The Blessings of Ministry

I want to start by thanking you for your prayers over the past few weeks. I took off for the Republic of Cameroun Feb. 4th and returned safely Feb. 12th. Cameroun is east of Nigeria and runs almost the whole length of Nigeria from Lake Chad in the north to the Ocean in the south. It took me three days to tarvel there. Do you see why?

The reason for the trip was to visit Florence & Emmanuel Nkwain and to train pastors and church leaders in "How To Follow-up New Converts and Growing Christians. Florence and Emmanuel are good friends that the Lord allowed me to disciple when they were in Nigeria years ago.

I discipled Emmanuel while he was working at the ECWA Pharmacy in Jos in the mid 90s. At that time I was also discipling a group of pastors. One was the pastor of their church and he discipled Florence. About eight years ago they felt called to go back to their homeland, Cameroun, as independent missionaries. God provided for them and they have been there for six years.

As I saw what the Lord is doing in them and through them I was filled with joy. Third John verse 4 says, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." John was writing about his spiritual children. This great joy was mine as I saw how the Lord is using Florence and Emmanuel to bring people to Christ and to grow in Him. They have made great sacrifices in order to see this.

This is Blessing. Let me tell you her story. She was named that because she is a blessing to Florence and Emmanuel. One day as Florence was walking home she came upon a group of people and discovered that they were discussing what to do with a baby that was found with a note written by its mother saying that she born the baby the day before and that she couldn't take care of her. No one wanted to take the baby. Florence was prompted by the Lord to take her. After agreeing someone said that she would have to take the baby first to the police station. A man gave her about thirty dollars as she headed to the police station. There they told her that she could take the baby if she could go and purchase certain items that would show that she could take care of her. The money given to her enabled her to purchase them. She had less than a dollar before and would not have been allowed to take the baby. Who knows what would have happened to her from there. So they named her Blessing. She is now about eight months old and doing fine as you can see.

I was full of joy as I saw the men and women that attended the conference. Many of them have been influenced by Florence and Emmanuel. We taught in English and someone translated in French, as most of Cameroun speak French. They will follow-up these people with a monthly time of encouragement and prayer for them. It will be exciting to see what will become of a discipleship vision from this little beginning.

Sam and I were thankful for being able to have a part in the lives of these people in Cameroun. Please pray for them and for the needs of Florence and Emmanuel. They are learning to trust the Lord for their personal needs and for the needs of the ministry.

I want to personally thank you who help make it possible for me to be blessed as I was and to be a blessing to others.