Today I visited a family from the Central African Republic, also known as CAR. They live in Jonesboro which is about 30 minutes from Clarkston. I was going there to deliver a French Bible to someone named Memory. But when we arrived at her apartment, no one was home. However, her parents, who live in another apartment nearby, were home. When they saw us knocking on her door, they invited us into their apartment to wait for Memory.

We talked for a long time with Memory’s mom and dad. They have been in the US for 19 months and the dad speaks some English. When Memory was a little girl, they had to leave CAR as refugees and they moved to a refugee camp called Gado in Cameroon. They lived there for over 20 years and they didn’t like it very much. They said the life there was very hard.

When we were talking to her dad, he got excited about Bibles. He showed me his collection of Bibles. He has a big English Bible and a bigger French Bible. He also had a small Bible in a language called Sango, which is the main language in CAR. Then he had a smaller Bible in a language called Kaba, which is his tribe. There are a lot of tribes in CAR and they all speak different languages. He tried teaching me some words in all the different languages. He was really proud of all his Bibles and he said he likes to read his Bibles in different languages because it helps him to understand the Bible even more.

When Memory arrived, she was glad to see us. She had her little daughter with her who was born in the US. We gave her the French Bible. She said it was the first Bible she ever had of her own in her whole life. We also brought her some food, dishes, and some toys for her little girl. She was very happy and grateful for those things. When we were leaving, she and her parents were waving and still thanking us in all their languages even as we drove away.