A Journey to Ghana

Roy and Barb met at Indiana University in 1970 and were married there on Sept. 13 that year.  Barb continued working on her Bachelor's Degree that fall while Roy worked fulltime for Indiana Bell.  We joined Walnut Street Christian Church and were active in the Christian Student Fellowship on the IU Campus.  On July 23, 1971, Adrienne was born.  She brought much joy to our lives even though we hadn't planned on starting our family so soon.  We continued going to school and started going to church in Ellettsville Christian Church so Adrienne would be able to go to Sunday School.  We would go up to northern Indiana about once a month to see Barb's family.  Her mom had brain cancer so we visited as often as we could. Her grandmother, aunts, and uncles became very important in our lives for moral support. Barb's dad was grateful that we came so much. We became very close to people in our church family also.

            Roy got his Bachelor's degree in 1972 and started working on his Master's.  Barb got her Bachelor's in 1973 and started teaching Latin and later Math at Bloomington High North. Amy came along on June 27, 1975. After several harsh winters in a row, Roy drew a circle on the map around Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico.  He said we needed to move somewhere within that circle. Barb started the job search and eventually we ended up in Tulsa, OK, where we became active in the Memorial Park Christian Church. We both had teaching jobs which we enjoyed. We did head back to Indiana two summers trying to get closer to Barb's family, but God had different plans for us.  Angela and John were both born in Tulsa, Angie on Nov. 4, 1978, and John on July 23, 1981.  With low teacher pay and high inflation, we could not continue in education, so Roy went to the oil fields. 

            We moved to Pampa, TX, in Jan. 1982, and worked in the Hi-Land Christian Church. Roy was on 24 hour call as a drilling fluids engineer.  The oil business was booming so he was gone a lot. We became very involved in the church there, and we even had Ron Rife come to be the missionary for VBS one of the years we were there.  Riley was born in Pampa on Aug. 18, 1983. The oil boom went bust in 1984 so we went back to teaching school. Roy got an emergency license to teach elementary school so started back to college.  He got his elementary education and administrator certification at West Texas A&M University. That took us to Lazbuddie, TX, where Roy became the secondary principal.  We joined the First Christian Church in Clovis, NM, but wound up attending Lazbuddie Methodist Church in our hometown.  Adrienne graduated from high school there and went off  to college. We moved to Kermit in 1990 where we were active in the Methodist Church. Amy graduated there in 1993. We moved to Sudan, TX, in 1993 and have been here ever since. For eight years we were active in the First Baptist Church in Sudan. When the children all graduated from high school, we started working in Raintree Christian Church in Lubbock.

            All of our children are born again Christians and are active in their respective churches. We have been active in all levels of church education, choirs, and church leadership. We have 3 grandchildren; Jacob, 5 yrs, Joshua, 2 yrs old; and Kara, 9 months old.  Barb retired in June, 2004, so she could baby-sit for Kara. We have been truly blessed throughout our marriage.       

            Ron and Doris Rife have been friends of ours ever since we lived in Indiana and attended Indiana University where our lives intersected at Ellettsville Christian Church and at school. We knew that Ron and Doris had been missionaries in Ghana, but we did not think that would ever affect our lives. The Lord works in mysterious ways and only Jesus Christ knows the big plan. We discovered that they returned to Ghana in the 1990s and we maintained contact. Ron and Doris had invited us to visit Ghana, but it was not until July of 2004 that Roy answered the call and spent two weeks at Ghana Christian University.  Roy was asked to return and become a part of the staff. His reply was that it would take a miracle, but if the Lord Jesus Christ would open the door, he would walk through it and return to teach. The tough issue is giving up time with our family to move to Africa.

Roy attended the National Missionary Convention in October, 2004, in Peoria, Illinois, and worked at the GCU booth.  We will attend the National Missionary Convention in Atlanta, Georgia, in November of 2005. We plan to return to Ghana Christian University to visit in July/August of 2005. AME approved us as missionary recruits in March of 2005. God willing we will be on the field at Ghana Christian University by August of 2007.