Dear Friends,
Welcome
to 2024! It is reassuring to know God has placed us here with purpose and
promise. We rejoice in participating with Him in His mission, in benefitting
from His gift of His Son and His Spirit, and enjoying His many
blessings---family, friends, the beauty of life and creation all around us.
Not that it
is all sunshine and flowers. There are hard times, difficult days, challenging
conversations and relationships in many of our lives. Some of you shared those
things with us in your Christmas letters. We appreciate knowing how to pray for
you. We do pray for you! And we rejoice in counting you among our fellow
travelers on this journey.
We have had a
good year and look forward to what God has in this new year. There are some
changes ahead; there always are! But first, a few highlights:
2023 took me
(Susan) to Malaysia, the Netherlands, Romania, and South Africa for stimulating
meetings and good fellowship with Wycliffe Global Alliance Leadership Team
colleagues and other Alliance leaders. Tom and I went to Guatemala for Americas
Area meetings and Orlando for meetings at the Wycliffe US office. We also made
several visits to Tennessee (my parents are doing well). And I fit in a visit
or two to our New York family as I was coming and going overseas. We had a Van
Wynen family reunion at our house this summer, and for the first time in ten
years had both Josh and Heather's family and Kate and Jordan and crew at our
house for Christmas. We love having Josh and Heather and the girls living near
us. And we are rejoicing in Kate and Jordan's expectation of a baby boy in
April this year!
There is also
much to celebrate in the Bible translation movements. You can check out
Wycliffe.net for more details and for the latest statistics.
A key theme these days is the church on the move. As the Alliance has grown, we
now have many organizations that are churches, denominations, and church
movements directly involved in Bible translation. All over the world, we are
hearing stories of regional church groups saying, "We will take on the
challenge of the remaining language groups in our area!" And together, we
work to ensure everyone is well-equipped, trained, and able to move forward.
Here’s one example of how we see God at work:
Hard times
and difficult days have certainly come to Cameroon. Violence and socio-political
upheaval are tearing apart the fabric of this African nation. But in the midst
of it, there is much rejoicing as nine New Testament translations were recently
completed and are being used by God to change lives. How has this been possible
in a seemingly impossible context? You can read more and watch first-hand
interviews at https://www.wycliffe.net/special-report-cameroon/
Back in our own
context…we want to let you know that Tom plans to retire later this year. We
both turn 70 (how is that possible?!) in August and September. Tom's role in
tech support for the Americas Area is winding down, so the timing seems ideal.
Getting Social Security support will significantly help us, as probably a third
of our faithful supporters have gone to be with the Lord in recent years (my
parents are the last of that generation still partnering with us!). As most of
you know, Tom picked up extra outside jobs for a while. I now have occasional
outside work. At this stage of our life and ministry, trying to develop a lot
of new support didn't seem appropriate, so we have managed, and God has
provided! I had initially considered retiring from Wycliffe at the end of 2024,
but our Executive Director has asked me to stay on as his advisor, and I've
agreed. I am happy to continue serving.
We don't know
all the details yet. We will give you more information as we learn how all this
works. What next? Well, Tom has a million house projects and interests, of
course. And we are both involved in our church community. Tom could probably
work full-time just helping the young guys with their house projects and the
older folks with their house repair needs! Beyond that, we will see how the
Lord leads.
For those of
you who are able and willing, it is possible to continue to give to our support
through Wycliffe with the funds going into our pension account. We have never
been required to have more than one of us working full-time, but we have both
worked full-time for many years. But as of this August, Tom plans to retire,
and I plan to keep going as God enables. We are so grateful for His provision
through so many of you! Let us know if you have any questions regarding this
transition.
As for this
year, we will, Lord willing, travel together for meetings in Colombia this
summer. I have meetings in Ethiopia at the end of this month, then meetings
later in the year in Romania and South Africa. Our quadrennial Global Gathering
(canceled in 2020 because of Covid) will be a significant event in South Africa
in November. Not all activities require travel, of course. I'm also busy with a
series of ZOOM conferences focusing on the journey concept with the Americas
Area, developing a number of documents to help our organizations, and working
on a new collaborative book project.
Speaking of
books, I just received word before Christmas that The Journey Concept is
officially published. This is the book I've been working on for the Alliance,
based on my PhD research. It's published by Regnum in England.
https://www.regnumbooks.net/products/the-journey-concept?_pos=1&_sid=a11edddf4&_ss=r
Anyone can order the e-book now; the paperback will be available through a US
publisher (Fortress Press) and on the US Amazon site in a few months. I'll keep
you posted! Please pray that this book will glorify God and be a blessing to
many, particularly church and organization leaders.
And again,
thank you so much for your prayers and support!
Tom and Susan
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Little Women have arrived
Beatrice helps decorate
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Performance of original Little Women play
Chloe(4), Wynnie(12), Aurelie(9),
Winslow(9), Jude(8), Noah(6), Beatrice(1)
Chloe, Winslow, Jude, Noah belong to Kate and Jordan
Wynnie, Aurelie and Beatrice belong to Josh and Heather
Jude and Noah at Busch Gardens Christmas Town
Jude building his race car
