MICHEALS’ MEMOIRS Dear Friends and Family, Over the years we have served with Wycliffe, we are amazed as to how the Lord meets our needs. In our last newsletter we noted the need to buy a newer, more dependable vehicle and we praise the Lord for the generosity of people who helped supply funds to help us purchase one. We were able to find a really nice 2008 Honda Odyssey van that meets our needs and will be great for our trip to Virginia, Michigan and Nebraska to visit supporters, supporting churches, family and friends in October and November. Thank you to everyone who gave toward this vehicle! required to raise and that usually amounts to a minimal adjustment each year. However, because of new government requirements we are no longer able to raise funds in the manner we have done before such as we just did for this vehicle. Thus, such small increases do not factor in things like purchases for vehicles, medical bills or the like. In the past, we have used a general appeal to supporters to help cover those needs. However, that is no longer possible. Thus we have a need to raise our regular monthly income to cover these expenses.
Our trip up north is for a two-fold purpose. First, we had planned the trip last year, but were told by our mechanic that our previous vehicle was not road worthy to use for that type of travel. So, now that we have a reliable vehicle we are planning an overdue trip to visit and report on our work to those who support us. The second reason is that we have an urgent need to significantly increase our monthly financial support. A normal question would be why do we have this need for an increase in support? Over the years, Wycliffe has adjusted the amount of money we are
As this news was being received by Wycliffe, Wycliffe took the opportunity to do a very thorough evaluation of the amount of money each missionary family was assigned to raise. That evaluation showed that the amount per family was significantly lacking and its missionary families were falling further and further behind in funding real needs. Therefore, with the new reality we need to now raise over $ 1,000 in additional monthly support! In all our thirty one years with Wycliffe, this is the first time we are faced with the huge task of raising an additional amount of money. Our minds go back to the time in 1985 when we had no support and then how the Lord provided the monthly funds to serve in Papua
New Guinea with a family. We stood amazed as to how quickly that support came in. We stand again in those same shoes. However, our situation is different. Being gone from our home in Kalamazoo for over 30 years means we know lots of people our age, but few younger people and families. We also know our support base is more and more composed of people living on fixed incomes and over these years, many people who have supported us have passed on to glory. So thus you know the need for us to take this trip up north. Will you pray for this need and if the Lord moves in your heart to support us in some way, we’d love to hear from you. If you wish to pledge your support for our continued work with Wycliffe you can do so using the information at the end of this newsletter or online at: www.wycliffe.org/partner/cbmicheals.
OUR TRIP UP NORTH We plan to be in the Virginia area in early October to visit Chuck’s brother and sister-in-law. From there we plan to drive to Kalamazoo, stopping along the way in Pittsburgh to meet a part of Chuck’s family that we only recently discovered! Ask us sometime about that story!!! We arrive in Kalamazoo in midOctober or the week that our sending church, Second Christian Reformed Church is having their annual mission conference. Chuck will be preaching there on Sunday night at the end of their mission conference. We plan to be in the Kalamazoo area until the middle of November. We’d love to meet with other supporting churches and supporters and speak with a mission committee in your church or in a Sunday school class or a mens’, womens’ or youth group. While in Michigan we also plan to visit our family. In mid-November we plan a trip to the Nebraska area and would love to visit friends in Illinois, Iowa and surrounding areas along the way. We plan to visit supporters and supporting churches in Nebraska along with our daughter Rachel and her husband
Chris and our three grandchildren (Hannah, Caden and Dawson). Then in late November we plan to head back down to Florida stopping along the way to visit with friends and supporters. In all these travels we’d love to host a home meeting to share our work with you, your family and friends and churches. If you know of individuals or churches that could be potential prayer and/or financial partners with us please let us know.
THE IMPACT OF OUR WORK This year as in the past years, God has blessed the work of our hands and the number of people Chuck has been able to help apply to Wycliffe continues to grow each year. In 2011, he was able to help 6 people move to membership, in 2012 he helped 12 people, in 2013 he helped 15 people, in 2014 he helped 17 people, in 2015 he helped 20 people and so far this year he has helped 17 people join Wycliffe with 9 more people in application!!! One couple this year who Chuck helped was Ryan and Heidi Fraser. Chuck had helped Ryan a few years ago when he was going to the Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS). He had an interest in Bible translation and had already taken his linguistic training at the Graduate Institute Of Applied Linguistics (www.gial.edu). After graduation from RTS he took up a position in a nearby Bible college as a Hebrew professor. His interest in Bible translation continued as did Chuck’s interaction with him.
The Bible college Ryan was teaching at (Reformation Bible College – RBC) is also the Bible college where Chuck holds a twice a month prayer meeting with students where they pray for the unreached people groups of the world. Chuck was able to host several meetings with students to talk about Bible translation work and one young single woman, who was working at the college, later told Chuck her heart was stirred for the Bibleless as he spoke. Well, to cut a long story short, Heidi got to know Ryan and together they began to think that God was calling them as a couple to do Bible translation work.
Here is Heidi Fraser’s note to us: “The Lord used your ministry at RBC as a blessing in my life, and as I look back, I can say that the Lord used your ministry to begin preparing me to serve with Wycliffe. Ryan and I are so thankful for you and Barb! Thank you for faithfully serving the Lord as missionaries for the Bibleless!” Thus, your support of our work means that the Trawler people are that much closer to receiving the life giving Word of God in their language. Please pray for their success in support raising and their move soon to Brazil to pick up this work.
Thanks for your support of our work as we labor to recruit a new generation of Bible translators and support personnel!
PRAISES
For an opportunity at church for Chuck to teach a 12 week Sunday School class on “Mission Dei” (The Mission of God), which was an overview of missions. For finances to purchase a dependable vehicle. For success in recruitment work.
PRAYER
Ryan and Heidi Fraser
They soon were married and over a number of months they met with the two of us to talk about this work. After our meetings with them they applied and were accepted as Bible translators. They are now raising their support to go to Brazil and start translation work with the Trawler* people. This is a language community in the jungles of Brazil that has had Bible translation work underway for almost 30 years. However, two sets of translators have died with the work unfinished. By God’s grace, the Frasers hope to finish the work. Ryan’s background in Hebrew is greatly needed as much of the work remaining is Old Testament translation. *Trawler is a pseudonym
Pray for continued success in our recruitment work. Our travels this fall to report on our work. For success in finding new prayer and financial supporters to meet our new level of support. FOR SUPPORTING US FINANCIALLY BY MAIL Wycliffe Bible Translators P. O. Box 628200 Orlando, FL 32862-8200
Make check payable to ‘Wycliffe’, put on a separate sheet: “Preference for Wycliffe ministry of Chuck & Barb Micheals, # 221879.”
TO SUPPORT US FINANCIALLY ONLINE Give To The Micheals Securely Online Here VISIT OUR WEB SITE: Our Micheals Web Site Here