In 1999 Laurie and Ruth, both aged 57, studied linguistics and literacy at Kangaroo Ground and became members of Wycliffe Australia. They had married in Madang, Papua New Guinea in 1972 and brought up their young family there until the oldest of three sons was twelve. In 2000 they returned to PNG and for the first three years lived in a village on New Ireland in the Sursurunga language area, training teachers to teach their own people how to read their language, and producing dozens of books and booklets in Sursurunga. Up until 2010 they lived in Kokopo in East New Britain and continued the same work with a number of different language groups, including HIV/AIDS awareness. They were also associated in a small way with New Ireland Translation Institute (NITI). They praise God that from this association, and since their return to Australia, has sprung a beautiful, unexpected and unsought commitment to typesetting translated and consultant-checked Scriptures for the NITI teams, including four New Testaments by the end of 2018.