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Sometimes, when we think of the administrative roles we fill here in Cameroon, we wonder what real ministry we are doing. It doesn’t take much reflection, however, to remind ourselves that we serve as channels for significant Kingdom ministry that touches individual lives. Looking back at 2015, here are just a few of the ministries we facilitate:
- Served and advised more than 50 expatriate residential missionaries and more than 300 volunteers in missions;
- Linked many of you to opportunities to bless thousands of vulnerable and needy children – orphans, deaf, blind;
- Joined national church leadership to ensure that theological and pastoral training is pursued with excellence;
- Provided national missionaries in remote and unreached areas with motorcycles to facilitate movement;
- Assisted to ensure that missionary children (including Ysabelle and Elianna) receive the best education possible while here in Cameroon;
- Encouraged, advised and strategized with national church leadership as they lead their ministries of reaching the least-reached, church planting, education, health care and stewardship.
- Served on the new leadership council of our local church, Mt. Carmel.
None of this would be possible without your faithful prayers and support. Because of your partnership with us, many people are being drawn to the Kingdom. Please don’t ever underestimate your role in what God is doing in Cameroon. Childhood Dreams Fulfilled Blessing saw her dreams of becoming a teacher come to an end when she became deaf during her last year of elementary school. She was kept at home for three years feeling frustrated and useless. A family friend came to visit one day, and learning of Blessing’s condition, informed her father of the Mbingo Integrated School for the Deaf. Blessing enrolled at the school with the hope of learning a trade, but after just one year of learning the sign language, her dream of becoming a teacher was rekindled. She continued on to a professional teachers training college and today is a teacher back at the school that gave her hope – the Integrated School for the Deaf. Blessing says the school changed her life; her desire is that many more children in her situation will have the same opportunity. Blessing’s story is just one of many, that highlight the impact that your prayer and financial support is having on lives here in Cameroon. Thank you!
Family Focus
Since our last communication in November, we once again celebrated a few family milestones.
- Elianna’s 12th birthday on December 3rd
- Our 18th wedding anniversay on December 12th
- Ysabelle’s 15th birthday on January 1st (Ysabelle is pictured eating her birthday cake with friends under the table. It is the hostel tradition that if the birthday person laughs during dinner, she has to eat cake under the table and others are welcome to join in.)
Elianna is happy to have a new pet – Chewy the guinea pig. Chewy likes to cuddle and help Elianna with her school work (photo)!
During the last two weeks of February, Elianna and Susie will be joining all the other families of the home-school co-op for joint sessions of classes, art, music and swimming.
We thank God for you and your part in His Kingdom’s work,
Calvin, Susanne, Ysabelle & Elianna