Collins Family 2015 in Retrospect

Download the Collins Family 2015 in Retrospect with photos here.

2015 was a year of tumult. Immigration was and is a huge issue all over the world, especially in the Near East, in Africa and at the US- Mexico border. Millions have fled their homes and homelands rather than face incredible terror and/or squalor. This is a very complex problem, not made any clearer with the sound-bite solutions offered up by competing presidential nominees.

ISIS cruelty was and is on constant display. Paris was shaken, as was America when “radicalized Islamists” shot up a Christmas party in San Bernardino, California. The very freedom we appreciate is what makes us vulnerable to attack from within.

Collins January 2016 Prayer Requests

Here are a few prayer requests for the Collins:

1. The Collins will be visiting some of their partner churches in January. Pray for good fellowship and ministry.

2. 2016 marks the first year that the literacy ministry, LAMP, will be on its own financially. Pray that they have the Godly ministry that would attract support and that the ministry itself would build a readership for the coming Mam Bible.

Collins Family December 2015 Update

Download the Collins December 2015 Update here.

Dear and good friends,

Greetings from 70-­?degree North Carolina. Merry Christmas to you all. It feels more like the 4th of July than Christmas, but we’ll take it. Elisa and family and Nan and I, plus Nan’s mom, plan to visit Isaac and Elizabeth in Atlanta for Christmas. We’re excited. We plan to see Molly and her family (in Hawaii) in February.

I‘ve been back from Guatemala for almost three weeks. A few comments:

Collins Family December 2015 Prayer Requests

Greetings from Guatemala.

My prayer requests for December are:

1. Pray for the Mam people working on Old Testament translation and literacy. They face many challenges, but God is faithful and the team continues to make progress.

2. The first five books of the Old Testament have been drafted, checked and revised. The team has made some photocopies to be read and preached in local churches. Pray that this next step would provide for a clear understanding of the Scriptures. The New Testament in Mam has been completed for 15 years. This is the first Old Testament work to be available. Pray for wide acceptance and appreciation of God’s Word.

Thanks,

Wes

Collins Family November 2015 Update

Download the Collins November 2015 Update letter here.

Good friends,

When Nancy and I joined Wycliffe back in 1977 we wanted to go to China or Russia. I really can’t recall the thought process that led us in that direction, but that’s what we talked to Wycliffe about. Back in the day, Wycliffe founder and visionary “Uncle Cam” Townsend was praying daily that God would open the door to Bible translation in Communist countries. He even visited Russia ten times during the hard days of the cold war, confident that God would one day open the door.

Collins Family November 2015 Prayer Requests

Hi friends,

Here are two Collins prayer requests:

1. Pray for Wes’ most-recent students. He just finished teaching a linguistics course at the Wycliffe Center in Dallas. There were 18 students from different organizations. They are headed into ministries around the world—Africa, Asia, the Americas and the Pacific. May God give them good resolve, good support and effective ministries.

2. Wes is headed to Guatemala on November 6 for three weeks. He will be working with the Mam team on Old Testament translation and literacy. Pray for safety and effectiveness.

Thanks much.

Wes

Collins Family October 2015 Prayer Requests

Friends,

Here are a few prayer requests for October for the Collins.

1. Classes finish on October 16. Wes has been teaching an intensive two-month-long course in phonology to help students understand the sound systems of other languages and to give insight into how to develop alphabets for unwritten languages. Pray that the students finish well and that Wes’ teaching would be clear and helpful. Some students are headed to the field while others have been there for years.

Collins Family September 2015 Prayer Requests

1. Wes and Nancy are in Dallas where Wes is teaching a linguistics course to 19 enthusiastic students whose aim is to do Bible translation among minority people groups. Pray for both him and them as they study together for God’s glory.

2. The Collins adult children and following Christ, something we never take for granted, and for which we are very grateful. Pray for Parkside missionary “kids,” as well as MK’s around the world, that God would make their special cultural background a blessing and resource for ministry.

Thanks.

Wes

Collins Family August 2015 Update

Download the Collins August Update with photo here.

Dear and good friends,

Greetings to you from North Carolina. It has been a hot summer with many days near or over 100 degrees. That should get us ready for Dallas where it is supposed to be 95 plus for the next ten days. I’ll be teaching there in a professor exchange, where a prof from Dallas is headed for Peru to teach students that I had last semester and I will be filling in for him in Dallas working with gringo students for the first time since my days at Ohio State.

Interestingly, Nancy and I got our MA’s in linguistics in Dallas largely on the same campus that we’re headed to this coming weekend. We head out on Sunday and classes start on Thursday.

Collins Family August 2015 Prayer Requests

Here are a few requests for August.

Nancy and Wes travel to Dallas to teach class in phonology. Wes has taught a similar course many times, but this will be the first time he teaches it in English. The students are all studying to be Bible translators and minority-language communicators. Pray for success in getting the content across to students and that they would prosper under Wes’ teaching.

Old Testament translation continues in Guatemala in many languages—including Mam—the language spoken where the Collinses lived for many years. Pray that the work would go smoothly and that it would progress well.

Thanks to all.

Wes