March 2020 Prayer Letter

Dear Prayer Supporters,

We are praying for you! Usually these letters are written primarily to help you know how to pray for the ministry here in Chad. We still need your prayers, but many of you are currently in a much more difficult situation than we are here in Chad, and we know you need our prayers at this time. So, let's pray for each other!

COVID-19 and Chad

While other parts of the world have been dealing with the various effects of the new coronavirus for several months now, the illness has only quite recently arrived on African shores. More than 30 of Africa's 54 countries have confirmed cases of COVID-19. Several of Chad's nearest neighbors have confirmed cases of the virus, however there are so far no reported cases in Chad. As a preventative, all international flights are canceled for at least the next two weeks. Otherwise, for now life is going on pretty much as usual here. While we are thankful that Chad has so far been spared, we also know that the medical system in this country is not well equiped to handle an epidemic, so let's pray that the virus will be kept out of Chad. Let's pray for those countries that are trying to contain the virus, that their efforts would be effective. Also, let's pray that the Lord will help people to remain calm and trust in Him during this crisis.

Furlough Plans

I do still have plans for a furlough starting in June of this year. But, with situations changing so rapidly, it is difficult to know how things will develop over the next few months. So for now, my furlough plans remain unchanged, but I am prepared to change my plans if it should become clear that it is necessary. If all goes as planned, I will arrive in the US on June 15 2020, and remain until mid-May 2021. Please pray for wisdom in the plans and decisions that must be made in the upcoming months.

Translation Update

We continue to carry out quality checking for the Sara Kaba Deme and Sara Madjingay Bibles. For the Sara Kaba Deme, we have been carrying out a variety of different checks on their translation, including key vocabulary, spellings, pronouns, numbers, and formatting. The Sara Madjingay team is doing checks on the book of Psalms in order to print it as a trial edition – probably the last trial edition for this project, until their full Bible is published. All the checks that we are doing for Psalms are checks that we would need to do anyway; we just do some of the checks a bit sooner for that particular book, so that it will be ready to print sooner. Thank you for your continued prayers for the progress of this quality checking.

Thank you for your faithful prayers and support.

In Christ's Service,
Anna Beth Wivell

January 2020 Prayer Letter

Dear Prayer Supporters,

“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” (Gal. 6:9) Please pray for us as we keep working to translate God’s Word into Chadian languages!  Pray that we will look to God for strength and not become discouraged.

Visit from the Director

The highlight of the past few months was a visit from the director of Bibles International.  He came to teach a class for Chadian church leaders, along with his wife and two other teachers.  When the class finished, he and his wife stayed in Chad for another week in order to meet with our Chadian translation office staff and translation teams.  It was an intense week of activity, but at each meeting people came away encouraged to continue the work that God has entrusted to them.

Translation Update

In November and December, I had workshops with with the Sara Kaba Naa and Sara Madjingay teams, and checked a variety of things with each team.  The Sara Kaba Naa are nearly finished with verse-by-verse content checking, and the Sara Madjingay have been working on quality checking for nearly a year now.  Both of these teams are making progress, but the translators and the committees that help them check the translations are sometimes discouraged. Pray for these teams, that they will work together well and get the work done in a timely fashion.  Sometimes the teams are like marathon runners on the last lap of the race: they’ve come so far and worked so hard, but somehow that last lap is the most exhausting of all.

Bookstore Ministry

The demand for Christian books in French continues to grow, especially among Bible school students.  Please pray for financial provision for these books.  There are currently more than 40 people who have ordered books – a total of around 120 books, with an estimated total cost of over $3000.  If you would like to help some Chadian Bible school students or pastors to have books for their ministries, please send funds to Baptist Mid-Missions for the account of Anna Beth Wivell: National/Pastoral Assistance.

Thank you for your faithful prayers and support.

In Christ's Service,
Anna Beth Wivell

October 2019 Prayer Letter

Dear Prayer Supporters,

      How would you explain the word “snow” to someone who didn’t know what it was?  How would you spell Bible names if you’d never seen the names written in your language before?  How would you feel if you had to check the spelling of 18,000 words?  These are just a few of the issues that some of our translation teams have faced in the past few months!

Quality Checking

      In August and September, I met with the Sara Madjingay and the Sara Kaba Deme.  These teams have completed the translation of the text and the verse-by-verse checking of the translation, and have now moved into the latter stages of the translation process: quality checking - that is, running various checks on the whole translation to ensure its quality.  Here are some of the specific issues we encountered during these checks:

•  In selecting words for a Bible’s glossary, we realized we needed to explain the word for “snow”, since it is unknown in Chad.  We were able to explain it by comparing it to the cottony-like fluff that falls from kapok trees: “Snow: Tiny pieces of ice like kapok fluff that fall from the clouds and cover the ground when it is extremely cold.”
•  One team had spelled the name “Joel” three different ways throughout the Bible (Jowel, Juwel, and Joel), so they had to choose between the spellings to make it consistent in every place (they decided to spell it “Joel”). 
•  While checking some of the references in our lists of proper names, we discovered that Genesis 6:8 had somehow gone missing from the text, having been accidentally replaced with text from a different verse. We quickly corrected the problem and put in the proper text, feeling thankful that the quality checking helped us find the error. 
•  The teams are checking through a list of every word used in their Bible to find and correct any spelling errors.  They have around 18,000 words to check, too many to check in one workshop, but we were able to make good progress.  One morning, we checked the spelling of over 600 words in just a few hours!

      There is much still to do.  Please pray that these checks can be completed in a timely fashion.

Furlough Plans

      In the midst of all this quality checking, I’ve also begun making plans for my next furlough.  For this furlough, I’m expecting to spent nearly a full year in the USA, from June 2020 to May 2021.  I’m looking forward to seeing many of you while I’m there in America!  Supporting churches, please contact me (if you haven’t already heard from me) so we can set up a time that I can give my report to your church. 

      I will need to raise some additional support this furlough.  My support is currently at 87% of my estimated support need, a shortage of about $500 per month.  Please pray for God’s provision for this need.

Thank you for your faithful prayers and support.

In Christ's Service,
Anna Beth Wivell

July Prayer Letter

Dear Prayer Supporters,

“But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.” (2 Pet. 3:18) My desire is for Chadian Christians to grow in their knowledge of the Lord and His Word, and that they would also grow spiritually in their relationship with Him.

Translation Update

In April, I met with the Sara Kaba Naa translators to check more of the prophetic books. One hazard of doing a checking workshop in April in Chad is the extreme heat at this time of year. With daytime temperatures often well over 105° F (41° C) every day, work was sometimes exhausting. However, we made good progress, and finished the rest of the minor prophets and part of Lamentations. We now have just three books of the Bible left to check: the rest of Lamentations, plus Daniel and Ezekiel.

In May, I met with the Ngam team to check Nehemiah, Esther, and the minor prophets. This team has had several setbacks in recent years, but now is moving forward more steadily. Please pray for encouragement for the translator, Lionel, who is often discouraged, but is nevertheless dedicated to the translation work.

Book Ministry

Although my primary focus is Bible translation, I also have a desire to make useful Christian literature available to Chadian church leaders, Bible school students, and church members. So I’ve been partnering with a Chadian friend to help make Christian literature available to Chadian Christians. These books are primarily in French, and include study Bibles, Bible dictionaries, theology books, devotional literature, handbooks for the children’s Bible clubs, and more. Pray that these books would be a blessing to the Chadian Christians and churches.

While some of the smaller items can be obtained in Chad, many must be ordered from France or Quebec, and shipping costs to Chad can be quite expensive. Please pray for financial provision for this book distribution ministry. Contact me if you would like more information about this ministry, or if you are interested in helping financially toward this need.

Update on Missing Pastor’s Wife

Thank you for praying for Madame Kigata, who went missing while traveling across country on March 20. Her body was eventually found in the wilderness two months later. She is now with the Lord. Please pray for the family that she has left behind.

Thank you for your faithful prayers and support.


In Christ's Service,
Anna Beth Wivell