Rainy season in Cameroon

Cameroon Memories 2010

Thank you for your support!!

This may be my last posting for a while as I begin to catch up with life again. I'm almost back into my regular sleep pattern which gives me energy to tackle work and assorted duties...like the hundreds of emails I have accumulated while away. Missions at midlife...who would have thought that this would be my life? It was my prayer to demonstrate Christ's love to the people we encountered. I'm thankful that prayer was answered over and over again!! I was also blessed to learn from the people of Cameroon about their daily lives and walk with Jesus. So many memories to cherish and carry forward to my life here. Because of your support in a number of ways, I was able to make this dream a reality. Please keep me in your prayers for wisdom and discernment regarding the next steps in my life towards serving a longer mission in the very near future.
This last post is a collection of people and sights that I won't soon forget.

Dr. Philemon Yong...Academic Dean at Cameroon Baptist Theological Seminary. Visionary,energetic and passionate about reaching his country with the truth of the gospel.


Linda Yong...wife of Dr. Yong. warm,insightful,compassionate..










Our home during the mission.

Children and friends of Cameroon

Children having lunch after their program to thank us for vacation bible school:








With Mercy and Martha. Martha cooked our meals and made me realize the importance of CARBS at every meal...fruits and veggies are highly over-rated:>)
Mercy is in the middle and very pregnant! Amazing woman with an equally amazing faith in God.

My assignment in Cameroon

Administrative tasks and the Seminary textbook library was a major part of my work. Although I spent a couple of days at vacation bible school to help get things started, the bulk of my assignment was cleaning, organizing and creating spreadsheets for over 1000 books used for instruction in the seminary. This also meant getting rid of 1000s of damaged,out of date texts/materials and other assorted items that didn't work or were just ancient...like movie reels dating back to 1950s and a microfiche reader. Even though I spent the day covered in dust, it was a labor of love that answered my prayers. These are the before pictures...extreme water damaged ceiling tiles, more dust swirling around than a Arizona dust storm and a mouse that scurried around room as my constant companion :>).

Yes, those are containers of reel projector films!


There is a window buried behind this stack that opens which I didn't discover until days later. That was a glorious day(thanks Garth) to get fresh air into this space.




I can only guess how much mold and/or abestos was floating around the room :)





In the end, I was able to create spreadsheets logging info for every text, shelves cleaned, organized and labled by subject and a list of recommendations for the seminary president to consider. That year of working at a bookstore in high school, really came in handy for this project...it appears God's preparation for this trip started a long time ago :>)
Like any makeover,here is the after:

Early days in Cameroon

Vacation Bible School in Cameroon and A few of our excellent teacher assistants!:







Our Missionary Hosts: Dr. Philemon Yong and his wife Linda:



Team on the way...first stop on the way, Chicago!

I'm back!!

Family and friends, Made it back to Phoenix last night! My daughter picked me up from the airport and listened to me ramble on and on and on about the trip. She was sort of a captive audience since she had to bring me home. So many great memories of yet another trip to Africa. The last time I was in Africa, I called it a life changing experience. This time, I can't find the words to describe all the thoughts and emotions except to say I didn't want to leave. Even without many of the modern day conveniences of my life here, it felt like I was home. The warmth and generosity of the people we worked with and served was overwhelming at times. They saw us as a blessing and answer to prayer. Little did they know that we were equally blessed by them. This was a time of growth, affirmation and life's purpose culminating in a deeper understanding of God's grace, mercy, and promises. The ability to share Christ with people who wanted to know and understand more about Him was rewarding and challenging(interesting questions and overcoming language differences)...and an experience that I haven't had on a daily basis here in the U.S. Definitely challenged me to look for those opportunities to share the truth of God's word and my faith in Him more often and with boldness. Thank you all for your support..spiritually, financially and emotionally! Your prayers for me before, during and now after this trip are greatly appreciated. Pictures and video to follow in next posts.