Dear family & friends,

Steve writing- Greetings from Lassin Cameroon! It's the last hours of March and the loose ends of the project are steadily being wrapped up.

School: the walls of all 4 classrooms stand ready for next school year.
Classroom two needs additional rafters added and the old ones removed and replaced. The floors of rooms 2, 3, and 4 must be graded, watered, and beaten smooth and hard. Doors and shutters must be built and fitted.
Light, heat and air are each provided by the sun and are thus free.

School well: Gregory has hit water at about 13 meters deep. Now, before rainy season hits, he is constructing a building over the well. This 3m x 6m building has two rooms, each square, one room to shelter the well and the other to provide tool storage. The well room will soon have a reinforced concrete floor. The storage room floor will remain earth. This project has been a good education for me as I am learning just what is required to build and fund a structure.

Church: we have had 8 weeks of disciple training so far. Each sermon has consisted of a bible study from a 20 lesson set. Members have then shared the fresh lesson with friends and family on Sabbath afternoons. Reports of lessons given are given with smiles and a sense of satisfaction. Sabbath evening 'vespers' begin at 5PM (promptly) and consists of playing 3 chapters from Desire of Ages from an MP3 player through rechargeable battery powered speakers. Attendees are given the book 'Born to Die' (Early chapters of Desire of Ages- about the life of Jesus). We all read along quietly as we listen to the book being read. I have wondered how much we absorb this way.
Well, first of all, a book that is read at all is better than a book that sits. Here's a comment that 'D' (Devine) made after listening to the chapter on Jesus' baptism, 'Now I understand why Jesus was baptized even though he had not sinned. He was showing us what we should do.' ('D' is very interested in baptism.)

Bibles: Charles from Douala, our local GMI volunteer and good friend, brought us 4 cases of Bibles and 2 cases of bible studies. We have really needed these- requests have come that we could not fill for about 2 months.

Weather: we thought that rainy season came on March 15 right on schedule.
We had a huge shower including hail that dented the 'zinc' roof of the school, turned banana leaves to a banner of ribbons, cut holes through the peels of growing banana, and washed our car pretty clean. However, no rain since then. What we have had has been called 'snow' by the locals. It began Friday night, March 19. The 'harmiton' appears to have drifted down from Chad and covered all of Cameroon with an ultra fine sandy dust that left our visibility at about 300 - 500 feet. It gradually dissipated until a week later we could see the outlines of the hills that surround our village a quarter to half mile away. The sandy dust continues, but we could see stars last night for the first time and the hills appear green instead of grayish white. This event shut down all but large commercial aviation for about 4 days. On 3/25/10, Gary Roberts texted me from Bere Chad, "Haze is from here. 100ft viz sand storms." I guess we don't have it so bad.
Locals say that it has been over 5 years since they have seen dust this thick.

Water: fresh water runs in the city pipes between 5 and 6 AM and at a few distant faucets through the day. We always have what we require, but it sure helps to have a few 5 gallon jugs in reserve.

Housing: We live next door to the 'Chief' of the Baptist Health Center of Lassin. He rents the house from a fellow who grew up here, but lives in a distant city. The landlord decided to add four apartments on to the house recently. This has caused quite a bit of strain on Aaron and his family, but has provided an incredible opportunity for us. I am in the process of renting two of the four apartments from this landlord in anticipation of the arrival of volunteers for next year. Each apartment has two rooms, a bedroom and 'parlor'. Each has its own private outhouse and shower with locking door. Being next door, these rooms will provide both the socialization and privacy required for the new team. How I wish I knew exactly how many rooms will be required; I could easily rent all four apartments and hold them until next September. Any council? Use Iridium SMS described on the blog home page.

Adventist Medical Automotive: On March 29, Carol saw a woman working her farm near the school. The woman said that it was her first day back at work; planting in preparation for the rainy season. She expressed her gratitude for our part in assisting with her recovery. This was the gal with the 3 liters of fluid in her lungs that we drove to the Kumbo Baptist Hospital. Now she's up and at 'em and very thankful to be alive.

Recently a gift was given us that we planned on using to complete the purchase of lumber for the school desks and construction of the well house.
However two cases presented themselves. One, a pregnant gal with RH negative blood needed an injection. Her home had recently burned by a fire used to clear cattle land and her husband has a chronic illness that significantly reduces his ability to provide for these two huge events.
(Note- taking responsibility for the damage caused by fire is not a strong point of the neighbor). We decided to assist them by paying for the Rhogam injection, $150. While still clinging tightly to the remainder of the donation, I helped give a bible study at the home of a member's mother.
While sitting in a living room lit only by a kerosene lamp and crowded by children and a few women, I met the member's sister and learned that she had painful bilateral ovarian tumors. She told me that the total cost of operation and recovery would be $300. How could I tell her that her life was worth less than the desks and well house? I gave the funds to the health center in her name before I could reconsider. Before I could ask God where the replacement funds were coming from, I got news from my dad, the replacements had already come.

With all the evidence that God is very much alive and well and supporting us and our family here in Lassin, I have had some pretty significant need for a perspective adjustment. I needed a class in 'What it Takes to be a Missionary'. I found it. In '09, I had downloaded MP3 files of a man reading the book 'Christian Service'. While walking to and from the school and while using a shovel to grade the earth around classrooms 3 and 4, I listened to the book in 3 days. It was the answer to my questions and many others. Am I recommending that you do the same? ABSOLUTELY!! There is no way that we can get all the training we require for God's service from the church service each week. This little book is so well balanced and encouraging. Lessons are objective and can be put directly into use. Do you feel like you could use some direction in your spiritual life? Try this in conjunction with your Bible study.

Carol and I are each well, fat and strong (virtues highly desirable here).
I weighed 68kg the other day; I am so happy. Also, no jiggers on either of our feet since the use of Permethrin on our shoes 5 weeks ago; what a relief.

Love, Steve & Carol

P.S. Naphtali told us that he had listened to Adventist World Radio for 20 years and loved it. However, there was no Adventist church to attend. Now he has one. He attends every week. He rotates in teaching the morning lesson about every 3 weeks. Some plant, God waters, others reap.