First 2 weeks of school 2017!

 Hey All! As you all know, one of our biggest focuses here in Cameroon is on education, especially focusing on training up kids in building Godly character, as Cameroon is a country where the majority of the population are kids. Well, you can imagine how much joy it was to be able to start up school again after not having been open since November of last year due to political unrest. The kids in the school are off to a good start and are just as happy to resume as we are.

"Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord." Psalm 34:11 Jeremiah is following the Psalmist's example of wanting to teach the children in the school more about God and how to please Him. 

The children are always eager to answer Bible questions. 

Yoder, our Miniature Pinscher decided to sneak out our gate and join us in school that day. The kids loved it!

P.E. time!

Having a basketball court has made PE and break time even more fun!

Making friends with the hope they will turn into sisters in Christ one day.

We are incredibly blessed to have Alima back from Ghana to teach in Cameroon for another school year. This is only possible because God did put it on the hearts of a congregation in the states to sponsor her. We are more than grateful for their care and support. 

There were many parents that wanted their children in the school but we had to say no due to the lack of staff. We do not charge school fees so we mostly rely on volunteers to teach. However, we have 1 Cameroon teacher, Rosette, who was with us last year and 2 part time Cameroonian monitors we have taken on which made it possible to accept more Kindergarten kids this year. Sophia (in the upper right picture) and Elizabeth (in the picture below) have been a huge help.

Elizabeth drilling the children using math flashcards. We praise God for providing various academic resources and able staff to give these children a quality education.

Story time with the younger pupils is a favorite for all involved!

It's always exciting when the children blend the words phonetically and read fluently.

F.B.E.M. offers both American and Cameroonian curriculum so the children will be well-rounded in all areas. The core subjects are Math, English, Science, Social Studies, Word Building, and Literature & Creative Writing. The Cameroon subjects are French and Citizenship though we plan to integrate more in the near future. Some of the extra curricular activities include Music, Physical Education, Art, and Home Economics. 

We are thankful to God for a great first 2 weeks of school. A few prayer requests for the school year:
1- Peace in Cameroon. Pray that we can continue to have the opportunity to provide high quality Christian education. Things are still somewhat unstable here, so we need prayers for protection and wisdom, that we can see out the school year peacefully.
2- Strength and Energy for the Teachers, and More Teachers for Next Year! We are blessed to have the volunteers and helpers that we have this school year. We are going to have 26 or 27 kids in school this year, praise God! Next year, Alima will return to Ghana, and we will need a volunteer to take her place. If you start planning now, you can be ready to come!
3- Resources- Buying chairs, ink for photocopiers, new desks, paying teachers, getting toilet paper and a multitude of other expenses are just part of running the school here. Please pray that God will supply the resources and finances we need to make this possible.

Thanks for reading, praying, and supporting! God Bless! 

Summer's End

 Hey All! Greetings from Beautiful Buea! After 3 months of almost non-stop overcast skies and drizzling rain, we are finally starting to have some sunshine from time to time, and when the clouds part for a little bit, it is quite a sight to see! Our summer/rainy season is coming to an end, and we are excited for the sunshine and for ministry opportunities (school resuming! HURRAH--- more on that next post!). We just wanted to take a minute and share with you all a quick update about the end of our summer.

A little cooler than usual this time of year. Down into low 60s in the early morning! Despite the dampness and rain, and mold growing rampantly, we are blessed with lovely temperatures pretty much year round here in Buea. You should come visit and see- hint hint. 

Things have continued to go well with the gym ministry. In spite of the rain, we still have quite a number of people turning up and are happy to have an opportunity to train with them and share a Bible thought each day. Abel has brought a number for our evening assemblies. I enjoyed hitting a new PR as well this month, ha ha. 

We have ENORMOUSLY missed our sweet Hannah, as she stayed behind in the US in order to spend some time with her grandparents. She is a huge help and blessing to our family and the ministry here. We look forward to seeing her in just over 2 weeks! Counting down the days! 

In August, we were able to travel up to Bamenda, in the North West of Cameroon for a homeschooling Co-Op for missionary kids from various organizations. Our kids really enjoy this time, and we also had a chance to help teach music... 

Math...

And Language Arts 

It was a lot of fun and a great opportunity for our kids. It was also a good "warm-up" for our new school year (more on that next post). 

We were grateful for the opportunity to also be able to visit a congregation we'd never been to before and have the chance to preach and encourage. 

Coming back to Buea, it was such an enormous answered prayer to see Kenneth and his wife and their new baby Janvier. You may recall that Kenneth's wife was accused (without any evidence) of a crime and had spent around 6 months in prison awaiting trial without being granted bail. This is while she was pregnant. We had been praying about this situation since February, and helping Kenneth out with some of the challenges of trying to get his wife out on bail. Finally she was released last month, and three days later had her baby. So glad to see them for our Sunday evening Bible assembly. 

 

We enjoyed hosting the Schilinski kids for 10 days also, as their parents traveled for a wedding. It was a lot of fun for us and them. We really are the "Host"etters. You should come and see! Hint Hint. 

Well, that about rounds up the end of our summer, at least what we have pictures of, he he. We hope you all are doing well and continue to shine wherever you are! God bless and we love you all.