Thirteen Years!

Christmas party 2016.  Only one sleepy baby girl and a giddy 10-year-old to shock with mommy kissing Santa in the good 'ol days!

We (Christy and Zach) got to get away for our 13th wedding anniversary on June 29th.  We went to Miango, the place where we went for an orginizational retreat in 2012, three days after I arrived in the country.  The place where, standing next to my future husband gazing over the missionary graveyard, I  told God that I was willing to live and die in this country as so many others had.  Asking in the same breath that he would give me love for his people here and deep conviction of that calling. 

Two months later, we got married in Holland, MI, surrounded by family and friends.  And a month later, August 2012, we moved into our first home in Jos, Nigeria.  I felt called to Zach. I was so homesick for Cameroon, for the community I had made there.  I was filled with expectancy of what God was going to do with us together. A mingling of loss and intense joy as we built a life together. 

We counted over 100 guests in our home the first year we were married, 

 not including the 40 children who came regularly for Bible study. 

We had lots of candlelit dinners those first few years.  Romantic and necessary since we rarely had power. 

From then til now, our family and community has grown.  When I look around, I am overwhelmed by the people God has placed in our lives. People that have challenged, prayed for, and envisioned with us. Like colors in the beautiful fabrics of Nigeria, they are the splashes of life and intricately woven beauty that have hemmed us into this country and her people.  

 

When we got married, Zach was doing language survey and I was doing literacy.  We both moved into Scripture Engagement in 2015 after returning with our masters from Dallas. 10 years later, he's the SIL Nigeria director and I'm at home with 6 girls and community engagements on the side! Zach's term as director will end late 2026.  We don't know what's next, but we've learned that God is trustworthy and his plan for us is for his glory and for our good. 

Please celebrate with us as we drink deeply of these days we have together in Nigeria.  

Lamp on a Stool

Before

 After months of slow progress on the script and choreography, harmonizing a dance team and a drama team into a cohesive group, we finally got to see "Lamp on a Stool," a story of modern day Daniel and his friends in Babylon, on stage.  It was more dynamic than any of us thought possible when we started in May. We performed it for about 200 people in the Jos Christian Youth Conference (JCYC) in collaboration with Common Ground Connection. If you'd like to see the show, you can go to this link on facebook: Lamp on a Stool

During 

 Please pray for this team as we continue our study "Purpose Driven Life" we started during the "Camping" week before the performances.  You watch "Come Home," the story of the prodigal son the second day of the conference.  Both of the 40 minute plays stretched our hearts, bodies, and relationships!  What an striking and life changing way to interact with the truths of Scripture! When I studied Scripture engagement for my masters, I never imagined doing something like this. 

After

One of Us

 "Abigail" responded the young woman filling the many water jugs in the cafeteria of the retreat center where we are celebrating our anniversary.  I had asked her her name in English. Zach promptly said to her in her language, "Good morning."  She laughed, she asked, "Are you from here?"  What a question...an identity question...are we from the same place?  "We live in Jos." Zach explained. "Who did you learn the language from?"  What a question...a communal question...who do we have in common?  Zach replied, "In our office, we have colleagues who speak your language."  "You are one of us," Abigail said with a genuinely delighted smile.  What a statement...a statement of belonging because we speak her language (if only a few phrases.)

As we walked out of the cafeteria, Zach said "See you later!" in the language, and I said "Thank you very much."  As her response and joyful laughter rang out from the screen door behind us, I turned to Zach and said, "That is why we do Bible translation."  We are one with her and her people because we speak her language.  God does too, more than a greeting or a well known phrase.  God knows the intricacies of how her language works and how it moves her heart.  We praise him that the Irigwe people already have the whole New Testament translated into their own language, they can know that God is with them, knows them, and has "moved into their neighborhood!" (John 1:14 MSG)

 Please continue to pray for the hundreds of other language communities in Nigeria where this reality is still masked because there is little or no Scripture yet in the language that speaks to their heart. 

One of our colleagues here is wearing a shirt that says, "God speaks your language" in the Nigerian Pidgin.

What could one verse in Ndokwa do?

I love to hear stories about God's Word changing lives.  Here in Nigeria I heard about one in a language that is a full day's journey from where we live.  If I had met someone from this community ten years ago, and found out what language they spoke, I would have silently thought to myself "We won't be able to start translation there for a long time."  Even three years ago I didn't know anything about the translation in this language. But now in Nigeria there are more than thirty organizations doing Bible translation in Nigeria.  My family has enjoyed praying this past year for many of the communities these partner organizations serve.  It is so exciting to hear what God is doing!

"As several Ndokwa people walked down the streets of their community in Nigeria, they heard an unfamiliar sound."  Read the rest of the story.