Collins Family May 2014 Update

Dear and good friends,

Greetings from Wake Forest. A little weather lesson. In Ohio we have virtually no autumn. It goes from late summer to winter in a matter of days. The colors are wonderful--but they are short-lived and usually appreciated only under a bed of thick frost, snow or ice. Wake Forest, on the other hand, has no spring. It goes directly from winter to summer. This week it has been in the mid-90's and has been for days. Nancy enjoys not running the air conditioner. She feels that breezes and natural air temperatures are good for the mind and body. So sometimes I swelter, but for a good cause.

We won't be hot for long. I just got back from three weeks in Venezuela's southernmost state--Amazonas--just a few degrees latitude north of the equator, and 95 degrees pretty much every day, and Nan and I leave in the morning for two months in Peru. Peru is in the southern hemisphere, so it's heading toward winter, not with sledding and snowmen, but quite gray and cool nonetheless.

Collins Family May 2014 Prayer Requests

Dear ones,

Here are a few prayer requests for us for May.

Wes will be in Venezuela from April 21 to May 9 working with local indigenous leaders about plans for promoting the use of native language New Testaments and the translation of the Old Testament into these same languages. These plans are complicated by the inroads of Spanish which many speak, but few speak well. Pray that people would see the value of the Scriptures in their native languages.

Collins Family March/April 2014 Update

Dear Ones,

Greetings to you all from North Carolina. It has been a busy time for us. Nan and I and our three children (and two of our four grandchildren) all converged on a small beach town in Costa Rica for Isaac and Elizabeth's wedding on February 21. Planning a destination wedding is a bit of a shot in the dark, not having been to the site where the event would take place, but things worked admirably.

We all met up at the right time at the right spot and the wedding was beautiful. The ceremony was in the late afternoon as the sun was descending and howler monkeys ranted their approval from the trees. We overlooked miles of the Pacific beach, and soon after the declaration of man and wife, the sun slipped beneath the horizon. It was idyllic. I'm attaching a couple of pictures.

Collins Family March 2014 Prayer Requests

Praise God that the CILTA program will kick off on March 17th after a one year hiatus. There are some twenty students from nine Latin American countries. These students are missionary candidates who will be learning linguistic skills for Bible translation and literacy work among minority culture groups of the Americas and the world. Pray that everyone arrives ready to go and that they get off to a good start in this training which lasts a full academic year.

Pray for Wes as he travels to Venezuela toward the end of the month in order to meet with local village and church leaders, who will be sending young adults to a jungle educational center for training in language development. The goal of the program is for students to return home to work in literacy, teaching school and Bible translation in their own (non-Spanish) languages.

Collins Family February 2014 Prayer Requests

Pray for their son Isaac as he marries Elizabeth on February 21^st in Costa Rica.  The entire immediate family plans to be there and to support Isaac and Elizabeth in their commitment to a godly life together. 

Continue to pray for their Mam language partner Byron, who pastors a small church and hosts a twice-weekly Mam language program.  This is the language group in Guatemala where Wes and Nancy spent many years doing Bible translation work.

Collins January 2014 Prayer Requests

Pray for Wes as he finishes up a paper and prepares to present it at a linguistics conference in Minneapolis on January 4th.  The people and language group they worked with in Guatemala for many years are the Mam, and this paper deals with Mam grammar.  Please pray that this becomes a blessing to the Mam people as they see how fascinating and complex their language is.

Pray for Isaac, their youngest child, as he plans to marry Elizabeth in mid-February.  Pray for them as they put together the details of their wedding and their lives.  May God reign in their every plan.

Collins 2013 November-December Update

Dear and good friends,

I was happy to get e-mails back from my early-morning request for prayer for Byron as he crossed the Mexico-Guatemala border on his way back to Comitancillo last week. A number of you said that you were praying for him. People had two questions concerning that note. The first one was, "Why is the border dangerous? The main reason is delinquency. There are lots of people standing around ready to help you with your suitcases and back pack and then they just take off with them. The border is also a haven for people trying to get to the US. If they can get into Mexico, perhaps they can make their way north to the US border and come across in hopes of finding work. So people hang out at the border looking for opportunities to make money or find a way to travel. There also is a degree of violence related to the drug trade that crosses the border--both ways, actually: into Mexico from Guatemala and into Guatemala from Mexico.

Collins December 2013 Prayer Requests

Friends,

Greetings from Oaxaca. I very much enjoyed dinner just this past Wednesday with Kep, Mike Ross and Edgar. You'd be surprised at the appetizers: Deep friend grubs, ant eggs and larvae. You know what they say. It tastes like chicken.

That's not part of the prayer requests, although we always appreciate prayer for good health.

Collins November 2013 Prayer Requests

Wes will be involved in a workshop in Oaxca Mexico related to linguistics and translation from November 1-22. His Mam friend and colleague, Byron, will be attending with him. Their goal is to learn some new computer skills related to language analysis and literacy.

Collins October 2013 Update to the Update

Friends,

Greetings from Wake Forest.

It's cloudy and gray, just like home. I have received messages from several people concerning the need for a PC to take to Mexico later this month.  My brother-in-lw Tom wrote right away and has sent one to us, so we don't need to pursue this any further. Thanks to all of you for considering this need.

People have asked about my trip to Comitancillo and how it was different from when we used to live there. Here are a few impressions: