Category: Current Events
House Construction and the Kids in School
By Stacey This past week has been both exhausting and exciting. About a week and a half ago, Dave and I realized that the construction of our house was moving way too slowly and that we needed to be on site to supervise the progress. Thus we moved into the bush to a little camp that is about 15 minutes away from our soon-to-be house. Although we miss living with our Cameroonian roommates, we think this has been a good move. For starters, we are living in a more isolated location and thus do not have people around our house…
The Unstoppable Kingdom
I had the amazing opportunity to go to a conference put on by the Gospel Coalition in Geneva, Switzerland last week. The theme of this conference was the Gospel and the book of Galatians. I learned a great deal and found myself extremely encouraged in the power of the Kingdom of God. The Powerful Kingdom In one particular sermon on Galatians 1:11-21, Tim Keller described how Paul’s testimony is so powerful, in part, because he used to be a persecutor of the Church. Paul was not the kind of person anyone would imagine would convert to Christianity. And in chapter…
KEEPING Them “Sent Out”
by Stacey “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” – Matthew 9:36-38 To be faithful to Christ’s command in Matthew 9, I have always thought that Christians were supposed to “pray people to the field.” After, myself, going through the process of becoming a missionary, I completely understand why Jesus told us that the “goers” need a lot…
A Needed Reminder of Heaven
I am sure that everyone has stayed up all night at some point in their lives. The longer you are awake, the weaker your body feels, and even a bit shaky from the caffeine you are drinking. But you keep trudging on, rocking your baby, typing sentence after sentence or sprinting through the airport to your next connecting flight. And then after the paper is finished, the hotel checked into, or the baby finally goes to sleep, you crash. You sleep long and hard, and then the next morning you wake up refreshed to the welcoming smell of your morning coffee. You are glad that…
What is it like Living in France?
by Dave So, every time I talk to, or get an email from someone in the States, they ask: “What is it like, living in France?” So, I thought I would hit up some of the highlights in a quick blog post: 1. School.As we predicted in our last newsletter, we have now moved to Albertville, France. We started at a school called CCEF on May 6th and have been plowing forward ever since. Our schedule has us in French class 24 hours a week (6 hours in class on Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Fri). We also have homework and are trying…
Happy Mothers’ Day! Things I am So Grateful that my Mom Taught Me…
by Stacey Thank you mom for forcing me to talk to people when all I wanted to do was hide behind you. Without that learned skill I would never be here trying to talk to people in a foreign language. Thank you mom for making me work hard. I know I didn’t appreciate it as a child, but without those skills (and the Lord of course) I would’ve given up on basically everything I am currently pursuing. Thank you for making me scrub the cabinets and clean the house even when it looked perfectly clean to me. Thank you mom…
The (New) Day-to-Day
By Stacey Well the new theme to our lives right now is…humility. Not vey exotic or exciting being that we are living in France and all, but there is nothing more humbling then opening your mouth and not having any words come out. Unless perhaps it is more humbling to have a child stare at you mouth agape when all you said was ‘Bonjour’ (I mean, I didn’t think my pronunciation was thatbad). Or maybe it’s more humbling when you open your mouth and words do come out….but based on the expression of the person you are talking to, you…
We’ve Arrived in France!
By Stacey Our new home Well we have arrived and are settled-ish here in Chambery, France. To those who have prayed for us, we really cannot thank you enough. We have relocated our family across the globe and, thanks to your prayers, the transition has been overall very smooth. Here are a couple highlights: I was in line to check-in at the Dallas airport and a man asked me where we were going. I told him that we are going to Cameroon to translate the Bible, but would be spending a year in France first. There was a long…
Leaving Everything but Possessing More than Everything
By Stacey Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. – Hebrews 11:1 Well this is it. 9 years of preparation, hundreds of prayers answered, lots of goodbyes, and finally the mission field is here. Our bags are packed and we are leaving for France tomorrow. When people ask us how we feel about leaving, we often respond that we are apathetic and just so in the zone of all the logistics that surround moving a family overseas. But here and there when the dust has settled a bit, and in the quiet…
Praying the Impossible: A Call to Join us in 2 Weeks of Ambitious Prayer
By Stacey Matthew 19:26 “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Apart from Christ we can do nothing and we know it. With Christ, there are no limits to what the Lord may accomplish through two weak people like us. So, to those who are Christians, we invite you to join with us in prayer for the next 14 days to ask God for impossible things. We leave in two weeks, and although we know there will be hard times, we leave hopeful that the Lord would hear our prayers and use us to bring…
