Thailand and the Fire Bible

When we first returned from Papua New Guinea in mid-February I did not envision a trip to Thailand. I rather thought we'd be reviewing a budget for Southern Europe and raising our support to begin that chapter of ministry.  But I had been feeling exhausted for some time and had a series of symptoms from slurred speech to forgetfulness that were troublesome, so in conjunction with my primary care doctor we went back to Bumrungrad in Bangkok where I had surgery in January.  I have a severe case of hepatitis, a resurfacing of Type A, which I had in 1994.  I thought one could not get it twice, but apparently if you get it once, it can come back if you become exhausted. I met the criteria for exhaustion.

Shortly before we left for Thailand, the leadership of AGWM, as well as our Southern New England leadership asked us to pray about delaying ministry in Southern Europe so we could devote our experience in translation to the "Fire Bible" in Melanesia Pidgin. The Fire Bible is a study Bible with helpful notes and teaching aids in addition to the translated text.  Melanesian Pidgin is the trade language of Papua New Guinea and spoken by millions of people.  However, like all trade language it has a very limited vocabulary and theological concepts are very difficult to translate.  By creating a study Bible in the language there is an opportunity to provide helpful notes to prevent people from reading in wrong understandings of the scripture. Another purpose of the study Bible is that there are many untrained pastors who serve in Papua New Guinea. With no formal Bible training they benefit greatly from having good study notes to guide them in sermon preparation as well as helpful charts. 

The Fire Bible name comes from Luke 24:32 where Jesus encounters the disciples on the road to Emmaus who, after hearing Him explain Messiah in the law and prophets say, Were not our hearts burning in us while he was talking to us on the way, making clear to us the scriptures?"  The Fire Bible is meant as a tool to support and encourage the indigenous church. Bishop Giegere Wenge of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, who has long supported us in our service with AGWM, has received a copy as well and spoken of his gratitude for a study Bible.  We believe it will serve many churches around the country of Papua New Guinea.

So how dos our trip to Thailand relate to the Fire Bible?  It is clear that my health is such I cannot make any kind of international move at this time.  Neil, however, is free to come and go to Papua New Guinea and begin the work of organizing and setting up the translation work among Papua New Guinean Christians. We can both read the language fluently to proof the notes.  AGWM has agreed that I can remain in Massachusetts and with todays' technology Neil can spend half time here in the US with me while I recover.  We need to replenish our donor base as well, and this arrangement allows us to maintain a vital ministry while preparing for the next phase in Southern Europe.  Our experience in the language is a tremendous boost to the project and our experience is very helpful.  Al in all, it seems the Lord's timing to enable me to recover and the two of us to continue to make a contribution overseas.  We are truly thankful for the opportunity and trust that our second translation project will be much speedier than the first!

The Month After

It has been a month since we returned to the US and it's taken sometime to recover from jet lag, post-lag (when your desk has three months of mail) and communication lag (when you've got hundreds of unaswered letters in your inbox).  I feel for my part, I need more time to really reflect on what the Lord has done and how amazing has been the work He has accomplished through His Spirit during this time.

It is true that the response exceeded our wildest expectations.  Every prayer was answered exceeding abundantly above all we could ask or think.  We sort through photos, and still are doing so, that we might be able to ready a video that accurate portrays all that happened that day.  We want to share it with all of you in the way we feel you so richly deserve to see it. It was an amazing event that many people contributed to in prayer, sacrifice, and love.  There's no other way to say it. 

Life moves on and with it our need to transition to our next phase of ministry. We've been asked to consider putting church planting on hold for two years to give full attention to assisting with a study Bible project that is greatly needed. We've so longed and waited for the chance to begin in church planting, yet feel a sense that our experience is well suited to what we are being asked to consider that we are still talking over how we might best proceed.  

Personally, I am exceptionally tired.  There has not been down time since the scriptures were published and my body is telling me in many ways with many voices, "You are 55, not 25 and you just had major surgery in January".  I find that I am a better listener than I once was simply because I can no longer bend over and slip on my shoes as well as I once did.

In the coming weeks we have many speaking engagements and talks with leadership as well as conferences we are to attend to share the work as well as plan what comes next.  I very much hope to get a vacation in there at some point even if we can't go away.  To have a couple of weeks without commitments to re-energize and reflect on what God has done would be a welcome gift.

I cannot help but say, though, that were I to die tomorrow, I would be a woman who had lived such an extraordinary life with so many gifts just given to me for no other reason than God's grace.  Yes, I lived in the rain forest. I found that hard. I've also been in England, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, the Philippines, Singapore, China, Dubai, Australia, Canada and Mexico in my life. I've taken photos of our son with a Beef Eater in London and a Swiss Guard at the Vatican.  I've wandered through the jungle and ancient Roman ruins.  I've walked through the streets of Salisbury and see the magnificent cathedral there. I've ridden in PMVs and Jeepneys.  I've been married to a wonderful man for 34 years and have a son who loves Jesus.  I am so blessed.  I just thought I would take this space today, to say so.

The New Testament Dedication

After a couple of hours with a new "user friendly" interface, I still don't know how to do things I could do before the website got so helpful!  As a concession to my age and that fact it is 3 AM, I know you will help me out by taking this extra step to get to the photo album of the New Testament dedication. 

We put together an album called "Thirty-five Hundred Reasons to Praise" and hope you will enjoy it and it will give you a flavor of the day.  As it is not possible to put the album or the direct link to the album here, I hope to make this easy and worth your time.  Start by going to the website below.

http://www.vanaria.org

The menu is on the left hand side. You will see one link called "The New Testament Dedication Blog".  Click on that and you should be able to view this 24 page color photo album of the dedication.

Thanks for taking the extra time to do this and know we love and appreciate you all!click here

Why I Love Hope

Biblical hope is waiting for that which is assured.  It's not wishful thinking. It's not crossing your finger and having a positive attitude. It's waiting for what you know will happen.  There's a world of difference between the hope this world gives and the hope of heaven.  "Gospel Hope" is an anchor for our soul.  It's firm and secure and we can stake our lives on it. 


Waiting for the New Testament has been a bit of a frustrating experience.  How many times have we been told it will be on the next boat?  I've lost count of dates and delays. But this morning I was thinking to myself that the great thing about an experience like this is that it reminds me that this kind of waiting, this kind of hoping, is not the kind of hope on which my life is based. This fulfillment of this hope depends on a shipping company, conscientious employees, and calm seas. Will the New Testaments eventually get to their destination? Yes they will. Will it be on my perfect schedule? No, we blew that out of the water weeks ago.  This kind of waiting is frustrating because we don't know what is going to happen.  So really, that's not hope. That's waiting around for people to match the container to the manifest.  We pray they do it on time and every hindrance is removed, but we are not staking our lives on that hope.  What God guarantees is so precious it can't be delayed or affected by human will.  

So with every rescheduling notice, the great Hope for which we ultimately wait looks sweeter all the time.  Even in the midst of delays, there's a chance to give thanks.

We'll keep you updated on when our earthly waiting for the scriptures is completed. In the meantime, he's a picture of Tony and Seth enjoying Madang town.