Sermon-10-18-09.mp3

Missions Emphasis 2009

Thomas & Libby Willett
Wycliffe Bible Translators
Country: Primarily Mexico; sometimes Peru or Spain

Ministries:

• Bible translators (SE Tepehuan--project nearly complete)
• Consultants and trainers in linguistics and translation

Goals:

• To equip the Tepehuan church for ministry in their own language
• To train new Spanish-speaking Bible translation personnel
• To help indigenous language speakers with: a. Dictionary making b. Bible translation

The Willets fellowshipped at Randall during the three years Tom was working on his doctorate and were a great addition to our church family. We have been in partnership with them since the 1980’s. They have worked with the Southern Tepehuan people in Mexico since 1975. They spent some time at the SIL center in Tuscon, Arizona, during the 1980’s and 1990’s, where they were involved in helping their colleagues with linguistic and translation projects. Libby finished her doctorate in the summer of 1999.

They returned to live in Mexico from 1982-84, 1988-92 and from 2000 to the present. The Willets and a team of Tepehuan people in Durango, Mexico, have translated and recorded the New Testament and an Old Testament abridgement and have dubbed two Scripture videos for distribution. They are also involved in training Mexicans who want to produce Bibles or other literature in minority languages.