Author: Stacey Hare

A Recap on the Oral Bible Storying Workshop This last Wednesday we spent nearly 8 hours in an Oral Bible Storying (OBS) workshop with about 20 Kwakum men and women. Together we wrestled to understand the context and meaning of the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18. The goal of this meeting was to begin to give our friends an idea of what OBS is going to look like in the future. Particularly we wanted them to understand that it was going to be a lot of work. A goal that was achieved as…

Wednesday of this week will kick off an exciting new chapter in our ministry to the Kwakum people. Two of our friends and colleagues with Wycliffe/SIL will be joining us in our village to help launch an Oral Bible Storying project. We plan to have about 30 Kwakum people assembled to learn how to translate and transmit Bible stories orally. The two stories chosen to demonstrate the process are Elijah and the Prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18) and the story of the Pharisee and tax collector (Luke 18:10-14). Our rationale in launching translating and transmitting some Bible stories orally…

The other day I was talking to a Cameroonian friend in my living room who told me that she had saved up enough money to go down to a local medical clinic. After a battery of tests, it was concluded that she had malaria and typhoid. She went to the clinic pharmacy, and, in reading the price tags of the prescribed medication, was relieved to find that she had enough money. She started to pay for the medication when the clerk behind the counter increased the cost for no apparent reason. Now unable to pay for the needed medicine, my…

Last week, our current homeschool teacher, Hunter, was going through Bible curriculum which discussed the end times with our children. In the curriculum were covered things like the final judgment, the Great White Throne judgment, the return of Christ, and the eternal state of believers and unbelievers alike. A few days later, one of my sons came up to me and said that he had been thinking a lot about what “Miss Hunter” had been teaching him about the end times. He said that he had been fighting God his whole life and he was tired of it. He continued…

If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you. Matthew 17:20  Most Christians believe that prayer is powerful. We believe the Bible when it tells us that Elijah prayed and it did not rain for three and a half years! We believe that when Moses prayed the Lord opened the sea. And yet, we tend to pray for the small, the immediate. We pray for health and safe travel, friends and family. What would it look like…

Yesterday morning Kwakum people from near and far gathered together for a joyous dedication of the Kwakum house, a newly-built center for literacy and translation. It was in this building that the new, approved Kwakum alphabet was presented. There was singing, there was dancing, there was a time of thanksgiving for those in America who helped fund the building project, and there were speeches given. A new alphabet song was sung. It started with: We are overjoyed that God has opened the door for a writing system in Kwakum! We are so happy with the letters that have come into…

I often tell my kids, “If you want to avoid a life of criticism, stay home and sit on your couch. It is when you venture out to help people that you find yourself in the cross-hairs of criticism. Your greatest acts of love will be those that are the most scrutinized.” This proves to be true in the life and ministry of Jesus. When he healed the blind, made the lame walk, and the dead rise, suddenly his critics appeared out of nowhere saying he must be demon possessed. As he walked through this world full of compassion and…

I have lost track of how many times I have passed out at the sight of blood or of someone else being worked on medically. But today…I helped deliver a baby. Last night a friend called me around 9pm to have me and Dave take her to the local “hospital” to give birth. We picked her up, arrived at a facility only to find it almost vacant and completely dark (no electricity). A 25-year-old greeted us while carrying a solar lamp. She led us to a clean room and had my friend lay on a narrow table. This young nurse…

A few years ago I was talking to a missionary that had worked for ~20 years with a people group in the Philippines. He and his wife had labored diligently to translate the Bible into a minority language, working along the way to teach the people about Jesus, meeting their physical needs, and loving them deeply. After they had finished the New Testament they printed each precious page, shipped the copies to their village, and…watched them sit on the shelf. After all their labors, no one was interested. How tragic! How difficult! Can you imagine working for so long among…

From of old no one has heard or perceived by ear no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him. Isaiah 64:4 Can you imagine what it would have been like to be there when English was first codified? When people first were able to read the language that they had spoken their whole life? Well…we can! We are very pleased to announce that Kwakum has shed its label of an “oral-only” society. Today, this group of 10,000 people in Eastern Cameroon now have an official, recognized alphabet. The alphabet meeting we had…