Author: David M. Hare

When we came to Cameroon on our vision trip in 2010, I asked our colleagues for their highs and lows of Cameroon living. Without exception, each person told me that one of the hardest parts of living here was dealing with money. Knowing about these challenges we read a ton about the subject before crossing into a new culture. We found that most books written for Westerners moving to Africa deal extensively with the question of finances. We have already written about some of what we have learned from books like African Friends and Money Matters (read HERE) and When Helping…

As many of you  know, our family has spent the last 17 months in the US. And now, we have been full time back in the village for a couple weeks. Our hearts have been delighted to see the smiles of our friends and to hear them welcoming us back (and even understand them!). We see new babies and new houses. Our church has worked hard and is now a mud-brick building with a tin roof.But nearly every encounter is also a reminder of loss. Our dear friends Simon and Carine died while we were away. Carine’s father actually died…

We are so thankful to live in a country where the government is not opposed to missionaries. We entered Cameroon originally on visas that listed our role as “missionaries” and have never felt any tension in that regard. However, governments change, and even within an overall supportive government you can sometimes have individuals that can oppose you. We were told when we first met with the mayor of our town that if we did not have his blessing we might as well move onto a different people group. All of that to say, the government leaders in Cameroon can greatly affect…

As we go to Cameroon we have a lot of goals and there is much that we want to accomplish. We want to translate the Bible, teach people to read, help build the still small and weak Bakoum church, and all along raise our family and minister to our neighbors. But we also recognize that we can do all of that without love, and as a result it would be worth nothing. And we know that because God first loved us, we can go out and love others. Pray that God would give us a heart to love our neighbors,…

I once admitted to a pastor that I was hesitant to preach in churches because of James 3:1: “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” This pastor responded to me: “Do you think that the judgment is going to be LESS strict for those who are translating his Word?!” His warning has been well received. As we begin Bible translation this term, we are going to be producing the text that future Bakoum pastor’s will preach from. Our task is both difficult and serious. Of…

When we were out in Southern California, we were able to do a Question and Answer time at The Master’s Seminary about life as Bible translators. Here is one of the questions and our answer: PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOURSELVES AND YOUR MINISTRY IN CAMEROON. Stacey Hare: I’m Stacey and this is Dave. We are Bible translators with World Team in West Africa, in a country called Cameroon. We’re in the eastern region of the country. Dave Hare: In 2004, we graduated from The Master’s University and went to The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Both Stacey and I graduated from…

Just before we left for home assignment, I had an interesting conversation with one of our most trusted language helpers, we will call him Pierre (not his name). Pierre is very well educated and one of the only Bakoum people I know that enjoys reading (in French). I was driving him back to his village and recounting a story that I found to be humorous. I told him that fairly often people will come to my door and we will have this conversation: Them: “I have some chameleon eggs for you to buy.” Me: “Oh yeah, and why would I…

Where we have been. We arrived in the US in March 2017, and you may be thinking we have just been vacationing. Au contraire my friends, we have been quite busy. Let me tell you what we have been up to. STUDY. The majority of our time has been spent in Dallas, TX where we have been studying at the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics. The reason we were here is because we knew that we needed more training before we began translating the Bible. At GIAL took the following classes: Advanced Grammar Advanced Phonology Cross-cultural Teaching Seminar Discourse Analysis…

My fear for you is not that you will fail, but that you will succeed in doing the wrong things. Dr. Howard Hendricks (to his students) As we approach missions there are so many different options. Just in Cameroon we know missionaries that work as: doctors, nurses, church planters, educators, agricultural specialists, librarians, linguists, and even a couple that are starting gyms. If you read this blog, you know that Stacey and I are working as Bible translators and most of our time so far has been invested in learning and analyzing the Kwakum language. In all that we do,…

Stacey and I got to know a very kind missionary when we first went to Cameroon on a vision trip. He allowed us to stay with him while we were in the capital, spent hours talking to us about his plans, and helped us a lot with our paperwork. As I got to know Shawn I learned that he had some learning disabilities. It took him a bit longer to get through college than average. But he finished. Somewhere along the way he decided to pursue the life of a missionary, leaving behind his family and their family business. It…