retreat with the Lord about Whom around Whom all missions center.
Many have asked when we believe we will resume full time work on the scriptures. We are praying for a completed budget by August so when we move in our next apartment we will not be spending so much time going from place to place but be able to give our full attention to the Mesem New Testament. Our priority is to complete the work well, and to do it with haste. We need your prayers. Most translators set three typesetting dates before a New Testament is completed. We have already experience much adversity in many forms and now desire a speedy completion for the sake of Truth among the Mesem people.
Recently, Nancy, a very dear friend and encourager, wrote to say that she was moving to assisted living and could offer just her prayers for us. I don't know that anyone prays more faithfully than she does (but feel free to try). I believe, as Neil has so often said, that in heaven, the Lord will judge this as a work completed by the Body of Christ.
Thank you for loving us through this and pray with us that we might resume the work full time as soon as possible. We are waiting to hear from an number of churches and praying that we will be where we need to be to continue on for the Glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Joyfully,
The Vanarias
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Gems While We Wait
Like most people we find waiting difficult. We are anxious to complete the New Testament but first many things must come together. We need a new place to live having spent the last 9 months in a wonderful home provided by wonderful friends (whose photo, I hope, I have inserted properly...and these are but a few of you). We work at finding new partners to share the task with us, churches that will "pray this one through" with us. While we do these things the New Testament must "wait" till we can give it our full attention. I confess, when I am totally honest, I so want to just push other things aside and get back to work on it. But my timing is not God's, my time is His, but not my sense of timing.
Friends have left me with "gems" while we wait. One said, "Always remember it is God's Name on the line, not ours". At the time, I was wrestling with another ministry that while not Bible translation, was indeed resulting in a number of people coming to Christ. This "gem" reminds me that the results are His, the reputation is His, and the timing is His.
Later, as other challenges presented themselves, another dear friend pointed out it was intersting that God brought Israel from a rich land, Egypt, where they were slaves, to a desert place where they were free. How true is this in our lives? It is for freedom that Christ set us free!
The picture is bigger than we are, and God is doing something greater than we can imagine. While we wait, there are gems to be gathered up and lessons learned. At times in "desert places" we learn the real meaning of freedom since there is nothing left to distract us :). The Mesem will get the New Testament at the right time, and we will keep on following, knowing we have been blessed with great companions on the journey.
Time to go to evening worship.
Friends have left me with "gems" while we wait. One said, "Always remember it is God's Name on the line, not ours". At the time, I was wrestling with another ministry that while not Bible translation, was indeed resulting in a number of people coming to Christ. This "gem" reminds me that the results are His, the reputation is His, and the timing is His.
Later, as other challenges presented themselves, another dear friend pointed out it was intersting that God brought Israel from a rich land, Egypt, where they were slaves, to a desert place where they were free. How true is this in our lives? It is for freedom that Christ set us free!
The picture is bigger than we are, and God is doing something greater than we can imagine. While we wait, there are gems to be gathered up and lessons learned. At times in "desert places" we learn the real meaning of freedom since there is nothing left to distract us :). The Mesem will get the New Testament at the right time, and we will keep on following, knowing we have been blessed with great companions on the journey.
Time to go to evening worship.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Vanarias and the Mesem
In recent weeks many friends have visited this blog and been seeking to find the website for the Mesem New Testament in Papua New Guinea. To make this easier we include the link here www.vanaria.info. It seemed smart to go with something short and easy to remember!
And I promise to change the photo on the "contact us" page so it looks like us again. We will even include Tony, the center of our personal Vanaria tribe.
Thank you dear friends for being with us in this journey towards the completion of the New Testament.!
And I promise to change the photo on the "contact us" page so it looks like us again. We will even include Tony, the center of our personal Vanaria tribe.
Thank you dear friends for being with us in this journey towards the completion of the New Testament.!
Friday, May 2, 2008
The Voice of Truth
Tonight I am home alone while Neil and Tony go with a dozen others to a Christian concert. I am enjoying the music of Casting Crowns and in particular the song "The Voice of Truth".
When did it start? Surgeries, attacks in the village, sorcery allegations, Neil's accident? A surge of difficulty came at the time when we were sure the Mesem New Testament would be completed.
At times the discouragement has been overwhelming. It would not be true to pretend otherwise. So I find the cry of my heart echoes that of the singer of "The Voice of Truth". There are so many circumstances, challenges, trials et. al that say, "This can never happen. Give up." or "You must be doing something wrong for it to be so difficult". But the song tells of Peter who in the midst of a storm had the Lord bid him to step out of the boat. Step out of the boat in the storm? What sense is there in doing that? The boat is the place of safety! Yet there was the outstretched hand of Jesus bidding him to stand above a storm he did not create and could not control.
"The Voice of Truth of tells me a different story
The Voice of Truth says do not be afraid
The Voice of Truth tells me this is for My glory
The Voice of Truth says do not be afraid
Of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of Truth".
Recently I met an amazing young woman who is one of the most mature and whole people I have met at her age. What brought her to that place? Brain cancer. How does that fit in with God's plan? I don't know but I know that speaking to her I can see Jesus' in her life and shining in a way that is not superficial but rings out from the core of her being.
Why does it take so long? I don't know. I know God is doing something greater in all of us than we know and that He is responsible for the furthering of His Kingdom and the Greatness of His Name. How do our storms and those that delay the Mesem translation fit in God's eternal plan? Such things are too marvelous for me. I only know we have a God who knows and we trust that He "who began a good work in (us) will perform it" till the Day of Jesus Christ.
The music has changed again...Your Love is Extravagent.....
When did it start? Surgeries, attacks in the village, sorcery allegations, Neil's accident? A surge of difficulty came at the time when we were sure the Mesem New Testament would be completed.
At times the discouragement has been overwhelming. It would not be true to pretend otherwise. So I find the cry of my heart echoes that of the singer of "The Voice of Truth". There are so many circumstances, challenges, trials et. al that say, "This can never happen. Give up." or "You must be doing something wrong for it to be so difficult". But the song tells of Peter who in the midst of a storm had the Lord bid him to step out of the boat. Step out of the boat in the storm? What sense is there in doing that? The boat is the place of safety! Yet there was the outstretched hand of Jesus bidding him to stand above a storm he did not create and could not control.
"The Voice of Truth of tells me a different story
The Voice of Truth says do not be afraid
The Voice of Truth tells me this is for My glory
The Voice of Truth says do not be afraid
Of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of Truth".
Recently I met an amazing young woman who is one of the most mature and whole people I have met at her age. What brought her to that place? Brain cancer. How does that fit in with God's plan? I don't know but I know that speaking to her I can see Jesus' in her life and shining in a way that is not superficial but rings out from the core of her being.
Why does it take so long? I don't know. I know God is doing something greater in all of us than we know and that He is responsible for the furthering of His Kingdom and the Greatness of His Name. How do our storms and those that delay the Mesem translation fit in God's eternal plan? Such things are too marvelous for me. I only know we have a God who knows and we trust that He "who began a good work in (us) will perform it" till the Day of Jesus Christ.
The music has changed again...Your Love is Extravagent.....
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