Off and Running!

Wow! What an exciting start to our assignments as we have transitioned from the time of partnership development to our full time ministry. Partnership Development was that time of building up a team of advocates, prayer partners, and financial partners in our Wycliffe ministry. And as much as that was a wonderful growing experience for us, we are both excited to be doing our part in reaching the Bibleless around the world.

We are both based in our home office in Minnesota, but as the map below shows, there is an incredible need throughout the world for Bible translation. This is clearly a task that only God can perform as we are humbly grateful that he has invited us to participate in the task. 

Ellie has started with her assignment as a Donor Appreciation Representative. While she has only met her team remotely, she has already begun to develop a deep appreciation for their love of the Lord and their heartfelt dedication to spreading the Word of God to the Bibleless around the world.

Besides meeting a few times a week with her team, she is also going through some training to familiarize herself with the tools that she will need to use in her ministry as a Donor Appreciation Rep. This is an ideal role for her as she is able to reach out to donors who share in the love for Bible translation and to thank them and pray with them.

Gary’s responsibilities are divided in two parts. First, as an Area Liaison for Global Workforce Planning. This gives him an opportunity to work with leaders from a number of Bible translation partner organizations around the world, but particularly throughout Africa, to help with strategic or long term resource planning. The second part of his job is as Director of Project Management. In this role he and his team will  train, coach, and mentor others in managing a wide range of initiatives. Besides a trip to Austin, Texas in February, there are several domestic and international trips on the books for the rest of this year.

As partners with us in our Wycliffe ministry, you share in the faithfulness to people groups around the world. This year we rejoice with 57 communities who received scripture in their language. Communities like the Keliko people of South Sudan who recently dedicated their New Testament. The Keliko New Testament is the 1000th New Testament completed with the engagement of Wycliffe USA and our major partner, SIL International. The first 500 took 57 years to complete, but the second 500 took only 17 years.

For more on the Keliko story, visit our website or the video at Wycliffe’s website. 

Prayers Needed

Praises For:

• Faithful prayer and financial partners.
• Our transition from Partnership Development to our new mission roles.

Requests For:

• Safe Travels in the coming months.
• Peace, patience and wisdom in learning our new roles. 
• God to move in the hearts of even more people to partner with us, especially in prayer.