Robinson Ministry Update October 2025

Robinson ministry update - October 2025

Expanding our Reach: Robinson Ministry update - October 2025

Greetings from Lancaster when nights are darker and mornings are colder!

We had a good trip south this month, achieving multiple things. It was such a privilege to be able to attend David Crozier’s funeral. He was a very special man who impacted so many lives, and the work he did continues to impact lives, especially in Nigeria. The Linguistics and Translation department that he started at the Theological College of Northern Nigeria has been a game changer for Bible Translation in Nigeria. It provides a route for Nigerians to receive Bachelors and Masters level training that equips them to be the next generation of consultants that are so desperately needed in the Bible Translation movement in Nigeria.
It was special to see so many familiar faces from the Wycliffe world there, and especially lovely to have a bit of time with two of the Crozier’s “kids” that Tim and I grew up with!
Our next stop was Horley, staying with Tim’s ever-welcoming uncle and aunt for a few days. From there, I (Ali) was able to go and visit a good friend in Canterbury whom I had not seen for a couple of years. We had a beautiful day catching up, and she gave me a personalised tour of Canterbury Cathedral, which was really something else!
While south, Tim and I visited Iden Green Congregational Church to share briefly about what we are up to. We always feel welcomed and known!

Dan has made a good start back at Uni. He has not been entirely healthy with a series of bad colds and a short bout of flu (or possibly Covid?). But apart from that, he has embraced Uni life again and is doing a good job of keeping up with his heavy lecture schedule.

Work for Ali has mostly been a case of keeping things moving. Ethnologue is getting a lot of data contributions coming in, especially for the Americas at the moment. It is really encouraging to have so much information being shared with us, but it is proving an uphill battle to keep on top of processing it all!
Fun fact for today, have you ever heard of Taíno? And yet the chances are, you have used a Taíno word in the last month or so. The Taíno language was widely spoken across much of the Caribbean before the arrival of the Spanish. That form of Taíno is now almost entirely extinct. But some English words derived from Taíno remain: barbecue, canoe, hammock, hurricane, potato and tobacco!

Tim has been tackling some of the challenges of combining two of SIL’s large geographical Areas into one. He is now working with a wider EurAsia group formed from what was formerly Eurasia and Mainland Asia. As well as supporting ongoing incidents, he is working towards aligning processes across the new teams, some of which have been used to working quite differently. One such project is the question of what is unacceptable risk in this day and age? As an organisation, how do we decide where we should draw the line?

Thank you for staying engaged with us and the work God has called us to do. Thank you for praying and supporting us.
Please do get in touch and share your news with us too!

Praise

Dan is settling back into Uni and navigating the challenges of not being fully healthy
Successful trip south and an unexpected opportunity for Ali to meet up with her friend