Christmas Greetings!
For the past number of months we have served with our friends in their non-profit, Hope Social Action. In the past couple months they have been able to go weekly to an orphanage just outside of Yaoundé and share the word of God with young kids, middle age children, and teenagers; help them with homework; and hangout. This past Friday we went with our friend Hugue to visit orphans and to share the word of God with them. Hugue and others rotate every Friday. This day we met with the teenagers Perkins, Adele, and Michelle. As we began to chat with them, Hugue spoke with both the girls and we realized that Adele had accepted Christ the past Sunday and Michelle recommitted her life as she had been unsure if she had really accepted Christ and asked for the forgiveness of her sins.
While we were there, Hugue and I helped Adele with her English school work to help her better pronounce the letters in the English alphabet. I was glad to feel I could help her in a practical way since she is Francophone and I am Anglophone and it is difficult for me to talk to her in French since I need to have Hugue translate for me most of the time. With this instance I was able to use some of the French I know to help give direction as she practiced the English alphabet. Leah helped Michelle with her English homework, but since Michelle could speak some English, her homework was working on context and vocabulary from an article, which Leah said was quite a difficult assignment. Hugue allowed me to share and I read and spoke to them about Psalm 56, where the psalmist speaks about seeking God as our rock and our fortress. I told them that when they feel alone, stressed, or overwhelmed with life, they can come and pray for God's strength and peace to help them cope with any situation. I wanted them to know as I have come to learn that we have a relationship with God, he is not distant, but we are able to cry out to him and have him draw near to us everyday. Our favorite part as we prepared to leave was when Leah asked each of the three how we could pray that God would bless them in their week ahead! We are glad to pray God's blessings on their life. We hope that they feel that we do care about them and that they feel the love of Christ through us.
On Sunday, I went with Hugue and Gildas to visit 2 widows and an elderly man. Hugue and Gildas were able to help the elderly man (Papa Michael) as he was very weak and tired when we visited him. We hope that as we encouraged him and spoke Truth from the Bible, that God continues to work on his heart - as sometimes in order to accept the word of God we must realize our weakness without him. After we prayed with him and helped him back to bed and we moved on to visit 2 widows and their children. We found that both widows were out, so we spoke with the one widow's children that were outside preparing “n'dole”, which is a bitter green similar to spinach or kale. We all sat down and began to help them with the various steps of preparation. The local children were very amused as I tried to take the green leaf part and remove it from the firm stem that is not very good for eating. I may have been helpful, but I definitely wasn't very fast! As Hugue and Gildas were next to the children (age 10ish and 13ish), they began to chat and ask them if they knew Christ. Both said no and they began to share the Gospel with them. The girl accepted Christ as we helped them to prepare n'dole! God works in many, many ways indeed! As we walked back to Hugue's house we all reflected on how God has been blessing their ministry and is encouraging them to continue their ministry to orphans, widows, and the elderly! I am grateful in small ways to help futher their ministry.
Mark Janowiak
