Bvuale = Good Morning!

Friday, March 25, 2011

Maxceline (in Class 4) is a flamboyant young lady who loves to lead the singing at school. We know her mother and father. Her father is one of Sister Elizabeth’s brothers. About a month ago I saw the father in a bar, drinking. He motioned to me that I should join him. I explained that I did not drink alcohol and that it was not good for his body either. He was obviously under the influence that day.
About that time we heard that Maxceline’s mother moved back to her family’s compound, separating from her husband. I have seen and talked to both the father and the mother a few times after that. We often see the father walking out the “bush” near our school to tap the raffia trees to make raffia wine.

Maxceline came to our house today and helped me “select” rice. As we sat in the backyard picking out the hulls, she told me that she had recently taken home a colored memory verse paper from school. She read the verse she had written on the page to her father, and her father was highly impressed. He was glad that she was learning in our school! Also Maxceline gave her uncle a note we had sent home from school today asking the parents to feed their children more protein food like beans, peanuts, etc. Maxceline’s uncle said, “Those Adventists have sense.”

Please keep praying for these young people and their families.
Tonight we are showing the film “Fireproof.” We have invited many families / couples to attend, hoping that they will see that submitting to Jesus is the only way to know how to serve each other in love. Maxceline’s family is not at all unusual to have struggles, partly due to alcohol abuse.

Carol


30 March 2011

Yesterday (Tuesday) was a day full of blessings from God. The story begins Monday. We had been planning for a couple weeks to travel to Kumbo on Monday to purchase various supplies for the school and for the house including fresh market food. The Kumbo market seems to have a wider variety of vegetables that we enjoy, like green beans, lettuce, bell peppers, and beets—things we rarely see in Lassin. We thought Monday would make an excellent day for the trip since it would be the first day of our spring holiday and it would also be Kumbo Market Day, meaning there would be more vendors and a larger variety of products. Ok, so we were all set to go.

Monday morning we ate breakfast early and packed our bags. Our plans quickly changed when we discovered that there was not enough to make payroll and to do our shopping trip both. We had expected some funds to be wired Friday, but we had not received confirmation of that via email, soooo at the last minute we rescheduled our trip, hoping that Tuesday we would be able to go. We were all disappointed including the two other people who were planning to go with us.

Monday night we received notice of fund transfer. So, Tuesday was the day! We were just about ready to leave Tuesday morning when some people asked Steve if a mother and her child could accompany us to Kumbo to the hospital as the child was in critical condition and on an IV. Steve readily agreed, and we rushed to push-start the car and pile in! Jessica and I sat in the back of the station wagon and bounced around as Steve goaded the car over the rough, winding roads.
We made it to Kumbo in just about two hours, about half an hour faster than usual. Another blessing that helped speed the trip was that the last 7-10 km of road has been graded, smoothing out an especially rough area. The tiny, sick baby actually cried a little bit just before we reached the hospital. It was a relief to hear the little waif cry. We felt very blessed to have been able to be traveling on Tuesday when the baby needed the help!

Next blessing--in Kumbo, the power was on and the internet connection was working, albeit ever so slowly! Yeah! We have been there several times hoping to use the internet, but not able to because the power was off or the connection down. We picked up the funds and were able to do all of our shopping and internet use. Then we headed back to Lassin about 5 pm. We even stopped in Mbinon and bought several hands of bananas; Mbinon bananas are the best!

When we arrived home, we had a short discussion of who had the house key. I didn’t have it; neither did Steve. ?? Jessica ran to the house; the door was open, and the key was in the lock on the outside of the door! We went inside; nothing had been touched; a couple computers were out in the living room, a walkman also was sitting out. What a blessing! In our haste to leave, we forgot to lock the door!
The wind must have pushed it open.

God is merciful to us forgetful humans. Even when we forget more important things like being thankful for His generous forgiveness and salvation! God is good!

Another tremendous blessing that we may not have posted on the blog
yet: A family is arriving in Cameroon next week. They are coming to Lassin to replace us. We are very thankful and happy that God is taking care of this special project!

Carol