25 Miles From Heaven: Tornadoes, Death and the Will of God
My dad had it right when he said that Dave and I were 25 miles away from Heaven this weekend. He said this after I told him that we were 25 miles away from Joplin, Missouri this past Sunday night. We were going to do a presentation about our ministry in Cameroon but when we arrived at the church in Pierce City, there was a fire truck and the driver advised us to take cover right away because a tornado was coming. So instead of doing our presentation, we spent the evening huddled under a stair-case with people from the…
A Quick Update
Well we are in Colorado right now and are so grateful and excited to have the opportunity to speak at several churches about our ministry to Cameroon (8 in the month of May!). It is so encouraging to see so many Bible-believing, Jesus-loving Christians all over the nation. And to top that all off, it is so wonderful to see so many people genuinely care about those who are without the Word of God! As we parent our four adorable kids something we say all day, every day is that they need to share their toys. The urge to share…
Thinking Through Bribery and Extortion
OK all you theologians, politicians, missionaries, pastors, and moral theorists out there I need your help. Stacey and I are in the process of moving to Cameroon, Africa and have recently been confronted with a reality that we will have to face. According to the World Corruption Index, Cameroon ranked 146 out of 178 countries in regards to its freedom from corruption. The nation has actually improved quite a bit in the last 20 years, but there is still corruption, some that we even experienced while we were there. So here is one scenario that we faced: We were driving…
Motivation for Missions: All We Have Is Christ
I thought that this was a neat animation that gives insight into what drives Christians to the mission field:
I Cannot Save Even One Soul
“Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.” Psalm 127:1 This blog is dedicated to journaling our journey to the mission field and the closer we get the more excited we are. We have shared with many people and churches our passion for spreading the Gospel and for translating the Word of God. And yet, the closer we seem to get to the mission field, the more the Lord seems to be humbling me through my children (one in particular). And I…
FAQ: Why Won’t You Work?
Sub-Saharan Africa is argued to be the poorest region in the world which means that there are few to no jobs available. Since we will be living in a rural village, our options would be: to farm, weave baskets, or other agricultural type work. Generally speaking these types of jobs require long hours of back-breaking work. Without working another job, Bible translation generally takes 20-30 years, let alone if we were farming the land as well. Therefore, since our goal is to serve the people of Cameroon, it best serves them for us to not seek employment in Cameroon but…
Break-down of Our (Pre-liminary) Monthly Budget
We wanted to line by line explain to you our monthly budget. We do this because we want to live in the light and do all things openly and honestly. We are asking many people to partner with us and therefore want to be as transparent and honest as possible. We want people to know who we are and where their money is going; we believe that is only fair to those who are investing in our ministry. *We are still awaiting final approval on this budget* Salary: (39%) – $2258.48 Sustenance: (28.5%) – $1,642.27 Housing: (2%) – $111.11 Children’s…
Kimyal Response to a Bible Translation
We have posted this before (in fact it is permanently linked on the video page of our blog). But it is so encouraging I wanted to post it again in case anyone has missed it. This video shows the response of the Kimyal people of Papua to receiving the New Testament for the first time in their language. I pray that my own heart rejoices over the Word like this!
The Results are in: Our Daughter’s name is Zoey!
Well friends it only took one day to get 41 responses. We have decided to spell our daughter’s name: Zoey! The score? 30:11 **Updated 3/12/11** More people have voted and it is now 40:14 – ZoeY still wins!
We’re Picking up the Kiddos from Ethiopia in Two Weeks!
Another answer to prayer! The US Embassy has cleared all of our paperwork and given us the green light to come pick up our kids the week of March 14th. So myself (Stacey) and a friend (Karen) will fly out March 11th and are planning to return March 17th. We’ve recently found out that our kids are only 9 days apart (Elias DOB 7/11/10 and Zoey DOB 7/20/10). We thought that was a fun fact being that their are very different in size. We would love your prayers during this transition. Namely that our hearts would selflessly love our children…
