Youth Group from Switzerland Arrives!

Yesterday the youth group from the Guetli in Switzerland arrived to spend a couple of days with us. In a matter of minutes, they had transformed our yard into a camping ground. They came well prepared with lots of homegrown food. The boys slept out in tents and the girls were in our meeting room. We already have three girls there--Donna, her friend Jeanine
and Gina, a German girl here visiting.

It was Tuesday night, when we regularly have our prayer meeting so they joined us. The 22 Swiss far outnumbered our small group, but we really enjoyed listening to them sing and share testimonies. What language did we use? Well, it was a mixture of French, English, Swiss German, German and Hand!


We dearly love these people. Learning from others of different cultures is one of the blessings that we have as missionaries.

An "Old" Student comes to Visit!

Today we were thrilled to have Jean Jacques Bouka Bouka come for a short visit. In 1992, he came as a student to Bordeaux from Gabon. Also that year, we moved to Pessac and started the church. By January we had 3 faithful students--Jean Jacques being one of them. In 1998, he went back to his country where he is working in a government post. It was exciting for us to see him again and to catch up on all that the Lord is doing in his life. He enjoyed seeing the few "oldies" that are still here from that era!

A Friend and Co-Worker is with the Lord

During the night, John Stauffacher went to be with the Lord. He and his wife Margaret have been working in France for over 40 years. In many ways, John was the "solid rock" on whom the French team counted. Bob regarded him as a close friend and mentor. He will be greatly missed by all. Pray for his wife and children (all 3 grown and married and living in France). We plan to go up to the Paris area for the funeral on Friday. Pray that we have a safe trip up and back in one day. In less than 9 months, our field has lost two leaders of wisdom to cancer. Dan Lacey passed away in November.

Friends from the Past

During our second term in Africa, we were on the same station with Don and Betty Teachout. We have not seen Betty since we left CAR over 25 years ago. Following the death of her husband in March, she came out to visit with her youngest son, Jonathan and his wife Cherith. Jonathan and Cherith and their two children are missionaries with BMM in Reims, France. It was a joy to see Betty again and to visit with the family.

The Oulai Family

Some of you may remember four years ago when Jean Claude and Corrine were married here in our church. Yesterday they had their second child, Joshua Mark Owen. Naomi is three.

The family has become a vital part of our church family here. By a series of "circumstances", they have not been able to defend their doctrinal theses (both of them!) . They have been waiting for two years! Jean Claude shared with Bob on Sunday how that they can look back and see how the Lord has used these two years to help prepare them for the future. It has been a real time of spiritual growth. Next month, they leave for the Ivory Coast where they will have the doctorates conferred and then they will be teaching in a University. We will miss them but are confident the Lord is going to use them in His work in Africa

Visitors!

We have had several visitors this week--a mother and daughter from PA who are on a Christian tour to France, a missionary family of 8 from Spain who spent the night here before flying to England on vacation AND our daughter Donna Ruth and her friend Jeanine who arrived yesterday. We were so excited that they had finally arrived! They will be here for one month--in and about visiting France and squeezing in time for Mom and Dad in between. It has been almost 2 years since any of our children have been home, so you can imagine our joy.

39 Years Ago!

It is hard believe that we were married 39 years ago today! 10 days after our wedding, we were accepted by Baptist Mid-Missions to go to the Central African Republic. The Lord has certainly blessed us through the years. Some of you have been faithful friends and supporters all those years. Thank you.