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!