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…

One night we ran out of food and therefore Kaden was not able to have his typical forth helping. He looked up at me with horror in his eyes and asked in a trembling, hushed voice, “Mom, are we…poor?”  Maybe you have had a similar experience in your home where your child comes home from school, buries his head in the sofa and cries because his family too “poor” to buy him the $100 shoes that all the other kids are wearing.  Living like Kings If you are like us, you remind your kids that compared to the majority of…

by Dave Have you ever praised God for your conversion? I am sure that you have. I have heard many of you rejoice in the way that the Lord saved you. And we often here amazing testimonies and they can be quite powerful. I remember hearing one while I was on a mission trip that has stuck with me to this day. A man was a professional thief in Jamaica and got so good at what he did that he would actually wear a three-piece suit, walk up to a house, pick the lock, go in and steal whatever he…

by Stacey   I met an American Peace Corps worker today who had also just arrived in country. When I asked her how she was adjusting she said that she goes through one emotional extreme of feeling like she is seeing progress in adapting to life here to the other emotional extreme of feeling like she is completely lost all the time. And, since the days feel so long, usually she goes from one emotional extreme to the other several times in a day. We both nodded our heads as we listened to her as we could very much relate….

by Dave I am still a bit new to missionary life and methodology, but if there is one thing that I have heard over and over again, it is that contextualization is vital. What is contextualization? Well, I am told that one of the weaknesses of my predecessors in the missionary field was that they confused biblical Christianity with their own culture. So, they brought with them their own customs and traditions and taught them as necessary alongside the Bible. Here in Cameroon, for many years the majority of church services have been conducted in French. The songs, the sermons,…

By Stacey Some days I wish I could change my skin color. To those on the streets of Cameroon I am referred to as “la blanche” or “white person.” Sometimes little children excitedly point and run to tell their friends when I approach as if I was some sort of exotic animal. I know they do not mean anything by it, and yet I feel like I am like the village attraction (actually, I think I amthe village attraction). Adults in the market try to get my attention essentially by calling out “hey white person, we have great white people…

by Stacey What We Have Been Up To Living in an Airport It has been a little over a month since we arrived in country and I think it would be safe to compare this last month to living in an airport terminal: we have been carrying our luggage around everywhere we go, checking often to make sure we have our passports for when we get stopped by the authorities, while all the while counting our children to make sure we did not lose any of them. We are in closer proximity to other people than we are used to….

By Stacey Imagine delving into a science fiction novel where the author takes great strides to imagine an alternate universe. He creates “sing-songy” languages between his characters that are outside of his readers’ imagination. Then he describes the narrator’s response to these languages: a mixture between bewilderment, intrigue, and a general uneasiness. This main character also thinks back to his life on Earth where venders would sell their merchandise from a structured network of individual stores in an air-conditioned mall. In his new world, a multitude of products seem to be piled up on top of people’s heads as they…

by Stacey Today we will be driving to Geneva, Switzerland with our four kids and 12 pieces of luggage to board a plane headed to Cameroon, Africa. Although our minds are currently filled with the details of our trip, in the seldom quite moments, we are reminded and encouraged that there is no “foreign land” that is out of the reach of our Lord’s presence in our lives… “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?   If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you…