Additional News for February 2026

Seminary Second Semester

We began the second semester of this school year in early January. I have 25 Greek students and 9 Hebrew students, so they keep me busy! I have a good relationship with the students, and most evenings, there are at least half a dozen students hanging around my front porch: using the internet, doing homework, asking to use my printer, organizing payments for books they have ordered, and more! It makes my evenings busy, but happy!

 Library Work

I am the coordinator for the seminary library. Our library is divided into two sections: the French section and the English section. Several years ago we organized all the books in the French section, assigning Dewey decimal codes to all of them and training the student librarian on how to keep the books organized. It really made a difference, and it is much easier for the students to find the books they need in the French section.

However, we had never done much to organize the English section. Although there are many more books in this section, most of our students don't know much English, so these books don't get used as much. But in the interests of having a fully organized library, the seminary administrative counsel asked me to finish the inventory and organization of the English section. It's a big job, but I now have finished a full inventory (over 2000 books in the English section). As I find time, I've been adding Dewey codes to the books and getting them in order. 

As I took inventory of the books, I found many of them were in poor shape. Heat, dust, and termites don't do any good for books! Thankfully, it is possible to rebind the books quite cheaply using locally available materials. One of our current students, Tychique (pronounced tee-sheek), has been helping us to do the rebinding of the books, so that we can keep them available longer for our students. Thanks, Tychique!

Additional News: Starlink Connection Installed

 In October, I was able to install a Starlink internet connection, to replace my traditional satellite internet connection. The improved bandwidth has been amazing! For the first time since I've been in Chad, I have access to truly high-speed internet. I am very thankful for this new blessing!

Additional Prayer Request: Challenge with Visa

 For many years, we missionaries have had no difficulty renewing our visas in Chad. We have to renew them every year, but it is not difficult or very expensive. Current politics have created a significant problem, as the government is now refusing to renew visas on American passports. Fortunately, I am a dual citizen (American and Australian), which means I carry two different passports, but unfortunately it isn't just a simple matter of just switching out passports. My current Chadian visa expires next month, so I don't have much time to work it out. I am working on this option, I am optimistic it will ultimately work, but I certainly need your prayers.

Some Additional Prayer Requests for February 2025

Here are a few prayer requests that didn't fit into my most recent prayer letter: 

• For many decades, visas for Chad have been very affordable, costing around $50, though it must be renewed every year. But now there are changes being made to the immigration laws in Chad that would force every foreign missionary in Chad to pay for an expensive work permit costing around $900, which would need to be renewed every year. Previously religious workers have been exempt from this, but this change would mean we would no longer be exempt and would need to pay the additional $900 a year for the work permit (in addition to the $50 a year for the visa). Pray for the Lord's will to be done in this matter.
  
  
• Besides the two language groups that have finished their whole Bible, another language, the Ngamh, is preparing to print a trial edition of the book of Exodus. Pray we can get this trial edition ready to print in the coming months.
  
  
• Pray for the Sara Kaba Naa translation, which is still working on quality checking on their Bible and hope to print in the next couple years or so.
  
  
• This year we have adopted a new translation project: the Mbum-Nzakambay, a large language group which is spoken in Chad, Cameroon, and the Central African Republic. Pray for us as we prepare to give the translators and local committees the needed training so they can begin the translation work.

June 2024 Prayer Letter

Dear Prayer Supporters,

What if your adult Sunday school class or Bible study group was faced with the task of reading the entire Bible aloud together, from Genesis to Revelation? How long do you think it would take your group to do it, allowing for breaks for rest and meals? This is what the Sara Kaba Dem are doing as I write. If this sounds like a daunting task, you’re right! But it is the last major task which the team must accomplish before printing!

Sara Kaba Dem Begins Final Read-Through!

The Sara Kaba Dem translation committee has begun the huge task of reading through their entire Bible translation, as a final preparation step before publication. As they began this task in early June, they were overwhelmed by the volume of material they needed to read, but after a few days, they got into a good rhythm and were very much encouraged as they saw the work progressing well. After two weeks, they were already more than halfway through the Bible, and they are likely to finish well ahead of schedule! Pray for them as they continue this important task. Pray also for the Sara Madjingay team, that they will also be able to begin their read-through soon. They are nearly ready!

Graduation of 14 Bible college students

On May 18, fourteen students graduated from the Bible institute and theological seminary of Balimba. Because the cool rains of the early rainy season had not yet arrived, the weather was very hot at over 40°C (104°F), which made the ceremony exhausting, but God gave strength and we all rejoiced with the new graduates in spite of the heat.

The Bible institute will seek to recruit more students this year. Pray for Chadian men to answer God’s call to the harvest field!

Sara Kaba Naa and Ngamh Bibles

Although the Sara Kaba Dem and Sara Madjingay Bibles are nearly ready for publication, two other projects that I work with still have a ways to go. The Sara Kaba Naa are working on quality checking, but we have plenty left to do.

The Ngamh are still checking the main content of their Old Testament. We still need to check most of the prophetic books, some of the poetic books, and some other scattered sections of the Old Testament. Some of these books are among the most difficult ones to translate, so pray for this team.

Thank you for your faithful prayers and support.

In Christ's Service,
Anna Beth Wivell

February 2024 Prayer Letter

Dear Prayer Supporters,

In the last couple months, two ministries I am involved in have hit significant milestones. First, two translation projects have completed a major stage on the road to printing the whole Bible in their language. Second, our school of theology has begun a new master’s program. Praise the Lord with us for the progress of these ministries!

Two Bible Translation Projects Hit a Milestone

For the last few years, we have been working on quality checking for the Sara Madjingay and Sara Kaba Dem Bibles (quality checks are a series of rigorous checks to ensure the consistency and quality of the entire Bible translation). In our workshops in January and February, we finally reached the end of all the quality checks we needed to do. We aren’t quite ready to print just yet, but the finish line is in sight, and we are excited!

The next task is to make final preparations to submit the text of the translation for approval by the team at the BI headquarters in Grand Rapids. For the past few weeks, I’ve been working hard on polishing up many technical details, such as checking the consistency of paragraph breaks, punctuation, and formatting of cross-references. Once the text is submitted and approved, the translation teams will need to read the entire Bible through to check they are satisfied with the translation. After that, the translation text will be formatted, as it will appear on the printed Bible. Then the team will check the translation one final time, and finally, we will be able to send it to be printed!

Please pray for us as we finish these exciting final stages of these two translation projects!

The Baptist School of Theology in Balimba Becomes a Seminary

For many years, there were no Baptist Bible schools in Chad that offer higher than a bachelor’s degree, our Baptist pastors who want higher levels of theological training had to travel to a seminary in neighboring Cameroon to study. The expense of traveling such a long way to study has prevented many academically capable Chadians from being able to seek a higher degree. So for the past several years, the Baptist School of Theology here in Balimba has been working on developing a masters’ degree program here in Chad. That vision was finally realized this month, as the first masters’ module was held with nine students, officially transforming our Bible school into a seminary. The courses will be taught as modules, allowing the students who take masters’ degree to continue their pastoral ministries while they study.

Since there are not enough Chadian men qualified to teach at the graduate level, the seminary in Cameroon has agreed to help out our new seminary by sending some of their professors to Chad several times a year to help teach the module classes. I am continuing to teach Greek and Hebrew at the undergraduate level, but I am excited to see this growth in our little Bible school here in Balimba!

One important need for the masters’ degree students is for books for their studies, but since most of them pastor churches outside the Sarh area, they do not have regular access to the school library, so they will need to get their own books. If you would like to help students to purchase books for their studies, please send your gift to Baptist Mid-Missions marked for the fund Chad Shepherd’s Bag.

Please pray with us for the teachers and the students of this new ministry endeavor.

Thank you for your faithful prayers and support.

In Christ's Service,
Anna Beth Wivell

Update on Funding Need for the Sara Kaba Dem Bible

In my November 2023 prayer letter, I mentioned the need for $86,000 to print the Sara Kaba Dem Bible. Praise the Lord with us that this need has been met.