March 2022 Prayer Letter

 Dear Prayer Supporters,

If you haven't received a letter from me for a while, it's certainly not for lack of anything to write about!  I've been trying to find time to sit down and write this letter for many weeks, but life and ministry has been very full.  Here are the highlights of what's been going on with the Bible translation work, the book ministries, and our Bible college students.

Bible Translation

Have you ever compared two parallel passages in the Bible?  For example, compare 2 Samuel 22 and Psalm 18, and try to find all the similarities and differences.  There are hundreds of such parallels in the Bible, but since the parallel passages are rarely exactly identical, we can't just copy and paste from one passage to the other!  We have to carefully examine every verse, making sure the translation is the same wherever the original is the same, but different wherever the original is different.  As you can imagine, this can be very tedious!  Two of the languages I work with have reached this important quality check.  Please pray for us, for patience and wisdom as we do this and many other important tasks, as we continue preparing these translations for printing.

Shepherd's Bag Ministry

This ministry has been growing, and the demand for these books continues to increase.  It's so exciting to see pastors and Bible college students receive and use these books in their ministries, but keeping up with it along with all my other ministries is becoming a challenge!  Will you pray that the Lord will call another missionary to Chad, who can make Scripture resources his or her primary ministry focus? This would not only involve helping to provide Bible study resources for pastors, but also helping local churches and believers to know how to make better use of the Scriptures in their own languages.  As you pray, ask whether the Lord may be calling you!

Bread of Life Christian Bookstore

Some of you have asked about the progress on building the bookstore building.  Our original plan was to build it on the property of a church.  We could still do this, but a friend advised us that this could open us up to potential conflicts with the church in the future.  We saw the wisdom of this counsel, so we are now looking for a neutral location on which to build.  My Chadian coworker is currently searching for a suitable location.  Please pray for wisdom and guidance in this search.  We are planning to name it The Bread of Life Christian Bookstore.

Bible School

The Bible school has been a very busy place!  While the senior theology students work feverishly at completing their senior projects, the freshmen students are settling in and making progress in their studies.  Each student has struggles and heartaches.  Pray for Taryembaye (tar-yem-by) who often battles discouragement and the effects of traumatic experiences in his past.  Pray for Jacob and his wife, who are expecting their first child.  Pray for Nehemie, whose developmentally delayed four-year-old son has often struggled with ill health.  And there are many more I could mention!  Pray that God would use me to encourage them.

Thank you for your faithful prayers and support.

In Christ's Service,
Anna Beth Wivell