FROM ONE GENERATION TO THE NEXT.............................

One positive thing about aging is that it gives you a perspective on the experiences of a long life.  Without going back too far, there are ceretain things about our parents that they have passed along to us and to you, our children.  Missions has been a way of life in our family.  Grandma Pierce, you know, was a great supporter of Baptist Missions in the state of Connecticut. For years she was president of what they called the House Party - an organization that was similar to our Alliance Women - for the American Baptist women. Every year she planned a big conference in Hartford and that was an important part of her life.  After Dad's dad died,  Grandma Pierce also chose to travel overseas.  She came to see us in France and she travelled with a Baptist group, seeing some Baptist missions in Europe. She came several times to Africa so that she could see our work there. She prayed for us daily.  And later on moved to Shell Point where she was an active member of the Alliance Women there for many years.  She was so proud and happy about the fact that her son was a missionary. 

My parents were, as you know, Alliance missionaries and were happy that all three of their children followed in their footsteps to be ambassadors for Christ in Africa.  I do not ever remember a time when my folks encouraged any of us to go overseas, but when we made that decision they accepted it happily, even though it meant their grandchildren were far from them after they retired. 

As parents, we too prayed that all of you children would trust Christ as Saviour. We did our best to make a home for you that would steer you in that direction.  Both Dad and I were happy when each of you followed Christ.  As, one by one, you each felt called for your life's work, we were pleased with how God led you - some overseas and others working right here in the States, in churches here.  People often commented on how wonderful it was that our three girls were missionaries and we were grateful for that.  But at the same time we were - and are - pleased that you two boys chose to be Christian businessmen.  Our hearts ache for people we know whose kids are far from God, and we know how fortunate we are that all of you are following God's plan in your lives.  Nor could we be happier with the choice each of you made in your spouse.  We are indeed blessed!

You boys have followed your Grandpa Pierce in being Christian businessmen.  He was well know in Connecticut for his business acumen.  He built up a large business from small beginnings.  You probably remember seeing that first small, hand made egg hatchery that started his buiness!  It will be interesting to see what the next generation will bring in the life work of each of your children - our grandchildren!

In a sense, our life of world missions lives on.  We pray for so many missionaries around the world. Dad and I have a photo album for our prayer cards of people we know, and we pray for a large number together each morning.  And so our involvement in missions lives on.  We receive many emails and write to lots of overseas workers.

Facebook also offers a venue for us to keep track of many people around the world, both local people and missionaries, as well as family.  We get messages from pastors and others from many countries in Africa. We even get messages - sometimes in Arabic - from great people we met in Kurdistan.  God has enabled us to entertain pastors and others from our lives overseas, and this is always a blessed time for us! 

The year we were in Mali a Bobo from the Ouroué area, who had been educated in the States, contacted us to see about getting the Bible translated into the northern dialect of Bobo Madare.  We talked at length with him and gave him one of our Bibles.  And we suggested they work with SIL which they are doing.  We also saw a calendar in the northern Bobo language.  It was good to think we had a part in getting God's Word into yet another language.

Theological Education by Extension (TEE) was a big part of my life for many years - writing texts, teaching courses and training many others to lead classes.  Earlier this year I was contacted from another Alliance field with lots of questions to get their country back into studying by the TEE method again. It was fun to dig out my files on the subject and pass along info that would help these African leaders get a TEE program going again.  So the work of our hands in days past lives on....

Since we live close to TFC, we have opportunity from time to time to help out in some missions classes.  In this way we are able to pass along to young people some of the principles we learned during our many years overseas, and this is something we like to do. We are already programmed for some courses this Fall. 

In addition to teaching some classes, we have contact with a number of students each year, helping them with projects or just entertaining them in our home.  Just this week I had two students contact me - one to help her get involved in jail ministry and another to spend some time each week in improving her French! 

I guess once a missionary, always a missionary. Although the scope of our field is limited now, through prayer and teaching and entertaining and example, we are able to continue to do what God called us to do so many years ago!

PRIDE IN OUR OFFSPRING..........................................

How all of you, our children and our grandchildren - and little Levi! - have enriched our lives.  As we have lived these years in the United States, it is always a wonder to us to see how dysfuntional and disconnected many American families are - even Christian families.  In this age of easy access, some do not even talk by phone or correspond by email.  Facebook has maybe helped a bit in family communication - but that communication is pretty shallow I think.  There is nothing like a loving voice on the phone or a warm message by email.  I guess you have spoiled us by being such good communicators and we appreciate it! 

The saying is among people about to retire:  Don't move to be near your kids, as kids have a way of moving away and leaving you behind, with the change of jobs, family, etc.   But in spite of that, we did move here to the South to be near you boys and your families!  And actually, we have never been sorry!  Of course, we miss you now that you have gravitated to the cold north.....but you stayed around long enough for us to grow some Southern roots and make lasting friendships with local people and get involved in local activities. We have never been sorry about our decision to live in Toccoa.  Our church is a very active one, with lots going on.  We use our home for Small Group studies, we are involved in Missions activities and serve on church committees.  Many missionaries do their home assignments here so we enjoy their presence.  We like having the College here in town and help out in classes there each year.   We have profitable ministries here in the city and in the local jail. We have caring neighbors and a great neighborhood where we live.  So when you boys and families all moved north, we did not feel abandonned in any way - although we do miss those fun, quick trips down to Buford and/or Flowery Branch that we used to make! 
With today's easy and cheap communication, we can all keep in contact. It always amazes me to get a clear call from Senegal or Tunis or Ouagadougou - you sound like you are right in the room with us!  Visiting you in Ohio for the wedding celebration and again at Christmas time, we felt welcomed in your lovely new home, John and Sheryl. That week of Christmas with the Phenicies and us together with you is a beautiful memory.  Thanks to all of you for keeping in touch - we are grateful!

John and Mark, it was a delight to see you settle into business and both do so well in that.  A good Christian businessman can have a lot of influence for good in society. We enjoyed all the special dinners and fun times with the kids and special holiday occasions we had for so many years with both of your families.  I loved the Christmas decorations in your homes, with those gigantic trees reaching to the high ceilings. Jennie's Christmas houses collection was so beautiful.  We were always glad to attend your churches with your families and see your growth as people of God.  Your spouses and children have always brought joy to us and continue to do so.  Thank you!  Mark and Katy, you have made a welcoming home out of a large sprawling house there in Connecticut - it was fun being together there last year, and we look forward to being with you soon now for another visit.

Visiting you girls was an entirely different experience.  For one thing, you have all moved around quite a bit.  But this gave us a taste of countries and cultures outside of our Burkinabe life.  It was wonderful, Debbi and Steve, having you in our country, we had many good years together.  We are so proud of all you both have accomplished through your outreach to people of all types - the villagers and the big city elite; the literate and the non-literate;  the Dafings and the Mossis and many other peoples.  You have learned to both abound and abase, and you do both with dignity and joy.  It is not everybody who can fit into all cultures and all levels of education the way you do.  God has gifted you both in so many ways and we are so proud of you.  Your children have been the closet to us of all our grandchildren because we have spent so many years together in Burkina.

Joel and Elin, it has always been fun to visit you as well - whether in Coudersport or Paris or Côte d'Ivoire.  We even visited you in Wheaton during your Home Assignment and again that was fun walking the girls to school and just enjoying one another.  For the most part, we are a family of communicators.  We would just as soon hang out together in a home or at the Mall than to go to some special program.  I have written about visiting you in Coudersport and Paris, and we also followed you around Côte d'Ivoire.  All of you girls have the knack of fixing up a palace or a shack to be livable and attractive.  That is an art.  We were glad to be in RCI for the birth of both of your girls.  We loved being a part of your ministries when we visited you in RCI and got to know many of your influential friends there.  We enjoy the pictures you send of your new home in Senegal, and again you have an attractive home there, which we probably will not see.  Throughout West Africa, people love you and appreciate the great ministry gifts God has given you.

Steve and Debbi, it was a special delight to be able to serve in the same country as you did for many years.  Your ability to abase (Safane) or abound (Ouaga 2000) is a gift from God!  You both have so many gifts for ministry.  Whether we visited you in Poundou or Safane or Ouagadougou, you were always involved with the local people and blessed the lives of so many people, including us!  When you had to stay in the States in Pittsburgh for a period of time, again you reached out to people there and blessed your church.  Steve, you have such a strong gift of preaching and also evangelism and you are both good teachers, appreciated by so many.   And now you have entered the uncharted waters of marketplace ministries - we pray that you may continue to know God's direction in this as you have through your busy lives!

Darrell and Cheryl, we visited you first in south Jersey for your ordination, Darrell.  Then as God called you to the Middle East to work with the peoples there, you continued to enrich our lives when we visited you.  Whether it was in Damascus or Amman, in Aqaba or Jereusalem or Beirut or more recently Sulimaniya,  there was always something good going on where we visited you!  We have met so many wonderful Arab leaders and Christians through you.  Just recently we had Martin Chaaya's parents here with us for dinner, and we reminisced of when we met them over in Hartabilani church in Beirut.  You have broadened our vision of the Middle East and continue to do so.  Your fearless, pioneer spirit has blessed us and many other people as well.  We look forward to spending time with you in Tunisia before long. 

God has enriched our lives through all of you and also through your children.  What will the next generation look like??

THE TRAVELING PIERCE'S............................................

Travelling has been part of our lives ever since Dad and I were married.  On our six week honeymoon we travelled by train, planes, cars and buses, in sixteen different countries in Canada, Europe, England, the Middle East and Africa.  Too bad we never clocked all the miles we have travelled since that time by various means.

When I was a child, my parents were also travelers.  We travelled by ship and plane and trucks and cars in Africa.  Those were the days of the wood burning trains in Africa, and you always wore the oldest thing in your wardrobe as at the end of the trip the dress or shirt would be full of tiny holes, burned by the cinders flying back out of the train's wood burning engine!   Those trains were not the cleanest places in the world either.  At times the toilets would overflow, the water running down the aisles!

Several times - as a teenager - I would walk to distant villages with my Dad on a Sunday afternoon when he went to evangelize. We also bumped over rough, stony paths in the bush to reach some villages and slept on cots under the stars overnight after an evangelistic meeting. 

Together - and with you kids in tow - we travelled all over the States on furloughs.  I mentioned before how our family and Uncle Jim and Aunt Donna drove all the way from Nyack to Los Angeles our first furlough.  Some years later, when you, Mark, were in eighth grade, Dad and I got on route 80 in NYC and travelled  its entire length to end up in San Francisco.  We knew you would never make it on that kind of trip and so we flew you out ahead of us!  It was a fun trip for us and took us almost a week!  That was the last time we saw Aunt Donna, as they left for Paris and she died there. 

Most of you remember the freighter trips. They were fun the first few days but got kind of boring after a few days at sea.  We did have opportunity to stop and visit the Azores and Monrovia, also Conakry, before arriving in the port city of Abidjan where we debarked and then faced that long road north to Burkina. Those were restful trips for us. Somehow, we always scheduled meetings and family visits right up til we sailed and then had two weeks of vacation, relaxing at sea.  That time at sea was a sort of buffer zone between busy-ness in the U.S. and getting back into the thick of things when we got to Africa, so we enjoyed the sea voyage. 

Our first term in Africa, the roads were horrendous, nothing was paved, so the swirls of dust followed us - and enveloped us.  When we ordered a new International, Dad did not know that you had to order the windows for the back seat, and so it came looking like a delivery truck - with seats in the back but no windows!  What a shock!  And how the dust rolled in and stayed inside the vehicle amd showered us.  Even after a short ride, we arrived at our destination with our skin and clothes full of red dust!  We wore hats and eyeglasses to protect our hair and eyes, but that red dust was all-invading!!

There were not many bridges over the infrequent river bridges in those days. One year going to Kankan for conference, Uncle Herb Nehlsen's truck went on the ferry boat and because there was no wedge or bricks to stop it - it rolled right off the other side into the river!  What a mess that was, getting it out of the water and running again.  Those long trips by car over horrible roads were something we never missed after the governments paved our main roads! 

Trips out of the country - three times to Puerto Rico and also to Kurdistan were also unforgettable.  Beautiful places, both of them, and we loved visiting there.   More about that later.... During Home Assignments we travelled on tours all over the USA, but we also drove down to Florida every furlough to visit Grandma Pierce.  Again there were no car seats in those days and no seat belts, and so you kids moved around and we stopped frequently so that we could all get out and stretch. One furlough we had a station wagon and that was handy as we could make a bed in back for you to play on and occasionally nap. 

After all those years of travelling, both here and overseas, travel is in our blood, and we are still ready to start a long trip at the drop of a hat!  More next time about visits to you kids as you lived all over the place!   

ADVENTURING WITH THE PHENICIES......................................

Most of us in our family seem to have had many adventures in our lives, but probably the Phenicie family would take the cake for being the most adventurous.  Most of that has to do with the area of the world where they have worked and lived.  Because of their involvement in the Middle East, we have had the privilege of visiting them in Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Kurdistan and hopefully soon, Tunisia!

We have memories of the inner city of Beirut, beautifully decorated by Christmas lights the week of Christmas, picnicking with both the Lebanese church and the Kurdish people of Sulimaniya.  (Regular picnics are a feature of life in the Middle East) We had delightful visits with many of your Lebanese friends in their homes.  There are memories of when we had to have an interpreter to communicate with our Phenicie grandchildren as that was the only language they spoke.  Other memories of speaking and teaching through interpretation in the Alliance churches and picking up pretty shells with my granddaughter on the white, sandy Mediterranean beaches. (I still have some of those shells!)   Our bountiful meals in the homes of Arab pastors and friends will never be forgotten - hospitality is an art in the Middle East.  Seeing all the Bible  scenes as we travelled with you,  Darrell and Cheryl - Dead Sea, Jerusalem, Beirut, the stony beach at Tyre, Byblos, one the world's most ancient cities,  beautiful Amman with its many minerets,  the ancient city of Damascus - these are engraved in our memories.  Of course, the horrors of the explosive wars and dangerous situations in which you often lived,  made us pray extra hard for you so many times!   It seems as if most of your life has been an adventure, in many ways.

We were able to go to the States for your wedding at Simpson Church.  That church had always been our furlough church, so it was especially fun to have the festivities take place there.  Dad married you and your sisters were in your wedding as I remember and it was a joyous occasion for all of us.  Then you went to south Jersey to do your home service in an Alliance church there.   It was there too that your little baby was born - too soon - and she never made it into full life.  We had to mourn with you from a distance.  How often this happens in the life of a missionary!  We did visit you briefly in your parsonage there.

We never saw your first apartment in Beirut, although you pointed out the area to us when we visited you later on.  But we have memories of the chaotic conditions of Nathan's birth, there in that Beirut hospital in the midst of fierce fighting, a birth that was long and painful as you were in labor so long. The whole world was praying for you it seemed!  Dr. King was on a trip and when he landed back in New York, the first news he heard was: The Phenicie baby has been born!  I was on tour during the days of your labor in that hospital and I had to watch the horrible scenes of Beirut at war on the  TV in people's homes every day!  My tour partner very graciously offered to speak for me the night that Beirut was in a complete blackout and no news - everyone wondered what had happened. And all I could do was think of you laboring in that hospital!  It would have been hard to speak publicly.

You moved up to Byblos and we did not see your home there, but we did visit the town with you years later on a visit with you.  We saw the church where you attended and met the pastor. We also went over to where the bunker in a hillside was located, where you hid out when the shelling got very bad!  It was from Byblos that you and Rachel, Cheryl,  escaped to come back to us in Ft. Myers to have surgery.  Darrell, you brought the two boys a little later, coming by the same escape route. 

I think you went a couple times to stay on Cyprus to escape the hostilities in Labanon. From there you sent movies of your life there and the friends you made among the Christians.  And finally you moved over to Jordan.  We never visited you in Jordan, but we did make a trip there from Sidon during our time with you there.  That was a memorable visit,  we were there long enough to see lots and meet many people.

But soon after you were getting to the field, we were on our way back to Africa again and Mark was our only chick left in the nest. He was in eighth grade and we decided for the three of us to visit you in the Middle East.  We rented rooms in the Jerusalem Alliance  guest house. You met us at the airport when we landed in Israel - what a sight for sore eyes.  This was after all that Beirut nightmare, Nathan was just a baby.  The six of us had a wonderful touristic visit of the city of Jerusalem, as well as visiting Alliance missionaries, the Zieglers, in a little town outside of  Jerusalem.

We stopped at all the Bible scene places in the city and went out to Gordon's Calvary, such a beautiful spot.  Cheryl, you tied Nathan to your back as we always did in Africa, and how the women in the streets scolded you!  They thought you were hurting Nathan! I am sure he was the last baby you carried that way, living with people in the Middle East! 

Being invited to Sami's and Joy's house was always a delight when we visited you. They lived in that lovely terraced home overlooking the Mideterranean. So many memories of being there - the long tables set up with hors d'oeuvres and hot dishes, and steaks being cooking to order in the fireplace.....eating outside on the terrace in good weather, at little tables, again overlooking the Sea in the distance....boxes of fresh almonds being brought in and we sat at the tables after a meal cracking them and eating them. 

There were also the wonderful picnics - a day out in the "bush" - with a group of young people and older ones from the church there. Attending the Hartebelany church and also Sami's church downtown.  Speaking to the women's groups in all the churches as well.  The Middle Easterners are always so hospitable and we were the recipients of all that graciousness, as your parents.

The trip we took together in your little European car was amazing!!  You showed us Damascus and we stayed there in a nunnery.  We also had breakfast at the home of a pastor and his wife ministering in a small Alliance church in southern Syria.  In Amman, we stayed with the Hashweh's and enjoyed that so much. Some years later we entertained their family here in our home for a week when they were getting their daughter settled at TFC.  The hospitality everywhere in the Middle East we found to be so warm and gracious. 

Our few days in Aqaba were great too, staying in the makeshift guest quarters of a Protestant church on the northern end of town. The trip down there was amazing, past the Dead Sea, seeing Israel over on the other shore, waiting for camels to cross the road in front of us!  In Aqaba, we did not have any ministry there at that time, but we had a fun tourist time. Going out in the glass bottom boat and swimming and sunning in the Sea.  You both were always such wonderful hosts.  That last visit we were there for Christmas and spent that with the family in Sidon.

Going into the men's coffee house and drinking those little cups of thin mud they call coffee.  They even let you and me in Cheryl, but we sat over to the side. People followed us around eyeing us suspiciously. A UN man checked up on us, we visited friends in a small house with a garden. That was where they would call you to deliver babies - even at night.   So many memories of that time with you in Sidon.   I even had my birthday there and that is the year you all went together and got my lovely Sapphire jewelry. I was so surprised. 

You took us down to the Israel border and we visited the Alliance orphanage there. We also went through a now unused prison where the enemy was kept in terrible conditions in past wars.  We stopped for coffee and a snack in a high mountain village at a little coffee shop, and lo and behold the man had lived in the United States and was so glad to see us. This was in a town overlooking Israel to the south! 

We have good memories of the year we both furloughed in the big city of Waynesboro!  Our apartment was a short walk from your house. We had many fun times with you that year. Dad and I were both on tour, but we enjoyed the time together when we were home.  It was also good to get to know your family, Darrell.  The year we retired, we also visited you in a duplex there in Waynesboro. When you, Cheryl, went with Nathan for his surgery up north, we stayed with the other kids and enjoyed that time with them.  I can remember staring at the TV with them by the hour as that was the big school massacre here in the U.S.  Funny the things you remember! 

Recently you received us so royally there in Kurdistan. What a terrific experience. The visit to Hallubja was amazing and sobering and very sad. So many people gassed. Horrible scenes of torture and torment. Visiting the pastor there, who has no legs as a result of that horror when he was a school boy of nine years old.  (More about this visit in another post.) 

And now next stop - Tunisia!  Wow, can't wait!!   Darrell and Cheryl,  we may not remember every house you have ever lived in, but we do remember our fun times and sometimes sad times together.  Seeing our grandchildren growing up in another culture was always interesting.  One memory we have of that home in Sidon, was when your friends took us out to dinner by the seaside one night and their son and your kids stayed home.  They had invented a fun game while we were enjoying our dinner by the sea - filling balloons with water and throwing them at people who walked below in the streets!   We had been going through a very difficult time in Burkina about then and our visit with you was balm to our spirits. We returned home ready to face any situation!

ON THE MOVE WITH THE CLOUSERS................................

Keeping track of the current whereabouts of all you kids has been a lifelong job for Dad and me!  I guess we lived the closest to you guys, Steve and Debbi, than we did to most of the others since you were with us all those great years in Burkina.  But even so you did some bouncing back and forth and changing of ministries - and thus homes - and we have followed you wherever you were.  Visiting all of you kids in your variety of living places has been an enriching experience in our lives!

The first place I remember your living, Debbi, was in that dark basement apartment in Nyack.  I came to be with you there when you were getting ready for your wedding.  Uncle Jim had let Aunt Donna fly down for that also so she was there with you and Cheryl and me.  Dad could not come because Cheryl was going to marry Bobby and Dad would come for that wedding.  (The Alliance was a lot stricter about the comings and goings of missionaries in those days!)  Your wedding was the year after we had been MIR in Nyack College, so the College allowed us to use the president's dining room for our pre-wedding dinner for your family and wedding attendants. We also could use their kitchen facilities, and they never charged us for any of it.

We went to the store and bought dozens of chickens as we were serving roast chicken with stuffing plus all the trimmings.  I can still see the big white bathtub in your bathroom full of frozen chickens, where we had put them to thaw!  That was a busy time, getting ready for the wedding without a real home to work out of.  The church's downstairs had been booked for that date and so we had to clean up the old white residence down on the river which the youth used for their place.  It was filthy - but a charming old home.  All your MK friends came and helped clean.  Auntie Ann filled the big fireplaces with pine and laurel. And at the reception, people who did not know us would ask me if this was an old family home of ours.  You did not want a wedding cake, but had baklava.  And it was a very beautiful wedding. 

By the time Dad and I got back for our furlough, Steve was in ATS getting his master's and you were getting your PHT (putting hubby through!)  by working for that temperamental lawyer in Nyack, who vented his spleen occasionally by throwing a typewriter or telephone across the room!  You also had Daniel and how we enjoyed him that year.  Debbi, you took care of kids in a big home right down on the river and so Daniel was used to seeing all that water when he went with you.  One day he was staying with me way up on the Nyack College hill where we lived, and I was holding Daniel in my arms and showing him the river in the distance as I held him on our front porch.  He could not believe that "little water" was the river he knew from being down beside it with you at work! 

After ATS you went to Dorseyville, Pittsburgh, where Steve was assistant pastor.  We were so thankful for the Meiers and what wonderful mentors they were for you both during those years.  Floyd let Steve preach often as he was such a good preacher.  She was a good mentor to you as well of being a pastor's wife. I do not think we visited you that year so am not sure where you lived. When you went to France for language study, we did not visit you either.

But when you got to Burkina Faso, where you had been assigned, you were sent to work with the Dafing people.  No written language, no western type house to live in, but lots of lost people and no gospel being preached to that people group.   So you had a big job ahead of you.  First of all, you were sent to Poundou until a place could be found for you in Safane.  The house in Poundou was very basic - but far superior to the one you lived in later in Safane.  We had good visits with you in the Poundou house.

The first time we saw your Safane house, we were inwardly astounded!  A house built of red stone, it did have a cement floor. A toilet room attached at the back.  Very basic! And they had left out a few of the basics even.  When we took the AYC kids up there for a visit, they were horrified and couldn't get out of there fast enough. The mosquitoes were terrible, the place was not sealed.  But there were people there - and that is why you went there, to reach the Dafing.  You sure did a great job of identifying with them! 

Later on you built a very nice mission house, and we often visited you there.  During your time in Safane, you did evangelism and teaching and a church was born. Steve, you and the pastors did a lot of area evangelism and that continues to this day. You also established a literacy school where you taught.  We are very proud of both of you and what you were willing to put up with in order to minister to these unreached people.

I cannot remember the exact sequence of all these homes but I do know that you moved to Ouaga at some point to work up there. That was in the days when the mission office was in Bobo and we were just beginning to plant Alliance churches in Ouage. You were part of that program and I remember little Elizabeth going to French pre-school and her precise French accent as she learned French with the other kids. 

On furlough we visited you in the various houses you lived in in Dorseyville. I came off tour and visited you in that little house the year Elizabeth was born. I bought a real looking baby doll for Sarah so she could have her "own baby". I came to visit very soon after Elizabeth was born.  Later on I visited you in the house you lived in that year I had my eye problems, in Pittsburgh.  Debbi, you took me to the appointments and also were there with me the day they zapped my eye two hundred and forty times!  I sure appreciated your caring for me.  That same visit we took Steve up to Mahaffey to start his PA tour.  He had a normal amount of baggage for two months of tour and when we got to Mahaffey, the pastor and his wife were there to meet him and had also taken along with them two extra adults "for the ride" and they had a hard time fitting you, Steve, and your suitcase into the already full car!  Ah yes, tours.....a whole book could be written about those!

While Daniel was getting adjusted, you decided to take a leave of absence and lived first of all in that little house on one of the Pittsburgh hills.  Then you decided to buy a house not far from there as you were not sure how long you would be there.  And of course we visited you in all those places. I remember the lovely reception you had for Sarah's high school grad which we all attended.

When you finally returned to Africa, it was to Abidjan, where you were needed.  Steve and you were the school's salvation at that period working in the office.  You, Debbi, were the perfect office manager and Isaac sang your praises.  Steve, you helped solve their computer problems and I think did some teaching.  We visited you in the homes you lived in then also. Bubnas were in the same city.

Dad and I were there on a visit  and I stayed with Josiah and ELizabeth (as they were both in local school) while the rest of you went to Bouake for Field Forum.  That was an interesting house with its different levels and stairs.  You also came to San Pedro to take vacation during the year we were there and we enjoyed that. 

Then it was back to Ouagadougou and church planting in the new upscale area of the capital city.  We loved our visit with you there in 2006 and will never forget the beautiful reception you had for all of our Ouaga friends of long standing. It was a memorable evening.  We also went with you, Debs, to your English classes and that was fun. You  drove us over to Mali and that was a great trip together.  How rich we are in our wonderful children and the memories of your lives.

Now next year we look forward to our visit with you in Ouaga Deux Milles!  What a miracle God has enabled you to see in that new ministry!  And what a contrast your lives have been:  from rural Safane all the way to Ouaga Deux Milles!

THE BUBNA JOURNEY............................................

It is interresting to us at our age to see how missions has changed.  There are probably not many workers left in the world who have remained with one people group all of their lives and lived in the same area of a country like we did.  We changed houses many time, but from day one until we left Burkina forty years later, we remained in touch with our people group, the Bobo Madare.   We branched out and did many other kinds of work besides evangelism and church planting among the Bobo. We were involved in mission leadership and education and translation.  But underneath it all was the work with the Bobo which continued until our leaving in 1998.

Joel and Elin, you folks have been blessed with such a variety of ministries. God has given you gifts in so many areas, and you have been willing to step up to whatever is needed:  church planting, teaching, Marriage Encounter, Mission leadership.  And along with these various ministries you have also had to move around a lot!

Before you and Joel finally got together, Elin, we visited you in Ouarkoye and also in Ouagadougou. You rode that Yamaha Dame and travelled on those long, dusty roads. We prayed much for your protection during that time. It seems to me you were in Ouaga when there was unrest and you watched the throngs in the street from your balcony apartment windows with your local friends!  That was when you worked with World Relief. 

After a year working with WRC you returned to the States and you and Joel finally got together.   That was a happy wedding!  In our home church and Bubnas' pastorate, Long Hill Chapel.  Debbi came and the Phenicie's flew in from Lebanon just in time for it.  We stayed with Paul and Jeanie and had a wonderful time, all of us together.  Grandpa and Grandma were there too.

When you returned from your honeymoon, you went to live in the parsonage in Coudersport where Joel had been working.  That was a nice home with a good yard. We all went there to visit you soon after you arrived there and before we returned to Africa.  I remember how you were afraid you would never have a night's sleep again as Joel snored so loudly at night!!   We were just there a couple days and had to fly back to Burkina. We appreciated so much your taking John and Jennie  in to live with you as they were at a loose end at that time. 

One thing about all five of you kids and your spouses, you are always there for each other!  That means a lot to us as parents.  Family solidarity is a wonderful thing, and something you do not see in all families. We are indeed blessed by all you kids!

The next home you had was in Paris, a second floor apartment in a busy quartier there in the city. Josiah was just a baby when we flew over to see you there for Christmas that year. It was our first glimpse of Josiah and how we enjoyed him.  We did not have the money for a trip but scraped and saved. I remember selling my electric sewing machine for that trip - I never used it anyhow!  We had fun with you, all cozy in that small apartment. We had African students in for Christmas. And it was at that time we rented a car and all drove together to Normandy to take Fernand back to school. Fun memories! 

When you arrived in Côte d'Ivoire, you were sent to the town of Daloa to learn Baoulé. We used to go to Daloa during that period to check our translation project with Lynell Zogbo, so we were able to get a paid trip to go and visit you.  Dad remembers how the septic system in that house  was all plugged up and he and Joel worked on it for hours. We also helped you get unpacked and I can still picture myself in Joel's office unpacking his books and putting them into the bookcase. We enjoyed Josiah of course in between our time checking the translation. 

Later on you lived in Abidjan, first of all out towards the airport. I got to go to Abidjan quite often because I had CEFCA, CPE and FATEAC meetings there as I was a member of all those boards.  I usually stayed with you and again had fun seeing Josiah grow up.  He always talked French and I loved engaging him in conversation just to hear his beautiful French. 

You lived in so many houses there in Abidjan and I think we visited you in all of them. Up on Deux Plateaux and the house where we stayed with the children while you had a Marriage Encounter Weekend.  We had fun times with you, sometimes going to the beach or to Bassam to the artisan market. Josiah was having to learn English as you wanted him to attend International School, so I would read to him in English in the evenings when I visited. I remember that he had to do so many hours of English reading and then he got the reward of reading French, which he was used to from French School.

During that period, we were also with you when you were starting that new church. I remember joining the small group in prayer meetings in your living room. Then the house you rented for church services and Angèle's lovely dedication which we attended and the whole church rejoiced and had a meal together afterwards. 

We were also in Abidjan when Angèle was born and we visited you in that beautiful Pisam Hospital, overlooking the city.  It was fun having a baby in the family again. Later when we lived in San Pedro you came to visit us there and that was special.  Later on that year we were at the hospital for the birth of little Nadia, again a very special event.

As overseas workers for so many years, we went through hard times of separation from you all as you grew up. And yet it was amazing to us how often the Lord worked it out that we could be together and watch all of our grandchildren grow in RCI and Burkina and even in Lebanon!  That year in 2000 when we worked a year in Côte d'Ivoire at San Pedro was special as we were able to welcome both you folks and Clousers to our home there, as well as visit you in Abidjan.

No one can say that any of us has had a boring lifetime.  To this day, our lives continue to be enjoyable, in a different context for sure,  but God enriches our lives through all of you kids, as well as through other blessings He loads upon us.  Thanks for being part of all this!!

FOLLOWING JOHN AND JENNIE............................................

All of you kids have the gift of hospitality. In our family that is a given and a gift. People often comment on how blessed they are because we invited them in for a meal or a visit. It is perhaps an art that is being lost in our fast-moving, highly mechanized society!  So guard it well, all of you. It is Scriptural, after all!

John, we followed you and Jennie from New York to Florida to Puerto Rico and to Georgia - and now Ohio! - as we returned each time to the States.  It was always a delight to visit in your home.  Jennie had such an outstanding way of decorating and you made each place you lived in an inviting home.

I think maybe the first place I visited you was in that apartment across the river from Nyack.  I had to come to the States for eye surgery and I came alone, leaving Dad behind in Burkina. I flew into Pittsburgh where the Clousers met me and I stayed with them while I got my eye treated by an excellent eye surgeon there. After my couple weeks with Debbi and Steve (who were on home assignment)  and getting my eye shocked two hundred and forty times or so, I headed back east and stopped to see you folks before I headed home to Burkina again.

You met me at the airport, John, and took me through the NY traffic back to your apartment.  Jennie had stayed at home to fix dinner - a big turkey dinner no less. Knowing Jennie and her usual avoidance of the kitchen, I knew this was a real gift to me
and I appreciated it so much.  The only thing she could not manage was the gravy and she had you do that, John, but the whole meal was delicious. I remember her telling me that she had no incentive to cook since you always did such a great job, John!  That was a nice little apartment and I enjoyed my short visit there with you. You had just gotten Collage at that point too.

By the time we had come on home assignment a couple years later, you folks were down in Florida and we all lived in Ft. Myers.  Your apartment was small but adequate, and when you went to work in the Shell Point kitchen each morning, Jennie would come and sit at our place, talking, watching TV, just chilling out. I got to know her well there and she was good company.  We did see your apartment and were there for dinner once, and then you moved over to the house Clousers had bought in Ft. Myers, and Mark went to live with you. We said goodbye to you all there before leaving for Africa again.

When we returned on our final home assignment, you had arranged for us to go to Puerto Rico where you were working in a family hotel. We had a room there and enjoyed the pool and a nice place to stay. We also went down to the beach some days as it was not far away.  During that time we visited Jennie's folks and got to know them and learned to love Puerto Rico.  I do not remember how long you were there, but eventually the hotel did not work out and you came back here to Toccoa and stayed with us for a little visit. You lived with Mark and Katy for a time and then had that apartment where Daniel Clouser lived with you in a gated community just north of Atlanta.  Again we had fun visiting you there.

You finally found and were buying that pretty house near  highway 85 which was very pretty - two stories, a roomy downstairs and a sort of sunken family room. We were a gang there at the time of the wedding and had so much fun together. Before the wedding, Dad had his eye surgery and had a fading black eye when he performed the ceremony. Jennie was chief advisor to Katy for her wedding. We were all involved and it was just beautiful.  John put on a beautiful buffet spread and there was a crowd there at the church. The preparations were all going on at your home there beforehand and a bunch of MK's came to hang out there too.  Grandpa and Grandma were also there for the wedding and staying at your place. In fact, that was the last time I ever saw Grandpa as he died before we came back on another home assignment.  I think maybe you left there to go to PR.

You lived in the Buford house for a number of years and that is where we spent the most time with you.   You also had a gift of hospitality and could put on the biggest and most wonderful spreads, always with lots of your friends present.  Your place was always so beautiful at Christmas time with all of Jennie's lovely manger scenes and the enormous tree you always decorated in the living room.  That house was very elegant - like Mark and Katy's - with a balcony on the second floor and a beatuiful layout.  Dad would often work with you in the back yard when we were there. 

The house of course also has a sadness for us all as it was there that Jennie got so sick and spent so long suffering before she went before us to heaven.  Dad and I stayed so many days in that home, helping take care of Jennie when you were away on your business trips, John.  Sometimes she could come downstairs but other times she had to just stay upstairs.  We fixed little tempting foods for her and took her meals up to her.  Sometimes she would be in pain and curl up on the couch in my arms. She wanted me to tell her stories about you growing up and she always wanted me to sing the old hymns to her. I would sit by the hour, with her lying in my arms and singing to her through my tears.  Wow - those were hard times. 

Some evenings we would just sit and watch TV together. She introduced me to Dancing with the Stars and to Little House on the Prairie and the home decorating channels!  We watched for hours - she just needed the company.  And I was glad to be there.  Once in a while she would be able to come down and play around with her computer.  If she had a really good day, she might want to go out. One day we drove over to Macy's where she needed to buy some things.  All of these memories are associated with the Buford house.

After Jennie's death, you stored your furniture and left some of your things with us.  And after your marriage to Sheryl, you moved all those things up to your beautiful new home in Ohio!  We were there for your marriage celebration and again for Christmas last year along with Phenicies.  What a beatiful home in a lovely neighborhood.  Sheryl and you have decorated it so tastefully.  It was fun to visit you there. We remember the wonderful Christmas dinner you cooked that year and the gorgeous table set by Sheryl which looked like a House Beautiful picture!  Fun to get to know Carey a bit then too.

Along with the changing seasons of life, we often have a change of houses. But the important thing is that we do all possible to make that empty box full of furniture into a welcoming, caring place where family and friends can enjoy each other.  And each of you have done just that!

HOME SWEET HOME....................................................

We all have many memories of all the homes we lived in both here in the States and in various places in Africa.  One of the delights that Dad and I have had is being able to travel around the world and visit all you children in the various places you have lived in on three continents.  We always felt welcome in your living conditions and it was fun to see how you all were able to make a home out of a small apartment or a large house.  We still love to visit you, wherever you live.

Mark:   When we left Mark in the States after our furlough, when he was starting college, he made his home with John and Jennie.  John, bless you, you have taken in various ones during your sojourn in various places.  You always had room for one more when it was needed and we appreciate that in you.  Mark was in college then at Edison.  The tale of your little white dog, Mark, is an old family story.  We paid forty dollars for it, as I remember, and when the dog began destroying J and J's house and property, (it ate a rabbit as I remember!)  you took him to the street, looking for a buyer.  A lady wanted him. took him along home with her to get the money - and that was the end of the lady and the dog! 

Then you also lived in Atlanta. We did not see the house of Jim Harvey's where a bunch of you lived. I think you were the cook in that household, and that was also where Katy began to come into the picture.  Later on you moved into your own apartment, along with another MK or two.  And again it was there that you helped out the Albright girls when they had no place to go.  You MK's all stuck together pretty much and helped each other.  That was hard on us as parents to know about, but kids need to be self reliant - and that was never a problem for missionary kids.  We visited you briefly there.

It was such fun to be there for your wedding, Mark and Katy, and we all sort of hung out at John and Jennie's during that time.  When we returned from Africa to live in Georgia, we spent many happy times in your pretty home in Bethlehem.  That was a nice house, lots of room, a hilly yard, on a dead end street - wonderful for children.  It was always a delight for us to visit you there with first of all Alex and then Michael.  We had some fun times with you. You frequently entertained, I remember one MK Christmas party you had there. And of course we also spent holidays with you.

When John and Jennie returned from Puerto Rico and their hotel business there, which did not go well, you opened up your home and they lived with you, down in your basement office.  That was a wonderful gift to them to get them styarted again. And we had many happy family times together there in that house.

 Later you were able to sell that house and wanted to build your own place in Flowery Branch.  We left for Africa, to go to Mali for a year, about that time and so you just moved into our house for that year we were gone. We were afraid our little house would be too small for you, but together we fixed it up. You stored your furniture here in town and spent the year here in Toccoa until your new home in Flowery Branch could be finished.

You did such a great job on that lovely home, Mark. I am sure you, Katy, had your input also.  What a house plan - it had everything, including a theatre upstairs.  The yard was lovely after you put in grass.  And we had fun times using the in ground pool in the back yard.  We sometimes stayed with the kids there while the two of you went out for a date. That house has many happy memories for us.

We also have memories there of some wonderful meals.  Mark, you always were able to whip up a quick meal that tasted delicious.  Other times the two of you - and sometimes John - worked together producing big feasts at holiday time. How many years of those we enjoyed there also! I loved the special hors d'oeuvres you fixed and loved watching you  so efficiently cooking in that beautiful big kitchen! You are really a pro!  Katy, your desserts and special casseroles were also a prize! Katy's folks and your cousins and other folks came to help us celebrate and enjoy all the wonderful meals. 

We were staying at your home overnight the night Jennie went to heaven. I looked at the clock when the cell phone rang - 1:30 in the morning!  We rushed over there to their home and all of us sat around together mourning the passing of our dear one. Katy, you had to stay behind with the sleeping children and came over the next day.  You two had a big part in that funeral as you prepared a huge hot buffet meal for all the people who came from out of town plus the extended family.  What a spread that was. There must have been fifty people there and it was such a nice closing to a very difficult day! 

The last time I saw that home, it was empty and echoing. No one living there. We met the people who were buying the place and were happy you were able to sell it in these hard times for home sales. The place was a part of our history for a long time!

Then on to Connecticut!  Who would ever have thought that would happen??  Again we visited you, along with others, after the fun weekend at Nyack College for the deication of the Cheryl Phenicie School of Nursing.  This big rented house accomodates well your big family and we enjoyed so much being there.  You have also made it your own with your furniture and decorating, and maybe some day you will find yet another place to live there, unless you move again!!

SICKNESS ATTACK!! ....................................................

During all the years we have spent together as family - and even after you kids all flew from the nest -  we have maintained good health.  Yes, we had hepatitis and malaria and various other kinds of illnesses, but nothing that laid us up for a really long time.  You kids had all the childhood diseases plus some African maladies, but nothing that was totally debilitating or real long term.  We have been blessed that way!

And I still feel like I am blessed - even after going through a couple long years - plus - of sickness!  I will not go into great detail here - just skim the surface - as I already wrote a complete account of my recent illness which you all received.  But I wanted to include this as part of our family history too. 

My sickness started so slowly - painful legs, trouble climbing stairs, lethargy and aches. I didn't feel like ME!  I had always had such energy! It happened to coincide with both Rachel's and Sarah's weddings that summer.  I hated to be a bother so did as much as I could, which wasn't much!  We got through Rachel's beautiful and busy wedding and enjoyed all of that. I proudly walked down the aisle to my seat in the church on the arm of Nathan, my grandson! And then we took off for Pittsburgh for the lovely wedding there.  Dad wanted me to see a doctor as he knew I was not acting normal, but you know me and doctors!  So I went until I collapsed. the day before Sarah's wedding! Elizabeth was with me and realized something was wrong and she went to call Dad.

Dad rushed me to the emergency room after I literally collapsed in the church bathroom and Debbi and Steve followed immediately. I went to the ER and they did every kind of scan and test they could think of and came up with blood clots in my lung and leg.  So treated me for that.  They kept me in the hospital so I missed the wedding but after the ceremony the wedding party et al. came to the hospital with a beautiful bouquet of roses from the ceremony!  The whole family - plus - came and so I saw the beautiful bride and groom and attendants. Fun! The nurses loved it!

The heavy anti-clotting medication they funneled into me made me go out of it while Debbi and Dad were with me the next  day, and they soon had me down for more machines and then the decision to fly me by medical helicopter to another hospital where they had an A1 brain sugery team!  We were sure glad Clousers were there as Dad did not know his way around Pittsburgh and this was right downtown.  Debbi, bless your heart, you stayed right with me and Dad.  You were with Dad while I was unconscious and going through six hours of brain surgery and were also there when I came out of the anesthesia - and even bawled out the young nursing assistant who treated me so crassly!!   Cheryl, you came and replaced Debbi when they had to leave, and Bubnas, you also came to visit!  I felt wrapped in a cocoon of love - when I could force myself to think about what was going on around me. 

Cheryl, you had that hard trip with us trying to get me back to Georgia. We stopped at a motel on the way - started out the next morning after a hard night, stopped for the day at a small hospital to get more meds put in me, stopped for an overnight where I proceeded to collapse at the hotel and had to be transported by ambulance to another hospital!  Wow!  We just made that trip last week under better circumstances and were reliving that horrible voyage as we went! 

I stayed for six days in that North Carolina hospital and you, Cheryl, had to leave to go back to the field. Dad stayed with me and I picked up some strength in that hospital. Tim and Ruth and Mark all came to NC with a van and a mattress in the empty back for me to lie on - to get me four hours south to Toccoa!  How I appreciated all of the help. By then, I had these enormously swollen legs, full of water, and Ruth sat beside me on the mattress in the back of the van with Mark driving and Tim riding with Dad. I had an oxygen tank just in case, but never needed it. They had given me a sedative so I slept and then talked to Ruth.  What a way to come home!

The nurse in the last hospital had not listened to the nursing staff and insisted on putting this machine on my legs which caused them to swell and retain water.  I ended up getting rid of about thirty five pounds of water from my legs after we got home here. I then proceeded to collapse one day between the bed and the dresser and they had to call the ambulance to get me out and take me to the local hospital, where I spent another week.  The church people flooded in to see me. I was glad when I could finally come home.  Again they had done all kinds of tests on every kind of machine on me. 

I was not in pain - but horribly weak and just had general feelings of malaise, no appetite, etc.  People came in droves to visit me in the hospital and at home. The women of the church sent in meals for two straight weeks and would have kept on. I had no appetite, so Dad froze a lot of food which we ate for weeks afterwards!  I was in a wheelchair - my legs would not hold me up.  But I attended church and social events at the church - all in my wheelchair.  Dad was such a good nurse.

It was also a time when John was going through a rough time with Jennie and Dad would go down to visit him. Betty Shady, the Strongs and others would come in and sit with me as I could not be left alone. Everyone worked together to get me well again. The healing took a long time - it seemed longer than it actually was.  I finally got back mostly to normal - at least I could walk again. I went through therapy of all kinds, got started at the Y.  Got well enough to make our ten day trip to Kurdistan!  (more about that later). 

Now three years later - after that long recovery and a quick recovery from a knee replacement - I am totally normal again!  I never take health for granted like I used to. Every day is a gift from the Lord. So many people prayed for me during these trying times, and I credit much of my healing to the prayers of God's people everywhere.  So many people wrote that they were praying and it worked!  Recently I have had a flood of people tell me how well I look, and marvel at how I can get around.  I am thankful for good health again.  I always used to take my health and strength for granted - not anymore - each day is a new gift from God and I am so grateful to God and to all of you, my wonderful family, who helped me back to being myself again!

One thing I learned during my medical sojourn - the world is indeed flat!  All of my doctors came from many places: Pakistan, Nigeria, Mexico, Brazil, China, Austria, India - hardly ever an American among them!  The team of doctors who had invented my non-invasive brain surgery were all from countries other than the USA. Am I ever thankful for them - no scars of any kind - all done up through the nose into the brain and watching what they were doing on a big screen.  A miracle really!  And I am also a miracle of God, after going through all of that!

The Cheryl Phenicie School of Nursing...............................

Life is so full of surprises - most of them pleasant and an occasional unpleasant turn of events.  Our lives have been full of the good kind and we are so thankful for this.  One of the biggest surprises occured in our lives when we got word that the new School of Nursing at Nyack College was being named after our daughter, Cheryl.  Nyack was planning the dedication of this new school to coincide with Nyack College Homecoming and our family was all invited to attend!  What an exciting turn of events.

We took a plane from Atlanta to White Plains where Mark and Katy and family met us and took us across the bridge to Nyack and to a lovely hotel in Nanuet, where the College had rented rooms for all of our family.  It was fun being there in the same hotel, and it was also the place where the Board of Managers and many other College related people were staying, so we had a fun time touching base with everyone again. 

Clousers and Bubnas were overseas at that time, but Phenicies, Mark and family and John and Sheryl and we all attended. All of the Phenicie kids were also there. So we were a big crowd. The hotel had a large comfortable reception room there near the entrance, and that became our private living room to get together and enjoy this family time. 

The Big Day arrived.  Cheryl had been designated to give the Founders Day address. The gathering was in the Gym, with the student body and many visitors attending. Cheryl did a great job in her message and the kids interrupted with clapping and were right with her.  She had to be nervous but did not show it, and we all sat in a long row and proudly listened to her. 

Then it was up to the building where the School of Nursing is located, on the main campus.  There was first an official meeting where the Rockland County and New York state officials were present. People then toured the nursing school part of the building where there were consultation rooms, classrooms and beds for patients.  After that we were all invited up to the President's Dining room for a dinner prepared by John's crew at the cafeteria.  They did themselves proud and we all enjoyed the attractive and tasty lunch that was served.  There were more speeches made....and finally it was over and we headed back to the hotel for the evening. 

From Nyack we traveled up to Connecticut to see Mark and Katy's new home and stayed there.  Then went on to Dad's old homestead and the really old home of his grandparents out in the country. Still standing and occupied by people who are trying to restore it to its former state.  An interesting side trip which we all made together.

We also were invited to have lunch at the Pierce Memorial Home in Brooklyn, which used to be Dad's home as a boy.  The boys loved going up to the bedroom where Papa used to sleep as a boy at the top of the house. There is now a lovely nursing home and retired residential apartments so we toured those also.  And were served a lovely meal in a private dining room in the Pierce Home.  Sixteen of us were there for that luncheon, as Lu and Fran also joined us.

So it was both a trip down memory lane and a celebration of the future of Nyack College and we are proud of the new nursing school which bears our daughter's name!