pryor david sharran 1982 png

7/25/2019 Pryor David Sharran 1982 PNG

1/12

C-/s?

Pryors'Prayers

Praise

PIONEER BIBLE TRANSLATOR

FIELD ADDRESS FORWARDING AGENTS:

David W. Sharran O Brien Pryor Kevin L. Donna J. O Brien

Box

997 Route

2,

Box

26

IMadang Papua

New

Guinea OaldandCity, Indiana 4766

Volume

VI, Issue 1 March, 1

WHAT A FURLOUGH

About a

month ago

someone

asked

us how

many

different

times

we

had spoken about our

transl

ministry

and

preached,

spoken

or

taught

for

church

services, conventions, schools, etc. since ou

speaking engagement in mid-April of 1981. At that pointwe had no idea. But curiosity got the best

and we began

going

back

through our

itinerary book to

determine th e

number.

Well,

without going

into

too

much detail

as

to the types of

occasions

for

which we have

spoken,

su

it to say that between th e four members of our family we have spoken a total of

one

hundred and

times from April 14th to

December

27th of las t year.

Fo r those speaking engagements we

travelled to

the

following fifteen

states: New

York,

Pennsylv

West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee,

Kentucky,

Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Miss

Kansas, Ok lahoma,

Texas

and

New Mexico.

In

March,

we

are

also

scheduled

to

meet

with

a

mis

committee

from a church in Arizona

(on

our way

to Los Angeles

to fly

back

to PNG) which will

rais

n umb er to

16 s t a t e s in

all.

The highlight of our

furlough has been the fellowship. That

is

what we missed most

while

overse

is what we looked forward

to

most in coming home, and we have no t been disappointed.

We

want

to

deeply heart-felt

thanks

again to all of you

who

have

opened your hearts

and homes to us this past

Our moments together have been

a

blessing to our

lives.

I 've Had A Wha t ?

Pioneer Bible Translators requires all of its members to get a

complete

physical before goin

returning to th e field. After ours were completed, we went back to get the

results

of all th e

tests.

E

one was

pronounced

fit

and healthy except dear

ol dad . The

doctor

said that my EKG revealed

had possibly experienced

a mild

heart attack sometime during th e

last three

years.

I

also

learned th

had

experienced a mild

heart

attack, Imight possibly be working

toward

a second

heart

attack, and

the second

one

could possibly be life-threatening .

Additional

testing was prescribed to

determ

possible

cause and see whether my condition could be corrected by

heart

surgery.

Two days later I

was

in the

coronary

care unit of

the

hospital inSharran's hometownwith chest pai

was

released four

days

later, however, with

some

very encouraging news. First, that

the

chest pains

not heart-related. Secondly, the doctor suspected that rather than having had a heart attack, I m

possibly have been born with

a

harmless heart abnormality tha t shows up

in an EKG as a mild

h

a t tack


2/12

Ten days after being released, Iwent to Pittsburgh, PAfor

the

necessary testing that would prov

correct diagnosis. We

received

the

results five

da s later

than

we

were

supposed to, but the new

good. I

Instead of having had a heart attack, it turned out that I do have a harmless heart abnormality

called Wolfe-Parkinson-White

Syndrome . It is something l ikea wrinkle in the heart musclethat

the

conduction of

the

electric impulse of the EKG 4pd shows up on the EKG graph like ascar

from

attack. I

I have now been officially cleared to return to

the

field with no physical restrictions.

The

cardiolo

Pittsburgh said

You are a healthy

young

man wjth aweird EKG . How

thankful we

were to

hea

Some of you

were

standing with us and

undergii[ding

us in

our time

of crisis with

your prayers

cards and letters. Thanks so much for your love and concern. Now join us in thanksgiving and pr

God

fo r

such a wonderful answe r to

our

prayers

together.

I

sought

th e Lord,

and

He

answered

rn^;

Glorify th e Lord with me; let

us

exalt

His

He delivered me from all my

fears .

Ps. 3

If That

Were

Not Enough

Then during the time that we were to spend with

i^y

parents not

quite

three weeks

after

receivin

results from myheart tests, Istarted experiencing discomfort in

the

area ofmyfirst hernia surgeryo

20 years ago. I thought I might possibly have pulled a

muscle

in exercising, but thought I

be

examined

just

in

case .

Sure enough.

I was admitted

the same

day I was examined. Surgery the following day reveale

th e former repair

had

torn

loose

in three places.

Thankfully

the surgery does not

interfere with

iur

travel plans. We

are

proceeding

as sche

departing for PNG on March 5th. Iam not allowed to do any heavy lifting,

pushing

or pulling tillthe

March. That may

put

a little extra strain on the

rest

of th e family,

though.

At leastwe

found

outaboutitand could

have

th^

repair

surgery doneherein

time enough

to

le

schedule. I

just hope this

is the e nd of all th e e xc tement

fo r

a while.

Special Note:

Our 1981 financial statement is available upon request .

Should you

desire

one. please

conta

forwarding

agent,

Kevin

O'Brien.

We are deeply grateful for your love, prayers aijid faithful support.

SHARRAN'S SHARING

What

a year this

has

been I be t I've

written

this letter to you at least 20 times in my mind,

trying to

way to

express

to you how we feel right now. My mind is

so

full of last

minute preparations,

packin

planning

that

it is hard to believe in

some

ways that by

th e

t ime you read this we will

be

home in

New uinea

Home What

a beautiful

word

thatcarries with it^ many

different

messages to

us.

This

year Go

shown us a new meaning for the verse in Matthew t9:29 which states, And everyonewho has left

or

brothers

or

sisters

or

father

or

mother

or

children

pr

fields

for

my

sake

will

receive

a

hundred

tim

much and will inherit eternal life .

God

has fulfilled

that

promise in our l ives. We

have had

your

h

and

you

as

part of our family so we have

many

homes and a

huge

big family. You have warm

inspiredus, fed us, clothed us, entertained us and

oved us all year long

and

our

minds

are fille

treasured

memories of

things

we've

done

together wUh

you.

But now, it's

time

for us to

go

to our

New Guinea

home

and

begin

our

translation

work

again and we

can

hardly wait.

It's been an interesting year in many ways for ail of us as we tried to adjust back into your hectic

schedules. As

I

write this

to

you

Johnis in the

prbjcess

of

making another

milestone in

his life.


3/12

lllllllllllllllilllllllllllllilll

getting his braces off. We thanl God for using Dr. David Hamilton to treat John this year. He has do

th e work for a chess set from

Papua

New Guinea.

John

really

cooperated

with all Dr. Hamilton reque

and God made him grow this year in leaps and bounds. So with a retainer John s teeth will be str

an d neat. John enjoyed learning to play th e piano an d a harmonica this year and has written 2 more

songs as well as learne d lots of new thing s on th e guitar. With all that America has to offer though

anxious

ready

a nd e xc it ed to go hom e to PNG.

Amy

h as b eg un h er m et am or ph ic change of becoming a woman

has become our little

social

butterfly.

Each

ne w

place

we

as we traveled to

se e

all of you sh e adjusted to quickly. Man

you

that

sh e didn t even know before wisked he r away to s

the night go skating or to a game and

sh e

enjoyed every mo

an d e very new p ers on .

Sh e

collected all th e Strawberry

Short

dolls during the year and is taking back a few things to make her feel more grown up. She

ha s really excelled with music abilities. She learned to relax an d enjoy using th e microphoneso all c

hear her pretty voice. Believe itor not

sh e

too Is ready and excited that ou r year here is ending so sh e

go home

to

her

Dusty

c at a nd

all

the

guinea

pigs.

After all our fellowshiping with all of you enjoying your cooking and all the restaurants you took u

am really excited about being able to cook again myself. I can hardly wait to bake bread and clea

house. It s a good thing I mexcited as we

will

be back to the basics and challenges of cooking and ba

everything from scratch. I enjoy trying to make the same simple meals seem new and exciting. O

my biggest ch all eng es is turning by br ead do ug h into bread as my family wants it to be pizza.

Many of you have noticed I m sure that Iwas not a good letter writer this year. Myschedule has

your schedule fullof visiting talking and being entertained so I vehad littletime to write. Also Isp

lot of my free time making Christmas gi ft s with my newest Interest counted cross stitch

but. . .

I

you

all

to

know

that

I will happily

p ut d ow n

my

n e ed l e a n d pick up

my pe n

so

that

we

can

contin

keep in touch through letters and prayers. We

will

miss all of you and you knownow what a real pa

our

work

yo u are. P l ea s e c o nt i nu e to write us knowing that I will

answer.

We will need your prayers for many things as we adjust back to life in PNG so I ll close my

Sharran s Sharings with our Prayer List for the beginning of our second term with our Kire peop

Thanks for a beautiful happy year. Ou r only r egret is t hat we cannot entertain you in ou r home b

you do e ve r v en t ur e

to the land of th e

coconut

palm an d

mosquitos

come see us In our little bam

home.

We ll be

there with

th e

p eo pl e w e a nd you

love.

Love S h a

Please

Pray

For:

O ur

safety

in travel

O ur a dj us tm en t t o th e land o f th e s u n an d mosquitos

Us

a s we t ry d ai ly to show culture kindnesses to our

Kire

people

Our quick recall of

the

Kire language

O u r l a ng u ag e

helpers

thatthey

will

want

to

work

th e

long

hours necessary

to

recapture

all

th e

w los t fo r

David s continued recovery from hernia surgery

God s will for housing for our

PB T

teams In Madang and translators wh o must be out of

vi ll a ge s from time

to

time.

God s

will fo r a c ompute r

fo r P B T w hi ch c ould c ut y ea rs

of f

o ur work

A

teacher

for our

support

teams

children

to live in

Madang

N ew

s up p or t t ea m s


4/12

S o m e

People

S ome pe opl e

always

seem to have

a

little

tim e to

s p a r e

us t w he n it m e a n s

th e

world to y o u

to

k n o w

s o m e b o d y s

there

They truly take

a n i nt er es t

in

everything

you do

You can go to them with

problems

and they ll

always

see you

through

T he y g iv e with

generosity

t h a t never se ems to end

They

know

t he w on de rf ul secret

o f

h o w to b e a friend

Rob i n S t ohn


5/12

Pryors'Prayers Prais

PIONEER BIBLE

TRANSLATOR

FIELD

ADDRESS

David W.

Sharran O'Brien Pryor

B ox 99

Madang, Papua New Guinea

Vo lume

VI .

I s su e

2

Our

Trip

Home to

Garati

Our last goodbyes were s aid

to

families and friends

in

Pennsyl

vania as

we said

goodbye

to

Sharran 's

Mom and

Dad, Mr.

Mrs. Harry O'Brien. With so many

unknowns

of

our first trip

to

Papua New

Guinea

now known ,

goodbyes weren 't qui te

as

hard.

After a

few

days in Mesa, Arizona

for our

last

speaking

engagement,

many hours on the plane

and

an

overnight in

Honolulu

and many

more

hours

on the

plane, we

arrived

in Madang.

After

being

greeted by all

our

PBT teams that

were

then in

Madang

and

some of

our Australian fr iends, John and

Amy headed fo r th e Bismarck

Sea

with their

cousin

Jesse

Pryor.

and

a

new

friend. Hans Messersmith,

whose parents are now

support

workers in Madang fo r

PBT.

We

were

all

dog

tired

bu t

so

happy

to be back in the land of the

Palm tree

and even mosquito.

Sha rr an took a nap with

Dave's

brother

John's new dog. Ourihree

days in

Madang were

full

and

busy

as

we

excitedly bough t supp li es

and everything we needed

to live

at

Garati

again.

FORWARDING AGENTS:

Kevin

L.

Donn a J .

O'Brien

Route 2 , Box

26

Oakland Oily Indiana

47660

April-May, 1

.^1


6/12

We loaded up our

new

Twincab

Toyota to th e hilt got Dusty,

Amy s

ca t

and

headed

for

home at

6:00

A.M. We

had an

important

d e a d l i n e t o m e e t

J o h n s

best

friend Irai

w as to leave

our village at 11:00 A M that morn

ing for agricultural school and

wouldn t be back fo r a year.

We

had to

le t

those boys

be together .

We arrived at the Airstrip by

th e

Garat i r o a d a t 1 0 : 0 0 A M

I r a i c a m e

running

to

meet

us as

he

heard we

were coming.

What

a reunion

those boys had. They leaped and

ran and

hugged

each other again

and

again.

Then

they walked to

gether

to

try

and

find

a

shady spot

to sit

in whilethey madethe

best of

their

hour

together.

When

we

left Irai

we

were only

10

minutes from home e x c e p t the

r o a d s

w e r e

t h e

w o rs t e v er

from ail

the rain

and

we got

bogged,

bad.

Although

we were

covered

in

mud

and sweat, we could

do

nothing

to

get

out ourselves. John

and I

ended up walking the

2

miles

to

our village to get help.

What

a

sight we were when we arrived at

the

village.

We

were

sunburned,

a n d

mud

from

h e a d t o to e Te n

men

helped dig

us

out.

Home at last The

house

really

iooked good when

we finally

got

to

the village.

We

were

greeted by

nearly

everyone in the

village

be

f o r e it

w as o v e r

a n d it t o o k u s

nearly 2 hou rs to g et in the house.

Our language helper s wife,

Agnes,

had

done

a good jo b of

clean ing the house and it sure

m a d e

o u r

w o r k e a s i e r

We were home

with our

people

again. Rachel, the young girl had

just shaved her head so was wea r

ing

a

scarf. Her Dad , Tom, doesn t

need

to

worry

about

shaving

t o get

rid

of lice,

anymore.

His

hair

doesn t grow any more, b ut th at

also

means

the singsing head

dress won t

stay in

his hai r now, so

N o

6


7/12

hi s singsing dancing days are

o v e r

It s always

the young

boys who

have the mos t

t ime to

enter ta in

us

as

even

the little girls work.

Partive, our faithful worker, kept

t he gra ss cu t

for

us

all

year

while

we were gone. Our washing

machine no longer works so he is

now washing

our

clothes and,

believe it or not, is doing a lovely

job.

f

fliBf

SHARRAN S

SHARINGS

Are we

glad

to b e home? Yes.

IVere the

people glad

to see us? They seemed to be. Most said

they

were glad our house

had

a mouth

again

so it

could answer

them when

they

called out. Manera

(good

morning).

Were there many

changes

in the

people?

Yes.

and

none of them seem to be good. Very few even go t

Sunday service now and they don t even seem concerned

about

their spiritual s ta te . They fight eac

other daily

now.

It has been discouraging to know not

one

service was held in the village while we were gone and s

far there has been

no

interest in starting the services

again.

We have also been

plagued

with

s ickness s ince

returning.

Dave

and

John had malaria, bu t hav

since recovered completely. I have glandular fever. I ve been resting now 5weeks as of thiswriting an

am gaining

back

my

strength

little by little. I

covet

your prayers so that Ican return to

complete

healt

so Dave can devote all hi s time to

language

work

again.

PRAYERS

an d PRAISES

P ra is e G o d with

u s for :

Ou r s afe arrival h ome

The good condition

of ou r house

The

safe arrival

o f

ou r

c r a t e

Our

two language helpers

continued

interest and help as we work together again

Dave s

completed

new

office


8/12

Our ne w

screens

an d

ou r

whole

house n ow b ei ng enclosed with screen sure helps

k

skeeters

out, Ellwood City

folk

Our new twin

ca b

Toyota. It sure has helped as we service ourselves with supplies from M

Dave,

J oh n a nd

Amy s no w

good

health

Pray

with

us

for:

Thegreat

lack

of

spiritual concern

of our

Kire people

David, Palau an d Namput as they begin again on

th e

grammar of Kire an d pick up

th e

piece

w o r k

w e

l o st

in the b r i ef case.

We really feel satan at work trying to hold bfickour progress. We need God s Spirit to kee

an d help us be a bright light in this

ye t

dark place.

Sharran s

continued,

complete recovery from

glandular

fever.

We need your faithful prayers more th an ever before. We pray for you daily to o as we la

partnership with you for our Lord with the Kire people.

Finally,

brothers,

pray fo r us that the message

was

with

you.

And

p r ay t ha t

we

may

be

delivered

Butthe Lordis faithful andHe

will

strengthenarid

qf the Lord ma y spread rapidly and be honored,

from wicked

and

evil

men,

for

not everyone

h

protectyou from the evil one. H Th

>

t

z

;20 E

S a ^


9/12

Pryors'Prayers

Prais

PIONEER

BIBLE

TRANSLATOR

FIELD ADDRESS FORWARDING AGENTS:

David W.

Sharran

O'Brien

Pryor

Kevin L

Donna

J. O'Brien

Box 997

Route 2 , Box 26

Madang, Papua New Guinea Oakland City, Indiana 47660

Volume VI, Issue 3 September - December, 1

Farewell to a Friend

The first time I met Bup (pronounced boop) it was pointed out to me tha t he was

one

of

the

remaining

men alive in

our

language group

who

had

actually

eaten

human

f lesh. But itwas

also

poi

out that

he

was

one of

the

men who

had

so frequently helped to carry th e

missionaries'

cargo inland f

the coast

- a trek of

about

17 miles over mountains,

through

swamps

and through th e jungle.

He

other

men had often

teamed

up to carry large boxes, 44 gallon

drums

of kerosene, wood burning sto

refrigerators, etc., and even a missionary's wife who just couldn't take the hiking.

Just last week I had

used

our 4-wheel drive truck

to

bring him, his wife and his son's family

part

o

way to

the

health

center

at the Australian

Church

of Christ mission station. It

had been

several

w

since

he

was

able

t o eat sol id food without vomiting, and

his

emaciated

frame looked so frail. It

see

hard to believe that his own family and othervillagers had

been

waiting till they had finished cutting

burning their gardens and finished building a house before they would be willing to carry him to

health center. When

news

finally

reached

us of his condition, we

went

immediatelyto help,

but

itloo

like we were coming a

bit late.

Sure

enough, the

nurses

at

the

health

center

said

that

they could do nothing for him here, and

tha

was just too weak to endure the 4^ hour trip to town. Also,they feltthat the doctors would not beab

cure him now,

anyway.

Bup heard what his situation was and asked me to take him back to his village. Iasked his sonwha

thought about getting him a governmentsubsidized flightto Madangtoat least try to help his father.

son

said he preferred thatwe take his father backto the village knowing itwould mean a

sure

and qui

de th

His reasoning was not only

because

of

the

hardship it would be to the family to accompany hi

Madang to look after him, but also because of the financial burden itwould bring ifhe died inMad

According to law hewould have to buy a wooden coffin ( 22.00), a plastic corpse bag ( 37.00), and

buy transport for the corpsefromMadang backto the mission station ( 240.00) Note; the latter char

exhorbitant because

the

drivers feel there is

bad

luck in

carrying

a dead body, so they charge fo

repairs thatthey know theywilleventually have to make for having transported a corpse. Inaddition t

of this, our

people

believe that it is best for

the

spirit of

the

dead person if he died in his own vil

Itwas a

strange

feeling as I carried my

end

of the

stretcher

along

the

jungle trail, knowing that I

carrying him home to die. I tried to imagine how different his life had been from even that of

grandfather's. Exceptfor the fewtimes that he mayhavegone to d ng bytruck inthe latteryears o


10/12

life he like

Jesus,

had

never

travelled

more than fifty

miles

away

from his home village.

There were so

many

things that he had never se^n or

known

orwould ever even hear about. B

was among thefirst n his village tocome tothe

Lord|.

Though his life onearth

was

nearing itsend h

the hope of

eternal

life with Christ.

At his

request

we

paused

at the

spring

at the

base

of the hill on which his village

was

s it ua te d. I

h

to lift him offthe stretcher and set himon a flatrock

Where

hisson then pouredwateroverhimand b

him to cool him off. Small puddles of water formed

in the cavities at the base of his neck

just

behi

collar

bones.

It refreshed him

enough

to

pose

for his last

photograph.

I had just a few moments to share with him after he was carried up to the village and laid inside a

open-airshelter. Herealized that he wasinthe hands ofGodand askedthat wekeepremembering h

o u r

pr yers

Usually people of our language group who are

claiming

that

they

see the spirits

of their ancestors

very calm

and

gave

testimony

to

the

fact

that

he

at least semi-conscious when dying cry

out

i

or

evil spirits

around

them. When Bup died

h

w nothing

of

that sort.

Due to a badly infected sore just below my knee, was unable to hike to his village when we hea

message

ofhis

death

onthe

distant drums. We leaijned later

thatthere

had been

no

Scripture read

prayer at his funeral.

They had mourned

for him aftertheir traditions of calling ou t for the spirits of o

who had died to come and guide his spirit to the place of the spirits.

Oh Bup. Ifonly

the

others

In

your

village knew

the

salvation of Christ. Ifonly

they too had the h

everlasting life with th e Lord Jesus.

Farewell dear fr iend. You

are

in

the

care of th e Dne who loves

you.

I remain to bring them

th e

news in which you believed.

Perhaps soon traditk

nal

customs

will give way to bearing testimon

death and

the grave

are

only a

gateway

to everlasting life.

Perhaps soon

Iwilljoin you

and our

Savi

the

heaven that He has

prepared fo r

all

those

who love Him.

Hopefully,

I ll

be bringing

many other

me whom

you

had known before

who

knew the

language

you knew

and who

heard

and

read the W

God in that

language.

Till then, dear friend

enjoy

the reality of

now

seeing the One in Whom

you

believed.

Sharran s Shar ings

Nearly every

day

for two months

now

I have

sa id Today

Iwant

to write

my

part

of

th e newsletter

it

has

been

difficult

at

times

to

do everything

I hai/e wanted

to do .

Thank you

all

so much for

being so

understandir

g

about not hearing from us as much as before.

of you know by now

that

my h ea lt h

has

really;not

been

good

since

we returned in March.

mononucleosis

n May

and

had only begun

toge

my

strength

back when

I

got

a severe earinfec

both my good and bad ear . Godtook care of my eai s in His timing through the faithful prayers of m

you. At

one stage

my

ear

specialistwas

considerin

3having me

come back

to the States for an

oper

But God

answered prayers

and I am

able

to

stay

without having the

threat

of an

operation

hangin

me

God used

my

ear

infection to

begin

re-kindling t^ e flame of faith

among

our

peopleagain. They

to

pray

for me as

I

guess

I

must have

looked

as bad

as Ifelt. When they

saw

I

got better

without

hav

return to the States for the operation some really believed that God had answered their prayers to

God

be the glory.

Then a small

baby

boy got sick with measl es . He had cried three days and nights, and his moth

exhausted. The parents and a nurse s aid from the health center brought him to us and we all pray

his h ea li ng . B ef or e we f in is he d

praying

he fell asleep

and

slept until 7:00 A.M.

the

next

morning

news

of this

strengthened

the

faith

of

many

and

^od

received glory for this too.


11/12

While w e w e re

in America

th e o ld er m e n

in

ourvilla ge we re

involved in asingsing

f o rs ix m o n t hs w h

they were again consulting th e spirits for help with their gardens and their health. This ha s been

worst year ever for their gardens, and

there

has been more sickness than in a long time. They

beginning to realize

that

going back to their old ways did them no good. In fact,

they

realized the fe

how they lived with th e spirits was back, and some ofthem

ar e

turning their lives around again and tr

to get to

know

G od s w ay s better.

Buat, a young

leader

in th e church a few years ago

w ho h ad

completely fallen away, is now a bud

leader again. Many of yo u have prayed for him. Don t stop. Just

p au se a nd

thank God for answ

prayer. He

has

shared his testimony with his people of how God s Spirit would never leave him a

until he wa s willing to come back. Go d is at work through your prayers.

Palau one of David s language helpers h a s s h ar e d a special testimony with the

people too.

He

that through praying for my ears a nd s ee in g his prayers answered, he began to ask God for thing

himself an d hi s family, and God has answered those

prayers

too. He saysthat at

last

he feels like he h

personal relationship with God.

Kabre, another young ma n that many of you have prayed for, ha s expressed a strong desire to bec

a preacher. He has a problem with his temper, though, an d he

ha s

asked us to as k you to prayfor him

he will be able to

stay

faithful to what he feels Go d wants him to do.

This year we had the longest, dryest, dry season we have had since arriving in PNG in

June

of 1

Our people had no water

deep

enough to wash

clothes

or bathe in,

an d

th e drinking water they had

te r r i le

We an d many of th e Christians in the village began to pray for rain. By this time many of

our

pe

were realizing that prayers

were

being answered by ou r Lord. Although rain

wa s

needed so terribly

Amy

an d

I

go t

a real surprise while we were watching th e black

clouds gather

around Garati. Three o

men

wh o

h ad n ot yet burned off their gardens yelled to us saying: Pray itwill rain nextweek. Weha

burned off our

gardens

yet. It wa s

to o

late to pray again as

th e

rain wa s already coming,

come.

. . it

did.

In five

hours we

ha d 4000

gallons

of pure

clean rain water

in

o u r w a te r

tank.

We have only ha d that on e hard rain,

an d

it wa s

enough

to see us through and help us give drin

water

to

ou r

people too.

So

G od w a s p ra is ed a ga in . F ou r days later it was already so dr y that

the t

m en w ho told us to

pray

for the rain to come the next week w er e a bl e to burn off their gardens.

Bigisuai, th e wifeofone of

ou r

language helpers, is going to have

another

baby inJanuary. Februa

March (they

are

never

quite

sure) . This, too, is an

answer

of

many

prayers. Theirfirst

baby

diedwhil

were

on

furlough.

Palau Buat Kabre

Namput and

Kampun five young me n in th e village,

have

all

expressed

a desi

l ea rn h o w t o p re ac h a nd t ea c h

fo r

our

prayer

meeting

and Bible

study.

So

you s ee that

prayers fo r

ch

l e ad e rs a r e

beginning to

be answered

too.

We a re s ee in g many results from our prayers a nd y ou r

p ra ye rs to o. B ut

t h er e a re many

w ho

remained

far from even wanting to come to th e Lord, or come back to th e Lord. Tamahat has tried

fallen right back into his o ld w ay s. Yabru has expressed a desire to become a Christian bu t is r

experiencing a lot of

temptations

as

a result of culture pressure from his family.

We are still no t

near the

fluency

w e n ee d

in Kire, and

this

is holding back

our progress

in preparin

the anthropology

and grammar

workshops

that

we ar e preparing to attend

next year

at Ukarumpa. L

by little we

ar e

discovering why it

ha s

taken

us

so

long to

speak

fluently. Kire is

on e

of

th e

more

com

languages that has been

studied

in PNG. It ha s some very rare an d

unique

features. My health ha s

me from

spending

th e hours I need to spend visiting with our people and Ias k that you will contin

keep my

health

in your prayers so Iwillonce

again

be able to

keep up

with everything I

need

to do

an d

have quality time to practice speaking Kire.

By th e time

yo u

get this letter itwill be Christmas. We have

much

to

be

thankful for this year. We ar

of happy memories

ye t

t ha t w e

made

with all of yo u last year and yo u

ar e

in our prayers too.

We know many of you ar e laid off or without work, an d we know many of you have had to sacrif i


12/12

continue

to

keep supporting

us. We ask

God

daily to

bless you

for

your

part in helping us

an

language helpers to translate the Bible into Kire. Each day brings us

closertothatgoal

and we con

to seethe need for

the Scriptures

in Kire to help our

new

Christians to grow and become grounded

Lord. We pray

that

you will have a Christ filled

Christmas

and New Year.

We will continue to look forward to another

year

of united

servicewith

you and our Lord as we liv

with the Kire

people.

We send you our love

and

heart-felt

thanks for all of your letters cards

praye rs and suppor t.

r

f

Go

ye

into al l

th e world and preach th e

gospel

to

every creature.

Luke

16 :15

Sha r ran

8 9 o

2 < ; S I

a 0. n b

2

c ;p

o

^ S e

c 5 = Uj

O o >

i r

a o Q

= 0 C Q

2 Q. ^

pryor david sharran 1982 png

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