January-March 2012 Prayer Guide

Thank you for joining in daily prayer for Bible translation and literacy efforts around the world.
To assist you, we are pleased to provide this monthly listing of prayer requests.

Ways to use the Prayer Guide:

1. There are 31 requests—pray for 1 each day of January, February, and March. You will have prayed for each request 3 times.

2. Pray for a Calendar, a General, and a Thanksgiving request each day.

3. Pray through the requests with a friend at your church’s prayer meeting.

Calendar

1. Pray for Ross & Cathy Hodsdon as they resume travels in January after Ross’ prostate cancer treatment. They will conduct the first workshop on the Tagalog NT revision.

2. Pray for good progress to be made in the translation workshop conducted in Central African Republic in January.

3. Pray for a successful and productive Asia Consultant Seminar in India in February. This is long overdue and greatly needed.

4. Pray for Kim Hibbard as she leaves India in January for workshops in Myanmar and then returns to the US to visit her supporting churches for six months.

5. Pray for good progress on the Dendi OT (Benin) during workshops to be conducted in February.

6. Pray for funds needed to print several New Testaments by March 2012.

7. Pray for translation workshops to be conducted for several of our Asian projects during January and February.

8. Pray for prospective consultants as they travel with BI staff to Asia in the spring.

General

9. Pray for the Joshua Hedges family as they’re home from Chad this year, traveling to visit their supporting churches and to gain new ones.

10. Pray for Carla Bieber, Barb Perrine, Hye Ree Park, and Alex Wheeler as they continue to seek support.

11. Pray for the successful completion of the Rito and Dagba NTs in Chad.

12. Pray for the remaining funds for the Inpui Naga NT (India).

13. Pray for the Lord’s blessing on our literacy and linguistics efforts among the Dai, Akha, and Rvwang people, three language groups we are considering for translation work.

14. Pray for enablement as we seek to train more Indian leaders to teach literacy to their own people.

15. Pray for guidance for how to meet the growing literacy needs in Myanmar with our limited number of personnel.

16. Pray for wisdom as we continue to help the Sango people adjust to the new orthography.

17. Pray for wisdom as we develop new literacy and linguistics materials.

18. Pray for the research of new projects in various locations around the world.

19. Pray for more laborers for the work of Bible translation.

20. Pray for needed volunteers to assist with building projects.

21. Pray for increased financial support for our projects.

22. Pray for needed additional support for several current BI staff.

23. Pray for strength and stamina for consultants and coordinators in all of their overseas travel.

24. Pray for our director, Dr. Hantz Bernard, to have wisdom and strength as he leads Bibles International.

25. Pray for church planting efforts among the people groups where BI is translating.

Thanksgiving

26. Give thanks for God’s blessing on Bibles International during its first 30 years of ministry.

27. Give thanks that Anna Beth Wivell is beginning language school in 2012 in preparation for becoming a translation consultant in Chad.

28. Give thanks that many churches have signed up to implement Bible Day in 2012.

29. Give thanks that Troy Manning has finished deputation. Pray for him as he now gives his full energies to BI.

30. Give thanks for two-week block classes recently taught at Northland International University by BI staff. Pray for God’s continued direction in students’ lives.

31. Give thanks for the BI Harvest Dinner held in Grand Rapids in October. We had record attendance, and God wonderfully blessed the evening.

Would you like to receive the Prayer Guide by e-mail? E-mail us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Thank you!

Best of the Best

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times …” Most will recognize this as the opening line to Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities; yet, the statement has application in many areas. For example, a BI staff couple’s 14-year-old daughter used the statement to describe her first trip to Africa.

In some ways, these are the best and worst of times at Bibles International. The “best” part is that so many Scriptures are coming to completion. Eight projects are due to be published this year. That translates into hundreds of thousands of people receiving God’s Word for the first time—truly the best of times. The “worst” part, humanly speaking, is the cost of printing so many Scriptures and the diminishing contributions that BI has experienced during this recession. Divinely speaking, however, God “is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20). He is not bound by statistics, by recessions, nor by a six-figure total printing cost for these projects. He can provide all our needs “according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

So, are you ready to commit to seeking God’s provision in 2012? The BI staff fully believes that it is the prayers of our faithful friends that keep this Bible translation ministry operational. All the plans, programs, and positions we can devise are nothing without your fervent, effectual prayers.

You are living in the greatest era of Bible translation in history, and it could be that the next generation will see the last language to receive at least some portion of God’s Word. Your part is an extremely significant one, and we know you are blessed by the time you spend with God in prayer. Join us in looking expectantly for the best God has to give.