Please Pray

Hello everyone, Please pray that Val will continue to have courage and stand in faith. Remember she is surrounded by many people who do not yet believe.  Thanks again for all of your support.

Thank you for your prayers

Hello everyone,

I just got off the phone with Val. A big thanks to everyone who prayed for her health. Her voice is much better and she was able to tell me all about the story she had wanted to share earlier. It's still a little scratchy but way better than the day before (remember Cameroon is about 6 hours ahead of us).

She needs your prayers again, but for a different reason. As I write this blog she is on her way to a funeral. One of her grandfather's relatives passed away yesterday. He was a young man who had just received a prominent promotion in the military. He suddenly fell ill and had been in critical condition. Yesterday after Val and the chief had looked at the first section of land a couple brought a goat and a chicken to him so they could perform a sacrifice to his ancestors.

Val pulled the chief aside and told him that the young man needed prayer instead of a sacrifice and she quoted some scripture as well.  She was able to say a prayer for him, but they decided to perform the sacrifice anyway. Early this morning the man passed away. So, she needs prayer because she will be attending his funeral and she wants the courage and strength to be a light in the darkness. As we have said before many of the people in the village profess to be Catholics but they still practice many tribal traditions like sacrificing animals to their ancestors.

As always I'll give more information as I receive it. God bless and thanks again for your prayers.

Back in Cameroon

Hello everyone,

Val is back in Cameroon for two weeks. She is working on transferring the newly donated land to the ministries' name and setting up nonprofit status in Cameroon. Today she made a great deal of progress. She met with the Mayor and he will process the paperwork for non-profit status and approve the construction of the orphanage. She looked at two sections of land. One is 2000 square meters with good access to a local road, the other is 3000 square meters, but there is a 400 meter gap from that section to the road. We'll use the 2000 meters section for the construction in 2013 of the orphanage/church  and the other larger section for future construction. She will meet some more officials Tuesday and I will update you when I have more info. She also had a very interesting story to share with me, but she was unable to because she is losing her voice. Please pray for her healing, because she has a lot of talking she needs to do on this trip yet.

Thank you for all of the support. I'll have more information later.

Back in Brookings

Hello everyone,

We are back in Brookings now, planning for A Night in Cameroon. Thank you for all of your prayers, God moved in powerful ways this trip.

Today

Today we met with another chief in Yaounde to get his blessing, but after that part of the trip we fell pray to a part of Cameroonian life most people don't experience. The president of Cameroon will shut down highways and city streets if he happens to be traveling. We've heard about this, but hadn't seen it in action until today. Without warning the police shut down our route back to where we were staying. This caused major traffic jams and we had to travel all the way around the city to get back. The sun will set in a little bit so we will call it a day. But it's interesting just how much we take for granted in the US.

Update

Hello everyone,

The sun was out for a while, then the rain clouds came in. The cupcakes turned out ok, but the cake was still too soft. If the sun comes out today I'll try to stick it back in the oven to finish it. It's looking like we will only have one good day with the solar oven for the two weeks we are out here. Mirielle was very impressed with the results both times and so was Guy. She is still excited about showing the oven to her friends. I believe that she understands the need for a good day of sun and that summer time will be here soon. If we had not of had the one good test run I don't think she would be trying to work with it. So, I'm glad I tried as much as I did.

Update

Hello everyone,

We just got back from Kribi. We didn't have our laptop with so we couldn't send any updates. Yesterday while on the beach Val was able to share the story of Peter with some fishermen who were having trouble catching fish. She was able to share the importance of faith. It's important to always be on the lookout for opportunities to share your faith.

Trying the solar oven today, but this time I had Mireille help me. She is going to show it off to her woman's group Saturday, so it's important that she knows how to operate it. We're doing cake again, I let her choose. It rained this morning on the way back to Yaounde and we still have some clouds in the sky, but we have good sun right now, so we will see what happens.

Keep praying for us.

P.S. Jena made it back safely to the States. She arrived on Thursday evening and will be able to start next week off fresh.