Oh, the Excitement!

Day-to-day Missionary LIfe

This week we read a story to our kids about David Livingstone, a missionary in Africa who bravely protected a village from a marauding lion (and won) and fought against the slave trade (and won). The excitement in our kids’ eyes fades to confusion when they realize that we too are missionaries in Africa. They have never seen their mom or dad shoot a lion, but they do see us wandering around the house repeating Bakoum words over and over. Oddly enough, these types of biographies tend to skip over the monotonous hours of language learning. And that is the air we breathe these days, trusting that it is an investment for a quality Bible translation in the future.

Since our last newsletter, we have been meeting daily with our language partner (Patrice) and have started compiling our Bakoum dictionary. It might not be as exciting as wrestling a lion, but we are nevertheless happy to announce that we have collected over 550 words and this week have even come up with a tentative maximum syllable template (CGVX for all those linguistic nerds out there). We have found ourselves daily asking God for grace to hear the tones of the language, to grow in our knowledge of the field of linguistics, and to retain the words that we are committing to memory. We are thankful for the little victories like making purchases at the market in Bakoum and describing where we are going and what we are doing to our neighbors as we pass by them in the street.

The Bible Cannot be Translated Soon Enough

Often as Dave and I are discussing thing such as how many vowels we think should be allowed in a syllable, we are interrupted by violent disputes outside of our house. On one occasion, a neighbor was accused of committing murder by using magic in order to eliminate a competitor for a political position. He admitted to being a sorcerer (one who uses supernatural demonic powers to manipulate people and events around him). The village responded by screaming and threatening him for hours. On another occasion, Dave stopped a mob of angry guys from beating up (or killing?) another man who was guilty of wife-beating. Dave encouraged them to call the authorities and seek justice through taking the matter to the village chief or the police. Seeing the mob violence here makes me understand how people were capable of killing an innocent man 2000 years ago who had never sinned.

There is good news, however, this same sorcerer-neighbor has started coming to church and he told Dave that he wanted to follow Jesus. He is clearly at the beginning of this journey and knows very little of what that would mean, but it is encouraging none the less. Fortunately, our language partner, Patrice, is bilingual in French and Bakoum and has been spending a lot of time with our neighbor teaching him the Bible, as well as with many others in our village. Being that he teaches mainly in Bakoum, and we do not understand much, please pray that his teaching would be biblical. And pray for us as we meet with him daily and read Scripture together in French. Pray that we would have a tremendous impact on his life and that his zeal would be supported by a solid understanding of the Word of God. 

The Kids

Our kids are doing great overall. Makyra just had a birthday (6 years old!) and Zoey and Elias will be turning 5 next month. We do a little “summer school” program for them and we have invited one of their neighborhood friends to attend. They are also learning to play soccer with the neighborhood kids and are very comfortable speaking French and are even picking up a little bit of Bakoum. They are looking forward to having Bonnie Marcum, a friend from our church in Louisville, come be their home-school teacher starting in August! And most of all they all love playing with our cats. 
 

Endurance, Endurance, Endurance

Just as we are seeking to be faithful in the daily mundane tasks of language acquisition and analysis, we would ask you to day in and day out be faithful in your prayers for the Bakoum people. We are living among darkness here and will not be satisfied until light enters this people group through the reading of his Word. Let’s endure in prayer for them and expect God to answer.