May 2016

A Sense of Wonder

As usual, I hesitate to speak of meetings, for fear you will skip this section, or, worse yet, fall asleep. But I will continue, nonetheless, in trying to describe to you just how unlike meetings our meetings really are. It seems a worthwhile endeavor because we have seen God at work in ways I have not seen before…and because these “meetings” are really fun!

Wonderful, is an adjective so overused it has nearly lost its very essence. But think again and consider what it is to be full of wonder. We were a wonder-full assembly this past week. I heard one colleague, a Wycliffe  missionary kid like Tom, talk about his "sense of wonder" as he arrived at the Wycliffe Global Gathering. Waiting in the registration line, he realized he was standing next to a man from the Terena people group his parents had gone to work with many years before. The Terena man pulled out his mobile phone and showed him the Terena Scriptures online. God had fulfilled the vision of God's Word in the hands and hearts of the Terena people of Brazil. And provided a way for all to have access!

Another facet of this story is that this Terena man is now one of many indigenous leaders in the global Bible translation movements. That was just one of the wonderful ways God showed how He is bringing the nations to himself. He revealed Himself in many ways in that Thailand hotel this past week. Leaders from more than 80 Wycliffe Global Alliance Organizations gathered. The vast majority are from the global south and east. We are no longer an organization of primarily Westerners. About 10% of the organizations are Indonesian. Quite the statistic considering Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world.  People tend to forget there are also millions of Indonesian Christians! Almost a dozen church denominations were also represented. They, too, are now Wycliffe Global Alliance organizations. This is a very different Wycliffe than the one we knew just a few years ago! We used to have voting organizations (mostly western), non-voting orgs, partner orgs, and guest orgs. Today there are fewer categories but even greater diversity of representation.

Back to the wonder! Worship time included music in many languages. The board chair from Slovakia prayed an ancient Christian Slavic chant and shared how the gospel came to his region many centuries ago. We had an event called the Third Table where participants from each major region of the world gave and received gifts from each cultural region. Gifts like “friendship, relationship,” “servant leadership,” and “hospitality/generosity” were described and embraced by the whole group. The rich discussions of these gifts led to greater understanding and greater intercultural potential for the Alliance. The greater the understanding--the deeper the friendships. The deeper the friendships--the greater the opportunity to display the unity and diversity of the body of Christ. 

Worship time was also spent exploring and reflecting on community. Just as we are blessed to be part of the Alliance community, we are also blessed to be in community with you! It is a privilege to encourage and support one another in prayer and friendship and we are also so grateful for your financial support of this ministry in which we serve.

As my plane prepares to land in Dallas, I'm preparing myself to hit the ground running and rejoin Tom in our packing and moving efforts! Yes, we are moving! After all the house projects and talk of moving, it's now coming together very quickly. We close on our house on Friday, so by next week will be looking for a new home in the Hampton, Virginia area. Hard to believe! We have so many good memories from this house and look forward to making new memories with family and friends in the new house. Thanks for your prayers! We look forward to being closer to Kate and family, to my parents and closer to water...and further from allergies...we hope! We can continue our work from anywhere with Internet and an airport, so are grateful for this opportunity. We will send you our new address when we have one!

Thank you again for your part in ministry with us and with Him,

Susan and Tom Van Wynen

February 2016

“…to those who are called, wrapped in the love of God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ. May mercy, peace, and love be lavished on you!” JUDE 1:1B-2

Jude Raphael Roberts

We’re introducing this letter with words of encouragement from the book of Jude, and we also want to introduce you to our new grandson, Jude Rafael Roberts, born November 13, 2015! God has lavished love on Kate’s family as she and Jordan and newly proclaimed big sister, Winslow (now a year-and-a-half) have joyfully welcomed Jude. They are doing well, making all the usual adjustments and cherishing their darling family and whatever sleep is available in their very busy life as Jordan has begun his third year of seminary in Philadelphia and Kate continues to admirably juggle motherhood and writing and editing work from home.

Josh and Heather, Wynnie and Aurélie are doing well, too. Wynnie, four, is taking ballet again and is full of creative ideas and energy. Aurélie, almost one-and-a-half, is full of smiles and has a twinkle of mischief in her eyes as she trails after her big sister. We are grateful for Skype for staying in touch with both families as we don’t get to visit them as often as we’d like!

Here on the homefront, we are in high gear to get moving…literally. After more than 10 years in Waxahachie, Texas, we are ready to relocate. Our work with the Wycliffe Global Alliance allows us to work from anywhere with internet and an airport, so now that we no longer have family in the area, we are ready to move! Over the past ten years we’ve had Josh and Heather living with us (mostly while we were away, traveling for two years), Kate lived with us while she finished college and made her various forays to Brazil and New York. Tom’s dad and Vivian lived near us in Duncanville during most of our Texas years. And my parents lived with us for three months and then in their own Waxahachie home for four years before moving back to Tennessee in 2014. We’ve had good years here, lots of great times with family and guests and we’ve loved our house, but we never envisioned staying in Texas! We’d like to be closer to at least part of the family, closer to water and further from allergies.

At this point we are pushing hard to get our house ready to sell. That, plus work is keeping us super busy! We hope to have the house up for sale by April and are seeking the Lord’s will and wisdom for where to next! Our primary region of focus is the Hampton/Newport News area in Virginia. Totally new territory for us, but a decent day’s drive to both Kate and family and to my parents, not tooo cold for too long in the winter, near water and, we hope, affordable! It’s further from Josh and Heather in Colorado and from the California family members, but we hope to have a large enough home for stay-awhile company! Please pray with us as we contemplate and work towards this major change!

Tom has been working on various web tools and fixes on wycliffe.net Major items: we are doing an update to the topic categories, He found a new partner to work with to collect better data on online Scripture to list and this week he just learned that Google is making major changes to the PicasaWeb service that we use for all our image handling. We are grateful for more colleagues getting involved with the content of the Wycliffe.net site and are also encouraged when we hear how the resources and stories on the site are being used by Wycliffe organizations, churches and others all around the world! Please continue to pray that we can find someone to work alongside Tom on the technical aspects of the site.

You may recall we asked for prayer for Phil Prior and his family as they were raising their support and planning to join our communication team. Thanks for praying! Phil is officially joining the team in April. This is a huge answer to prayer! He will be taking the leadership of the “public face” of Wycliffe Global Alliance communication. That means oversight of all the online resources, branding and lots of other facets of the work that I’ve been handling or that just weren’t being handled at all! Do continue to pray for the Priors.

In January I traveled to Amsterdam and Manila for meetings with some of our leadership team, with a newly forming video team, and with communication colleagues from Asia.  There is tremendous potential for sharing so many more stories of what God is through His Word and His people and to encourage all of His Church to participate with Him.

Paul Machira’s story is an example of what we are seeing all around the world. Check out http://www.wycliffe.net/articles?id=6233 to read the full story of how God spared Paul’s life and gave him a new vision and a new mission. Here’s just an excerpt to whet your appetite—

Paul is convinced that the Church in Kenya is now completely able to support Bible translation and other aspects of God’s mission, but they have not yet fully responded. He and his colleagues have taken this as a challenge, passionately sharing this vision with universities, primary and secondary schools, churches and corporations.

“[We] go out there and say, ‘Hey, wait a minute. Christianity, when it came to Africa, came to Kenya through missionaries from Europe. Why are we still depending on their great, great, great grandchildren to fund missionary activities in Africa, in Kenya, at a time such as this? Isn’t it time that we rose up and took charge of mission work?’”

They build awareness about Scripture translation needs and seek support for *BTL’s Bible translation efforts. What really excites them is that they are seeing Kenyan believers and churches become increasingly inspired to participate in God’s mission.

*BTL is a Wycliffe Alliance organization in Kenya

Financial Update

As we are getting into 2016, we thought it would be good to share our financial update with you. Over the past five years we’ve been blessed with installments of a legacy gift from Tom’s Aunt Martha. These extra funds helped us with everything from Kate’s wedding to our car to day-to-day grocery bills and life. We felt especially blessed to be able to give some help to our kids during this time. But this bonus blessing has come to an end…and our regular support doesn’t even quite get us to the quota level Wycliffe recommends for our day-to-day life. We have wonderful, faithful partners in prayer, giving and encouragement. We are grateful for each one of you! Some of our ministry partners have joined us in recent years, but most have been with us for many years… and a number have gone to be with the Lord. Will you pray with us about finding some additional prayer and financial supporters? As we participate in God’s mission together we are trusting Him to provide!

Thank you for your faithful prayers and support!

November 2015

Arrivals and Departures

Winslow getting ready to be a big sister

Here in Texas, seasonal arrivals and departures can be confusing. Our daffodils come up in the fall, but never bloom in any season. The colorful leaves in our yard are on our rose bushes, not our trees. After their spring bloom, they turn to leafless skeletal stems for summer, and then burst with new burgundy leaves for another show in the fall.  And as for the trees...the leaves are still green now, but they will finally sigh and give up around Christmas. Having been denied attention for showy fall colors, they get less affirming attention by falling on the Christmas lights and decorations. But we are grateful for each season.And we have other arrivals and departures that are more clearly defined. As I write we are awaiting news of the arrival of grandchild #4. Kate is due November 16th. I’ll be heading to Philadelphia this week to be with them and to help take care of Winslow, who is a rambunctious, opinionated and adorable one-year-old. We will keep you posted on the arrival of her most welcome little brother!

As we’ve been waiting for the new addition to the family, we’ve said goodbye to Tom’s stepmom, Vivian Forsberg Van Wynen.  She went to be with the Lord on August 30, just two weeks after her 92nd birthday. It was such a privilege to have her in our family and we will miss her, but rejoice that she is now where she longed to be. Here in Dallas, numerous family members and a large crowd of Wycliffe and SIL colleagues celebrated her life and homegoing at a memorial service on October 25. Back in the Philippines, where Vivian spent 50 years serving with the Tboli people, thousands of Tboli are remembering this small woman from Minnesota who was their beloved Ye Udi, “Little Mother” as she helped them learn of God’s love and helped them in the translation of the entire Bible in their language.  Here’s a brief excerpt from just one of the messages we received:

Dear Sir Tom and Family:  The news we have heard this day is greatly shocking the whole community. Although we all know all of us will (be) called to heaven, but because of Ye Udi’s great contribution to the life of Tboli people the whole Region weeps and mourns over her death. If only we could claim her body and bury her here in the Philippines so we can see her for the last time. But what we are doing now is, the local government of Tboli municipality has called for assembly to every local persons in every municipality in the province to plan for the Burial Service for Ye Udi and we also plan the Burial Service from the Churches.  Thank you Sir Tom for taking good care of Ye Udi till her last breath. GOD Bless You and More Blessings. Condolence, xxxx

New Journey

Arrivals and departures often lead to other new journeys. We’ve been praying about moving. We’ve been in Waxahachie, Texas, for ten years. That’s longer than we’ve ever lived anywhere else! For the past eight years, our jobs have not required that we live here (we could live anywhere where there is internet and an airport!) but we gladly stayed because of family. Kate, Josh and Heather, and my parents all helped make our house home while living with us in turn. Tom’s dad and stepmom lived nearby in Dallas over a period of eight years and my parents lived in their Waxahachie home for four years before moving back to Tennessee. It’s been great having family here. But now it’s just us. Even our good friends, Pixie and Carl Christensen, have moved several hours away!  

We can’t move closer to both Josh and Kate’s families because they live in opposite directions. But we’ve been praying about a possible move to somewhere around Hampton, Virginia. It would be a totally new adventure! Closer to Kate and family, and my parents, not too cold, and close to the water (fewer allergies!). We want to ask that you pray with us as we prepare our home to sell and see if this is how and where the Lord leads us. We will give you more details of this adventure as it progresses!

Ongoing

Pray for Phil Prior to be able to
join the communication team soon!

So, we’ve been busy with family and house projects...and Wycliffe work, as always! Tom continues to refine the newly updated wycliffe.net website. We both participated in our global communication team meetings in the UK in September. We are going through some major team restructuring, so would appreciate your prayers for that! Please pray in particular for Phil and Tany Prior and their family. Phil is planning to join our team as media director. He’s been serving as Wycliffe UK Director of Marketing and Communication as an employee, but the Priors are now hoping to become Wycliffe members and that requires raising support. We had hoped he could start his new job earlier this year and now realize it will be sometime next year before they can possibly be ready. In the meantime, I continue to take on additional staff and work that is intended for him (Phil will also be Tom’s new supervisor), so you can see why we are so eager for this wonderful family to join our team!  

I participated in a consultation on Prayer and the Mission of God in Calgary last month and also spent two days at the Wycliffe Canada office with their leadership team and communication team.  Last week I attended the Wycliffe Global Alliance board meetings. Next month I have meetings in Germany and Orlando. There is never time or space to share everything with you, but I want to encourage you that God is doing amazing things all around the world. The good news of the Good News far outweighs whatever bad news you hear in the media. 

Prayer Notes—

Praise God for what He has done among the Tboli people and pray for their continuing testimony.

Pray for Kate, Jordan, Winslow and the baby boy we are all waiting for!

Pray for Josh, Heather, Wynnie and Aurelie as they seek to serve God and honor Him as a family

Pray for Phil, Tany, Amy and Sophie as Phil and Tany share in churches and with friends as they seek to raise support for joining our communication team.

 Pray for our ongoing energy to get through house projects and keep up with work and pray with us about discerning God’s will for a move.

Thank you for your faithful prayers and support!

News Flash:
Jude Raphael Roberts was born on 

Friday, November 13, 2015 at 2:40 pm EST 

8 lbs 1oz 22 inches long.  Our first grandson.

July 2015

Reaching Altitude

I’m writing this from a hotel near the Frankfurt Airport. It’s not your usual hotel. It’s extra bright and colorful and it’s amusing. The walls of my room are two shades of bright orange and there’s a large papier-mâché penguin in the corner. We’ve become very close during the week I’ve been here. He’s quiet but his body language speaks volumes. I think, living in sight of the airport, he suffers from permanent jetlag and is always on edge, ready for takeoff but never able to get off the ground.

Hmmm, we’ve been feeling a bit that way, too! Tom has had numerous snags and “issues” with the new version of wycliffe.net. But we’re almost ready to fly…almost…and we are trusting for better outcomes than the penguin’s.

I’ve been working with colleagues to rethink some of our communication strategies. We need to stay extremely flexible to align ourselves with the needs of the Alliance and the needs of these colleagues and their families. That means making changes as needed while still giving some sense of continuity to the ongoing work and to all those involved. There’s no one solution. Sometimes we try one thing and it doesn’t get off the ground, so we try the next thing…or move on to something totally different! It all takes a lot of dialogue, reflection and prayer.

We are so glad you support this ministry in prayer. It’s needed…every day!

With One Accord

An English dictionary definition of the phrase offers:

• proper relationship or proportion; 
• harmony. a harmonious union of sounds, colors, etc.
• consent or concurrence of opinions or wills; 
• agreement. an international agreement; 
• settlement of questions outstanding among nations 

“With one accord” keeps coming to mind as I reflect on the missiological consultations in which I’ve participated. Our Alliance leadership team just completed a consultation on structure. How do you have a missiological consultation on structure? The same way you have one on the Church, on community, on Bible translation, on funding. You meet together in God’s presence; spend time together in the Word, in reflection, in prayer. When we conclude our time, there is a deep sense of being in one accord. No one has promoted a specific agenda; no one has swayed the team with their powers of persuasion. But we are seeing the way forward, together, and we are seeing God ahead of us. No fire, no cloud, but an abiding sense of being of one accord. And that is the very clear evidence that He is in our midst.

Family NEWS

Kate, Jordan and Winslow

There’s always family news these days! And the big news right now is that there is another family member on the way! Kate and Jordan and Winslow (who just turned one) have announced with great joy that Winslow will be a big sister in November. And it’s a boy! Do keep them all in your prayers. Jordan is enjoying an intense summer of Hebrew study, God has provided an increase in Kate’s writing, editing and proofreading work (she’s no longer nannying and is grateful to be able to work from home…it’s just finding the time that’s challenging). Winslow started walking the week before she turned one and there is no stopping her now!
Josh and Heather and Wynnie and Aurélie are doing well. Wynnie turns four in August. Hard to believe! She’s been enjoying a sampling of dance, swimming and gymnastics lessons. She calls almost daily on Skype to ask, “can you read me a book, please?” and chats about how she should come to Texas again, or we should go to the beach or Disneyland (we are all hoping for this one next year!). Aurélie is doing her best to keep up with big sister. She’ll be one in September and is standing on wobbly legs with great glee, only to tumble over as a result of over-enthusiastic clapping for herself.   Such fun!

Wynnie and Aurélie

Tom’s stepmom, Vivian, continues to decline but is, in typical Vivian fashion, still cheerful and fully trusting in the Lord. She still loves having company for meals and is beginning to accept the fact that it’s ok for others to provide the meals! She’ll be 93 in August. My parents are thriving in their Tennessee home. They love their house and community and have gotten involved at church as well. They helped with VBS this last week. Daddy’s still playing dodgeball at 83 and Mother is enjoying helping with crafts and using her long-honed teaching skills to help teach the books of the Bible.  She still has assorted health issues so we do appreciate continued prayer for that, but are grateful for all the answered prayers!
“All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer…” Acts 1:14

How can we pray for you?

April 2015

“This changes how we talk about everything!” This comment, from one of our “story gatherers” at a recent Asia Pacific communication workshop, was a highlight for me. I love seeing colleagues’ thinking and practices change when the significance of missio Dei starts to sink in. Missio Dei is Latin for “Mission of God.” And while those of us who speak English usually stick with English for clarity, there is something about hearing it in Latin that reminds us that God’s mission is so much bigger and has been going on for so much longer than we can fathom.

Asia – Pacific Communication Meeting

There are a number of good definitions of missio Dei, each with its own nuances. One of my favorites is from South African missiologist, David Bosch “[Missio Dei is] God’s self-revelation as the One who loves the world, God’s involvement in and with the world, the nature and activity of God, which embraces both the church and the world, and in which the church is privileged to participate.” (1991, 10).

So…if God’s mission embraces the church, what does that look like? Bible scholar and theologian Christopher Wright explains it this way, “fundamentally, our mission (if it is biblically informed and validated) means our committed participation as God’s people, at God’s invitation and command, in God’s own mission within the history of Gods world for the redemption of God’s creation.” (2006, 23).

The centrality of mission is affirmed by Samuel Escobar, who says it “gives a focus and direction to all the other functions [of the church]” and who then concludes that “the church exists for mission and that a church that is only inward looking is not truly the church” (2003, 13).

So how does this change “how we talk about everything” in the context of Wycliffe? Well, for starters, it’s not about Wycliffe! It’s about the Triune God.  It’s not so much about what we do but about who He is. It’s about people more than places. And it’s about the worldwide community of believers called and invited by God to participate with Him in His mission. Mission is not the domain of missions organizations. Nor is it one among many programs of the church. It is not about task or completion. It is about relationship and worship. It’s about His plans, not ours.

A number of the meetings I attend around the world are Wycliffe Global Alliance missiological consultations. People sometimes wonder just what that means …or assume, “sure, you serve with a missions organization so you have missiological meetings.” But missiology isn’t just for missions personnel, nor is it just another Bible college or seminary class!  It is theology pertaining to mission. That means it has to do with studying God and His mission. And that means spending time in His Word and in prayer, seeking wisdom, discernment and direction. How else can any of us participate with Him in His mission?

His mission is about telling and living the Good News. And as we are in the Easter season, it is a wonderful time to reflect on who God is, on what He has done and is doing to redeem and restore His creation. God the Father sent the Son, the Good News in human form. The Son paid the price, was the sacrifice. And now the Holy Spirit empowers the Church, God’s people to continue sharing that Good News so He will be glorified. He is Risen! That truly changes everything!

Family Update

Winslow Joy

We appreciate your ongoing prayers and financial support for the ministry we are privileged to be a part of and we also appreciate your prayers for our family, as well! Josh and Heather, Wynnie and Aurélie are doing well in Colorado. Kate and Jordan and Winslow are doing well in Philadelphia. Jordan is loving seminary and they are also being blessed in seeing how God provides when the budget is tight! Do pray Kate can get enough writing, editing and proof reading work that she will be able to work from home in the future. At this time she is still nannying, plus doing whatever editorial work comes her way. Also pray that they can find a two bedroom apartment if possible.

Aurélie

Please keep Tom’s stepmom Vivian in your prayers. Her health is declining due to an inoperable growth internally and we are not sure how long it will be before the Lord takes her home. She is in good spirits and not in a great deal of pain, but is ready to go when God calls her. We are all grateful for the good friends there at the apartments where she lives. They check on her regularly and keep her encouraged. Pray too for my parents, Marlene and Jerry, in Tennessee. Last month was a rough one for them with Mother in the hospital for an extended period with a bacterial infection and Daddy dealing with the ferocious winter storms, power outages, etc. in their community.

Éowyn (Wynnie)

Here at home Tom is hard at work on the latest version of wycliffe.net. Keep an eye on the site and you’ll soon see a fresh new look and lots of new features! I continue to work with our communication teams worldwide and with our Wycliffe Global Alliance leadership team. The next time we write, I’ll give you an update on some exciting things going on in the Alliance as we seek to better shape ourselves to participate in God’s mission. I recently returned from Turkey where we held our first ever leadership conference for women leaders in Wycliffe. Other trips in the next few months will take me back to Turkey, the UK (where Tom will join me for meetings) and Germany.

Thank you again for your faithful prayers and encouragement. Do let us know how we can be praying for you!

---

Bosch, D., 1991. Transforming Mission. New York: Orbis.
Escobar, S., 2003. The New Global Mission: The Gospel from Everywhere to Everyone. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press.
Wright, C., 2006. The Mission of God. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press Academic.
Read more at--  http://www.wycliffe.net/resources/missiology/globalperspectives/tabid/97/Default.aspx

Christmas 2014

Family Gathering

New Year’s greetings to one and all! It seems like such a short time ago that the new millennium was such a big deal and here we are 15 years into it! How did that happen? God has so graciously given us family, friends and work to do, so the time just keeps flying by!

Winslow Joy, 5 months

We had a too-quiet Christmas with no family around, but the weeks leading up to Christmas were filled with family, so we can’t complain. Tom’s siblings and assorted others came for a long weekend for the final ceremony for his dad, Don Van Wynen, who passed away two years ago. His ashes were finally interred at the regional military ceremony. Vivian, Tom’s stepmom, was proud to receive the American flag given in the brief military ceremony that honored Don’s service in World War II.

 Kate, Jordan and Winslow arrived after the ceremony but in time to hang out with the family over a long weekend and they spent a total of ten days with us. Winslow Joy, who turned five months while at our house, is a true joy! We enjoyed their time with us so much.

Heather, Aurélie and Wynnie

We are also grateful for phone calls with my parents, now happily resettled in Tennessee, and for numerous Skype calls with Josh, Heather and family. Wynnie, now three, is a champion Skyper and keeps us entertained long distance. And her baby sister, Aurélie, is now starting to give us big smiles on Skype as well. We were so happy to be able to visit everyone this past October on our mega roadtrip to Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Philadelphia, Virginia and Tennessee!

 As we look back over the past year, we reflect on God’s goodness. We are thankful for all of you who have so faithfully prayed for us and supported our ministry with Wycliffe. And we are continuously energized and encouraged as we see what God is dong around the world!

This past year I had the privilege of continuing to work with a fantastic global communication team and with the Wycliffe Global Alliance leadership team. A wide variety of meetings and consultations took me to Panama, Thailand, Kenya, Mexico, Ethiopia, Germany, Republic of Georgia, New Zealand and Turkey. Tom and I were able to travel together to Panama and Mexico.

Ephesus

 It was a great joy to end the year’s meetings with a missiological consultation on the Alliance’s recently adopted Bible Translation Philosophy. This three-and-a-half day joint meeting of Wycliffe and SIL colleagues from around the world was organized around foundational concepts of the Philosophy Statement—the mission of God (missio Dei), holistic transformation, and community as the basis for translation program standards. It would take too long to explain all the implications of our discussions and time spent in Scripture, but this gathering was a wonderful example of how we see God bringing us to a greater understanding of His mission and how Bible translation can be a part of what He is doing through His Church. Over recent years there has been a major shift in the Wycliffe organizations from focusing on “our” mission and the “task” of Bible translation. With the growth and greater participation of the worldwide Church there has been a greater recognition of the whole Church participating together in His purposes for holistic transformation of people everywhere (including ourselves!). There is a new sense of unity, of reliance on God and of the importance of relationship with Him and with each other.

Baptistry at Church of St. John

The consultation was held in December in Turkey and included a half-day outing to Ephesus. Although the trip started out in the rain, it eventually cleared and we were able to spend several hours (not enough time!) touring the city and were able to read and reflect on Acts 19 while standing in the theatre area where Paul once stood. We also visited the nearby Church of St. John. There was something about seeing the baptistry there that particularly struck me. It was awe-inspiring to think of all the believers through the many centuries who have followed Christ in baptism. Today we see and hear of reports of people coming from all backgrounds, all walks of life and willing to obey and follow Christ, though many do so knowing they are putting their lives in danger just as Paul did. But we can all take courage in knowing that their lives and ours are in God’s hands.

 May you have a special sense of God’s presence and protection in this new year.

 “He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.”
 Ephesians 1:8-10, The Message

Tom continues his never-ending work of keeping Wycliffe.net running and is making constant improvements to the website. He also found time to once again participate in our community’s two-weekend Bethlehem event. You could find him in the crowd by listening for the sound of a flute in the midst of bleating sheep, brash centurions and pronouncements of the birth of the Messiah! Good news indeed!  

September 2014

It’s been a while since we’ve written, so we need to start with family news. There are two new family members since we last wrote!

Winslow Joy Roberts.

Kate and Jordan welcomed Winslow Joy Roberts on July 15. Kate tells about Winslow’s name:

Winslow is named for Octavius Winslow, a pastor and writer who lived in the 19th Century. We appreciate his continual emphasis on the Gospel. Jordan's father has read daily to his family from Winslow's 'Morning Thoughts' and 'Evening Thoughts' for many years. Baby Winslow's name is a way of honoring her parents' Christ-centered heritage--and we also had a reading from Octavius Winslow at our wedding!

Aurélie Anne Van Wynen

 and big sister, Wynnie

Josh and Heather, and big sister Éowyn (Wynnie) welcomed Aurélie Anne Van Wynen on September 13.

Heather wrote the following when they announced Aurélie’s birth:

We are pronouncing her first name "ah-RAY-lee," though it may also be pronounced "oh-RAY-lee" or "oh-ray-LEE," which would be closer to the French pronunciation. When I was little, I loved that my middle name, Renée, had an accent mark in it. I thought it was sophisticated and special! Wynnie's given name, Éowyn, also has an acute accent mark. When I saw the name Aurélie, I thought it looked and sounded so pretty and that it would be fun for my daughters to have the accented é in common in their names. We chose Anne after the fictional character in Anne of Green Gables. 

We were in Philadelphia with Kate and Jordan before Winslow was born, but then I had to leave for meetings in Ethiopia (it was sooo hard to leave!) so missed Winslow’s birth. But Tom was there, hanging out in the waiting area with Jordan’s parents and I was able to join them briefly on Skype! I came back to the U.S. via Philadelphia so got to spend a few precious days with little Winslow.

Wynnie turned three in August

We haven’t seen Aurélie yet, but will soon! Wynnie was holding her the other day and told her “Grandma and Grandpa are going to come to our house to see you and hold you and hug you. Aren’t you excited? Yes, you are!” We’re excited, too. And every day Wynnie asks if we are on our way. She also suggests that she should come back to Texas! We had her here for a week in May and it was a major success. She is the only family member who has ever spent the 16 hour drive from Colorado to Texas (it’s that long West Texas stretch that gets to most of us) saying cheerily, “I’m so excited we’re going to Texas!”

We are doing a lengthy road trip in October going to Colorado, Michigan (for Tom’s board meetings at ASM), Philadelphia and Tennessee. Fortunately I can read and work in the car! I think Tom sometimes solves major web problems as he drives, too. The change of scenery is good…especially when it includes three granddaughters!

The reason we are also stopping in Tennessee is the other bit of major family news! My parents moved back to Tennessee from Waxahachie last month. It all happened pretty quickly and their house here sold in a day! We miss them a lot but they love being back in Tennessee and they bought a nice home there in a retirement community that can provide care when and if they need it in the future. They are in the same general area where they were before, near Crossville. We drove (well, Tom drove) the moving truck up there, hauling our car behind so we could then continue our journey to meetings in Oregon after helping with a bit of the unpacking. 

Yes, in the midst of all these family events, work continues! Tom has been making lots of improvements to www.wycliffe.net and doing all it takes to keep the site running. We have a good team to help support the site, too. Craig and Anne Combs in Oregon who handle editing, posting and manage the flow of translations, Nancy Duncan in Dallas who does special projects, Rick Harman who handles the server stuff, and Josh who is doing a redesign for us!

You may recall that in our last newsletter (May 2014) I told you about the Missiological Consultations on Funding sponsored by the Wycliffe Global Alliance during 2013-2014. They started with a global meeting in Turkey, followed by regional meetings in Thailand, Kenya, Germany and Mexico.  What an honor to spend time in Scripture and conversation with colleagues all over the world as, together, we sought to discern God’s heart and mind concerning His mission and His resources. As I mentioned before, we wanted to identify what principles need to be in place for us to be good stewards of the many resources (not just money) God provides. We have been looking at what it means for all of us to be both givers and receivers. Following our leadership team meetings in Ethiopia, a small group of us met to go through the pages and pages of input from the consultations. The goal was to articulate some of the principles that emerged from these meetings. You can read more about the consultations and the principles on Wycliffe.net. I’ll keep you posted on some of the “what next” as the Alliance organizations continue to think about how to put all this into practice!

This year’s travels continue. I’ll be participating in communication meetings in the country of Georgia, working with a colleague for a week in New Zealand and attending a missiological consultation on Bible translation in Europe. It will take another newsletter to share some of the wonderful things we are seeing God doing through the Wycliffe Global Alliance organizations and the rest of His Church worldwide. So I will try not to leave such a gap between newsletters next time!

We do appreciate your prayers and support so much. Be sure to let us know how we can be praying for you. We pray for you anyhow, but it’s great to have specifics to pray for from time to time!   And please do keep our family in your prayers—

Praise and Petitions

Josh, Heather, Wynnie and Aurélie. Rejoicing over the new baby! Josh is now working fulltime for a web design firm so no longer has the ups and downs of a freelance income. That’s good news since Heather has now quit her job to be home with the girls.

Kate, Jordan and Winslow. Also rejoicing over little Winslow! Jordan is back in seminary after a summer of manual labor as a roofer. Kate has a part-time nanny job and is looking for editing and writing work. Jordan is also looking for part-time work. Pray that their faith will continue to grow as they look to the Lord to meet their financial needs.

My parents, Jerry and Marlene Roach. We are grateful that they are getting settled in their new home, are making friends and have already found a good church home.

Vivian, Tom’s stepmom, turned 91 last month and is still doing well, gardening and entertaining dinner guests, at her apartment in Dallas.

Tom and I need wisdom and discernment as we juggle work and other projects. I’ve also started a study program, so am excited about that! Pray we will use our time wisely.  We are grateful our schedules are flexible enough to allow for the occasional road trip to visit family while still keeping up with very busy jobs!

Ethiopia

Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Addis Ababa 

Our Wycliffe Global Alliance leadership team was privileged to learn about this ancient country from our Ethiopian colleagues during the week we met in Addis Ababa. Ethiopia has a long and rich Christian history. Ethiopia (once also known as  the ‘Land of Cush’) is referred to 15 times in the Bible. The Ethiopian eunuch who was baptized by Philip became a disciple in approximately 36 AD (Acts 8:27-39) and brought the gospel back to Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has a membership of between 40 and 45 million. Ethiopian Protestant congregations include 13.7 million people. The largest Protestant group is the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, with about 5 million members. Mekane Yesus is also one of several Ethiopian Wycliffe Organizations. 

All 87 languages of Ethiopia are ‘national languages’ and are encouraged and supported by national organizations. The Ethiopian Wycliffe organizations are facilitating Bible translation in a number of these languages. But Bible translation is not new to Ethiopia. In 450-500 AD New Testaments books were translated into  Ethiopia’s Geez language. This was 1,000 years before any Scriptures were translated into English!