Q and A

When are you going back?
February 1st

What will you do when you go back?
We will begin by meeting the translation project leaders, asking them how their communities are accessing Scripture, and what their felt Scripture needs are.

Where will you live?
We will return to our rented house in Jos, Nigeria.

Do you want children?
Yes! Our baby is due mid-July.

How can we pray?
*For a doctor who can deliver the baby
*Wisdom as we meet project leaders and identify how we can be part of what God’s doing through his Word.
*Transitioning back to life in Nigeria.
*Wisdom defining our roles in Nigeria in Scripture Engagement.

A New Years Poem!

“I will instruct you and teach you which way you should go,

 As you trust, my love will surround you so you know,

I am here, I am enough,

I catch your tears when the road is rough.”

In 2014 we lived in the US,

We wrote a thesis, and passed a test.

We return with titles, but know the Master true,

Our Counselor, who lovingly foreknew,

We would know loss with a baby at 11 weeks in the womb,

Returning to Jesus, a resurrection with no tomb,

We would have grace to carry another as well,

His praises we declare as this redeeming news we tell.

We would be reunited with friends from long ago,

Building new memories before the changing winds blow.

We would a diverse faith family find,

whose moving stories revealed a Father kind.

We would accept a position to lead our team,

In Scripture engagement, helping communities dream.

Using our complimentary gifts to connect them with the Word,

For on that day ‘round the throne every language will be heard!

In this new year as the road unfolds,

We pray we trust the one who holds,

The moon, the stars in his hand,

As we journey to another homeland.

Peace

"I will instruct you and teach you which way you should go

I will counsel you and watch over you." -Ps. 32

These words came back again and again over the time I was studying for comps. 

During the 6 hour test I had full peace, peace that I've never experienced before during test taking.  I have always been fearful of tests.  I still don't know if I passed...I will find out in a few days. 

However, I am so very thankful for the many that prayed with me during this time. I felt God's presence, and look forward to hearing how I did! 

One Week from NOW!

Studying in Thailand

It's Friday evening and I'm in the library studying.
In one week from this evening (on the 21st) I will have a case study in my hand trying to memorize all the details I can.
One week from tomorrow I will be sitting in front of a computer in the computer lab and given three questions about the case study that, over the course of 6 hours I will try to answer sufficiently to prove that I have learned all I need to learn in order to graduate from GIAL in December.

PLEASE PRAY with us that I will remember what I've studied over the last few years and in this intense time of studying over the last few months.  Pray for confidence and a good last week of studying.

COMPS! 18 Days and Counting!

In 2009 I returned to the United States after spending a couple of years in Cameroon as an itinerate teacher for missionary children.  Why did I come back?  I wanted to work with nationals in Cameroon, and be part of communities receiving God's message of love and grace in their heart language.  I had seen the impact of literacy in a small village where I was teaching a student named Anna.  Her parents were running a writing and literacy teaching workshop in the language where they had done Bible translation into the language.  Watching the five adults grapple with sounds in their language and hearing their testimonies of how they decided to do this work inspired me.  A couple of them had only had primary school educations, and were learning to read in their language for the first time, but they wanted to impact their people with the gospel, and they knew one way to do that was through literacy.  A couple of other participants were brothers who had been fisherman and had invested huge amounts of money in planting an island in the middle of a lake.  When the crops were growing and they were about to get a return on their labour, they made decisions to follow Jesus, and God called them to leave everything!  (Sound familiar?) They did, and there they were, part of a movement to see their people know Jesus.  In the small glimpses I got of this course in-between class times with Anna, I decided that literacy was something I could do to have an impact in Cameroon.
In 2010 I returned to Cameroon equipped by the dedicated teachers at the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics (GIAL) to do just that!  Just about one year after that, Zach came to propose to me in Cameroon, I moved to Nigeria, and we got married in 2012. Now, here I am again, at GIAL, but this time, I hope to go with my MASTERS!   This was not our plan when we came here, but God opened the door for me to finish, so I study all day in hopes I will pass on November 22nd!

All this to say...WE'RE ON THE LAST STRETCH!  PLEASE PRAY FOR ME AND MY STUDY PARTNER, EVE, THAT WE WOULD KNOW WHAT TO STUDY FOR THIS 6 HOUR LONG ESSAY-CASE-STUDY STYLE EXAM AND BE ABLE TO RETAIN IT! Thanks.

"No, I did not know..."

His intensity and eagerness to understand pierced me as he looked at me in the rearview mirror.  Boi had picked me up that morning to take me to the airport.  He is kind, gentle, and seemingly so happy.  But at that moment, when I told him Jesus loves him and want to know him, he grew solomn and said, “Thank you.”  Again I said, “Jesus loves you, did you know that he loves you?”  “No, I did not know that Jesus loves me.”

Boi may not know what it means that Jesus loves him because his worldview does not contain one God who has interest in the affairs of men.  It does not tell him that he needs help to become good or that he is highly treasured.  The look in his eyes as he hungered to understand this love I was telling him about for the first time renews my eagerness to experience this love, since I know I have access to it through Christ, and then to share liberally that all may know.  

"No, this is not good..."

At a Buddhist Temple in Chiang Mai, Thailand

The conversation with Jo, our taxi driver, after I had explained the gospel went like this.

“So you do something bad, and the Spirit of Jesus tells you it was bad.  You say you are sorry, and then Jesus makes you clean.”

“Yes,” I said confidently. 

“The next day, you do something bad, You say you are sorry, and then Jesus makes you clean.”

“Yes.”

“The next day, you do something bad, You say you are sorry, and then Jesus makes you clean.”

“Yes,” I said triumphantly, so thrilled he got it!

“No, this is not good.”

Wondering what I had said wrong, and how the good news of Jesus forgiveness could not be received with great joy asked, “Why do you say it is not good?”

Jo continued to explain to me that Buddism was good because if you do something bad, you get bad things.  If you do something good, you get good things.  You should not get good if you do bad.  Our conversation continued where I explained that you don’t do the SAME bad things every time.  This seemed to make him happier, but the next day is when I gained real insight.

My new friend and sister in Christ

I was sitting with my new friend and sister in Christ on our way to a village to observe a program.  I asked her what the most difficult thing was for her when she became a Christian (the first in her family and in her entire village), she said it was the idea of forgiveness that was most difficult for her.  Then she explained that it was not until she understood that the Spirit makes you better than you could ever be without him that she felt more at peace with the idea.  Being good is such a high value in Thai culture, and my friend realized that when she was forgiven of a sin, she was able to become victorious in new ways over bad things in her life.  Yes, this is good.

I will probably  never get a chance to talk with John again, but I can pray that he would understand the love God has for him, and how God desires to make him a “good person” better than he could ever hope to be without him.  Not only that, he can forgive him from all the bad that he can never pay for!