August Prayer Letter

Dear Prayer Supporters,

“With Jesus we must walk step by step,” reads a line from a popular Chadian Christian chorus. It’s certainly true of life in Africa, which is often so unpredictable. It’s also true of Bible translation work, which is a long and often difficult process. But step by step, we continue to make progress by God’s grace.

Trip to Mali

For the past two and a half years, the translation work in Chad has kept me fully occupied. Now, for the first time since I came to Chad, I have been making plans for a trip to help a translation project in another African country. I have been asked to go to Mali in early September to help the Songhay New Testament project with some of their final quality checks. We plan to check key Greek words to make sure they have been translated consistently in each of their occurrences throughout the New Testament. This will be different from most of the translation workshops I have helped with in Chad, so please pray for me, as well as for the translators and missionaries I will be working with.

In making my plans for this trip, I have encountered an obstacle: paperwork. I was unable to get a visa from the Mali consulate in Chad, but they said they would try to get a letter which should allow me to enter the country. Please pray that if the Lord wants me to make this trip at this time, the letter would come through in time for me to travel. Pray also that the immigration officials and airlines will accept this paperwork without any serious complications.

Translation Update

I met with the Sara Kaba Naa translators again in July, and we checked the book of Ecclesiastes and the first 28 chapters of Isaiah. The translators only have four books left to translate to finish the rough draft of the Old Testament, but the work is far from over yet. The local committee especially has a lot of work to do in editing the rough draft. Pray the committee will make good progress and have a true heart for the translation work.

Update on security situation in Chad

In July, another suicide bomber set off his bomb in the capital city of Chad, this time in the market place, killing about 15 people. Here in the south of the country, all has been calm, and life goes on mostly as normal, except for increased police security checks. Please keep praying for peace in Chad.

In Christ's Service,
Anna Beth Wivell