How about this: the Lord has gifted us with colleagues, Kim & Jan, who are kindred spirits AND co-grandparents (read: our son married their daughter) AND a couple of people who think about other people and do something about it! For example, last Saturday, I had gone to across the river to help our visitors from the U.S. make it through immigration etc. They got delayed, and as I was sitting on pins and needles hoping to see them in time to cross the river (the C.A.R. side closes at 5:30pm) so that we wouldn’t have to spend the night in Cameroon, Kim called me. He wanted to know how it was going and if he could help. He ended up going down to the authorities on our side of the border, asking for special permission to keep it open for us beyond the normal hour. If he hadn’t have done that, I would not have been able to tell the officials at that first barrier that their chief was holding open the second barrier for us to go through. They told me in no uncertain terms that I needed to turn my truck around and go spend the night over in the country I had just checked out of, and I was able to tell them about the open barrier ahead. Thanks to Kim’s thoughtfulness and foresight, we were able to continue on.
At the present Kim & Jan are still at Gamboula while we are on our way to South Africa to work alongside our kids in ministry for 3 months. We normally are together in all our relationships with our Fulani friends, but for now, they are soloing it. They are right there, being the glimpse of love and reason that our friends need. Please pray for them to be just that, warmth and light and encouragement in these troubled times. Pray that they might themselves be encouraged, especially by the comfort and faithfulness of God.
