Mark and Ana Willis

Davao City, Philippines

Mark was born and raised in Atlanta, GA and became a Christian at the age of twenty. In 1983, he became a member of Wycliffe Bible Translators and was assigned to work in Guatemala, Central America, to do Bible translation work among the Ixil (ee-SHEEL) people in the town of Chajul (chah-HOOL), one of the many Mayan groups in the country. In 1999 he completed an Old Testament summary (about 35% of the OT) for this dialect and it is currently undergoing a revision before it is finally published.

Ana Celina was born and raised in El Salvador, Central America, and became a Christian at the age of seventeen. She graduated in 1990 with a medical degree (general practice) from an evangelical university in El Salvador. Mark and Ana met in Guatemala in 1989 and were married there in 1991. Ana’s ministry in Chajul was to help establish a medical clinic as well as train local health promoters. Before leaving Guatemala she turned the administration of the clinic over to local leadership.

The Willis family also worked with SIL in Peru from 2003-2005, doing mostly administrative work.  From 2005-2008, they lived and worked in the Atlanta area doing recruitment work for Wycliffe. During this time, they began attending Grace Community Church.

In July 2008, Mark and Ana Celina and their daughter, Ana Elizabeth (born 7-4-95), began a new assignment with Faith Academy of Mindanao in Davao City (southern) Philippines.  Ana Celina teaches a Cultural Heritage course to the Hispanic children that attend the school.  Mark teaches high school ESL, Spanish and is also the guidance counselor.  Ana Elizabeth is currently a junior at Faith and is scheduled to graduate in May 2013.

Contact: Mark_Willis@Wycliffe.org