Yes, we are in the States! We arrived in Alabama on April 23rd, after about 35 hours of travel time. We had planned to take a vacation to the States in May, but our plans changed a bit when we got some bad news. Joel's brother, Andy, died of respiratory failure at the age of 42. He had been having some health problems and had just been released from the hospital. Everyone thought he was doing better and was going to pull through, but he unexpectedly died. At first we didn't think it was going to be possible for us to get back to the States for the funeral, but God really opened the door for us to change our flights. We changed our tickets on Thursday and we flew out on Sunday. We arrived in Birmingham on Monday night and went straight to Wal-Mart. Of course I couldn't resist. We were in Alabama for two days and then we drove to Shreveport, Louisiana, where Joel's family lives. They had the memorial service on Saturday afternoon for Andy. We are so thankful that Joel was able to be here for the memorial and be with his family during this time. It also helps him to get some closure. It would've been really hard for him to be so far away during this time. Thank you so much for all of your prayers for Joel and his family during this time.
We have been in Shreveport for almost two weeks now. It has been a bitter-sweet time here with the death of his brother but also enjoying the fellowship with the rest of Joel's family. We will be driving back to Alabama on Thursday and will be there until June 2nd. We can't wait to see everyone and spend some time just hanging out. If you haven't been able to get in touch with us and would like to hang out with us please just leave a comment and we will try to hook up with you while we are here. We can't wait to see you!!!
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Ministry Update
Well, it's been a while since our last post, but we have been super busy and our internet and power situation in Cameroon is not so great.
We have been busy doing lots of ministry stuff. We had a 4 day campaign in Ma'an and a lot of people gave their hearts to the Lord during that time. Joel was able to do his first two baptisms in the river there and we had the opportunity to try out all sorts of new foods like lizard, some huge bird, more viper, and lots of monkey(it tastes like roast).
We will never forget this years Easter Sunday. It was quite an adventure. We were having church in our new church plant and during the time of worship we heard someone yelling and throwing rocks at the church. We thought that someone was just trying to disrupt the service, but Joel stuck his head out the door to see what was going on and about 3ft away was a black cobra. It was about a 6 foot cobra that was trying to get into the church. It had tried to go in through the back door but it was a neighbor who was yelling and throwing rocks at it. When the cobra didn't succeed in getting in the back door, it tried to go right into the front window, where 25 people were praising God, with their eyes closed. We would have never seen the cobra coming in if it weren't for the neighbor throwing rocks. Needless to say, our worship was interupted and the men of the church grabbed their machetes to go after the cobra. Finally, after a couple of minutes they killed the cobra.
This could have been a major catastrophe. The cobra could've come into the church and killed someone. It was definitely a spiritual thing. For one, a cobra would not try to get really close to a lot of people make noise and clapping their hands, especially in the morning time. Also, this type of cobra doesn't even come from Cameroon. It is from southern Africa. We think that a sorcerer raised it and sent it to the church to disrupt the service. Lastly, one of the ladies in our church said that she had been having dreams of that exact snake. In her dreams, the cobra was trying to climb a tree and eat all of it fruit. So we are so thankful for everyone who prays for our protection. We would have never expected something like that to happen on Easter morning, but God protected us and we also had a newcomer to the church, who gave his heart to Christ that morning. We also had the opportunity to show "The Passion of the Christ" and 200 people from our neighborhood showed up. Well, it was definitely one of our most interesting Easter Sundays.
Well, we will post some pics of our time in Ma'an and try to post some pics of the cobra. Again, thanks for reading our blog and leaving comments, and also for all your prayers.
We have been busy doing lots of ministry stuff. We had a 4 day campaign in Ma'an and a lot of people gave their hearts to the Lord during that time. Joel was able to do his first two baptisms in the river there and we had the opportunity to try out all sorts of new foods like lizard, some huge bird, more viper, and lots of monkey(it tastes like roast).
We will never forget this years Easter Sunday. It was quite an adventure. We were having church in our new church plant and during the time of worship we heard someone yelling and throwing rocks at the church. We thought that someone was just trying to disrupt the service, but Joel stuck his head out the door to see what was going on and about 3ft away was a black cobra. It was about a 6 foot cobra that was trying to get into the church. It had tried to go in through the back door but it was a neighbor who was yelling and throwing rocks at it. When the cobra didn't succeed in getting in the back door, it tried to go right into the front window, where 25 people were praising God, with their eyes closed. We would have never seen the cobra coming in if it weren't for the neighbor throwing rocks. Needless to say, our worship was interupted and the men of the church grabbed their machetes to go after the cobra. Finally, after a couple of minutes they killed the cobra.
This could have been a major catastrophe. The cobra could've come into the church and killed someone. It was definitely a spiritual thing. For one, a cobra would not try to get really close to a lot of people make noise and clapping their hands, especially in the morning time. Also, this type of cobra doesn't even come from Cameroon. It is from southern Africa. We think that a sorcerer raised it and sent it to the church to disrupt the service. Lastly, one of the ladies in our church said that she had been having dreams of that exact snake. In her dreams, the cobra was trying to climb a tree and eat all of it fruit. So we are so thankful for everyone who prays for our protection. We would have never expected something like that to happen on Easter morning, but God protected us and we also had a newcomer to the church, who gave his heart to Christ that morning. We also had the opportunity to show "The Passion of the Christ" and 200 people from our neighborhood showed up. Well, it was definitely one of our most interesting Easter Sundays.
Well, we will post some pics of our time in Ma'an and try to post some pics of the cobra. Again, thanks for reading our blog and leaving comments, and also for all your prayers.
Pics of Campaign in Ma'an
Here's some pics of us holding some of the bush meat we picked up on our way to Ma'an.Yummy!!! Lizard and viper make for some good eatin'
A couple of pics of some of the people who came forward to receive Christ
We spent Saturday working on the floors of the tabernacle. We filled in the floor and flattened the dirt to get ready for the first service.
Joel giving a message before the baptism
Joel did his first baptism during our time in Ma'an. This is in the Ntem river which is close to Equitorial Guinea border.
Joel doing his second baptism in the Ntem river. Sorry the picture is so blurry I was trying to take pics and video at the same time.
Here's Joel praying for people to be healed after one of the night services.
This is was baby crocodile that someone was trying to sell us to eat.
This was the first service in the new tabernacle we built
This is a picture of the installation of the new pastor, Isidore, and also the dedication of the new tabernacle.
Loading-up to go back to Ebolowa! Thank God for STL!
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