Author: Stacey Hare
How Can We Best Love the Poor?
I have been asking myself the question how we can best love the poor since moving here to Cameroon. It was much easier to consider this while living in the States where there were no people living in houses made of mud and sticks right next door to me. There, “the poor” were more of a category as opposed to actual people that had faces and names. So let me begin by introducing one such man so that you too might begin to see their faces: Introducing Simon Simon is an old widower that wears a white silky “Lancôme…
Minority People Groups will Rule the World
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God.” – Luke 6:20-26 We have at times been asked (and wondered ourselves) why we would choose to work with a minority people group when we could work with those who would be more likely to have a world-wide impact. The thinking is that if a Bakoum person comes to know Christ, he may be instrumental for the Kingdom among those who are in his village, but he will likely never travel nor write anything that could influence the masses. Conversely, if those who speak languages of wider communication…
One Year Since our Arrival in Country: Much to be Thankful For
This past year has been a whirlwind. We arrived in Cameroon with 16 suitcases and four children and that was pretty much all we had. We were a bit lost, uncertain about where we would serve, and at times wondering what we were doing moving our family across the world. Now, a year later, we have a house, are well established in our people group, we have a language committee, language partner, public school for the children, home school teacher for the children, those whom we call friends, a weekly routine (thank God), a local church and even a dog…
Much to be Thankful For: Recap on Kids’ Bible Club
Yesterday our Kids’ Bible club came to a close and although we are exhausted we have much to be thankful for. Each day we started by playing a game like Red Rover, Leap Frog or Tug-of-War and the kids had a blast. There were even kids lined up in anticipation outside of our house well before we were ready to start the club. After that we taught them catechism songs which they loved. If nothing else, we are so encouraged to hear sung throughout the village “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God almighty who was and who is and…
Kids’ 5-Day Club Starting Tomorrow at the Hares
For our first term we are charged with the task of learning Bakoum, analyzing it, and learning the culture. But then there are always bored children on our front porch looking for something to do or for someone to teach them something. We talk to them in Bakoum some, but are nowhere near the place where we can teach them the Bible in this language (need to get it translated first!). But we have more-or-less decided that would rather not wait to teach these kids the Bible and hopefully some of them can understand it in the French (this would be on…
Called Not to be Colonists, but Revolutionaries
Called Not to be Colonists Like most first-term missionaries, we are thinking through many issues that are suddenly before us (usually “out-loud” on our blog). One such issue is the question of “tolerance” on the mission field. This question is intimately tied to the history of our people group. People in this region had been living in the jungles until the French and German colonists entered the area. It has been said that the Germans violently forced the people to set up new villages along a main road so that they could control them more easily. A few of our…
“What a Bunch of Savages”
by Stacey Dave and I have lived for over 30 years in America. For 30 years we lived and breathed American culture. But 2 years ago we were launched out of our comfort zone and into first Europe and now Africa. We have found that in reality, we are somewhere in orbit outside of these cultures, not really belonging to any of them. Within a single week, we hear both the values of those from our home country and the swirling opinions of the people among whom we work. Their differing reactions to the same issues are astonishing: Concerning Homosexuality: Western Culture:…
Thigh, Breast or Door? The Joys of Learning a Tonal Language
by Stacey Hey, can you go close the thigh? Oh, I mean the…breast? Nope…the door…that’s it…the door!How could we get these words so mixed up? Let us just tell you that they have the exact same consonants and vowels. And if they have the exact same consonants and vowels then they are the same word that has several different meanings…right? Wrong. We have now officially entered into the realm of tonal languages where meaning is differentiated not just by different vowels and consonants but also by the pitch of one’s voice. So (we think) “door” is said with a higher…
There is so Little Grace Here
by Stacey Save, O LORD, for the godly one is gone; for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man. – Psalm 12:1 Streets Filled with Violence I was studying one day when I heard a young woman screaming in the street, “No mama, no mama.” I went outside to see what was going on and Dave told me that our neighbor was violently whipping her daughter with an electrical cable, even in the face, while her older brother was pinning her down. Dave told the mother that she needed to stop and with much frustration, she eventually relented….
Village Joys
By Stacey Oh there are so many things that I love about our lives here in Cameroon. One such thing is never knowing quite what to expect when we walk out of our front door each day. As far as our daily routine, each day, Dave and I study the language with a language partner and then in the afternoons we try to go out into the neighborhood and practice what we learned. And we usually learn a lot more then just Bakoum in the process. For instance, the other day, we learned how to pull of the legs and…
