Kent Allen Wistrand

Kent Allen Wistrand was born May 7, 1929 in Chicago, Illinois to Elmer and Elsie Wistrand. The family lived in Chicago, IL and Missouri areas. Eventually the family moved to Houston in 1939. Kent graduated from San Jacinto High School.

Kent went to University of Houston 2 years and then to Dallas Bible Institute. He was drafted into the Army and deployed to Korea during the Korean conflict. He was involved in the heavy fighting in the artillery.

Kent worked for Camp Peniel in Houston. While attending Minnetex Community Church in Houston, Kent met Mary Lou Lett. In 1958 -1959 both attended a Summer Institute of Linguistics at University of Oklahoma. They married September 1960 then left for Jungle Training Camp with Wycliffe Bible Translators, Yucatan, Mexico. Kent and Mary Lou ministered in Mexico until her untimely death in 1980. They first served in Puebla state, then Oaxaca and then Guerrero, ministering primarily to Mixteco people.

Kent served in many capacities including starting churches, developing the Mixtec written dialect and then translating the Bible and other materials into Mixteca. He translated the New Testament starting with the Gospel of John and began several other books of the Bible. Kent wrote and printed gospel tracts to give out in the marketplaces. He helped produce the Jesus film in 7 of the local dialects. Annually, Kent would trek up with many other missions organizations to Culiacan in northwestern Mexico to major harvesting fields in order to hand out tracts and share the gospel with the migrant workers.

In 1994, Kent married his high school sweetheart Jane Murray Turner. Her home in La Luz, New Mexico became their homebase. Unfortunately, she passed away in 2006.

Working alone, much of Kent’s focus began to change from evangelistic outreach to primarily helping the Christian believers who were persecuted and forced out of their villages. Providing for their physical needs became a much needed ministry.

After 2020 Kent was not able to return to Mexico after that due to health issues. But he continued to stay in contact with believers in Mexico from everywhere he had worked previously. The Mixteca people were like family to him. He was determined to help them as long as he had breath. In his latter years, Kent attended Temple Bible Church and loved their heart for global missions.

Kent passed away at age 95 in Temple, TX on August 23, 2024. He was preceded in death by his parents, Elmer and Elsie Wistrand; 1st wife Mary Lou and 2nd wife Jane; his siblings Lois Searcy, Lila Robinson, Glen Wistrand. He is survived by step daughter Michelle Whipple, Washington and his sister Barbara Whitman.

Memorial gifts may be made to Camp Peniel (camppeniel.org), Hope Pregnancy Center Inc. (www.hopepc.life), or Temple Bible Church Mexico Missions (templebiblechurch.org).

A visitation for Kent will be held Friday, August 30, 2024 from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM, followed by a Celebration of Life at 2:00pm. Burial will follow at Salado Cemetery.