The year we left Burkina Faso (1998) we had programmed ahead to have all of the Bible translated. We had also discussed all the suggestions for change that had been sent in by the group of readers, and made changes where necessary. Everything was on diskettes. But we knew there was still work ahead of us and we were not sure how that was going to all work together.
Our last couple of weeks in Bobo - before we returned to the States for official retiral - we moved out of our home, disposed of all our worldly goods and moved into the mission guest house next to Maranatha campus. We set up shop in the living area since no one else was staying there, and finished off all the last printing for a hard copy, making sure there were no mistakes in the final diskettes. We got the diskettes ready to be sent to our supervisor in Ivory Coast. We knew there would be suggestions for change or perhaps mistakes in spelling of some words, but it was as far as we could go.
We had our van loaded for travel to Ouagadougou to spend a couple days there before departure by plane for the U.S.A. At midnight we finished the last jot and tittle of our printing and copying, had a few hours sleep and took off early the next morning. Those last days in Bobo were full of interruptions with people coming to greet, bringing us gifts to take with us and praying for us. We received so many gifts that we ended up having to take an extra piece on the plane to contain everything! We breathed a sigh of work well done when we got on that plane for Paris and then on to the States.
Our home assignment began as we settled in a Nyack apartment and both went on separate tours to represent the Alliance in our churches. At some point that year the national office of the Alliance contacted us and asked if we would be willing to return to Africa for a year, this time to run the mission guest house in San Pedro, Ivory Coast. It seemed like the Lord's plan for us, as we would be on the continent of Africa and able to OK suggested changes in the Bible manuscript, plus working on the Apocryphal books with our Catholic translator, as these had not yet been finalized. Our consultant, Dr. Zogbo, and our manuscript advisor, Margaret Bohoussou, both lived in Ivory Coast and so that would be convenient for finalizing the Catholic and Protestant manuscripts of the Bobo Bible. (The only difference in the two was the addition of the Apocryphal books in the Catholic edition.) So we said "yes" and thus we entered an interesting new chapter in our missionary life. More about that year later, but a few details of our work in finishing the Bible there in San Pedro.
We realized that God had planned this all ahead of us, as both of our translators were in the city of Abidjan - four hours from where we lived in San Pedro - for biblical studies in connection with their ministries in their respective churches. Our manuscript lady, an Irish missionary with a great mind for details! - lived in Abidjan also that summer. At one point we had the two translators come to San Pedro and worked with us on some manuscript details. I had keyed in the Apocryphal books for the Catholic edition, putting in some tonal marks that were needed, and sent the corrected manuscript to our Catholic translator, who somehow had erased all tone marks when he checked the diskettes and sent them back to me. So I had to do that job of tonal marks all over again. During that year we were also able to consult with our manuscript editor and really finalize the translation. Later on she (Margaret) inserted all the cross references, helped us to choose the pictures to include and took care of all details for printing in Nairobi! We breathed a sign of relief when all this happened before we headed back to the States to resume our life of retirement.
Thinking it might be a year or so before we would see our printed Bible, we were disappointed when time went on and no Bible appeared. A couple years went by and Dad and I were preparing to go on a six weeks tour in Alliance churches in Florida. Two days before the postman delivered a large package to us - our copy of the first books of the completed Bobo Bible from the press in Nairobi. Our job was now to carefully proofread and correct that manuscript! Have you any idea how big a task that is - proofing the entire Bible. I was the one who had to do the work, so Dad said he would drive to Florida and I would sit and correct the manuscript as we rode along. And as the miles rolled along, I kept correcting and turning pages and correcting some more. We did this all through our Florida tour as we travelled from church to church. This was accomplished and sent back to Nairobi and now we awaited the news that the printing was finished. But a couple more years went by.
Again in God's plan for the Bobo Bible, we were asked to go to Mali for a year in 2004-2005 for Dad to assume the directorship of that field. The Bobo Bible was far from our minds as we began that busy year in Mali. But one day a phone call came from Ouagadougou, from the Bible Society office in that city. They had received the first couple copies of the completed Bobo Bible. Dad immediately got us seats on the next plane to Ouaga so we could actually hold in our hands the fruit of many years of hard work! What a thrill that was! In hindsight, we could see God's hand upon this Bible project. It was a demanding work and one where we sometimes sensed the enemy of God trying to destroy this project. But it was worth it all when we held in our hands those first Bobo Bibles!
Friday, May 27, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
THE WHOLE BIBLE IN BOBO MADARE!!
The year was 1989 and that was the year we were persuaded to involve ourselves in an inter-confessional translation of the entire Bible in Bobo Madare. By that time Dad had been working in planting many churches in Bobo villages: planting the physical church and helping to build the structures for those church groups to meet in. I, at the same time, was very busy in producing literature, teaching at Maranatha Institute, heading up PEDIM, doing seminars and doing some all-Africa ministries as well. My time was totally engaged and I was very conten with the Bobos having a New Testament, a SS program and other booklets in their language. It was probably one of the hardest decisions I had to make in my life in Africa when I was asked to be part of an inter-confessional Bobo Madare entire Bible translation team. This meant one version for the Catholics with the Deuteros included and another version for the Protestants, without the Deuteros. The basic text was to be identical for both versions.
But once having made the decision to do an inter-confessional translation of the Bobo Bible, with the help of the International Bible Society, we went on home assignment that year and began to raise money for this project. We were at the same time under the Christian and Missionary Alliance and also the International Bible Society. As concerned everything that had to do with the translation project, we followed the rules of the Bible Society, and concerning everything else in our ministry, we were still under the auspices of the C&MA.
We needed financing for the equipment we would need - computers, printer, office space. Along with the input of the Alliance and Roman Catholic churches, we had to select the translation team. We had to raise money to help pay the Bobo Protestant translator, long trips involved for the four of us to travel to Daloa, Ivory Coast, to do our checking periodically with our Bible Society consultant. Money was needed for paper supplies, ink and other office supplies.
Personnel wise, the Alliance and the Roman Catholics each had to give a qualified translator to work with me as head of the translation team. We needed office space in the city of Bobo. Inter-confessional committee members had to be selected which would make decisions concerning vocabulary and other textual decisions. Our consultant was always available for help as well. Dad was the oil that made the whole project engine run! He drove long miles, participated in committees, typed endless manuscripts and learned the computer programs involved. He also kept me on an even keel as my work load had been increased tremendously. There were certain ministries, like TEE, Bible School teaching and others that I could not drop completely. And of course Dad continued through all of this time to plant churches throughout the Bobo countryside. He no longer let his name stand for mission committees - we had enough committees in the translation project.
Things began to fall into place when we returned to Bobo from home assignment. We had solicited funds from several sources and thanks to their faithfulness we were able to proceed. Ouézzinville-Sud church gave us an office and the two translators and I worked there first thing each weekday morning. Then they translated more material for us to check the next morning. Right to the end of the project, our "thorn in the flesh" was our Protestant translator. He is a very complex man but the Catholic translator was a delight to work with. I often had to solve an argument between them when I first got to the office each morning. We had purchased computers for each man and taught them to use them and they did well with that. Towards the end of the project, I came to the place one day when I just had had enough with the disagreeable Alliance pastor and I said I was resigning from the project and left the office and went home! (I had never done anything like that in all my years in Africa!)
It did not take more than a couple hours for the church President to be at our door. He was very sympathetic with my plight (he too had difficulty with this pastor), but he said if anyone was to resign it would have to be the pastor and not me. He called an emergency meeting of the translation committee and everyone reaffirmed my work and soundly bawled out the translator-pastor. And so we continued on to the end.
We had an inter-church committee which made decisons on major vocabulary, names, etc. And these were very interesting. Terms like the Holy Spirit (different for Protestants and the Catholics) had to be discussd and decided upon. We had to decide whether to use the Jula or French form of major names. It was decided to use the French form. Holy Spirit was a biggie. The Catholics used Holy Intelligence and the Protestants used God's clean life force. They compromised by saying "God's life force" and everyone was satisfied. It was both interesting and heavy work to work on all of these biblical terms. The Catholics, Alliance and Baptists were all involved in the final decisions as we worked together in committee.
The Bible Society provided (in French) a translation manual for every OT book or section and this was a big help. They also had regular seminars where all of us translators from all over French speaking Africa got together to be instructed in major OT books - the Poetry of the OT, Isaiah, Job, and others. These were held in Abidjan, Ouagadougou, Bobo, Bouaké. It was also a time of friendship between translation teams. Most people in the church have no idea of what is involved in a translation project and it was good for like minds to get together.
Our individual teams also went regularly to Daloa where our consultant lived and would spend a week or more finalizing a book/books for printing. These were grueling weeks of work. One of our men would back translate from Bobo into French a verse, then the consultant would ask all kinds of questions about what, why, who - or propose another alternative using French words. We would stop and discuss among the three of us and make a decision whether we had such an expression that would serve better in the situation. These sessions were so intense that on one visit, by the end of a week - and with another week ahead of us - I was so exhausted that Dad took me over to Yamoussoukro to the President's Hotel there and we spent two nights and swam in the pool and I was ready by Sunday afternoon to face the work again.
Our Catholic translator and Dad and I all got along well together. The Alliance translator was moody, so sometimes he was on top and other times a pill. On one trip to Daloa, we stopped on Sunday morning at the Basilic in Yamoussoukro for morning mass. That was an interesting experience. Our Catholic translator always participated in handing out lliterature as he attended our evangelical rallies and other Protestant events in town. We all slept in the same guest houses and ate our meals together, so we became a very tight team. Which greatly facilitated the work. All of this happened while we were still fulltime international workers in Burkina Faso.
But there is another chapter, and we will look at that in the next edition of this blog.
But once having made the decision to do an inter-confessional translation of the Bobo Bible, with the help of the International Bible Society, we went on home assignment that year and began to raise money for this project. We were at the same time under the Christian and Missionary Alliance and also the International Bible Society. As concerned everything that had to do with the translation project, we followed the rules of the Bible Society, and concerning everything else in our ministry, we were still under the auspices of the C&MA.
We needed financing for the equipment we would need - computers, printer, office space. Along with the input of the Alliance and Roman Catholic churches, we had to select the translation team. We had to raise money to help pay the Bobo Protestant translator, long trips involved for the four of us to travel to Daloa, Ivory Coast, to do our checking periodically with our Bible Society consultant. Money was needed for paper supplies, ink and other office supplies.
Personnel wise, the Alliance and the Roman Catholics each had to give a qualified translator to work with me as head of the translation team. We needed office space in the city of Bobo. Inter-confessional committee members had to be selected which would make decisions concerning vocabulary and other textual decisions. Our consultant was always available for help as well. Dad was the oil that made the whole project engine run! He drove long miles, participated in committees, typed endless manuscripts and learned the computer programs involved. He also kept me on an even keel as my work load had been increased tremendously. There were certain ministries, like TEE, Bible School teaching and others that I could not drop completely. And of course Dad continued through all of this time to plant churches throughout the Bobo countryside. He no longer let his name stand for mission committees - we had enough committees in the translation project.
Things began to fall into place when we returned to Bobo from home assignment. We had solicited funds from several sources and thanks to their faithfulness we were able to proceed. Ouézzinville-Sud church gave us an office and the two translators and I worked there first thing each weekday morning. Then they translated more material for us to check the next morning. Right to the end of the project, our "thorn in the flesh" was our Protestant translator. He is a very complex man but the Catholic translator was a delight to work with. I often had to solve an argument between them when I first got to the office each morning. We had purchased computers for each man and taught them to use them and they did well with that. Towards the end of the project, I came to the place one day when I just had had enough with the disagreeable Alliance pastor and I said I was resigning from the project and left the office and went home! (I had never done anything like that in all my years in Africa!)
It did not take more than a couple hours for the church President to be at our door. He was very sympathetic with my plight (he too had difficulty with this pastor), but he said if anyone was to resign it would have to be the pastor and not me. He called an emergency meeting of the translation committee and everyone reaffirmed my work and soundly bawled out the translator-pastor. And so we continued on to the end.
We had an inter-church committee which made decisons on major vocabulary, names, etc. And these were very interesting. Terms like the Holy Spirit (different for Protestants and the Catholics) had to be discussd and decided upon. We had to decide whether to use the Jula or French form of major names. It was decided to use the French form. Holy Spirit was a biggie. The Catholics used Holy Intelligence and the Protestants used God's clean life force. They compromised by saying "God's life force" and everyone was satisfied. It was both interesting and heavy work to work on all of these biblical terms. The Catholics, Alliance and Baptists were all involved in the final decisions as we worked together in committee.
The Bible Society provided (in French) a translation manual for every OT book or section and this was a big help. They also had regular seminars where all of us translators from all over French speaking Africa got together to be instructed in major OT books - the Poetry of the OT, Isaiah, Job, and others. These were held in Abidjan, Ouagadougou, Bobo, Bouaké. It was also a time of friendship between translation teams. Most people in the church have no idea of what is involved in a translation project and it was good for like minds to get together.
Our individual teams also went regularly to Daloa where our consultant lived and would spend a week or more finalizing a book/books for printing. These were grueling weeks of work. One of our men would back translate from Bobo into French a verse, then the consultant would ask all kinds of questions about what, why, who - or propose another alternative using French words. We would stop and discuss among the three of us and make a decision whether we had such an expression that would serve better in the situation. These sessions were so intense that on one visit, by the end of a week - and with another week ahead of us - I was so exhausted that Dad took me over to Yamoussoukro to the President's Hotel there and we spent two nights and swam in the pool and I was ready by Sunday afternoon to face the work again.
Our Catholic translator and Dad and I all got along well together. The Alliance translator was moody, so sometimes he was on top and other times a pill. On one trip to Daloa, we stopped on Sunday morning at the Basilic in Yamoussoukro for morning mass. That was an interesting experience. Our Catholic translator always participated in handing out lliterature as he attended our evangelical rallies and other Protestant events in town. We all slept in the same guest houses and ate our meals together, so we became a very tight team. Which greatly facilitated the work. All of this happened while we were still fulltime international workers in Burkina Faso.
But there is another chapter, and we will look at that in the next edition of this blog.
Monday, May 23, 2011
LANGUAGES AND TRANSLATION...................................
Languages have been a part of my life since I was two years old. My mother said that I talked English early. And at the age of two I went with my parents to Paris for a year and learned French there. When we got to West Africa, our family was assigned to Baramba in Mali among the Mianka people, and there I picked up Mianka as that is what my little friends spoke in the village. (That is one language I have not retained, the only thing I can remember are a few numbers!) When my parents took me back to West Africa after the Second World War, we went to an area where Jula was spoken and so I learned Jula. When Dad and I, as new missionaries, were assigned to the Santidougou district of Upper Volta (the name in those days), we were told to learn the Bobo Madare language, an oral language, which we had to write down. Some language work had been done in Bobo many years before but it was in a trunk in the ship that the Bell family took to get to the States - and all the language materials went to the bottom of the sea when that ship was torpedoed in the war!
Dad's language history is much difference from mine. He spoke only English - New England accented English until the age of thirty, and then we landed in Paris. He started to learn French and that was a steep learning curve for him. He thought that "Parlez-vous français?" Had something to do with "Polly wants a cracker". But he persevered and learned and of course preached in French for most of his life, as well as in Bobo
In learning and writing down Bobo Madare, I planned out each day's language ahead of time in Jula (the vocabulary, new sentence structures, etc,) and then sat down with Pastor Pierre my language helper to elicit the identical expression in Bobo. Pierre, bless his heart, was not the best language helper in the world. He used to fall asleep sometimes as we were working together. Everything I learned in my morning lesson with him, I then practiced on the women in our village. I also made up a new lesson each day for Dad to learn with a language helper. Yusufu, who worked in our house, was an excellent language helper, so between the two men and village conversations, we were able to start speaking the language.
In the meantime, you kids picked up Bobo as you played with your village friends and were soon rattling away. I guess John was the only one who was mono-lingual - and that was in Bobo, not English!
When we went to Africa, it never occured to me that I would some day be working in an unwritten language and even doing translation and original writing in that language. But the Lord had prepared me in my choice of college subjects, as I had a minor in cultural Greek and took a course in Phonetics.
We soon realized - after our arrival in Santidougou - that our people expected us to give them a written form of their language and to translate the Bible for them. Those who could read used the Jula Bible but had to orally translate the text into Bobo so everyone would understand. Most women and the children did not speak anything but Bobo. So our original goal was to translate the New Testament and provide some other Christian literature and make up reading primers to teach the Bobos how to read their own language.
We tried to translate New Testament books according to needs in the church. For example, Luke was the first Gospel we translated and we chose that because it has the events of the birth of Christ plus His life and death. We actually translated Luke chapter 1 and 2 one year and had it ready for Christmas that year. Then later added the remainder of the book. Acts came next as that was the history of the church so gave a good history of the start of the church and the spread of Christianity. We were having a training session for the few pastors and church leaders we had among the Bobos, and so we translated the books of first and second Timothy which gives the qualifications for church leaders. Problems of various sorts developed in some of our churches and 1 Corinthians spoke to the Scriptural solutions for these. And thus we translated book bu book and finally ended up with a New Testament, checked and printed by the Bible Society. During that period of time there were numerous seminars held for those translating the Bible into various Burkina and Mali languages and we learned much by attending these seminars, along with our language helpers.
Along with the Scriptures, we produced literacy primers. We also did two full years of Sunday School lessons for teaching the church children and trained teachers to teach the weekly classes. We produced numerous small booklets on subjects of interest to the Bobos. We did a monthly paper in the Bobo language on ditrict news - this was call Puru Sebe and the people enjoyed reading that.
In 1989, it was proposed to us that we do a complete Bible translation - what a bombshell! The Bible Society wanted to produce more full Bibles for the peoples of West Africa, and our language was one chosen to be translated. This meant choosing a team, training them, working with them daily, raising money for such a huge project - translation projects are costly! And so we finally decided to go for it - and that is all another chapter of our history!
Dad's language history is much difference from mine. He spoke only English - New England accented English until the age of thirty, and then we landed in Paris. He started to learn French and that was a steep learning curve for him. He thought that "Parlez-vous français?" Had something to do with "Polly wants a cracker". But he persevered and learned and of course preached in French for most of his life, as well as in Bobo
In learning and writing down Bobo Madare, I planned out each day's language ahead of time in Jula (the vocabulary, new sentence structures, etc,) and then sat down with Pastor Pierre my language helper to elicit the identical expression in Bobo. Pierre, bless his heart, was not the best language helper in the world. He used to fall asleep sometimes as we were working together. Everything I learned in my morning lesson with him, I then practiced on the women in our village. I also made up a new lesson each day for Dad to learn with a language helper. Yusufu, who worked in our house, was an excellent language helper, so between the two men and village conversations, we were able to start speaking the language.
In the meantime, you kids picked up Bobo as you played with your village friends and were soon rattling away. I guess John was the only one who was mono-lingual - and that was in Bobo, not English!
When we went to Africa, it never occured to me that I would some day be working in an unwritten language and even doing translation and original writing in that language. But the Lord had prepared me in my choice of college subjects, as I had a minor in cultural Greek and took a course in Phonetics.
We soon realized - after our arrival in Santidougou - that our people expected us to give them a written form of their language and to translate the Bible for them. Those who could read used the Jula Bible but had to orally translate the text into Bobo so everyone would understand. Most women and the children did not speak anything but Bobo. So our original goal was to translate the New Testament and provide some other Christian literature and make up reading primers to teach the Bobos how to read their own language.
We tried to translate New Testament books according to needs in the church. For example, Luke was the first Gospel we translated and we chose that because it has the events of the birth of Christ plus His life and death. We actually translated Luke chapter 1 and 2 one year and had it ready for Christmas that year. Then later added the remainder of the book. Acts came next as that was the history of the church so gave a good history of the start of the church and the spread of Christianity. We were having a training session for the few pastors and church leaders we had among the Bobos, and so we translated the books of first and second Timothy which gives the qualifications for church leaders. Problems of various sorts developed in some of our churches and 1 Corinthians spoke to the Scriptural solutions for these. And thus we translated book bu book and finally ended up with a New Testament, checked and printed by the Bible Society. During that period of time there were numerous seminars held for those translating the Bible into various Burkina and Mali languages and we learned much by attending these seminars, along with our language helpers.
Along with the Scriptures, we produced literacy primers. We also did two full years of Sunday School lessons for teaching the church children and trained teachers to teach the weekly classes. We produced numerous small booklets on subjects of interest to the Bobos. We did a monthly paper in the Bobo language on ditrict news - this was call Puru Sebe and the people enjoyed reading that.
In 1989, it was proposed to us that we do a complete Bible translation - what a bombshell! The Bible Society wanted to produce more full Bibles for the peoples of West Africa, and our language was one chosen to be translated. This meant choosing a team, training them, working with them daily, raising money for such a huge project - translation projects are costly! And so we finally decided to go for it - and that is all another chapter of our history!
Friday, May 20, 2011
THEN - AND NOW.....................................
Dad reminded me about a reunion I forgot - that was one of our first and it took place in Bamako, Mali. We three African families all went to Mali - Albrights, Kennedys and us. We rented out the GMU guest house for our week together. And Grandma and Grandpa Kennedy both flew in to spend a week with us there. They and we knew the folks in charge of the GMU guest quarters and they went overboard to accommodate us and had us over for dinner one evening. Aunt Donna, Aunt Margot and I fixed all the meals. And mainly we just hung out together there at the compound. It was a fun time. Amazing how often we have been able to get together, given the fact that we have lived on different continents!
The year Grandma and Grandpa left Carlisle on the sly and drove down to Kissimmee to live was another time when we three missionary couples were at Council or maybe at HAMS. Anyhow, we thought our parents were nicely settled in Carlisle but when we tried to call them all week, they never answered. (Those were the days before cell phones.) Bubnas, Phenicies, Clousers and we were all in the same dorm and had a great week together. When we got back to PA, we found that Grandpa had packed all their moveable belongings into his car, and off they went to Kissimmee. It was not long after that that Grandpa Kennedy died there.
* * * * * * * * *
Recently, as we heard some of the happenings with families overseas with the Alliance, I began to think about the tremendous differences we have seen during the seventy five years I have been in missions, both as a child and as an adult. The changes have been many.
NOW - It always amazes me how often some international workers find it necessary (or are asked) to return to their country of origin - for sickness, children's needs, graduations, speaking opportunities, just vacations. Money is not as tight as it used to be and friends and relatives love to make it possible for their missionaries to return to the U.S. Churches often call home a favorite missionary and ask him to bring along an articulate national pastor to upgrade their missions conferences.
THEN - When you signed up for overseas missions, you left for a full term. In Africa this was five years the first term (one in France) and then four years each succeeding term. In some countries of the world, the Alliance required six, seven, even eight years per term. There was also a "time bank" which was kept in the same way the financial books of the mission were kept. You were required as a missionary to serve a full four year term to the day. There was an accounting book kept for this in the mission office. If you had to go to the States early for some reason, you had to also return early in order to make up your time.
NOW - In country travel is so much easier. There are many paved roads, buses are in abundance, there are in country flights as well. Roads that used to be dirt and gravel are now paved. The old bridges that used to go out in the rainy season (and require a detour) are now built of steel and concrete and hold up year round. Missionaries also frequently return to their home country early for various reasons. They do have to get permission to leave early, but it is always granted.
THEN - Communication was very poor. Few international phone calls got through. We had cables which went quicker than letters, but some of them got terribly mixed up. I remember once when Larry Wrights were on furlough and we got the word by cable that Larry Wright had died. People sent condolences to Grace Wright and we were praying for her in her sorrow.....only to find out later that it was Harry Wright, an old, retired missionary, who had died - and not Larry. So those cables were not very reliable! We were called into Bobo from Santidougou to wait for a phone call one time and waited for ages for the call to get through - it was to tell us that Cheryl had had an emergency appendectomy but was doing OK. We talked to her briefly in her hospital bed.
NOW - we have phones that really get through. Everyone has a computer with Facebook and all kinds of programs. There is SKYPE - free calling overseas! There is Vonage, a very low cost system for international calls. We are so thankful for those possibilities with three families of you overseas! When my mother's father and mother died within a few weeks of each other, she never got the word for four months - it came via the mail carrier's mailbag to our station in Baramba. Once a week he walked into Koutiala and brought back any mail. And that is how the cable got to her telling of the death of both her parents four months earlier.
THEN - Food products were found locally. Rice and sweet potatoes were grown by the local farmers, so we ate those. Occasionally someone in a town would kill a cow and we could buy some beef, but chickens were available and so we ate a lot of chicken. You bought flour and sugar in bulk - a large sack, imported from France, which you kept in a barrel. There were some local vegetables sold in the markets, canned foods from Europe were few and far between. The diet was limited.
NOW - Even when we went to Burkina for our first term, I was amazed at the European proucts we could buy in the Lebanese stores and the Monoprix. African farmers learned that the Europeans and Americans loved vegetables like potatoes and cauliflower and broccoli and salad fixings, so they began to raise those crops for sale. Today the Bobo and Ouaga markets are full of the most beautiful vegetables and fruit, bought by West Africans and Europeans and Americans.
THEN - Medical care was not readily available in West Africa. Doctors were few, meds hard to get, hospitals almost non-existent. Our nurses ordered their meds from Europe or America and kept stocks on hand to treat the local population and their colleagues in the mission.
NOW - Many small villages have a local pharmacy and pharmacies are in abundance in the larger cities. There are many medical personnel who have been trained as well as doctors. The larger cities have hospitals. Peggy and Jetty established a medical center in Bobo and have trated many patients and saved lives. Our Alliance church in Burkina is building a hospital. What a difference from the small back door dispensary that existed when we went to Burkina! We saved many lives through the years with medical attention locally and emergency runs to the city hospital.
THEN - The mission was pre-dominant when we went to Burkina in the late 50's. The mission made the decisions, the church was not organized. Santidougou district was the least important of all the areas where the mission and church had worked. The Bobos were known by many to be a very backward people. The women wore bunches of leaves fore and aft and the men wore handspun cotton jockstraps, the children were for the most part without clothing.
NOW - What a change. Just in our district of Santidougou and the city of Bobo-Dioulasso. The Bobos are now predominant in leadership in the Burkina Alliance church. One of our Bobos is now dean of the Trinity graduate school of theology in the U.S. The director of the Maranatha Bible Institute is from our Bobo tribe. The director of ACCEDES is also one of our Bobo boys. We have many educated pastors among our numerous district churches. One of our men is a professor at Poundou Bible School. We have pastors in many large city churches as well as in village churches. Our church educational system has come a long ways. We now have many Christian primary schools. We praise God for the way He has blessed our people and the church in Burkina. Going to Burkina now as an international worker, you have the firm foundation of the Burkina church on which to build.
THEN - The early believers in our churches were all from animistic backgrounds. The church thought it was impossible for a Muslim to convert to Christ and Christianity.
NOW - But this began to change. Certainly the conversion of President Saye Zerbo was a help to the church, letting them see that if an important Muslim like the ex-president could become a Christian, then perhaps it was possible for more Muslim to come to Christ. Our church is now full of converts from Islam. Through our TEE program we tried to help in understanding how to witness to Muslims through a course we wrote and produced - Taking the Good News To Muslims. We now have Alliance pastors who come from Muslim backgrounds. This has been a big step forward!
The "good ole days" were not always so good. It has been a delight to see the missionary decrease and the local church leaders increase. We are most blessed to have lived through this transition and see how God has blessed the Alliance Church of Burkina Faso.
The year Grandma and Grandpa left Carlisle on the sly and drove down to Kissimmee to live was another time when we three missionary couples were at Council or maybe at HAMS. Anyhow, we thought our parents were nicely settled in Carlisle but when we tried to call them all week, they never answered. (Those were the days before cell phones.) Bubnas, Phenicies, Clousers and we were all in the same dorm and had a great week together. When we got back to PA, we found that Grandpa had packed all their moveable belongings into his car, and off they went to Kissimmee. It was not long after that that Grandpa Kennedy died there.
* * * * * * * * *
Recently, as we heard some of the happenings with families overseas with the Alliance, I began to think about the tremendous differences we have seen during the seventy five years I have been in missions, both as a child and as an adult. The changes have been many.
NOW - It always amazes me how often some international workers find it necessary (or are asked) to return to their country of origin - for sickness, children's needs, graduations, speaking opportunities, just vacations. Money is not as tight as it used to be and friends and relatives love to make it possible for their missionaries to return to the U.S. Churches often call home a favorite missionary and ask him to bring along an articulate national pastor to upgrade their missions conferences.
THEN - When you signed up for overseas missions, you left for a full term. In Africa this was five years the first term (one in France) and then four years each succeeding term. In some countries of the world, the Alliance required six, seven, even eight years per term. There was also a "time bank" which was kept in the same way the financial books of the mission were kept. You were required as a missionary to serve a full four year term to the day. There was an accounting book kept for this in the mission office. If you had to go to the States early for some reason, you had to also return early in order to make up your time.
NOW - In country travel is so much easier. There are many paved roads, buses are in abundance, there are in country flights as well. Roads that used to be dirt and gravel are now paved. The old bridges that used to go out in the rainy season (and require a detour) are now built of steel and concrete and hold up year round. Missionaries also frequently return to their home country early for various reasons. They do have to get permission to leave early, but it is always granted.
THEN - Communication was very poor. Few international phone calls got through. We had cables which went quicker than letters, but some of them got terribly mixed up. I remember once when Larry Wrights were on furlough and we got the word by cable that Larry Wright had died. People sent condolences to Grace Wright and we were praying for her in her sorrow.....only to find out later that it was Harry Wright, an old, retired missionary, who had died - and not Larry. So those cables were not very reliable! We were called into Bobo from Santidougou to wait for a phone call one time and waited for ages for the call to get through - it was to tell us that Cheryl had had an emergency appendectomy but was doing OK. We talked to her briefly in her hospital bed.
NOW - we have phones that really get through. Everyone has a computer with Facebook and all kinds of programs. There is SKYPE - free calling overseas! There is Vonage, a very low cost system for international calls. We are so thankful for those possibilities with three families of you overseas! When my mother's father and mother died within a few weeks of each other, she never got the word for four months - it came via the mail carrier's mailbag to our station in Baramba. Once a week he walked into Koutiala and brought back any mail. And that is how the cable got to her telling of the death of both her parents four months earlier.
THEN - Food products were found locally. Rice and sweet potatoes were grown by the local farmers, so we ate those. Occasionally someone in a town would kill a cow and we could buy some beef, but chickens were available and so we ate a lot of chicken. You bought flour and sugar in bulk - a large sack, imported from France, which you kept in a barrel. There were some local vegetables sold in the markets, canned foods from Europe were few and far between. The diet was limited.
NOW - Even when we went to Burkina for our first term, I was amazed at the European proucts we could buy in the Lebanese stores and the Monoprix. African farmers learned that the Europeans and Americans loved vegetables like potatoes and cauliflower and broccoli and salad fixings, so they began to raise those crops for sale. Today the Bobo and Ouaga markets are full of the most beautiful vegetables and fruit, bought by West Africans and Europeans and Americans.
THEN - Medical care was not readily available in West Africa. Doctors were few, meds hard to get, hospitals almost non-existent. Our nurses ordered their meds from Europe or America and kept stocks on hand to treat the local population and their colleagues in the mission.
NOW - Many small villages have a local pharmacy and pharmacies are in abundance in the larger cities. There are many medical personnel who have been trained as well as doctors. The larger cities have hospitals. Peggy and Jetty established a medical center in Bobo and have trated many patients and saved lives. Our Alliance church in Burkina is building a hospital. What a difference from the small back door dispensary that existed when we went to Burkina! We saved many lives through the years with medical attention locally and emergency runs to the city hospital.
THEN - The mission was pre-dominant when we went to Burkina in the late 50's. The mission made the decisions, the church was not organized. Santidougou district was the least important of all the areas where the mission and church had worked. The Bobos were known by many to be a very backward people. The women wore bunches of leaves fore and aft and the men wore handspun cotton jockstraps, the children were for the most part without clothing.
NOW - What a change. Just in our district of Santidougou and the city of Bobo-Dioulasso. The Bobos are now predominant in leadership in the Burkina Alliance church. One of our Bobos is now dean of the Trinity graduate school of theology in the U.S. The director of the Maranatha Bible Institute is from our Bobo tribe. The director of ACCEDES is also one of our Bobo boys. We have many educated pastors among our numerous district churches. One of our men is a professor at Poundou Bible School. We have pastors in many large city churches as well as in village churches. Our church educational system has come a long ways. We now have many Christian primary schools. We praise God for the way He has blessed our people and the church in Burkina. Going to Burkina now as an international worker, you have the firm foundation of the Burkina church on which to build.
THEN - The early believers in our churches were all from animistic backgrounds. The church thought it was impossible for a Muslim to convert to Christ and Christianity.
NOW - But this began to change. Certainly the conversion of President Saye Zerbo was a help to the church, letting them see that if an important Muslim like the ex-president could become a Christian, then perhaps it was possible for more Muslim to come to Christ. Our church is now full of converts from Islam. Through our TEE program we tried to help in understanding how to witness to Muslims through a course we wrote and produced - Taking the Good News To Muslims. We now have Alliance pastors who come from Muslim backgrounds. This has been a big step forward!
The "good ole days" were not always so good. It has been a delight to see the missionary decrease and the local church leaders increase. We are most blessed to have lived through this transition and see how God has blessed the Alliance Church of Burkina Faso.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
FAMILY REUNIONS.........................................
Considering how far apart we all live, we have managed to have an amazing amount of Pierce family reunions. I know some families never all get together, but somehow we have managed to all (or most) gather together fairly frequently. I was just thinking about some of those fun times together today so thought I would write about that.
The year we were at Shell Point to see Grandma, all at the same time, remember that?? She reserved the motel for us all and fed us in the Crystal dining room. I remember how you girls planned the table seating in that fancy dining room so that the boys wouldn't pull any pranks and embarass Grandma Pierce. Grandma was so proud to have all of her family there and had to introduce us to everyone. Now that I am an old lady and have all my family far away, I can appreciate the pride a mother has in her family and wants everyone to know them.
We used the pool and hung out in our rooms when Grandma Pierce was resting. Our family was asked to do a Sunday morning service at Shell Point church. We all did something - singing, testimony, sermon - and Rachel sang a song all by herself in Arabic. She was very young then but was not shy at all about singing! One day we went to Sanibel Island and had fun at the beach together. I think Grandma gave that day a miss. But it was a good time together - as always.
Another reunion that comes to mind is when most of you came to Bobo for a get together. I think that was the first time Jennie had come to Africa and she was such a good sport about everything. Colmans lived next to us and had gone on vacation so we were able to house everyone right there and all ate together at our house. We have some good pictures still that remind us of that special time.
After our retiral from Africa we lived for six months in the ATS apartments on Nyack campus. That summer when we all arrived in the States we had a reunion in Nyack. Again it was a fun time. We got permission to use the downstairs big lounge for eating and getting together. One memory I have of that reunion was all the little girls getting together and planning "programs" for the adults to enjoy: singing and doing little speeches, etc. We also have some good pictures of that reunion.
A surprise reunion for us was when you all planned our fiftieth wedding celebration at First Alliance church. Wow - that was a biggie. One of my treasures from the reunion is the lovely memory book Katy made for us, with letters from you all and pictures and beautiful, clever decorations. What a treasure. You all worked so hard to make that beautiful meal and cake and invited everyone to come. The speeches and the music were great. I remember Elizabeth's solo which was beautiful. (I never heard her sing again during her four years here in college!!) And the big cash gift for a cruise - which we used to return to Africa for a visit. So many of our extended family was there and again we have good pictures to remind us of a beautiful family reunion.
Thanksgiving a few years ago was a special time as we all got together up at Helen for an overnight and Thanksgiving Day. That was very special - we had a corridor of motel rooms where we all stayed. I remember so well Jennie and the teenagers all talking late into the night and having fun. There was a big fire in the fireplace there in our building and again we took lots of pictures. The reunion terminated with a gorgeous Thanksgiving meal in the hotel - linen and china and an enormous buffet of everything imaginable - and no one had to cook! I think that was Debbi's idea - and a great one. I think only a couple of boys were absent for that.
Jennie's death and funeral was a sad but beautiful reunon of many of us. Sanou Prosper and Jennie's family were all with us there in Buford as well. Jennie's mom fixed Puerto Rican food; people sent into the house every kind of delicacy - homemade and speciality foods. It was a sad time for all and we shed many tears together, but there was also the family solidarity that was still there as we mourned the passing of our beautiful Jennie.
Most of us were also present for a reunion at Council a couple of years ago. Jason was going to the field so Mark and Katy and family were there, John came and the girls and spouses were all on home assignment. So we were a gang of Pierce's and related ones. We got together as often as possible - early in the morning at the hotel and late at night. Mark treated us all to a beautiful meal at a restaurant along with Jasons' parents. It was a very special time! Mamou was there from Burkina and was so delighted to see her Mark and his wife and children!
Just last year many of us got together in Westerville, Ohio, to celebrate John and Sheryl's marriage. We stayed at John's and in hotels, a good time to get together and support John in a new phase of his life. The ceremony was beautiful and held in a quaint church, with many family members participating. We enjoyed that beatiful home and also the lovely reception at a high end restaurant after the ceremony. Another memory in our memory book - and lots of pictures to remind us as well of yet another time we all got together.
Family solidarity - we have it. How thankful Dad and I are for each one of you and what you mean to us. You are each individuals and yet you join together with us to form The Pierce Clan. Thank you for your love and support - you're the greatest!
The year we were at Shell Point to see Grandma, all at the same time, remember that?? She reserved the motel for us all and fed us in the Crystal dining room. I remember how you girls planned the table seating in that fancy dining room so that the boys wouldn't pull any pranks and embarass Grandma Pierce. Grandma was so proud to have all of her family there and had to introduce us to everyone. Now that I am an old lady and have all my family far away, I can appreciate the pride a mother has in her family and wants everyone to know them.
We used the pool and hung out in our rooms when Grandma Pierce was resting. Our family was asked to do a Sunday morning service at Shell Point church. We all did something - singing, testimony, sermon - and Rachel sang a song all by herself in Arabic. She was very young then but was not shy at all about singing! One day we went to Sanibel Island and had fun at the beach together. I think Grandma gave that day a miss. But it was a good time together - as always.
Another reunion that comes to mind is when most of you came to Bobo for a get together. I think that was the first time Jennie had come to Africa and she was such a good sport about everything. Colmans lived next to us and had gone on vacation so we were able to house everyone right there and all ate together at our house. We have some good pictures still that remind us of that special time.
After our retiral from Africa we lived for six months in the ATS apartments on Nyack campus. That summer when we all arrived in the States we had a reunion in Nyack. Again it was a fun time. We got permission to use the downstairs big lounge for eating and getting together. One memory I have of that reunion was all the little girls getting together and planning "programs" for the adults to enjoy: singing and doing little speeches, etc. We also have some good pictures of that reunion.
A surprise reunion for us was when you all planned our fiftieth wedding celebration at First Alliance church. Wow - that was a biggie. One of my treasures from the reunion is the lovely memory book Katy made for us, with letters from you all and pictures and beautiful, clever decorations. What a treasure. You all worked so hard to make that beautiful meal and cake and invited everyone to come. The speeches and the music were great. I remember Elizabeth's solo which was beautiful. (I never heard her sing again during her four years here in college!!) And the big cash gift for a cruise - which we used to return to Africa for a visit. So many of our extended family was there and again we have good pictures to remind us of a beautiful family reunion.
Thanksgiving a few years ago was a special time as we all got together up at Helen for an overnight and Thanksgiving Day. That was very special - we had a corridor of motel rooms where we all stayed. I remember so well Jennie and the teenagers all talking late into the night and having fun. There was a big fire in the fireplace there in our building and again we took lots of pictures. The reunion terminated with a gorgeous Thanksgiving meal in the hotel - linen and china and an enormous buffet of everything imaginable - and no one had to cook! I think that was Debbi's idea - and a great one. I think only a couple of boys were absent for that.
Jennie's death and funeral was a sad but beautiful reunon of many of us. Sanou Prosper and Jennie's family were all with us there in Buford as well. Jennie's mom fixed Puerto Rican food; people sent into the house every kind of delicacy - homemade and speciality foods. It was a sad time for all and we shed many tears together, but there was also the family solidarity that was still there as we mourned the passing of our beautiful Jennie.
Most of us were also present for a reunion at Council a couple of years ago. Jason was going to the field so Mark and Katy and family were there, John came and the girls and spouses were all on home assignment. So we were a gang of Pierce's and related ones. We got together as often as possible - early in the morning at the hotel and late at night. Mark treated us all to a beautiful meal at a restaurant along with Jasons' parents. It was a very special time! Mamou was there from Burkina and was so delighted to see her Mark and his wife and children!
Just last year many of us got together in Westerville, Ohio, to celebrate John and Sheryl's marriage. We stayed at John's and in hotels, a good time to get together and support John in a new phase of his life. The ceremony was beautiful and held in a quaint church, with many family members participating. We enjoyed that beatiful home and also the lovely reception at a high end restaurant after the ceremony. Another memory in our memory book - and lots of pictures to remind us as well of yet another time we all got together.
Family solidarity - we have it. How thankful Dad and I are for each one of you and what you mean to us. You are each individuals and yet you join together with us to form The Pierce Clan. Thank you for your love and support - you're the greatest!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
FURLOUGH HOMES...........................................
Usually, when our family thinks "HOME", we think of Africa - the old mission house in Santidougou being the first, the various other houses we lived in, in Burkina.....these to us are home. But we also had places which we made "home" in the United States during our furlough years - or "home assignment" times as they are called now!
The majority of our houses we lived in were in Nyack. Dad and I had both attended Nyack College and so we were familiar with the area. It was also in the district where Dad's home church was located. (Long Hill Chapel in Chatham, NJ.) We liked being near New York City, not too far from Dad's family in Connecticut. We enjoyed the college atmosphere, and at that time we were also in the same town as the C&MA Alliance headquarteers. One big reason, however, was that the Alliance maintained a group of homes, all furnished, for the use of missionaries. They had a fulltime maintenance man who would take care of any problem in the house - very handy for me when Dad was gone on those long tours. Thirteen weeks one time!! And thus we chose to live at least five furloughs in Nyack, New York.
We lived in Upper Merrill, Fern Avenue - MIR house, Groff Cottage, Merrill Cottage, and Wheeler. Mrs. Bernard King was in charge of these homes and made sure the places were clean, the frig turned on, enough food in the house for at least the first breakfast, and a list of do's and don't's for those of us occupying the house. We always had our own bits and pieces which we added to the house to make it "ours". We kept a barrel of china, tablecloths and other household items in storage at Nyack, and using these personal things made our new house seem more like home to us.
We had other missionaries for neighbors and got to know lots of people from other areas of the world who also furloughed there at Nyack with us. You kids always had friends to play with and run around with. The school system was a good one and each furlough you kept coming back to the same schools, which made it easier for you.
Being near the college meant that we had occasional ministry there. National office was in Nyack at that time, which was handy for Dad and me. Simpson Church at that time was in its heyday and so we had a good church to attend. You kids had good youth groups. No doubt you older girls remember some of your youth pastors and the Simpson youth choir with whom you travelled. It was a good situation for us during several furloughs.
When you were young, Mark, you were a very gentle child (look at you now!!) and we sent you to third grade at the Valley College elementary school. You went on the bus, a bit of a trauma for you at first. Your teacher that year was a very mouthy Jewish lady, probably a good teacher, but tended to YELL! We had not known how bad it was, although you had told us how she hollered in class, until one day we found you hiding out in the yard long after the school bus had departed! You just could not face that teacher for one more day!!
So Dad and I promised you that you would not have to go back to her class, we would take care of it. There was another third grade class, and that was taught by Mrs. Elsie Barney, a good friend of ours, whose husband taught at the Alliance Seminary. So Dad and I visited the principal that day, taking you with us. She was very understanding, and moved you to Mrs. Barney's class and there you got along just fine. As far as I know, Elsie Barney is an old lady now living at Shell Point! And you grew out of your timidity, as evidenced by your work and wonderful family.
One year we decided to live in Shell Point. They had invited us to be missionary in residence at Shell Point, which meant Dad still went on tour, and every Sunday morning we had a four minute slot (no more and no less!) in the morning service at the church. I took care of the speaking when Dad was gone. They provided a lovely home for us - the nicest furlough home we ever had - and paid the electric bills, etc. Grandma Pierce was so delighted and proud of her children being there where she had lived so long. We had no car - so we used hers. It was a good furlough in that John and Jennie, newly married, got a job there and lived in Ft. Myers. Mark, you also worked at Shell Point and lived with us while you went to College in town. So we had some good family times.
That is when I got to know Jennie. She did not have a job, and so John would drop her off at our house on his way to work, and she would just stay with me during the day. She loved watching TV and we often talked and I got to know her then. Later, of course, we got to know her much better - in Puerto Rico and in Atlanta and at Buford and she was a much loved member of our family. We still grieve her death, but also like to think of her in Heaven, without pain.
We never had such a "poor" furlough as we had in Shell Point. We owned no car, we got no love offerings. I spoke seldom as Shell Point frowned on their MIR taking meetings elsewhere. The SP Sunday School took on the project of our computer we needed for translation (which came to eight thousand dollars) and they raised that and ordered us the computer - which at that time came in a huge box. I was even afraid to open the box - Dad was on tour! So they were generous to us. I also enjoyed visiting some of the elderly, cheering them up. We did have a fun reunion (with all of you there for that) and we entertained often. The residents loved that and it gave me something to do. I visited them often in their apartments when Dad was away on tour.
One furlough we spent in Waynesboro, as Phenicies were also living there that furlough year. Grandma and Grandpa were in Carlisle so not far away and we could visit them. You boys came to visit us there, and Cheryl and Darrell and family lived within walking distance - all of which was very nice. It was a small apartment, but the saving grace was that we had access to an indoor pool, which Dad especially enjoyed. We had a hard time finding a church where we could worship, but of course we were gone on tours a good part of the year, so it did not matter so much. I guess that was our first empty nest furlough!
Our last (partial) furlough in Nyack was after we had retired from the field. We had a small apartment in the ATS apartmnet building. We always kept our apartment door closed, as our neighbors were all Korean students and the aroma of their particular brand of cabbage cooking permeated the halls of the building! We stayed in that apartment through the fall and went on our regular tours, then looked for a house here in Toccoa, and found our home here. We went back north and packed up everything to move.
We had to drive two cars in order to take all of our baggage, so we rented a car and had our own vehicle, Dad and I each driving. The first day we were going as far as Waynesboro and Phenicies' place for overnight. My car was the district car - a very nice one - and I was driving along at a good speed, when I dozed off! The first time that had ever happened to me! I just missed a big cement embankment, spun around in the grassy spot - and woke up in a hurry. I can remember seeing a truck on the slope above me, and the look of horror on the face of the truck driver. He quickly pulled over and ran back to me just as I was getting out of my vehicle! I was shaking - and poor dad was ahead of me and watched this all happening and had to get back to me. I was fine - not even a scratch - but had a pounding heart, and was praising the Lord that I had not been killed and wrecked the car! Someone came along and helped us and we went merrily on our way again, at a slower pace, and with Dad watching me constantly in his rear view mirror! What a close call that was!
We did go back to the field a couple more times for a year each time, but we never lived in a furlough home again, as at the end of that trip to Georgia, we bought our own home where we still live. Why Georgia? You boys and your families were both here and the girls were all overseas! So it was a no brainer! And now twelve years later we are the only ones left in the south. But we are still glad we made this choice.
The majority of our houses we lived in were in Nyack. Dad and I had both attended Nyack College and so we were familiar with the area. It was also in the district where Dad's home church was located. (Long Hill Chapel in Chatham, NJ.) We liked being near New York City, not too far from Dad's family in Connecticut. We enjoyed the college atmosphere, and at that time we were also in the same town as the C&MA Alliance headquarteers. One big reason, however, was that the Alliance maintained a group of homes, all furnished, for the use of missionaries. They had a fulltime maintenance man who would take care of any problem in the house - very handy for me when Dad was gone on those long tours. Thirteen weeks one time!! And thus we chose to live at least five furloughs in Nyack, New York.
We lived in Upper Merrill, Fern Avenue - MIR house, Groff Cottage, Merrill Cottage, and Wheeler. Mrs. Bernard King was in charge of these homes and made sure the places were clean, the frig turned on, enough food in the house for at least the first breakfast, and a list of do's and don't's for those of us occupying the house. We always had our own bits and pieces which we added to the house to make it "ours". We kept a barrel of china, tablecloths and other household items in storage at Nyack, and using these personal things made our new house seem more like home to us.
We had other missionaries for neighbors and got to know lots of people from other areas of the world who also furloughed there at Nyack with us. You kids always had friends to play with and run around with. The school system was a good one and each furlough you kept coming back to the same schools, which made it easier for you.
Being near the college meant that we had occasional ministry there. National office was in Nyack at that time, which was handy for Dad and me. Simpson Church at that time was in its heyday and so we had a good church to attend. You kids had good youth groups. No doubt you older girls remember some of your youth pastors and the Simpson youth choir with whom you travelled. It was a good situation for us during several furloughs.
When you were young, Mark, you were a very gentle child (look at you now!!) and we sent you to third grade at the Valley College elementary school. You went on the bus, a bit of a trauma for you at first. Your teacher that year was a very mouthy Jewish lady, probably a good teacher, but tended to YELL! We had not known how bad it was, although you had told us how she hollered in class, until one day we found you hiding out in the yard long after the school bus had departed! You just could not face that teacher for one more day!!
So Dad and I promised you that you would not have to go back to her class, we would take care of it. There was another third grade class, and that was taught by Mrs. Elsie Barney, a good friend of ours, whose husband taught at the Alliance Seminary. So Dad and I visited the principal that day, taking you with us. She was very understanding, and moved you to Mrs. Barney's class and there you got along just fine. As far as I know, Elsie Barney is an old lady now living at Shell Point! And you grew out of your timidity, as evidenced by your work and wonderful family.
One year we decided to live in Shell Point. They had invited us to be missionary in residence at Shell Point, which meant Dad still went on tour, and every Sunday morning we had a four minute slot (no more and no less!) in the morning service at the church. I took care of the speaking when Dad was gone. They provided a lovely home for us - the nicest furlough home we ever had - and paid the electric bills, etc. Grandma Pierce was so delighted and proud of her children being there where she had lived so long. We had no car - so we used hers. It was a good furlough in that John and Jennie, newly married, got a job there and lived in Ft. Myers. Mark, you also worked at Shell Point and lived with us while you went to College in town. So we had some good family times.
That is when I got to know Jennie. She did not have a job, and so John would drop her off at our house on his way to work, and she would just stay with me during the day. She loved watching TV and we often talked and I got to know her then. Later, of course, we got to know her much better - in Puerto Rico and in Atlanta and at Buford and she was a much loved member of our family. We still grieve her death, but also like to think of her in Heaven, without pain.
We never had such a "poor" furlough as we had in Shell Point. We owned no car, we got no love offerings. I spoke seldom as Shell Point frowned on their MIR taking meetings elsewhere. The SP Sunday School took on the project of our computer we needed for translation (which came to eight thousand dollars) and they raised that and ordered us the computer - which at that time came in a huge box. I was even afraid to open the box - Dad was on tour! So they were generous to us. I also enjoyed visiting some of the elderly, cheering them up. We did have a fun reunion (with all of you there for that) and we entertained often. The residents loved that and it gave me something to do. I visited them often in their apartments when Dad was away on tour.
One furlough we spent in Waynesboro, as Phenicies were also living there that furlough year. Grandma and Grandpa were in Carlisle so not far away and we could visit them. You boys came to visit us there, and Cheryl and Darrell and family lived within walking distance - all of which was very nice. It was a small apartment, but the saving grace was that we had access to an indoor pool, which Dad especially enjoyed. We had a hard time finding a church where we could worship, but of course we were gone on tours a good part of the year, so it did not matter so much. I guess that was our first empty nest furlough!
Our last (partial) furlough in Nyack was after we had retired from the field. We had a small apartment in the ATS apartmnet building. We always kept our apartment door closed, as our neighbors were all Korean students and the aroma of their particular brand of cabbage cooking permeated the halls of the building! We stayed in that apartment through the fall and went on our regular tours, then looked for a house here in Toccoa, and found our home here. We went back north and packed up everything to move.
We had to drive two cars in order to take all of our baggage, so we rented a car and had our own vehicle, Dad and I each driving. The first day we were going as far as Waynesboro and Phenicies' place for overnight. My car was the district car - a very nice one - and I was driving along at a good speed, when I dozed off! The first time that had ever happened to me! I just missed a big cement embankment, spun around in the grassy spot - and woke up in a hurry. I can remember seeing a truck on the slope above me, and the look of horror on the face of the truck driver. He quickly pulled over and ran back to me just as I was getting out of my vehicle! I was shaking - and poor dad was ahead of me and watched this all happening and had to get back to me. I was fine - not even a scratch - but had a pounding heart, and was praising the Lord that I had not been killed and wrecked the car! Someone came along and helped us and we went merrily on our way again, at a slower pace, and with Dad watching me constantly in his rear view mirror! What a close call that was!
We did go back to the field a couple more times for a year each time, but we never lived in a furlough home again, as at the end of that trip to Georgia, we bought our own home where we still live. Why Georgia? You boys and your families were both here and the girls were all overseas! So it was a no brainer! And now twelve years later we are the only ones left in the south. But we are still glad we made this choice.
Friday, May 6, 2011
MOTHER'S DAY................................
This weekend is mother's day and your greetings and cards come rolling in. I am so grateful. You are all the greatest kids in the world, and you have given to us spouses whom we love as our own. I am of all mothers most fortunate!
Today I feel especially fortunate....I just received a Mother's Day card from your father. I was working on the computer here in my office and he had to go down and work on a building for the homeless here in town. Before he left, he put a card on my chair, which I found when I went out to fix lunch. . A lovely card - and the words are so beautiful that I had to share them with his children - YOU!!
"Sometimes I can hardly believe my good luck to be sharing my life with you.
You are such a wonderful wife and mother and I feel incredibly lucky to have found someone who I can love more each day, who I keep falling in love with over and over as our partnership deepens through the years.
"Our family may grow and change, the world may change around us, but that doesn't worry me, because I married the love of my life - and that makes me the luckiest man alive! Happy Mother's Day!"
Invitation: dinner at the Bamboo House on Sunday!
Isn't that incredibly beautiful - it made me cry. Almost fifty six years together now and we cannot believe God has blessed us as a couple - and blessed us with each of you children and spouses and grandchildren. It is a good time to salute you all!
Today I feel especially fortunate....I just received a Mother's Day card from your father. I was working on the computer here in my office and he had to go down and work on a building for the homeless here in town. Before he left, he put a card on my chair, which I found when I went out to fix lunch. . A lovely card - and the words are so beautiful that I had to share them with his children - YOU!!
"Sometimes I can hardly believe my good luck to be sharing my life with you.
You are such a wonderful wife and mother and I feel incredibly lucky to have found someone who I can love more each day, who I keep falling in love with over and over as our partnership deepens through the years.
"Our family may grow and change, the world may change around us, but that doesn't worry me, because I married the love of my life - and that makes me the luckiest man alive! Happy Mother's Day!"
Invitation: dinner at the Bamboo House on Sunday!
Isn't that incredibly beautiful - it made me cry. Almost fifty six years together now and we cannot believe God has blessed us as a couple - and blessed us with each of you children and spouses and grandchildren. It is a good time to salute you all!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
MATERNAL EMOTIONS..............................
The other day someone sent me an email about the emotions of a mother. These are emotions that only mothers can relate to....as they see their newborn for the first time and watch him/her grow and entwine himself/herself around her heartstrings. As that tiny, helpless baby grows into a toddler and a schoolchild, then enters the age of independance, adds a spouse to your family unit, produces offspring who also entwine themselves around her heart. It is all a beautiful - and sometimes stretching - experience! As I went down the list of emotions mentioned, it made me think of my own emotional roller coaster of love for you all!
I would never have known these emotions if I had never had children - I am so glad for each one of you and your families. You have all enriched our lives immensely through the emotions of parenthood:
1) JOY. How well I remember the joy I felt that morning when you were born, Cheryl, after going through a rough night of hard contractions. They were all forgotten when I held you in my arms, our first baby. My heart was filled with such joy. And the experience was the same with each one of you. When you were born, Debbi, in that Rutland hospital and handed to me by my wonderful midwife, you looked so serene after all you had gone through and again I was filled with joy. Elin, you arrived a little faster and Grandma Kennedy and Dad were right there when you were born, a beautiful baby girl - what joy! After three sisters, you were born, John, all boy, and delighted to be in the world. You brought joy with you into our world ... and you still do! And, Mark, from your birth you have always brought joy into our lives and the lives of other people.
The joy has continued through the spouses with whom you have enriched our lives and the beautiful grandchildren you produced.....and the children your children are now producing. Wow, how fortunate we are!!
LOVE. With each of you, it was LOVE at first sight for us. We loved to cuddle you and nurse you and watch for your first smile and be amazed at your developing personalities - each so different. Our love has grown for you through the years and has extended to your spouses and your children. Our love for our children helps us to appreciate much more our Lord's great love for us!
WARMTH. I still get a WARM, fuzzy feeling when I see you or hear your voice or receive a letter. There is a family emotional warmth that we have which outshines even the warmth we have when we are with friends who are close to us. It warms our hearts to see how close you are to each other and to us.
SATISFACTION. I have such deep SATISFACTION in being a mother and a grandmother and now a great grandmother. What better thing could I accomplish than to do all possible for Dad and me to bring you up in the love and admonition of our Lord. None of you has even been a disappointment to us. Your love for us is so precious. I love to look at your pictures on our walls and on our coffee table and I have great satisfaction in being your mother.
HEARTACHES. It would be polyanna-ish to say that we have never had any heartaches, that everything is always rosy. Our hearts ache for and with you when you have gone through difficult times in your lives. Your losses are our losses too. When some of you have been in danger or misunderstood or going through hard places (whether physically, emotionally or spiritually), this does make our hearts ache for you. That is part of being parents. Your hurts are our hurts too.
WONDERMENT. As we follow your lives from afar right now, I am filled with wonderment at how God leads you and what terrific people you are! I am rightfully proud of all of you and it is always a wonder to me that you belong to us! Grown children following God - what better thing can a parent ask? It reminds me of a favorite verse of mine: "Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure." Psalm 16:5. Thanks to each one of you - what a blessed mother am I!!
I would never have known these emotions if I had never had children - I am so glad for each one of you and your families. You have all enriched our lives immensely through the emotions of parenthood:
1) JOY. How well I remember the joy I felt that morning when you were born, Cheryl, after going through a rough night of hard contractions. They were all forgotten when I held you in my arms, our first baby. My heart was filled with such joy. And the experience was the same with each one of you. When you were born, Debbi, in that Rutland hospital and handed to me by my wonderful midwife, you looked so serene after all you had gone through and again I was filled with joy. Elin, you arrived a little faster and Grandma Kennedy and Dad were right there when you were born, a beautiful baby girl - what joy! After three sisters, you were born, John, all boy, and delighted to be in the world. You brought joy with you into our world ... and you still do! And, Mark, from your birth you have always brought joy into our lives and the lives of other people.
The joy has continued through the spouses with whom you have enriched our lives and the beautiful grandchildren you produced.....and the children your children are now producing. Wow, how fortunate we are!!
LOVE. With each of you, it was LOVE at first sight for us. We loved to cuddle you and nurse you and watch for your first smile and be amazed at your developing personalities - each so different. Our love has grown for you through the years and has extended to your spouses and your children. Our love for our children helps us to appreciate much more our Lord's great love for us!
WARMTH. I still get a WARM, fuzzy feeling when I see you or hear your voice or receive a letter. There is a family emotional warmth that we have which outshines even the warmth we have when we are with friends who are close to us. It warms our hearts to see how close you are to each other and to us.
SATISFACTION. I have such deep SATISFACTION in being a mother and a grandmother and now a great grandmother. What better thing could I accomplish than to do all possible for Dad and me to bring you up in the love and admonition of our Lord. None of you has even been a disappointment to us. Your love for us is so precious. I love to look at your pictures on our walls and on our coffee table and I have great satisfaction in being your mother.
HEARTACHES. It would be polyanna-ish to say that we have never had any heartaches, that everything is always rosy. Our hearts ache for and with you when you have gone through difficult times in your lives. Your losses are our losses too. When some of you have been in danger or misunderstood or going through hard places (whether physically, emotionally or spiritually), this does make our hearts ache for you. That is part of being parents. Your hurts are our hurts too.
WONDERMENT. As we follow your lives from afar right now, I am filled with wonderment at how God leads you and what terrific people you are! I am rightfully proud of all of you and it is always a wonder to me that you belong to us! Grown children following God - what better thing can a parent ask? It reminds me of a favorite verse of mine: "Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure." Psalm 16:5. Thanks to each one of you - what a blessed mother am I!!
Monday, May 2, 2011
FIELD CONFERENCES.........................................
Since their beginning, it has always been a rule on Alliance mission fields that there should be an annual field conference. I remember them from childhood and for me they were fun. But for our parents it was sometimes an ordeal to get through. When I was a kid, conference was fun - a time when we got together with other MK's and hung out, played games, etc., while our parents hammered out the rules of the mission on the conference floor.
On practially every Alliance mission field today, conference is still a must. But they call it Field Forum. Usually these are held in a hotel or resort where everything - including meals - is provided. What a far cry from those earlier days! One single bed was provided per couple, so if the other person wanted to sleep, it was either the floor or bring along another bed. Beds were not provided for children either. So add one more bed to the personal conference equipment.
I guess we had one conference in Kankan after our family got to Africa, and we haad you two girls, Debbi and Cheryl. So we took along a bed for Dad and beds for you. Sheets, etc, for everyone. But at least they did provide food. We had a couple of African cooks, but they could not do all the work for cooking for a hundred and fifty people, so each missionary was given a job. Dad had a five am detail to help cut up the meat for the day. I helped set up the dining room and kept track of you girls who usually had a great time with the other kids. We ate in a large screened dining room. This dining room had a foundation and a roof, but no walls only screens. It was a nice looking building, surrounded by colorful bushes planted every few feet. One day we adults were still sitting at the dining tables - most of you kids had run out to play. Debbie Pease stopped playing tag a few minutes to relieve herself. Seeing a large colored bush, she went behind it, pulled down her panties to go. (In full view of that part of the dining room since the dining room screen wall was behind the bush!) One of the Peases hurried out to take care of her needs and we all got a good laugh!
We always had a choir at those conferences and I sang in it that year. Which meant long hours of practice so Dad had to watch out for you kids. By the time we got up to sing, everyone had heard us practice the song a dozen times! Dad wondered if the director thought we were singing in Carnnegie Hall!
After conference we had the trip home to Bobo, not a paved kilometer the whole trip of two days! We were all thankful this ordeal only occurred once a year. But after that first year, our field had split off, as did Ivory Coast. So Kankan, Guinea, had all those vast facilities and very few missionaries to use them. French West Africa became Guinea, Mali-Upper Volta and Ivory Coast. So we now had three conference. Later on the Mali separated form the Burkina, at the time of the local wars, so the one big field became four entities and ran our own affairs and had our own conferences.
You girls used to love to watch old Uncle Bowman sing - that was in Kankan. He had a nice tenor voice, but with a fairly wide vibrato and his head shook up and down whenever he sang! You girls were fascinated with watching him! I remember as a young girl how we kids used to love to slip into the back of the chapel during conference discussions and listen to all of the debates. We had a few people who were able to express themselves quite vociferously and we loved it. But usually an adult would see us gathered in the back snickering and would chase us out to play!
Ah yes, conference.... When we moved our conference to Bobo, we met in the old chapel on the corner, open windows and doors, loud traffic rushing by, so noisy - and oh, so hot! We had to rent a number of rooms in town to accommodate everyone, and the ones we found were upstairs, a short walk from the mission. When Dad was director, he was busy in the office before conference and so no time to help set up conference arrangements. Aunt Mary Kaye Pease came early every year to tune the piano which took her a while. So it fell to Uncle Bob Pease and me to set up conference accomodations in the rooms uptown. Each room had to have beds, a stove or two burner plate, dishes, pots and pans, etc., etc. People brought their own linens. We also used the guest rooms on the compound which were already set up. Conference was a busy time as we had morning, afternoon and evening meetings - and had to cook for our families as well. We held those conferences in December just before you kids came home from school. We usually had a speaker from the States for devotions each day.
Some strange things happened during some of those conference sessions. One single woman began to act strange - she had had a way back history of some mental difficulties, and she went off during conference. We all tried to help her, but she needed professional help in the States, so one of the missionary men was asked to take her on the plane back to the States. He told us afterwards of the trip - at one point she asked to go to the bathroom and he had to let go alone. She had a little bag with her, and when she came back to where he was seated, she was dressed in filmy pink babydoll pajamas! He was sure glad to get her delivered to her family in the States. One of our missionary men also had a mental problem which hit him during conference - it happened after we had all gone to bed and were wakened by the noise. His wife was trying to control him in their room, but she could not, and he ran out of the room and leaped over a wall back of the motel. Another man saw him and leaped right after him and chased him down the road and brought him back. He had to be restrained for a while and the men had to take turns sitting with him in another guest room the rest of our conference time. We always went out to a restaurant one evening during conference to have a relaxed social time, with no meeting.
Each year we had a speaker from the States and that was refreshing spiritually to have someone come in to speak to us from the outside. Eventually Paul and Jeanie Bubna were assigned to our field as pastoral couple and they were such a blessing. By then you were married, Elin, and so your in-laws always asked for some time to just visit with us before conference when they came. We enjoyed so much those visits. It was during one of their trips to Africa that my dear friend Jeanne began her sickness which incapacitated her and ended her life sooner than we would have liked. She was a great lady and a great friend to me. We were blessed to know them both. Paul always had such wisdom in situations our mission faced and we all appreciated him.
Once the Alliance had missionaries in Ouagadougou, we began exploring possibilities for having conference in that city. We started out at the SIL guest quarters, which were very basic but clean. They served meals also and had meeting rooms, and so we met there each year for conference. The younger children all had a nice yard where they could play, and our meeting rooms were adequate. As seems to be the case, missions seem to move upward and so we graduated to living in a hotel, with meals provided, but by that time we had retired from the field.
Conferences were a time for business and committee work, but they were also an occasion for corporate worship in English and a time for socializing. We always had a fun night which took different forms. When we had a missionary retiring, we arranged all kinds of speeches and skits to send them off. These occasions were both poignant and fun. Sometimes there were heated debates over an issue on the floor. Each missionary and ministry gave a report of work accomplished. A new field committee was voted into place at conference and sometimes a new field director.
Interesting how language and terminology change over the years. What we used to call "conference" has now become "field forum"; what used to be "executive committee" is now "FLT - field leadership committee"; and the "chairman" has now become the "field director". Vocabulary may change but some things remain the same. Gathering together occasionally is good for a team and the annual meeting will probably continue as long as missions in their present form last. The church has taken over many things that we used to have to do as mission, and so field forums today tend to have more discussion and fellowshhip and less making of mission rules, it is a time for fellowship and being challenged to minister well in the year ahead. We used to ask the church to assign a couple of their pastors to attend our conferences so that they did not wonder what we were doing for that week each year. Cooperating with the local churches should always be the goal of mission. It is their country and their church - not ours.
On practially every Alliance mission field today, conference is still a must. But they call it Field Forum. Usually these are held in a hotel or resort where everything - including meals - is provided. What a far cry from those earlier days! One single bed was provided per couple, so if the other person wanted to sleep, it was either the floor or bring along another bed. Beds were not provided for children either. So add one more bed to the personal conference equipment.
I guess we had one conference in Kankan after our family got to Africa, and we haad you two girls, Debbi and Cheryl. So we took along a bed for Dad and beds for you. Sheets, etc, for everyone. But at least they did provide food. We had a couple of African cooks, but they could not do all the work for cooking for a hundred and fifty people, so each missionary was given a job. Dad had a five am detail to help cut up the meat for the day. I helped set up the dining room and kept track of you girls who usually had a great time with the other kids. We ate in a large screened dining room. This dining room had a foundation and a roof, but no walls only screens. It was a nice looking building, surrounded by colorful bushes planted every few feet. One day we adults were still sitting at the dining tables - most of you kids had run out to play. Debbie Pease stopped playing tag a few minutes to relieve herself. Seeing a large colored bush, she went behind it, pulled down her panties to go. (In full view of that part of the dining room since the dining room screen wall was behind the bush!) One of the Peases hurried out to take care of her needs and we all got a good laugh!
We always had a choir at those conferences and I sang in it that year. Which meant long hours of practice so Dad had to watch out for you kids. By the time we got up to sing, everyone had heard us practice the song a dozen times! Dad wondered if the director thought we were singing in Carnnegie Hall!
After conference we had the trip home to Bobo, not a paved kilometer the whole trip of two days! We were all thankful this ordeal only occurred once a year. But after that first year, our field had split off, as did Ivory Coast. So Kankan, Guinea, had all those vast facilities and very few missionaries to use them. French West Africa became Guinea, Mali-Upper Volta and Ivory Coast. So we now had three conference. Later on the Mali separated form the Burkina, at the time of the local wars, so the one big field became four entities and ran our own affairs and had our own conferences.
You girls used to love to watch old Uncle Bowman sing - that was in Kankan. He had a nice tenor voice, but with a fairly wide vibrato and his head shook up and down whenever he sang! You girls were fascinated with watching him! I remember as a young girl how we kids used to love to slip into the back of the chapel during conference discussions and listen to all of the debates. We had a few people who were able to express themselves quite vociferously and we loved it. But usually an adult would see us gathered in the back snickering and would chase us out to play!
Ah yes, conference.... When we moved our conference to Bobo, we met in the old chapel on the corner, open windows and doors, loud traffic rushing by, so noisy - and oh, so hot! We had to rent a number of rooms in town to accommodate everyone, and the ones we found were upstairs, a short walk from the mission. When Dad was director, he was busy in the office before conference and so no time to help set up conference arrangements. Aunt Mary Kaye Pease came early every year to tune the piano which took her a while. So it fell to Uncle Bob Pease and me to set up conference accomodations in the rooms uptown. Each room had to have beds, a stove or two burner plate, dishes, pots and pans, etc., etc. People brought their own linens. We also used the guest rooms on the compound which were already set up. Conference was a busy time as we had morning, afternoon and evening meetings - and had to cook for our families as well. We held those conferences in December just before you kids came home from school. We usually had a speaker from the States for devotions each day.
Some strange things happened during some of those conference sessions. One single woman began to act strange - she had had a way back history of some mental difficulties, and she went off during conference. We all tried to help her, but she needed professional help in the States, so one of the missionary men was asked to take her on the plane back to the States. He told us afterwards of the trip - at one point she asked to go to the bathroom and he had to let go alone. She had a little bag with her, and when she came back to where he was seated, she was dressed in filmy pink babydoll pajamas! He was sure glad to get her delivered to her family in the States. One of our missionary men also had a mental problem which hit him during conference - it happened after we had all gone to bed and were wakened by the noise. His wife was trying to control him in their room, but she could not, and he ran out of the room and leaped over a wall back of the motel. Another man saw him and leaped right after him and chased him down the road and brought him back. He had to be restrained for a while and the men had to take turns sitting with him in another guest room the rest of our conference time. We always went out to a restaurant one evening during conference to have a relaxed social time, with no meeting.
Each year we had a speaker from the States and that was refreshing spiritually to have someone come in to speak to us from the outside. Eventually Paul and Jeanie Bubna were assigned to our field as pastoral couple and they were such a blessing. By then you were married, Elin, and so your in-laws always asked for some time to just visit with us before conference when they came. We enjoyed so much those visits. It was during one of their trips to Africa that my dear friend Jeanne began her sickness which incapacitated her and ended her life sooner than we would have liked. She was a great lady and a great friend to me. We were blessed to know them both. Paul always had such wisdom in situations our mission faced and we all appreciated him.
Once the Alliance had missionaries in Ouagadougou, we began exploring possibilities for having conference in that city. We started out at the SIL guest quarters, which were very basic but clean. They served meals also and had meeting rooms, and so we met there each year for conference. The younger children all had a nice yard where they could play, and our meeting rooms were adequate. As seems to be the case, missions seem to move upward and so we graduated to living in a hotel, with meals provided, but by that time we had retired from the field.
Conferences were a time for business and committee work, but they were also an occasion for corporate worship in English and a time for socializing. We always had a fun night which took different forms. When we had a missionary retiring, we arranged all kinds of speeches and skits to send them off. These occasions were both poignant and fun. Sometimes there were heated debates over an issue on the floor. Each missionary and ministry gave a report of work accomplished. A new field committee was voted into place at conference and sometimes a new field director.
Interesting how language and terminology change over the years. What we used to call "conference" has now become "field forum"; what used to be "executive committee" is now "FLT - field leadership committee"; and the "chairman" has now become the "field director". Vocabulary may change but some things remain the same. Gathering together occasionally is good for a team and the annual meeting will probably continue as long as missions in their present form last. The church has taken over many things that we used to have to do as mission, and so field forums today tend to have more discussion and fellowshhip and less making of mission rules, it is a time for fellowship and being challenged to minister well in the year ahead. We used to ask the church to assign a couple of their pastors to attend our conferences so that they did not wonder what we were doing for that week each year. Cooperating with the local churches should always be the goal of mission. It is their country and their church - not ours.
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