We were all in a flurry of excitement to send out our March newsletter…

and now suddenly April is just about over…

The first few months of 2026 have been packed with excitement and activity — travel and changes, goodbyes and hellos.

In January, our church formally commissioned us for full-time ministry, David (mostly) said goodbye to Oklahoma State University (OSU), and we traveled to the World Team USA headquarters in Pennsylvania where we went through orientation and signed on the dotted line as full-time missionaries!!

David continued to offer support at OSU two days a week for a couple of months while they found a replacement for him. At the same time he set up an office at our church, where he has now FINALLY begun the task of visual translation for the Kwakum Bible translation project — a project that our friends first asked us to consider helping with six years ago.

(If you don’t remember the story of how that happened you can read about it here.)

Six years!

Looking back over the years of prayers, decisions, and pursuit has been a blessing and a good reminder that, though it often differs from our plans and our timetable, God’s plan and God’s timing are always perfect.

We’ve learned and grown and changed as we’ve chased this dream of full-time missions, and though it was sometimes hard not to be in a hurry, we can now look back and agree with the Lord that 2026 is the perfect time to begin!

Koleen, herself a World Team missionary, coached us through the support process. We were delighted that she could join us at our commissioning service.

What does beginning look like?

Since January, David has been purchasing the computer and equipment needed for his tasks, meeting with the translation team supervisor, Dave Hare, and developing a plan for illustrations for the first five stories from Genesis. He has also been meeting with churches and individuals to raise the last bit of the monthly pledges we needed to reach 100% of our support budget.

We have also begun planning our 2026 visit to Cameroon. There are a lot of moving pieces for this trip, as we hope to be there during the yearly field conference, where we will get to meet members of the World Team Cameroon field that we didn’t get to meet on our first village visit. Right now, it looks like that will take place in September.

We are so thankful for all of you and are reminded so often that without your prayers and financial support, we wouldn’t be doing any of this. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for working to send us to the Kwakum as Jesus’ hands and feet.

Three Ways You Can Pray Right Now

• Pray that we will get all the trip details — dates, visas, plane tickets, etc. — settled without too much trouble.
  
• Pray that the translation team will have a clear idea of their needs and that they will be communicated clearly so that David is able to get a good start on these first stories before heading to the village.
• Pray for Amanda, who is devoting all her spare moments (and brain cells!) to learning French — the language of the region of Cameroon where the Kwakum live.