December 2020

Dear Friends,

As with most of 2020, the weeks blurred together and went quickly. This started as a pre-Thanksgiving letter but didn’t get my full attention until Thanksgiving was past. So now we bring you greetings for the Christmas season! The Good News shared by the angels so long ago, continues to spread around all the earth. Each day, there is good news for us, for the whole world! Each day Christ brings light to the darkness, hope to the hopeless, rest to the weary, salvation to the sinner.  Restoration and renewal, grace and peace, all these are the good gifts, the good news our loving heavenly Father bestows through His Son. We can and we will celebrate, worship, and witness His glory displayed.

Each moment of life is a gift of grace, including all of our everyday moments. Tom continues his work as tech consultant with Wycliffe Americas Area. One set of his Zoom meetings often starts at 6:30 a.m. (one of his colleagues is a Latin American living in Germany), another starts at 4 p.m. and sometimes stretches far into dinner time…which fortunately is very flexible in our house! The Americas team is a close group that’s been very intentional about connecting well and often during these challenging times.  We continue to be so encouraged by what we see God doing in and through his people in the Americas…and the rest of the world! If you haven’t checked out our Wycliffe Global Alliance website https://www.wycliffe.net or the Wycliffe USA website https://www.wycliffe.org/videos recently, be sure to do so. You, too, will be encouraged and reminded that there is a whole lot more going on than what the news media tells you!

Tom also continues to work three to four days a week for Eastern Virginia Services, a company that does maintenance for a rental agency’s clients. Tom cleans drains (finding an interesting assortment of items therein!), installs smoke alarms, mends fences, resets toilets, hangs blinds, wrestles garage doors, you name it! Working two jobs is tiring, as you can imagine or may have experienced. But we are grateful for God’s provision including jobs, energy, and the ability to keep paying our mortgage.  We are so privileged to serve with Wycliffe, but we also recognize that there are many means of ministering…including clearing a distraught family’s drain! We recognize that God provides for our needs directly, through our labor, and through His people. So that includes you, our ministry supporters, and our friend from church who hired Tom. For those who may not be aware, there have been two major factors requiring us to pursue this extra work. One, we purchased our current home a few years ago so my parents could live here with us. But their house in Tennessee never sold, so we are left with extra financial needs.   And two, we have had such a faithful ministry support base all these years, for which we are so grateful! But we have seen our support decrease as a fairly large percentage of our supporters are now elderly, plus a number of them have already gone to be with the Lord. So, you can see why we are grateful for you and for Tom’s extra job.

As of October 1, I’ve graduated from U. of Pretoria, SA, with a Ph.D. in Religion and Theology. There was no graduation ceremony, virtual or otherwise, but I did receive a non-virtual diploma in the mail, so it’s official . It has been a joy to focus on these studies and I am continuing to see how they can contribute to my usefulness in ministry. Much of my research was based on a survey of more than seventy, mostly Wycliffe Global Alliance, leaders from around the world. I learned so much! The main idea behind my studies was to look at the concept of a journey as having the potential to be a more multicultural, theologically and missiologically based foundation for Christian organizations and churches as they consider strategy and planning.  Reflecting on our journey and discerning how we can participate in God’s mission, helps us develop our missional intent.

I’ve appreciated your prayers during the past few years and I’d appreciate your prayers now as I get more deeply involved again in the day-to-day thinking and activities of the Alliance. I’m seeking God’s wisdom and am also getting input from my colleagues to see how I can best serve and continue to put the research to use. I’ve been helping our former Executive Director with the writing and editing of a history book on the Alliance, as requested of him by our Board. Seems hard to believe, but I’m the only one left on the leadership team who was in it from the beginning twelve years ago!   I’ve also been working with our new Executive Director, with Wycliffe Americas Area, am starting some work with Europe Area, and will also be part of a steering committee for a new research forum on the future of missions sponsored by the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies ocms.ac.uk. I’ll keep you posted! In the meantime, if anyone needs bedtime reading or has actual interest in my thesis topic, I’d be happy to send you a copy. Or if you want something much briefer, my requisite article on a related topic, “Leading in the certainty of uncertain times”,  was published and is available online at https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/6114. Even though I started this article at the beginning of the year, the topic has ended up being even more timely than I’d imagined!

Our family is doing well. Josh’s crew has been in and out of school depending on the COVID restrictions. But they are in good health, keeping up with their schoolwork, and currently enjoying being home. Heather, who teaches at their school is also making the most of her time at home. Kate’s crew continues to thrive and grow. We were able to visit them in September for Chloe’s first birthday. That was a great treat, especially considering the ever-changing city and state rulings on travel, etc. We were fortunate to have had an open window right at that time! My parents are also doing well and have been happy to be able to return to church recently. My mom had really been missing her friends. November 17 my parents celebrated their 68^th wedding anniversary! We are so thankful for them and for God’s graciousness to them over all these years.

My studies focused on the topic of “journey.” While most of us are traveling less than ever before, we are still on a journey. How is your journey going? How would you describe it this week, this year?  Is the road riddled with potholes? Do the waves seem overwhelming? Does the wind threaten to blow you off course? Or, perhaps you feel like you are going in circles! Whatever you are feeling, we still have the knowledge of Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

Author Sinclair Ferguson talks about the context of this text, the history of God’s people. He references their “pilgrimage to the heavenly Zion, typified by the exodus-wilderness-wanderings-entrance into the Promised Land experience of the Old Testament saints” and the pattern and principle wherein God calls His people to “’Follow My leader’ (Moses, Joshua, and others)… from the darkness of the Egyptian past, through the struggles of their present pilgrimage, and into the blessing of the Promised Land.”  Ferguson goes on to talk about the three dimensions of their faith: living on the basis of God’s Word given yesterday, living as His redeemed people in the present, and certain that He would keep His promises forever. Always, then and now, God’s people keep their eyes fixed on the person of Christ Himself. Redeemer, Restorer, our cause for rejoicing…Always! Soon we will be celebrating His birth. This season is always a cause for rejoicing regardless of what is going on in the world around us. May God richly bless you and may you find yourselves drawn closer to Him during the Christmas season. Let us know how we can be praying for you. We keep you in our prayers and are so grateful for you.

Tom and Susan

June 2020

Dear Friends and Family,

We are grateful to be writing you in good health and peaceful surroundings at this point! We pray for each of you, that you may also be safe and well. But regardless of our circumstances, it is God’s peace and presence for which we are most grateful!

As always, we want to thank you for your prayers and support. Tom has been busy working on the MiComunidad/MyCommunity site to help Wycliffe America organizations to collaborate and be informed, on generating reports from the Organizational Development tools, and organizing IT functions. He is also working an extra 20 hours a week for a friend from church, doing maintenance for houses and apartments. So there’s not time for much else! We dream of road trips and other travel, and especially of seeing family and friends. We hope and pray that day will come again, and that we will have the space and time to travel as well as the freedom from the current restrictions. I’m sure many of you have similar feelings!

I am getting back into more of my “normal” work with our Wycliffe Global Alliance leadership team. Our new executive director has asked me to continue as strategy consultant. Last week was the handover to the new director, Stephen Coertze, and we said farewell to Kirk Franklin after 12 ½ years under his excellent leadership. We are a very close team, so it is hard to do all this by Zoom. Online is not the same as in-person. We no longer have jetlag, but there is Zoom fatigue for those who have many meetings, and there are still challenges in bridging time zones. But we are grateful for the technology! Because Stephen has been a part of our team for a number of years, the transition is much smoother than it might be otherwise. It will be a privilege to serve under his leadership. Do keep Stephen and his family in your prayers during this rather unusual season. It’s not an easy time to come into a new role. You can watch a brief video about the transition on www.wycliffe.net.

Stephen and Kirk were the key encouragers who helped persuade me to pursue a PhD on behalf of the Alliance. I have been grateful for their support. I just received word this week that my dissertation was approved by all three examiners and that no changes are needed. I’m not sure what all else needs to happen, but it appears I am getting close to the finish line. Kind of hard to believe!

We recently conducted a survey of the Alliance Organizations to get a better idea of how the Covid-19 situation is affecting them and to help them begin to articulate what their world might look like into the next few years. The results were surprisingly positive. Not just hopeful, but also positive in their current situations and contexts. Although online meetings are no substitute for face-to-face, they are a great blessing at this time and do have advantages. Our organizational leaders said they are connecting more often and are able to be more inclusive. There is better attendance for online consultations and meetings because no one is hindered by conflicting travel schedules, budgets, etc. There has been an increase in collaborative efforts, prayer, and relationship building among organizations and with churches. Bible translation work continues, sometimes more effectively than before without as many outside distractions, sometimes with hindrances such as having to connect with consultants long-distance rather than face-to-face in the community. Many teams have also been active in the translation of Covid-19 health warnings and resources, a critical contribution at this time!

We are seeing God at work, everywhere, as always! It is not that our colleagues are without hardships, but they are sensing God’s presence, learning new ways of working, and trusting Him for what they cannot understand. These are good practices for all of us…all the time! We do hear of a number of pastors around the world who are struggling just to feed their families. Their churches are closed, and their congregations are also in subsistence mode. Please keep the worldwide church in your prayers. Pray, too, for all those living where natural disasters or civil unrest make their current context even more challenging. This, of course, includes people here in the U.S. as well as around the world. 

Our family is doing well. Thank you for keeping them in your prayers. Our youngest grandchild, Chloe, is already crawling! The others are also growing and give us much joy as we watch them (virtually, at the moment) mature and share their wonder and creativity. My dad joins Mother this month in reaching the age of 88! Our house projects continue. We were especially grateful to be able to get most of the new roof we needed, thanks to friends and family! Thank you! No more leaks or Tom on the roof doing emergency tar patches! Now to repair ceilings. Thank you again for all your encouragement, prayers, and support. We pray for each of you. Let us know how you are doing!

Chloe is 8 months old!

Noah, Winslow, Jude

Aurelie's house needs no roof

Wynnie, the bird lover, in her nest

Our new roof

April 2020

Dear Friends,
“He himself is before all things and all things are held together in him.” (Col 1:17)
Oh, the riches! Have you noticed how many different Scripture verses and passages friends, colleagues, pastors, and family members are sharing right now? It’s not like there is just one place we can turn in our Bibles to find comfort, encouragement, and a reminder of God’s presence. It’s woven all throughout Scripture. Which, of course, reminds me of all those who don’t know the Lord and all those who don’t have access to the wonderful treasures of His Word.
As we hear reports from around the world, much translation work does continue, though many workshops, meetings and training courses have had to be cancelled. One of the great blessings of this era is that so much translation is being done by the people from the language communities. Imagine how eager they are to provide the life-giving Word in these times of trial. May we be as eager to spend time in that Word! You can access some of the latest prayer information at
https://www.wycliffe.net/resources/prayer/
We are thinking of you and praying for you. May you draw closer to God during this season and may you also draw closer to family and friends, whether they are “locked up” with you or far away. There is much good that can come of these difficult times. It is most certainly a time to be grateful that faith and hope are gifts from the Lord, not something we are responsible to manufacture!
Oddly enough, our lives have not changed all that much. We work from home anyhow, and I’d been doing less traveling this past year or so while in my study program. So, what’s changed? More Zoom meetings (although the Colorado grand girls have even more Zoom meetings than we do as that’s now part of their school routine!), no travel, and I’m now part of a Wycliffe Global Alliance crisis monitoring team. Tom continues his work with Wycliffe Americas Area and connects with his colleagues several times a week. He was able to quit his Starbucks job at the end of January, but continues working with our friend’s maintenance company. We are grateful he is now only working in empty houses and apartments, readying them for the next tenants.
I turned in my dissertation the same week we went into lock-down and just a week before South Africa locked down. So, my paper may be in limbo between me and the examiners, but it is out of my hands! I still have some related paperwork to do and an accompanying article to write this month. I’d been looking forward to getting away from my desk a bit more (at least on weekends) and doing exotic things like going out for coffee and to prowl the second hand stores for clothes for Kate’s kids. But it was not to be!   At least I am well-practiced in hunkering. I am, however, starting to get back into more activity (virtually, of course) with our Alliance leadership team. This is a crucial year for many reasons, including a change of executive directors. As you can imagine, few things are able to go as planned!
We are holding my parents captive. They are doing well and staying home. They miss their small outings for shopping and the occasional meal, but we are keeping them well stocked with groceries. Daddy is happy to be back out in the yard again now that the weather is warming up a bit. The man actually likes to weed, hurrah! I did not inherit that trait. And Mother is on repeat #? of most of the jigsaw puzzles we own. She has also been doing a bit of sewing and has written notes to all her Sunday school class.
House projects are gearing up a bit, though we don’t really have any additional free time. But we keep working on things little by little. The major blow for us just before Covid-19 became everyone’s big news, was finding out we need a new roof (which we suspected. Tom has been patching since we moved in and we have had several leaks in several rooms). We have a large, old house that was neglected for years and that has been added on to several times, so the roof is a bit crazy as well as in need of new shingles. We have a good roofing company we trust. They did our last house here (sigh) so we have confidence in his estimate. A friend from church has offered to pay a good-sized chunk, and we’ve had two other gifts that will help. Unexpected and undeserved generosity! So, we are at last half way there. Thanks for praying with us about this need.
In the meantime, we are grateful to have a home and a roof at all! We know many people around the world do not enjoy the benefits we have. It’s important to remember them especially in this challenging season. Let us know how you are doing! We do so appreciate you, your friendship, encouragement, and support. Hasn’t it been amazing to see the unity of God’s people as we connect during this time of distancing! We are blessed to be part of the Body and pray we can be a blessing to others. How can we pray for you?
We appreciate your prayers! My parents are in the very high-risk age and health group, so in this household we are the “kids”. But we realize we are also at higher risk than some.   We are praying especially though for our kids. Even the Colorado bunch is not beyond the reach of the virus, and our New York bunch is in the very thick of it. Please pray for them! And that we will all grow in our willingness to truly trust the Lord!
Our pastor read Psalm 126 this evening (We did drive-in church. I couldn’t help but connect how our desire to get out of our cars and fellowship…which we didn’t do…is just a small taste of what our desire for heaven should be. And when, Lord willing, we can meet again face-to-face, what a lovely little taste of heaven that will be!). As you read Psalm 126 picture that day when we can “laugh loudly and shout for joy” and how even now we can proclaim, “The Lord did indeed accomplish great things for us.” We stand in the shadow of a pandemic, but also in the shadow of the cross and the stone that was rolled away. May God fill you with His joy this Easter season and in the coming months ahead. 

January 2020

Dear Friends,
That fleeting moment for getting Christmas cards out in a timely, or untimely manner, passed me by. But we now write in hope of catching the fleeting moment that bridges the years, old and new. 2020, wow. We remember well when we thought the year 2000 was momentous, and here we are 20 years later?! But then, every year is momentous and every moment a gift of grace from the God who sustains us.
2019 brought many blessings. The one that first comes to mind came on September 25 in the person of Chloe Mae Roberts, born to Kate and Jordan and welcomed by her three siblings and the rest of us. The whole family enjoyed surprising my parents on Christmas Day, arriving for a few days’ visit to enjoy the holidays with us and introduce Chloe to my mom and dad (Tom and I had the privilege of meeting her earlier, the day she was born, in New York.). We are grateful the Roberts clan is doing well, though often dealing with the ups and downs of cold, coughs, and the other trials of kid-life.  Josh and Heather and their girls are also doing well. We had the privilege of visiting them in Colorado over Thanksgiving and were able to take in Grandparents’ Day at the girls’ school.
My parents continue to enjoy life next door to us (in an attached apartment) and are in good health for their late 80s. Mother has been doing some sewing and enjoys puzzles and reading. Daddy enjoys reading as well (we found some good sea stories for him!) and he contributes greatly to the well-being of our yard when weather allows. They are also very happy in their church and participated in some of the holiday events there.
Tom and I are busy as always…or actually, busier. In addition to his Wycliffe role (more on that in a moment) he has taken on a second job to help us keep a roof over our heads! As some of you may recall, we purchased a larger house almost two years ago so my parents could live with us. Some of you gave us extra help financially at that time (thank you again!) which enabled us to make the down payment and get moved. Our other house (which was fully paid for) sold and with those funds and our retirement funds we were able to get into this house. But my parents’ house in Tennessee still has not sold and that was the other part of the funding equation. Mortgage payments, increased taxes and higher utility bills make it impossible to get by on our regular support.  So…in October, Tom took a part-time (20+ hours a week) job at Starbucks. And now, in January he will be switching jobs to work part-time for a friend from church. It has been quite an adventure! Tom can tell you more.
Hi, Tom here.  Starbucks has been an adventure and a financial lifesaver given our housing costs, the junction of our Medicare switch with its upfront costs, plus our usual end of summer lower income had us really struggling. I did not know if Starbucks would hire an old guy, but they did, and I have enjoyed the interactions with my co-workers and the customers.  One major thing I learned is how hard the work is. There is no down time; it is constant motion to keep things going. My schedule has been very erratic as well, which makes it hard to get into a rhythm. When I shared with our church small group that I had started at Starbucks, one of the guys expressed interest in having me work for him instead, in his rental property maintenance company.  That type of work is what I had thought of doing first, but did not know how to get started. So in a week I will wind down my Starbucks job and start organizing my tools for a new venture with better pay and fewer, more predictable hours.
I am also still working full-time for Wycliffe, and am grateful for flexible hours. I will be transitioning from running the Global Alliance website (the new site is supposed to launch January 16, I am involved in closing down the old systems). I am moving to work with the Americas section of the Global Alliance, helping with several technical projects, including a WordPress community training website and a reporting system. After 12 years on the Alliance site, a change will probably be good.
Susan here again. I continue in my role with the Wycliffe Global Alliance leadership team and at this time my main focus is on finishing my doctoral studies! (which is why Christmas cards just didn’t happen). It’s just a few months before my thesis and all its accompaniments have to be completed!  It has been a joy and a privilege to do these studies and I look forward to how God may use this work to His glory. The goal has been to explore how a journey concept can be a better, more theologically and missiologically sound, approach to strategic thinking and planning. Much of what I am working on is already applied in our Wycliffe Global Alliance team, so it is exciting to watch it develop further. In a few weeks, Tom and I will be going to meetings in Mexico City. Tom will have the opportunity to meet with others from the team he’s now joined and I will be helping the Americas Area leadership think through a new approach to their strategic thinking. It’s great to be working on academics that have real-life applications!
Our ministry with the Alliance is informed and enriched by ongoing consideration of God’s mission. As we grow in our understanding of what it means to participate with God in His mission, rather than thinking “we” have a mission, or a “task,” to accomplish for God, so much changes in our attitudes, thinking, and behavior. As we see more and more people in the Alliance and in churches reflecting on what it means to be part of God’s mission, one of the things I enjoy most is seeing how people start taking notice of what God has done and is doing, rather than primarily focusing on what they think needs doing! We want to acknowledge a need (the world does need Jesus!), however, it is easy to get stuck in certain thought patterns, activities and programs. But we have seen many changes and we are certainly seeing God at work growing and teaching the Church worldwide.
One of those “stuck” thought patterns comes from forgetting, or not knowing, how God is working through His people all over the world. You’ve probably heard the idea that missions is not “the West to the rest” but “everyone to everywhere” (all of God’s people living and proclaiming the Gospel wherever they are). This is possible because of the growth of the worldwide Church. 
Perhaps you’ve already made some of these transitions, but see if any of these ideas might help you, your family, and church as you pray for the spreading of God’s Word and your involvement in His mission.

·         When you pray for people in countries primarily under the influence of other major religions, pray for the ministry of the Church already in that country. Example: Although Christians are a minority in Indonesia, they are still 20-30 MILLION strong. There are 12 Indonesian organizations in the Wycliffe Global Alliance working to bring God’s Word to their minority language communities. Pray for the Indonesian church and their tremendous impact in all areas of ministry, including Bible translation, and for their impact on their nation as a whole.

·         When you pray for people to be called to share the Gospel, remember every believer is called. Example: John 17

·         When you pray for missionaries, remember they are coming from all over the globe and going all over the globe.   Example: Brazil, South Korea, and India are among the top SENDING nations. (and some of them are sent to reach people in the U.S.). All nations can be both senders and receivers of those who live and proclaim the Gospel.

·         God has scattered the nations. Sharing the Gospel isn’t about crossing borders, it’s about sharing the Gospel. Example: There may be people from a “difficult access” country now living in your neighborhood.

Watch and listen to discover what God is doing. Pray, read God’s Word, and reflect on how He wants you to participate with Him. Our God is amazing, all-powerful, all-knowing, and totally in control.
We appreciate your support, your ongoing prayers, and your friendship. We especially appreciate your prayers as Tom is working this second job. We want our faith (and Tom’s stamina!) to increase and we seek to discern what God is doing in our lives and want to respond in ways that honor and glorify Him. And, as always, we cherish your prayers for all our family and for the ongoing ministry of Bible translation.  May you sense God’s presence and strength as we move together into 2020! 

Josh and Heather with Wynnie and Aurélie

Kate and Jordan Roberts with Noah, Winslow, Jude and Chloe

Susan with Chloe Mae Roberts  September 25, 2019