In 1978, the non-profit mission organization Wycliffe Bible Translators sent the Ernst Family on a mission to Chad, Africa. During their mission in Chad, a civil war occurred and the family relocated to neighboring country Cameroon. In June 1983, the family arrived in Batouri, a town in the Eastern Province of Cameroon to translate the New Testament into Kako. Kako is a Bantu language mainly spoken in the East region of Cameroon, Central African Republic and The Republic of Congo. The Ernst family got accustomed to the culture, the people of Batouri and started to learn the Kako language the first two years. In 1985, they began to work on the translation of the New Testament in Kako.​ Philippe Mboutou responded to an altar call in 1990 and gave his life to Jesus Christ in his hometown Batouri. That same year, the missionary translation team was looking for young volunteers in the Kako community to train as literacy monitors. Mboutou felt like it was his calling and volunteered with some friends. He worked as a literacy coordinator and taught his community how to read and write in the Kako language for eight years before moving to the United States in January 1998. After moving to the United States, he became a father of two and had to put his calling on hold to focus on his family. The Ernst family continued their mission and published the Kako New Testament in the year 2000. In 2009, the family moved to Maroua, North Cameroon as consultants for other translation projects and literacy training. Finally in 2017, the Ernst family officially retired. Mboutou plans to revive their mission in his hometown Batouri, continue to spread the word of God in the Kako community and other ethnic groups.​     ​