CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Bruce and Sheri Erickson were missionary kids who met in boarding school in Kenya. After college, they married, had two children and were public school teachers in California.
Almost five years ago, the Ericksons felt God leading them to work with foster children. One family in their church had just taken in a foster baby girl, Madison, whom Bruce and Sheri began spending time with.
Unsure of God’s purpose for them in the three-month-old baby’s life, Bruce and Sheri prayed how they could be obedient to what God might be leading them to do. After one week, they decided to become foster parents, taking in Madison when she was six months old.
Their older children quickly bonded with “Madi” and 11 months later, Bruce and Sheri were officially granted adoption of Madison by the state of California.
A new addition to their family was not the only thing God had planned for the Ericksons, however. An opportunity opened for Bruce and their son, Bryce, to serve on a volunteer mission trip to Tanzania.
After one week in Tanzania, Bruce felt a stirring in his heart that God wanted him back on the mission field.
“At times it was an overwhelming feeling inside,” Bruce said. “But the second week I really had a peace about it.”
Upon returning to California, Bruce shared his heart with Sheri and she in turn shared how God impressed her to pray for this very thing while he was in Tanzania.
Bruce and Sheri shared with their kids what God had placed on their hearts and asked them to pray about it as well.
“We told them God had put it on our hearts and that He’s got to be doing something in their hearts, too,” Sheri said. “There were lots of emotions at first, but God began softening their hearts.”
The Ericksons are now serving as IMB missionaries in Cape Town, ministering in township schools.
During a recent extended school holiday, Bryce, 17, Sheraya, 14, and even five-year-old Madison were able to help their parents minister alongside a volunteer team from North Carolina during a day camp at one of the local schools.
“The youth we work with really relate to our kids because they are the same age,” Bruce said. “It’s kind of fun to have them out there with us.”
Jacob Alexander is a writer for IMB’s Global Communication Team. He enjoys sharing God’s stories from all over Africa and is becoming more of a soccer fan from being in South Africa during the 2010 World Cup.
