July Happenings

The first week of July has been busy with birthdays, 4^th of July, ministry, and house hunting.  Thanks for praying!

Hope you all enjoy the new prayer letter.  Here are a few new pictures.

Happy Birthday, Abby!

 

New Camera

Just wanted to post a few pictures taken with our new camera. Thanks Mom for helping to get it out to Cameroon, and Uncle Rick for helping with the cost. Daniel Needham and Mark Gilmore Jr. brought us a lot of things from our families in Illinois and Michigan when they arrived in Cameroon on Saturday. It was our first “care package” and we really enjoyed it.

The evangelism training with Pastor Gilmore is going well. People are being saved, and we pray it will be a real help to the church planting efforts going on…especially where we are locating in Ndop.

Have a wonderful week serving the Lord, and thank you for praying!

Cameroon transportation

Just wanted to post a few pictures of my two favorite means of transportation here in Cameroon.  Pastor Felix is with me by my new motorcycle.  He is the pastor working with the new churches in the bush.  We had a good trek a few weeks ago, and today bro. Needham was able to fly him and many others out of the bush into our area for the Netcasters evangelism seminar that starts on Monday.  The man by the plane is one of the men being trained for leadership in the bush. 

 

Today, Abby and I rode the motorcycle 10 miles down the mountain to Ndop.  The rode is paved here but very steep for the first few miles.  We were able to make some progress looking for a house and meeting new people in Ndop.  The hardest part of the trip was coming back up the mountain road to the Needhams.   I had to have help from two men pushing my bike up the last little bit.  It had just rained, the road is very rugged and bumpy, the choke was in the wrong position, and I am a new rider, all of which made it impossible for me make it up the hill without help.  We really like the bike but are tired after the trip.

 

We have a busy week next week but will be glad to be involved in Netasters with Pastor Mark Gilmore.  We hope to have between 75 and 100 people, missionaries and nationals, from fellowship churches in Cameroon.  Thanks for praying! 

 

Happy birthday to my Mom (Sanderlin)…we love you! 

First Flight!

Bro. Tom Needham returned to Cameroon safely from America today. We got one plane ready and went flying for about 20 minutes or so. It was great! I flew right seat this time as he was getting back into the challenges here. We plan to spend alot of time training next week to get ready for all the flying that is needed the week after. Thanks for praying!

Family Conference/Akwaya Trek

The family conference has been over for more than a week now, but we had a wonderful time fellowshipping with everyone.  Here are a few pictures.  We used the hangar for the preaching and meals. 

 

You can see from the last picture of Elias that our camera has broken…so we may not be posting any pictures for quite some time! 

 

The trek into the bush was quite an adventure and a physical challenge unlike any other I have ever known.  I did not have a camera but was able to take about an hour of video throughout the week.   At the end of each day it was difficult to get up after I sat down to rest.  The first two days we trekked 9 and then 10 hours.  The last day was still a good 6 hour trek to Pastor Felix’s house.  We stopped at a few airstrips along the way and Felix was able to preach at one of his Bible studies on Sunday.  At the final destination Felix held his mobile men’s retreat that rotates which village it is in each month.  Felix is desiring Bible education for these men who live in and help him lead in the churches he is planting in these remote villages.  The airplane has been a vital tool in opening these villages for Bible study.  I wanted to trek back here to see the difficulty and meet the men before I had the privilege to fly back there.   Felix really has a good system and a strong desire and ability to train the men. 

Each morning for 3 hours (3 days) I was able to teach a class to the 12 men on “how to study the Bible.”  Felix discipled them in the afternoon and then led in several hours of evangelism.  Many made professions of faith during the week.  The evening time was dedicated to preaching and the whole town was invited.  The building was packed each night and there was time for some questions after as well.  I plan on sending an email out with some more detail for friends and family.  Thank you so much for praying for me and for my family while I was away. 

Sabga/Bamenda Post

We have had a great week doing a variety of things here in Cameroon.  I decided to update the blog during the big rain storm that moved through Sabga while we all were working outside.  Many people are working here at the Needhams everyday to get their property ready for the missionary family camp on Monday.  Missionaries from all over Cameroon will be coming in for preaching and fellowship.  Please pray for that week. 

 

We had an interesting day in the capital of our Northwest province yesterday.  I won’t go into all the details but the police decided to round up as many parking offenders as they could find and that included us.  My documents were taken, and we were told to go to the station.  Thankfully we had one of our Cameroonian friends with us, but we still had to wait at the station for several hours before we could pay the “fine” and leave.   We were able to get out of there before dark.  Our friend, Genesis, said he had never seen anything like that before.  We have appreciated Genesis’ help the last several days in navigating the streets, markets, and government systems to get our new documents.  We still have a lot of things left to do, but we have made some good progress. 

 

Elena is busy skinning her knees, legs, and arms as she continues to play hard inside and out.  She loves the cats, dogs, cows, and especially the roosters when they talk to her.  She is getting better at greeting people who ask her to greet them.  Elias just puts on a big grin and goes to them all.  Abby is busy helping Kathy Needham with preparations for family camp plus feeding those of us staying here at the house. 

 

We just came down to the Yeiters house to see our two new puppies.  The Loeschers saved two for us and two for the Yeiters.  One is chocolate and the other is a dark brown.  Elena and Elias are very excited. 

 

There is lots more to say, but we hope you enjoy a few pictures. 

 

Have a wonderful week! 

Cameroon Pictures

We have enjoyed our first week in Cameroon.  Here are some pictures of what we have been doing.  

 

The pictures of the palm trees and mountain is in Ndop (Bamunka) where we are looking for a house.  The Bible study is across the road from this picture. 

 

The Needham girls started a fire and we had smores one night last week. 

Safe Arrival in Cameroon!

Greetings to all from Sabga, Cameroon! Thank you for praying us to West Africa! We have had a long three day journey to get here, but praise the Lord we all made it with all of our luggage. We had a few unexpected obstacles with United Airlines to overcome before leaving the states, but we are thankful that the Lord worked out the details. Both of our parents helped us the night before in Elgin and then helped us at the airport in order to see us safely off to Africa. Thanks Dads and Moms and Emily!

The flight from Chicago to Washington D.C. was great, and we had a whole row of seats in a large airplane. When we boarded our plane to Zurich, Switzerland the flight was full and the space was smaller. The Zurich airport was very beautiful, and the Swiss Alps made for a beautiful background after a long flight. There was a large nursery/play area and we all enjoyed resting and playing there!

The flight to Cameroon was great and we enjoyed seeing a plane full of friendly Cameroonians. We met a missionary surgeon and his wife on the plane who were a help with some of our belongings while we got Elena and Elias situated. It was a long series of flights but we are thankful for the safe trip. Matt and Susan Yeiter met us at the airport in Cameroon …they are with Baptist World Mission serving in Bamenda, which is the largest city in our province. We spent the night in a beautiful mission house in the capital of Cameroon. When we walked in the house Elena kept saying, “I’m scared of that man…I want to go outside.” We couldn’t figure out what she meant but then we realized it was that little African man carved out of wood seen in the picture below. It was about her height and the first thing that greeted her as she walked in L We ate a great meal with the missionary couple and spent a very comfortable night under the mosquito nets.

The trip up to Sabga took a good part of the day. We enjoyed the time spent with Matt and Susan and seeing the familiar villages along the way. Two of the highlights of the drive were the Cameroon porta-potty in the capital (on the motorcycle) and Elias smiling out the window in Bamenda with all the moto-taxi drivers laughing and waving to him as we drove by. As we got closer to the Northwest the mountains began appearing in the background and eventually the temperatures began to cool down. We enjoyed a good spaghetti dinner with Kathy, April, and Anna Needham. Please pray for Tom, Barb, and Daniel Needham as Daniel continues to recover from surgery in Denver, Colorado.

It is wonderful to have arrived at our destination. Thank you for your prayers and support in allowing us to come serve the Lord in Cameroon.

Last week

We just finished packing our U-Haul to take to South Carolina where our things will be packed on a container.  Thanks for so much help from the both Burtt families and several friends from AABC.  I wish I had more pictures.   I am leaving on Saturday morning for SC and Abby is taking Elena and Elias to Illinois to see my family.  My sister Emily flew in to help Abby with the kids on the way to IL.  This has been a packed few days.  We are still planning to leave for Cameroon from Chicago next Saturday. 

This week

We hope you all had a wonderful Sunday remembering the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We were able to enjoy the day at church with Abby’s family in Ann Arbor.  They are having a send-off service for us this coming Wednesday as well. 

Please pray for all of our packing to be finished by Friday.  I will be taking a U-haul down to South Carolina to drop off for the container.  Other missionaries are sending things on our container as well.  We need the Lord’s grace and strength for each day. 

Lord willing I will be at a supporting church in SC on Sunday and will fly to Illinois to meet Abby at my parent’s house to spend a day or two with them.  Abby will be driving to Illinois with Elena and Elias.  Please pray for them as well.   We still plan to leave for Cameroon from Chicago on April 25^th. 

Ordination service & Cameroon departure

Thank you for praying for my ordination service. We had a wonderful day with family and friends as well as the preachers who asked all the questions! It really was an encouraging day. Please see the following blog for pictures of the day: www.sandfam07.blogspot.com

We are printing and sending out a prayer letter today, so look for that to arrive soon with all the latest prayer requests and answers to prayer.

P.S. This is opening week of baseball and if you live in the Midwest you probably know it always snows here during this week. Ypsilanti is snow-covered and cold right now. The Cubs won yesterday…why do we torture ourselves with following the Cubs anyway?!