August 2023 Prayer Letter

August 2023

Dear Prayer Supporters,

G’day from Australia! I’m about half-way through my two-month furlough to the country of my birth. The last couple months have been busy as ever, with plenty going on in two different continents: Australia and Africa!

June Guests

In June, I welcomed three American guests into my home – three single ladies who are serving the Lord. One has been the director of Bibles International’s linguistics department for some years. Another is a new B.I. coworker who has recently begun raising support to become a full-time translation consultant with B.I. The third is a student at Bob Jones University who had the opportunity to do her internship in Chad. Between the three of them, they helped analyze linguistic data for the Sara Kaba Naa and Ngamh languages, and assisted in translation workshops for the Sara Kaba Dem and Ngamh Bibles.

Why is it important to analyze linguistic data? Some of the information gleaned in these linguistic workshops is crucial in helping the nationals to write their own language consistently and correctly. For example, would you write the following compound words or phrases as one word, two words separated by a space, or two words separated by a hyphen? Healthcare, health care, or health-care? Jetlag, jet lag, or jet-lag? Levelheaded, level headed, or level-headed? Nonprofit, non profit, or non-profit? Even in English, we could probably argue about which of these is correct! But what do you do when you are writing a compound word or phrase for the first time ever in a language, and you have to decide where to put the spaces and hyphens? Without some objective, straightforward rules, you can end up with three or more different ways to write each compound word! This was exactly the case with the Sara Kaba Naa language: their language contains many compound words and phrases, and they didn’t always agree about where to put the spaces. With the help of our guests, they now have some specific rules that will help them to be more consistent in writing their own language.

Bread of Life Christian Bookstore

By God’s grace, the bookstore building was completed and had its opening day shortly before I left Chad for my short furlough. I was glad to turn over some aspects of the book ministry to my Chadian partners, especially the book sales. I will continue to help with finances, ordering books, and with the Shepherd’s Bag ministry which assists pastors and Bible college students to buy the books they need for their ministries. Pray for this ministry as it continues to grow.

July Travels

As the month of June drew to a close, I flew from Chad to Melbourne, Australia, for a two-month furlough. In the past four weeks, I have taken time off for sightseeing, visited three supporting churches, and studied for the Greek and Hebrew classes that I will be teaching in Chad this next school year. In the month of August, I will visit three more supporting churches, speak at two ladies’ meetings, continue my class preparation, and finally return to Chad at the end of August. It’s been a great visit so far, but I will be glad to get back to the ministry in Chad. Thank you for praying for me during this short furlough!

Thank you for your faithful prayers and support.

In Christ's Service,
Anna Beth Wivell