“For since the world began, no ear has heard, and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for Him!” Isaiah 64:4

Wait. That has been our word for 1999. In fact, that has pretty much been our word for the 1990s! Oh how we long for a new word, an ACTION word. We’re longing to be released to go forth in the name of Jesus and declare His greatness, but only God knows when we’re ready. Just this morning we were listening to a message on the characteristics of those who believe Jesus when He said in Mark 9:23, “Anything is possible if a person believes.” And we noted many areas in which the Lord has changed our thinking. So this waiting time was not wasted.

However we’re trusting that those changes are just the tip of the iceberg in comparison to what God is doing while we wait for Him to act. We are hoping to begin seeing the results of His work very soon and would definitely appreciate your prayers to that end.

So you are probably wondering what we could write about in a newsletter if we spent the entire year just waiting. Actually there were two major events that occurred.

· In March Cora was placed under hospice care. As Cora’s condition continued to get worse we sensed the Lord leading us to get support from a hospice where the wife of one of our Wycliffe missionaries worked. The people from the hospice have been very supportive and caring. They too have been amazed as her vital signs remain strong. We have also been blessed to see her weight increase the last few months after years of going down.
· In July Wycliffe relocated to Orlando, Florida. The high cost of real estate combined with a vision for facilities expansion to enable Wycliffe to reach more language groups in the next few years led to a decision to relocate the US headquarters in Orlando. This has been a hard thing for us to go through since we could not consider moving because of Cora’s physical condition. Watching friends leave, the loss of Jenny’s job (she worked at Wycliffe) and the uncertainty of our future continues to be something that is difficult to process. Thankfully I am able to still do some work for Wycliffe from home while caring for Cora.

But we have also seen the Lord increase the number of people praying for Cora (and for all of us) this last year for which we are very grateful. You see, one of the first scriptures the Lord gave Cora when she started this journey was 2 Corinthians 1:11 which says, “He will rescue us because you are helping by praying for us. As a result, many will give thanks to God because so many people’s prayers for our safety have been answered.” And you know what? We still believe that! Yes, it gets hard to believe some days, but because of the consistent and fervent prayers of God’s people we are still able to hold on to this promise. Thank you for each prayer you have prayed for us, each note of encouragement and your continued support. We’re so glad we’re a part of the family of God!