June Prayer Letter

Dear Prayer Supporters,

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.” (Eph. 6:10)

Translation Update

Thanks for praying for the workshop with the translators of the Day (pronounced “die”) Bible. We met in early May as planned, to carry out quality checks. This time we were checking parallel passages: different verses that are alike or nearly alike in Hebrew. For example, 1 Samuel 7:4 and 1 Chronicles 17:3 are nearly alike in Hebrew except that 2 Samuel says “LORD” and 1 Chronicles says “God”. There are many parallel verses in the Old Testament. We need to make sure the translation is alike wherever the Hebrew is alike, while keeping the differences wherever the Hebrew verses differ from each other. As you might imagine, it is tedious work, but it is important for the quality of the translation. We were able to complete about half of the parallel passages.

Thank you to all of you who responded to my special request in April, for the need for funds to print the trial edition of Exodus and Deuteronomy in the Sara Kaba Deme language. The response was truly overwhelming! We are still waiting on a couple of last minute details before sending it to the printers, but Lord willing we will be able to print it soon.

My next workshop starts next week (June 12). I will be working with the Sara Kaba Naa translators; we plan to finish correcting Jeremiah and start corrections for the book of Job. The latter is a particularly difficult book, so I appreciate your prayers for us as we work through it together.

Update on Désiré

Thank you for praying for young Désiré, the teenage boy whose family is trying to force him to undergo pagan initiation rites. Please keep praying! He is still at risk, and his family is still threatening to reject him if he refuses initiation. We have offered to help him find a different place to live with a Christian family where he would be safe from initiation, but he hesitates to take up the offer for fear of what may happen if his family rejects him completely. He continues to feel torn between his pagan family and his newfound faith in God’s Word. Please pray that the Lord will work in his heart and keep him strong.

Update on Coworkers

Since January, my new coworkers, Les and Carol Carew, have been in their previous field of service, the Central African Republic. Since the other missionaries in that country were still on furlough, they agreed to wait for them to return to the field before making final preparations to move to Chad. Now that the others have returned, they are finalizing their plans. They hope to arrive in Chad on June 27. They will live in Sarh (about 5 miles away from me) and minister to Central African refugees. Thank you for your continued prayers for them.

Thank you for your faithful prayers and support.

In Christ's Service,
Anna Beth Wivell