Author: David M. Hare
The Wild and the Weird
by DaveWe thought it was high time for a blog demonstrating the crazy things we encounter here in Cameroon. Hope you enjoy! Because we are staying in the forest, we often get hunters coming through our camp. This guy was quite proud of his most recent hunt where he bagged two blue faced monkeys. On a side note, I have not slept since taking this photo. I am not really sure what they were getting at, but this is not what I want to see on my laundry detergent. You may have already seen on Facebook, but we had our…
Canine Redemption
As many of you know we are currently living out in the forest with a team of missionaries among the Baka people. In recent days, the Baka laugh at me pretty much every time I go out of my front door. Why would they laugh at you? You ask. They laugh at me because about a week ago I bought a sick, skinny and injured dog named Police. Why would you buy a sick dog? Well, that is what the Baka are asking and why they laugh at me. But let me tell you the story. I was in our…
House Construction and the Kids in School
By Stacey This past week has been both exhausting and exciting. About a week and a half ago, Dave and I realized that the construction of our house was moving way too slowly and that we needed to be on site to supervise the progress. Thus we moved into the bush to a little camp that is about 15 minutes away from our soon-to-be house. Although we miss living with our Cameroonian roommates, we think this has been a good move. For starters, we are living in a more isolated location and thus do not have people around our house…
Being a “Have” in a “Have-Not” World
One night we ran out of food and therefore Kaden was not able to have his typical forth helping. He looked up at me with horror in his eyes and asked in a trembling, hushed voice, “Mom, are we…poor?” Maybe you have had a similar experience in your home where your child comes home from school, buries his head in the sofa and cries because his family too “poor” to buy him the $100 shoes that all the other kids are wearing. Living like Kings If you are like us, you remind your kids that compared to the majority of…
Praising God for a Boring Testimony
by Dave Have you ever praised God for your conversion? I am sure that you have. I have heard many of you rejoice in the way that the Lord saved you. And we often here amazing testimonies and they can be quite powerful. I remember hearing one while I was on a mission trip that has stuck with me to this day. A man was a professional thief in Jamaica and got so good at what he did that he would actually wear a three-piece suit, walk up to a house, pick the lock, go in and steal whatever he…
Daily Challanges and Joys
by Stacey I met an American Peace Corps worker today who had also just arrived in country. When I asked her how she was adjusting she said that she goes through one emotional extreme of feeling like she is seeing progress in adapting to life here to the other emotional extreme of feeling like she is completely lost all the time. And, since the days feel so long, usually she goes from one emotional extreme to the other several times in a day. We both nodded our heads as we listened to her as we could very much relate….
Contextualization for Creating Barriers
by Dave I am still a bit new to missionary life and methodology, but if there is one thing that I have heard over and over again, it is that contextualization is vital. What is contextualization? Well, I am told that one of the weaknesses of my predecessors in the missionary field was that they confused biblical Christianity with their own culture. So, they brought with them their own customs and traditions and taught them as necessary alongside the Bible. Here in Cameroon, for many years the majority of church services have been conducted in French. The songs, the sermons,…
Hare Family Update (With Prayer Requests)
by Dave With a little over a month remaining in France I thought I would do a short update on the family. Kaden Kaden has had a great year. He enjoys school so much that he has actually cried about having to stay home for vacation. This is particularly amazing being that when we lived in Chambéry he cried everyday when we got to school and said he wanted to go home. In a recent parent-teacher conference his teacher said that he speaks French fluently. He also had to get glasses which actually seem to fit his personality well as…
The Unstoppable Kingdom
I had the amazing opportunity to go to a conference put on by the Gospel Coalition in Geneva, Switzerland last week. The theme of this conference was the Gospel and the book of Galatians. I learned a great deal and found myself extremely encouraged in the power of the Kingdom of God. The Powerful Kingdom In one particular sermon on Galatians 1:11-21, Tim Keller described how Paul’s testimony is so powerful, in part, because he used to be a persecutor of the Church. Paul was not the kind of person anyone would imagine would convert to Christianity. And in chapter…
Does Theology Affect Translation?
by Dave I mentioned before that from time to time I would like to engage in this blog with translation theory. Today I am going to engage with an article titled: “The Theology and Ethics of Bible Translation” by Leland Ryken. This article is the seventh chapter in his book The Word of God in English, which can be downloaded for free in it entirety HERE. Positive ElementsRyken very helpfully makes the point that theology matters. There is no such thing as a Bible translator who approaches the text in neutrality. Our theology shapes the words that we choose and…
