Shirley Funnell was a farm girl from southwestern Ontario who at the age of sixteen told God that she would spend her life serving Him, wherever and however He chose. Following Bible college and after winning first prize in a short story writing contest sponsored by her home-town radio station, she enrolled at Syracuse University where she earned an MA in journalism. Hearing God's call to join Wycliffe Bible Translators, she travelled to the Philippines where she spent two years in a language project with the Amganad Ifugao people before moving into a support role. She worked for thirty-eight years as a manager in the Publications Department of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, Wycliffe's field partner, where she was responsible for the publishing of scripture and literacy materials produced by members of the Philippines Branch. Shirley is a graduate of the London Bible Institute and Theological Seminary in London, Ontario, and received her MA in journalism from Syracuse University in New York State. She now lives in Abbotsford, BC and works in Langley at the Trinity Western University campus of the Canada Institute of Linguistics, Wycliffe's training school.