This is how things looked when Val arrived.

The following pictures were taken by Val two weeks ago when she first arrived at the work site. 

You can see that grass is growing out of this pile of sand due to neglect. 

In these two pictures we can see how the grass has over taken the construction site. Since Val has been on the site things have completely turned around. She tried to send me a video of the site today, but the file was too big. Unfortunately we really do need to have someone onsite to oversee the workers.

It takes a very long time for her to upload pictures, so I will post them as I get them.

A family's Hospitality

Last night Val went to Pierre’s house for dinner after picking up more materials for the construction. Pierre and his family were the ones living in Val’s father’s house when we first visited the village.  When we first met them the two boys only had one set of clothes and their food for the day was a small piece of cassava root. We have been able to support them each subsequent mission trip. Last night they only ate potatoes cooked in palm oil, and onion, and salt. That was all they had for supper, nothing else. They didn't even have condiments to add to their food. But they were so generous to want to share with Val. It is often humbling to see how much those who have so little are willing to share. Val brought them a sack of rice while visiting them, and they were very happy. Val plans to buy them some garlic, ginger roots and other spices the next time she shops at the market. In the meantime she will share the spices that she does have.

Hello everyone, at about 8:30 pm our time 2:30 am her time, Val and I had a wonderful conversation through Skype. We were able to audio chat for about 40 minutes. Then we did something we didn't dare try before. We had a video chat. We had to reconnect about three times but it was so worth it. We got to see each other for the first time in two weeks. What a blessing. We were so very, very happy. It was like GOD gave her a belated birthday gift. Maybe it was because she was on so early her time, this was the best connection we have had to date especially in the village. For those of you out there who know just how slow the internet can be in Cameroon I think you can appreciate just how very, very, very blessed we were. Please continue to pray for her and the important work she is doing. Everyone in the village agrees that the orphanage would not be making the progress it is without her. Thanks again for your prayers and support.

Val is back in Cameroon

Hello everyone,

I've haven't been able to update the blog on Val's trip as much as I'd like because she has not been able to connect to the Internet. She did land safely in Yaounde last Saturday and she arrived in the village of Bano about a day later. Not only has she been overseeing the project, she has been working along side the contractor and his crew each day of the week. With all of the work she has not had as much opportunity to minister to the people of the village. She was able to speak with a young man who ran the 5K last year and a group of women who came to the work site.

Please continue to pray for her as the consruction continues. I'll post pictures of the progress as soon as I get them. Thank you very much everyone.

Happy Father's day to all of you fathers out there.

Anna hands out a scholarship.

Jessica gives a heartfelt embrace to one of the girls at school.

Hello everyone, It is 4 am here in Cameroon and we are up and getting ready to leave Bano. We will catch the 5am bus and hopefully get there around 1:00 pm. The ride should take about 4-5 hours. Pray for safe travels for all of us to the village. Thanks everyone for all of your prayer and well wishes. Internet will be spotty in the village, so I don't know when my next post will be. God bless.