First of all I would like to report that our Vision Trip went really well! Our trip began with a ride on a shuttle bus from Auburn, AL to the Atlanta airport. Once we got onto the bus Allison and I had to sit separately. But that was okay because God seated me next to a brother in Christ who, once we arrived at the airport, waited on us to get our tickets and then walked us through security. Even though we parted ways right after security, him being there was so helpful. Neither of us have flown in a while and we weren't sure what to do after we got our tickets. But our new friend knew what to do and the things we learned from him we used at every airport during our trip. I count his presence as an answer to prayer. Thank you for praying!God had supplied us with lots of medicine and shots to keep us healthy too. We didn't know how buggy and disease filled Cameroon is for outsiders. Cameroon has yellow fever all over it as far as I know and yellow fever kills you. God provided vaccines for yellow fever as well as typhoid. Malaria is extremely common in Cameroon. A missionary doctor sent us plenty of malaria meds to take prior to going so they would be working in our systems before any bugs with Malaria could even bite us. Add to that, every single drop of water we drank came from a filter. God provided all these things.
We also had no trouble with our bags. We only had two checked bags but we never lost them during our flights. That's pretty awesome. More glory to God.
We flew into Yaounde, Cameroon and the next day drove four and a half hours to a jungle area near the town of Dimako. Dimako is a major city for the Kwakum people group who we are considering working with. The following Sunday we got to attend a Kwakum sunday school and church service. After church a meeting was held to discuss the history of the Kwakum and the need for a Kwakum translation of the Bible. The meeting was really encouraging. We learned that a Bible in the Kwakum tongue would benefit 2 to 3 other people groups. We also spoke about the number of Christians in the Kwakum and the lead pastor thought there were no more than five percent. I asked a woman who seemed to be mature in her faith how many Kwakum she thought were believers and she thought there were even less than five percent. All in all the meeting seemed to point in the direction that a Kwakum Bible translation would be very helpful. We'll be doing more research and praying too for guidance as to whether the Kwakum is the people group God wants us to work with.
Whether its the Kwakum or some other people group. Its evident that there is great need for the gospel in Cameroon! Allison and I asked the people at the meeting if they felt like it would help if we came to spread the gospel among the Kwakum. The lead pastor sorta laughed. It was a no brainer. Of course they felt like it would help! To this question one man responded that they have come together about the Bible translation before and they are still of the same mindset. The entire group wanted us to come and soon.
Moving forward Allison and I have some major decisions to make but the one that is on our mind the most is: Does God want us to go to Cameroon? That's really what this trip was all about. We have been praying about this and will continue to. We want to know beyond a shadow of a doubt or at least get even more encouragement from the Lord about Cameroon. Please remember us in your prayers as we seek God's will about Cameroon.
During the Kwakum church service we got to listen and participate in singing and worship. Some of the worship was in French and some was in Kwakum. When they were singing in Kwakum the group really came to life! To me this points to how a Bible in their own language would be very helpful. There was singing, dancing, hand motions, and clapping. While we were worshiping the missionary with us recorded some of it on his iphone. I haven't figured out how to play it on my blog but stay tuned and hopefully I'll post it soon.
Thank you for reading and God bless!
