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October/November Prayer Letter

Dear Praying Friends,

‘La tutunana lanie Elisabet e nona vula mo limaravo i God ta suret e noa enjel i Gabriel sei mo vano la taon sei Galili esena i Nasaret.’                                                                                                                                          (Luk 1:26)

This verse from Luke now has a very special meaning to me as it marked the beginning of scripture translation by the Tiale Bible project. After working on tracts and short bible narratives for teaching at Bible club for the past year it was an amazing feeling to finally see this verse and its following verses completed.

It is encouraging also to see the translators work so hard on translating the verses that they are assigned. At the moment we are meeting together on Wednesday afternoons. There are currently four people from the village working with me each week. Of them, Pastor Gaby, is by far the most skilled and dedicated. However as the village pastor he has many responsibilities and I can’t ask him to put in more than a few hours a week as I don’t want to keep him from his primary ministries. My other 3 translators are keen, but not as proficient in English so I have to work quite closely with them. I’m praying that God would raise up another man (or woman) of Pastor Gaby’s calibre to work with us. There are several men in the village who have started to show some interest so I am praying that they might take the step to come and help in the New Year.

As we work through the verses it usually isn’t long till we find a word or term which has no one for one correspondent in English. An example is the word “Saviour”. Since there is no corresponding noun in Tiale, and Tiale doesn’t allow verbs to be turned into nouns as we can in English (like driver from drive) we had to come up with a phrase which would give the full meaning of the word. After much discussion and prayer we developed ‘e mera se kure mauri’ which means “person who gives (back) life”. So “Jesus our Saviour” is translated as ‘Iesu nora e mera se kure mauri.”

 

Our current goal is to have the entire Christmas story from the gospel of Luke and Matthew (a total of about 30 verses) finished by mid December.  These verses will then be turned into a small booklet. The week before Christmas my Friday Bible Club children will be doing a Nativity drama using the newly translated scripture. At the conclusion Pastor Gabe will give a salvation message and everyone who attends will be given their own copy of the Christmas story in Tiale.

 

THANKS

I want to thank again everyone who has had a part in the construction of my house in the village. I have been able to move into one of the rooms and enjoy sleeping in mosquito proof accommodations. There is still some work to be done, but the other missionaries here have been generous with their time and are helping to get the remainder of the interior walls put up, the shower tiled, the roof finished and the plumbing completed.

 

Thank you also to everyone who has been praying for my health. While I have had a few illnesses over the past few months, my dreaded enemy malaria has not been around. Praise the Lord.

I hope you all have a very happy Christmas.

Because He lives,

 

Cara Shirley

 

August/September Prayer Letter

If you want to view this in its original PDF form just click on the link: August/September Prayer Letter

Dear praying friends,

Building Site

For the past few years many of you have been praying for me to have a more permanent dwelling place in the village where I work. While I’ve been grateful for the bamboo hut the people of the village have provided, its been a challenge at times, especially with repeated bouts of malaria and other illnesses. Last month this prayer was answered when four men from two New Zealand churches gave up two to three weeks of their time to brave rainy tropical weather, mud, humidity, heat and hammocks in order to build a house for me in Mataloi.

Transport Truck

As happens with most big undertakings on the mission field, this project was not without its difficulties. Just transporting all the materials and equipment to the site was a monumental task. Imagine how long it would take for local workers to carry 2 truckloads of timber and supplies from where the road ends up the hill to the village since a Toyota Hilux is not grunty or large enough for the task. Fortunately God already knew what we needed and Simon Murcott, a missionary with Friends in Action was able to loan his time and their massive transport truck to cart supplies right to the site.

Getting There

Another spanner in the works was that my visa was due to expire only one week after the team arrived and I needed to get my new visa approved in a hurry. The  immigration office on my island couldn’t help me so two days after the team arrived I had to jump on a plane to the capital. Anything that involves paperwork and government officials here takes a long time so I was facing the possibility of having to leave Vanuatu till my Visa got approved. However with God nothing is impossible and in only 2 days I was stamped in my passport and legally a resident for another two years. There is no red tape on earth than can hold up our God!

Green Mansion on the Hilltop

From the photos you can see that where before there was just a hill top there is now a wonderful house, which seems like a mansion to me. There is still some finishing work to be done inside, but I am all wired for power and water and it is mozzie proof! I feel totally blessed and I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who had a part in seeing this need provided. To the guys who came to do the work, to my fellow missionaries here in Vanuatu who gave freely of their time, to the people who gave funds, and to those whose faithful prayers kept the project and us alive, thank you very very much. You all have an open invitation to stop in for a cuppa anytime.

Because He lives,

Cara Shirley

June/July Prayer Letter

To view my prayer letter in PDF click here

Dear Praying Friends,

I thank you all for your prayers for my health and well being. The Lord has most certainly answered and blessed me with the best health I have had in over 6 months. Praise the Lord!

I want to share with you a personal story of God’s power to answer prayer which I experienced just recently.

I had just returned to my village for a month long stay after what seemed like a long convalescence in town due to malaria and other illness. On my third day back  I travelled to a nearby village for a funeral feast . While traversing a coconut plantation I injured my ankle in a ‘I think I heard something snap’ sort of way. It became very swollen and painful to the point that I felt I might pass out (and I have a reasonable pain tolerance). Since I couldn’t walk at all I was kindly provided with a horse to ride back to my village. I was very upset because I figured it was either broken or I had torn something badly and I would have to again leave my work in the village. With no ice or anything cold to stop the swelling and pain I resorted to some painkillers and prayer for the Lord to heal my foot just enough so that I wouldn’t have to go back into town to get it treated, though I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact I would have to go. The next morning when I woke up I first noticed I had no pain. I expected it to hurt when I stood up but felt nothing at all. When I looked at my foot it was not swollen or red and I had full movement with no pain at all. Whatever had happened to my foot God had answered my prayer and healed it. I will never again doubt the power of my Great Physician to heal!

Translation team working on a Chick tract

So with my body still in good working order I was able to get together with members of the translation committee and have some  practical training sessions. We are translating the Chick tracts “This was your life” and “A Love Story”. It takes a lot of concentration on both sides and the work is slow going as we try to get the correct meaning of the text into their language. But as each page is completed the translators excitedly read their results and are encouraged to keep up the work.

Lord willing these tracts should be completed by the end of August. This task not only produces a practical way to share the gospel in the community but it also is useful in highlighting areas of translation theory where my national workers need more teaching. We have the goal of starting translation of  the Gospel of Mark early next year so please pray for us as we prepare to face that endeavour.

Thank you all for the vital part you have in my ministry here. I truly could not do this without your constant prayer, support and encouragement.

Because He lives,

Cara Shirley

April/May Prayer Letter

To view my prayer letter in PDF click here

Dear Praying Friends,

Greetings from Vanuatu! The past two months have been a challenging time, but the Lord has been with me through all of it giving me joy though my time of sorrow.

As many of you know my Grandmother who has been unwell for some time went to be with the Lord at the beginning of April. I returned to New Zealand for 2 weeks to attend the funeral and spend time with my family. It was a sad time but our sorrow came with gladness knowing that Gran is now with her Lord and that we will see her again one day. Thank you so much to everyone who prayed for my Gran, my family and me during her sickness and our time of grieving. I really appreciate your prayers and the many kind messages of encouragement I received.

Youth Conference in Big Bay

While I was in New Zealand my home church was holding its missions conference. It was neat to be able to share that time with my church family as well as receiving so good teaching from the Word to build me up before heading back to Vanuatu.

At the end of April  I had a relapse of malaria, but God worked it that this time that I was able to get my hands on some primiquine which cleared the malaria from my liver and will prevent me from having relapses. So right now my body is malaria free Praise the Lord!

I am very glad to be well again as there is much happening ministry wise here.

I was able to start a Friday Bible Club in the village of Mataloi. There are about 20 village children attending. It was a bit scary at first as I have to do all my teaching in Tiale, but the children are very gracious with me and seem to be enjoying their Bible lessons. The very first week I had two adults from the community  come to  help and learn how to run the Bible club. Praise God for their willing hearts!

Friday Bible Club in Mataloi

May 17-20 the  Santo Baptist Youth Camp was held in Big Bay. A rustic but functional  camp site was built  in the middle of the jungle for  the 90 or so teens who came. Despite the rain and the mud it was a great time for all who attended.

One morning at camp I had the opportunity to give a salvation devotion to the girls using my fingernails painted with the colours of the wordless book as an illustration. Several girls came forward at the invitation and I had the privilege of leading three of them, Josephine, Agnes and Rose, to the Lord.  That afternoon the girls heard teaching on the importance of purity in their lives, a much needed  lesson given the immorality so prevalent in the Vanuatu culture. We had brought  materials for making beaded bracelets and many of the girls made purities bracelets as a reminder of their pledge to honour God with their bodies.

With youth camp over I am back to the village of Mataloi. My current goal is  the translation of another gospel tract in the next few weeks Please keep praying for my increased understanding of the language, as well as wisdom for the nationals involved as they learn the skills for translating scripture.

Thank you all for your faithful support of the ministry here in Big Bay.

Because He lives,

Cara Shirley

February/March Prayer Letter

To view my prayer letter in PDF click here febmar11

 

Dear Praying Friends,

It’s good to be back on Santo, though my return was saddened somewhat by the recent earthquakes in Christchurch. It was a tense few hours as I waited to find out how my friends and family fared. Praise God, all came through relatively unharmed. Please know that my prayers have been with those of you who have been affected by the quakes as well as those who have taken time to volunteer in the recovery work and show out the love of Christ to those in need.

Santo has been fortunate to miss the most destructive force of two cyclones in the past month; however the edge of the storms that did hit us brought a lot of rain which made the road to Big Bay impassable for several weeks. During my time ‘stranded’ in town I’ve been helping with the various ministries of Luganville Baptist Church, in particular, the recently started Friday Bible Club. With some promotion at the schools and in the area close to the church grounds we were able to round up just over 40 children the first week which increased to 80 the second week. These children come from all over town, some even from the local Ba’hai and Catholic schools, so it is a great chance to get to gospel out to children who otherwise might not hear it. Pray that as this ministry continues we will see young children saved and grow strong in the Lord.

When the rains stopped, just as I was about to return to Big Bay, I came down with malaria. This is my third case in four months which is quite discouraging. The malaria is in my liver so now I don’t have to get bitten by a mosquito. Getting sick, over tired, or stressed out can cause a relapse. There is a medicine, Primiquine, which can clear it out of my system but there is none in town at the moment.  Please pray that I would stay healthy and that I would be able to obtain some Primiquine soon to clear the malaria out of my system.

Now with good weather and good health I am preparing to head to Big Bay for a month in the village. I will be ‘going it alone’ this time as my fellow labourer Forine is still on her home island working out the details of her engagement. Please keep her in your prayers as the situation is quite difficult for her at the moment.

I am hoping over the next few months to finish a tentative analysis of the language and formalise the alphabet. I also plan to continue in the training of potential national translators for the Tiale project and to produce some more gospel tracts and evangelistic material. I also have a desire to start a Friday Bible Club for the village children. This will provide great opportunities reach some of the young villagers for Christ as well as providing me with some practical language learning and practice.

Thank you for your prayers and support of the ministry here in Vanuatu.  I appreciate your part in reaching the people of Big bay for Christ and getting the Gospel into the hands of the Tiale people.

Because He lives,

Cara Shirley