Thirty-five years ago the Lord brought Stan and Betty Ekstrand into our lives. They had come to Waxhaw, North Carolina as Wycliffe Associates volunteers ("WA's"), and Denny and I were Wycliffe Associates staff. Then a couple years later, we had taken an assignment in Dakar, Senegal. The project was our first overseas experience, and there we were, a young family with three little boys ages 8, 6, and 3. We were there to supervise the construction project and serve as hosts to the many volunteers. The living arrangements were communal, with a group kitchen and bathrooms, and then a string of motel-like bedrooms. We ate all three meals together as a big family. On the day that Stan and Betty arrived, we were all sitting at the long dining table enjoying lunch. A member of SIL had gone to the airport to meet the Ekstrands and bring them to the project. An enclosed screened porch was our dining room. The door swung open, and as they walked into the dining area, Stan announced, "What do ya gotta do to get a cup of coffee around here?" The twinkle in his eye went unheeded by Trudy, the very staid German Mennonite woman who was in charge of meal preparation. A few days later, while we were all eating our rather simple lunch of fresh bread, tomatoes, ham, and cheese, the question rang out, "What do ya gotta do to get some mayonnaise around here?" Trudy was very quiet, and later came to Denny and said, "I think that man hates me!" The story has a happy ending...Trudy did learn to acknowledge,(if not quite "get") Stan's wonderfully dry sense of humor.
Stan and Betty became surrogate grandparents to our boys. We were all thrilled when a few years later, they came to work with us again, this time in Yaounde, Cameroon. We took a trip to a remote vilage with them and another volunteer, Richard Titus, all squished together in a double cab Toyota Hi-Lux. I think we laughed all the way there and back.
And one last memory...we were in the States, traveling and visiting our support partners. Our trip had taken us from PA through the midwest, up to Washington State, and down the Pacific Coast, making our way to Orange, CA for a conference. We stayed with Stan and Betty in their lovely home in Santa Cruz for two nights then headed south for the conference. Shortly after leaving their home, our old van broke down on the highway. Our sunshade had a "NEED HELP" message on the back side, so we put that in the windshield and hoped someone would see it. As we were all sitting there watching the cars speed past, suddenly one of us said, "That was the Ekstrands!!" A few minutes later a Highway Patrol Officer stopped to help us, and then, there were Stan and Betty, pulling up behind us! They arranged and paid for towing our van to the nearest garage, which happened to have a hotel and a restaurant, they paid for the repairs AND our room and meals...and as if that wasn't enough...they took us to Disneyland for a day, renting rooms so that we all could go to the park in the morning, leave and get lunch, get some rest, then go back to the park and stay until it closed!
Our family description of this series of events is, "We were stranded...but then we were EKSTRANDED!
Stan and Betty were true encouragers, mentors, and a dear brother and sister in Christ! What a glorious and joy-filled reunion must have taken place as they have been re-united. There is no doubt in our minds that these words were spoken over them, "Well done, good and faithful servant!"
Our love and prayers to all the family as you adjust to life here on earth without these dear ones.
Denny and Cindy Noble
