These past couple weeks have been blessed, busy, and productive. My flights to Grand Rapids on the 15th went smoothly and without incident. For the next three days, I joined BI's office staff, area representatives, and missionaries at our annual retreat. As always, it was a time of great fellowship, good food, and refreshment.
The retreat was immediately followed by BI's annual consultant seminar. The BI office was crowded with staff, missionaries, and prospective missionaries for a full week of meetings. We spent some time discussing the work that has been done and needs to be done, and had training/discussion sessions on teaching cross-culturally, using special Bible translation software, and the Hebrew language. Between sessions and in the evenings, we enjoyed plenty of good fellowship - and good food!
This morning, most people who traveled in for the seminar have gone their various ways, to home, ministry, or graduate school. I'm staying here in Grand Rapids for one more night, then flying out early tomorrow on the first leg of a long trip to Chad for two weeks of translator training. I'll meet up with the other consultant on the way so that I will not be alone in the airports in Africa. Pray for good weather; a hurricane is predicted to sweep through the US east coast near the time that I'm scheduled to fly into Washington DC. If all goes well, we will fly to Chad via Ethiopia. When we arrive in N'djamena (capital of Chad), another missionary will pick us up for the 12-hour drive down to Sarh in the southern part of the country. Please pray for safety throughout all these travels. Pray also for the (approximately) 25 translators who will attend the training, that the training will be beneficial to them as they start or continue their translation work. And pray for me as I observe and participate in the training workshop and prepare to lead similar workshops in the future!
August Prayer Letter
Dear Prayer Supporters,
Exciting events and opportunities are just around the corner! I could hardly wait to tell you about them, so I am writing this letter a couple weeks early to bring you up to date on what is going on.
B.I. ANNUAL RETREAT AND CONSULTANT SEMINAR
I am writing now from Grand Rapids, Michigan, where I arrived just a few hours ago. Praise the Lord for frequent flier programs: I was able to redeem some miles to get a plane ticket from Pennsylvania to Michigan for almost no cost! Tomorrow (August 16), Bibles International’s annual retreat begins. It’s always a refreshing time with ministry colleagues, though we do have to do some work as well! Friday (August 19) is the start of our consultant seminar. This is the most important time of the year for consultants, as we discuss the work that is being done, plan out the next year’s activities, and gain additional education. Please pray for all of us who attend.
GOING TO CHAD AGAIN!
One of my tasks as a translation consultant will be to help give national translators the training they need in order to do their job effectively. For the first time, I will have the opportunity to observe this aspect of translation ministry firsthand, as a senior consultant will be leading a two-week training workshop for translators in Chad in late August and early September. In this case, the translators have already received the first level of training some time ago, so the workshop will give them an advanced level of training. I’m really looking forward to being at the workshop, and also to visiting Chad again! I’ll be leaving on August 28 and returning September 14. Instead of making the usual connections through Paris, I’ll be flying through Ethiopia, so it should be a trip with some interesting differences from all my previous trips to Africa. Please pray for safe and smooth travels, and especially that the translators who attend the workshop will benefit from the training.
YOU’RE INVITED!
The next exciting event is one to which you are all invited to come – my commissioning service! It will be on Sunday, September 25th at my sending church, Faith Baptist Church in Kittery, Maine, located at 22 Litchfield Road in Kittery. The morning service is at 10:45am, and will be followed by a luncheon and an afternoon service. I realize most of my readers live too far from Kittery to attend, but you can still be praising the Lord with me and praying for me as I look forward to leaving for the mission field.
SUPPORT UPDATE
Welcome to all those who have recently joined my team of financial supporters! Praise the Lord that I now have 86% of my monthly support – only 5 or 6 more supporters needed to reach full support! Outfit and passage continues to grow slowly but steadily, and is now at 68%. Please continue to pray that I will reach full support before the end of the year!
In Christ's Service,
Anna Beth Wivell
Exciting events and opportunities are just around the corner! I could hardly wait to tell you about them, so I am writing this letter a couple weeks early to bring you up to date on what is going on.
B.I. ANNUAL RETREAT AND CONSULTANT SEMINAR
I am writing now from Grand Rapids, Michigan, where I arrived just a few hours ago. Praise the Lord for frequent flier programs: I was able to redeem some miles to get a plane ticket from Pennsylvania to Michigan for almost no cost! Tomorrow (August 16), Bibles International’s annual retreat begins. It’s always a refreshing time with ministry colleagues, though we do have to do some work as well! Friday (August 19) is the start of our consultant seminar. This is the most important time of the year for consultants, as we discuss the work that is being done, plan out the next year’s activities, and gain additional education. Please pray for all of us who attend.
GOING TO CHAD AGAIN!
One of my tasks as a translation consultant will be to help give national translators the training they need in order to do their job effectively. For the first time, I will have the opportunity to observe this aspect of translation ministry firsthand, as a senior consultant will be leading a two-week training workshop for translators in Chad in late August and early September. In this case, the translators have already received the first level of training some time ago, so the workshop will give them an advanced level of training. I’m really looking forward to being at the workshop, and also to visiting Chad again! I’ll be leaving on August 28 and returning September 14. Instead of making the usual connections through Paris, I’ll be flying through Ethiopia, so it should be a trip with some interesting differences from all my previous trips to Africa. Please pray for safe and smooth travels, and especially that the translators who attend the workshop will benefit from the training.
YOU’RE INVITED!
The next exciting event is one to which you are all invited to come – my commissioning service! It will be on Sunday, September 25th at my sending church, Faith Baptist Church in Kittery, Maine, located at 22 Litchfield Road in Kittery. The morning service is at 10:45am, and will be followed by a luncheon and an afternoon service. I realize most of my readers live too far from Kittery to attend, but you can still be praising the Lord with me and praying for me as I look forward to leaving for the mission field.
SUPPORT UPDATE
Welcome to all those who have recently joined my team of financial supporters! Praise the Lord that I now have 86% of my monthly support – only 5 or 6 more supporters needed to reach full support! Outfit and passage continues to grow slowly but steadily, and is now at 68%. Please continue to pray that I will reach full support before the end of the year!
In Christ's Service,
Anna Beth Wivell
Increased support and travel preparations
The VBS in Dryden concluded well. I spent each evening with a different class, from 5-6 year olds through 8th grade, plus the adult Bible study. The evening with the adult Bible study went especially well. As the church has already seen my usual presentations, I decided to do something new and created a PowerPoint presentation about some of the challenges that translation teams face when translating from Hebrew or Greek into their own languages. This kind of topic can get pretty complicated and technical, so I wasn't sure how it would go, but it actually went extremely well and the group was interested and asked thoughtful questions.
In the middle of the VBS week, I had an exciting phone conversation with a pastor right before one of the evening sessions began. I now have another supporting church - my third church in Iowa! I really enjoyed my two visits to the church, and I am really looking forward to visiting them on furlough in a few years. My support is now up to 85%!
I'm now in southeastern Pennsylvania, staying with my grandmother. She and my grandfather (who died 11 years ago) were missionaries in the Congo many years ago, so we enjoyed looking at photos from my trip to Chad earlier this year and comparing some memories from our different experiences in Africa.
In just a little more than a week, I will fly out to Michigan for BI's annual retreat and consultant seminar. It's the one time each year that consultants, office staff, and prospective consultants are together in one place; usually we are all scattered around the US and the world. I'm looking forward to spending time with my coworkers again. Pray for a profitable time together as we discuss various important matters related to our work in Bible translation.
I'll be flying to Chad for my two-week trip right after the seminar, so I'm preparing for that as well as for the seminar. One thing that makes it easier is that I just went to Chad about 6 months ago and am still up to date on all my vaccinations. All I need to get this time is antimalarials - a necessity for anyone going to Africa, unless you want to increase your risk of getting malaria. I soon got a prescription for the same kind that I've used on previous trips, and took it to the nearby Walmart pharmacy, thinking that I would have to order them, but to my surprise, they had them in stock! Tropical medications are not normally in stock in Pennsylvania, USA, so I counted it as a blessing to have gotten them so easily this time.
Other preparations for traveling will continue this week. As I fly out on August 15, please pray for good flying weather, smooth connections, and most of all that the Lord will use these next weeks of seminars and workshops for His glory.
In the middle of the VBS week, I had an exciting phone conversation with a pastor right before one of the evening sessions began. I now have another supporting church - my third church in Iowa! I really enjoyed my two visits to the church, and I am really looking forward to visiting them on furlough in a few years. My support is now up to 85%!
I'm now in southeastern Pennsylvania, staying with my grandmother. She and my grandfather (who died 11 years ago) were missionaries in the Congo many years ago, so we enjoyed looking at photos from my trip to Chad earlier this year and comparing some memories from our different experiences in Africa.
In just a little more than a week, I will fly out to Michigan for BI's annual retreat and consultant seminar. It's the one time each year that consultants, office staff, and prospective consultants are together in one place; usually we are all scattered around the US and the world. I'm looking forward to spending time with my coworkers again. Pray for a profitable time together as we discuss various important matters related to our work in Bible translation.
I'll be flying to Chad for my two-week trip right after the seminar, so I'm preparing for that as well as for the seminar. One thing that makes it easier is that I just went to Chad about 6 months ago and am still up to date on all my vaccinations. All I need to get this time is antimalarials - a necessity for anyone going to Africa, unless you want to increase your risk of getting malaria. I soon got a prescription for the same kind that I've used on previous trips, and took it to the nearby Walmart pharmacy, thinking that I would have to order them, but to my surprise, they had them in stock! Tropical medications are not normally in stock in Pennsylvania, USA, so I counted it as a blessing to have gotten them so easily this time.
Other preparations for traveling will continue this week. As I fly out on August 15, please pray for good flying weather, smooth connections, and most of all that the Lord will use these next weeks of seminars and workshops for His glory.
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