Serving with Wycliffe USA October 2018

DRIGGERS DAYS
Supporting Bible Translation through Youth Ministry

“’Was God trying to kill me?’ the pastor asked a roomful of his fellow
earthquake survivors. The man’s eyes were full of tears, his face haunted by “God is our refuge
abandonment and betrayal. ‘What did I do wrong?’ he asked in a voice barely and strength, always
audible before sitting back down on the grass-padded dirt floor of the church
ready to help in
building.”

times of trouble. So
These were some of the questions asked of Leah Veil and her teammates.
we will not fear when
They had flown to Walagu, Papua New Guinea, to minister to a group of over
earthquakes come.”
40 pastors and their wives (87 people total), all earthquake victims from the
surrounding villages, now seeking refuge in Walagu.
-PSALM 46:1-2 NLT
Gathered in a small bamboo church, months after the terrors of the
earthquakes – yet still quite shaken, many people stood up and shared similar stories and concerns. The
majority of them were desperately trying to figure out answers to questions like: Is God angry? Am I being
punished? Does God really answer prayers? Was God not able to help us?

These people had been taken care of physically by the generosity of so many across the world and in
PNG. But Leah and her group came to minister to a different need. They’d come to walk through their trauma
with them by taking them through a trauma healing/disaster response workshop. They asked them to share
Serving with Wycliffe USA October 2018

their stories, their concerns, and their beliefs about God as a result of the
tragedy they were all facing. After much listening and many tears shed,
they gently took them to the Word of God.

“For the next several days of the workshop, we talked about God being
love. About how, when we turn to Him, our sins are completely forgiven,
never to be remembered again. About how He is a loving father to His
children. Then we talked about the process of grieving and how to listen
well to others who are in pain,” Leah remembered. They finished up with
an object lesson about how to take their own pain to Christ. Leah was
happy about how God worked in people’s hearts. She recalled,
“Afterwards, one man testified that immediately following the earthquake,
he’d known that there was no refuge to be found; Not in Walagu, not trauma healing /
anywhere. He said he’d lost his faith. Yet, through the working of God’s Spirit during disaster response
the workshop, he now knew that God loved him. He said, ‘God is our ples workshop participants
gather in a Walagu
hait (refuge). When we leave here to go back to our village, God will be there, too. He
church
will be our ples hait there as well because He loves us and will always be with us.’”
*Story by Stephanie Ernandes courtesy of the PNG Experience

We have fallen deeply in love with the country and people of Papua New Guinea. We have an unyielding
admiration for the resilience of its people and desire nothing less than God to meet each individual, church
and ultimately the entire nation in a powerful new way through the translated Word of God. As we prepare for
our future return to this work, our furlough year is a time of focused intentionality. This takes many different
approaches from seeking out medical needs, job specific training and of course to the building up and
strengthening of our partnership team. In addition to these practical preparations God is doing a huge work of
restoration in our spiritual and emotional lives. Living in a close knit Christian community for the past six years
has taught us much about God’s goodness, while it has been equally as painful. Our healing looks much
different from the trauma healing and disaster response workshop, but God is unchanging! He is as much our
refuge, our ‘ples hait’, here in Lynchburg as He powerfully and personally is meeting the earthquake survivors
in Papua New Guinea.

Please also continue to pray with us for financial provision for our Wycliffe ministry. For many differing reasons
we have continued to see our monthly shortfall grow significantly. Pray for opportunities to share the need for
Bible translation and for hearts to be drawn to partner in the work. As we continue to prepare for our return to
PNG, we thank you whole-heartedly for your faithfulness to pray, encourage and support us through this time.

With loving gratitude, Marty, Sara and those girls

Connect with us Partnership

Marty and Sara Driggers
To begin new or increase partnership to support the work of Bible
740 Wyndhurst Drive
translation in PNG, please send gifts to Wycliffe with a separate note
Lynchburg, VA 24502
stating “preference for the Wycliffe ministry of Marty and Sara
marty_driggers@sil.org 704-776-1596
Driggers, ministry account #270928”

sara_driggers@sil.org 980-425-7312
Or partner online at http://www.wycliffe.org/partner/withtheDriggers

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