Mom and Emily's visit

Here are a few pictures of the last few weeks.  Mom and Emily have one more week with us in Cameroon...it has been great to have them!!!

Enjoying some family vacation time on our way to pick up Mom and Emily...swimming in Yaounde

Swinging in Yaounde...

Playing games back home in Ndop...I can win this one "Ten Days in Africa", but I am still due for my first win ever in Settlers of Catan

Mom with me and bro. Sunday on a trip to Babungo.  Emily went with me on our Friday outreach, and you can see pictures of our interesting day at her blog.

Walking to Sunday's house

Mom and Emily's first njama-njama and foo-foo meal.  Its a local staple of boiled corn meal and huckleberry greens with tomatoes, onion, and palm oil.  Some serve it with either beef, chicken, or fish.  We love it! 

 Opening a suitcase full of great stuff from America!

 Pizza party!

 Opening a Christmas package from Jessica and Andy.  It was sitting lost in our local post office for two months!!

A blast from the past...Arch books, yes!!

 Hot wheels!

 Evidence from a rain shower...

Abby and I taking an off-road date and making a visit to a family from a village 40 minutes away. 

Tom and I flew a few missions on the same day into Meyerim, Akwaya.  On two trips, I was able to fly in three people including Pastor Felix's wife.  Tom had flown her out due to the war a few weeks ago.  Things are quieting down there now, but continue to pray.  I flew my own assistant pastor, Chrysanthus out of Akwaya from his successful preaching trip with Felix.  They trekked a full day to Matene and had their first baptisms, 9 new believers! 

On a short hike near the Mbingo rest house where we are taking a day off!! 

Mom and Emily arrived!

We took a mini-family vacation and drove to Yaounde, our national capital on Wednesday.  Thursday was full of some official business and shopping.  Friday, we picked up my mom and sister along with a fellow missionary.  I'd like to post more pictures later of our whole vacation and trip, but here is one of us all for now. 

Road Conditions

Hi Anna, these pictures give a little bit better view of the conditions for most of the way.  Unfortunately, I have to agree with Abby that the roads here are just a little bit worse than Ann Arbor.  Ann Arbor will prepare you a little bit for the roads here!  The people are saying that the road we took is the worse condition its been in for many years. 

We found out the Fonfuka Road (above and below) was supposed to be closed...we didn't get the memo, and there were no road blocks.  There were 5 different plank bridges along the road and several were ready to fall apart.  We made it safely across seeing the bad condition of the planks but ignorant of the real danger.  Praise the Lord for protection! 

 

This is part of the infamous Ring Road that has had a promise to be tarred (blacktopped) for the last 25  years. It sure is a beautiful drive in the bush though, just a bit time-consuming and rough on the vehicles. 

We plan to leave on a road trip to Yaounde on Wednesday to get my mom and sister Emily.  The drive is about 7 to 8 hours all on blacktop! 

Third Bum Trip

Thank you for praying for me on my last trip to Bum, and for praying for Abby and the kids while I was away for three nights.  We are located on the south-side of the Ring Road, and exactly at the north-side is the Bum area.  The Lord is working there to open doors for the gospel even though originally the gospel first came to the entire Northwest Region through the Bum area back in the 1920's.  They surely need a fresh understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  At a funeral we heard preaching from a Baptist church there that insinuated that a paid-up membership card was as good as a passport to heaven.  Indeed, pray much!

 Almost half way to Fonfuka, Bum on the east side of the Ring Road just before the Ndu tea plantation.

 One of the many places to see the beautiful River Kimbi in the Bum area. 

A potential site for an airfield in Bum.  This location takes 8 to 9 hours to reach over terrible road conditions and would be about a 15 minute flight. 

 My favorite picture of the trip!  When I got out of the car to take a picture of the Ring Road sign, these kids came out from nowhere running to me.  They happily agreed to stand in the picture and loved seeing it on the camera when I took it.  They are part of the Fulani Muslim school near Kimbi. 

 A burial service in Kimbi. 

I wanted to call Abby before it got dark, so someone took me to the top of a hill that overlooks Kimbi town. 

 We showed the Jesus film in Pidgin English to hundreds of people from the town of Kimbi.  Chrysanthus is preaching the gospel halfway through the film. 

In front of one of the fons of Kimbi shaking hands with the messenger of his palace.  He is my counterpart as I am messenger of the palace at Laka-Bum.  Praise the Lord for the message of the gospel that was given through Kimbi this trip. 

From left to right: Pastor Chrysanthus, Tanto of Kimbi palace, Tanto of Laka-Bum/Pastor Sam, and Pastor Ernest :)
Pray for follow up in Bum as we'll organize a trip for two pastors to go back in February.  Pray for government officials in Yaounde to approve airstrips all across the NW, SW and other regions.

Happy New Year!

 Some of the kids on our New Year's Sunday

 Elias and Elena finally playing with our snow that we got in the mail last year...they had lots of fun, and David enjoyed seeing "snow"!

 Since the kids cousins all have their picture watching snowman, we had to get one too.  We gave them the video for Christmas this year. 

This picture was a huge answer to prayer.  I mentioned in the prayer letter, that we needed an American instructor to give me my biennial flight review.  A friend of Tom Needhman's came to Cameroon last week to help with another mission in the very town where we live, and he is a flight instructor and mechanic.  He put me through a thorough but fun flight test, and I am now good to go for two more years.  Being a mechanic, he fixed Tom's plane and mine as well!!  Praise the Lord for how He answers our prayers! 

My Glastar and Tom's Sportsman after a busy day of flying yesterday. 

I had to get Elena's picture today before church as I thought she was looking quite pretty!

Christmas

Here are a few pictures of our Christmas happenings...

 Opening presents on Friday night

 Thanks for the things from America!!

 Elena and Elias stomping on the bubble wrap, and Chloe laughing at them :) 

Kids singing at the Christmas morning service...

 Visiting a family from church and eating with them after the service on Saturday morning. 

 We took a car load of church people and went to the Needhams for the afternoon...

Christmas night at the house...Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!! 

Merry Christmas from Cameroon!

We wish you all a merry Christmas!!  I don't really have time to post now or for a few days, but we wanted to post a picture we took tonight and a wish you all a wonderful day!  Abby and a neighbor lady fixed a wonderful meal for our Christmas dinner tonight.  After we ate, we read the Christmas story and sang some songs with the kids.  After it was dark, we put the presents under the tree and were blessed in opening so many wonderful treats from our families back home...thanks for everything!  We miss you all!!!  I'll post more later...

Meyerim kids

So, I have been swamped flying this week, but it has been fun.  Yesterday on my first flight to Meyerim, Akwaya, I landed and taxied up to a pretty sizable group of kids.  They greeted me with their usual smiles and "welcome, Pastor Sam..."  But when one of them looked in the back of the plane, he started shouting and cheering.  Soon a bunch of the kids ran to the back of the plane and did the same.  I couldn't figure out what they saw in my cargo that interested them so much.  A few minutes later, one of the men from the village asks me where his school teachers are.  I asked if he meant the two ladies that I flew out a few days ago, and he said that they were the ones.  I told him they were coming on the next flight and that I didn't realize that they were teachers.  I asked if the kids were cheering because they didn't see their teachers in the plane, and he affirmed that that was the reason...so you see kids in the bush of Africa are pretty normal after all!!! 

However, when I did fly their teachers back into the village on the next flight, they gave them a royal welcome that would make anyone happy! 

Pray for the children in Akwaya!!

Back to work...

I welcomed a three week break from flying, but during that time I missed out on some beautiful flying weather…no rain and good visibility.  Now the harmattan dust is here with poor visibility.  Praise the Lord for his safety during the unpredictable weather of rainy season, but now we pray for safety during the challenges of dry season dust, smoke, and haze.  We were able to catch up on some ministry in Ndop and spend a little more time together as a family the last few weeks as well. 

We watched with interest on TV the visit of the President of Cameroon to our regional capital of Bamenda the last few days.  His visit to this region was very important to the country, and we praise the Lord for a safe and successful trip for him.  The skies were busier with military and transport planes, which was one reason why I was grounded from flying for at least the last week. 

Today on my first dry season mission, I was able to finally fly in to Akwaya to bring out Pastor Felix.  He has been waiting for me for a week due to illness.  Praise the Lord he is doing better and is looking forward to some time out of Akwaya.  He mentioned the Lord’s hand in the village of Matene, which is one of the hardest places for him to reach on foot.  Pray for Felix’s knee, which is really hindering him lately, and another reason why he needed to fly out. 

Believers Baptist Church news

Thank you for praying for our church planting efforts in Ndop Town, Cameroon.  We had a good baptism service a few weeks ago, and this last Sunday we adopted our church constitution and began official membership. 

 Me and my buddy on the way to the water...

 Testing the water...slippery rocks, moderate current, cold water...wouldn't trade it for anything!

 Taking it all in...

 Praise the Lord for lives changed through the Gospel of Jesus and obedience in baptism!

 Singing by the water...

 Abby usually plays the preludes, the offertory, and introduces any new songs.

 Two of our new members signing the church covenant.   

Chrysanthus and I working together to plant this church and others. 

Visit from the Fon

The Fon made me a messenger of his palace earlier in November, and he came to visit us in our own house yesterday.  His palace is hard 9 to 11 hours away, so we were happy to see him as he took care of business in the provincial capital nearby.  He also introduced me to some of his own people who stay in our town. 

Visiting Camp Joy and getting a "tour" from Pastor Ernest.  Ernest was with me the first time we met the Fon in February. 

Pray that the Camp Joy ministry will be a way to reach some of the young people for Christ in his villages.  The Fon is excited about the opportunity.  We can either take the camp ministry to them by transporting the staff via airplanes or we can fly a few campers out of their villages to Camp Joy.  This would all depend on getting an airstrip put in, so pray for the necessary permissions from the national government.  

Lastly, we took a tour of the hangar, airplanes, and airfield in Sabga.  Pastor Julius knows the Fon as he was with us reaching the palace a few weeks ago. 

Praise the Lord for open doors for the furtherance of the Gospel!