Anna Beth Wivell Departs for Language School

After spending five years raising support in order to begin her ministry in Chad with Baptist Mid-Missions (BMM) and Bibles International, Anna Beth Wivell at last reached full support and departed for language study in France on January 12, 2012. Why France, you may ask. Although Anna Beth will be required to learn at least one Chadian language once she arrives in that country, French is the official language of Chad so she must learn it before her arrival there.

Leaving the US was a bit more complicated for Anna Beth than it might be for some of us. Because her parents are BMM missionaries serving in Australia, she has no home in the US in which to store things until she comes home four years from now on furlough. And who would sell her car for her once she no longer needed it? A kind pastor friend in the St. Louis area agreed to sell the car, a 1991 Buick which served her well throughout her last three years of travel on deputation, and she will leave her things in a storage unit which she shares with her parents in St. Louis, Illinois.

For now, she will be living in Bordeaux and attending the university there. Baptist Mid-Missions missionary colleagues, Rev. Bob and Bonnie Bixby, ministering in Bordeaux, have helped in the search for housing for Anna Beth for the time she will be there. Pray that she will adjust quickly to the French culture and that she might be able to get involved in the church in which the Bixbys minister. (In this picture she is at Sunday school at the Bixbys' church, wearing a teal-colored dress, seated on the right side of the table.)

During the time she has been on deputation in the past few years, she has also been spending time in self-directed French language learning. With that in mind, she hopes to be able to test out of the beginning level(s) of French studies. Pray that she will be able to do that, if the Lord wills, and that she might acquire good ability to communicate in French in a timely manner.

While Anna Beth is thrilled to have made it to this point in her life, having spent many years in preparation for this stage of ministry, it is not the end of her journey. Once she has acquired the necessary proficiency in French language, she will proceed to Chad, Africa, where she will help those who still have no Scriptures in their mother tongue. She longs for the day when she will be used of the Lord to help Bible-less people groups have God’s Word in their language. Will you join us in praying that she might soon see that goal become a reality?