Rick and Susan Nivens have been working in Indonesia since 1985. From 1987 until 2013, their primary assignment was with the 5,000 West Tarangan people of the Aru islands, Maluku province, eastern Indonesia. From 2000 to 2003, however, while Maluku was immersed in a religious war, they lived in Jakarta and trained Indonesian Christians to become Bible translators all over the country. Susan has also served in a variety of administrative roles.

In 2012, the major protestant denomination in Maluku decided to initiate a translation project for the Aru Malay language, spoken by 100,000 people throughout the Aru islands (including all West Tarangan people as well as 16 other language groups). Rick was assigned to be the facilitator of that project. He works with four local translators (Aci, Helen, Ita, and Agnes) and three pastors. They have finished 2/3 of the New Testament, and small portions of the Old Testament, which are available in print, app, audio, and audiovisual formats.

Rick and Susan have three sons, all of whom were born and raised in Indonesia. For reasons of family and Susan’s health, Rick and Susan are currently based out of Goshen, Indiana, still fully involved in the Aru Malay project every day by internet. Rick has extended trips to Aru once or twice a year. Rick also serves as a translation consultant to other teams in Indonesia.

Since 2020, Susan has been serving Wycliffe as an associate instructor of Scripture Engagement courses for students at Dallas International University. She mentors students as they learn to analyze the barriers and bridges to using the translated Scriptures in a meaningful way in different people groups, and as they create proposals to share with the translation teams.

Please consider how you might partner with them in their Wycliffe ministry financially or in prayer.