May 2017

Dear Friends, Family, Teammates, Encouragers, Supporters in prayer and finance and in so many other ways,
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:16-19

We are already a third of the way through 2017. It’s a challenge to make the most of our time when it goes so quickly! We are blessed to have full and busy lives, but also want to take opportunities to reflect, be grateful, and notice what God is doing along the way.

As I mentioned in our last newsletter, I began a new job in the new year. Having turned the Communication Director role over to the capable hands of Phil Prior, I’ve begun my new role as Director for Strategy for the Wycliffe Global Alliance. I’m still part of the same leadership team, so there are many things that haven’t changed. But I’m needing to look at and think about things with a fresh perspective. It’s a great joy and humbling experience to take on this new role. Tom continues as Webmaster for the Alliance site, www.wycliffe.net. Phil is his new supervisor and together they are making plans for some major website changes. Pray for Tom as he tackles yet another site overhaul! He’s also in dialogue with the team at the Digital Bible Society to partner on some data sharing regarding Bible translation progress and needs.

As usual, travels are a major part of our story. Our story is really all about people and relationships, but the travels are what allow us to connect (along with email, Skype, etc.!) Here’s a brief overview of the year so far:
Johannesburg, South Africa—In-depth dialogue with our Alliance Missiologist, Stephen Coertze, was a good start for my new role. It’s important that our Alliance strategies have a strong missiological and theological foundation. I spent a week at the Coertze’s in January. Stephen’s wife, Lezelle and their two young adult kids were still on school break, so I had a fun time with the family and a profitable time workwise.

Bangkok, Tokyo, Singapore—Tom and I traveled together for three weeks in February. The Alliance Communication team met in Bangkok. It was a long-wished-for and long-awaited gathering of the whole globally dispersed team (20+ people from at least 10 countries) and a good chance for lots of creative thinking, Phil’s “coronation” as I jokingly referred to the handoff, and my farewells. I’ll see some, but probably not all, of the team again. So many blessings, seeing the team God put together and allowed me to oversee during the past eight years. It was also the end of serving in a Communication-related role with Wycliffe for more than 30 years!

One of the highlights of our time in Bangkok was when another hotel guest approached Florence, a colleague from Kenya and asked if we were a “church group.” She explained who we were and asked why he thought we were a “church group.” He responded, “Only a church group could have this sort of diversity all working together.”  This is just a small example of the testimony we can have as believers, God’s people living and serving in community, in diversity and unity.

Tom and I also had the privilege of spending almost a week with Fukudasan and Aiko, colleagues in Japan. Fukudasan is our Alliance “Spiritual Ambassador” and also very active in ministry in Japan. He is the former Wycliffe Asia Pacific Director. He has a loose reporting relationship to me, but it is all very collegial. I have great respect for Fukudasan and was glad to spend some time with him and Aiko. Among other things, Fukudasan had been doing a bit of research on my behalf to learn more about how different cultures perceive the idea of “journey.” This is going to be important to our Alliance strategy as we are basing it on a journey model or concept rather than strictly following a traditional strategic planning model.  While in Tokyo we also visited the Wycliffe Japan office and interacted with the small team there. In addition, we attended the Fukuda’s church and spoke and participated in a prayer meeting. Tom also had the opportunity of sharing flutes with their musically talented pastor.

From Tokyo we backtracked to Singapore for our Alliance Leadership Community retreat. It was a good time of catching up with the other Directors, Consultants and spouses. We particularly value the time we spend sharing and praying for each regarding personal and work-related concerns and blessings. These times help us stay connected as we work as a virtual team scattered worldwide most of the year.

Philadelphia—Welcome Noah Keith Roberts! Born February 13, while we were in Japan. Kate, Jordan, Winslow and Jude welcomed their new little one in our absence, but we arrived back in Philadelphia not quite two weeks later. Tom stayed a few days and then headed home. I stayed about a week and half to help out and to help unpack. God blessed the family with a wonderful big, old house to rent this year while Jordan finishes seminary! Noah is thriving and Kate and Jordan could still use a couple months backlog of sleep. But all are doing well!

Germany—In March, I had the privilege of attending the Wycliffe Global Alliance consultation on Global Leadership in Community. There were 42 Participants from 27 countries! Discussions included understanding the mission of God, making space for the next generation to flourish, humility, serving as community, serving in unity, friendship as an attribute of God and example to us, vulnerability, ambiguity and messiness, intentionality…There is an almost indescribable richness when you get such a wide range of God’s people sharing their hearts and experiences and contexts, being open to hearing and understanding each other, and together seeking God’s best.

Israel—We never imagined being able to visit Israel, but in April, Tom and I attended the annual meetings of the Forum of Bible Agencies, International. This year they were held in Jerusalem! We enjoyed three days of fellowship and meeting with leaders of the other Forum organizations and particularly appreciated the tours included in our meetings. We stayed a few additional days, over the weekend, along with our Executive Director, Kirk Franklin and his wife Christine, and another colleague, Bryan Harmelink. All of our time was in Jerusalem, so it was just a taste of Israel. But although we didn’t wander widely, we wandered deep!  We explored several levels of the ancient city, including Hezekiah’s tunnels. It would take an additional newsletter to even begin to share our thoughts and experiences. But one of our major reflections was on just how very human Jesus had to become to live and die for us. The dust, the crowds, the chaos and complexity of cultures and politics. We saw enough to imagine more. We were there the week before Easter, so also found ourselves all the more grateful that our faith is based on a relationship with a living Savior, not a place or a ritual, but a Person. He is risen! Indeed!

The day after we returned from Israel we had the joy of hosting Kate and Jordan and family, Josh and Heather and family, and my parents! Our little house was very full! Josh and crew stayed for the week, the others for about four days. It was great fun to have all the little cousins together. Not everyone had met Jude (now almost one-and-a-half and no one had met Noah (born in February). We also got to introduce Josh’s girls to their first ocean experience! They loved it. That made them and their beach born and bred Grandma very happy. One of these days I want them to see and experience the “proper” ocean (the Pacific ;-)), but our Chesapeake Bay setting is ideal for little ones. Small waves and shallow waters a good way out from shore. We also fit in a Williamsburg outing.

Now we are catching up on work and hoping to somehow get some yard and house projects underway again, as well. Tom is at ASM Board meetings in Michigan as I write this. I leave next Saturday for Alliance Board meetings in Puerto Rico and then on to Germany for Europe Area meetings.

Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement!                  

Susan and Tom Van Wynen

December 2016

Dear Friends, Family, Teammates, Encouragers, Supporters in prayer and finance and in so many other ways,

I just finished a conversation with our granddaughter, Wynnie. She’s five now. We were talking about possible names for her new cousin (Kate and Jordan are expecting a boy in February!). Wynnie had many creative suggestions ranging from “Zig Zag” to “Puppy.” Something tells me Kate and Jordan are not going to relinquish their right to choose their new son’s name! At least not to Wynnie! But it reminded me of something I read in Timothy Keller’s new book, Hidden Christmas. It’s a part of the Christmas story we don’t usually pay a lot of attention to.

The angel tells Joseph what he is to name his boy. In that patriarchal culture it was the father’s absolute right to name his child. He had complete rights over his children, and naming was a sign of control over the family. The angel, however, takes that away. By refusing to let him name Jesus, the angel is saying, “If Jesus is in your life, you are not his manager. This child who is about to be born is your manager.” p 58

Aurélie and Éowyn

Keller goes on to talk about how, to be a disciple of Christ, you need to commit to denying yourself. He says it takes courage. He also says it will lead to our true identity and “a lifetime of adventure.” I like that! And we have certainly found it to be true so many times, and I’m sure you have as well! 

Today I was also reading through some comments from Wycliffe leaders around the world. One of them said, “When the Wycliffe Global Alliance changed, so that all organizations became equal partners involved in the life of the Alliance, we felt respected and valued.” This leader was referring to the decision made last year by the 29 historical voting organizations of the Alliance. They chose, unanimously, to end their exclusivity in decision making. This meant that all Alliance Organizations (approx. 100 organizations) would now have equal voice. We talk a lot about leadership by example. This was a true example of leaders demonstrating self-denial. And as Keller says, it took courage. But what a worthwhile outcome…people in Wycliffe Organizations all around the world feeling respected and valued. And now we begin to see our true identity as we hear the voices of colleagues from everywhere! Next month we will share a bit more about where this adventure has taken us with a big picture of the Bible translation movements around the world.

Whatever courage it might take for us to deny ourselves, when we are not our own to begin with, is small in comparison to what God sacrificed for us. And yet we struggle. It’s a good time of year to remind ourselves of God’s gift and God’s love and this amazing lifetime of adventure to which He has called us.

Part of our personal adventure this year was moving from Texas to Virginia! Thank you for praying us through this transition. We still have several years of house projects, some unpacked boxes (awaiting refurbished rooms), and some missing pieces. But we are finding much joy in our new location and new home! We have made some progress on projects. We are grateful that the lower cost of this house meant it was possible to get a new roof and new boiler (yes, radiator heat!) it desperately needed. We have also painted, planted iris, and are working on some kitchen remodeling (electrical and plumbing, plus sacrificing and shuffling cupboards) that will enable us to fit in a microwave and a dishwasher. One of the great things about this house is that it is in an ideal location for people in search of a holiday and eventually we will have plenty of bedroom space. So do consider a visit!

before

after

More changes are ahead. As of January 1, my role in the Wycliffe Global Alliance is changing. I’ll be moving from Director for Strategy and Communication to Director of Strategy. To be honest, I was not able to give much attention to strategy while serving in Communication. But we finally have a very capable person to take on Communication! You may recall me asking you to pray for Phil Prior and his family. Keep praying for them as he is the person taking on my Communication role. I will continue to serve on the Alliance leadership team and am looking forward to this major new challenge of helping the Wycliffe Global Alliance in its strategic journey. We’ve been taking a very new and different approach and I’ll be sharing more about that with you in the future! It has already been so rewarding to see how God is directing. I had come to the decision a month or so ago that Phil was ready to take on Communication. But just before talking about this with Kirk, our Executive Director and my supervisor, Kirk said he had something to ask me. What he wanted to know was when I would be ready to move into strategy fulltime!  

Tom continues in his role as webmaster for Wycliffe.net. Phil is his supervisor now and we are looking forward to new things happening with the website and, we hope, some eventual help for Tom!   His workload is way too heavy for one person and has been for a very long time. But he, too, is loving living here in Virginia and dreams of getting a small boat once the house projects slow down.

Winslow

Jude

We hope you are enjoying a wonderful Christmas season with friends and family and pray for God’s rich blessing on you in the coming year. We also want to take this opportunity to thank you for your part in this ministry with us. We could not do what we do without your support and encouragement. Thank you! We appreciate you so much!

Susan and Tom Van Wynen

July 2016

Dear Friends, Family, Teammates, Encouragers, Supporters in prayer and finance and in so many other ways,

We haven’t written in a while so you may have thought we fell off the face of the earth! We did not, but we have moved a little closer to the edge…

We have officially moved to Hampton, Virginia, just a few blocks from the edge of the Chesapeake Bay. Keeping in mind that we did this while also working our regular jobs, plus three overseas trips for me (Germany, South Africa and UK & Germany again), we hope you will forgive us for not updating you sooner. If you follow us on Facebook you at least know what our former and current house look like, but although I wrote two newsletters in recent months I never got them ready to the point of sending them out. And they are so quickly outdated! I will post one on our blog in case you are interested in some thoughts from our Global Gathering in Thailand in May. In the meantime, I’m determined to get this one out before it, too, reaches its shelf life expiration date.

First, we want to thank you for your prayers during this time of transition! It has been a busy and often challenging move, but we’ve seen God’s hand of protection and guidance all along the way. And we are grateful for your prayers!

To keep this as brief as possible, here’s a bit of timeline to bring you up to date:    

Leading up to April: Lots of house projects in Texas! Painting, a whole new bathroom, finished laundry room, etc... It was the culmination of 11 years of labor and love put into the house in Waxahachie.

April 19 and onward: We listed the house for sale. By evening we had one good offer and another the next day! We took the second offer and I packed fifty boxes that weekend then headed for Thailand for 2 ½ weeks of meetings while Tom kept packing and finishing house projects (small, but time consuming things that showed up in the inspection report). He also loaded up a small moving truck and his truck and hauled most of his tools and bamboo, etc. to his cousin’s in North Carolina (not too far from where we now live).

Saturday, May 22:  I got back home to Texas and we packed the truck and portable storage cubes while our street was being paved. After 8 months of on and off street work, we seemingly synchronized our calendars to be moving the day they were paving! But the neighborhood now looks lovely with a new street and street lights, etc. for the new occupants. We were grateful for the help of several neighbors and the De Dios crew who helped get some of the heavier stuff loaded!

Monday, May 24: Closed on the house in Texas. We had expected this bit to go smoothly but Tom lost the keys to our moving truck (we found them later in the day at Starbucks where we’d gone several times for coffee and Wi-Fi access) and the buyers had several very last minute requests we had to take care of (long story!). We’d planned to drive through to my parents’ in Tennessee that day but with the late start ended up at a motel with our moving truck and trailer (we towed the car)  and then went on to my parents’ the next day.

Into June: We stayed at my parents’ a few days then went on to Hampton. Put our truckload in a storage unit. Stayed with Schutts, a lovely, hospitable couple we met a year and half ago when we first checked out Hampton. Had the holiday weekend to try to catch up on work, then spent an afternoon house hunting with our great realtor, Zach. Made an offer on a house, but our offer was too low. The house was really nice and move-in ready. (But oddly enough, even while hoping to get this sparkling house with a brand new kitchen, in my mind I was redoing the house we actually ended up getting!)   Looked at houses another day the next week and made an offer on 141 Chancellor Road.

June 6: Our offer on the little brown house on Chancellor was accepted! Apparently the Lord was encouraging us to take on another project house! I headed off for meetings in Germany.

June 10 and following: Official house inspection. We also spent some time with Kate and Jordan and their family in Pennsylvania. Tom finally met Jude and we had great fun with both him and Winslow. Then I was off to meetings in South Africa. By now we were staying with Lynn, another friend, in Virginia Beach. She left for several weeks so Tom stayed on in her house and did a few house repairs for her to help earn our keep! We are thankful for generous friends and for God working out all the timing.

Wed, June 29: (I’m back home) We closed on the house. 141 Chancellor is ours! So grateful to the Lord for His provision!

June 30 and beyond: Started painting and floor refinishing on June 30. We worked over 4^th July weekend. Then set a pattern for the next few weeks of working on our Wycliffe stuff mornings and nights at our friend’s in Virginia Beach and working on the house from late morning until evening.

July 8: move into our house! Just a mattress on the floor but we’re in! And we have internet so can work as well!

Floor refinishing and interior painting of living room, dining room, downstairs bedrooms and hall took way more time than planned. Finally…

July 20, we unloaded the cubes and they were taken away July 22. We started unpacking…but I left for meetings in Germany on the 23^rd. I’m writing from Germany but headed home tomorrow, the 31^st. In the meantime Tom has been working, putting up shades, dealing with paperwork, putting bookcases together, etc.

My parents arrive for 10 days next weekend. We hope to find the missing bed parts before then!

We are grateful to God for providing this new home. It’s closer to my parents and to Kate and family. And with a little time and effort we will have space for everyone! Come visit! (well, maybe not all at once!) This house is actually smaller than our last one but has two bedrooms downstairs and two upstairs so is a better plan for guests. And we are just a few blocks from the Chesapeake Bay!  We look forward to making memories with family and friends that will make this house feel like home.

We will get back to telling you more about how God is at work around the world in our next newsletter, but wanted to let you know how He’s been at work in our relocation. We’ve been meeting neighbors and visiting a good church nearby. Pray we will know how to build relationships and good community. And thank you again for your prayers during this time of transition!

Susan and Tom Van Wynen

new address:
141 Chancellor Rd.
Hampton, VA  23661

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?