God called me to be a missionary and I love being a missionary. Sometimes I feel like I must “pinch” myself when I realize how blessed I am. How many people actually get to live out their dream? Although Darla and I had attained our 43rd birthdays before we ever stepped foot in Africa, the continent of our calling, it was well worth the wait. The years leading up to our departure for Botswana, and later Nigeria, were not wasted years. They were years of training and preparation for the challenges we would face on the mission field. I have often reflected that had we been appointed to the mission field on our time table, we would have been devoured and probably left the field beaten and demoralized. But God’s timing is perfect.
As we verbally shared our stories about our missionary experiences over the years, we were often encouraged to write a book about them. I pondered how best to approach the subject, and I ruled out writing an historical narrative. Somehow, the mission experience is so much more than a list of chronological events underscored by dates and meetings.
To me, missionary work is and always has been about the people and the extraordinary testimonies of life on the mission field. Each chapter in this book could stand alone. The book is a collection of many stories that hopefully will give the reader a sense of what God has been doing in Nigeria since 1997, through the efforts of the United Pentecostal Church International
