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Meet our
missionaries
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David & Joanna Bouck
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David Bouck experienced life
as a youngster in rural New York State, "...with cows on one side and
an apple grove on the other." Along with his sister, every Sunday
morning and evening his family was in church. Wednesday night found them
at prayer meeting.
"I never knew church
without missions," David says. His family hosted missionaries during
their annual missions conference.
In addition to those church
activities, David was part of Boy Scouts and Christian Service Brigade. By
the age of nine he had personally accepted Christ. Elementary years were
in a public school before attending a Christian high school. Each summer
included a week at Bible camp and family vacation in Quebec.
Who was to know then that
learning about the Inuit at an Ottawa museum during family vacation would
set the stage for David's life work? He trained at Bible college,
preparing to become a missionary pilot. However, his initial ministry
plans to Quebec's Inuit people did not work out.
"I felt that God would
not take me this far, and then not take me all the way." David heard
about NCEM through a colleague and joined in 1992.
"Life is a process,"
Joanna says, as she reflects on God's leading her into missions. Just as
in David's life, her preparation for missionary service was a progression.
Joanna Stobbe was the ninth of ten children, raised in a godly home by
parents very supportive of NCEM. She did not expect to go to Bible
college, as her older siblings had, believing that the Lord's return was
near! She did, however, get to Bible college for four years with each
summer's activities bringing her closer to full-time work with NCEM.
"The first summer I
worked at Stony Lake Bible Camp, staying on for a week of NCEM Native
camp. The second summer I took NCEM's summer program (NMTC). The third
summer my father suggested that, since I was interested in accounting, I
help at the NCEM office." After that, joining NCEM was a natural
choice.
David and Joanna met at NCEM's
personnel training program. Joanna had been serving as an administrative
assistant for seven years, based in Prince Albert, and was preparing to
minister in Winnipeg.
"I was looking for
someone who would be a missionary partner, not just a missionary's
wife," David says. "When I realized Joanna had plans for
ministry of her own, I knew here was my missionary partner!" Joanna
served in Winnipeg for one year before they were married in 1995, joining
David in Salluit, Quebec.
David and Joanna have served together in
Quebec for 12 years, and are now stationed in Kuujjuarapik.
Click here to meet more of our
missionaries
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