July 2023

 

Greetings,

Previous generations struggled to turn the pages of their large and unwieldy newspapers while drinking their morning coffee. I remember wresting with the newspapers, too, cutting out various categories of articles for elementary school “current events” sharing on Fridays. Now, with coffee cup in hand and phone at hand, we scroll with ease through national and world news from a thousand sources. In light of the many options and the questionable nature of much of our news we could, perhaps, also benefit from categorizing the news features.

o   Not worth reading the headline (really wish I hadn’t even seen this)

o   Worth reading the headline

o   Not worth reading or watching the news story

o   Worth reading or watching the news story (maybe)

o   Not worth thinking about (I will now try to block this from my mind)

o   Worth thinking about

o   Can’t do anything about it

o   Can do something about it

After all, we have so many more options than our predecessors, we need to consider them and choose wisely. Perhaps your morning will be off to a better start if you reflect on this bit of news:

·         Bible translation-related ministry is in progress in more than 3,600 languages.

·         100s of organizations, denominations, churches, and movements are working together, under God’s direction, to make this happen.

·         Translation work is in progress in almost a third of the 300+ sign languages (just a short time ago these languages were not even included in translation statistics, and many of these Deaf communities were largely unknown).

·         God is using His Word to bring people to Himself, to bring hope, to renew communities and families, and to restore relationships. The message of His Word brings beauty to a broken world.

So, there is some news worth reading, worth thinking about, and that you can do something about. Thank God for this progress, then check out Wycliffe.net and Wycliffe.org for stories, stats and prayer requests! We consider it such a privilege to be a part of this work and are grateful for you, our team that makes our participation possible. Thank you!

https://www.wycliffe.net/news/        https://www.wycliffe.net/resources/statistics/

Spring leapt into summer and it’s been a busy time. In May, Tom and I traveled to the Wycliffe Global Alliance Americas leadership retreat in Guatemala. These three days of meetings enabled us to connect with colleagues and learn more about what God is doing through His people in the Americas. The Area Director, David Cardenas, and his team have initiated many new collaborative efforts. There are now “Mesas” in many of the Latin American countries with leaders from mission organizations, denominations, churches, and indigenous groups all planning together to reach the language communities in their countries through Bible translation, Scripture use, and a variety of church-initiated ministries.

Tom continues to serve as part of the Americas team, serving their IT, and occasionally Spanish to English translation, needs. And, no, I did not just get to go to the meetings as spouse. I was invited to the Guatemala meetings to give six hours of (largely interactive) orientation to the journey approach to strategic thinking and action. Because I’ve already interacted with some of the team on this before, it’s been exciting to see the progress they have made in taking a theological approach to their thinking and planning! David and I will be working together to share more of this with the Alliance organizations and boards in the Americas Area. Thank you for your prayers for these meetings and opportunities.

This past month I participated in our Alliance Leadership Team (ALT) meetings in the Netherlands. Our team consists of just 12 people and we had three missing this time, including our Executive Director!  Two of our team members, including the director, were not able to get visas in time even though they had planned way ahead.  Travel is becoming more and more difficult. Your prayers for our team are always appreciated! Our meetings went well and were worth the effort even though short on team members. In addition to a busy agenda of ALT topics, we also met with the Director of Wycliffe Netherlands and one of his team members.

Along with assorted meetings, Zoom calls, and regular work projects, I’m also in the near-final editing stage of the book I’ve been working on for the Alliance. I have a good editor and had a number of helpful pre-publication readers, so that’s making it a much more pleasant experience at this point. I love the thinking and writing part but the details of formatting, correcting typos, and making sure I’m actually making sense to other people requires a team!

This past month we also completed the research team experiment with Oxford Centre for Mission Studies. It was a worthwhile project that, among other outcomes, brought together a team that included a Kenyan denominational leader, a Canadian researcher, and a Chinese theologian to explore missional leadership in Kenya…with an American and Australian as advisors.

We’ve been active on the home front, as well. In April we brought my parents from Tennessee to stay with us for a week. Kate and Jordan and crew came to visit, too. In June we had a Van Wynen family reunion with 30 family members (including 13 kids!) from California, Tennessee, Illinois, and Virginia. It was great to see everyone. And it was fun for our kids’ generation to all meet their cousins’ kids! There were beach, Colonial Williamsburg, and Busch Gardens outings for various configurations of family members and lots of meals at our house.

 

 So, we continue to try to remain faithful in our work, our family life, and church life. It is a joy. And thank you again for your prayers and partnership with us.  Celebrate as the Good News continues to spread!

 

Tom and Susan

November 2022

 

I’ve long been a fan of maritime songs and sea shanties. Sailors sang all sorts of songs, but shanties were specifically sung while working aboard their ships or boats. These folk songs shaped the rhythm of their work which was largely divided into either heaving or hauling tasks. The work and the songs were a coordinated group effort. 

What songs accompany you on your journey? Are there hymns, psalms, or other songs you would consider working songs, setting the rhythm of your day? How and when do you join with others in work and in song (in spirit or with actual music)? I think this topic of sea shanties and the rhythm of our work and lives is worth further exploration…one of these days! In the meantime, I was thinking of one of my favorite maritime songs, Sailor’s Consolation.

In the song, one sailor consoles another during a raging hurricane, expressing how grateful they should be to be aboard ship, even in a deadly storm, when those on land have to deal with the seemingly day-to-day trials of fires, overturned carriages, tumbling chimneys, thieves, etc.. Better to be “safe” at sea. It’s just a good reminder that so much depends on our perspective and that our security is in Christ wherever we are meant to be…on land or sea, in calm or storm. Our Anchor holds. So that ship theme just keeps emerging every time I sit down to write a newsletter. And there is news to share!

On October 13^th, we welcomed Beatrice Elaine Van Wynen, born to Heather and Josh Van Wynen, and new sister to Aurelie and Eowyn (Wynnie) Van Wynen. They are doing well and we are so grateful to have them nearby now and in a house that is a good fit for their expanded family!

Although I’m rarely traveling these days, I was in England when Beatrice was born. But I was home a week or so later. I attended meetings at the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies (OCMS) regarding the research team I’ve been helping with and then had the privilege of observing a course OCMS runs for top-level mission leaders. It was the last week of a four-week year-long program. It was held at Ashburnham Place, once considered one of the finest estates and country houses in the southeast of England. Now a Christian conference center, it still retains lovely remnants of its former glory and gardens. It was great to meet mission leaders from a wide range of organizations, and to also have time with several old friends. I may be of help in further development of the curriculum used in the program. We will see what the future holds!  

I returned from the UK with an extra 50 pounds of luggage! OCMS’s publishing house, Regnum, is the publisher of the Alliance history book our former executive director, Kirk Franklin and I, plus editor Deb Crough, have been working on the past two years. The book is completed and in print! The 50 pounds of books I brought home are to distribute to colleagues in the U.S. If you are interested in exploring this book, you can do so weight and cost free as the ebook is available at 
https://www.wycliffe.net/a-missional-leadership-history/.
It is not just the story of Wycliffe, but above all a story of what God has done and how he uses his church to accomplish his mission. The book also contains some unique leadership insights, and addresses cultural and contextual issues through the eras to the present day. We can better face the future when we learn from the past and recognize what God has done and is doing! I’ve still got a way to go with the writing of a book based on my dissertation. But that is in progress and moving more quickly now that the history book is done. Tom continues in his work as well, serving the Americas region of the Alliance.

The latest Bible translation statistics have also been released. You can find them at https://www.wycliffe.net/resources/statistics/.

You can get a further boost of good news and an update on the ministry of the church worldwide and Bible translation by watching some of the segments from the recent Wycliffe Global Alliance Global Connect, a virtual gathering of Alliance personnel from around the world. Colleagues from around the world share testimonies of God at work in extraordinarily difficult places, reports on new developments in Bible translation training and practice, prayer and music in multiple languages. It’s worth watching and will serve as a reminder of just how big our God is! 
https://www.wycliffe.net/more-about-what-we-do/events/global-connect-2022-event-handbook/

Backtracking a bit, Tom and I were traveling in September, just before I went to the UK. We were in Holland, Michigan together for several days and got to visit friends and our original sending church. Then Tom and our friend Kevin Becker took off for a week of adventure in South Dakota, Kevin’s original home state. Traveling in Kevin’s truck, they took in the Black Hills, Badlands, the Buffalo Roundup, and brought home a good amount of South Dakota dust…yet claimed it was a time of great refreshment. I stayed in Holland, enjoying the hospitality of Judy Becker and visiting other assorted friends and supporters and also kept up with work…for the most part. We are grateful for longtime friends and encouragers. Thank you to all of you, in Holland and elsewhere! We also made a quick visit to my parents. Daddy was in the hospital for several days. A first for him. He is doing better, but not fully recovered. And Mother celebrated her 91^st birthday. This month they celebrate 70 years of marriage! We are grateful for their love and example. And grateful for your prayers for all our family!

Gratefulness is the theme at this time of year. We seek to be grateful all year, but with the approach of Thanksgiving and the Christmas holidays, we turn our hearts and minds even more to considering all for which we are thankful. Our friends, work that we can enter into with our whole hearts, our families, and all God has provided…. first and foremost, the gift and sacrifice of His Son. We, who are totally undeserving, are swept up in His love, held fast in His hand. Our Anchor holds.  

Tom and Susan

August 2022

Continuing on the boat theme in our newsletter…

Capsized. A funny word with possibly serious repercussions. It is usually used in reference to boats and ships overturning, upset, turned over. No one is quite sure where the word originated, but it may be from Spanish (capuzar) or Catalan (cabussar), meaning to thrust (the head) underwater. It is not normally done on purpose.

After six years of living here in Virginia and many years of sailing dreams, Tom finally got to take his tiny boat out. He and our friend Riely set sail last Saturday. Riely is in the Coast Guard and Tom is experienced with boats so we would have been fairly confident…except for the leaky condition of Tom’s bargain boat. And sure enough they capsized, not once, but thrice! And on turning for home when they realized the hull was filling with water, the tiller broke. They survived to tell their soggy tales. At one upset they realized it was shallow enough to stand. And even when out of their depth they were able to get the boat upright. They had some good sailing moments and came into the dock in a style reminiscent of Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean when his boat sinks as he steps onto the dock. But men and boat made it home. Wish we had photos.

I share this story, partly because it is humorous, partly because Tom finally got to sail! And we are grateful to the Creator of winds and waves, sailors, and seas for safe passage. We often capsize on life’s journey. Sometimes we land on our feet, happy to touch sand. Sometimes we thrash about and struggle to come right again. Often, we remind ourselves that our boat could be in better shape. And then there are times of serious struggle when only God can see us safely to shore. We are lifted on His mercy, carried by His grace. Our current capsizings are small, and sometimes even humorous. Often, we are more swamped than overturned. But we know many around us near to home and across the globe are caught in storms, gasping for breath, holding on for dear life…or learning to let go. Whatever our situation, how glorious to know we have a God who watches over us, who stretches out His hand, who holds on even when we can’t.

Well, we have done a bit of traveling besides Tom’s Boating Adventure. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers! Tom spent a week in Peru last month, participating in the Wycliffe Global Alliance Americas Area meetings. It is such a blessing to be meeting with colleagues face-to-face again! There’s a new Area Director and numerous new team members so it was a great time of building relationships and looking to the future. The Bible translation movement is capturing the hearts and enthusiasm of churches across Central and South America. There are 39 Wycliffe organization in the Americas Area, which also includes North America and the Caribbean, all working to see translated Scriptures available. You can meet the new Director, David Cardenas, and get a glimpse of what’s going on in the Americas at  Setting the Table - Wycliffe Global Alliance. Tom was privileged to help with Spanish to English translation, catch up with colleagues he serves with his tech skills, and visit the land of his birth! (He was born in Peru, but the family moved to Bolivia when he was just 9 months old.) 

I didn’t travel near as far, but spent a week in Orlando for our first Global Leadership Team face-to-face meeting in 2 ½ years! What a blessing to meet with colleagues new and old and to talk through how we see God at work and look to His guidance for the future of the Alliance. You can always learn more about the Alliance on Wycliffe.net, too. There’s too much to tell in our newsletters! In October, I’ll be traveling to the UK for meetings with colleagues at the Oxford Center for Mission Studies. More about that next time.

We mentioned in our last newsletter that Josh and Heather and the girls were going to be moving out here. They did! What we didn’t mention, because we didn’t know it yet, is that they are expecting a baby in October! No surprise to them, but it was to us! No wonder there was a sudden urgency for a bigger than 700 sq.ft. home! We are all very excited and are also enjoying having them just 40 minutes away. Pray as they continue to get settled. It was a big move after all their years in Colorado and it is taking some adjustment to being homeowners, of course! I spent a week in New York with Kate and Jordan and family earlier this month. They are all doing well in the midst of a challenging ministry in challenging times. 

We saw my parents earlier this summer. Mother continues to teach a Bible study and Daddy lends a hand in the landscaping efforts where they live. We also saw more family this month when Tom’s sister, Ali, husband Steve, their adult kids, Jack, Mark, and Kelsey and her husband John and their three kids all came to visit! Such a treat. Kate and Jordan and crew came down, too, and stayed at Josh and Heather’s. So, we had a real family reunion. A rare thing with everyone so scattered and busy!

Thank you as always for your prayers and support. You help keep us afloat! We are so grateful for each one of you and keep you in our prayers. Do continue to pray for the ministry of Bible translation as we participate together in God’s mission to reach the world with His Word. 

So much to learn and so much to live! As I close this letter, I have just now discovered that Spurgeon wrote a grand sermon called There Go the Ships, based on Psalm 104: 26. “Here is the sea, great and wide, which teems with creatures innumerable, living things both small and great. There go the ships, and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it.”

“That is how the ships go. There are many mysteries about them, and there are many in us. God makes us go by the gales of his Spirit. Oh, that we may be trim for going buoyant, and ft to be moved, and so make a grand voyage to heaven with Christ at the helm” Charles Spurgeon

Giving glory to the God of the gales and of the capsized,

 

 

Tom and Susan

the Alliance Americas team, meeting in Peru

reunion

r

April 2022

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

 

October 2021

 

Greetings on this early October afternoon,

I mentioned in our last newsletter that I’d been thinking about ships. Well, I’m still thinking about them. Not all the time, but sometimes! One of my favorite random, memorable books is Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time. It’s the story of watchmaker John Harrison, the inventor of the chronometer. Author Dava Sobel does a remarkable job of making a complex scientific and historical topic approachable and understandable: 

‘In literally hundreds of instances, a vessel’s ignorance of her longitude led swiftly to her destruction. Launched on a mix of bravery and greed, the sea captains of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries relied on “dead reckoning” to gauge their distance east or west of home port. The captain would throw a log overboard and observe how quickly the ship receded from this temporary guidepost. He noted the crude speedometer reading in his ship’s logbook, along with the direction of travel, which he took from the stars or a compass, and the length of time on a particular course, counted with a sandglass or a pocket watch. Factoring in the effects of ocean currents, fickle winds, and errors in judgment, he then determined his longitude. He routinely missed his mark, of course—searching.’

Harrison's  chronometer

‘Time is to clock as mind is to brain. The clock or watch somehow contains the time. And yet time refuses to be bottled up like a genie stuffed in a lamp. Whether it flows as sand or turns on wheels within wheels, time escapes irretrievably, while we watch. Even when the bulbs of the hourglass shatter, when darkness withholds the shadow from the sundial, when the mainspring winds down so far that the clock hands hold still as death, time itself keeps on. The most we can hope a watch to do is mark that progress. And since time sets its own tempo, like a heartbeat or an ebb tide, timepieces don't.’

Even the term, “dead reckoning” didn’t bode well for the sailors who, for centuries, had no other means of measuring. There was a way however, far superior to a tossed log, to track the progress of their journey. I think and write a lot about the concept of journey. It’s a big part of what I do in my role with the Wycliffe Global Alliance (and it was a major theme in my doctoral thesis). We apply the concept to how we approach organizational strategy. Nowadays it’s also something I think about in relation to world events. However and wherever you look, there are issues of power and control. Who has it, who wants it, how to get it. One of the notable lessons in the story of longitude is that there was no possibility of actually gaining control of stars or seas. It was about marking progress in order to journey well.

How do we mark progress in our journey? We’ve never been this way before. But we follow a God who knows each step of the way. Staying close to Him, growing in the knowledge of his ways, will keep us moving forward at His pace and in His time. We need to discern, make wise choices under His direction. And we need to remember we are no more in control of our journey than we are in control of the wind, the waves, or time. How much more reassuring to know God is in control of it all!

So, this isn’t just theory or spiritual musings. It’s real life. It probably applies to your life. I know it applies to ours! We’ve been serving with Wycliffe Bible Translators for about 35 years now and I can’t think of a year, a role, or a major decision that didn’t include God-given surprises, new life lessons, and unexpected blessings. Thank you for being a part of this journey with us! We continue to seek God’s guidance as we journey on.

Like most of you, we haven’t been doing as much literal travel as we did a few years ago, but that’s starting to change a bit. I was in Mexico for meetings twice this summer. Tom was there on the second trip as well. We were encouraged to see how God has been growing His Church and continuing to enable His Word to be translated. These difficult times were no surprise and no hindrance to Him. At our meetings, we mourned the loss of several colleagues, but also celebrated actual increases in translation progress and in people getting involved in giving and preparation for service. We also heard many such stories during our global meetings last month. We tire of meeting virtually, but doing so did allow the involvement of hundreds more leaders from Wycliffe organizations around the world. You can share in some of the worship and stories that are on the Alliance website. 

Surprises, life lessons, and unexpected blessings were also the order of the day at home in recent months. My parents, who came to live with us about three years ago, decided to move back to Tennessee. They went back to the same retirement community they lived in before, Uplands Village, but this time they moved into assisted living. They are doing well (Mother turned 90 this month!) and are still very independent, but appreciate the services there and on-hand medical care should they need it. The house they owned there never sold during their time with us, but they’ve now been able to exchange it to take care of some of the fees at their new apartment. This was not a transition we expected, but we know God is in it. My parents are content there. Mother is making lots of friends and Daddy is busy helping with the landscaping.

So, on to a new chapter here, as well. It now includes visits to Tennessee as well as connecting with our New York family and Colorado family as possible.  And since my parents’ apartment was now empty, we have refilled it with a lovely young couple from church. They come with a darling baby, six chickens and a dog. So, things are quite lively around here! We are very happy with the arrangement and hope they will be, too. We didn’t even need to advertise! They needed to move quickly, so are now graciously and patiently living in our upstairs while we finish work on the apartment as fast as possible. We hope to finish the work on the kitchen in the next two weeks. No small thing with Tom already working two jobs. I’m standing at the ready to paint, grout, and seal floors when my time comes.  

We will include more about our kids next time (including photos). We got to see everyone this summer! Numerous birthdays were celebrated, as well. Winslow turned 7, Wynnie turned 10 (!), Aurélie turned 7, and Chloe turned 2 (and suddenly for the first time started telling everyone she was 1! That’s a 2-year-old for you). Jude will be 6 in November, and Noah, 5 in February. They are a joy…and keep their parents busy. Both families are homeschooling. We appreciate you keeping them and us in your prayers, as we continue to pray for you as well!   

 

Tom and Susan

May 2021

     

Greetings on this early May afternoon,

I’ve been thinking about ships! Living by the Chesapeake Bay and in an historical region, we regularly see cargo ships, aircraft carriers, and other ships and boats ranging from tugboats to submarines, just a few blocks from our house. Enjoyable as these sights are, these are not the ships I’ve been thinking about. It’s the portraits of the mighty sailing ships that lure me in, particularly the paintings and etchings that depict entire fleets. I would so love to look out to the bay and see such a sight! So pathetic am I that I often pretend, particularly on misty mornings, to spot masts where there are actually giant cranes at the Norfolk docks across the river from us. Thinking such thoughts, I feel suddenly inclined to see what Scripture has to say about ships (and perhaps boats, as well). That should make for an interesting study.  My shipish thoughts are being pulled into many possible currents, but I’ll only touch on one here. 

“Those who go down to the sea in ships,
Who do business on great waters,
They see the works of the Lord,
And His wonders in the deep.”                              Psalm 107:23-24

This is just a small piece of a larger section of a magnificent Psalm.  If you read only these two verses you can readily imagine sailors admiring the beauty of the seas God created. But as you read on you see the sailors in a fierce storm. You see them tossed to and fro, scared out of their wits, crying out in distress. In His time, God calms the storm and the sailors have a new appreciation for a quiet sea as “He guides them to their desired haven” (vs 30). The psalmist then takes up the refrain repeated throughout this passage, “Oh that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!” (vs 31).

If you have the opportunity today, take time to read this stunning Psalm and be reminded of the God who redeems and restores. It proclaims Him as the God of refugees, rebels, fools, the fearful, the hungry, the thirsty, the oppressed…all who cry out to Him are delivered, saved, and secured. The psalmist says “Whoever is wise will observe these things, and they will understand the lovingkindness of the Lord.” (vs 43). It is a good reminder of where our confidence should rest. And that only in Him can we truly rest.

We have seen His lovingkindness, indeed. Tom and I continue to marvel at how God is at work around the world and rejoice that we can continue to participate in a small way through our work with the Wycliffe Global Alliance. I (Tom} continues to both untangle and organize the online resources of the Americas Area. The main job is keeping the MiComunidad portal functioning while adding new articles, events, documents and users to it. There are many online events these day, one current series is a course called Languages and the Mission of God which happens every Thursday for 5 weeks. I {Susan} am still working with colleagues on the book that will tell the history of the Alliance and how God has worked through it so that more people around the world can have His Word in their languages. ’m also working with a new group of researchers, helping guide them in collecting existing resources and producing new resources that will assist leaders from all walks of Christian life growing as global missional leaders. And I’m working on various behind-the-scenes projects to help the Alliance and our colleagues think about strategy from biblical and theological perspectives.

The work of Bible translation has not slowed during the challenging pandemic times. God has continued to provide for His people and every facet of His mission. As most of you know by now, the ministry of Bible translation isn’t about a product. It’s about people, people coming to know Christ, people in relationship with God.  I think you will be encouraged as you follow the link below to read an article and watch a video from Indonesia. You can see how the Church is rising to the occasion and encouraging congregations to read the recently translated Mangala Malay New Testament.  GMIM, Gereja Masehi Injili di Minahasa (Christian Evangelical Church in Minahasa) is one of 14 Wycliffe Global Alliance Organizations in Indonesia! GMIM has its own translation center and teams of translators working on translations like the Mangala Malay.   https://www.wycliffe.net/reading-gods-word-together/

 The growth of the worldwide Church has opened up so many possibilities for involvement in translation that we never could have dreamed of, let alone planned for! We surely do see “God’s wonderful works to the children of men”.

Now that Tom and I, and my parents, have been vaccinated, we are starting to look at a few more work and personal travel possibilities and we are happily having an increasing number of guests in our home. We are grateful to have had good health through this unusual and extended season of semi-isolation. Kate and Jordan and family were supposed to come for a long-awaited visit in April, but were deterred by Covid. We are thankful they have mostly recovered, though Kate is still experiencing some weariness and aches (beyond the mom norm). They do plan to visit later this month. 

So, again my ship has been guided by the Creator and has reminded me that whatever storms are around us, whatever trials are to come, He is good, He is loving. “…He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness” (vs 9). “…His mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so” (vs1-2) I hope we can join together in this proclamation! Thank you for your ongoing prayers and support. We appreciate you greatly and keep you in our prayers.

 

 

Tom and Susan

December 2020

Dear Friends,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tom and Susan