Augusta "Gussie" Marie (Thiessen) Baum, 81, passed away peacefully with her children by her bedside at the Kansas City Hospice House on October 28, 2009, in Kansas City  Mo. She was born in Buhler, Kansas, on December 3, 1927. While she worked as a pediatric nurse at Children's Mercy Hospital she attended Kansas City Bible College. She graduated in 1952 and went to the Philippines as a pediatric nurse with the International Christian Leprosy Mission. She was married in 1955 and joined her husband, Wilhelm, "Bill", serving in Japan and Germany until 1980 with SEND International. She was preceded in death by her husband. She is survived by a daughter, Mary Esther and her husband Mark of Japan; a son, Timothy and his wife Denise of Pennsylvania; six grandchildren; a brother she adored, Abe Thiessen of Inman, Kansas, and a sister-in-law, Charlotte Frank of Overland Park, Kansas. The memorial service will be held on Sunday, November 1, at 3 p.m. at Woods Chapel Bible Fellowship*, 701 NW Woods Chapel Rd.  Blue Springs, Mo.,  Visitation begins at 1:45 p.m.

*Tel. 816-228-1411   Directions: http://www.woodschapelonline.org/Contact/Contact%20Us.htm

Mark is in Dallas for the next three weeks, along with three Japanese Deaf people from ViBi. With us are Deaf translators from Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, Finland, and the U.S. First is BT2009, a major Bible Translation conference, which runs from Friday night until Tuesday. Saturday was pretty intense. Mark was the only JSL interpreter for back-to-back workshop and general sessions all day. Today (Sunday) was a bit of a break, but Monday and Tuesday will be non-stop again, so pray for clarity and stamina. After that will be two plus weeks of training workshops aimed specifically at Deaf translators. We’ve already seen wonderful learning and cross-pollination of ideas between the translation projects, and look forward to more to come.

Pray for stamina for Mark; even when he's not interpreting, he's still working hard to decipher the mix of international sign and ASL (American Sign Language) in which all the Deaf participants are communicating. Pray too for breakthroughs in translation skills and vision for our Deaf team, and all those attending.

·         Scripture Engagement Conference brings new info and vision to Deaf Pastor Matsumoto

·         Mary Esther's mom's health is failing.  Mary Esther leaves for KC this week.  

·         14 More Wheelchairs to clean and send

Thank you for praying. The international conference on Scripture Engagement was both exhausting and refreshing at the same time. The sessions themselves were all incredibly enlightening, both the large group gatherings and the smaller topical workshops. Then Deaf group interaction with the material brought it together with our particular situations in the Deaf world.  Pastor Matsumoto came away with a whole new vision for connecting the Deaf community of Japan with the Word of God—ideas for how to bring the Living Word to life in a living Deaf community using the JSL translation. Much of the day I was either interpreting English to JSL (or reversed when Pastor Matsumoto was talking), or struggling on the margins of international sign and ASL (American Sign Language) while the Deaf group was alone.  In addition to that, we thank God for opportunities to interact with funding organizations.

That was the exhausting and exciting part. At the same time, though, we were encountering the Word in new ways in our own lives, not just thinking about how to engage others. Temporary though they were,  our mini-communities formed around the Word in various contexts brought connections that were particularly refreshing. The Holy Spirit worked through the Word of God and the people of God to bring me personal healing and renewal, and again, I thank you for your part in prayer.

On the home front, we are facing still another period of loss. Mary Esther’s mother’s health is failing, and all of her caregivers recommend that we return soon to say our last goodbyes. Please pray that we will know God’s strong, comforting presence during this time.

Mark writes:

On a lighter note—Mary Esther couldn’t meet me at the airport this time. She just picked up 14 wheelchairs that are filling every spare inch of our van and I didn’t feel like holding a carry-on and a backpack on my lap the whole way home! Praise God for more chairs to clean. The influx was starting to get a little sparse for a while.