A few months ago, after I (Eric) sang through our nighttime prayers with our son Caleb (6yrs), he asked me, "Dad, what do you do for work?" I explained, "I use my computer to help get the Bible in different languages to people around the world so they can understand it." Caleb smiled widely and giggled as only he does, "Wow, really!?"
Caleb's awestruck response stuck with me. For one, he reminded me how important our Wycliffe ministry is, which I can too easily take for granted. Secondly, it's about time that Allison and I share our Wycliffe ministry with the kids to help them understand what they're part of and how special and exciting that is.
Thank you for the part you play as well. Let us encourage each other to find that childlike excitement in what God is doing through us all in our day: More than ever, God is getting his Word out in different languages so that many are becoming His children!
Christ is risen! This year the resurrection life of Jesus has taken on a new dimension for us as a family: we're thankful to be pretty much settled into our new house in Cedar Hill just a couple miles down the road from our former house. It's been over a year since our house in Duncanville burned down. Thank you for all who helped us in that transition. Though we still process what happened last year, we're starting to be less focused on what is behind us and more focused on what's ahead.
"But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead..." Phil 3:13 (ESV)
God has finally begun to answer our prayers for more colleagues to join me in developing the Digital Bible Library. Just in the past month, a new full-time software developer was added to our team, and we've recently filled a couple of other much-needed roles. Praise God!
As of last year (2021), the Digital Bible Library hosts text Bibles in 1733+ languages, audio Bibles in over 881+ languages, sign-language video Bibles (for the deaf) in 16+ languages, and braille Bibles (for the blind) in 41+ languages.
Financial Update
This past year was busier than expected, and we again didn't have much time to focus on building our team of partners. Fortunately, God has continued to provide. We had some large unexpected gifts this past year, and also, with some increased giving and two new partners, our partners' regular (monthly, quarterly, or annual) giving now brings us to around 62% of our budget, whereas we were around 55% in January 2021. Praise God!
Please continue to pray with us for more people to partner with us in this work. We're thankful that we also continue to receive some funding related to Eric's work on the Digital Bible Library to help us in the meantime.
Personal Updates: Sarah (9) started back to school in person in January, for the first time in almost 2 years, and she seems to be enjoying and excelling in the last half of 3rd grade. Caleb (6) recently made a great clown in a kindergarten circus at his school, and Jonah (4) is now attending the same school as Caleb.
We were home a lot in January and February with Covid and quarantine and then a nasty flu virus. We're hoping we can all stay healthy long enough for the kids to have a normal last couple of months of school (and for Allison to catch up on some things).
Allison is still enjoying teaching dance and is excited she'll get to teach a ballet class for kids who are a little older starting this summer. She still struggles some with fatigue, though she's thankful her B12 and D levels improved in the fall, and overall she seems a little healthier. Prayers for wisdom and healing appreciated!
Eric continues to assist campaigns for a Tanzanian pastor (who was our pastor while we were there) who organized a small group of pastors to kick-start a new denomination in the Mara region of Tanzania. For more info, you may visit https://www.facebook.com/MaraPresbyterianChurchInTanzania
Pray for the people groups in Tanzania who are nearing completion of the New Testament in their language. Pray especially for the New Testament in Jita, the language Allison worked with. It is common to face hurdles as teams approach this milestone. Pray for endurance, for good relationships with the community, and that God would make a way through any obstacles.
Please pray for the Mara Presbyterian Church in Tanzania (see facebook link above), that God would provide for the ten pastors and their churches there, and especially will raise up more partners and a missionary to assist in their church growing efforts.
Pray for Eric's Digital Bible Library team to be able to reach their goals for upgrading the entire system! Pray they'll also be able to hire a qualified system operation administrator.
Praise & prayer:Allison's health seems to have improved some, but she still struggles with fatigue and occasional other issues.
Praise: We're starting to feel at home in our new house and have now received all the furniture we ordered. We're enjoying having people over again!
Praise: We're finished dealing with insurance related to our house fire! We're now working on an insurance claim related to a wind-damaged fence, but that should be resolved more quickly.
