Lassin Adventist School

Lassin Stories from April

2011-08-26T11:16:00.000-07:00

Blog stories

I just wanted to write down a few more stories from the Adventist Primary School of Lassin before I forget. Our two years in Lassin are so memorable. We miss our true friends there. We are looking forward to being together in heaven!
At the beginning of this past school year (2010-2011), we opened the school to Grades 1-5. This was possible due to Gregory and Steve’s hard work pushing ahead on the rebuilding of the classrooms to make them fit for use. Naphtali also visited many people during the holiday months of June, July, and August ’10 and registered many students. There was general community interest in the school because of the success of the first year’s students. Rumors were circulating that one of our Class 1 students could read better than a Class 4 government school student. As such, we had no problem with having enough students for all five classes.

Lesly
Most of our previous year’s Class 1 students had passed on to Class 2, a few were repeating Class 1, and a few had been promoted to Class 3. Unfortunately two of our previous students: Lesly and Rodrick did not return. Rodrick moved to the Southwest Region to live with his mother, but Lesly was still in Lassin. In fact, Lesly lived right on the road to the school. Lesly had joined the school in January of the first year. He was quite feisty at first, but within a few weeks he settled into the routine with the students and was a quick learner.
When school opened, we saw Lesly and asked him to return. He seemed interested and happy to see us, but for some reason Lesly never came back. The rest of the year we passed him almost every day as he walked to the government school and as we were walking to our school. Although he never came back, it was always a highlight to see Lesly as he would always greet us with an enormous smile and bright eyes. Please pray for Lesly and his family.

“I Love Jesus”
Near the end of the first year, we invited three of the leaders of the Muslim community to eat with us at our house. Steve had been friends with them and we enjoyed their company.
Of the 76 students we had at the school this past year about 15 were Muslim. This was up from only one the previous year. At the beginning of the year, when we showed a short segment of the Jesus Film, the Muslim children were obviously disturbed. Often they would want to leave the room or sometimes they would hide their faces. One day, they pointed to the Jesus character and called him “Satan.” We teachers prayed for these students and were happy to see a change slowly take place as day after day we had Bible devotions every morning in assembly, Bible stories about Jesus illustrated with felt pictures (thank you, Becky!), and sang songs about Jesus.
Near the end of April while I was working with Class 3 and 4 students, one of our Muslim girls was working with a board with magnetic letters. She was enjoying making words on the board. She came to me, showed me her board with some attempted words, and asked me: “How do you spell: I love Jesus?” I was very surprised, happily surprised! I helped her re-arrange her letters until they spelled out her sentence. Two or three other days after that she practiced making those same words. The last time I remember her making these words, she showed me the board triumphantly displaying her words: “I love Jesus”! Praise God for the change in attitude!

Lawrence
We passed out the Little Friend, Primary Treasure, and Junior Guide papers every Sabbath after church. The children eagerly took the papers. Often we would see adults reading them too. One day as I entered Naphtali’s father’s compound, I saw Lawrence, Naphtali’s son, reading the stories from one of the papers to several children there. Lawrence attended our school this past year and was one of the few students who could read well.

Pennies
One day about the middle of the school year, I stopped by the Pinneapple Man’s compound on the way home to buy my usual two or three pineapples. This day Kenedy, Julius, and Matthew had accompanied me to see if I would buy sugarcane for them. I usually did. (Hey, a foot-long stick of sugarcane was only 25 francs—about five cents US-- and chewing on the sugarcane actually helps clean their teeth. These kids ate so little candy that the sugarcane was probably not detrimental to their health. Also, it takes so much energy to chew the hard stick, they probably used all the energy just eating it!)
As I was looking in my coin purse for change to buy the 40-50 cent pineapples, Kenedy spotted my US coins. He wanted to see. So, on a whim I showed him some pennies and then gave each of the boys one to keep. They were excited to have US money! This gave me an idea. Maybe I could give each of the kids at school a penny from America; it would be a neat keepsake from us. I emailed my friends at Sierra View Jr. Academy, and asked Brenda if anyone there could send me 100 pennies. Sure enough the pennies came before we left. The last time it was my turn for morning assembly worship, I told them about the four special words that are written on the US penny and how we cannot trust in money or anything or anybody besides God. Money can be stolen or lost, and other people can fail us, but God will never fail us. So I was able to give them each a penny to keep with the words: “In God we trust.” (Thank you, Brenda! You’re an angel!)

Our Last School Day
The last day that we attended school before we left was very special. Steve and I had planned a special unveiling ceremony of a sign honoring Gregory for digging the school well. He had given his labor in digging the well (7 meters deep). We also wanted to officially thank each teacher. What we didn’t know was that Elebert and Merlissa and the other teachers wanted to give a very special thank you to us.
We gathered all the students and some visiting adults near the well house. Then Steve unveiled the sign “Gregory’s Well” for Gregory and told how Gregory had given his labor to dig the well. Then Steve honored/thanked each teacher for their hard work and dedication. Juliana, my assistant, led a student choir singing a goodbye song that she had composed. Then each teacher thanked us. For a grand finale, the ladies (Merlissa, Juliana, and Vivian) served a wonderful feast of rice and beans. (I was wondering why Merlissa wanted a gallon or so of rice.) That dinner was really a labor of love because it takes a good hour to sort out about two cups of rice! We didn’t know it, but the ladies had lovingly picked that rice clean over the last few days.
It was hard to leave the school and the students. Some students were crying. Some students came to our house that afternoon to watch us make our final preparations to leave. On Sabbath afternoon Jacenta and her brother Rene came along with Naphtali’s children. They asked us for paper and pencils; then they wrote notes asking us to stay. Talk about heartbreak!
Christian education really works! Time after time we saw students make better choices and learn to trust in God. We are so happy the project will continue. We are looking forward to seeing these precious people in heaven.

Elebert & Merlissa’s New Blog Page
We were so thrilled that Elebert and Merlissa came to take over the school project. They are true-hearted Christian workers. In June they had to go back to Canada to take care of immigration issues, but they are planning to return to Lassin in September to start school again. They have started their own blog. Please join us in following the school project under their leadership and in praying for them and the children. They are currently raising money so they can return to Lassin.
Their new blog is: Lassi-family2.blogspot.com (sic).

2011-06-22T21:43:00.000-07:00

Dear family & friends,
Carol and I are back in California, I'm back at work and Carol is looking for a job teaching. We've seen our family here and prayed for our 'family' back in Lassin.
Jessica is working at Indian Creek Camp in TN, and doing well.

The couple that took the Lassin project is Elebert and Merlissa of Canada. They joined us for a month, stayed another month and a half, then had to return temporarily to Canada for visa issues (they both immigrated to Canada). So, after their return trip to Canada, they sent us this note to post for you.

Thank you for keeping this project in your prayers.
Steve & Carol Rose

From: Elebert and Merlissa
June 19, 2011

After hearing so many testimonies from David Gates about how wonderful
God is and how he comes through for his children in the crunch. We
have now experienced it ourselves. As we were getting ready to leave
Cameroon, things just simple weren't coming together. First my friend
who sent us transport money to reach Douala forgot the correct
spelling of my name, and we had to hustle to get that sorted out. And
if that was not enough, the money we had to get to pay the teachers
just couldn't get cleared. because of a wrong code. Thank God
everything worked out by Friday morning. Our flight was Sunday the
12th @ mid-day.

As if all these troubles weren't enough, a small quantity of deet
squeezed out into the bag which had our passports. And in our haste to
correct the situation we cleared everything except ... the passports
and dumped the bag in water. Half an hour later I was impressed to
look at my passport and that is when we discovered they were all in
water. Merlisa's passport got the heavier damage her photo was
somewhat distorted. Then began the job of air drying the
passports.Needs lots of patience.

Sunday morning, Charles car was having troubles and We were thinking
now we are going to miss our flight but God always answers when we
call. So by 10:30 the car was ready and off we went to the airport.
You guessed it more trouble. First one of our bags was checked in
under some-one elses name on a different flight, it was good we caught
it before they check all our bags under the wrong name and we had to
wait a while for them to retrieve the bag.

Then as we were paying the exit stamp we found that we had to pay the
10 000 CFA for Estellah too. So we used up the dollars we had for
transport from the Buffalo Airport. Now we were out of Cameroon but
were sure going to be stranded in Buffalo. The money we needed for the
grey hound to get to Toronto would be sitting somewhere at moneygram
and we couldn't get to it.

In Washington, one of our bags was missing and it wasn't the one that
had been checked wrong. Could things get worse or would it turn out to
be a blessing? When we arrived in Buffalo, all our bags were missing.
We filed our claim with the airline and started walking out of the
airport. Halfway through the parking lot, we stopped and prayed " Our
Father in Heaven, send some-one to show us kindness in Jesus name
Amen" Isaiah 65:24 - And it shall come to pass, that before they call,
I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.

As we ventured out of the parking lot the first person we asked
directions was not that helpful and so we walked up to the garage
that's by the airport. And we were told the place was a mile away.
After walking a while we did not see any sign of the place so we
headed back to the garage just to make sure. God allowed that so we
could connect with his answer to our prayer. It was not nice having to
walk back the way that we had just been through without thinking , if
only we had continued we'd almost be there by now ...

After we rounded the corner, about a five minute walk. There was a
lady there waiting in her car, and she asked us where we were going
and said "hop on, i know where that is". It turned out that was not
the location of moneygram. And she knew where there was one and took
us there. And not only that she fed us, bought Estellah a toy and took
us to the grey hound station, where we bought the last two seats for
the bus that was ready to leave.

God knows how to take care of his children, and his helpers are not
limited to Adventists. I ask that we all pray for this precious lady
who answered the call when God said to her "show my servants some
kindness" Her name is Dia

And Oh, we got the bags the following night.(that long walk would have
been extra terrible with the bags)

Food for thought:Scripture is sweeter when its practical

Four days on the move... Our second school year in Lassin is complete.

2011-05-06T07:27:00.000-07:00

Dear family & friends,

Our trip from Lassin to Douala Cameroon, then Addis Ababa Ethiopia, Washington D.C., Chicago, then Wichita went well; 4 full days. We're enjoying Kansas with our son Eric and his friends. So good to share hugs with him on a frequent basis! The trip went well. The day-long break in Ethiopia was really nice and gave us a chance to stretch our legs and enjoy the cool, high altitude of Addis Ababa.

Now, we're enjoying the cool, low altitude of Wichita. Our bodies are gradually adapting to a stable timezone again. It is amazing to have such long daylight though; the sun remains up until 8:30, 2 hours longer than we're used to. It makes it hard to get to bed early, but even 7 hours of sleep is better than cat napping in airline chairs.

The last evangelism related news from Lassin is that we were able to leave 8 DVD sets of the It Is Written, New Beginnings bible studies in Noone, to be distributed to the 7 or 8 villages of the Noni sub-division. We also left 4 sets of these studies in Cameroonian 'Pidgin'. This represented a pretty focused effort on my part, and so much support on Carol and Jessica's part. Naphtali and Divine will be responsible for distribution within Noni, and Charles (in Douala) will be involved in the Pidgin project. Charles already has a evangelistic series lined up that will use these DVD's to present the message.

Keep Elebert, Merlisa, and 9 month old Estellah in your prayers as they continue to complete the school year in Lassin. We'll let you know how to read about their 2 year stay in Lassin later.

Thank you for your prayers and support. After our trip down the mountains from Lassin to Douala, we handed Charles the remainder of 'our' funds - 250 franks, about 55 cents. We had purchased equipment to support Elebert and Merlisa, supplies to improve the Lassin public water system, pay rent for the two houses, and make April school staff payroll. There was enough to cover every necessary expense, but no more. Again, God covers every need; amazing, just like last year.

About the Lassin public water system: there are 3 shallow wells that catch water that is piped to a storage tank system, then piped to town in a 2 inch pipe. The water that is flowing at the end of dry season is the equivalent of the flow from a half gallon milk carton into a glass. This quantity is supposed to support 1/4 of the town; it falls far short. My initial approach was designed to stop all waste from dripping faucets and leaky tanks. Perhaps Elebert will choose to add a 4th well to the system. We'll see. This is such a support to the health of the town; lower the risk of Cholera outbreak through cleanliness and adequate clean hydration.

Still depending on God,
Steve & Carol

Leaving Lassin

2011-05-02T19:56:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it only took one day for Carol, Steve, and Jessica to cram our junk into a taxi, cruise over some of the most beautiful roads in northwest Cameroon, continue by bus in Bamenda, then arrive in Douala by sunset. We're tired as usual, but really happy to be on the move.
We sure left some great friends behind; promised to stay in touch by email.

Our plane should leave for Ethiopia Monday noon. We'll spend the night there in Adis Ababa, then head to Washington D.C. Tuesday.
We'll send more news about this later.

We left a cool, relatively arid mountainous region for a really warm, nearly totally humid sauna; oh what a difference. But the pineapple is incredible!

our love to you all,

Steve & Carol

Dear ‘family’, (Steve here)

2011-04-20T09:32:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I wanted to be a missionary so that I could ‘watch God work’. Well, I am watching and He is busy! The landlord of our little church room is a retired teacher from the Catholic school system in Kumbo. He has a good friend, also a teacher, who teaches in N’Kor every other Saturday. We have seen him occasionally, but only became acquainted some weeks ago. He visited our regular Sabbath afternoon ‘Amazing Facts’ Most Amazing Prophesies presentation. I invited him to see the initial showing of the latest New Beginnings ‘film’ in the Noone language. Since this man speaks about 6+ languages including Noone, English, Greek and Latin (probably Banso ‘Bandsaw’ the language of Kumbo), and French he could enjoy the film.
He expressed such an interest in the Most Amazing Prophesies series that I decided to make an effort to copy it for him. I was able to grind out the 10 DVDs (had not learned about compression yet) and give them to him. I prayed that he would view them objectively and that God would bless his understanding; he is employed by the largest religious denomination in the country. Two weeks later, we met again and he thanked me heartily for the gift. I asked him how many he had watched. He said that he had been watching one sermon per night after his family went to bed. He had seen the series once and was about half way through the second viewing. He had been particularly interested and amazed by pastor Doug’s report of Jesus’ comment to the repentant thief on the cross, “Verily I say unto thee today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Doug had said that in the original Greek record of this story, that there was no punctuation. That to understand Jesus’ comment correctly you had to look to Jesus’ conversation with Mary recorded at the end of Luke 23 and beginning of chapter 24. Well, this scholar rushed to his library and pulled his Greek new testament. Turning to Luke, he discovered that Doug had told the story correctly. “All these years”, he said, “I have been incorrectly teaching the story to my students. Now, I can tell them correctly.” I was amazed. Only this man, who understands and owns a Greek new testament could fully realize this. He went on to say, “I was a bit disappointed with the lesson on Antichrist.” I’m sure he was, but that was all that he said on the topic. “Now, I can share these DVDs with my students who complete exams early and need something to do.” Do you realize which school this is taking place at? Do you have any idea of the long string of providential events that led up to this man watching this series? God is Amazing! (and I get to watch)

Gregory should complete the school well today (20 April, ’11). He has mixed concrete and formed blocks with my rugged but difficult wooden form. He has worked deep in that pit, risking more than we realized.
A couple of weeks ago, he was working at the bottom of the 13 meter
(43 ft) deep hole when a stone weighing about 2 pounds (1kg:) was silently drug by the rope to the edge of the well. The man at the top had not noticed the stone as he lowered and raised a bucket hour after hour. Suddenly, Gregory heard the soft thud of the stone as it bounced off the walls above him. In the blackness of the well, not knowing where to move to avoid the stone, he simply stood up straight.
The stone touched the hair at the back of his head before splatting harmlessly into the soft mud at his feet. Gregory told me that he looked up and said, “My God. Thank you for sparing my life.” A week later, he showed me a small scrape on his left upper cheek where a block had grazed his face in its haste to get to the bottom of the well. I’m glad to have him about out of there. He says that the water coming in now is really clear. What a blessing to have clean water for the children to wash their hands in and to drink as soon as we perform an initial chlorination of the well.

Last night Gregory came to our house to watch lesson 26 of the New Beginnings Bible lessons in Noone. It was on Heaven. I asked if he ‘wanted to go.’ He said, ‘No, I want to stay here.’ I should have asked if he wanted to go to Heaven, because he wanted to stay and eat dinner with us. Over dinner, his face beaming, he said, ‘I have a mansion in Heaven.’ After dinner we carried the last sack of cement out to his motor bike, he secured it with 3 yards of rubber cord, and rode off into the star lit night (headlight must not be working this week either).

A couple days ago, Carol and Jess took Elebert and Merlisa to Kumbo by taxi. While they were away, Divine came to the house complaining to me (he had blown a small fuse) about a teacher that frequently arrives late and how that teacher’s problem needs to be addressed. Well, this morning Dee came to our house for water (our faucets continue to be dry) and we shared breakfast with him. After Jess and Carol hoofed off to school, Dee told me how he did not teach in school yesterday.
Words like ‘hypocrite’ began to drift through my mind, then he began to tell his story. A little girl that attends our school became sick early in the morning, possibly just after school began. Dee investigated into her situation and decided to take her home. She had been vomiting and required rest, medicine, and the care of her family. So, because of her weakened condition, Dee began to carry her the three miles to her home. On the way, the watering system began to deliver the much needed water to the newly planted corn, bean, and vegetable crops all over the hills of Lassin. The little girl in his arms was beginning to become soaked in the torrential rain. Dee took off his shirt and covered the girl. When they arrived at the girl’s compound, the place was vacant. The whole family was out planting in their farm. He carried her to a neighbor’s place, finding someone to care for her he left for the health center, picked up some ‘meksin’ and returned to the girl. By this time it was too late for him to trek the hour back to the school so he just went home. Well, I never mentioned the ‘hypocrite’ thing.

Divine also told me how he plans to be ‘more busy during summer vacation than I am now.’ He is adding to the list of people interested in seeing the New Beginnings Bible study in Noone. He plans to carry the laptop to their homes all through rainy season. You know, God also plans on visiting with people in their homes this summer, do you know anybody on His list? I love these stories. I’m going to miss this people; they have become my family too.

This brings us to Elebert and Merlisa. They left Canada with their 9 month old daughter to arrive in Lassin in early April. They are sweet and love Jesus. I immediately dumped the Sabbath sermon responsibility on Elebert who picked it up happily. They are sharing a house with Jess, but plan to move into this sumptuous pad upon our departure. They have begun to trek out to the school daily. They’re toughening up just fine. I feel for them as I sit here in my Bible study production room warm and dry listening to the rain pound on the roof as they are held hostage at the school by weather. They’ll make it.

Our staff are quickly developing friendships with them. Elebert seems to be taking the 5th grade and Merlisa wants the 3rd / 4th grade room.
We still need our local teachers for a myriad of social and language reasons, but it looks like the school will be in willing hands too.

The other blog entry, I made a big mistake, saying that we did not need any more boxes of Primary Treasures, Young Disciples, or Adult Sabbath School lessons (as if every person in English speaking Cameroon already had a library full). We need them! Last Sabbath, Divine told me that Carol has been using incorrect terminology (in an amazingly polite way). He explained that there is nothing such as a ‘children’s Bible lesson’. He said that we all start learning the lessons at the simple beginning and work up. Apparently, adults around town are enjoying the Primary Treasures too. They will find someone to read it to them and they are loving them.

A pharmacist at the Lassin Baptist Health Center has been coming to get his cell phone charged at our place. One day I gave him an adult Sabbath school lesson on ‘Fruits of the Spirit’. He loved it, but a friend begged it, another friend begged it from the other, and Elvis has not seen it since. He explained that his Baptist Christians (I just learned that he is a lay pastor too) were missing the lessons that he was preaching to them from the book, and “can I have another copy?”. I gave him one of the last two copies. I gave him a hand full of Steps to Jesus for the group. He was delighted. His cell phone does not dent our power supply, his desire for the word of God is a big deal. We need to keep his church supplied every couple months or so.

Plans for school growth are limited to adding 6th grade next year and accepting only 1st graders. School finances should be about $250 per month plus repairs and expansion; what a relief after pouring funds into the place this year. The buildings look like a “university”
according to the Fon, and most anyone else you meet in town. Thank you so much for your donations! This summer, we’ll thank you individually.

School repairs are – new rafters for 3 of the rooms; some old American guy thought that saggy rafters are not cool. The well still needs a bit of concrete for the floor and plaster for the walls, and an ‘India II’ hand pump. This should do until dry season comes and Elebert will be considering where to build a 7th grade classroom for the next year; he will be expanding the school a classroom at a time until there is a secondary school.

I’m working on lesson 13 of 26 It Is Written, New Beginnings Bible lessons in Pidgin. I promised our pastor and Charles that I would be done before we leave on May 2 (yes, May 2). It seems that Pidgin “English” is the connecting language between these ever-so-many local dialects. Our pastor has a group of English speakers in Kumbo that are waiting for a series in Pidgin in his house; that thick Southern Californian accent is too difficult for them. He also has a group of Noone speakers that will meet to hear the lessons in their ‘mada tongue’; nothing sounds so sweet as Noone (to a Noni person).

Okay, I’ve been writing this too long and need to get back to work.
However, this is a happening place and you should get to hear the stories. There are more… got your visa application filled out?
Passport still valid for two years? You could… Think I’m kidding? Not!

Fresh mango and pineapple stains on our throats we press on in really Good Hands,

Steve & Carol Rose

Bvuale = Good Morning!

2011-03-31T10:33:00.000-07:00

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

10 Sacks of Cement....

2011-03-07T00:48:00.000-08:00

Dear family & friends (again the line seems blurry),

News since Feb 27…

Sunday, Carol and I did a week and a half worth of laundry in our ‘bio-powered eco-green’ washer; okay, by hand, as usual. The normal tasks of the day were still in full swing at 6PM when Gregory showed up for a Bible study with me. The house was filling with teachers wanting to play flute-like ‘recorders’ before the weekly teacher supper and staff meeting. Gregory and I padded down the reddish brown road to the church. I produced our two Walkman players and connected the ear ‘buds’ to each. He just loves hearing the New Beginnings Bible studies that Naphtali and I produce in his own Noone language. He listened to lesson 18 while I, Noone impaired, listened to Desire of Ages being read. He would stop the player periodically to discuss some point of the lesson. Twice he told stories of his childhood that I had never heard. Apparently, his parents died during his early childhood. None of his relatives took him in their homes to the extent that meals were regular. He told of being so hungry that he stole the lunch of ladies working a farm. He jumped into a stream to escape identification, but was beaten badly by his school master when he was finally identified as the ‘thief’. He asked me how he should make this wrong right. How can I answer that? After a quick but sincere prayer, I reminded him of the really good feeling that one has after confessing a wrong. He stated that he planned to apologize to each of the people that he had stolen food from as a child.

After the Bible lesson, we walked together to our home where he had left his t’rusty’ motorcycle. Under a sea of stars, he began discussing ‘our’ school. He has worked so hard to expertly complete the concrete work; four large classroom floors, plastering inside and outside of all walls, and recently the large ‘veranda’ (porches). In doing so, he and his two faithful hard working helpers have heard the sounds from inside the classrooms. They have heard ‘much’. Gregory began saying how he was impressed by the abundance of school teaching supplies, “even more than the government schools have. Even more than the Catholics.” But then he said, “You know what the number one important part of the school is?” He explained how much he valued the Bible stories taught daily in all four classrooms. “My son Ignacius …” (in Jessica’s 2nd grade room) tells the daily Bible study to Gregory’s wife Caroline in the evening. If corrections are necessary, Zachariah (in Vivian’s 3rd / 4th grade room) will fill in the gaps. Although it was too dark to see Gregory’s face beam, his voice was ‘beaming’. He loves the effect of Christian education on his entire family.

With the school building project completed within the budget, the next project is the well shaft casing. We plan to accomplish this using concrete blocks. I called in an order to Home Depot for a truck to deliver 500 blocks this Thursday and charged it to my Discover Card. (Nothing could be more American, or less Cameroonian.) Again, Gregory’s helpers will spend a week or two digging and carrying sand from the nearby creek bed. I made plans to drive to Kumbo for more sacks of concrete. The blocks will be formed from a hand planed eucalyptus form that I made in Franklin’s carpentry shop last school year. My dad gave me the block dimensions via satellite text message exactly one year ago. Gregory will boil palm oil until it becomes greasy, then apply the orange slop to the inside of the form to keep the concrete from sticking.

This is the ‘lead-in’ to yesterday’s drive to Kumbo for 10 50kg sacks of concrete. Naphtali’s brother Alfred accompanied me. But before departing, I added half a quart of motor oil, a couple ounces of power steering fluid (ATF), topped off the radiator and reserve, glanced at the new tires (still beautiful), then recruited Alfred to help push start the car. It seems that the month old brand new battery has failed. No warranty here, of course, that’s an Amer… custom. After driving about 30km (18mi), my taxi driver buddy Gerald honked his horn furiously and informed me that I had a leak, then he leap-froged me for the 3rd time that morning. Sure enough, my engine was heating up and pushing water out from the reservoir. I had expected an overheat since it had happened on the last trip when we accompanied Jessica to Yaounde to extend her visa, but there was only time for my mechanic Njong to rebuild both hydraulic clutch cylinders before we returned home. Now, a little more than a liter of water was enough to make ‘Ruby’ happy to complete the trip to Kumbo. Three hours later, Njong (‘Jong’) had repaired the radiator and adjusted my clutch pedal so that the clutch would not slip on steep hills. Ruby and I headed down the dusty main drag of Kumbo toward the large market and Promise Enterprise. ‘Shey’ greeted me warmly with his massive hand and asked if I needed more cement. He knows the routine well, each Monday I buy another 10 sacks. I paid, the ‘boys’ (young men) were directed to help me, and Ruby bounced down to the warehouse. After these incredibly strong men climbed narrow hand-made wooden ladders to the top of a stack of cement, then climbed down with the 110-pound sack on their heads, and placed 10 sacks into Ruby’s payload, a new face asked me for a ‘book’. Nearly each time I pick up cement, I give out Young Disciple magazines and Sabbath School quarterlies to the warehouse workers. Today I had decided that the guys were probably still reading last week’s copy. Mistake. I explained that I was sorry and had no magazines, but asked how many people worked at ‘Promise’. “Thirteen.” “Okay, I’ll bring 20 books next time.”

Ruby and I lumbered back up the red dirt road, Njong gave his final blessing to the radiator repair and I left for BBH (Banso Baptist Hospital). While ‘collecting’ Alfred, a Lassin woman ‘begged’ a ride for her frail, elderly mother and her to Lassin, explaining that her money was ‘finish’. I had ‘carried’ them to BBH some weeks ago, but then there was room. Now, poor Ruby was bursting with dirty cement, the back seats folded forward to shift some of the weight onto the front tires. But you can’t say ‘no’ to these folks if there is any way to help. ‘Mom’ can sit in front with Alfred. “Would you mind sitting on the front edges of the back seats, just in front of the cement?” No problem. She climbed in and settled down on about 8 inches of space and no seat back except the end of a Chinese cement bag.

Ruby and I eased out onto the ‘Ring’ road leading out of Kumbo for Lassin. It was going to be a ‘first gear’, 3 hour ride home if all went well; after all, 1100 lbs of cement and 550 lbs of people require a gentle touch. All went well until we got to the only police check-point on the road. The officer who usually smiles, drops the rag laden rope across the road, and waves me on had other ideas this night. He walked out to the car. “You are moving with a badly overloaded car.” “Yes sir. But, my grandmother and sister begged a ride at BBH. I couldn’t say no, sir.” The officer studied the faces, the enormous load, then waved us on. “Thank you sir.”

The first half of the road home to Lassin is comparatively smooth; it would cripple an ordinary car. But the last half of the ‘road’ has sections that pound the daylights out of most every vehicle foolish enough to venture over it. For instance, I have had a right rear suspension bracket repaired once and replaced again; the left rear bracket just gave way and was repaired a month ago. The fuel line has been replaced twice now. About five tires have died on that road. My exhaust pipe has been crushed. You would think that to accomplish this disaster that I must drive like a nut or not pay attention to the road. Well, in a feeble gesture of self defense, Tobias, a highly skilled taxi driver was pulled off a car and given an old clunker (even clunkier) to drive because he went through two tires in one week.

The sun had set, the lights were on, but the road was littered with large stones and hard mud ruts. We had been creeping along in first gear, but the sudden sound of breaking metal told me that there was trouble. How much trouble? We’ll see. I found a place level enough for the parking brake to hold and got out to examine. The rear suspension brackets were intact. The muffler was still blowing exhaust and the pipe was in place, but blocking it with my hand did not affect the engine. The wheels were still on, upright, and pointing in the same direction. Try again, maybe the sound was imagined or just normal on these rough roads. The second and third inspections revealed nothing. The steering, braking, and 4WD power each seemed fine. Noticing that the noise nearly resolved when driving less than 10kmh (6mph), we pressed on. What else could I do? Staying overnight with 3 other adults in a cement filled car was not an option.

The 40km (24 mile) trip took 3 hours and 18 minutes; a record ‘long’. But God got us home. Carol, ‘sister’, and I walked ‘grandmother’ home. I ate dinner, washed off and hit the hay.

This morning Ruby carried the 10 sacks the last 5km to the school. On the way, we picked up two friends and carried them to their farms. They did not notice the grumbling coming from the front right wheel assembly. After Gregory and a helper deposited the cement in the school magazine Ruby stood a little taller. She hardly fussed as we went home. Next week Njong will have a wheel assembly to work on. It’s just as well, I told him about the Young Disciple magazines and he was really interested. Maybe only 8 sacks of cement; we’ll see, I hate to waste a trip.

Summary of other exciting stuff:
Naphtali and I begin recording New Beginnings lesson 24 of 26 tonight (Tuesday 3/1/11).

Half of the rented church roof (the part that covers the ‘kitchen / entry’) blew off in a recent rain storm. It landed over the part of the roof that covers the ‘main sanctuary’. Now the leak in that room is covered. Yes, we need a church of our own, but not this year.

Charles Ichu of Douala (our gracious and super helpful Cameroonian host) has agreed to stay with us for up to two weeks to record the sound tracks of all 26 New Beginnings lessons in ‘Pigeon’. The reason that Pigeon is such a big deal is that it is the ‘interface’ language between the scores of languages used in Western Cameroon and beyond (like Nigeria). Most people here do not ‘speak grammar’ (use formal English). New Beginnings in ‘Pigeon’ could be broadcast on radio or used in DVD format where power is available.

We are still planning to have an evangelistic series in April. Keep these families in your prayers. Divine takes the Fujitsu laptop to 5 homes each week, showing the studies in Noone. I take the Toshiba to Naphtali’s folks place Saturday nights. That’s 6 large compounds each week. Seeds are being planted, we’ll see what ‘comes up’.

Thanks to each of you for your prayers, Bible related literature, financial support, and boxed brownie mix! Unless the school well project becomes too big, I think you have given enough; we still have about $750. It should buy enough concrete and repair busted car parts to see us until May 1. If not, I’ll ‘beg’ for a bit more.

Weather: some of you have been complaining to us about the winter like conditions in California. Well, if it really gets to you, come join us. We have not worn our coats since January. We have not had to heat or cool the house. The rains that fell February 3 – 6, then late in the month took care of most of the dust and smoke in Lassin and Kumbo. Basically, it has been an endless Spring / Summer here.

Food: I think we have eaten a pineapple for breakfast on a daily basis since December. You have no idea how spoiled we are. We pay 100 – 300 FCFA each. (Okay, that’s 20 – 60 cents.) Jessica and Carol can hardly wait for mango season; should be here soon. We have seen full size green fruit, but nothing ripe yet. Avocado and oranges have remained plentiful. The other week I found rhubarb at the huge Kumbo market. Mom emailed us a pie recipe and Carol performed her wonders. I contributed by grinding wheat to fine flour for the crust. The pie did not last long.

Thanks for waiting for me to write this letter. Honest, we’ve been really busy, but have not forgotten you. Thanks for the Iridium SMS and emails to LassisFamily@Gmail.com.

Still looking forward to good news that someone is going to come to lead this project next year. Some good sounding rumors are coming from GMI.

Can I tell ‘one more story’? Just a thought really. Would you like to get into trouble for doing nothing at all? Me either. Daniel 12:1 says, “there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation…” Well, if we are going to get into trouble, then we might as well ‘deserve’ it. Are you ‘getting me’?

Love you guys,
Steve, Carol, Jessica, and Ruby

P.S. 3/3/11: We ran out of propane for cooking last evening so I had to go to Kumbo again today (Thursday). More stories came out of this trip too, but just wanted to report that the 1/2 inch thick spring in the front right wheel strut assembly had broken and was rubbing against the inner wall of the wheel well. Passed out 34 Young Disciple magazines today: 3 to the guys across the street from the house that usually help me push-start the car, 3 to the officers at the 'highway' check point, 7 to the worker 6 guys at the auto repair place, 20 to the 13 employees of Promise Enterprise (cement store, etc), and 1 to a fellow 'auto-needs-repair' customer. It was so fun to see folks in so many places reading these magazines. I realized that I need to carry a few 'Steps to Jesus' too. There were some adults that would have really enjoyed them; like one man who studied at a university in Cleveland, OH., and another who works for an NGO (Non-governmental organization) involved in improving elementary education. Bright men who needed more 'mature' reading material. Anyway, another long day, but we have propane, another 9 sacks of cement, 3 small bunches of carrots, and some laundry soap.

Thought you may be interested in what I spent and what for:
Auto repair: heavy spring $7, clutch repair kit $8, labor to rebuild both $10. Propane $16, soap $6. Cement $100. Auto fuel $20. These are 'high dollar' days. I'm glad that the school building project is nearly complete.

How things get done around here. Craftmanship is so important.

2011-01-31T14:46:00.000-08:00

Update on the State of the School

2011-01-24T08:56:00.000-08:00

Greetings from the group in Lassin!

2011-01-22T19:43:00.000-08:00

Steve here. Thought you would like to know how things are progressing from my perspective. (I sure am thankful when Carol can update the blog too)

Title: Christmas, cement, tires, and termites.

Christmas break was the time to kick off the major school improvement project. With the students out of the classrooms, we began to work in 'high gear'. At the school, Gregory began putting a concrete floor in Carol's first grade room. He was using about 6 sacks of concrete a day. I began to purchase and haul the concrete from Kumbo to Lassin.

Monday before Christmas, I bought 20 sacks of concrete and carried 10 home. The taxi that had agreed to carry the other 10 sacks became too busy with the Christmas rush and the high fares that luggage brought.
So, Tuesday I returned for the remaining 10 sacks.

It is good to know your limits, and those of your little car. You can hear it coming. I bought an extra 2 sacks, and picked up 4 boxes of sugar cubes for Shey John. This brought the load to 12 x 50kg (1320#) plus 4 x 25kg (220#). That's about 1540 lbs behind the driver's seat.
Well, it can be done, but it turns out that the small bulge in the back right tire was more significant than the moderate tread. The sidewall blew out about 30 km from Kumbo. We inflated the spare and headed down the road. The spare looked fair, but when leaving the road briefly to make room for a laden motorcycle proved too much for it. Now, to find a 3rd sacrificial tire. My riding companion, our church landlord, had an idea. He commendeered a motorcycle taxi out from under its customer. Off to Lassin. He found a car just like ours, but he did not find the owner. No problem, the spare was removed and he motored back to me. This time, the issue was a borrowed tire with bulges again. Can you imagine how gingerly I drove the last couple miles to our house?

The next day, Wednesday, I delivered the cement in two loads to the school.

Thursday, off to Kumbo by taxi to buy 4 tires. The fronts had threads showing, the spares were in shreds, and the stolen tire still had the bulges. This leaves the back right in pretty good shape. Hey, life should be exciting. In Kumbo, no used tires looked encouraging, and the new Chinese stuff looked little better. A fellow at a really nice tire shop assured me that he could get good Firestone tires for a reasonable price and have them delivered on Friday. It takes faith to live this way, but I paid him and went home.

Friday afternoon, Gerald the very responsible taxi driver pulled up with 4 of the most beautiful tires tied to his car. Sunday, Emanuel put them on. I returned the stolen spare and included the 2 badly worn tires as spare spares; Frank was grateful. I confessed and he said 'no problem'.

Since then, the little red car has kept up with the cement demands.
Classroom 2, Jessica's room is completed. Carol's room has a new floor and the inside plastering is coming.

Termites... Well, it seems that Jessica was harboring the little bugs under the front right seats. This is a problem as the dirt floor can eventually give way, leading to the loss of students and their desks.
It's hard to replace those desks. Gregory has exposed their nest and poisoned them.

Our consumption of cement is about 1/2 complete and the funds are holding out well- thank you so much!

This next Sunday we plan to mark the boundaries of the school officially and record it with the government. This is really exciting. Note- only about 1/3rd of ALL SCHOOLS in this region have their boundaries marked. Amazing.

Soon, really soon, we'll have high speed, pay as you go Internet at the house. This will allow us to send photos and perhaps short movies. We can hardly wait to show you the progress.

We're still looking for new project leaders for next year. Contact Babi at GMI if you have or have become a lead.

God bless,
Steve & Carol Rose

Merry Christmas from Lassin, Cameroon!

2011-01-04T12:16:00.000-08:00

What a privilege to celebrate again how God gave us His Son! Amazing love!
It will be so good to be re-united with our heavenly family someday soon!
In the meantime we are looking forward to seeing our earthly families again soon-less than five months.

We had a very interesting day today. Since school is out for the holidays, I enjoyed sleeping in a bit. We ate a leisurely breakfast of Steve's three-grain cereal (ground corn, soy, and whole rice). OK, ok, so I don't have to tell everything! Vivian, one of our teachers, came by to say goodbye. She is from a nearby town, and she and her son were planning to travel home today. She is such a sweetheart; always thinking about others and has a very positive outlook. Anyway, as she was leaving she mentioned that she was going to condole a friend across the street from our house. We had heard that the family's 5-year-old girl had died about a week ago, but I had not visited them yet. Because I had not gone over yet, I decided to go with Vivian to visit the family. Only the mother and a small child were home, and we enjoyed talking with them in pidgin. The mother does not speak the local dialect because she is from another town called Ncambe. We gave the mother "Steps to Jesus" and a Glow tract "Does God Care When I Am Hurting." The mother said she had seen that very book in a neighbor's house and had started reading it. She was thinking about that book that very morning and was very grateful to have her own copy. She told Vivian the circumstances of her daughter's death. She herself left town to visit her village. The next day the girl complained of stomach pain, but was playing around. That night the child had diarrhea and complained of stomach pain. The father carried the child to the local Health Center, and the child died there. Life is too fragile.

Next on the day's agenda--marketing. Today is the last market day before Christmas, and the market was bustling even at 9:30 am. I went to the market to check for unusual items that might disappear quickly. I saw a couple large pineapples and tried to buy them but was told they were not for sale. I also looked for a student's mother to see if she had some corn that she had promised me (to trade for tuition). I bought 3.5 meters of school uniform fabric for one more girls' uniform shirt and two more shirts for two boys. The fabric man gave me 50 francs off since we didn't have the change. He said we are his good customers now; he doesn't mind being a bit generous. It's true, we have purchased a lot of fabric from him. Then I visited Juliana at her sales booth. She always has onions, ginger, magi seasoning, garlic, and nice fowl baskets made by Naphtali. It's funny that more people don't buy those nice baskets. Most of the time, we see women carrying a chicken tucked into their side with their hand firmly on the chicken's tied legs. I bought a bunch of bananas and some avocados from her sister-in-law beside her. As I was heading home, I spied one thing I had been looking for--green bell peppers! I know, it's not first on your list of exciting food, but these are the first we have seen this year. I'm trying to grow some, but it'll be a good while for those to come. The bell peppers made a great salad dressing later on. Steve went with me to the market later and we actually found three nice pineapples. Chances are good that we will get to eat pineapple on Christmas Day!

Later Naphtali came when Steve was burning trash. He told us that the Bofa
(subchief) who gave us the land where the school is located wanted to see us. God blessed our visit. The man was very kind and very upright. We were happy to meet him. He is very supportive of our school. He will be coming back in January with Charles to "pin" the school boundary. That will be a monumental day, a day we have been waiting for.

Somewhere in the day, I made flat bread. Instead of baking it, I fried it in the frying pan with just a little oil. It came in handy for the next day's adventures. (Steve to Kumbo for cement and me to Juliana's farm in Mbinon.)

Tonight as I write, Naphtali and Juliana just came. Naph will translate the next New Beginnings with Steve, and Juliana will practice on the keyboard here.

Love you all,
Carol (& Steve)

2010-12-09T13:11:00.000-08:00

Dear friends,

It's nearly Christmas again. Sure feels like it too. The skies are nearly continually blue, temps are warm in the day and cool at night. The roads are beginning to get dusty. All the signs of early dry season.

Carol, Jessica, and Kimberly have one more week of school before Christmas break. Perhaps they are more excited about the break than the kids are!

Jess and Kim are planning a guided expedition to visit some of the beautiful and interesting areas of Cameroon. The schedule is not firm, but will keep you posted. It may include a trip to the capitol city of Yaounde, then a train ride toward the Northeast to see a game park where elephants roam.
Then to the coast and Mt. Cameroon. Sounds nice. I'll stay home and eat pineapple with Carol.

Lesson 12 of the 'New Beginnings' Bible studies is done. It was finished in record time; Sunday evening recording, Monday sound editing, Monday evening recording completed, Tuesday the video was completed. I continue to learn about the recording and video editing software that makes the process more efficient. This is an amazing lesson. I can hardly wait to begin showing it. Keep keeping us in your prayers.

Speaking of prayers, it is probably time to mention a big need here.

Carol and I came to Cameroon to pursue the dual goal of 'mission pilot', and 'mission school'. Well, it became apparent last year that 'mission pilot'
was not going to be realized here. The roads are very exciting, but are functional. A plane is not required here. It is so expensive to purchase, transport, register, and operate a plane here; the cost / benefit ratio is disproportionate. On the other hand, the school idea was great. The school has grown from one class to four, grades 1 to 5. After trying to keep the kind folks at the local office of Basic Education happy, it is apparent that some school operations savvy is also required.

After spending one year here, I gave a one year notice of resignation to this project. We are spending the second year here to continue to develop the program in anticipation of handing it over to new leadership. So far, there have not been any volunteers to take the project. If you can help locate someone or be that someone, we would appreciate it. The potential is fantastic.

We would love to hear from you regarding this need. Use Iridium.com, 'free text message' feature (top center of home page), and send to our phone 881631672129; note 8816 is already entered for you.

Steve & Carol Rose

2010-12-06T12:38:00.000-08:00

The weeks are going by so quickly. We are making progress at the school and with the Bible Study translations. We are actually right on track; thanks to God's help and a wonderful translator. Naphtali is also very excited about the progress and is happy to be a part of both the school and the translation.

Now that dry season is here, we are making steps to begin the work on the concrete floors at the school. Special thanks to a very sweet lady in Porterville! It just dawned on us that once we have the new floors, we won't have to pour water on the floors every week or so! (That's how you keep a dirt floor under control.) It will be so nice to have concrete floors especially at the end of the dry season when everything is so very dusty.
Gregory is our main man for the floor project. He is still studying with Steve about twice a week and is planning to leave his Baptist church pulpit at the end of this year and join our church! What amazing things God has done!

Today and yesterday all of us teachers attended a Teacher Workshop in Nkor, a small town about 30 min. drive away. Nkor is the headquarters of the Noni subdivision. The District Officer (otherwise known as the D.O. or the "Dew") and the IBE (Inspector of Basic Education) have offices there. It was a change of pace for us as we had to close school for the two days. The point of the seminar was to teach teachers how to write test questions. It sounds like the IBE will be asking us to submit test questions to accumulate in a test question bank at the national level in order to formulate standardized tests. It was mostly interesting. We were "invited" (required) to be in Nkor yesterday by "8 am (prompt)." I was a bit nervous as we arrived at
8:35 am. Anyway, the meeting did not begin until 12:45 pm! We heard that the administrators/teachers who were giving the workshop did not arrive until about noon, instead of the previous day as planned. Oh, well! Delays can and do happen. We actually had a nice time hanging out at the Nkor Literacy Center (similar to a library) and reading books for hours! It was quite funny-all of us Americans must be starving for books, because within a few minutes all five of us were deep into one book or another! One really neat thing at the workshop was when the teachers sang the national anthem-it was really beautiful! There was some wonderful bass harmony, etc. I wish I had a recording of it!

Well, bye for now. Love to all. We are missing you!
Carol (and Steve)

Greetings from Lassin! We're all alive and well.

2010-11-19T10:52:00.000-08:00

Dear friends and family,

Here's the news from Steve's perspective. Producing "It Is Written, New Beginnings" Bible videos in the Noone language for the Noni people is going great. Today, 'we' completed number 9 on 'facing the judgment'. The other lessons have been on the soon coming of Jesus, creation, the validity of the Bible, the origin of sin, Jesus as our savior, salvation through Jesus, and now the good news that Jesus is our defense attorney at the judgment.

I still need to prepare tomorrow's sermon, but the house is clean, and have taken a HOT shower!!

Yup, a hot shower. Not hot water from a bucket. No sir-ee. Ya see, we (ALL of us- story to follow) went to Kumbo last Tuesday. While in the big city, I just couldn't resist the desire to buy 36 meters of 25mm PVC pipe, and 40 elbows (a bit more than 100 feet of ¾ inch pipe). Wednesday, I assembled it into a series of 'U' turns that resemble the road to Kumbo, and put it up in our rafters above the bathroom. After a small modification so that the water could actually flow through the thing, we are now taking hot showers! Being a missionary in the remote mountains of Cameroon is now a luxury experience.

"ALL of us". If the news gets out that we're going to be driving to Kumbo, the car fills to capacity in no time. Now "capacity" is a matter of opinion. If you are from Cameroon, then 8 adults and 1 youngster was nearing capacity; room for 2 more. But if you are from 'the states', then sitting in the back of the little red station wagon for 2 hours while riding over roads that bring back memories of roller coasters may be a push; never mind the scenery is absolutely beautiful. Coming home, we sat aside 18, 2 meter pipes, 3 jugs of gasoline (for cooking or driving), several boxes of supermarket treasures like 'noodles', a few pineapple (season's about over),
5 back-packs, and each other. No break-downs, no flats, and only light rain. Would we do it again? Sure, but we may be more quiet about 'when'
(December 20).

Speaking of dates, Carol is about to turn a year older and enter a new decade on November 25.
So. Remember how so many of you sent her 'Birthday text messages' last year? I'm sure that she would love it again! By November 24, use Iridium.com, 'send free text message' (top center of the home page), and send to 8816 (filled in already) 31672129. Put your name in the 'return email' box, type in a greeting or condolence, and make her day! Thanks!

Again, thanks for keeping us in your prayers. We love occasional text messages too.

Steve & Carol Rose

Lassin Update - Rated B (for bugs)

2010-11-16T11:05:00.000-08:00

Tonight seems to be the night for critters in the house! First of all, Jessica was washing dishes, put her hand in the pre-rinse bucket,
and almost pulled out a HUGE drowned cockroach! Did I mention Huge?
It’s the size of cockroach that Shey John at the store in Lassin says will wake you up when it runs across your face in the night!
Aaargh!!! That’s also what Jessica said! (or something to that
effect!) Then a rat / mouse ran over my toes this evening as I was sitting doing more dishes! Yikes! Kataya thought it was so funny that she tried to trick me into thinking the mouse was close by again!
It was funny! Anyway, I got her good and she jumped at least 2 inches! So that was even funnier! Then Kataya discovered about a
million baby spiders on the bench/couch. They must have just
hatched! A little later we found a tiny frog on the floor not far from the door. Now he was cute. Where was Steve? Well, he ducked out of the house when the mouse was running about—something about a Bible study with Franklin—yeah, right!

Anyway, we’re having fun with the gang. School is going well. 78 students at my last count. I had to ask two students to stay home from Class 1; too young/ immature / just not ready for school I had a cool experience with one of my students lately. Julius is repeating Class 1 again, and this year he is doing so well. I don’t regret holding him back for a moment. Anyway, we were inspecting students for jiggers on their feet, and I noticed that Julius had a terrible case of athlete’s foot fungus between almost every toe! -- in addition to a few jiggers. Last year we found 10 jiggers on just one of his toes! Poor kid! No wonder he walks so slowly! So I brought some anti-fungal cream to school and began treating his toes. It was a bit painful for him to have me wash and dry his feet and then apply the cream, but he was a good sport. I also went to his house three times on weekends to continue the treatment. Now it has been two weeks tomorrow, and his fee t look sooo much better! What was so touching was that a few days into the treatment, Julius was carrying a picture poster of Jesus to my room to hang up (Up until a day ago I have had to remove all items from my room at the end of the day to store in the only lockable room.

The carpenter Franklin recently came and installed the window latches on the insides and with one of Eric’s old combo locks, I now have a lockable classroom!) As Julius was carrying the poster, he kissed the poster and started singing “Jesus loves me!” Wow, I don’t know if it had anything to do with the extra attention and care he was getting, but I like to think that it solidified in his mind what Jesus’ love looks like! Today Julius was running home like he had wings on his feet! I think he is enjoying more comfortable feet.

Love, Carol

2010-10-26T12:06:00.001-07:00

The Shepherd and Juliana
About a week ago as I was walking with Juliana to school, we saw a sheep standing in the river where Divine was baptized. The shepherd was scrubbing the sheep with soap. I had never seen this before. I asked Juliana why the shepherd did this. She simply answered "to clean it." That day in school assembly Juliana gave a worship talk about the sheep hearing the shepherd.
She even sang a song about the shepherd's voice.
Talk about deep symbolism! I, like the sheep, need to stand patiently by the Shepherd and allow Him to scrub me clean. The washing may be uncomfortable, it may pull my dirty wool, but if I stick around and not run away, I will end up clean. Perhaps the shepherd even calmed the sheep with his voice as he washed. We all need to spend time listening to the Shepherd 's voice and follow wherever He leads. The Shepherd has left us his voice/message in His word.
Juliana is Naphtali's wife, and she has been assisting me this year with the Class 1 students. She is doing a marvelous job translating and relating to and enjoying the children. We have been praying since last year that Juliana will hear the Shepherd's voice and follow Him. I can tell from different things she says and how she acts that she loves God very much.
Yesterday she even attended church with us. Please pray with us that she, as well as each one of us, will continue to be led by the Good Shepherd.
This past week in school was busy. We had a PTA meeting and a visit by the Inspector of Basic Education. There was much preparation needed for these events-clearing and cleaning the school grounds, rebuilding of the "outhouse," and food preparation since we fed the visitors. We even showed a New Beginnings Film about Jesus' Second Coming at the PTA meeting.
This week the teachers will be compiling midterm grades. That should keep us very busy.
Divine has been sharing the New Beginnings in the Noone language to several families, including the Fon's compound! Steve continues to take it to Naphtali's father and Franklin every week after the translation is completed. He and Naphtali have been very busy translating and editing the NB programs; they complete one a week. Steve has also been working on the translation of a whole series of health topic programs into the Noone language. Shey John and Divine are assisting with this.

Thank you to all who have sent Sabbath School quarterlies and children's papers. Most of the adult church members can read English well enough to enjoy this literature and translate for the children. Thank you, also, those who are supporting us. Keep on working for the eternal reward! It's
going to be great! We love you all!

Carol

Oct 8, 2010

2010-10-11T13:54:00.000-07:00

Dear family & friends!

Here's what's up in Lassin for the last couple weeks.

The school is going really well. There are 18 or 19 first graders, 15 fifth graders, 22 second graders, and about 20 in the 3rd - 4th grade combination class. The teachers seem to be doing a great job of maintaining order and communicating. Last Wednesday I saw Jessica get her 2nd grade class seated after lunch and working quietly on a project by herself. Her assistant, Naphtali, had gone to teach the Noone language at the government high school. Nice work Jess!

Kimberly has the desks in her room arranged very neatly with colored name papers on each. She uses chalk board and iPad to teach her kids.

Carol provides her little 1st graders with personal size chalk boards, as well as the big board up front.

Sometime during the day, each class takes turns using the Bible in felts as they listen to a story- they all love it.

Our neighbor, Divine, who lives across the street and translates for Kimberly's 5th graders sends a bucket down the well to get fresh water for the children to wash their hands and to moisten the dirt floors. The little house that Gregory built over the well has a solid eucalyptus door and sturdy lock; so far we have not lost any children.

Next Monday, Franklin and his boys will ride to the school with me. We'll haul his new window shutters, storage room door, and teacher's desk doors so that he can install them over the course of the week. It'll be nice to be able to really lock up. Then we can take more of the supplies to school that we / you shipped here last August.

I can hardly wait to tell you about my Bible study project. Naphtali and I have recorded and produced 3 of the New Beginnings Bible studies in the Noone language. I'm learning a bunch about video production and having a good time doing it. The next phase involves 'post production' editing, where the 45+ minute full length version and cut it to about 15 - 25 minutes for showing at the school. Each Wednesday at about 12 PM, I show the cut version to the school children. They have the typical response- curious, and restless. But it is amazing to see how many really pay close attention throughout the whole program.

We have resumed showing these Bible studies in individual homes, but the response is different this time. Last night, Thursday @ 7PM, I showed the new Noone version in Franklin's home. He was there with his junior brother, his children and 2 of Naphtali's kids; about 8 in all. They sat silently glued to the laptop; the only source of light in the home, except for the small cooking fire in the kitchen next door. After the lesson, Franklin commented on the different countries that came to world power status as predicted in the dream recorded in Daniel 2. I decided to have some fun, "So. What is the next kingdom that will come?" "Jesus' second coming." He got it! Of course he did. Every word was in his 'mother tongue'. They all got it, from oldest to youngest!

We're giving these lessons in Naphtali's father and two mother's compound- they are so proud of their son's new 'film' career! They invite their neighbors to view the new film each Saturday night. Our neighbor 'boy', a high-school senior who made our garden fence last year has invited us to show the 'films' in his father's compound each Sunday evening. Moses' wife has invited us to show the films in her house again this year; we have not established a night yet. You may recall that Moses is a tailor and has made several of the new school uniforms again this year; 2 of his kids attend again.

Okay, how about a Cameroonian rainy road trip story? "The road seems better this year. The worst hill has gravel on it now. I believe the little red Toyota could climb it in the rain. I'm sure we can get to Kumbo now." I was confident and Jessica was a willing passenger. Kumbo is home to many internet cafés, an international calling booth, stores that sell foods like you can get back in the ., school books, and other stuff that is more or less vital to the operation of our school. The little car started and we were off. One point seven km from our house was the former trip killer hill. We climbed easily. Nothing to stop us now. There were small puddles, small streams, muddy places, rough rocky patches, but all had tire tracks on both sides of them. Then, just past the wood fired white bread bakery was this mud pit. I got out and took a second look. Seems that a stout looking Toyota 4WD pickup loaded high with stuff was clawing for traction with a crew of about 5 equally stout young men pushing various parts of it. After a few minutes the truck was free. A neighbor man advised me to bypass about half of the pit by using his driveway. "Just turn there and you'll have no trouble", he said. It looked safe enough. I had little choice. Well, our car was not stuck for long. After backing up a bit, the second attempt got us free. The rest of the trip to Kumbo was as uneventful as a day at the roller coaster park. I only took out one wooden foot bridge between the road and some lady's driveway; easy to put back in place.

We shopped and enjoyed the 'big city'. The rain began to fall. The road began to get slick. We began our ride home. There is a feature that forms here, two wide ruts that leave the center of the road high above the sides.
The crown is so sharp that you wonder if the car belly will drag. Normally you straddle this crown. When the road gets slick, this is a bit tricky. I was able to stay atop for all but the last 60 feet. Driving along while scraping the right side of the car against a muddy bank does not seem as bad as having to spend the night in a rut. Most of the road was reasonably uneventful, but the thought of that mud pit up ahead weighed heavy on my mind. Then, there it was. Unavoidable. The left side looked best, but it was where the truck had been. The right side had pretty deep ruts with standing water so low that I could only see it by sitting straight up. As I sat inspecting the pit, a small group of people formed; the same stout men we saw earlier. We prayed, pushed the electric 4WD button on the front panel, let the clutch out and headed right. The car sank deep into the ruts and continued for about six feet. All four tires made it painfully clear that they were not up to the task. Turning to either side was not possible.
Backing up- yea right. I really did not want to get out in that muck - call me spoiled. Soon the group of smiling faces converged on the car. They lifted the front end and tried to get it out of the rut; nope. Then one man began to fish around in the mud. He extracted two rocks about the size of soccer balls from my 'track'. The order was given, "try again". The little car tried and a dozen strong hands pushed on various parts of the car. Once on firm ground a small piece of paper with red ink was placed in the rolled up sleeve of the group leader. His beaming face confirmed that the payment was adequate. We got home. "Next time I go to Kumbo, it will be in a taxi"
, I said. The next time I went, last Monday, it was in a taxi. We were pushed three times (hills too slick), stuck in mud once and pushed free.
Dickson said that his car had suffered. I gave him my condolences. But, I was glad it was his car and not mine.

When dry season comes, about mid November, we'll buy concrete and begin making floors and plastering the walls of the school; but not before the roads firm up.

The ladies are in the process of moving into their new house. Pretty upscale. It has a flush toilet, indoor shower, propane stove. The glass should be in the windows by Sunday. Kim & Kataya have slept there once.
They love it. Having a phone that works from within the house helps too.

Thanks for keeping us in your prayers.

Steve, Carol, Kimberly, Kataya, and Jessica.

2010-09-23T11:35:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends and Family,

We are so happy to share with you that our school, the Adventist Primary School of Lassin, is successfully beginning its third week of school! Two classrooms are full past capacity at 21 students each, the other two classrooms have 17 and 18 students each, making a total of approx. 80 students. We were able to offer five grades this year (first through five).
The students are really enjoying their classes, and they are endearing themselves to their teachers also.

For each classroom, we have an imported teacher and a local teacher. This combination seems to work very well for translation and general load sharing. Praise God! When we left Lassin last May, we only knew of three teachers (myself, Naphtali, and Naphtali's wife), and we were praying for more. When we visited the Gospel Ministries office in May, we met two Southern Adventist University students (Jessica and Kimberly) who wanted to come help. We tried to give them an accurate picture of the Lassin setting, but they tell us it would have been impossible to really describe in words or pictures how it really is! Then during the summer, a local Adventist teacher from the nearby town of Din applied; Vivian is a real sweetheart and true-hearted Christian lady. Then we were placed into contact with a gal from Romania who wanted to come help also; Adela is doing a great job teaching third and fourth grades. Her friend Adelin came too, and he is a great general helper. So that meant we needed just one more local teacher.
Both Steve and I thought of asking our friend Divine, but we knew he was busy keeping his store. When we returned here, we found out he was available and very willing! What a blessing! He is a true Christian and such a loyal friend.

Now, for some neat, exciting stories about our students. All but two of our previous students have returned. One student moved away, and we are not sure why the other has not returned although we have seen him several times and he says he wants to come back. We were very excited to see Juleyatu (our Muslim girl) return, and then we were very excited to see her brother Abulai come also. He attended last year for a few days and then left to attend the newly started Islamic school in Lassin. He always wears a bright smile and seems truly happy to be back! One of the Muslim leaders in town told Steve a few days ago that he was sending all the Muslim students to our school! The next day a Muslim lady said she was going to send two Grade 1 children on Monday! We are happy to be making friends in that community.

Here's another interesting story about a Grade 1 student by the name of Godswill. I met his mother last year on the path to school. She was selling cassava rolled in banana leaves, quite a nice treat. I purchased several that day. The next day she came to our quarter and "demanded" that I buy more cassava from her. Well, I didn't need it, so I politely refused.
She said more about me not buying from her. I was quite shocked and didn't know quite what to make of this. Anyway, we did have some short but pleasant interactions after that time, and now she is sending her son to our school! I am just so happy I did not grumble back at her! It is possible that she was just good-naturedly pushing for a sale. Sometimes the people seem more abrupt than they mean-does that make sense? She is very happy that her son is attending our school, and we are happy he is there.

Another student who is in the 2nd Grade, I believe, began attending our school this year, but after a couple days was physically removed by an aunt to another town to attend another school. Somehow, though, by the grace of God, the child is back at our school!

Keep praying for our school, each student, and each teacher. God is working, but the devil tries to hinder this great work.

Carol

2010-09-16T20:07:00.001-07:00

Sept 14, 10
Dear family & friends,

The Lassin group is coming to grips with the new setting and doing pretty well. We all have decided to stay; perhaps the purchase of a real, indoor toilet had something to do with it. The cement is curing even as I write.
Actually, I'm sure that God worked it out in a variety of ways. There was an email from Kim's pastor brother that encouraged her greatly. Adela and Adelin have had their adjusting to do too. Adi' has been losing weight and has not taken easily to the food available here. He is a pretty good cook and has been able to fill his belly and be happy lately. He is a big help too. Yesterday, we carried 3 chalk boards to the school together; I painted them with special paint Sunday. Now each classroom has a board.

The school is growing; class 1 has 17, class 2 has 19, class 3 & 4 have 20, class 5 has 17 or 18.
Of these, at least 4 are from our Muslim neighbors.

My project- Naphtali and I have recorded the sound track for 1/3 of lesson one of the New Beginnings series. I have used an AT-2020 mike (thanks Brandon Ruiz), Audacity 1.3 beta sound recording software (really nice, thanks Calvin Hartman), and the Corel Video Studio Pro X3 video production software. I am so excited- Bible lessons in the Nooni language! Also, Gregory begins his evangelism training tonight.

Adventures- Last Friday, I took Divine, Kim, and Jessica, and our land lady'
s daughter to Kumbo for a routine trip for supplies. We loaded the little red Toyota, chalk boards atop, and headed home after a long day of shopping, internetting, and international calling. On the way home, about 7 km from Kumbo, the little car took a break. No coaxing or threatening helped. God provided a way out. I had the phone number of a good auto repairman in my cell phone. He arrived by taxi, diagnosed the problem as a bad ignition condenser, got us a ride to a hotel, and arrived Sabbath morning by 11 AM to complete the job. The little red car purred over the hills again. Next time, I'll pack spare food and water. Glad for the good charge on the phones.

Are we in Good Hands? You betcha. Do we still need your prayers? Yup!
Thanks!

Thanks for the SMS notes. We love them.

One last thing, I still have not heard from Christina. Babi, can you help?
Thanks for your help Dad & Mom. Way to go Eric- clep! JB glad ur enjoying teaching! GP&JP, you guys! Smith group- greetings. Calvin, tnx 4 note.

Steve & Carol

2010-09-10T09:13:00.001-07:00

Greetings from the Lassin Cameroon group,

There are two ways to contact us, both are free for us.

1. By sending text messages to our sat' phone. We check it daily.
2. By calling our cell phone. This requires a pre-arranged call date and time. We do not have cell phone reception at our house. You can send a text message to our sat' phone that specifies a date and time and we will confirm the request via text or email.

To send sat' phone texts:

Send up to 150 characters from a cell phone or your email to:
881631672129@msg.iridium.com

2010-09-10T09:12:00.001-07:00

Sept 8, 10
Dear friends & family,

Today is Wednesday, our first week in Lassin is behind us. Our travels went well, but we probably have commercial plane and bus rides out of our systems. The last leg of our trip was by Lassin taxis, but we each had a seat to ourselves. You should have seen the trunks of those cars, they looked like Santa's sleigh held together with hand braided rope and rubber straps. We never had rain on our luggage or ourselves, we're very thankful.

We arrived in Lassin on Thursday evening, Sept 2. Our home was clean as can be, thanks to Divine's hard work. The batteries still had a full charge so I connected the lighting that night. Even though it has been cloudy with light rain at times each day, we have always had enough power for lights and accessories. Our 'big' dining room table has 7 chairs around it now. There is never a dull moment when we're all home!

What a group! We represent about 3 cultures within ourselves and live in a 4th. Each person contributes to the needs of the group but the work extends from morning to bedtime. How I love hearing the words, 'What can I do?'.

Our new teachers are managing the 3 mile (5km) walk to & from school each day. So far, the rain has not soaked us during our trek. However, right now it is raining really hard. It followed a huge strike of lightening and an extensive thunder roll.

Group introductions are in order:
From Romania, Adela and Adelin. Adela teaches 3rd and 4th grades, she is quiet and gentle and loves the children. She taught school at an orphanage in Africa last year. She speaks English and Spanish also.
Adelin helps with whatever project is at hand. He speaks Spanish as well as Romanian, but not too much English. He is quite bright and is learning quickly. He has an apartment close to us. It is across the path from the house that will become the home of the female volunteers upon its
completion- doors, indoor shower and flush toilet.
From Georgia, USA, we have Kimberly and her daughter Kataya. Kimberly teaches 5th grade. She has attended Southern Adventist University and is working on a masters in social work. What an energetic duo they are!
Also from Tennessee / Georgia, comes Jessica. She teaches 2nd grade. She has attended SAU also and is working toward an M.D. degree.
Each one brings strengths, energy and good ideas to the project. We, and the people of Lassin, are blessed to have each one here.

Culture shock. We have it, we all have it. It looks like each of us is adjusting steadily. Pray for us though. (We knew you were anyway. Thanks)

The school? Wow! On Monday morning we found all 4 rooms ready for class.
The floors had been cleaned, leveled, wetted, and pounded hard. Each room had a door hung with locks installed. Franklin's 45 new desks were in place. They are strong and beautiful. The light streams in through open windows and under the roof eves reflecting off the bottom of our open beam, silver corrugated metal roof. Each teacher has a table to teach behind or set stuff in & on. Soon they will have a front and doors to lock supplies in.

Students? Day 1 there were 36. Day 2 saw a couple classes double. The news is out that we are open and that there are new teachers from America and Europe. The town is a buzz with 'welcome' and questions about our trip.
We expect about 80 children or so.

Church? Sabbath, Divine had the lesson, and Charles (our country host who lives in Douala) had the sermon. We sang a lot and had so many children that we had to bring a bench in from our landlord.

Some have asked what I do while the ladies teach. Well, mostly I sit here and write emails, enjoy the air conditioning, attend the washer and dryer, load & unload the dish washer, and take the dog to the groomer. Do I detect a hint of minty sarcasm? Okay, I wrap up loose ends around the house, and the school. Presently, I'm preparing videos for a evangelism class that will begin next week. We plan to record the sound tracks for the New Beginnings series in Noone (local dialect) and Pigeon (Local English dialect). Honestly, I must pray for time to do these tasks because just staying alive takes a whole lot more time this year.

We would love to 'hear' from you via text messages to our Iridium phone.
Use Iridium.com and send a free text (free to you and to us) to our phone number 8816 316 72129. Send as many as you like. Number them, and include your name or initials in each message.

P.S. keep Kimberly in your prayers. She is concerned about many issues and has requested to serve in a more developed part of Cameroon.

P.S.S. We continue to look for a couple to join us. We need new leadership to take this project forward next year. Carol & I are hoping to use our abilities in aviation and education next year.

Love and greetings from all,
Steve (& Carol) Rose

2010-09-01T09:15:00.000-07:00

Dear family!

we are in Douala; Cameroon: not too hot but muggy: Pray that we get our luggage today; it did not arrive with us yesterday:

We hope to be in Lassin by Friday:

Love;
Carol and Steve

July update from Lassin and California

2010-07-20T17:56:00.001-07:00

Just today, 7/20/10, we received this message from our pastor Josia in Lassin-

I visited the workshop where Franklin is making the benches. As I saw, the benches are almost finished, in fact the remaining part is to go and fix (assemble) them in the school. He still has to start the doors and the windows and the tables.

You should know that Franklin had a lot of troubles: he felt sick (2 weeks) just after you went and two weeks ago he lost his father; all these events explain why he has not yet finished the work. But he said he will finish on time, and to that, he is planning to do some work with machines and he is also now working by night with a generator.

For the classrooms, Nephtali told me they are ready, they removed all the soil already. (clean, level, and compact the dirt floors)

Nephtali is doing a good work in the registration process: he is going house to house to register the children. The statistics he gave me about the children registered are as follows:

Class, enrolled

Class 1, 18

Class 2, 26

Class 3, 9

Class 4, 8

Class 5, 14

Total 79

There are four registered not yet in the statistics.

We still pray that this number should be maintained for the first classes and that the others (3 & 4) should reach the required number. They told me there is a risk of decrease, because the people of the village are making a bad campaign against the school, convincing some parents to not send their children there. But since the results of last year are there to testify for the seriousness of the teaching, some people are committed to register their children and we are confident.

That is why we don’t take these statistics as final: the number can still increase. And I told them that given the mentality of the place, we will have more children.

From Steve,

Look how God is working! We are really excited about having a really full school this year.

In summary, we have 3 ladies that will help Carol teach. We purchase plane tickets this week.

Collecting necessary items for the project is going well.

Tonight, I work on a hand or electric solution to washing cloths- may be a bucket and plunger; we'll see.

The job of an electric water heater for warm showers will progress soon; yes, I'm soft, but should be able to fabricate it for less than $20.

We're really in need of your prayers.

Steve & Carol

Summer Update - In the good 'ol USA

2010-06-21T22:02:00.000-07:00

Dear family & friends!

Carol & I are back in California. Our flights went well with God’s blessing and the help of Nathaniel at Butler Travel.

We have spent a week each with our ‘kids’ Eric and Julie- how great that was!
We have seen all of our folks and siblings now. How easy it is to stay in touch with cell phones and the internet here!

This morning, 6/21/10, we spoke with Naphtali in Lassin. He tells us that people are excited to enroll their children in our school this coming school year. He has already enrolled about 5 students per class in our school: grades 1 – 5.

Franklin has all the eucalyptus wood in his carpentry shop now. He lost his father recently though and we send our condolences.

Divine is looking out for our house. Our pastor stays there when he comes to Lassin to look in on ‘our’ church family.

I’m working at the physical therapy office providing vacation coverage and enjoying my ‘old’ friends.

Carol’s enjoying having running water, a cell phone, a car, you know – all those luxuries. She is leading a group of about 7 literature evangelists working in Porterville this summer in the afternoon and evening.

We’re full of good news. Soon after arriving in Tennessee to visit Eric, we went to the Gospel Ministries office to meet our host organization. We met Babi “Bobbi” who helps bring volunteers together with projects- she does such a fine job. She introduced us to Jessica and Kimberly- two of our new volunteers for the Lassin Primary School project. It was great to meet these two sweet and adventurous young ladies. Kimberly has a daughter, Kataya, who will be coming with us. We also learned of two Romanian young people that would like to join us also. If this all pans out, there will be 7 of us where there were 2; how wonderful ! All 4 ladies will teach, we guys will work on building projects.

Projects include:
- pouring concrete floors in each of the 4 school rooms, and plastering the walls
- completing the well
- purchasing land and building a church
- translating the ‘It Is Written’ ‘New Beginnings’ bible studies into the Noone language, then producing DVDs that can be distributed within the 10 village Noni subdivision. (This will give our volunteers a great Bible study giving opportunity)

Does this sound too aggressive? Well, nearly all of the labor will be hired out. This leaves me much more free time to produce the Bible studies. I believe that it is possible with God’s blessing and steady work.

Now, Carol and I want to thank each of you again for your prayers for the Lassin Cameroon project. We were able to see God work in our little mountain town day after day. He’s still busy! How encouraging it was to learn of the volunteers and knowing that God was planning to expand the school too.

Thanks to your support last year, we learned that there are already enough funds now to run the school all next year. (the school related projects are not funded yet)

If anyone would like to help sponsor our volunteers you can contact Babi at GMI (423) 473-1841 or at babi@gospelministry.org

Keep our volunteers in prayer too- they must raise funds, get visas, shots, health insurance and plane tickets.

In time there will be more photos posted, thanks for your patience.

Steve & Carol

Contact info:
Scrose2@gmail.com
(559) 793-6060 Pacific daylight time.

Carol and Steve Almost Out of Africa!

2010-05-07T10:39:00.000-07:00

We made it with God's help to Kumbo; caught a 20 passenger van immediately to Bamenda; and caught the night bus to Douala. Arrived here in Bonaberi (suburb of Douala) before 5 am. Slept a few more hours at Charles' house, ate some food, showered (really needed that), and now we're at the inet cafe a few blocks from Charles' house.

We catch the plane next Tuesday from Doula. We allowed extra time for travel delays but had none. God is so good! Also we were planning on a trip to Yaounde on Monday but looks like we may not have to go. Charles may be able to pick up our official resident cards for us. Charles and his family are so helpful and gracious; it's really good to see them and their whole family.

We are really looking forward to seeing you all!

Love you tons,

Carol & Steve

Carol and Steve On the Way Home!

2010-05-06T10:51:00.000-07:00

bro,we'r comin home!left lassin 1030am.drov2kumbo.now in bamenda waitn4nite bus2douala.all wel.pls post.s&c

Stories from Lassin

2010-05-04T11:26:00.000-07:00

4/3/10
Divine and I were walking home after church. He told me that he had decided to close his store on Sabbath now. He explained that on the previous Sabbath, another person tended the store for him. The following Monday he took inventory. That Sabbath day alone, he had lost over 130,000 Francs worth of inventory; the amount that he would earn in four to five months.
He was struggling with anger, but appeared to be doing well. The next day, I gave him the Bible study on 'how to keep the Sabbath' that I had intended to give him for weeks, but God beat me to the conclusion- keep the store closed on Sabbath.

4/10/10
Pastor Josia and I discussed preparation of baptismal candidates. There were two people interested as far as I knew: Naphtali's son David, and Devine. After I left the pastor and Naph at the church, they talked for a while. The pastor returned to our house that evening and announced that Naph had agreed to join the church by profession of faith! Later, Naph told me that his second son, Loren, wanted to be baptized too. That's four!

4/11/10
I saw Franklin in the morning. He said that he had missed me the previous Thursday evening when I did not come to his house; Naph & I thought that he was out of town tending to lumber. We agreed to have a 'make-up' Bible study at his house that night. Carol and I discussed whether to invite Franklin to be baptized; we agreed that not to invite would be very rude.
At the study, Naph joined us and we discussed baptism. Franklin said that he would like to be baptized along with two of his sons, Peter & Noel. That 's seven! Franklin attended the first SDA evangelistic series two years ago with Naph'. He has sent two of his children to our school this year, he has made all the arrangements for our lumber to be cut and transported, and he is building all of our new school furniture from this lumber. His heart is really with us. The three of us men agreed that a 12 night baptismal preparation series was needed, and that the 28 SDA Fundamental Belief power point presentations would be the material used.

4/12/10
I began editing the 28 power point files. I use text boxes to overlay the slides. In the box I place simplified language. This is going to be a big job! The original text is a very scholarly work, not intended for remote villages where most people have not completed high school, and most English comes on the wings of a pigeon.

4/15/10
Our first baptismal class was at Franklin's house. 'D' walked with me. We were all present, plus some children that joined us to watch the computer pictures and hear the stories. We read the first two lessons in an hour, the home lit only by the light of the laptop, and planned our next meeting for Sabbath afternoon at 5PM.

I'm editing lesson 7 now.
While walking home from Franklin's with 'D', he told me that he had gone to the market today and stopped by Shay John's store. John had his electric generator running and was showing one of the New Beginnings bible study DVD'
s on his TV. I had copied a set of the 26 lessons for him on five DVD's.
Now, he was showing them to a crowd of 10 or more people who had gathered in his store to watch. 'D' stayed and watched the lesson with them, "you can never say that you have learned enough."

Tonight, Carol stayed home and passed out a few Bibles and Bible study sets to people that live near us in our 'Calaba' quarter. She went looking for Comfort, but found the wrong one. This new lady, Comfort, was interested in Bible studies too, took the Bible and studies that Carol offered her, but wanted someone to teach her. Carol found the correct Comfort and gave her the Bible and studies she had waited two months for. Soon, Magdalene a nurse at the Health Center joined the two Comforts and Carol. Magdalene agreed to teach the Bible studies to the Comforts while we are in the States. Somehow, the group will include about two other ladies; five altogether. It seems that some people here just love to share Bible studies with other people!

'D' said that a young man has asked him to give him Bible studies at the rate of two per day; one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The guy has come to 'D' faithfully since Sunday the 11th.
God is truly busy here in Lassin!

4/16/10
This morning before breakfast Irene, one of our faithful, but very busy, church members came to our door. Carol gave her 5 Bibles and Bible studies.
Irene told Carol that she had 5 friends that needed them. Carol wanted to take the opportunity to encourage Irene not merely to deliver the Bibles and studies, but to meet with her friends and study together. "Yes, I'm already giving them Bible studies." Carol could hardly wait to tell me the good news.

Today, Friday, is market day. At the market I saw many friends and tried to purchase some "small thing" (food) from each of them. This time Abduli's shop door was open; he is a tailor, assistant Emom of the Mosque, and an Honorable official recorder of births, deaths, and the like. He's also a wonderfully warm and friendly fellow whose English is pretty good. He told me that he had watched the New Beginnings video at Shay John's store last night. "It told of Adam and Eve, Catholics, and how people are keeping the Sabbath on Sunday." He was beaming as he told me how happy he was that with each point taught, that a text was given from the Bible to support it. He told me again how churches in Lassin only have singing and preaching, but do not teach from the Bible, "not even a sentence or a word." With less than three weeks left in Lassin, I realized that I had better invite him, the Hausa Chief 'Sarki', and Isa over for dinner. This event is long overdue.
We agreed on Monday at 5 PM. Then Abduli said, "I would love to have a copy
of the New Beginnings DVDs." I thought and added, "Would Sarki like a set
also?" "Yes, I'm sure. He has a generator, a DVD player and a TV." "Well, if I give a set to each of you, Isa would feel bad if I had none for him."
"Yes, Isa would love a set. He has no DVD player, but he will ask his neighbors to use theirs. Then the whole Hausa community will be able to watch them." I was amazed! Could I be hearing correctly? The assistant Emom of the Mosque had just told me that the whole Muslim community of Lassin would love to see the Bible studies. In prayer, "Father, you're wonderful!"
I'm making 4 sets of the videos. The 4th set is for the Fon. How could I leave him out? "We are together." We're farmers here, but we sow the Word of God. We have no idea what the harvest will yield, that's not our job.
We are told to 'go', not 'worry'.

4/22/10
Yesterday, Divine told me that his brother-in-law had just died; the 2nd day after his appendix burst. 'D' was grieving for his sister who lives in Kumba, far away in the hot and fertile southwest province. Today, 'D'
knocked at our back door. He was in an extreme hurry and very troubled. "I beg you to help me." He needed a small travel bag to put a few cloths in.
He was leaving immediately on a motor bike to arrive in Bamenda by 10 PM today and Kumba by tomorrow, Friday. Several times his emotions welled up choking his words. "I have to leave. My sister is grieving." He climbed on the back of the bike and pulled his cap firmly down. I watched as he rode up the hill away from our houses, out of sight towards Bamenda and Kumba. Oh, how far will one go for someone he loves. Oh, how far will One go for someone He loves.
It is interesting that 'D's brother-in-law was the one that was supposed to transport a gas-powered electric generator, DVD player and TV to 'D' on the 20th. 'D' wanted to use these ("I will try by all means") to show the New Beginnings Bible lessons and 'Jesus film' in front of his store in the evenings. I hate to think of it, but I believe that there is a war on.

4/27/10
There is nothing in Noni like Noone!
Today, I went to Franklin's carpenter shop to participate in the building of the first desk, of 45, for the school. There was an array of cut pieces of eucalyptus, a top, sides, seat, and so on. However, some pieces were missing and others were of dimensions that were not according to the original, agreed on plan. I was asked how tall the seat risers should be.
I responded, "where is the blueprint page"? These pieces had been cut without reference to the blueprint which was offsite at the time. The method being used would have resulted in a lumber shortage of 25 planks beyond our 20 plank reserve. It was clear to me that although I had provided a blueprint, delivered it to Franklin, and explained its use, the importance had not been appreciated. I am not certain of the reason for this miscommunication, but I suspect that somewhere in the explanation given in English, that the significance of the words was lost. The desks are important, but they are not eternal. Pertaining to eternal things, communication is critical. The project of translating the New Beginnings power point lessons into the Noone language is vital. When completed, the lessons can be sent and played all over the territory of Noni; about 8 towns. No wonder John saw the first angel "fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people."
Okay, here's the last set of stories from Lassin for the '09/'10 school year.

Sabbath, May 1, was a really big day! Our pastor came and we had a special service. Three men, Naphtali, Divine, and Franklin each joined the Lassin SDA church! Divine by baptism, and the others by 'profession of faith'. It was just wonderful. Yes, I have movies and a few stills. You'll have to wait for the DVD as they are too big to shove down the internet. The smallest photo costs $25 to send from Lassin, and the 'big city' internet connections are about the speed of dial up. Anyway, what a beautiful conclusion to this first term!

Sunday, May 2, Carol and I walked the 2.5 km (~1.5 mi) to the airstrip to visit with Eric for 20 minutes on the cell phone (we have no cell phone coverage at the house and have to walk for all calls). Those visits are the greatest though! We collected our backpacks and umbrella after the call, and began the walk back home in a light rain. As the rain intensified (rainy season has resumed), we decided to join four people who were taking shelter on the front porch of a friend's house. Two of them were Gregory and Caroline, our friends who live by the school (Gregory has rebuilt most of the school). We visited a while then he said, "You asked me about a baptismal class." In short, he is looking forward to taking an in-depth Bible study program, and then being baptized later this year. His wife was nodding and smiling; she'll probably join him. The rain cleared and we parted. What a great outing- all for a single phone call.

5/3/10
I just have to do this. Today, I greeted the Fon of Lassin. He was out of the palace at his farm. One of his wives instructed her child of about 3 or
4 years of age to lead me to him. "He's just over there." Well, 'over there' took us along a narrow WELL traveled path above the church, past Naphtali's father's compound, and into 'farm land'. Past corn and beans about half grown, across 6 inch wide plank bridges spanning slow moving murky water, over soggy bottom land, up a hill, past a tree that was buzzing (buzzing? Why? Oh, a bee hive is in the tree. Better get.) All the time this little fellow, plastic sandals paddling along, sporting only a fine red shirt never seemed to question his destination. I trailed silently. At last, under a mango tree, stood the Fon and his second wife, nursing her youngest son. We stayed on the farm for a while, then he gave me a tour of the farms of his four wives as we walked back to the palace. We greeted young and old on the way. Only today, did I realize that Naphtali's father is a Shey. Google it. Our lengthy visit in the royal parlor was really pleasant; no schedule and no interruptions. We talked of community
development- new roads out of Lassin, and a new site for the large weekly market. He passed on a rumor that 'a student who completes four years in your school will be ahead of a student in Form two'. (A 4th grader in our school would be ahead of an 8th grader in the public school). Of course this is unfounded because we have only operated for 7 months and only have 1st graders, but the thought is nice. The truth is that one of our 1st graders helped a 5th grader from another school to read. (Oh dear, I might be bragging.) We discussed our plans for the school and church next year.
He expressed his joy over our recent baptism. Here is the reason I began this story. The Fon of Lassin asked me to 'greet you all', his 'wise sage'
face beaming graciously.

Thursday the 6th, we leave Lassin. The church will be in the hands of God, Naphtali, and Divine. Naphtali and his wife Julie will operate the school until May 20. Divine will keep our rent paid and our garden tended- he will get to eat the corn and beans that he planted and polish off the rest of our egg plant (don't groan, that's good stuff here).

Needs for next year:
Teachers- 3 or 4 please. This is a 9 month adventure. We have promised to have classes 1 - 5 furnished and staffed. We're taking enrollment as if the teachers were signed up. Class size is limited to 20 students. Teachers, you can live a simple and highly rewarding life here for under $100 per month. Beyond that, get a visa, shots, and a plane ticket. Our email address is scrose2@gmail.com to apply.

We got the bright idea to open a flour mill at the school as an industry that would sustain the school project. The need for a mill is significant and the cost is only 700,000 CFA. After conversion to $, it does not seem impossible.

A companion industry would be a small poultry. The birds could eat the mill flour that inevitably falls to the floor. We could sell eggs and grown birds. Note: of a clutch of 7 chicks, 2 are lucky to hit adolescence, and 1 may become an adult. Foul sell for 3,000 CFA each. Tuition is 2,000 CFA per year for a first grader. I would need to build the henhouse and buy starter birds.

We'll still plant as many oil palm trees as we can (up to 600) at the school, but it will be 4 - 5 years before we see any return from this.
After this, the oil industry alone could sustain the school and permit significant growth.

Most exciting of all (for me) is to translate the 26 New Beginnings (by It Is Written) Power Point presentations into the Noone language, then turn them into books and DVDs.

If any of these projects interest you, let me know. I welcome the voice of experience or the sound of cash. Already, I have local church members with expert advice in west African oil palms and flour mills.

If you are still reading, congratulations!

Thanks for keeping us in your prayers as we travel back to the states!

Your friends, Steve & Carol

Dear family!

2010-04-13T17:20:00.000-07:00

4/13/10

As I walk through Lassin now, I have realized just how important greetings are. I must wave at the open door of a house just in-case someone inside, cooking over a small fire, is watching me pass. Really, it's no bother at all. By the time I reach the market or center of town, I have been greeted, respected, asked, 'how yu sleep?', 'how fo yu skin?', 'yu go fo schoo?'. In short, people really care, but they also feel the sense of obligation to greet. It's hard to be lonely, at least when you're walking.

I have found myself lonely though, really lonely. Discouraged too. Seems crazy with so many people to visit with and so many projects going well.
The other week I discovered the source of this 'pothole' in the road of life. I got an SMS from our daughter- discouraged, needed to talk. I practically ran the 1.5 miles to the airstrip where cell phone reception is dependable. We talked. We're better now. Then, I got an SMS from our son- discouraged, was seeking courage from Christian friends. Three of the four of us had been battling discouragement, thousands of miles from each other, at the same time. Each of us have been attempting to share the gospel and each of us were being 'punished'. You too? Don't be surprised. We wrestle not against flesh and blood. Pray without ceasing.

Weather: rainy season is coming slowly but steadily. The lightening shows are great! The air is clean again; what a relief from the harmiton dust!
Temps are in low 80's with humidity not far behind. Again, another month of 'T' shirt weather. Roads are wet, but not too muddy. The little red Toyota still climbs the hill to Binon.

Home: I tapped the neighbor's water pipe last Thursday and now we have indoor water! (super rare here) Well, we have water when it flows; usually after 10 PM and before 5 AM. As the rains progress though, the water runs for a few minutes during the mid day and evening too. Next year, a real ceramic, indoor toilet! Ah, the simple joys.

School: the children are reading little blue and red books now- thanks Mom!
Our assistant teacher Naphtali is so excited to see first graders reading 3 letter words and small books! This is just not done here until much later; a neighbor girl in 5th grade was assisted in reading by one of our 1st graders. As I work outside the school as 'grounds man', I hear happy sounds and songs coming from Carol's classroom. She is leading 20 kids to Jesus as a little flock.

School well: the 2 room house has been built. One room around the well, the other for storage. The roof should be on by Friday the 16th. Gregory is doing great work.

School desk lumber: half of it has arrived in Franklin's carpenter shop. He has worked so hard to coordinate the sawyer, then find a truck driver willing and able to transport the lumber. He will build one prototype desk before we leave, then make 44 more before September.

Church: on the 3rd of April, Naphtali told me that his son David would like to be baptized. Wow, out of the blue. David has been attending church and a Bible study on Thursday nights at Franklin's house; just down the foot packed path, along the row of eucalyptus and heavily laden mango trees, past the mounded rows of sprouting beans and corn from his own 'compound'. I had wondered if any baptisms would result from our work here. Really, we have not been asking people if they would like to be baptized, we've just been having bible studies. But then we began to ask. Yes, Franklin and his two eldest sons would like to join us by profession of faith and baptism. Then Naphtali requested to join on profession of faith. His second Loren wishes to be baptized. That just leaves Divine. "One must not refuse to be baptized", he said. Sounds like 'yes' to me. That's 7. Now I understand why, in Heaven, we'll 'cast our crowns' at Jesus feet. God has been busy!
I have just pressed the 'play' button and kept the New Beginnings bible studies going. Honestly, I think that teaching the members to give Bible studies on their own has increased their interest and understanding tremendously too. We have a 3 week baptismal class planned, 12 sessions.
'D' asked if he could join me at our house for his sessions, the other sessions are to be held at Franklin's place.

We would like to thank those who donated to this project. I spent most of your money on lumber and school furniture construction labor. It will also keep Naphtali on the payroll while we're away. He'll supervise the work projects and enroll students in classes 1 - 5. THANK GOD, he'll be our new lead lay pastor while we're away. 'D' & 'Naph' will take turns providing Sabbath school lessons and sermons. They already have plans for increasing the level of children's participation in church.

We're also thankful for those who gave Bibles to Cameroon. We have given out about 4 cases of 36 and have 3 more cases. Others donated boxes of 'Your Bible Saves' (yourbiblesaves.com) 20 lesson Bible studies. We give out one set with each Bible. These have found their ways to Baptist pastor'
s conventions, Baptist college students, and many little homes in Lassin and homes on the road to Kumbo (where we get our mail). Two boxes of 'Born To Die' and one small case of 'Steps to Jesus' have been given out. These are seeds, can't farm without them.

Every day of the next 3 weeks is packed. The last full day in Lassin,
5/5/10, we'll have the baptism, then communion with our church family. We
bounce up to Kumbo in the little red Toyota 5/6/10, then catch a bus to arrive in Douala by the 7th. See you in June.

Keep us in your prayers!

Steve & Carol

P.S. we're both healthy & no jiggers.

Dear family & friends,

2010-03-30T10:04:00.000-07:00

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.

Christopher, S, Devine, Maxell

2010-03-15T19:08:00.000-07:00

Needed in Lassin

2010-03-15T19:03:00.000-07:00

Sabbath School lesson quarterlies- it is nearly impossible for us to get them here. We are literally a bottomless pit for the still valuable out-dated SS quarterlies. We pass out literature and books here in Lassin.
As we drive along the road to Kumbo, we pass out literature to the 'highway check point' officers, truck drivers, and carrot venders. All together, we have used up our case of 1000 Glow, our case of 100 'Steps to Jesus', 144 of Eva's Bibles, 30 of 100 'Born to Die' books (shortened Desire of Ages), and 100 bible study sets. People still come and ask us for more. "Sorry, the bibles are finish."

So., the point. Could each church that reads this consider sending us one USPS International Flat Rate box? It will cost you about $55 or less. Pack it with used SS quarterlies. Ask folks to bring old copies from home. Sets of 10 identical lessons would be great, but singles are fine too. Try to fill to the weight limit, but use strong packing tape for the corners and edges; these areas typically take a beating. Please address it to our pastor Josia in Kumbo. If it arrives during our summer break, he can distribute them as necessary to his churches in Kumbo, Din, and Lassin.
Aside: he was ordained in '09, is in his early 30's, is married, has a 5 year old daughter and one year old son; sweet people!

Mail to:
Pastor Josia NDombo
c/o Christopher Laikembu
Campost-Kumbo-NSO
NW Region- Cameroon
Kumbo Cameroon

This could become an adult or children's Sabbath school mission project that you do at the end of every quarter.
Children's Sabbath school lessons would be great too. Students here learn to read in English. Lessons could be distributed in the market to school children. (Please, no 'Insight'- It's aimed at the US.) You see, we can only get quarterlies from Nigeria. We have no reliable way to get them. The cost of each lesson is 2,500 FCFA or $5.29. But in this economy, according to my 'it feels like' scale, the cost is $25 each. Put in perspective, a child pays 3,000 FCFA for tuition to attend 1st grade at the government school for a year.

By the way, don't worry if a book looks 'used' or is written in. Nobody will mind a bit.

I don't want to sound like I'm begging, but some of you have asked if you can help.

Thank you!
Steve & Carol

"Emergency Medical" transport via our 4WD Toyota Tercel to Banso Baptist Hospital (Kumbo), 5 mo preg, sonogram shows baby okay still

2010-03-15T19:01:00.001-07:00

All schools join Youth Day parade IMG_1810 Christopher, S, Divine, Maxell. We get USPS boxes here

2010-03-15T19:00:00.002-07:00

Youth Day

2010-03-15T19:00:00.001-07:00

Jigger removal is no more painful than opening a blister

2010-03-15T18:59:00.001-07:00

Gregory's Well- we have water now

2010-03-15T18:58:00.001-07:00

Field trip to river, future hydro-electric site

2010-03-15T18:57:00.000-07:00

All 20 students of class 1

2010-03-15T18:54:00.000-07:00

March 10, ‘10

2010-03-12T08:24:00.000-08:00

Dear family & friends,

It’s March now and already over a third of it has passed. It’s less than two months before Carol and I leave our home in Lassin for our home in the good ‘ol USA. Honestly, the struggle of the week is to remain focused on the work at hand. Carol has her teaching, but I seem to have become stuck waiting between projects. The lumber to build the desks, etc. has not been delivered to Lassin yet. The school building is completed, but the well project threatens to take over our wallet. It seems somehow larger than our limited time; although probably not. Bible studies continue very well with a few friends: Devine (“D” of D’s 5 & dime, card house and pub across the street from us- Sunday @ 1, plus a couple times a week), Emanuel (nurse at the Baptist Health Center of Lassin- when work permits), Shey John (owner of the finest general store in Lassin and ‘Shey’ (ambassador and advisor)to the Fon (top man of the village)- Wed. mornings), Franklin (our carpenter & his family and a few neighbors- Thursday night), and Moses (the school tailor and his whole family- Sunday night).

Have some of you been praying for Shey John? Likely. Here’s what happened today. Our New Beginnings bible study was entitled ‘Fooled by a Myth’, the last lesson about the Sabbath. Let me interject some of the events of the day. This morning, I stopped in at ‘Brother John’s’ store to drop off some government documents pertaining to our school staff and enrollment statistics, and to inquire where I could find running water. Lassin has been having water difficulties recently. Our ‘tap finish flowing’ two days ago. The faucet at our next door neighbor’s back yard was one of the last to dry up. John told me where to find the last faucet that still had water flowing in town. I drove to it with a 20 liter (5+ gallon) jug and ten 1.5 liter plastic bottles; 35 liters in all. After filling them and driving to the school, enjoying Carol’s program, and returning home as ‘school bus driver’ (Carol & me, plus 15 school children in our Corolla Tercel- 2 on Carol’s lap, 6 or 7 in the back seat and 6 or so in the luggage area. Don’t worry, we blaze along for about 3 miles at about 12 mph on a virtually empty dirt / sandy gravel road. What a gas!) After arriving home and munching some food with Carol, I shouldered our Toshiba lap-top and trundled off to Shey John’s store for the second time today. I took a seat on the raphia bench across from his ‘check out’ desk and listened to the animated conversation between the Shey and a few of his customers. After about a half hour and a dozen customers and visitors, John followed the last person to the door, and proceeded to close and lock the store. That was my first clue that he had time for a bible study; remember, friendship is so important that bible study or not, just hanging out is a big deal. We watched the lesson on ‘the Sabbath’. As the lesson concluded, I felt compelled to ask John if he would like to join us in worship on Sabbath. He explained that he would love to, and in his heart he is an Adventist, but that his wife and entire family structure (minus his sister Elizabeth and brother Jeffery who were baptized Adventist in ‘08) do not support his decision. We read the story of the ‘rich young ruler’ of Luke 18. We learned that God is inviting us to ‘follow’ him, and that with God, even the things that seem impossible become possible. We prayed that God would perform the impossible in John’s family and give John courage to stand for Him.
When John opened the store doors again, the first heavy rain of the rainy season was falling. The raphia benches lining the front porch of the store were occupied by people waiting out the steady heavy rain well punctuated by thunder. One of those just happened to be brother “D”. We were all invited in from the weather. For the next hour, the conversation was light and funny. “D” and Shey are best of friends (both are very friendly with distinctly varied humor- “D” is very dry and forthright letting the humor of the story stand alone, and Shey loves to listen, smile, then make some funny crack then laugh or chuckle). After a particularly long stretch of stories in the Noni language, the conversation broke into English and I became included in the fun. It seems that an amazing event occurred December 17, ’09. I had invited ‘brother John’ to accompany Carol and me in our Toyota from Lassin, over the mountain and down across the wide plain to Bamenda. John was our navigator. Well, on the morning of the trip, John stopped in at D’s pub for a last cigarette. John did not want to smoke in our car and discussed the problem of the 10 hour trip with D. D suggested that John quit his 2 pack a day habit that day. John agreed. The laughter resumed between the two of them as they retold the story. “I quit that day”, John said. “I have not smoked since then and it’s because of you! I save 1,000 franks a day.” (This is about the ‘wallet impact’ equivalent of $10 a day.) I had no idea of the event. Amazing!
The heavy rains had changed the dry, dusty main market road in front of John’s store into a swift little stream. When they let up, D & I excused ourselves and walked home together. “Hey D, how about a bible study tonight?” “Sure.” Just as amazing as the last story, just before study time, Emanuel showed up at our back door and was very interested in staying for the bible study with D. New Beginnings ‘After the Smoke Clears’ was next for D. They each learned how brief the final cleaning of the earth will be.
Again, let me assure you that not all of our time is spent this way, but when it is, it is incredibly enjoyable!

Have you noticed that I don’t spend much time telling you what goes wrong? There are reasons for this. If I tell you of every pot hole in our road of life, every cloud of road dust that we breath, every cloud of the neighbor’s cooking fire that we inhale, I may scare off some unsuspecting volunteer that may have come out to teach in the school. Well, I’m going to let you in on a secret. Carol and I have a new sport. After just a couple minutes of it, our hearts are pounding and we are giggling like little kids. We play it in the evening about 7 PM. We both play on the same team. It lasts between 2 and 5 minutes each evening. Required equipment? A fly swatter each. Okay, it is at this time that the bats that have begun roosting about March 1 in our eves begin to take to flight. Between 1 and 6 of these flying wonders will enter our living room one at a time. We calmly turn on both lights, take up the swatters and the game begins. We always win. The solution? Start a fire in the house at night, smoke up the rafter area and the bats find a new home. I haven’t had the nerve to light a big fire yet; so far, just a couple old rags. I don’t like smoke either; especially near bed time. Your serve.

News from the “Adventist Medical Automotive” project. Five transports so far. The last two were women; one with severe ‘stomach’ ache from PID, and the most recent with severe ‘pleural effusion’. As I was driving the lady with pleural effusion to Kumbo, her husband was sitting in Shey John’s store telling of how he was going to have to sell some corn to pay for his wife’s medical condition. As he was talking, someone entered the store to tell him that his wife had just been driven out of town on her way to Kumbo. He was shocked. He didn’t even know that she was that bad or that she was planning on leaving. (Life without phones is different here) I had no idea of who she was, only that I had been asked to transport her. Later I learned several things. In Kumbo, she had 3 liters of fluid drained from her lungs. She farms very near our school. I had hired her husband to dig the toilet pit at our school. He was also one of the first farmers that I met on my December ’08 expedition to Lassin. He carried a ‘huge knife’! (farming ‘cutlass’) He really had me worried back then- certainly not now. I saw him a few days ago at the bustling Lassin village market. Our eyes met, he took my hand and earnestly told me how thankful he was for the kindness we showed to him and his wife. “Thank God. Thank God.”

Aside: “True & Sierra”, my heart really goes out in appreciation to you two. Even with all these exciting experiences, there are still times that I’m ready to bag it all and head for ‘home’. This has been an incredible character development project; God has been an excellent instructor. The other day, Carol’s 4 month old avocado pits finally began to sprout in the garden. We had lost all hope of ever seeing sprouts. We never know when the seed of God’s word will sprout in the heart of a person; it could be long after we’ve given up hope. I’m glad you spent years of sowing out there in You-land. God bless you.

There are more stories, but only our closest friends are still reading.
Next ‘issue’: “I’ve known about Seventh-day Adventists and the Sabbath for 20 years. I just never knew where one of their churches was.”

Time feels as if it is really flying now. Pray that we do not let any of it pass without caring for the future of our neighbors. Thank you!
Steve & Carol

Taxi Driver with a Pilot's Certificate

2010-02-19T09:21:00.000-08:00

You may remember that being a 'mission pilot', serving under Adventist Medical Aviation, was the initial attraction to the 'mission field'. Here we are in beautiful 'down town' Lassin Cameroon without an airplane. So, what does a 'grounded' pilot do?

The local taxi drivers were allowed to charge only 2000 CFA to transport people between Lassin and Kumbo. Well, they had been 'over charging' to the tune of 2500 CFA, some higher. The tolerance of local highway officials ran out. Toward the end of January they ran a crack-down. They put all the taxi drivers in jail, impounded the cars and demanded repayment of over charges. "Tough love"

Well, that made it difficult (nearly impossible for locals) to travel in or out of Lassin. I realized that medical care would be impacted, so I volunteered to drive our 4WD Toyota Corolla Tercel car to Kumbo for medical emergencies that came to the Baptist Health Center of Lassin. Health center workers were very grateful. February 1, I took a young man with 'peritonitis' and his father to the Banso Baptist Hospital in Kumbo. I saw the young man's father on the 7th and was told that surgery went well and the son was recovering well. On Sabbath, the 13th, while walking to church, this young man greeted me with a big hug and thanked me for saving his life.
Later, I learned that the surgeon had declared that this condition would have been fatal if one more day had passed without treatment.

The taxi drivers are out of jail and have their cars back, but the offer with the health center continues; free emergency medical transport. This is really a big deal since the taxi drivers hold out for 20,000 CFA for emergency runs to the hospital. On Sunday, February 7, I was asked to take a young man with a heart problem to Kumbo. When I set eyes on him (Marcus), I knew that he was in big trouble. Off we went with two of his brothers, my friend Divine, and a fellow who wanted to see his son in the hospital. We made record time, 24 miles in 1 hour 50 minutes; typical time is 2.5 hours.
We beat up the car. It's not necessary to tell you that the roads are rough. About 10 minutes from the hospital Marcus announced to his brothers that he could feel his body failing and he told them 'good-bye'. They began jostling his face, praying, and encouraging him. Ten minutes after arriving at ER, word came to me, "the man is finish". Within a half hour the ambulance became a hearse. The trip home took the usual 2.5 hours; no need to rush. On the 8th, I attended the burial at the family home. The family expressed their thanks for my attempt to help save Marcus. What do you say?
We tried. I offered my condolences.

Also, on the 8th, I repaired the solar electric system wiring at the same Baptist Health Center here in Lassin. A little creative wiring had to be undone. The lights in the office work again.

February 13, I was asked to take a man in his 70's with unstable temperature and high blood sugar. A large crowd of people, including the Fon ("fawn"), had come out to wish him well. When the Fon saw me he gave a wry smile and said, 'You again?' The man made it to the hospital. How I wish that these people would come to the health center as soon as they realize that they are in trouble. I attended his burial at the family home with Divine on the 14th.

February 17. A messenger arrived at our front door from the Lassin Health Center asking me to transport a lady to BBH in Kumbo. This gal in her 20's was 5 months pregnant. She had been bleeding for some time. The doctors were concerned and wanted her to have an ultrasound and get some medicine at the 'big city' hospital. The gal looked so strong and vibrant that I was tempted to ask if this was a 'real' emergency. Nothing doing, who knows how the baby is.

Today, November 19 is market day. I was shopping for pineapple, oranges, cabbage, onion, 'pumpkin leaf' (cooks up like spinach- pretty good), tomato, the basics. I saw a strangely familiar face. She was the mother of the gal that we carried to the hospital. 'Ma' told me that the gal and her baby are doing well at home now. She is using 'meksin'
(medicine). Apparently she has a history of difficult pregnancies.

Are you wondering if I'm drumming up funds for an airplane? Nope. If necessary, the little car can scramble up those dusty rocks that threaten to disassemble it. The 1 hour 50 minute record time stands. I have done the 'time' math for use of an airplane. It goes something like this: 15 minutes to load the patient into the car and drive to the airstrip. 15 minutes to check out the plane, warm it, get cows off the air strip and 'taxi' into take-off position. 20 minutes to fly to Kumbo. The patient will require transfer to a local or hospital taxi and be driven to the hospital, about 20 minutes. This assumes that light and weather permits and that no transportation delays exist. Total time: about 1 hour 10 minutes, saving 40 minutes. The big problem now is not time, but education; (get to the clinic early).

Note: If you have your doubts about our health care here, take this into consideration. There are many facts that have been omitted from these stories. The guy with the heart condition waited 3 days before coming to the clinic. The guy with the unstable blood sugar and temp had damaged his health for years, then spent weeks trying 'traditional' medicine from the 'Erbalist'; that's what they call him now. We used to call an Erbalist the 'Medicine Man'. Get the idea?

What is the point? It's this. Because we're sharing the blessings that God has given us, the community of Lassin appreciates our presence even more.
One of the night watchmen at the clinic asked me if he could join us in worship this Sabbath. He has been very friendly, but has had a 'wait n see'
attitude. The ice is melting. Last Sabbath a nurse from the clinic had the Sabbath school lesson. Another nurse's aide type completed his 3rd bible study on the 18th. We are not trying to 'buy' Christians. I don't think that Jesus was trying to buy followers either. The gospel seed is being planted. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers.

Steve & Carol

HOMEY NEWS

2010-02-16T08:42:00.000-08:00

Steve and I are having a fun day together. After eating banana pancakes, we watered the garden together. I planted more kale and spinach. Then we washed some clothes together.

Washing clothes by hand is crazy, but we have found a way to make it fun. We tell each other stories from our childhood. It’s fun reliving old memories!

Then I made lunch while Steve went across the street to the local bar----and gave a Bible study! Seriously, the owner has become a good friend and has given his heart to God! It is exciting to see him pour over the Bible and make decisions for a new life. It is extremely hard for people here to step apart from the family and make decisions that will set them apart, as in worshipping God on Saturday instead of Sunday.

A neighbor girl also came over and helped me with some housework. She peeled some coco yam and then picked some rice. Most of the time Steve and I do all our own chores, but sometimes the local young people like a little extra money. Today, the girl wanted to help me without pay. She did not say, but I suspect she was grateful that we paid for a Medical Clinic visit recently. She had some type of skin rash, but she is much better now.

Another mundane chore that can be fun is picking the hulls out of our “wild” whole grain rice. We did a little of that today also. Steve and I see a lot more of each other than in California, and we like it! God is good!

This last week we celebrated Youth Day on Thursday. The event actually included activities on every day Mon thru Thurs, and Friday was a holiday. So it was an interesting and fun week! Monday the school children did a community project—we swept the “compound” of a local ruler. On Tuesday running races and soccer games were held here in Lassin; our children ran but were some of the youngest runners. On Wednesday we made small Cameroonian flags for the children to carry while marching on Thursday. On Thursday we marched with all the other schools. It seemed like everyone and his brother was marching in a school or some kind of club. Our school received a small prize of a plastic bucket, plastic bowl, and some small notebooks. There was also a teacher get-together that day; that was nice and interesting. There was also a teacher get-together that day; that was nice and interesting. At that event, a heated argument began over the fact that a local education dignitary had been called away from our get-together to be hosted by another group.

Carol

Greetings from Steve & Carol

2010-02-10T16:02:00.000-08:00

Before telling stories that I love, you should know that most of life here is routine, not much to write home about. So, don't think that this is how we spend all our time or that life is always exciting.

Today is Sabbath. It is the second week of my experiment to really accomplish something in church besides extending my church family's time spent sleeping. Before revealing the experiment, let me quote Ellen White.
"The people have had too much sermonizing; but have they been taught how to labor for those for whom Christ died? Has a line of labor been devised and placed before them in such a way that each has seen the necessity of taking part in the work?"--Testimonies, vol. 6, p. 431.

I heard this quote on my MP3 player while washing dishes lately; not that I listen too often. It is true, sermons are too soon forgotten and outreach is so important; both for the community and the members. Nobody learns a lesson better than the teacher. But to become a teacher requires a mentor.
The experiment: I, as 'pastor', am the mentor, training my church members to give bible studies. When they teach, they review the gospel and learn it better. The gospel is spread. Everyone feels useful and experiences the joy of working with God. Jesus understood this well. He sent the disciples out in pairs to 'the lost sheep of the house of Israel', those who would probably be most receptive. Also, the disciples would have the gospel implanted in their minds.

Last week's sermon was on the sending out of the disciples. Afterwards, friends were paired up. Each person was given a 20 lesson packet of bible studies. Each pair was asked to visit and offer a bible study to a friend or neighbor that would really enjoy having it. Excitement was high among the members and they left soon after services. "We" had about 4 or 5 bible studies that Sabbath afternoon last week. Carol and Nadia even shared a lesson with our next door neighbor, Evelyn. She is the wife of the chief of the Baptist Health Center of Lassin. She loved it.

Today, the 'sermon' was based solely on lesson 2 of the bible study series.
The sermon was used to familiarize each member with the lesson and topic.
Essentially, the members were being mentored on how to give this bible study later today. Members were all asked to look up the texts (now they can find the text). One would read it, and I would comment or elaborate minimally.
When we were finished, pairs were reestablished or new ones formed, and then sent out. Off we went like kids with money in our pockets being sent to the market for sweet yams (a local yummy 'fast' food).

I went with Roget and his new wife Blessing. We visited two of his cousins, Polycarp and Julius. They were happy to have a bible study with us. Roget asked me to lead out. I declined and said that I would support him. He led out in Nooni (local dialect) at first, then in English. (The easy way to speak in tongues is to have someone else speak). Opening and closing
prayers were given by Roget, then Polycarp. It was so exciting to think
that 4 bible studies were taking place simultaneously across town! Lunch
came last. After lunch, as I walked down the red dusty road to the church, I passed Carol, Evelyn, and Amygdaline sitting on low raphia stools on the red earth front porch of Evelyn's house having a bible study. The beaming smiles on each lady told the whole story. Passing the health center, I saw Emanuel. He smiled and we walked toward each other. He apologized for missing church today, but a medical emergency detained him. I asked him if he would like to teach the Sabbath school lesson from the quarterly within the next two weeks. He said that he had wanted to ask us if he could.
Again, the teacher will learn the most. Note: Emanuel speaks English well and has a quick mind. He is currently a Baptist. Our neighbor Divine gave him a shotgun bible study on the Sabbath, leaving him with many questions.
(3 point study: creation Sabbath, Exodus 20 Sabbath commandment, Jesus'
friends did not complete embalming Jesus on Friday, but kept the Sabbath according to the commandment, then went to the tomb on Sunday to complete their work). I decided to take a chance and show the Most Amazing Prophesy sermon on the Sabbath by Doug Bachelor to Emanuel. Note: Doug talks so fast that most people here have difficulty keeping up; no fault of Doug's. At the end of the sermon, after taking two pages of notes, Emanuel said, 'It answered all my questions.' Then he asked how he could share this discovery with his Baptist friends. Another note: last Sabbath, Emanuel teamed up with Divine and gave a bible study to two of their friends. (You are right, neither of them are members, but both of them have a wonderful love of bible study and the desire to spread the gospel in preparation for the soon coming of Jesus.)

Perhaps it is time to tell the story of my neighbor Divine. He operates a single counter convenience store across the street from our house. He sells soap, sugar, salt, cigarettes, 30 ml plastic packets of whisky, and other daily consumables. Between customers he steps out under his front porch to play killer cards with 2 to 10 fellows that hang out there most of the day and evening. Frankly, when we moved here, I did not care for the place. I had no idea who ran it, nor did I have interest. There was this one guy who tried to be friendly (nosey, I thought). He asked too many questions for my comfort. Many encounters later and none initiated by me, he told Carol that he wanted to ask me a question. The next day I responded. He said, "I hear that you go to people's homes and preach to them. Would you come to my home and preach to me?" He seemed genuinely interested and I agreed to meet him at his room / store that night at 8 PM. He asked me to show him the same sermons that I had been showing to others. So, once again, the It is Written, New Beginnings, 'metal man' study was shown again. He watched silently, eyes glued to the laptop screen. We sat behind the store counter, on his bed, laptop in front of us on his only chair. His small, single room of red mud brick was lit by the laptop screen and a kerosene lamp. In the dim light, I would periodically glance from the bible study to his never moving face; he kept all his questions until the end, not wanting to interrupt the presentation. Then the questions began coming one after another. "What if there was a guy who could not read, whose parents never told of him of Jesus. He lived his whole life and then died. Would he go to heaven?" Deep stuff, questions of eternal importance. The bible study had triggered his sense of the nearness of the return of Jesus and he wanted to be sure he was ready. 10 PM, 11. We had to call it enough for one day.

The next day he asked for a bible. I gave him one of the Bibles for Africa, and a 'Steps to Jesus'. He spent most of his days divided between playing cards and reading the bible. Note: I've seen his scores, he's good. He could not get enough of the bible though. We met about every other night for the New Beginnings series; usually ending about 10. It was clear that he needed more material to read during the day. I gave him the 20 lesson bible study set. Within a few days he announced that he had read it twice and was now beginning to fill in the questions. He has attended church with us for the last two weeks. It would have been 3, but he had to attend a funeral. He understands Sabbath pretty well. He does not appear to run his business; that's work. Now, after church he comes home and plays cards until his friends show up for the bible study. He missed the sermon on Sabbath observance. I need to provide a private lesson. Yes, I'll have him teaching the Sabbath school lesson before long.

Divine has arranged an empty room next door to his store. He invited me to host a private 'church' where we show New Beginnings 'films' at 1 PM on Sunday afternoons. The first week 6 showed up and 2 remained afterwards to ask questions; 'metal man' again. It's been about 2 guys plus Divine since then.

It's been about a month now since our first bible study. I have a real friend. He's a serious thinker and wants to be a pastor. He fits this
description: Acts 17:11 "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." God had to literally shove this guy in my face with a request for bible studies. I'm so glad He did.
What an incredible experience for both of us.

So., how are we doing otherwise? We're getting fat on pineapple, papaya, banana, and other great stuff; some of it sent by you! Thanks, but please no more packages, we'll be back to California before long; end of May. It took the last package two months to arrive, but oh how nice.

Thanks for your prayers. Each name in this note is worthy of your prayers- they are our family too.

Love, Steve & Carol

2010-01-29T14:09:00.000-08:00

Dear family and friends (these lines blur so much since each is true of the
other)

We got an SMS from our friend GKP reminding us that we have not sent you an update for a while. True. Sorry. There's much to tell.

Carol & I are doing well. Our nest feathering has progressed nicely.
During January, the bathroom plumbing to septic tank was completed, the shower floor drain installed, and shower floor concrete was poured. No more carrying dirty water out of the house after showers. The overhead shower plumbing was completed. We now have 80 liters of water sitting atop a bathroom wall. The sun heats it to a refreshing 70+ deg F by afternoon.
What's left? An indoor commode would be nice someday. I also plumbed a drain for a sink; the sink can definitely wait.

Food: here's a typical breakfast. To prepare for about a week's eating, I mix and grind: an 8oz glass of dried 'pumpkin' seed, 2 glasses brown rice, 2 glasses soy beans, 3 glasses corn. This is stored as a dry powder, then cooked like oatmeal and eaten with dry, powdered 'Soy Good' and one to three
6 inch bananas on top. This is chased down with slices of fresh local pineapple and papaya. Last market day I bought 4 green pineapples for about 50 cents each. Later, I couldn't resist 2 more that were a beautiful golden color. Carol did not fuss about the prospect of having to help eat 6 pineapples in one week. They were about 6 inches tall by 4.5 inches wide.
They all taste about the same; really good.

School: 20 students in grade 1. Carol's doing such a wonderful job! Those kids are learning English so much better. She also found a way to enhance their kindness to each other. A certain number of pebbles are placed in a can after a peaceful walk to school, more pebbles for a peaceful day at school, and more for the walk home. If a heated tussle breaks out, pebbles are removed. When the can is full, she rewards them with a fun activity.
It is working so well. God, she and Naphtali are making such progress in all aspects of these children's growth.
Talk about an opening into the homes of our community, we are having bible studies in the tailor Moses' home now; parent of 2 of 'our' kids.

School renovation: 75% of the walls of the school have been torn down and rebuilt beautifully; straight, plumb, proper brick and mortar composition, interlocking walls at all junctions, redesigned wall layout for greater structural rigidity. The brick laying aspect of wall renovation is complete now. There are a few more tasks to complete on the walls before we begin the redesign and replacement of several roof rafters & ceiling joists.

The result of the remodeling is a 4 classroom school; up from 3. It will accommodate all 6 grades of primary school. Previously, it would have required two grades per room to achieve this. We feel that grades one and two would be served better by individual rooms; especially because our first graders begin at 5 years old (cultural pressure).

Wall plastering and concrete floors can wait a year or so. Carol is not too keen about this prospect though. Something about permanently dirty floors bothers her.

Work at the school is being carried out by Gregory. He hired a neighbor man to help him perform brick work. Both Naphtali and Gregory told this neighbor that he should 'get his son off the street' (quiet, single lane, dirt road between towns) and send him to our school. The neighbor took the advice; number 20 is a nice little fellow. God works through brick work too.

Franklin the carpenter has helped us tremendously from his shop in town. We spent about 6 hours planning, designing, and calculating the wooden items needed for the school. It looked like this: imagine sitting down on low bamboo stools with Joseph in his mud-brick carpenter shop in Nazareth, ankle deep in wood shavings, Toshiba laptop running an Excel spreadsheet. We determined how much eucalyptus lumber was required to build 45 desks; each desk will hold 2 students, 15 desks per each of the 3 new rooms. We did the same for window shutters. Note: we don't use glass here. Window shutters are opened in the morning for light and breeze, and then closed after school for security.

Hang on. While writing this letter to you, I was pleasantly interrupted by a knock at the door. The time was 2:00 PM and 'Godhead' had arrived for his first Bible study with me. I have seen this man who works as a nurse at the Baptist Health Center of Lassin for several months. He has expressed an interest in Bible studies, but never had the time. Today, while gardening, I saw him again and invited him. He agreed to come at 2. Since we will be returning to the 'states' in May (for the summer), I decided to show him the "Most Amazing Prophesy" 10 episode series by Doug Bachelor. Lesson 1 was on the prophesy of Daniel 2. I weighed the necessity of this message. This man is a Baptist and believes that the Bible is the inspired word of God. Perhaps, for the sake of time, we could skip this one. Somehow (Providence) I decided to show it to him. Of course, the story discusses the (not so) 'wise' men of Babylon who were unable to ask the 'gods' to tell them the king of Babylon's dream. During the presentation, we discussed that those 'sorcerers', as Godhead called them, were not really able to tell the future. After one hour and forty five minutes of watching and pausing for note taking, the study ended. Then Godhead said, "I would like to take a few minutes to tell you who I am." Note: he has always seemed like a fine man, but after this comment, he had my full attention. This smiling young man said that he had grown up in another subdivision of northwest Cameroon in a small town, the son of "polygamist", the son of his father's first wife (of 3). "My father is a traditional healer.. (medicine man) People come to him to tell them the future. My father is a sorcerer. He lives in Douala now. When I come to visit him, he will try to pressure me into joining him in the rituals of inquiring into the future. Now, I will have to decline his request to join him in this." (This message of Daniel 2 was absolutely vital and applicable to this man today! Can God work or what!!!) As Godhead left, I was still reeling by the significance of telling the whole story, by the power of God to 'tell the future' and work RIGHT NOW.

By the way, don't you love the names of my friends? Godhead, Divine, Blessing, Mercy, Godlove, Godfree, Naphtali, John, and Isa (Jesus in Aribic).

Woodwork continued. There are 32 window shutters to make, 4 large teacher's desks, each with 3 shelves below, fully enclosed below with locking doors.
I'll spare you further details, but we calculated the quantity of lumber and its dimensions. We did a rough calculation of cost. All this week was a sawyer with a large chainsaw has been working on this order.

Money: I sure hope that it is appropriate to tell you how much you have donated to this project since we began it; if it is not, I'm sure to learn why later and never do it again. You have donated roughly $1,100! This is a big deal. This will purchase all the lumber required to completely outfit grades 2 through 6 with desks, window shutters and teacher's tables (about $900). The remaining funds will help with the labor to plane this hand sawn lumber, and construct the items.

Just a note regarding small gifts: If you gave $2, it would still be enough to buy the six screws that will fasten a desk seat, occupied by two wiggly second graders, together so that they do not crash to the ground. It all matters.

Our goal of being ready to provide classes 1 through 6 next year appears on schedule as far as facilities are concerned. Guess what we need next?

Teachers. Four of them. We'll be ready by God's ability. We are going forward as if the teachers were already arranged. What else can we do? We are in Good hands!

I'm locating temporary rental housing for next year's teachers now. I'll just tell you that they are in good neighborhoods; far from train tracks.
If you are, or know an adventurous and rugged individual looking for a place to work with God, and be stressed and blessed more than you can imagine (no kidding), get in touch with our daughter Julie (juliebirdie@gmail.com) and fill out an application with GMI (Gospel Ministries International).

Thanks for your prayers and SMS notes,
Steve & Carol
Lassin, Cameroon

2010-01-07T09:10:00.001-08:00

Note from Carol:

ATTENTION! Teachers needed urgently for the 2010-2011 school year! This is the adventure of a lifetime! This year we have 20 eager young students who love to hear about Jesus and other Bible characters and who love to learn new Bible songs. We would love to enlarge the school next year with grades 2 and 3 (maybe through 6th), but it will be impossible without volunteers helping. No teaching experience necessary, but a love for Christ, love for children, and a flexible, positive personality is a must! (there will be a local teacher’s assistant for each classroom) Email our daughter Julie at Juliebirdie@gmail.com. She will get us in touch.

2010-01-07T09:04:00.000-08:00

Dear friends!

We have had a bit of excitement lately. On January 6, Carol came home from school and announced that the roof over the construction area (classrooms 3 and 4) had shifted to the East. Naphtali had noticed and told her that it needed to be braced. He and I drove to the school to brace it. It had in fact shifted about 2 inches. The pressure from the stable portion of the roof and the hand of God were all that kept the school safe. Let me paint a mental picture: 60 x 40 feet of sheet metal roof was supported by only one wall while the other 3 walls had been ‘scattered’ and were in process of being rebuild. The remaining wall was supported by portions of two internal walls, but these were not up to the task. Oh yes, the rafters were supported vertically by strong eucalyptus poles, but the lateral support was ‘a bit shy’. A photo will come some time.

The progress on the school is exciting. We should be able to provide the entire primary school education (class 1 – 6) – provided we have teachers. Know any?

Next bit of excitement… Our church family would like to build a church on a piece of land of its own. We’re renting and this is mostly good, but land for a church could also provide other benefits such as a nice location for gardening and teacher housing- close to town and closer to the school. This is not really an expensive proposition as the Fon of Lassin has promised to give us land. Labor for bricks and other things is reasonable, roofing is ‘expensive’, but all-in-all a church is the next logical step after the school is completed. Housing is last, as for now our rental house is fine- we have a shower with a concrete floor and a drain piped to the septic tank! We have one more bedroom that will provide two lucky people a place to stow their stuff some day. Bedroom number two is occupied by Nadia, from Australia, an ‘Arise’ graduate, and energetic bible worker. We are happy to have her with us in the home and in the community.

I would love to discuss finances in concrete terms, but it is enough to say that God has provided well.

Last note, I said that your gifts were not tax deductible. Well, if you hand them to my dad, they are not. If you give them to Gospel Ministries International, then they are. My dad has been a big help with facilitating transfer of funds! Enough talk of money. Continue to keep us in your prayers. We do the same for you!

I must tell ‘one more story’. We received two boxes containing 12 new church hymnals! Thanks WR & PR! You should have seen the faces and heard the squeals of delight from our church members. How nice it is for each person to have one. Last night, Wednesday, we had mid week meeting. Naphtali and Franklin each had a hymnal. Flashlight in hand, they read and sang the hymns that they chose. The two kerosene lamps lit the room enough to see the 20 or so children, but the hand ‘torches’ were required for reading. Don’t get any ideas about lighting, we’re happy.

Love from Lassin,
Steve & Carol

2009-12-30T15:12:00.001-08:00

Dear friends and family,

The 2009 year is about wrapped up, but the whole old year / new year thing seems nearly inconsequential. What does seem important is that, after a 6 day massive road trip from Lassin to Yaounde and back, we are now residents (not citizens) of Cameroon for 2 years! Wow, how wonderful; no more wondering if our visa will be approved. This means that we can continue to teach ‘our’ children through the end of the school year, we can continue bible studies with our friends, and we can keep eating our fill of bananas and coco yams!

Note: (for readers that want the whole story) On Thursday evening 12/17/09, I phoned Charles, In Douala, to find out what had to be done to secure our visa before the 60 day extension grace period ran out on 12/27/09. We appreciate the much required help of Elder Richard Gates (David’s father) for vital GMI documents, the kind lady at the GMI office who typed them and e-mailed them to Charles. But even with this help we were going to have to leave THE NEXT MORNING on the long trip to the capital of Cameroon; originally, we thought we would only go as far as Bamenda- one dusty, bumpy, long day’s drive (158 km, 98 miles). Friday, drove to Bamenda, stayed with the Ichu family (see photos of Charles folks) home until Sunday morning. We took the bus to Douala Sunday. Charles picked us up, took us home and fed us some of the world’s best pineapple along with his wife’s great cooking. We met Nadia; what a treat! Monday at 4 AM, we took a taxi, then a bus to Yaounde, then a taxi to the office of immigration. You have no idea of how God led here. We were taken by Charles into a room with an officer that was very busy. We waited while a young man named Stephen came to take us through many strong doors and gates to a photo and finger printing office. While he created our temporary residence permit cards we waited outside the office. It was only then that we were shown a covered waiting area that had benches for about 60 people. How was it that we were literally taken around the line? Any guesses? After details were arranged we retraced our steps from Yaounde to Doualla arriving at 11 PM. Tuesday Charles drove us to Bamenda (all day outing). Wednesday we shopped a little for parts to make an attic heated, 80 liter (20 gallon) water supply for showering and then drove our little red Corolla home to Lassin by 9 PM. Nadia was such a good sport. She sat in back with all her things. Some boxes would try to fall into her lap, but only when the car would hit a bump during left hand turns; countless times.

Home: we’re settling in again. Nadia brought some wonderful things for us; things that had to be hand carried. Someone may wish to help me with this one; send the answer via SMS to our Iridium phone (Iridium.com, our phone number is 8816 316 72129. Again, this is free to you and free to us, BUT do not call us on this number- you’ll pay too much so we do not ever answer). I would love to know the frequencies for the following radio stations: ‘Voice of America’ in West Africa, BBC, and Adventist World Radio (Again, all stations within reception in Cameroon) Thanks!

All windows have mosquito net on them now. Bathroom plumbing is coming really slowly especially with the interruption of the Yaounde trip. I bent 45 degree turns into two of the sections using our Coleman stove to heat the plastic. The radius is really gradual, but it worked. I also flared the ends of the pipe so that one could slip into another; no slip-slip or 45 degree PVC fittings available. But now they sit waiting for more ‘spare’ time.

Some day we’ll do the shower job, but for now, the hot water from the bucket routine works just fine.

School: brick work is progressing very well to prepare classroom two for service next year. Gregory is the chief ‘technician’ on the job. The new walls are plumb and straight! They look beautiful and I feel very good about the structural integrity. Next plans are to continue total reconstructive brick work of this type throughout the remainder of the school until complete. Then we’ll address tasks like concrete ‘plaster’ of walls and floors. I need to take time to locate wood for desks and window shutters. Oh yes, I need a carpenter basically full time. Hey, don’t panic. Look what God has done so far. It’ll work out.

Church: the bible study list is growing steadily. Carol and Nadia began a new study with the mother of one of our members. I need to contact Moses, the tailor, to set a day and time for his studies. Story time: after the call to Charles on ‘that Thursday night’, I felt pushed way out of my comfort zone. I really feared traveling on lonely mountain roads in a small car during the Christmas season; bandits. I struggled to trust God for safety. My mind still reeling from the realization of this trip, I began the ¾ mile walk home from the spot where the cell phone gets reception. 100 feet down the path a large flashlight was shone in my face, “Is that you?” How do you answer this? It was Moses. He was walking home from town very late. He was happy to see me and immediately asked, “When you come back from your trip, can you have Bible studies in my home?” Immediately, I was reminded exactly why we are here and why I could be so sure that God would be with us. I believe that this really is the difference between faith and presumption.

Want another story? (if not, skip this paragraph) I met with my friend Musa Abduli (deputy Emom of our local mosque) for a brief study of the Quran and the Bible. At the end of the study he began talking about our dear friend ‘Shey’ John. I was informed that this title means that John is required to come to the palace whenever needed and that he is involved in assigning the ‘Juju’ men tasks. Have I told you about Juju men? Google this. These guys are the strong arm of local ‘traditional’ spiritualism, ancestral worship / communication with dead ancestors, ‘death celebration’ (funeral) stuff. These are the guys that I hesitate to photograph from a great distance because I wonder if I should have even this much interaction with them. Here’s the rub, the big deal… my dear friend John is involved in the coordination of this group! My heart was sick when Abduli told me. By the way, John and I have bible studies on Wednesday or Thursday mornings between 9 and 10 AM. We wrestle not against flesh and blood. Please join me in prayer for this delightful man; not once in a while, but regularly. Don’t fear the lesser / loosing power, but don’t leave home without securing yourself to the Strongest power! So, about Abduli? We ended our visit together in earnest prayer for John and each other. What an adventure!!! Want to visit?

Enjoy the photos!

We love getting your SMS messages! Keep keeping us in your prayers. God is very real and we’re really enjoying working and living here.

Thank you for your donations! Keep in mind, you get no tax benefit from this, but believe me, there are other benefits! We do not use this for food or feathering our nest; we have funds for this. We’re spending money as fast as we can to get the school ready for next year. We are careful to use funds wisely; striking the stewardship balance as well possible. Believe me, having Bible studies and seeing work go forward at the school is more exciting and fulfilling than I ever imagined possible. Carol’s work with the children is such an effective ‘bridge’ to peoples homes! She is still learning to appreciate this, but her work is indispensible (so is she!!!)

We’re praying for you too. Our daughter Julie tells me that there are some new movies sweeping America- not the kind of stuff that we want in our minds. Please avoid this stuff! Leave them for the ‘dung beetle’ (see photo).

Faithfully shaving once or twice a week now,
Your friend, Steve

2009-12-30T15:00:00.000-08:00

You're not supposed to see the block Carol is standing on

Nadia's first meeting of Gregory and first visit to the school

The short wall of classroom two is nearly complete. Gregory should be proud of his fine work.

Got my old look back. Ready for residence permit ID photo

2009-12-30T14:57:00.000-08:00

Mr. Ichu, Charles father in his Bamenda home. He provides our room when we come to town..

2009-12-30T14:55:00.000-08:00

Mrs Ichu Prepares Corn for Fufu. Very gracious hostess! Charles' Mother..

2009-12-30T14:46:00.001-08:00

Jude Lives Near the Airport "Ya, I know that Saturday is the Sabbath. I used the dictionary and Genesis 1..."

2009-12-30T13:50:00.000-08:00

Gregory has Scattered the Offending Walls From Classroom 2

2009-12-30T13:49:00.000-08:00

Blessing our Neighbor Across the Street - Sells Her Produce at the Market

2009-12-30T13:47:00.000-08:00

Front of Brother John's General Store on Market Day

2009-12-30T13:46:00.000-08:00

The Source of Franklin's Wood Hard Arm Muscles - No Electric Planers in Lassin

2009-12-30T13:44:00.000-08:00

Franklin's Scroll Saws

2009-12-30T13:43:00.000-08:00

Irene, our church landlandy and friend

2009-12-30T13:39:00.000-08:00

Carol and Julie's Mother

2009-12-29T09:23:00.001-08:00

Franklin, friend, carpenter, taking bible studies

2009-12-29T09:18:00.000-08:00

Typical Lassin market aisle

2009-12-14T09:16:00.001-08:00

Our friend and neighbor, Mary, helps us bargain at the market

2009-12-14T09:14:00.000-08:00

Fresh palm oil used to make soap, cooking oil and some of the best sweet deep fried balls I've eaten

2009-12-14T09:11:00.000-08:00

Lassin's village phone or international call box (open door under white sign) , really

2009-12-14T09:09:00.000-08:00

Naphtali's step mom sells the BEST bananas

2009-12-14T08:53:00.000-08:00

Shari, Calvin, Lisa, I'll bring my new Body Blade home. I'll leave the beard.

2009-12-14T08:51:00.002-08:00

December is the best month for butterflies, I hear

2009-12-14T08:51:00.001-08:00

Tender hearted Mrs. Rose

2009-12-14T08:50:00.000-08:00

Coco yam munch off

2009-12-14T08:49:00.000-08:00

"...and the angels suddenly appeared...(every day - thanks Becky!)"

2009-12-14T08:47:00.002-08:00

New mud bricks wait for use in classroom 2

2009-12-14T08:47:00.001-08:00

"Today is Wednesday the 9th of December, two thousand and nine."

2009-12-14T08:46:00.000-08:00

Gregory has begun to "scatter" a wall

2009-12-14T08:45:00.000-08:00

Classroom 2 braced for rebuild, concrete and sand are ready

2009-12-14T08:44:00.000-08:00

4+4 In living color

2009-12-14T08:43:00.000-08:00

Does this look busy?

2009-12-14T08:42:00.000-08:00

Extra effort for the the camera

2009-12-14T08:41:00.002-08:00

Julie

2009-12-14T08:41:00.001-08:00

Happy Holidays from Lassin Cameroon! (Snow never falls here)

2009-12-14T08:39:00.000-08:00

Carol makes raisin nut rolls- amazing! (smells and tasts SO good)

2009-12-14T08:37:00.000-08:00

Lovely washer woman (washer man pauses for Kodak moment)

2009-12-14T08:36:00.000-08:00

Fresh coffee in the morning

2009-12-14T08:33:00.000-08:00

Taxi means built-in help. We took another route around this one.

2009-12-14T08:27:00.000-08:00

Look inside the box, the almond bag held-so close - Thanks Mom and Dad

2009-12-14T08:22:00.000-08:00

"H" is for Howard Tiffin - he cut the blocks out - Thanks Howard!

2009-12-14T07:54:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends and Family,

2009-12-06T14:58:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Cameroon. God has been so good to us. We do miss you all! Please pass on our greetings to all our friends wherever you are.

We are settling into Lassin even more. By this I mean we are becoming more comfortable, not only in the place where we live, but also with the people.
It is very exciting to work with people who are listening to the Bible studies and those who are coming to church. We think there are probably many out there who would come but perhaps are just waiting to be invited.
We had one new visitor today and one repeat visitor who Steve is studying with during the week. Praise the Lord!

We are very excited that we will be picking up a Bible Worker in less than three weeks. Nadia comes from Australia but has been in the U.S. attending ARISE, a Bible Worker training school. She has an interest in the Muslim population here, and we are anxious to reach them as well as others.

Steve has been busy supervising work at our house and busy arranging for work to be done at the school during Christmas vacation. We decided we needed all the floors in our house to be concrete (three rooms and the hall were dirt) and to make the indoor bathroom/toilet usable, especially because we are planning to have other workers staying with us. We also will be completing/improving Classroom 2 at the school. Part of the work includes walls that need to be replaced and then plastered. The school is truly in a beautiful spot; the school children just love it. They are having a wonderful time there-the stream is nearby and we send them down there to "carry water" for the school. In the surrounding "bush" there are fruits they pick and eat by the dozen-a bright red fruit called dinjee, guava, and raffia fruit. The cows come to visit about once a week. It is a neat place even though the walk is far; but they usually manage that just fine even when it is hot.

We have 19 students at the school now, and school is going fine. We have had a few students contract malaria. Some of them have been able to continue coming to school in spite of it or perhaps only miss a day or two.
The students are learning English quickly. We have had one or two students
come to school without eating breakfast. That can be uncomfortable for them and a challenge for us teachers. One boy cried inconsolably for quite a bit of our walk to school. Come to find out, he was just hungry. Fortunately when we arrived at Naphtali's house, he understood the problem and gave the child some food to eat. The child was quite happy after that. The students are looking forward to participating in Youth Day in February where all the Lassin schools will get together and march in a parade, sing, and perform.

God has been very good to us in so many ways. Our translator, Naphtali, has been one huge blessing. The school building (Classroom 1) was almost ready when we arrived. Our local neighbors and church members have been so welcoming and friendly. Best of all, God has been working on our own characters; yes, we really needed it! Praise God, He hasn't given up on us, though. Steve and I are growing in God's grace, and what happiness He brings! Keep praying for us. We still have many blind spots that need to be revealed to us, but God is faithful and able to work mighty changes.

Please see our blog: Lassin.blogspot.com for pictures and more stories.
We try to update it weekly.

We love you all,

Steve & Carol Rose

12/06/09 from Steve

2009-12-06T14:52:00.000-08:00

News from Lassin

Church:

Friday the 4th, a neighbor came by and after visiting a while he said, 'I heard that you worship down the road'. Getting a nudge from 'Above', I asked him if he would like to join us for worship the next day. Yes he would like to come, and yes he came. His name is Emanuel and he works at the Baptist medical clinic between our house and the church. He turned out to be quite the bible student. He commented after the program that he really appreciated the Sabbath school lesson's bible study format and that the sermon was based on a series of scriptures. Hey, Franklin came to church again and also came for the afternoon singing and It Is Written 'New Beginnings' 'film' as they call it. Note: this is a really big deal since he is a very busy carpenter with many mouths to feed and all work is done by hand. (try planing eucalyptus by hand until it shines like it has been through a power planer- not easy.) I roped him into coming up front with me to give the scripture reading for the church service. He did fine.
Naphtali presented the Sabbath school lesson. I realize that technically a member should perform this task, but 'he who teaches learns best'. His presentation was excellent- well prepared with smooth transitions through the topics. His teaching skills well utilized at church.

School:

It's dry season. When the rain is away the people make hay. Gregory, who lives very near the school, has two sons attending, and enjoys weekly bible studies has been really busy lately. He has made 500 mud bricks- they lie in the final stages of drying in the unused 3rd classroom and offices. He has hauled about 5 cubic yards or 350 'hail pans' (whatever that is) of clean sand from the stream bed below the school to classrooms 2 and 3. I asked him to prepare a bid for the work to restore the 2 walls of classroom 2. He broke the project down by tasks with the fee for each task. We discussed it Friday and I accepted it as presented. The work will be done during the 2 weeks of Christmas break.

Next phases:

revised roof rafter system, plastered walls and concrete floor.
Next year- repeat all this stuff in classroom 3 and the offices.
Note: Carol and I are considering combining the square footage of classroom
3 and the offices and producing two classrooms. This will give us 2 smaller, yet good size rooms for grades 1 and 2, and two large classrooms that can combine grades 3 & 4, and 5 & 6. In this way we will have an entire elementary or primary school under one roof. See how soon we will need more teachers! Won't be long.

Home:

Our home has been the site of much activity! All the outer and bathroom walls have been plastered. There are no more dirt floors in the house- all rooms have concrete floors; between 3 and 5 inches thick.
The electric lights are up, and outlets work. We hardly ever use the romantic kerosene lanterns any more.
We're planning to install bathroom plumbing next. Carol really wants a
toilet- kind of fussy don't you think. Someday, indoor running water.

Adventist Medical (not) Aviation-
You probably know that we are working under the name 'Adventist Medical Aviation'. Yes, we have no airplane. As of today, 12/06/09, the 1989 4WD Toyota Tercell will probably be able to drive 24 miles without the engine dying. After installing a new fuel filter the mysterious stalling 'feature'
should fade from memory. So, why tell about our mighty Toyota in the aviation section? We plan to use the car to perform some level of medical transportation service for the people of Lassin, instead of an airplane as originally planned. This Thursday we hope to transport a woman with cancer to visit a physician at the hospital in Kumbo, 24 miles away. A few days ago, I heard that she had opted for a 'natural' home remedy of hot and cold water and massage treatments to try to shrink the tumor; because she hadn't the funds to get to the hospital for consultation and surgery. My heart revolted. I could just see metastases forming while she waited for funds to ride to the hospital. So, 'Adventist Medical Transportation' begins.

Pigeon coop:

It's about time I learn some local form of communication. Likely Pigeon.
We were given a beautiful copy of the New Testament in Pigeon English- 'GUD NYUS FO OL PIPUL' (Good News For All People). It is fun to read and pronounce and decode. Here's a sample. If you like it, let us know via SMS.
Decoding tips: 'a' is short, 'e' is long, 'I' is a long 'e', 'o' is long, 'u ' is short or 'oo'. Sometimes you have to listen to yourself read. By hearing, you may recognize a word. Frequently, the last letter or sound is left off of a word. Have fun.

Title: Jesus e sen yi twef lanboi dem-

Jesus e bin tok meik yi twef lanboi dem kam si yi. Tam weh dem bin don kam fo wan pleis, e giv pawa fo dem fo draiv ol devul dem an fo meik sik pipul dem fo wel fo dem sik. 2) Den e sen dem for go tok de gud nyus abaut God yi rul an e meik pipul dem wel fo ol kain bai kain sik dem. 3) E bin tok fo dem sei, <>

Hint: Luke 9: 1-6

A little more help-
Wuna- pleural form of 'you'.
Lanboi- hear 'learn boy', think 'student' (disciple).
Tam- time
Weh- when
e- neutral gender of 'he' / 'she' (the person)
bin- been
meik- make
chop- food
na- is (how are you? Na fine.)
waka- walk (waka fine- have a good walk)
fo- for
dem- them
don kom- done come, came (frequently heard here- ya don kom. You came.)
sei- say
eni pleis- any place

6) Time when he finish for talk, the learn boy them come out and them walka for all village them, and them talk the good news and them make people where them been the sick for well.

Come out and walka for all village! Steve & Carol

Hello from Carol!

2009-11-30T13:17:00.000-08:00

Thank you, everyone, for the birthday greetings! It was simply fabulous hearing from each one of you!

School is going well. We have 19 students-7 girls and 12 boys-ranging in age from 5 years to 13 years! We just had our first day off. We found out just about three days before that it was going to be a public holiday.

It was a real treat having the day off. Now I can't remember what I did-oh yes, I slept in for once! And I swept and mopped our church since it was our turn to clean the church.

For the past two weeks Steve has been supervising the improvements on the house we rent. By the end of the day tomorrow, all the floors will be concrete and all the walls, inside and out, will be plastered. After negotiations over the course of two months with various people, we finally found two young men who are dependable, knowledgeable, and trustworthy.
Besides the work on the house proper, the two young men poured concrete lids for the septic pit after Steve built the frame and the reinforcing meshwork.
These lids were large and heavy and had to be carried into position by about
12 men. It was quite a job! Now in order to complete the indoor restroom, we need to buy pipe, fittings, glue, and a toilet and sink from the closest town. It will be sooo nice to have a private indoor restroom. You guys take even the simplest things for granted! Yes, you! Thank God for your bathroom! The bathroom will not have running water, but at least the water will drain to the septic.

We will be joined in three weeks by a Bible Worker. We are looking forward to working with her encouraging our small congregation and reaching out to the unreached. It will be fun to have another friend.

Yesterday, Sunday, Steve and I planted our small garden in front of our house. I am so excited about the different veggies and fruit we planted.
We planted chard, beets, green onions, lettuce, spaghetti squash, green beans, kale, tomatoes, bell pepper, spinach, and zucchini. But, the most exciting thing we planted was watermelon! This is a small variety that is supposed to be sweet. Small will be nice since we do not have refrigeration. This will give us more variety than we have had. Now, I am not complaining-I am enjoying cabbage, okra, and jama jama, but it will be nice to have more variety. Jama Jama is actually a nice green, much like spinach, however it takes quite a while to prepare because the small green leaves need to be pulled off of the stems and then washed twice. It can take an hour just to get the greens ready for cooking.

I want to tell you a little about our 19 students. We are really getting to know them and enjoy them. We have five students that live near the school.
The girl who lives closest to the school, Juley, is our one and only Muslim.
Her mother told us she is 13. She doesn't look more than 10, but she is very small and thin. She is very sweet and shy. She never gets in trouble.
She speaks another dialect which I didn't realize until after a few weeks of school. The other teacher will sometimes try to translate into her dialect but most of the time he does not. She is learning English quickly. Lately she has been bringing avocadoes to sell to us. They are very good, and we are happy to buy them. Today her mother came to school during lunchtime and brought us teachers some food-corn fufu (like cornmeal mush) and a meat sauce. The fufu was excellent, but I let Naphtali and the children eat the meat sauce.

There are two brothers who live near the school-Zachariah and Ignatius.
Their father has been studying the Bible with Steve for a couple months. We really enjoy their whole family. Frequently their little brother who is about three years old comes to school with Zachariah and Ignatius. The little brother is very well behaved as are the two older boys.

There are a stepbrother and stepsister (Promise and Beli) who also live near the school. These kids are "step" because they are from "sister wives," if you know what I mean. The little girl has a powerful and beautiful singing voice. The boy is a bit shy. They have both attended school previously and are doing well in handwriting.

Naphtali has a five-year-old daughter, Onoria, who has the biggest smile.
She is quite expressive, mischievous, and very energetic.

There are five boys that live quite close to us. The first two, Kenedy and Leonard, are cousins; their mothers are sisters. Leonard's mother is a regular member at our church. Both Kenedy's mother and father are living in separate towns, neither of which is Lassin. About three weeks ago Kenedy "moved" to Leonard's compound/house quite on his own, I believe. He was in his father's compound living with his father's mother and a brother, Julius.
Then one day he went home with Leonard. Kenedy and Leonard, but especially Kenedy, are frequent visitors at our house. They have a special place in our hearts and sometimes at our table. It seems as if they do not eat breakfast regularly and they hardly ever bring lunch.

Then there are the three boys who live in Naphtali's father's compound. One boy is Naphtali's junior brother (Bless) who is about six years old. The other two (Rodrick and Isaac) are both about the same age as Bless and are related, but I'm not quite sure how. These boys are neat children. If one is behind, it is usually Isaac, often because he is so fascinated with the motorcycles that frequently drive past. Bless is very industrious and often carries home firewood. Rodrick knows the most English of all the students in the school.

There are two girls, Lucia and Blessing, whose mothers are good friends.
Lucia is about 7-8 years old and Blessing is 5. Lucia is quite sassy and can be a tease. She has been to school before. I think Blessing has been to nursery school. (We see toddlers as young as three years old walking down the road by themselves heading off to nursery school.) Blessing is a sweetheart and is quite energetic. I heard this morning that she was in the clinic with a fever. I sure hope she doesn't have malaria. Two or three of our students have had malaria just in the past three weeks.

Jacenta and Christian are brother and sister. Their father is one of the many tailors in town. Their mother is very gracious and sweet. She helped cook the food for our PTA meeting. Jacenta is about 8-9 years old. She is one of the tallest in the class. She is definitely a "ring leader." She adores me (I don't know why) and frequently wants to hold my hand as we are walking. Christian is five years old. His 2 mile walk to school tires him out sometimes.

Julius is Kenedy's junior (little) brother. He is about five years old.
When I first saw him, I thought to myself, "No way; he can't be in school.
He's too young." Oh, well, we decided that if a child was at least five years old, we would take them; that is the age for first graders here.
Julius is a sweet little kid; he's never in trouble. He loves to hold Steve 's hand. As mentioned before, he's a bit of an orphan. The aunt of Julius and Kenedy is a regular member of our church.

Joshua and Betila are brother and sister. Their father Franklin is the very muscular carpenter in Lassin who made our dining table, chairs, and a kitchen work counter for us. Joshua is about 8-9 years old and has attended school before. He is doing well. Betila is a 5-6 year-old sweetheart who is trying hard. The walk is difficult for her, but she is now getting used to it. Steve has been studying the Bible with their father.

Ransom is our newest student. If I thought Julius was way too young, I thought Ransom was barely out of diapers! We found out that he is really, truly over five years old. He is a nice boy who is doing his best.

When I say a student is over five years old or about 8-9 years old, it is because I don't think any of them could tell you the day he or she was born.
They (and their parents) are just fortunate to know in which year they were born. Also, frequently no one (not even the parents) know how to spell their child's name. I guess it is just not that important. This indicates custom and literacy only, NOT intelligence.

School is never boring with our group of students. Naphtali and I have been talking about the special "Youth Day" coming in February. All the schools gather together at the Catholic school and participate in activities which include marching, choral singing, traditional dances, and athletic events.
This could be good publicity for the school. One of our friends told us that if we wanted more students all we had to do was feed our students and their parents well after the Youth Day events! The kids are learning English very quickly, and it is very nice to be able to talk with them.

Our communication situation is not that great. I was really hoping for a good way to talk to you back at home. At least we can do limited email; that is a blessing. Our new cell phone does have a decent signal about three quarters of a mile from home. On the bright side, we don't have to 'check our messages' when we come home. No telemarketers interrupt our meals. The phone never wakes us.

Local news you may have heard. About two weeks ago Cameroon's football (we call it soccer) team won a match with Morocco. This puts Cameroon in the South Africa Cup games next spring and also some other play offs earlier in the year. This is very exciting for the Cameroonians. They love to watch their team play, just like people love to watch football back home.

Love, Carol

Post Birthday & Thanksgiving news

2009-11-28T13:16:00.000-08:00

Dear family (that's all of you),

Carol's birthday and our Thanksgiving were really special, thanks to each of you! Here are some highlights...

Carol's birthday: the SMS parade was the most wonderful gift you could have sent her! She just lit up with each one! We read them as they came over the phone, and then she read them again in the evening! Thanks to each of you! You wouldn't believe your collective impact on us both. Yes, Carol is loved! (It is Sabbath evening now 11/28/09. Last night we read another 20 SMS notes! This morning I put the phone in the kitchen window to check for any more notes; there were 10. We read them before walking to church.
Please don't apologize for being late; you simply extend Carol's joy.
Really, you should see her as we 'open' each note; she just beams.) You filled our 'inbox' full twice; about 50 messages! Birthday goodies. (What do you eat for your birthday in this part of Africa?) Breakfast: the last of her 'home made' granola from our kitchen in California, raisins, almonds, powdered soy milk (with Vanilla flavor) (this much was all 'from home'), bananas and sweet pineapple. Lunch: (at the school PTA meeting) corn 'foo foo'(balls of finely ground, boiled corn. These folks have made this food an 'art form') and 'jama jama' (tasty green leaves steamed in a palm oil
sauce)- these are the PASSION of this region! Dinner: (quickly eaten before prayer meeting) a packet of dried nuts, seeds and fruit vacuum packed 'from home', more banana, the rest of the pineapple, some 'oranges', and a lemon (that she tried to pass off as an orange- I fell for it then went ahead & ate half of the sour thing.) In short: you eat the most wonderful food 'from home' and local food that you have time to eat. We did not have candles on the pineapple because you cannot buy birthday candles here.

After a great 'day', we met at the church for singing and a 'health'
discussion about the immune system and the impact of enough water (sounds like Steve!), and effects of sugar. Our assistant teacher Naphtali joined us, then our 'land lady' whose husband is a retired teacher at the Catholic university in Kumbo, then our neighbor Benjamin who has been a Baptist minister. We were asked if we would show a program from the It Is Written, 'New Beginnings' series. They each loved it. I can hardly believe how God is bringing people to us; little by little. But, oh how important each one is. This is the reward of weeks of visiting from the street, the living room, and finally the Bible study. This is pretty exciting for this boy who was so afraid of even offering a bible study and never actually gave one before coming here.

Steps to Jesus: "Where's my copy?! Give me my copy!!" The second police officer seated on the wooden bench in front of the small highway check point shack on the way to Kumbo was ordering me to give him a 'Steps To Jesus'!
Ever since the first time I passed through that check point during Christmas of '08, I have wanted to give these officers some reading material about Jesus. My first encounter began with a stout officer ordering me to produce my Passport. When he read 'California', he exclaimed, "I love your governor! I love his movies!" He smiled enthusiastically and handed my passport back. What a relief! I could proceed with my trip. But as I thought of that man sitting for hours a day watching and stopping traffic, I thought that he may enjoy some reading material (folks here generally love the gift of a book). Today, I did it. I had gotten up my courage to stop and address the men whom no driver wished to be stopped by, much less visit with. I handed a 'Steps to Jesus' and half a dozen 'GLOW' to the man whose outfit most closely resembled a uniform. He sat first on the bench. There were at least eight of them there that morning. I suggested sharing. That was when the order came to produce another book. "Will you read it?" I asked. "Yes!" was the firm reply. A colporteurs' dream, the guy wants your book, and he wants it NOW! Later, on the return trip, this man greeted me, 'You're back!', dropped the rope that blocked the road, and waved me on.
Pray for these guys! That's an order!

Isa (Arabic for 'Jesus') came to our school PTA meeting on Carol's birthday.
He is a significant influence in our Muslim community and he supports our school with his heart. He announced that he plans to send one or two of his children to our school.
Met Abduli today, he invited us to the celebration of the 'Ram' this Friday at 10AM near the airport. I plan to attend. He is the deputy Emom of the mosque. He was excited about his roll of leading out at the 3:00 PM prayer service at the Mosque today.

Final note: Have you ever done something that you knew was REALLY stupid; just WRONG?! It was Friday morning and 'Divine', the man who runs the daily household supply shop and tavern across the street, had gathered 12 sturdy boys and men to help us move the two septic tank lids about 20 feet to the pit. Each lid must have weighed 1000 pounds; concrete 140cm x 180cm, and
3 - 4 inches thick; a 'rebar' mesh inside each. 'We' (they) had tilted one lid up and placed four eucalyptus 'sticks' (10 foot rough cut 3x3's) underneath to create 8 handles (besides the edges of the lid itself). I took one of the handles, then 'knowing something about lifting' decided to instruct these incredible men in 'the art' of lifting. 'Face forward while lifting', I said. 'It will align your lumbar spine to decrease the risk of a disk bulge'. (this was translated into Noni by Divine) There, that should help. Sure enough, some of them faced forward. However, I never dreamed of what came next. This group, used to hours of stooping over while using short handle 'hoes' on the farm, lifted the lid only a foot off the ground as we walked along. This placed incredible forces on my (really
wimpy) low back. I knew that this position was WRONG, but I lifted with 'all I had'. Sure enough, before the lid was in place my back suddenly confirmed my really stupid decision. Now I understand how it feels to be healing from a 'low back strain'. It's a lot better already; so glad it was not a ruptured disk. Next time, I choose a position where I can walk forwards and not carry so much weight.

Friday night worship service at the church- Naphtali came and the 3 of us began singing all the Christmas hymns in the hymnal. Then they began coming. Children. More children. Soon, the 3 pew church was full. After singing, Naphtali and I began telling stories: Zacchaeus and the sycamore tree, David & Goliath, and the 'wise' and 'foolish' house builders. After each story we sang the song (about 3 or 4 times each, with hand motions) by guitar and the light of two kerosene lamps. 8:30PM came really soon.
(Note: we normally end by 7, but Naphtali had walked 6 km just to attend- he arrived at 7. We couldn't just walk out on him. Besides, we were having too much fun.)

While proof reading this e-mail aloud to Carol, she let out a series of screams and began stamping her feet. Turns out she was performing the 'la cucaracha'. She said its body was more than 2 inches long, and the antennae were 3 inches long. I think she was just upset; she hates those things.
She did not want it walking on her raisin, cinnamon rolls that she will be baking in our Coleman oven / Coleman stove combo. About once a month she pulls off one of these 'most amazing culinary stunts' from scratch.

Thanks again for your notes! You folks are great!

Love, Carol & Steve

More info to blog

2009-11-17T12:50:00.000-08:00

Unless I have missed something, I have the only laptop in Lassin; with the exception of our fellow Baptist missionary friends. Mrs. White's instruction requires repeatability. So, should / could I buy a laptop for every church member? Nope. This leaves the 'printed' Bible study program as the practical option. There are still members who do not read well, but practice will help. The slow readers can travel along with a proficient reader until they have learned the lessons. Then they can venture out.

So, the next question. Which study programs are available? Were you looking for a reason to send Carol and me a text message? Here's your chance. Text us your suggestion; your favorite bible study program and why. Send consecutive messages if necessary. Note: put your name in at least one of your messages; sometimes we have to do detective work to know who the author of the note was.

I was thinking. God has work to do in Porterville, Modesto, Sacramento, SoCal, etc, but by coming here, we got ourselves in so deep that we have had to think (and pray) in ways that we never would have 'back in the states'.
The experience has been priceless !

Once again, we apologize for not responding to most of your text messages to our Iridium phone. Think of us living at the bottom of a lightless well.
If you yell down into it once in a while, we'll hear and enjoy getting your message free, but we just can't afford the 78 cents per 140 character reply too often. There is no other form of internet access in the whole town.
The 'village phone' does not always work and it is the same price to 'the states' as the iridium phone when it works. Travel to a local hill top (35 minutes each way) for cell phone reception is not practical for routine need. I had no idea of how practical and necessary this phone would be, it'
s just expensive. Even it is not 100% reliable; it often loses satellite connection during e-mails. So I divide long messages into multiple short messages so as not to have to resend too much data. All-in-all I'm very thankful to have what we have!

Your friends,
Steve & Carol

'One more story'. Last Sabbath after church the members gathered for 'announcements'. I wanted to plan a topic for the 4 - 6 PM meeting. It was the general consensus that the meeting should be delayed until after the football game between Cameroon and Morocco which began at 3:30 PM and would not be over until after 6 PM. Carol and I looked at each other as the realization hit us. Our members and near-members alike were planning on listening to this game on Sabbath. They sincerely believe that Saturday is the 'correct' day to 'go to church', but have yet to enjoy a complete Sabbath rest and restoration with their Maker. Remember, it was quite some time between the 'Advent Movement' and the Seventh-day Adventist church.

More info for the blog

2009-11-17T12:49:00.001-08:00

Bible studies: Monday evening, our friend Gregory rode his 'bike' (a Chinese 150cc motor bike, seats 4 adults. Eat your heart out you big BMW types) to our house. He has been watching the 'New Beginnings' Bible studies with me for about 8 weeks. He announced that he would like to enroll in our new 'Bible worker training school'! He wants to follow the example of Paul and be a 'tentmaker evangelist'. He asked how much we would charge for the training program. We read the story in Acts 8 about the fellow who wanted to 'buy' the Holy Spirit. Then we told him that the program was free. We also said that this is not a 'seminary' where, upon completion, the student was a full blown pastor. He agreed that this was the program for him.

Gregory requested that we keep him in our prayers (THAT'S YOUR CUE.) Then he explained that he has been 'filling in' as pastor at his Baptist church while they have no pastor. Can you imagine the possibilities here? (Pray again. Can you see that this is not an issue of money? We don't need money for this phase of the work. We need your prayers!)

Monday morning I was walking through town and stopped in at Franklin's carpentry shop. After his usual warm smile and handshakes we discussed the football (soccer) game between Cameroon and Morocco last Sabbath afternoon at 3PM. (We creamed 'em- 2 to 0. Go Cameroon! Carol and I knew when the game was over because we could literally hear the cheer coming from homes all over town.) He apologized for not being in church on Sabbath due to his 'higher than normal' work load. But, he was looking forward to the Bible study on Thursday evening. He wants to begin 45 minutes earlier to have time for singing and additional topic review, both in English and Noni (for the children). I learned that he had instructed his children to avoid inviting a certain household last Thursday because he did not have enough room in his home for all their children!

Monday afternoon as I was building the iron reinforcement bar mesh to imbed in the concrete lid for our septic tank, I listened to a few chapters of the book 'Christian Service' (5 - 8). In this section I heard that the roll of pastor (yes, I have been handed this roll too) is to train members in the three fundamental areas that result in personal 'growth': personal prayer and bible study, sharing your faith. Mrs. White said that training (both instruction and 'doing') are more important than sermon preparation. This is understandable as usually one or two of my dear friends will be nodding off in church during my sermon. It takes some real interactive sermonizing to get their eyes to stay open consistently. Really, its quite fun to play the game of 'keep the members awake'; yes ladies, it's the guys that are nodding off. Okay, I have the instruction, so what do I do with it?

Our outreach model has been for me to take the laptop PC with the It Is Written 'New Beginnings' video / PowerPoint type presentation on it to the church and 'play' it for the attendees. Pros: people here are so underexposed to video entertainment that they still think this format is exciting; we have had up to 10 children watching who virtually understand nothing but like the pictures. Having texts on screen is good. For members who understand (American) English fairly well, this is really great! During my bashful (I can't give a bible study by myself) phase, the 'canned'
approach was really necessary. Cons: the video runs for 30 minutes non-stop. Some polite folks never ask questions when language difficulty arises. But the plot thickens when applying the concept of Christian Service and 'New Beginnings'.

Dear 'family',

2009-11-17T12:46:00.000-08:00

We want to send your our greetings, tell you that we are healthy, and thank you for keeping us in your prayers! We have seen God busy in our lives and in those of our neighbors here.

So, here's the scoop on our decisions, and projects:

School: We try not to be negative, but I knew last year when I visited Lassin for the first time, that the structure of the school had problems- the mud brick walls were cracked badly, the concrete is so soft in places that you can break it off and crumble it with your hands. Many walls were leaning precariously, and one had even fallen down. The bright spot was the roof, it looks great and doesn't leak. The classroom that we're using was constructed first and the quality is acceptable. We are so thankful for this room! However, I have very seriously considered abandoning the facility to build a new one. After much thought, prayer, and discussion we have decided to 'repair' the existing structure. This year's work will involve 'classroom 2'. We will replace the two outer walls, replace the rafters, and put a concrete floor in. I hired Gregory to 'mud' 500 bricks; they look great! He is 'dredging' sand from the local stream to make the new concrete. It's clean and beautiful; the pile is impressive. He's put it inside of classroom 2 to make access easy. When the children are away for Christmas break, we'll 'scatter' the walls, hire a few more fellows to rebuild them. Then we'll rebuild the rafters from straight and very strong eucalyptus wood. Last, we'll pour the floor and stucco the walls inside and out. We'll be busy for the next few months, but we'll also be ready to expand the school next year while conserving on expansion expense, but not on construction quality. Next year, we'll replace every wall of classroom 3 and the offices, and perform each type of concrete work.

Perspective: although the school was 'built' and very significant work had been done before we came, there was much carpentry and concrete work left to be done. We are very thankful for the months and months of sweat, long trips, negotiation work, labor contracts, financial load and PRAYER that brother Charles and our friends from Din have provided before we came!
Thanks to them, we were able to begin school 22 days after our arrival in town. This is incredible.

Just a note to 'touch your heart'. The other day, I was walking home from school when the sound of singing caught my ear. Our only Falani student, a Muslim girl, was walking down the path toward me singing, 'with Jesus in the family, happy happy home.' Sure keeps the perspective of why we're here!

Steve and Carol

Carol's Birthday is comming soon Nov 25 will arrive Nov 24 in the US

2009-11-13T09:10:00.000-08:00

Carol is about to turn 49! Can you believe it? That youngster?

Well, she has been talking about this birthday at school and even at home more than I believe is usual for her. Actually, I think she may be missing her friends 'back home' and wishing that she was a bit (about 8000 miles) closer.

So, I have an idea that I think she would really love.

Could you post a blog note that asks people to SMS birthday notes to Carol on November 24. The reason is that we are 9 hours ahead and we will be enjoying the 25th while you are still basking in the 24th.

Steve
PS Go to this website - http://messaging.iridium.com/ The number to send to is 881631672129. You can copy and paste from here as a short cut to entering all the numbers.

Thoughts regarding Jesus' visit to Mary, Martha and Lazarus home

2009-11-13T09:07:00.000-08:00

Living in Lassin, we have seen how much work is involved with sustaining life. Here we have only one advantage - matches. Food must be grown; this is an entire career. Water must be carried for drinking, cooking, bathing, and washing cloths, and dishes. Carrying water may take an hour or more.
Firewood must be located, cut, and carried. A fire must have been kept going at a smolder between use in Jesus time. Meal preparation involves each of these tasks. These constitute the activity of an entire day.

So, when Jesus came to dinner bringing his 12 friends and possibly some other followers, the meal task was multiplied by 5 at least! Who could blame Martha for asking for help? It was a chore to whip up even the simplest of meals.
Perhaps, a wild, undocumented scene may have been as follows. Jesus says, 'Let's go visit our friends in Bethany.' Off goes the group. Along the way, Jesus and His disciples pickup sticks and begin to tie them into bundles and place them on their heads. They pass a market. The group disperses. Bread and fish are bought. Someone finds a cup of oil and a small bag of salt. Oil lamps and vials are filled; this is going to be a late night of visiting. They stop at a well. Each person fills their water bag to the brim. By the time the group gets to Bethany, the only task left is the actual meal preparation and cooking. Although the work load is great, it could have been much larger! The thoughtfulness of Jesus could have taken some very simple, but important and undocumented forms.

Steve

From Steve, 11/12/09

2009-11-13T08:54:00.000-08:00

Every now & then something happens that is 'worth writing home about'. It happened again today. I have been building a concrete and stone footing for our septic tank lid this week. The footing is 40cm deep, 40 cm wide, and rings a hole that is 1m across, x 2m wide, x 3m deep; you do not want to fall into this thing, you'll feel worse than Joseph. The plan is for an indoor toilet, shower and maybe even a sink; that would really be livin'.

So you don't get any horrible ideas of our cleanliness, we do bathe indoors, but we take water from a bucket in a plastic scoop cup and pour it over ourselves while standing over or within an aluminum basin. The basin catches most of the water and the rest is absorbed in the dirt floor. It's a huge adjustment for me to live in a house made of mud clay brick. Honest, the way to keep the dust down on the portion of the house where the floor is made of dirt is to carry a bucket and toss water on the floor. Not too much, just cover the dirt. The house does not get mildew amazingly enough as long as no plastic is left sitting on the dirt or concrete. If it does, just put a little straight bleach on that area; no life will remain. Wow, what a digression.

So, I had completed pouring / building the tank lid footing by about noon today and prepared to walk the 3 miles to the school. I took my hat with the cloth that shades my neck from the sun, my umbrella (the heavy thunder did not produce rain, but it sure looked like it could), the laptop with the New Beginnings seminars by It Is Written (people here absolutely love this program), and my Sony Walkman MP3 player (I wanted to listen to the book 'Christian Service' again). For an hour I walked and listened to chapter 1.

I met my friend Gregory at the school. We visited about reconstruction plans for the second of 3 classrooms, and had a Bible study from the laptop; about 2 hours & change all together. We paused the study occasionally for questions and comments. We had a great time! Gregory has decided to study with me for a year. At the end of this year he plans to make a significant denominational decision. Neither of us is in a hurry. A decision of this weight should not be rushed. This man is a Christian who is very committed to his relationship with God. We share together as the brothers in Christ that we are.

As I walked back home towards Lassin, I heard chapters 2 and 3. In them, we are counseled to make use of every opportunity to share the good news with people. This was a happy day and I was in a long conversational prayer while walking. But who can I share the 'good news with'? Well, there's Franklin the carpenter who made our dining room table and chairs and the food preparation counter with the food storage shelves below. He is currently preparing to build Carol a table to place our gas burners on. (It will be so nice not to have to kneel on the dirt kitchen floor so you can bend over to see under a pot to adjust the flame down. Carol has been such a good sport- no complaints- just like her.) Yes, Franklin. I was so amazed to see him in church last Sabbath. He showed up after Phillip invited him. I'll bet he would be interested in bible studies in his home. He works such long hours and it is so inconvenient for him to come to the church on Wednesday, Friday, or Sabbath evenings for prayer meetings and bible study time. So, "Franklin, would you enjoy Bible studies in your home some evening?" "Yes." We agreed that tonight, Thursday, at 7:30 PM would be fine. We visited for a few more minutes and I left him to continue a project.

I headed towards the Village phone shop and saw John standing on the front porch of his general store and taxi business. "Brother John, how are you?"
(The title of 'brother' is used liberally here. It really has no bearing on whether you are actually related or go to church.) Guy talk followed, and then I got the same idea again, "So, John, when would you like to have Bible studies with me?" I couldn't believe I was asking, but it came out so freely and it was out now. He decided that Wednesday or Thursday at 10 AM were very slow times and he could close his store to eliminate interruptions. Can you believe this? The busiest man in town has just agreed to have Bible studies with me! How exciting. Now, this friendship didn't just happen out of the blue. I have visited him many times, even the first visit to Lassin a year ago included a stop to John's store. I do business with him whenever I can. Recently, he rode along with us an entire day to Bamenda to show us the way and facilitate some business that each of us had there; extending our Visa 3 more months before we are eligible to request a residence permit; like a green card. It was he that arranged for proper lifting of our little Toyota; the thing rides rough and stiff like a goat now, but it no longer smashes the engine against rocks at the slightest pot hole- should extend its life considerably. So, next Thursday at 10 A.M.

I came home with an amazingly light heart. Ate a wonderful dinner of steamed brown rice under jamma jamma boiled in a 'cheese' sauce. Two bananas made desert. "It just doesn't get any better than this" (Diane).

After dinner, I walked about 1km to Franklin's house. I was welcomed in his front yard with rounds of handshakes from Franklin, his children and 'brother' Naphtali. I was taken into his home, given the chair at the head of the table. Then we waited.. The house began to fill. Children of all ages came. Last, the women came from their work in the kitchens. We had prayer, sang a hymn at Franklin's request and watched the first of the New Beginnings Bible studies. After the study (in English), unsolicited, Naphtali spent about five minutes translating the program into the Noni language. Somehow, I had imagined that Franklin and I would have sat alone at his table that evening. Instead, God packed the house with people from at least three homes, and provided an interpreter! No wonder we call Him God!

Just had to let you know. Keep keeping us in prayer!

'brother' Steve- don't you dare call me 'brother' Steve! I'm just regular 'ol Steve to you :)

You can send messages to Carol & Steve (Free)

2009-10-31T15:47:00.000-07:00

Go to this website - http://messaging.iridium.com/ The number to send to is 881631672129.

Updated SMS number

2009-10-28T17:06:00.000-07:00

Hey Glenn, all is well. Looks like carol must have sent you a bunch of photos. Sure hope so. I was at a 'garage' getting our car lifted for the second time. This time for sure. It is about 4 inches higher. This is not an ego thing! Driving 25 miles can really be disasterous for the car. for the first time, we have not had any repairs to make after a 65 mile trip. So. I'm not dreading the next trips to Bamenda next month.

Our sat phone SMS or 'data' number is 8816 936 72129. Sorry, but I gave it to Julie wrong in the early days of trying to communicate.
Could you update the communications note from her. If not possible, could you enter a new one.

Thanks so much and our warmest greetings to the family, the 'whole' family.

Your brother, Steve

2009-10-28T16:59:00.000-07:00

2009-10-28T16:36:00.000-07:00

2009-10-28T16:33:00.000-07:00

2009-10-28T16:31:00.000-07:00