Grace Thiessen

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GRACE THIESSEN

Grace was born on July 16, 1948 to Jacob and Marie Thiessen. She was the eldest of three children. Grace spent the early years of her life enjoying the outdoors and playing with cousins on a mink ranch near Giroux, Manitoba. The family moved to Steinbach, Manitoba following the death of her father.

Grace set the direction for her life when she was 16 by acknowledging Jesus as her Saviour and Lord. She was baptized and became a member of the Evangelical Mennonite Church in Steinbach. After high school she studied at the Grace Bible Institute in Omaha, Nebraska. This was followed by two years at the University of Manitoba to obtain a teaching certificate. She then taught school in Blumenort, Manitoba from 1972 to 1974. She decided to serve God in a more full time way by going to the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) jungle centre in Bolivia to teach missionary children from 1974 to 1976. While there she became interested in Bible translation and decided to make a career change.

She went to the University of North Dakota to study linguistics in 1976 and became a member of the Wycliffe Bible Translators. She earned a Master’s degree in 1978 from the University of Texas. In 1979, after 6 months of studying Spanish in Costa Rica, she and Joan Smith, a colleague linguist and nurse, were assigned by SIL to work as a team with the Yareni Zapotecs in Oaxaca, Mexico. This marked the start of the adventure of a life time. Marilyn Valverde joined their team to work on a second Zapotec dialect in 1997.

Grace considered it a privilege to work with the Zapotec people. It was fun for her to learn to speak Zapotec, humbling to be accepted into their lives and culture, and very satisfying to be part of the team translating God’s Word into their heart language. It was definitely an uphill battle getting the Zapotecs to appreciate the scriptures in their own language. She felt stretched almost to breaking point at times but God was always faithful to her. After 35 years of this labour of love, the translation of the New Testament into the Yareni Zapotec language is now being prepared for printing with only a few remaining hurdles to clear.

Grace passed away on April 19, 2014 after a short illness. She is survived by her brothers Waldie (Kimie) and Lee (Mei), and her nieces and nephew Seilla, Rei and Emily. Grace was a special person who had the ability to touch and connect with people – she also leaves behind a big family of other relatives and friends in Canada, the USA, Mexico and beyond.

A memorial service will be held at the Evangelical Mennonite Church, 422 Main Street, Steinbach, MB at 11 a.m. on May 9, 2014 to celebrate her life.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Wycliffe Bible Translators, available at the service or sent to: 4316 10th St. NE Calgary, AB T2E 6K3, designated to (FAZP53 Aloapam Zapotec Account) of the Mexico branch to finish the translation of the Aloapam Zapotec New Testament.

"The joy of the Lord is my strength." Nehemiah 8:10

As published in The Carillon on Apr 22, 2014