Can we find such a one as this?

And Pharaoh said to his servants, 'Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?' - Genesis 41:38

Egypt prospered in the time of Joseph - a time when a man of God was in a high leadership role in the country. Joseph was a wise man - and his wisdom came from a fear of the Lord.

I look at the news in Australia and I wonder how our country would be if men of God were at the helm. And Timor-Leste.....

What of Timor-Leste?
A decade has passed since they became independent. They still face many challenges that come from establishing a new government more or less from scratch. In a country where more than 95% of the population are Roman Catholic, the voice of the tiny Protestant percentage can barely be heard.

This is one reason why Rev Arlindo Marcal is running for Parliment. He writes:

Our presidential elections start on  March, 17 and our parlamentary election will be in June. As you know I'm planning to run for it.....Nothing is impossible to God. I believe He is going to open the door to those trust Him.

As I have already mentioned, Rev Arlindo is heavily involved in this literature ministry and is writing the next book on the story of Joseph.

Please pray for Rev Arlindo as his works towards both of these goals. Pray that God will bless his writing work and that the people of Timor-Leste, particularly the children, will be encouraged and built up by this book. Pray for Rev Arlindo's health and safety during the build-up to the election and that he will know the great grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ who alone is King in this world.

Outreach by the Roadside

This correspondence from Rev Arlindo Marcal probably doesn’t need any explanation with it – but I can’t help wondering what it would be like in Australia if gospel literature was so easily distributed and so readily accepted.

I was travelling from Dili to Maliana yesterday. On the way we passed through some Mambae subdistricts such as Hatolia.  I had three boxes of ‘Miguel’ book in my car.

We met many kids along the road and decided to distribute the books. We were able to distribute all three boxes. Kids liked it - when they saw us, they immediately ran to the car for the book. What they liked most was, as we explained to them, that the book has Mambae and English.

May God bless our project.           

                                  

Every child, I so strongly believe, deserves to read books is his own mother tongue – even more so the greatest book of all – the Bible! Please continue to pray for the translation of the Bible into the Tetun language and to also pray for opportunities in the future that the Bible can also be translated into Mambae. Pray for the Mambae-speaking people of Timor-Leste, that they may have a real thirst for the knowledge of God.

(PS - I've included some Wikipedia links for those of you who want to improve your knowledge of Timorese geography)

A book begins ... with an idea

Every book must start somewhere. Sometimes it begins with a casual suggestion. In this case, my brother suggested, 'Why not a parable?' Why indeed not? I put the idea to our friends in Timor-Leste. And at this stage it looks like the next book may be about the Prodigal Son. It is a case of...watch this space.
And watch closely, because I will not be writing it. Rather, it will be written in Timor-Leste. Most likely by one of the pastors of the Igreja Evangelica Presbiteriana ba Timor-Leste. They know their people. They know their culture. They can teach their children far better than I. It was never my intention to remain writing these books, although I am more than happy to continue the illustrating at this stage and certainly the publishing. But to be publishing books written by faithful men and women of the church in Timor - that was always my vision.

Please uphold this new venture in your prayers.

The Joy of Books

A move from one end of the country to the other is always a big one, but especially when you move with eight people - and all their books. The removalists grumbled about the number of heavy book boxes they had to carry. They wanted to know if I was a teacher, because teachers always seem to have lots of books. I love books and it is probably more than being a teacher. For me it's genetic. It's in my blood, inherited from my father. For me, books are special. They contain all our stories, our knowledges, our heart - put down as words on paper for future generations. In some cultures, such as Indigenous Australian cultures, this is shared orally, passed down from generation to generation. In my culture, the word is printed, rather than spoken.

But our prayer is that throughout the world, the Word be both printed and spoken. It is so important that the Bible be translated into the languages of the world, and secondary to that, Christian literature be available in peoples' languages. And the Word of God must be spoken, shared in season and out, preached to the people, proclaimed from the hill tops.

The photo on the right is a part of one I have already shared with you, dear reader. But I wanted to share it again. Here is a little girl after my own heart, clutching her precious book. Welcome, little one, to the family of bibliophiles around the world. This may be your first book. I hope it won't be your last....

The Joy of Reading

Recently a small group of men from the PCA (Presbyterian Church of Australia) went to Timor Leste. High up in the mountains outside Dili they found this young man who read 'Miguel Nia Jardin' fluently in both Tetun and Mambae. In fact, according to Rev Robert Benn, he read it 'like a BBC commentator would read!!' Rev Rob Duncanson took the photo.

This is what it's all about!

Here are some photos of the book distribution in Timor-Leste that we wanted to share with you...

Children in the Paulus congregation, Subdistrict Remeixio, District Aileu

Distributing books in Caisabe, Outskirts of Dili

Boys of the Samaria congregation, Subdistrict Remeixio, District Aileu

More children from the Samaria congregation

Busy reading, Samaria congregation

Book handover in Samaria - Rev Arlindo Marcal with Rev Mario de Jesus

Books AND rice!

According to the World Bank in 2009, the GDP (PPP), or  gross domestic product at purchasing power parity per capita, of Timor-Leste stood at 805, compared to Australia at 39,231. Although statistics over the past decade have improved a great deal, Timor-Leste is one of the poorest countries in Asia. Although education was, for the vast majority, voted a national priority, the fact stands that for the average Timorese family, buying rice comes far ahead of buying books.

I want my books to be freely available to the people I write them for, but this is only possible through the generosity of those who can afford to help. I plan to print 5000 copies of Miguel Nia Jardin, ship 4000 copies to Timor and sell 1000 copies in Australia (and overseas). I plan to sell the books here at $10 each (includes postage for orders within Australia) - all the proceeds will go directly to printing and shipping costs and the distribution costs within Timor.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy, or feel you may be able to sell multiple copies for us, please email us at grasa DOT mesak AT gmail DOT com (replacing 'AT' with '@' and 'DOT' with '.').