Letters from Lisa

once heard a pastor...

June 2012

...say the Bible was written by the Spirit of God. For a long time it didn't make sense to me, but today I say YES to that!" -Misriani, translator in Timor, Indonesia, upon completion of Helong New Testament. If you've ever taken a foreign language in school, and tried to read the Bible or another book in that language, you might know exactly where Misriani is coming from. I took four years of Spanish in school, but even then if I was trying to read the Bible in Spanish, I could barely understand even familiar verses. Imagine if we didn't have the Bible in English at all, and a Spanish one was the only one available! It would certainly never be life-changing for me. For many people around the world, the Scriptures might be available to them in a second language. Even if they're able to read, though, those Bibles would never make enough sense to them to touch their hearts. Wycliffe missionaries teach these people how to read, and provide them with Bibles in the languages that they speak at home, allowing God to touch the very core of their lives. Not only that, but literacy itself will also give them access to better ways of life than were ever available to them before.

"I know it's true that some are called to shepherd the ninety and nine, but others are called to go out into the wilderness in quest of the one sheep." -Cameron Townsend, as he founded Wycliffe Bible
Translators. Townsend was referring to Jesus parable of the lost sheep, but it reminds me of the "99%" protestors you see on the news. The 1% for them is the small group of people living off of most of the wealth in this country. In this case, Townsend felt that he was reaching the "1%" of the world that was most unreached, with no Bible in their languages. In reality, an estimated 30% of the world's languages have a need for Bible translation to begin. That's about 350 million people with no access to the Word of God!

Lisa Besler 280 Rim View Dr. #F Colorado Springs, CO 80919 lisabesler@gmail.com

I recently saw, somewhere, the lyrics to an old song that I like: "Give me one pure and holy passion, give me one magnificent obsession... to know and follow hard after you." Looking back over my life, if God has ever given me a passion for one thing, it's been His Word, and it's been getting the message in it out to the least reached in the world. This has been my life - this has been my magnificent obsession - and I'm so grateful to finally be starting on the journey, after years and years of preparation.

Aboriginal children in Australia listening to worship music

If reading the Word of God has ever impacted your life, think of the people that have never had that option. You have the chance to make a difference in their lives. The work I will be doing will be helping raise awareness all over the world of the need for Bible translation. By supporting me, you could indirectly be helping a movement around the whole world to get the Word of God in the very last languages that need it. Wycliffe's goal is to get a team of translators working in every single one of these languages by the year 2025, and I intend to help make this happen. Will you join me?

"I dont say this because I want a gift from you. Rather, I want you to receive a reward for your kindness." -Phil 4:17, NLT
All donations are tax-deductible! For financial partnership send a check to: Wycliffe Bible Translators PO Box 628200 Orlando, FL 32862-8200 Attach a separate note saying, For the ministry of Lisa Besler, #228437 Or, go to this site where you can give online, pledge to give, or sign someone up for my newsletters!

To complete this work that I'm preparing for, I need your partnership to make it happen! I would be very much honored to have you alongside of me during this one year-long trip. Please consider praying for me regularly, and supporting my work financially. Some of you have mentioned that you'd like to support my trip, but you would rather wait until I have all the rest of my support and I'm about to leave. That's great! If this is you, go ahead and let me know today, and give me an estimate of what you hope to give. This way it will count towards my goal, but you won't have to give until I'm actually going. One-time gifts of any amount are wonderful, and what I especially encourage is considering pledging to give regularly (monthly or otherwise) for me to live off of while I'm overseas. No amount is too little (or too much!).