Dearest in Christ,
Greetings from your brothers and sisters here in Wotutu. We do hope this report finds you in good health. We are doing better, but many are still sick and our congregation is recovering from the sadness of our departed student evangelist, Assah Menge Peter.
God helped us train men for two years and we succeeded to do the graduation ceremony on the 11th of December 2014 without any major problems. It was another hectic week and a busy day in Wotutu as CBIW is changing the lives of Wotutu people and the congregations. It was “Come and Let Us See.” Men of honor and all classes of people came to Wotutu in front of the church hall to witness the second graduation ceremony and third matriculation ceremony of our Gamma batch students. To God be the glory and honor.
We began the activities with the valedictory night, where many came to pass the night in Wotutu, so that they will witness all the program.
The valedictory night is characterized with songs and prayers to the graduating students. The students kneel down during a session of prayers.
The graduation morning is a normal tradition now, as we serve a special breakfast to the graduating students, families, and our guests, a strong sign for them to know practically that their leaving school is for them to serve others, not for the opposite to happen in their lives and ministries. Keep them in your prayers.
There was a demand from elder Randy for us to have a pre-graduation ceremony before his departure. On the graduation day, married students sat side by side with their wives. It was an honor to the wives and a sign of appreciation to them for their sacrifice in letting their husbands go for studies for two years.
Brother Paul and sister Jenet Kee are the lone resident missionaries in Cameroon. They were part of our graduation ceremony and they enjoyed it.
The Alpha batch of students were part of the ceremony to welcome the new evangelist into the CBIW alumni. Keep the visions of our graduates in your prayers as they explore communities with the gospel. They have invited us to be part of an evangelistic effort in January to revive a dead congregation in a village.
The kids of Brightland Christian Academy came to be part of the ceremony with good songs that thrilled the audience. Training children in the ways of God is a great investment. Please, can you come and be part of this gestures and investment?
22 men are ready and set to start studies in CBIW after they matriculated alongside the graduation, it is always a twin occasion.
Brother Oben was a convert in prison who was released and he came to Wotutu and spent some days with us, while we get him to his village and connect him with the congregation there. Today was his first worship Sunday out of the prison. Keep him in your prayers as he grows. Think about the prison ministry. Brother Vincent graduated the MOST EVANGELISTIC STUDENT. He was the one that was jailed for no crime and while in prison he preached and converted souls and started a congregation. A brother in Christ gave him an award of a Tablet, where he can prepare lessons and project them. He can also take pictures. Please, if you would like to read his report and the progress of the prison ministry, drop your email with me and I will give it him, to be sharing his report with you monthly.
A cross section of those in attendance during the graduation ceremony reveals more than 2075 people that we could count, but we are convinced it is above that. To God be the glory.
Evangelist Julious Wamo graduated with smiles as God blessed him during his stay in CBIW with a baby boy. Keep them in your prayers as they will start serving the Lord in Ikata and Bafia congregations. The field is really ripe, but laborers are few. Let us continue to pray for more laborers.
On this sad note, yesterday (Saturday) we laid to rest our fallen brother who was supposed to graduate, but died 4 days before the graduation, evangelist Assah Menge Peter. Please keep his family in your prayers.
Do your best to share this report with others.
Let me share our statistic from the two years of training the BETA batch of students.
2013
Number of baptisms: 273
Number of restorations: 192
Number of new congregations: 4
Congregations revived: above 5
Number of mass campaigns: 13
2014
Number of baptisms: 238
Number of restorations: 100
Number of new congregations: 3
Number of congregation revived: 3
Number of mass campaigns: 10
With lots of weekend evangelism.
The glory belongs to God for all He has accomplished through us. We thank you from our hearts for your love, prayers, and support for all these years. We pray God will bless you and keep you strong as we prepare ourselves to start again come January 2015 God willing. Keep praying for the newly establish congregations and the revived congregation. We have stationed evangelists there already from this graduating batch, so that the work will continue to increase. Please, please, maybe you can be of help to an evangelist to establish him and his family in one place as they serve God.
Thank you, thank you, we say again, thank you. Without you it would have been impossible for us, but God used you greatly to achieve this. We keep you in our prayers. Pray for us, as we are facing persecution now seriously. Keep my family in your daily prayers.
Elangwe and family
By His grace director CBIW