Pictures Around Yaounde

Hey Everyone

Sorry it has been so long since we last made a blog post.  We wanted to post some pictures of some places we have visited in the past few months.  We live in Yaounde the capital of Cameroon, and the city has around 1.5 million people.  Since the city is so big we have yet to see a lot of places throughout the city, but a couple months ago we went with a few people to explore some interesting sites around the city. 

Monument marking the 50th anniversary of Cameroon independence. 

A beautiful Cathedral mostly made of handcrafted wood segments. 

A beautiful stained glass window inside the Cathedral. 

 Unity Monument celebrating the reunification of the Northwest (Anglophone) joining Cameroon.

 Fairly big lake on the side of Yaounde.

Traditional music while we were at an artisan market.

These last few photos are our work helping Hope Social Action as we visited a widow and her children.

Mark and Leah Janowiak

Some Recent Pictures

Hello Everyone

Below are some photos from a Valentine's Dance that the senior class put on at RFIS.

Mark and Leah Janowiak

Serving with Friends

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

Pictures from November

Hello All!

Here are some pictures that we have taken during November.

Our visit to the orphanage where we talked to Perkins, Adele, and Michelle.

Visiting Papa Michele and sharing God's love and hope.

While visiting the we helped them prepare N'dole.

Early Thanksgiving since Mark will be gone to the villages on Thanksgiving.

(Chicken, potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, stuffing and bread)

Mark and Leah Janowiak

Ups and Downs

Hello Everyone

I would say Leah and I highly prioritize being authentic with all people. For almost the whole time here in Cameroon we have experienced much joy and happiness. Lately though, we have seemed to become caught in a few struggles: Leah sick, small amounts of being homesick, struggles with our funding, wondering and preparing if we have to come back next June. Thankfully Leah is beginning to feel better after her cold, Leah and I are talking through our feelings of what makes us homesick, are taking steps to raise our funds, and are giving God control of our long-term situation. We see God working and providing for us day by day, but we don't always feel happy. Some of you may be saying "That's life." and indeed it is, and we know that we won't always be "happy", but God fills us with joy and peace despite our circumstances. So we face struggles, but we give thanks that God has us here in Cameroon and for the involvement we have in many peoples' lives.

Another area I have struggled with lately can be rather difficult to explain. I know I am a missionary here in Cameroon with WA, but something in my head has a desire to help with the work of improving the lives of Cameroonians in another way. What I mean is more towards non-profit work: agriculture & food security, health, water & sanitation, humanitarian aid, social development, and environmental work - all to assist in helping Africa and be the hands and feet of Christ, letting them know that God loves them and cares for them and I do as well. Obviously this work is good, but who can say it is more pleasing to God that I do this over supporting the work of Bible Translation? No, I am called to go and make deciples of all people. So I am here in Cameroon where God has called me, living everyday life with Cameroonians and sharing the hope of Christ. God has connected us with 3 men of God who are working with widows and orphans to be just what I mentioned above: the hands and feet of Christ. My "mind" thinks of ways I can help heal Africa with my hands, but our #1 priority is to bring people to Christ and allow Him to transform them. So I ask, is God working through where He has placed us or do I want to see physical things I can say my hands have done? I believe the key is that we are in God's will and are searching for ways that we can share the love of Christ with broken and empty people - which can be done in Michigan or in the most deprived village in Africa. It boils down to, "am I doing what I want or what God wants?" So, my prayer is, in the moments when I question whether or not I could be doing more: Jesus open my eyes to the work I AM doing and allow opportunities for me to minister to people that need your love, hope, and saving grace.

Joy and Peace in Christ
Mark and Leah Janowiak

A Bit of Cameroon Through Video

Hello Everyone!

Leah put together this video below of people, places, and work we have done here in Cameroon. Sorry when we upload the video the quality is not great. Enjoy!

Details About Misaje

Hello All!

(Sorry this has been delayed for so long!)
We thought we would share some of what we did on our trip to Misaje. We asked if any of our skills could be used to serve in Cameroon during our summer break. We were asked to serve by helping at a village site; Mark would deal with cables since they are setting it up for
electrical for computers while the team translates and shares data and I would help Kay (one of the translators) by watching her two young kids so she could get some extra work done.

Since the roads are pretty bad and the time of our trip was limited, the three of us (Jim, Leah and I) flew up to Banso in the Northwest which is about as close as they could fly us. Due to all the weight of our supplies and equipment, we had to have our fourth team member (Derrick) take some of our supplies and ride up on a bus (17-hour trip). At the air strip in Banso we were picked up by Rich, a missionary that works on the cluster project that the new translation
center will serve. The ride to Misaje was bumpy, but the views were amazing as we weaved around small mountains, saw villages in valleys, and tea fields. After two hours we arrived in Misaje and were welcomed by Chris and Kay Smoes, the missionaries also working on the Misaje cluster project.

That afternoon we went with Chris to meet the 24 Cameroonians that make up the 6 translation teams. They were very excited to see us as they are glad to be moving into a new building this Fall. They had mistaken Jim for another missionary and gave a large welcome only to
realize when we were introduced that they had mistaken him for someone else. This was quiet funny to everyone. Old white men look alike. While we were meeting with them, the rain began to pour almost deafening loud on the tin roof. Once the rain slowed down, we went and visited the new translation center where Jim and I discussed some of our plans for the work for the building.

Friday morning we had the wake-up call of the rooster getting closer and closer to our window. We decided that he was saying “I know you are in there! Get up!” We began around 8 am running electrical cable to all the electrical outlets. That took all day Friday and on
Saturday morning we began to run the electric for all the light switches and light fixtures. Around noon on Saturday we went over to have lunch with Rich and his family at their home. They live right in the village, next to the Fon (village leader or chief). We had great conversations with great food as we heard about the work Rich and Katrina are doing on the Misaje cluster project. The passion that they have to help with Bible translation
into people’s mother tongue was great to learn more about and hear how the translation center will help. After a long lunch we headed back to run more electrical cable, but needed more supplies so Jim had sent Derrick on the 3-hour trip back to Banso to find electrical supplies and so he could visit family while we are. Saturday evening we played Uno with the Smoes and enjoyed another excellent meal by Kay.

We were staying in another missionary house near the Smoes. In Misaje they have “sneak spiders” as Mark would say; they were oddly flat and slightly large. Each night Mark battled
the spiders so he could sleep better at night. One especially taunted him one night by coming out from its hiding space only to run back as soon as Mark tried to smash it. He kept telling me that the spider was staring at him!

Sunday was our 2nd year anniversary. We slept in a bit and Kay had made us a special breakfast of eggs and sausage with some homemade bread. Then we went to church around 9 am. The service was in pidgin English, so we understood about the same as when the service is
in French! We sang and gave offerings. The people brought food to auction off for tithes, which is common in villages. After the 3-hour service we came back to the Smoes' house for lunch and rested during the afternoon. Later we enjoyed some movies with popcorn and smoothies.

Monday night Leah got sick all night (keeping Mark up) and had to rest the following morning. Derrick arrived back with electrical supplies and we finished the electrical wiring and ran network cable in the attic by noon. Jim and Chris worked on the solar panel system outside
and I worked on terminating the ends on the network cables. Derrick was also able to install the light fixtures.

Tuesday was the last day we worked. We started around 8:30 am and finished around 8 pm. Leah felt better and was back helping Kay with the kids. We finished all of the loose ends and installed all of the solar panel system. By 8 pm we were exhausted, but were able to complete the work.

Wednesday we were supposed to leave for the airport by 7 am, but it had started to rain by 9 pm the night before and was still raining by 8:30 am. So, we waited since the rain makes the roads going up and down the small mountains very dangerous because there are no guard rails. It was finally around 10 am when we felt like the rain had paused enough to give the roads a
bit of time for the water to settle. We left and the adventure back to Banso began. We slowly made our way out of Misaje and we drove for about 30 minutes and the rain began again. We slipped a little here and slid a little there, but we continued on slowly and made it to
Banso safely in under three and a half hours. We thought that maybe we could still fly out as the plane was waiting for us and we loaded all of our things, but then the rain started again. The main issue was that the air strip in Banso is at about 7,500 feet and the clouds hang too low when it rains to make safe takeoffs. So we realized we were going to be spending the night in Banso. We all made arrangements with a guest house that is a part of a Baptist hospital. We found that the guest house was right next to the Michael's who are missionaries that are temporarily in Banso before they move further north once their home is built. They kindly offered us all dinner and we enjoyed the evening chatting and sharing our new experiences from Misaje. Leah saw the large eatable termites that had found an opening into the house. Right
before it was dark we looked out and saw that the clouds were so low that they engulfed the hillside were we were located! The elevation, hillside, and the valley below caused the clouds to settle right on us! The rain continued until some point in the middle of the night and
when we awoke the clouds lifted enough!

We were fortunate to arrive at the air strip around 7 am and flew back to Yaounde safely! Once we returned we felt we really made a difference with the work we did: Leah helped Kay so that she could focus on work for a few days and we we were able to complete the electrical and network cabling in the translation center. Also, we got to know many of the people in the village teams working on translation and literacy projects!

Email us if you would like to see more pictures!

Joy and Peace in Christ
Mark and Leah Janowiak