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Greetings from Cameroon!
Cool mornings (even I need a sweater some mornings!), gentle rains (do I really need an umbrella?), powerful thunderstorms (so beautiful!), and more shades of green than you could ever 
imagine. It is rainy season. Yes, there is mud everywhere, the humidity can be stifling at times, mold seems to be growing everywhere, and laundry takes FOREVER to dry, but there is still no question about it – rainy season is one of the most beautiful times of year to be in Cameroon! Way too soon dry season will be upon us. The mud will be replaced with dust, our laundry will FINALLY dry, and we will be complaining about the heat. I guess the changing of season isn’t so much different here, even though the seasons themselves are.
It has been a good year so far at Rain Forest International School. We have had plenty of excitement already, but God has been faithful and we are still plugging along. There was a break-in at the school earlier this semester during which the school lost several things including a safe and several computers. We are thankful that no students or staff were on campus at the time and though our guards were shaken up a bit, none were hurt. Situations like this are terrible, and yet it has served to build bridges with some members of law enforcement and the local community as well as giving us some specific ways to improve our security, so we can be thankful for that. We also had a small electrical fire on campus, but once again, God’s hand of protection was easy to see. The classroom was empty at the time, yet people were close enough to see it quickly, pull a fire alarm, and get a fire extinguisher to put it out. Students and staff responded to the fire alarm exactly as we had practiced, and the maintenance staff did a great job of cleaning up and getting the classroom back in working order quickly.
Mask making
Cutting tennis balls
Soap Carving
We are still in a bit of a lull in enrollment, but I have been enjoying my tiny classes this year. My biggest class is only 16 kids! I have fewer students in TOTAL than I often did in a single class period back in the US! I will admit the work load is balanced out some by the fact that two of my courses are new, so I am building them as I go – Drama Tech and Comparative Government. You couldn’t find two courses that are more vastly different than these two, but I have been having a blast! I have also been spending a lot of time working on the costume and set designs for the school play that will happen in mid-March.
Have you been following any of the other things happening in Cameroon? Yes, Boko Haram has been causing some issues, but I am thankful that so far they have stayed FAR away from the part of the country where I live. However, this is still something to be praying about. On a brighter note, the NAB still has its hands in other projects all over Cameroon. If you read my newsletters regularly, you know that Mbingo Baptist Hospital has been a huge blessing to quite a few missionaries in the past year. However, to only look at the ways it has served missionaries is to miss SO MUCH of what they do. Their reputation brings them cases from all over Cameroon, and it is partially through the support of the NAB (for example, the White Cross donations we send) that they are able to keep their costs low enough to remain accessible to many Cameroonians. (Learn more about the White Cross ministry at http://nabonmission.org/white-cross/)
This is just one of the many projects we, as an organization, are involved with. Have you checked out the ‘special projects’ that depend on our financial support lately? Whether it is through helping subsidize a course of Chemo Therapy (where else could $600 go so far?!), providing basic health care in remote areas through the Life Abundant Program, you can help improve the health care available in Cameroon. Maybe you are more interested in education. Have you considered financially supporting national missionaries, or helping make education and training more accessible for Christian leaders in the Cameroonian community through Ndu Seminary’s work study program (meet two needs in one: caring for the seminary campus and making educational expenses affordable!) or the radio broadcasts that bring biblical and evangelism training to rural pastors and lay leaders through TEE (Theological Education by Extension)? We don’t hear about these very often because there aren’t necessarily individual missionaries working directly with them anymore, but so many of them still depend on our financial support. There is a complete list of the NAB’s ‘Special Projects’ on their website at http://www.nabconference.org/give/special-projects. I have often had churches or individuals ask about a specific project they can focus on. Would your church, youth group, or family consider pouring prayer and financial support into one of these projects this year?