Dearest in Christ,
Greetings from Cameroon. It is always good to say hello to you and to share the abundant blessings that God continues to do here with you over there. We pray this mail meets you in good health and a sound faith always trusting and depending on God in all that you.
In Cameroon, life is going on as God keeps permitting it, but because we are in the rainy season and many are sick here. Rain continues to fall almost all day long, but we still continue to do what God has entrusted into our hands to do. We were still able to send out students for weekend evangelism to different locations. As I am writing this mail now the students are back on campus soaked with rain and tired because of the bad roads.
Another sad thing in Cameroon now is that our government has increased fuel prices that have affected all basic commodities. This has greatly affected the common man and many cannot afford hospital bills even though they are severely sick. It is sad as I write this with tears that many will die because of the hardship that the government is inflicting on people. If all prices have an increase it means even house rents will go up. The only thing which will remain as God made will be air, which if many do not eat well, then it will not be good on their health. Please, please pray for us. Transportation is high, the government has given an in-significant increase to the salary of civil servants for 5 percent and the question is how many Cameroonians are working with the government? Please pray for us.
The first consignment of Mission Printing tracts arrived at Bamenda in the Northwest region of Cameroon. I took several cartons there and the preacher, Prince Otobong, is sharing it bit by bit to meet the needs of many congregations. It was a big blessing for us to get these tracts to this vast area which we will send some more in the weeks ahead. Keep praying that it touches and transforms the lives of many.
My trip to the Northwest region was for two purposes: to officiate on the funeral program of a sister who died there and also to distribute tracts to preachers there. Two are better than one. I traveled along side one of our graduates, evangelist Ititi Benedict, who was also discovering the work in many areas. Oh, oh, Jesus said “The field is ripe, ready for harvest, but the laborers are few. As we traveled to the village to do the funeral program, we passed through many villages and we met villages where some identified themselves that they are members of the church of Christ, but they are not worshipping because the church of Christ is not in their village, generally because they were baptized some where. One village we visited is called, Befang. The church here died about 23 years ago. We saw one fallen brother who came to us weeping, “please, please come and help us, I am not able to help the church start again, please, come and help.” This is another Macedonian call in our time. Who will answer this call? It is about 500 miles away from Wotutu whereby we cannot do it as we are doing to Dikome, Koba and other villages on weekend basis. We are planning to send one of our students there this September for a campaign. Please come join us.
I preached at the funeral of sister Jennete Kang, in Weh village. We have a small, poor struggling congregation there with less than 7 Christians, made up of mostly women. They cried when they heard about having many evangelists in training. What will they do to help get a preacher to them? Who will answer this question? I praise God for them that they continue to worship, but they are suffering from spiritual malnutrition. Please, we need to get a preacher, by His grace, in that pulpit. Come join us.
In that village the dominant denomination is Roman catholic. I preached and we gave tracts to many who were so interested to know more about the church of Christ. Those who are literate read from the tract about infant baptism. Many thanks to Mission Printing for these tracts to us and all those who were part to making it possible for them to get to us. It will touch many lives.
The Lord added brother, Jean Baptist, to the congregation in Wotutu. Another French speaking person obeyed the gospel and we need more French Bibles now in my office to give to French converts. Our early morning program with the multilingual exercise kept carrying the message to all. Keep him in your prayers to grow as the congregation here continues to feed him with a balanced diet.
Brother Maurice baptized sister Bledine into Christ. She is also French speaking, maybe we shall have a French service some day as the French speaking population keeps increasing. Keep her in your prayers. The husband was the brother that was baptized last week. Keep them in your prayers to keep growing.
It was also a time to meet with other preachers from Nigeria who came for the funeral because the sister was in Nigeria, so it was nice to share passions and visions with them concerning the work we are doing.
Plans
Preparing for a place to meet and worship, which was not concluded, delayed the establishment of the congregation in Isokolo. We are still hoping this week to see how we can put all things in place.
Appreciations
God bless you, your family and the congregation for your love for the work here. We thank you for your timely support and prayers. If not for you, the work would not have been the way it is. We thank you for accepting God’s call to be part of this work, winning souls for the Lord and nurturing those in Christ to remain faithful and depend only on God. Keep praying for us as we pray for you. Do your best to share this with others in your life. God bless you till we meet again, God’s willing.
Elangwe and family
By His grace Director CBIW