Robinson Ministry Update June 2026

Robinson ministry update - June 2026

Expanding our Reach: Robinson Ministry update - June 2026

Greetings from a gloriously warm and sunny Lancaster! I could get used to this, but I suspect I will not get the opportunity! But then again .....

As I started to pull together some notes on what has happened since I last wrote, I realised that we have been rather busy (British understatement much?).

Tim has been to two countries (three if you count Scotland - more on that later), including a new continent for him. He had a trip to South America for SIL security meetings, a gathering of all the Area-level people in the same security type role as Tim. Then he went straight from there to North America to meet up with some folks related to the big crisis response he has been working on, thankfully resoved recently.

It was so good to see them and catch up even though it was only one evening and Tim was fairly exhausted.

I (Ali) held the fort down at home, having to cook for myself and make my own coffee, with Tim away. Such hardships!

Dan meanwhile went back to Uni for the final stretch of his first year. He just finished his last exam on Tuesday and is now enjoying some downtime in Newcastle.

The same day that Tim got back from his two-continent trip, we had the opportunity to host some long-time friends who were influential in Tim joining Wycliffe, and one could even argue in Tim and I getting together. Lesley Somers (with husband Bob supporting) ran a youth network for Wycliffe when we were young adults. Tim was very involved and eventually took it over from her. While Lesley was still leading it she organised a trip to Ghana that I managed to get in on the act of, and that was where Tim and I got to know each other as adults. The rest, as they say, is history.

I (Ali) was invited to attend the Mission Assist conference near Sheffield. Mission Assist is an organisation that supports world mission from home, enabling individuals to contribute meaningfully to world mission from wherever they are based. I was hoping to find one or two people who might be interested in assisting the Ethnologue by doing some voluntary work, researching some specific areas online. An added bonus was that my parents were already going to the conference, as Dad has been working with them over the last few years.

I was given the opportunity to host an optional seminar during the conference about Ethnologue and how they could get involved. I had a very encouraging turnout, in fact, it was standing room only for the last few who arrived! Several people approached me afterwards and expressed an interest in getting involved. Please pray that I will be able to work well with them and enable them to contribute their skills effectively.

And so to Tim’s final country - Scotland. On Tuesday last week, Tim drove up to Dundee with his Dad, in a van full of his sister Sarah’s last boxes out of her parents’ house. She and her husband, Martin, have bought a house in Dundee and have now moved in! Tim helped move a van load of things from their current flat in Dundee and then drove back on Wednesday evening.

Tim and I have been in Asia for two different sets of meetings. I had meetings with Language Assessment leaders working with SIL across the globe, and Tim with the Area HR team he is part of. SIL’s language assessment teams provide the Ethnologue with some of the best data we can get as they go to language areas and study the use of those languages. Building connections with the leaders of those teams is essential for us to continue to encourage them to let us know when they discover new information.

Tim's meetings had been planned for March in a part of the world that suddenly became inaccessible with the outbreak of conflict in the area. It is great that so many were able to attend the new dates.

underwater As we were both around the same place at the same time, we thought we would take the opportunity to do a side quest and took a holiday in Sri Lanka on the way home.

We landed in Colombo on the west coast of Sri Lanka and took an overnight train to Trincomalee on the north-east coast. Feels very Race Across the World (look it up if you don’t know what I am talking about!). We enjoyed diving and resting!