The Testimony
It is a bit difficult trying to tell someone else’s story because no one can tell it better than the person who lived it. However, I am going to do my best… I sat in the small room that served…
Stories by Chari Kingsbury
Language Blunders (or) Pride Goes Before a Fall
I have always been good with languages – whether my own native English (or should I say American?) or other languages. I enjoyed language school, where we learned Swahili. Yeah, I know we were not supposed to be enjoying ourselves…
The Wedding
The sun was going to set soon, as I sat outside on a chair in the chilly air, with a hot cup of sweet, milky tea in my hands, that July evening. I was to find out that the sun…
Jetlag
We finally arrived at a beautiful house with lovely acres of green lawn surrounding it and the most beautiful view of Mt. Kenya right in the front yard! I was to discover that this was not where we would be…
July 4th, 1980
It was the 4th of July and here we were in a fellow missionary’s car headed north on Kenya’s main ‘highway’ (a two-lane tarmacked road). Months before, we received word that we had been approved to serve as missionaries with…
The Welcome
“What on earth are we doing here?” I wondered as I shivered in the drafty room in upper state New York on that bitterly cold January night. We had just arrived in New York from Kansas to attend a semester…
Brazil vs Africa
The debate was still unresolved. From the time we first started dating, Chip said he was called to be a missionary to Brazil, but I insisted I was called to Africa (though I had no idea what country). What to…
Angel in West Virginia
Normally when one thinks of angels, they don’t think of West Virginia! Nevertheless, my husband, Chip, and I often do. We had just spent an adventurous night in Chip’s parents’ house, on our way from our childhood home of Rockville,…
Old Creaky Beds
We had only been married a few days and had just returned from several days’ honeymoon at the deserted beach, which was not yet open for tourist season. We had plans to spend the night in my in-laws’ home, on…
Knocking Knees and Fluttering Flowers
There she stood at the front of the sanctuary in front of all those pairs of eyes, glad that no one could see the literal knocking of her knees together under her long gown (up to today, she had not…