Summer 2024 Update

Dear friends and family,

Following the mass hysteria caused by our March date-prank (don't remember that? Go take another read of the first couple of sentences of our last update!), we will be avoiding that again this time around! Apologies to anyone who bought their snacks for the Euros only to find that they were past their best before date before the tournament began! 🤣

However, with this update entitled SUMMER 2024 UPDATE, we officially declare summer in the UK started! Wishful thinking perhaps, but we hope that wherever you are in the world and whichever season you are looking forward to (finally) arriving, we hope this update finds you well and that this short read encourages and fills you with hope once more!

For us the last few months have felt like they’ve mirrored the British weather - unpredictable! Central to that unpredictability were some health questions for Liz regarding her thyroid, necessitating some changes to our plans. We’re thankful for the medical care available in the UK and we’re pleased that there doesn’t appear to be any urgent action needed at this point.

At home, the kids have continued to enjoy their respective activities, with Levi seeming to have more musical performance opportunities than I (Matt) have had hot dinners! (Only joking, I eat enough hot dinners!)

On the work front, Matt has continued to help the new LEAD Global directorship to function well, developing our annual and 3 year plans and budget, as well as working out how we can best structure our team to respond to the opportunities coming our way. As the team has gone through some significant changes over the last year, and the next year presents some unique opportunities for us to collaborate together, we are planning a whole team (11/12 staff) get-together in the autumn in Canada. It’s very rare we get this opportunity and so we’re looking to make the most of the face to face time as well as engaging with the students at an SIL training school (the Canadian equivalent of Moorlands, where Matt teaches) while we are there.

If you follow Wycliffe’s social media channels (instagram, X) you would probably have heard the sad news of the passing of a long-term Wycliffe UK member, Margaret Hill. We wanted to share a short extract from the formidable obituary on the Wycliffe website, since it communicated so well the kind of difference work like ours can make:

“Margaret loved translating God’s word, but she was also desperate to see it transform lives and communities.

Using her expertise in education – and her entrepreneurial mission spirit – she helped to develop a Ngbaka adult literacy programme as well as a school programme for over 100 schools. These measures enabled the Ngbaka to read the Bible in their language. But Margaret wanted people not just to read the Bible, but to apply it, so she pioneered a Scripture-use course for the church leaders.

When the DRC descended into civil conflict in the 1990s, many Ngbaka people were traumatised. Margaret’s response was to develop basic trauma-healing lessons for church leaders to teach their members. Out of this came the book Healing the Wounds of Trauma: How the Church Can Help, which is now available in 170 languages.”

As we work with LEAD Global and the School of Language and Scripture at Moorlands, we are helping equip people to be able to respond to the needs and opportunities presented where they work, helping them to see lives and communities transformed in unique ways. The full version of the article is available here if you’d like to read more about Margaret’s life.

Over the summer we’re looking forward to some time together as a family both at home and away. As ever, if you’re passing Gloucester on the M5 (it’s between Birmingham and Bristol, if that helps!) during your holidays do let us know - we’d love you to drop in!

Sending lots of love, Matt, Liz, Levi and Anya