Greetings,
What a hope we have! Even in the darkest times, we see the light of Christ shining through and His Church reflecting that light and hope. I want to encourage you to read the following stories from personal friends and colleagues who direct the work of Alliance Organizations in Romania, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary. They are all deeply involved in ministering to the 100s of thousands of Ukrainians pouring over their borders. Our Alliance Organizations in these countries are small, but they are giving it everything they’ve got and are working in collaboration with many other organizations and local churches. Their untiring efforts, unity, flexibility, and creativity are examples to us all as they honor God by serving others.
We are not able to share all that we hear from our organizations in this part of the world. But we do want to share what we can and encourage you to pray with us for all who are involved and who feel the impact of current events. As you read these articles and as you pray, you will want to note the signs of hope—more churches and organizations working together than ever before, an outpouring of generosity of material goods, time, facilities, etc. And what a joy to read of the Deaf church reaching out in support of the Ukrainian Deaf, and the Roma church ministering to the Roma of Ukraine…there was a time we barely dared dream of a Roma church!
https://www.wycliffe.net/news/
With God nothing is impossible and with God, good will come from what man intends for evil.
Since this is our first letter of the year, we have a bit of catching up to do! At the end of November, I took my first long distance trip (not counting two trips to meet with colleagues in Mexico) since Covid shut-downs. It was an intense week, meeting about future structures and strategies with our Executive Director and three other colleagues from our leadership team. It was wonderful to meet face-to-face. The four of us who had flown in for the event found it difficult to leave…seriously difficult. The day before we were scheduled to leave, the news of the new Covid strain was announced…in South Africa…and shut-downs hit once again. It was another week before I could get a flight out. But we were all well cared for and in good company at our hotel. I could have done without the 40+ hours online and on the phone trying to get a flight out, but it was still all worthwhile.
Christmas arrived quickly after my week’s delay getting home. We greatly enjoyed having Kate and Jordan and the kids with us this year. Such fun! Other family news: we are all (Tom and I, Kate and Jordan and crew, and Josh and Heather and crew) going to Tennessee to see my parents later in April. We are excited about the whole family being together. My parents are doing well. Like much of the world, they had a bout with Omicron a few months ago, but came through fine. Mother is teaching a Bible study every two weeks at their retirement complex, so she is in her element! Daddy is eagerly getting back to some gardening.
Our biggest family news is that Josh and Heather and their girls are moving…to Williamsburg! Just 40 minutes from us! Such a lovely surprise none of us had dared imagine. They will finally have their own home and we are so thrilled they found it out here. We’ve seen the house twice, but they won’t see it until they actually move in June. Pray for good transitions.
Tom is busy and weary, as usual! He’s still juggling his Wycliffe web work and his part-time maintenance guy job. He was able to take a few weeks off the maintenance work so he could work on a couple of our own much-needed repair jobs! We made good progress in the kitchen and he’s been working long and hard on the complete redo of the upstairs bath. We are not there yet, but he had to go back to his other job again this week. Pray for much-needed stamina and that at some point he will be able to quit the second job…and that we will finish our current projects. We are getting a pretty steady flow of houseguests again and would like to serve them well.
We were privileged to host two work colleagues for a few days…in person, not on Zoom! Phil Prior, from the UK, who took on my former role in Communication, and Jim Killam, from Illinois, who serves as the primary journalist for the Alliance. We had good meetings and some fun as well, meeting up with former colleagues, Dawn and Nate Kruger, who now also live in Virginia.
There have been several highlights in my work this past month. I sat in on (via Zoom) a week of orientation and interaction with some of our newest Alliance Organization leaders. It was energizing to see their hearts for service, their enthusiasm for serving together, and their willingness to learn. There were about 18 leaders from approx. 15 countries.
Another highlight was a week in a Collaboration Consultation (also on Zoom). 10 Alliance leaders, from 10 countries, spent several hours each morning (well, morning in my time zone) thinking and talking about what it looks like to serve in community and collaboration in a global context. It is wonderful to see so much evidence of God at work through His people around the world.
We appreciate your ongoing prayers for the ministry of Bible translation around the world, for those serving in challenging situations, as well as for our family and our ongoing service. We are so grateful for you. We pray for you, that you will know Christ’s presence, grow in grace among His people, and walk this world in hope as a reflection of His light and an example of His love.
Tom and Susan
The soon-to-be Williamsburg crew
(on their most recent
visit here)
Aurélie 7, Wynnie10
The New York crew—Jude 6, Chloe 2, Winslow 7, Noah 5
