February Prayer Letter

Dear Prayer Supporters,

On the mission field, you just never know what hats you might be asked to wear! These last few months have been a bit different from the kind of work I normally do as a translation consultant. I’ve worn the hat of “traveler”, as I’ve had the opportunity to join a BI coworker to visit each of our past, current, and even some future translation projects throughout southern Chad. Also I’ve had a taste for what it’s like to be a computer technician as I participated in a computer training workshop. I wonder what hat I’ll be wearing next!

A Whirlwind Tour

In November, we had a guest from the office of Bibles International in Michigan: Dave Cropsey, the BI projects coordinator for Africa and Europe. He only had about a week and a half to spend in Sarh, but we were able to give him a whirlwind tour of our Chadian translation and literacy projects: We visited all eight current and past projects, as well as two potential future projects. It was an exhausting tour, but we are thankful for all that we were able to accomplish while he was here.

Computer Training

For many years, our Chadian translators have made do with battery-powered keyboards for typing up their translations. But recently we have been able to overcome several logistic hurdles to providing computers for each of our current projects, even those who live in remote villages without electricity. This has been very exciting, but it means a steep learning curve for our translators, many of whom had never used a computer before, let alone the translation software that our work requires them to use. In December, Dr Troy Manning, BI’s chief consultant, came to conduct a two-week computer training workshop for all five of our ongoing Bible translation projects. I attended as an assistant. It was a lot of information for the translators to try to absorb in the short time we had to teach them, but they worked very hard to learn all they could. Pray for them as they seek to apply what they’ve learned as they continue their translation work.

Bible Translation Workshops for 2018

This year I will be working with Bible translations in four different languages. Three are projects I’ve worked with in the past: Sara Kaba Naa, Sara Kaba Deme, and Sara Madjingay. A fourth project, the Ngam, is in desperate need of help, but there are very few French-speaking consultants currently available, so my coworker Joshua Hedges and I will be sharing the load for this project for this year. Joshua will also continue helping the Day (pronounced “die”) project with their final checks. Please pray for the progress of each of these translation projects.

Need for Peace

The primary school near my house has been strangely quiet this week; the usual clamor of the schoolchildren is absent, although it is not vacation. There is a nation-wide strike for all schools and public hospitals; even private schools are currently shut down. This happened in 2016, and that year the schools and hospitals were closed for most of the year. Now they are on strike once again, and so far no there is no sign of a resolution. Pray that the situation will be resolved peaceably.

Thank you for your faithful prayers and support.

In Christ's Service,
Anna Beth Wivell

November Prayer Letter

Dear Prayer Supporters,

“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” (Gal. 6:9) Bible translation is a lengthy process and can get discouraging. We need God’s grace and strength to persevere to the goal of producing the Bible in the language of the people!

Translation Progress Update

In October I met with the translators of the Sara Kaba Naa Bible to continue checking the book of Job. This is one of the most challenging books of the Bible to translate, which is why it is among the last books that we check! But we were able to check all but the last five chapters of the book. When we finish Job, we will only have the minor prophets, Lamentations, Daniel, and Ezekiel to check.

In November I met with the translators of the Day Bible (pronounced “die”), and this time we were checking something a bit different: book introductions! For several years, B.I. has been inserting introductions into the translations, at the beginning of each Bible book, to orient the reader to the background and general content of the book. I’m excited about how these introductions will help the readers when the Bible is published, especially since most readers have no access to all the Bible study helps which we often take for granted.

Although both these teams have been making good progress, their translation committees have been feeling quite discouraged lately. They are feeling rather like marathon runners who are in the final laps of the race: they have come so far, but they are weary from their many years of hard work and are wondering whether they will ever reach that finish line. Please pray that they will remember all that God has done to get them this far, and be encouraged to keep going strong until the project is completed.

Classes for church leaders

In early November, three BMM missionaries came for two weeks to teach the third and fourth of a series of twelve courses for church leaders. Over 140 leaders from our Baptist churches all over southern Chad attended. The next two classes of the series will be taught in January. These classes are helping our leaders to be better grounded in biblical doctrine and practice, which is vitally important here where false doctrine so easily creeps in to attack both church leaders and laypeople. Pray God will keep using these classes to benefit our church leaders.

Besides the blessing of the classes themselves, I had an extra special blessing from our three missionary guests: one of the missionaries was my dad! During the times that he wasn’t needed to teach the classes, I had so much fun introducing him to my Chadian friends and showing him around. We had such a precious time together. We praise the Lord for making it possible that he could come to visit me.

Thank you for your faithful prayers and support.

In Christ's Service,
Anna Beth Wivell

September Prayer Letter (rather late!)

[I should have posted this in September but forgot. Sorry about that!  Here it is, very late.]

Dear Prayer Supporters,

As I left church one Sunday morning, there was a lot of activity in a walled compound just around the corner from the church building, with what sounded like a sizable crowd inside. Traditional drums were hammering out a pagan rhythm from somewhere in the center of the compound. People could be seen sitting on the walls all around, which were apparantly functioning as overflow seating. But they weren’t there to watch a movie or a sports match. For in that compound, practically next door to a strong gospel-preaching church, a thoroughly pagan and idolatrous initiation ceremony was in full swing. For in spite of nearly a century of gospel witness in this part of Chad, the spiritual battle with paganism still rages.

The Ongoing Battle against Initiation

Thanks to all who prayed for Desiré, the teenage boy whose family was threatening to force him to undergo pagan initiation rites. God answered your prayers in a way we did not expect. In an unexpected development (unexpected to us, but not unexpected to God!), the rites for Desiré’s area have been postponed. Undoubtedly they will try again to organize them next year. In the meantime, Desiré has some time to focus on growing in his new faith. He is becoming increasingly active in the church plant he attends, and God is gradually molding his character. Pray that he will continue to grow.

However, Desiré is by no means the only one who has faced such a dilemma, and initiation rites in other areas are actively taking place. Many young people are being forced or persuaded to participate. Others are resisting, but in resisting they are often taking quite a risk – and they may suffer more than just rejection and ridicule. These are not idle games, but serious spiritual warfare. Even death threats are not unusual for those who publicly denounce initiation.

Please pray for wisdom and courage for the church leaders who are fighting against initiation, and pray for the carnal and half-hearted believers who are the most tempted to give in to the temptations to participate in the rites, that God will change their hearts. In spite of the long gospel witness here, this is a spiritual battle every time initiation rites are held.

Translation Progress Update

In July and August, I had two workshops with the Sara Kaba Deme translation team. We made good progress in checking the book of Ezekiel and other passages, but these workshops were historic for the Sara Kaba Deme for another reason: Thanks to the generosity of God’s people, we have been able to acquire a computer for this team! Until now, they have had to make due with a battery-powered machine similar to a typewriter. Now they will be able to make corrections to the text themselves, much more easily and quickly. They are thrilled and very grateful for this special blessing from God, but it has been quite a learning curve for them, since they had never used a computer before. I have been teaching them computer basics as I have time, but there is much to learn. Pray for them as they learn to use it, and pray that it will be a great asset to them as they work on completing their translation.

Thank you for your faithful prayers and support for the ministry of Bible translation in Chad.

In Christ's Service,
Anna Beth Wivell