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rium with a nurs-
ery, large entry,
bookstore, fel-
lowship hall, and
kitchen. We also
had an office, four
classrooms, two
storage rooms,
and facilities for the handicapped.

As founder and missionary pastor of
Bible Baptist Church of Argenteuil, Bob
prayed and worked with his whole heart
and soul to reach folks for Christ. He
was completely dedicated to the task to
which God had called him in spite of
constant feelings of inadequacy. In 2008
at the age of 70, he felt it was time to
step down and ask the church to call a
younger man. Therefore on December
31, he handed the keys to the present
pastor, Aldo Atzori, who was led to the
Lord by another missionary. Our desire
was to stay in France and make ourselves
available to relieve pastors who needed
rest. The Lord had other plans.

In February 2009 Bob began having
serious digestive problems. Tests showed
a tumor in the area of the pancreas.

Our children helped find good doctors.

A specialized surgeon removed the
tumor, but it was cancerous. Bob
began chemotherapy that spring and in
November doctors said the cancer was
in remission. Late in December 2009 he
began having backaches and when he saw
the cancer specialist early in February,
tests showed the cancer had come back.

A second round of chemo made him
very tired and he asked that we make
plans to go see our family in the States.

In July back in France, doctors wanted to
try a more potent dosage of chemo that
would make him very ill. Bob refused
and began putting his affairs in order.

10 BIMI WORLD
Number 3, 2015
He took his last breath on November
29. His funeral was held in the church
and conducted by those he had known
from childhood, loved, and nurtured
spiritually, then baptized. Christians and
almost all the neighbors in our apartment
complex came to pay their respects
to a man who was their friend and
example. He was buried in Argenteuil on
December 3, 2010.

Before Bob passed away, the Lord gave me
the conviction that I should stay in France
to encourage our beloved Christians and
continue to witness to those around me.

For three years I stayed in Argenteuil,
teaching adolescents, doing personal
Bible studies, and helping where needed.

The Lord gave me a song that I sing often:
“No, Never Alone.” I can truly say He has
been with me every day. I am staying on
in France even now because my youngest
daughter and her husband had a house
built with a two-room apartment for me.

Because of health problems, I can no
longer live alone.

Some may wonder why we stayed in one
town for more than 40 years. Actually,
the Lord kept us there. Several times
we wanted to move and begin another
work. Looking back, we understood
the importance of long-term ministry
because in France gaining the confidence
of the people is necessary and takes
time. We became the faithful friend
who doesn’t forget when a person moves
away. Over the years I have stayed in
touch with most of our former neighbors
and friends, sending cards with a
spiritual message for the holidays and
keeping in touch by phone and email,
thus continuing the witness to 80 to 100
families. My greatest desire is to see each
of them come to know the Savior. W



Africa
Lessons Learned as an MK
By the Bohman girls
Africa was a foreign country to our
parents, but for us—their children—it
was home. When our parents arrived
in Africa, it was a whole new world to
them; it was the mission field to which
they had surrendered. On the other
hand, having been born in Africa, we
did not think of surrendering to live
there—we actually preferred it. It was all
we knew and we loved it! Living on the
mission field has been a blessing to us in
many ways, and we would like to share
a few reasons why we are thankful to be
missionary kids (MKs).

innocence, we greeted her with smiles
and hugs when we saw her. Since she
did not feel intimidated by children, she
started talking to us each time we would
go into her shop and soon a friendship
resulted. On certain holidays we would
make her cookies and enclose a Gospel
tract. Slowly, seeds were planted. She
would sometimes ask us to pray for her
or for a problem in her life. Those “seeds”
were watered. Although we never saw
her salvation before we left that town,
we saw that her heart was tender and her
mind apt to receive the Gospel.

One incredible blessing was the knowl-
edge that God could use us in ways He
could not use our parents. Our family
ministered as a team, yet, even at young
ages, we understood that God could
use us individually. There are several
stories we could tell, but here is one: the
manager of a store we frequented was a
Muslim lady. At first, she did not want
to talk to our parents about religion or
even form a friendship. However, in our
God used us individually and also
blessed us personally. One of our earliest
memories of this occurred when we were
very young. Where we lived at that time,
crayons were hard to come by. Since the
African children did not have crayons
at home, coloring was an activity the
children looked forward to each week in
Sunday school. One week, we noticed the
Sunday school crayons were worn down
to stubs, and the Lord placed on our
11