Thanking God and You

I heard wonderful reports of the two weeks of Connection programs in Orlando that served our furloughing colleagues. God used your prayers. One of the "crew" members shared a story of how the Lord enabled her to have significant influence in the life of an MK (missionary kid). You prayed for her as you prayed for the Connections. That "crew' member is someone I coached as she asked the Lord to build her initial team of prayer and financial partners. As you've prayed for those I coach, you've prayed for her in the past, too! I rejoice that your prayers for my Wycliffe ministry had an impact, though I wasn't even there. Don't you love God's amazing plan?

Final preparations are in full swing for the next two-week Equip orientation, September 25 - October 7. The decision was made to hold that event virtually, rather than face-to-face. Though we will miss the interaction that would have been possible together in Orlando, we are confident that the Lord is sovereign over this. We are grateful for the six previous virtual opportunities that have positioned us well for this session. Pray that we will continue to be aware of all the details needed to train and encourage these "newbies" well.

Thank you for your faithful prayers for Mom and for me. Mom's progress continues to be slow but noticeable. We praise God that she celebrated her 88th birthday yesterday! There are more doctor and lab visits and cardiac rehab appointments in her near future. I am thankful for the ongoing opportunity to serve from Indy and assist her, too.

Beautiful

Forgive me for getting a bit emotional; I just couldn’t believe that your colleagues would spend many years working on a Nastaliq-style Arabic digital font with the hope that Scripture might be translated into this language one day...Thank you!

So said a potential new funding partner in the middle of a meeting in Asia last year. The font she was talking about is called Awami Nastaliq, and it was developed by the Writing Systems Technology team of Wycliffe’s strategic partner, SIL.

Awami Nastaliq is an Arabic-script font specifically intended for a wide variety of languages of Southwest Asia. Its sloping beauty means that it is a much more complex font to render on computers. Many Arabic characters usually need around four shapes to enable it to be typed, but a Nastaliq character typically has more than 20 shapes as it is so fluid and complex. Font designers and computer programmers from Scotland, the USA and Asia worked together to produce the correct shaping.

The Writing Systems Technology team gives away the fonts they develop in order to provide a service to the wider community. One of the designers noted, “People download an unbelievable number of our fonts – hundreds of thousands of times. So as well as Bible translation, our fonts are being used for tens of millions of webpages around the world to enable communication that otherwise couldn’t happen in that language.”

Read more of Alfred Thompson’s story at wycliffe.org.uk/stories/what-your-team-has-done-for-our-father-and-his-kingdom/

Over the years, I have regularly asked for prayer for those who come through Equip orientation. One past “Equipper” is Becca (wycliffe.org/partner/spalinger), who has been a font/type designer now for ten years. Your prayers and gifts for my Wycliffe ministry have been a part of her journey as she continues to help create fonts and impact language groups just like these. Thank you!

Personal Update

We are thankful for all your prayers and for all the medical care Mom has received, between her primary care, her heart valve replacement, her pacemaker, and even the balancing of the meds that are so important to her daily life. We are confident that “...all the days of my life were written in your book before any of them came to be.” (Psalm 139:16, NLV) ...and know that God is present with us through each day, now and in the future.

Thank you for your faithful prayers and encouragements!

Connections Coming!

We thank God for you and your prayers for Mom. Yesterday was her one-month post-surgery follow up and everything looked great. We praise the Lord for her cardiology team. They have now recommended a pacemaker. That procedure should be scheduled soon. (The Lord's hand has been clearly visible as all the arrangements are coming into place!) As Mom is still recovering, my supervisor is working to shift my responsibilities so I may continue to serve Wycliffe remotely for this season.

Please pray for the team in Orlando. For the first time since February 2020, they will host two Connection programs (July 19-23 and July 26-30) for colleagues who have served overseas. There is a team member who became seriously ill this past week, so pray for the "crew" that remains to be very resourceful and healthy and covered by God's grace. Pray that those who come will feel cared for, celebrated well and encouraged as they fulfill their roles around the world in Bible translation.

Your partnership through your prayers and gifts for my Wycliffe ministry is a gracious gift of God. Thank you so much. Please let me know how I might pray with you. Together, we will see the Lord at work.

Equip #51

Thank you for your prayers for Mom. She had the procedure on June 15 and it was successful! She had a couple of "bonus" days in the hospital this past week, but now that her meds are balanced differently, she's beginning to see some good recovery.

The Equip #51 crew and participants are also grateful for your prayers. We had generally stable internet and some amazing relational connections that only the Lord could have arranged in a virtual setting. A number of these new colleagues are headed to challenging parts of the world to be involved in linguistics and translation. God has used your prayers and gifts for my Wycliffe ministry to help them get a good start on their journey. Thank you!

Equip #51 Participants - Map by Marty Pelton​

Plans are in full swing for the first Orlando programs for our team since February 2020. Please pray for wisdom to know how to adjust as needed. We so look forward to being face-to-face with these colleagues who usually live overseas! Pray that they would feel cared for and celebrated in their time with us.

God is faithful to answer our prayers. I am eager to know how to pray on your behalf!

Equip is coming!

Thank you for your prayers and encouragements for Mom. Once again, as people prayed, she did better in the past week. The appointment with the cardiologist gave us good information. We are now waiting for June 14, when she will have a half day of testing to confirm that she is eligible for the TAVR heart procedure. Some days for her are better than others, but the Lord has obviously been with us, each step of the way.

I'm so grateful for the opportunity to work remotely in this season. Preparations continue for virtual Equip orientation (June 12-24). As you pray for these 30 new Wycliffe missionaries and 17 new MKs (missionary kids), would you ask God to give them strong bonds with each other, though we won't be face-to-face? I'm still in contact with some of the people who went through Equip when I did, 11 years ago. There is something about starting the journey together that the Lord uses to provide special motivation and encouragement.

Please let me know how I might be praying with you so that together, we might see God answer prayer.