Angeline's Cameroon Adventures

Baka Baptism!

2011-12-31T17:17:00.001-07:00

Wow, it's hard to believe that a full year has gone by since I've written on my blog! So much has happened...but right now I just want to quickly share with you some good news that can't wait for a full update.

The picture above is of the baptism that took place in Bakaland today--New Year's Eve. 21 Baka and Brendan Abbott (the 6 year old son of my teammates in Cameroon) decided to make this public profession of their faith. Oh what a wonderful way to end off the year!

Gathered by the river for the baptism...

Here Nathan Conrod is baptizing Samedi, a young Baka guy that Timothy and I got to know when we were in Cameroon in 2009. I will share more later about the excitement for the Gospel that Christ has put in Samedi's heart...

After the baptism everyone shared a small meal of rice and juice.

My heart is so full of joy at this news that I couldn't wait to share it with you! Thank you so much for your prayers for me as I prepare to join my teammates in Cameroon...and for your prayers for my teammates and the Baka people. God is using your prayers in powerful ways!

A letter from Roatan

2010-12-29T16:37:00.001-07:00

Hello again! I thought I would post an excerpt from a letter I wrote during my time in Roatan.

I had written from the airport on the way to Roatan in September saying I would update everyone when I got home, but I've been so busy that it simply hasn't happened yet.

The 5 weeks I spent on the Island with Timothy were wonderful! We had a great time together and I was so blessed and encouraged by the time we spent with the little Baptist church there. (It was such a wonderful and welcoming church to share with about my plans to go to Cameroon!)

I hope that this little bit of my letter to my friend Amber-Lynn will give you a picture of what it was like on Roatan...

Leaving for church the first Sunday

------------------------------------------------

At the moment I am sitting in the dark, tucked under a mosquito net, writing by the soft glow of a small lamp. It is very hot, but I am cozily wrapped in a blanket. Outside my windows I can hear crickets, roosters, and several obnoxious birds that can't really be described in words. The sounds are as close as if they were inside since none of the windows have glass. And the smell, oh it's wonderful! It is the beginning of rainy season here and the air still smells sweetly of the rain we had this afternoon. It is only 9:00pm but since the sun sets here at 5:00pm it feels very late and the darkness is very thick. There is a quiet peacefulness about the evening here. It's the perfect time to read a book. I've been reading one that I got in the mail from World Team before leaving for Roatan: "Filling Up the Afflictions of Christ." It's a really good book; you should borrow it from me sometime.

Oh hey, guess what I found in my kitchen the other day? A box of matches made in Cameroon! And on the back of the box is a map of Cameroon. I'm going to bring the empty box home to put in my Special Box. Goodness, you wouldn't believe how quickly we go through matches since everything's gas here. The first couple of days I didn't realize that the oven was gas too and was quite excited when I saw it actually worked. However, to light it one has to pull the oven apart, then avoid burning fingers or lighting oven mitts on fire while putting it back together--always a great adventure! I love my little house here and am even enjoying all that's involved in washing and drying clothes in this rain and humidity. The washing alone is a big job, but the really fun part comes in the drying! There is always lots of laundry and once it is all hung out on the deck it looks like a maze out there. Oh, I just love seeing everything rippling and waving in the wind, little glimpses of the green jungle and brightly colored birds peeking through when a big gust of wind comes. The large white sheets with ruffled edges are the most beautiful to behold in the wind--so crisp, and so responsive to every little murmur of the breeze.

After getting all the laundry hung, which takes several hours from start to finish, I like to take my knitting and lie in my hammock on the deck in among the sheets and shirts and towels. This is the perfect vantage point for bird watching, as I am quite safely hidden from their notice. Of course, when it starts to rain everything is all a flurry again as I rush to bring all the (usually still wet) laundry back inside before it is drenched--or worse, carried away by the strong tropical gales. Then I set to folding and draping everything over our thee plastic children's chairs (the only type of chairs they seem to have on Roatan) and hope that the storm ends soon so everything can finish drying.

We have had a few large tropical storms hit during our time here already. This involves loss of electricity and usually a police warning for everyone to stay in their homes for 24 hours so the police have time to clean up and make sure things are safe again. (Which is a 'clean' and 'safe' quite different from those same words in Canada, but still seeming perfectly normal to me here.) The chatter in town the day before a storm hits is whether it is going to be a hurricane or tropical storm, and people are quite firm in their opinions, the more cautious ones buying some canned goods to add to their shelves. The day before our second tropical storm hit (actually, probably 3 or 4 hours before) I was at the Coconut Tree buying some bread. The sky was already the telltale grey-blue, the water churning roughly, and the coconut trees turned up like umbrellas that have been turned inside out by a strong gust of wind. There were 5 or 6 of us in the little store (about as many as can fit). Timothy waited outside for me with the empty water bottle we were changing out. The little group of us waiting to pay for our groceries debated the type and intensity of the storm good-naturedly, poking fun at the choice of provisions each had made, no one having the makings of a full meal. Before leaving the Coconut Tree we were all friends and one lady who was buying only a jar of peanut butter and a small ball of cheese (a luxury item) took all of our names. She gave us her "address" (how many paces her house was behind Pur Vida) and suggested that if the storm lasted too long we should all bring what food we had to her house and share a meal. This did not happen of course, as it was only a tropical storm and we were all back out frequenting the road again after a day had passed. But when any of us met each other at the Coconut Tree again we greeted one another by name with smiles and laughter in our eyes (and perhaps a joking question about dry sandwiches or peanut butter on cheese).

There are no towns here, but simply areas of the Island since it is so small. We are in West End which is one long dirt/sand road (full of huge potholes that fill with water for a few days each time it rains). On one side of the road is the ocean. On the other side of the road are little shops, many open on one side like stalls at a market. Behind these shops are lanes with houses along them. The houses are quite far apart, so a lane with only 3 or 4 houses might take 5 to 10 minutes to walk. Really, 'lane' is often a not-so-suitable name as they are steep, rocky, bumpy paths that look like they've only been formed because people have walked them so frequently. Our house is at the very end of one of these lanes, a rather secluded walk particularly after dark. There are large flowering bushes to one side of the lane the last few minutes before reaching the house, and even more trees and flowers in front of our house for a ways. A flock of chickens greets you as you near the house, and I quite enjoy walking between them to get there. When they are gone, a rare occasion, I miss the color and homey feel they lend. Our house is wooden and the back 3/4 of it rests on very tall 'stilts' as it is perched on a drop-off. Behind and to the left of the house is beautiful jungle. And to the right is our neighbor's house and more jungle.

Our area of the island is on the 1/2 that has electricity, so most of the time we have lights in the evening. Well, not quite most, but much of the time we do. They go out so frequently that it doesn't really seem strange anymore to sit in the pitch black and eat supper, or to lie in our hammocks in the thick darkness. Actually there is a different type of beauty to this--the beauty of sound. When the darkness is so thick around you that you can't see your hand in front of your face, the sounds of crickets chirping, geckos scampering across the walls, birds singing, dingos barking from great distances to one another, and sheets blowing in the wind sound so much louder, more vivid, and closer. And they make such a peaceful symphony to rock quietly along to, adding the rhythmic squeaks of the hammock's metal hooks to the mix. oh, I'm sure you would love it.

2010-09-18T20:48:00.000-06:00

Hello from San Francisco! :)

I am sitting here in the airport, already tired, and anticipating three more flights and 16 hours of travel before Timothy and I reach our final destination--Roatan Island, Honduras.

Six years ago when I graduated from high school I got a letter from some ladies from my church. In the letter they told me that they knew I had a special relationship with my little brother, Timothy, and wanted me to be able to take him on a special holiday before I eventually went out to the mission field. These dear ladies had anonymously put money for this purpose into my bank account. I have never been able to thank them since they did not tell me who they were, and so have only the Lord to thank for this wonderful gift. :) What a beautiful picture of "giving hilariously" this was to me! I pray that the Lord will bless these ladies in very special ways for the great encouragement they have been to me.

We will be spending time with the small local church helping out with their children's ministry, and have then been invited to share with them about the work I feel God calling me to in Cameroon. There is also a Christian organization working with orphans there that has asked us to spend some time with them.

We are also looking forward to spending time together reading, playing board games, and taking some scuba diving lessons.

Well, my internet time is almost done so I should sign off for now. I would appreciate your prayers for our time away, that the Lord would keep us safe, give us good connections with them people we meet, and that He would use this time to reveal Himself to Timothy in a very real way.

We will be gone until the 22nd of October. When we get back I will update you on the trip and the events of this past summer.

May the Lord bless and keep you.

...And have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Your sister in Christ,

Angeline Bowman

New Lessons from God: Fasting and Prayer for our Young People

2010-05-15T21:59:00.023-06:00

Well, on Thursday I discovered a new book to add to my list of favorites! (A list comprised of only three or four favorites--a couple that have been on that list since I was 12 or 13 years old.)

I read through the first six chapters quite quickly, looking up from the book every so often to say "Wow, this is such a good book!" and read a paragraph aloud for whoever was around and might be listening.

The book is "Straight Talk To Men and Their Wives" by Dr. James Dobson, and I picked it up and started reading it in a waiting room...so glad I did! In it Dr. Dobson's talking about his father, and the influence he had on his children. It's one of those books that's actually really practical. After only one chapter I already felt like I had been encouraged, affirmed, and challenged in how I relate to the young people in my life. And as each chapter passes I am all the more encouraged! (I hope to buy it so I can read it again.)

One of the big focuses so far is prayer, something that God has been bringing up in my life over and over again this past week.

Here's a few excepts from chapter five:

I have since talked to dozens of parents whose children are grown and married. "We thought our kids had accepted our faith and beliefs," they say, "but somehow, we failed to get it across."

. . . Please believe the words of my dad, "The greatest delusion is to suppose that our children will be devout Christians simply because their parents have been, or that any of them will enter into the Christian faith in any other way than through their parents deep travail and faith."

If any of you doubt the validity of this assertion, may I suggest that you read the story of Eli in 1 Samuel 2-4.

. . . He (Eli) was apparently too busy with the "work of the church" to be a leader in his own home.

. . . It concerned me to realize that Eli's service to the Lord was insufficient to compensate for his failures at home. Then I read further in the narrative and received confirmation of the principle. Samuel, the saintly man of God, who stood like a tower of spiritual strength throughout his life, grew up in Eli's home. He watched Eli systematically losing his children, yet Samuel proceeded to fail with his family too! That was a deeply disturbing truth. If God would not honor Samuel's dedication by guaranteeing the salvation of his children, will He do more for me if I'm too busy to do my "homework"!

As I read these words I felt conviction as to the busyness in my life that often gets in the way of me pouring into the lives of the next generation. I know that Dr. Dobson was writing to parents here, but as the people of God we are all called to show His love to the children that He cares for so deeply.

Earlier this week I was sitting, deep in thought, when I suddenly felt overwhelmed with a burden for all the hurting people I pass in our little town every day. How many people who are crying out for someone to show them God's love do I walk past each day--without even giving them a second glance? I felt tears welling up in my eyes as I prayed to the Lord that He would open my eyes to see the hearts of those around me...and that I would know how to show them His love. There are so many people in our world who have never experienced true love--God's love--and I have it within me to share!

I can't even imagine living without being filled with the love of God, covered by the grace of God, and surrounded by the peace of God. And yet in the busyness of life I am often more concerned with getting to my next commitment than with stopping to share what God has freely and abundantly given me.

The desire of my heart is to be a person who truly treats their time as what it is--the Lord's. I want to be available to God. I want to live in such a way that His love would overflow from within me to all those He brings me in contact with. And I want to take the time to love the young people that God brings into my life, to show them how very much God cares for them.

We are in the midst of a spiritual battle, and the war is being waged right here in our own towns and communities. And caught in the crossfire are our children and youth, many of whom do not yet have the armor of God! ...But we do. And we need to step up, stand in the gap between them and Satan, and hold up our shields of faith to protect them.

But we can't do that if, firstly, we don't consciously clothe ourselves in the armor of God, secondly, we don't become aware of the battle waging around us, and thirdly, we don't play an active role in the lives of our young people.

Later on in the chapter I quoted from earlier, Dr. Dobson compared the passing of the gospel from one generation to the next to a relay race, likening the gospel to the baton. Dr. Dobson pointed out that it is in the passing of the baton that a race is won or lost, saying

"There is a critical moment when all can be lost by a fumble or miscalculation. The baton is rarely dropped on the back side of the track when the runner has it firmly in his grasp. If failure is to occur, it will likely happen in the exchange between generations!"

Later on Dobson said:

"Unless my son and daughter grasp the faith and take it with them around the track, it matters little how fast they run. Being first across the finish line is meaningless unless they carry the baton with them."

These last two sentences really struck me and made me pause in my reading to think. In our fast-paced culture I think it's easy to get caught up in how fast we are running in the race of life, to measure our success by how many things we have accomplished--and perhaps even by how many church programs we are involved in. But that isn't true "success" if in the process we have failed to pass on the baton.

At the end of the chapter Dr. Dobson wrote:

The urgency of this mission has taken Shirley and me to our knees.

...Furthermore, since 1971, I have designated one day a week for fasting and prayer specifically devoted to the spiritual welfare of our children.

...There are too many factors beyond our control--too many evil influences--that mitigate against the Christian message. That is why we find ourselves in prayer, week after week.

...this act of fasting each week serves to remind us continually of our system of priorities. It is very difficult to forget your highest values when one day out of seven is spent concentrating on them.

Dr. Dobson went on to talk about how his great-grandfather had prayed for an hour each morning for his children. And not only for his children, but the next four generations of his family. Dobson said that even though his great-grandfather had died before Dobson was born, this man was the greatest inspiration for him. He said: "It staggers my mind to realize that the prayers of this one man, spoken more than fifty years ago, reach across four generations of time and influence developments in my life today. This is the power of prayer and the source of my hope and optimism."

Wow. Does that not excite your heart and inspire you to be a person of prayer?! What a challenge this was to me.

The last two years, the lesson that God was teaching me was to "lay down my rights and embrace humility." I was not sure when God would be done with that last lesson and show me the next one He had for me, and I had almost begun to get "comfortable" in that. But it appears that now is the time He has chosen to nudge me forward onto the next bend on the road. I am so excited! Every time God brings up another thing He wants to teach me about and stretch me in, I am filled with an all-consuming fire and that "first love" of my Saviour all over again.

When God begins to teach me something new there is always some pain or difficulty involved in peeling back another layer of myself and being confronted with who I am, but as I do, I know that, in turn, He will be able to show me yet another layer of who He is...and who He wants me to be in Him. And that is truly the greatest joy in life. Oh to know the Lord and His heart, this is my heart's cry!

I have been blessed to be surrounded by people of prayer! From the time I was very young I noticed what a huge emphasis my mom and grandma placed on prayer. Then when we moved to Three Hills and started attending the Tab I saw the dedication to prayer of so many of the seniors in the congregation. As I got older I saw the importance of all that prayer in my life. And when I was eleven years old I decided to dedicate an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening to intercessory prayer. I quickly came to treasure that time with the Lord. And it was amazing to see how God worked in the lives of many of the people I prayed for. (For a while I even kept a prayer journal because I was just so amazed at the way God listened to and answered the prayers of "just a kid.")

Since prayer is already something I feel passionately about, I am so very excited to see what God has to teach me about and through it! As God has brought up the importance of prayer over and over again the last two weeks, that excitement has been welling up in me, and I look forward to taking this journey with Christ.

As part of this journey, I feel a burden to dedicate one day a week to fasting and prayer for the young people God has brought across my path. I would appreciate your prayers that I would be faithful to the Lord in this, that He would break my heart for the young people around me who are hurting, and that I would know how to show God's love to them.

(If you feel God laying this on your heart as well and would like to encourage and keep one another accountable, please let me know.)

Well these are just some snippets of what God has been teaching me recently. I hope that they have been an encouragement to you.

Thank you again for your prayers for me! I cannot express how much I appreciate every one of them. I am looking forward to getting back to Cameroon...and to seeing what all God has to teach me as I prepare for that. Journeying with Christ is truly an amazing thing!

Your friend and sister in Christ,

Angeline

Cameroon and the Baka People

2009-11-14T00:58:00.008-07:00

Some Information on Cameroon:

Location:
Cameroon sits in the heart of Africa, just north of the equator and just below the familiar bulge of the west coast of the continent. Home to an estimated 18 million people, Cameroon is about the size of the US state of California.

Languages:
More than 270 indigenous languages are spoken in Cameroon. Literacy work and Bible translation are ongoing needs in Cameroon.

Economy:
Cameroon’s economy is struggling. The current economic environment fosters a cycle where the poor remain poor and the rich get richer.

Religion:
Most Cameroonians are very religious. In South Cameroon, the main religion is African Traditional Religion, a form of animism.

Some Information on the Baka people:

The Baka People:
The Baka people have lived in the dense rainforests of southeast Cameroon for centuries, surviving as semi-nomadic hunter gatherers. Considered backward and primitive by other Cameroonians, they have seldom been on equal footing with others. They are animists.

Music:
Music is central to their lives. As soon as a baby is able to clap it is encouraged to participate in all the communal music-making. There is music for ritualistic purposes, music for passing on knowledge, stories and the history of the Baka people, and music for pure enjoyment.

A unique way that Baka women and girls play music is to literally "play the river" (liquindi).
You can hear a clip at this link: http://www.baka.co.uk/baka/mp3_liquindi.html

Another unique instrument is the Earth Bow (Angbindi). This is a single-stringed instrument that literally uses the ground as a sound-box!
You can hear a clip at this link: http://www.baka.co.uk/baka/mp3_angbindi.html

World Team and the Baka:
World Team began work among the Baka in 1992. From the beginning the Baka team has emphasized a holistic approach, using medical care and development initiatives to build trust relationships. Chronological storytelling is being used to present the Gospel to this pre-literate group. There is no viable church currently in existence.

The Baka Team's Vision Statement:
To complete a presentation of the gospel using a storying method in the Baka heart language resulting in a group of discipled believers equipped to facilitate a church planting movement.

Candidate School (RACE)

2009-11-10T16:24:00.005-07:00

As most of you know, I was invited to attend World Team's candidate school, RACE, in Pennsylvania this past July. I made the decision to go only about a week before RACE, as God quickly opened the doors for me to be able to attend. During this time leading up to RACE, I was busy completing Bible knowledge and evangelism tests, psychological testing, sending in references, and writing out my life story and testimony for World Team's assessors.

RACE started out with a couple days of training and information about World Team, its history, and the areas around the world where it works. Then a few days were spent on the actual assessment part. The group of us candidates was put through situations/simulations while the assessors sat around us taking notes on how we each responded and contributed. There was also time where each of us gave our testimony and then answered questions. World Team hires an outside company of psychologists to do part of the assessment for them; they were there the whole time watching everything we did, and at the end there was a day of individual interviews with one of the psychologists, and then with one of World Team's missionary assessors.

The process was so valuable! When winding down and processing each night after another grueling day, I continued to think to myself, even if I don't make it through this will have been such a worthwhile process. I learned so much about missions, about myself, about what was really important to me in the mission organization I would submit myself to, and what was important in my teammates on the field. (And in turn, about who I needed to be to my future teammates.) As I continued to learn about World Team, I prayed more and more that this would be the mission God wanted me to go out with. By the last day, I simply couldn't imagine going out with any other organization, and my heart almost physically ached to be accepted by World Team. My prayer during my devotions the morning that we'd find out who had been accepted was something like, "God, I only want to do what is your will. But please let it be your will that I be accepted by World Team! Please let this feeling in my heart be from you because you want me to go out with World Team."

A time was set up for each candidate to meet individually with their main assessor that day; during that meeting we'd be told if we'd been accepted or not, and the reasons why. When I went into my meeting my heart was racing, and I was full of the joy and peace of the Lord. The song that I had written that morning while reading Psalm 46 was going through my mind:

Come to me
When your heart become anxious
Come to me
And be still
Come to me
When your heart become anxious
Come to me
And rest awhile

Be still-And know that I am God
Be still-And know that I'm the Lord
Be still-And know I am holding you up
When strength is gone
Be still

I am the Lord
Who brought you out of darkness
I am the Lord
Who filled you with light
I am the Lord
Of Abraham and Isaac
And as I cared for them
So care I for you

Come to me
When your heart become anxious
Come to me
And be still
Come to me
When your heart become anxious
Come to me
And rest awhile

When my assessor handed me a copy of my letter of invitation to join World Team, and began to read it to me, I felt like the Lord had just entrusted me with the greatest and most precious gift! My heart was so full that I almost couldn't bear it, and as the tears trickled down my face I couldn't help but sing the Doxology in my heart. ...Praise God from whom all blessing flow...

As those of us who were accepted sat and visited for a few hours, sharing stories of God's faithfulness, and how we'd seen God's leading in our lives toward missions, there was a feeling of peace and awe in the room. Each one of us that sat there was a sinner, but in God's mercy He'd redeemed us, and during this week He'd confirmed in our hearts His desire to use us for His glory overseas. What a gracious and faithful God we serve!

The last night of RACE, World Team had a banquet and presented each of us who'd been accepted as missionary appointees with a certificate, and a baton with our name and a verse on it. (The picture at the top of this post is of me receiving my certificate and baton.) Afterward they had a prayer time and commissioned us. This was such a beautiful time, I will always treasure it in my heart as a most precious gift from the Lord. Oh to follow in His ways, walking along the path that He has for me, what better joy could be found on this earth!

My heart's desire has always been to share Christ with the world, and I know that He put that desire there because He has called me to do so. What an overwhelming joy it is to see how He is leading me toward that--and that my heart will not have to break to be sharing His Gospel overseas for much longer! He is a good God, who gives us the desires of our hearts...His desires!

I thank you all for the faithful prayers you have brought before the Lord on my behalf over the years. I count it such a great privilege to be surrounded by a family of believers who pray! As I continue preparing to go to Cameroon I would greatly appreciate your continued prayers. Please pray that God would continue to open and close doors in ways that would show me the directions He wants me to go and the things He wants me to pursue. In the meantime I continue to walk along the path I see He has set before me, trusting Him to show me which way to turn each time I come to a fork in the road.
You could also pray that God would fill me each day with His strength, patience, and grace. As I prepare to go, I continue to see ways that Satan is trying to discourage me from continuing on. On the one hand I am encouraged by this, as I know that it means God must have a plan that Satan is trying to thwart, but on the other, it can be very tiring some days. I continue to turn to the Lord day by day, and He continues to fill me with Himself--and with everything that I need. But I know that without being continually filled I will not be able to accomplish the things that God has planned for me, and my heart's cry is that I would never stop coming to Christ for that filling of my spirit.
I am full of Christ's joy to overflowing, and know that the Lord has a wonderful plan, but some days I am not sure which way to move forward. On those days I simply have to give my questions to the Lord and keep walking. I know that He is faithful, and will finish the work He has begun in me.

Happy Birthday Daune!

2009-10-20T13:49:00.008-06:00

Yesterday was Duane's birthday--the first one spent worshiping at the very throne of God. In honor of the legacy that he left behind, I wanted to share a small story of God's faithfulness.

As many of you know, this past Christmas was a difficult one for me, as Duane went to be with the Lord on Sunday December 28, 2008 after a long battle with cancer. But what most of you don't know, is the special way in which God graciously prepared me to lead worship that morning. (Which I could not have done without the hand of God holding me up.)

My worship team was scheduled to lead on the 28^th, and on the preceding Friday night, I had a dream from the lord that Duane was going to die that Saturday night. I spent the next day, Saturday, in the church office changing the song selection for the Sunday morning service, weeping over each song choice on my knees before the Lord. My team got together to practice that night. And the next morning (Sunday) when we arrived to set up, I was told that Duane had died early that morning. After telling the team and praying together over our loss, we prayed for God’s comfort and hand of protection on the congregation, as most of them were to learn of Duane’s passing for the first time at the service.

Leading that morning was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. But it was such a blessing to have known ahead of time from the Lord so that I could not only choose songs that would be able to lead the congregation into the throne room of God in their grief--but also so I could mourn the day before, and be prepared to lead the congregation into worship.

It was a beautiful gift that Duane was taken on a Sunday morning, so that the church could gather as a body immediately and respond with worship. Worship is not only our gift to God, but it is His gift to us; never have I had as clear a picture of that as I did that Sunday morning.

The past couple of years since Duane got sick have been ones that have required me to lean fully on the Lord for my strength. Duane was not just my worship pastor and mentor; he had also taken me under his wing as a father. I gave the question “why did I have to lose my father figure after already having ‘lost’ one?” to God immediately after my dream of Duane’s death, all the while knowing that God was the only Father I needed--that He was all I needed. Once in a while, while visiting Duane at the cemetery, I will begin to ask the question again, but then I am reminded of the miraculous ways God has shown Himself real to me in the past (like the pillars of stones the Israelites would erect to remind themselves of what God had done for them), and then all I can do is praise Him.

God is truly faithful, and He knows what each one of us needs. Even when we can't understand circumstances in our lives, God can--and He desires for us to trust and draw near to Him. When we are pressed close to God's side, it is then we can truly hear His heart beating for us. . . and for the world around us.

Duane is now singing God's praises in heaven, and although this has left me with tears in my eyes many times, it leaves me with praise in my heart at all times.

I know that my Redeemer lives!
What comfort this sweet sentence gives!
He lives, he lives, who once was dead;
He lives, my ever living head!

He lives triumphant from the grave;
He lives eternally to save;
He lives exalted, throned above;
He lives to rule his Church in love.

He lives to silence all my fears;
He lives to wipe away my tears;
He lives to calm my troubled heart;
He lives all blessings to impart.

He lives to bless me with his love;
He lives to plead for me above;
He lives my hungry soul to feed;
He lives to help in time of need.

He lives, my kind, wise, heavenly friend;
He lives and loves me to the end;
He lives, and while he lives, I’ll sing;
He lives, my Prophet, Priest, and King!

He lives, all glory to his name!
He lives, my savior, still the same;
What joy this blest assurance gives:
I know that my Redeemer lives!

God sits as the refiner...

2009-10-05T14:22:00.001-06:00

I received an email with this story in it today, and thought I'd share it with all of you.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Malachi 3:3 says: 'He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.'

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: 'He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.' She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed..

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, 'How do you know when the silver is fully refined?' He smiled at her and answered, 'Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it.'
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What a beautiful picture this was to me--that God will not turn away His eyes until He sees His image in me.
...His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me...

We had a guest speaker in town this weekend, and I went to a talk he gave last night. It was on the destruction and demoralization that is taking place on university campuses, and how we can help to prepare the younger generation to be over-comers in Christ.

At one point he spoke about the importance of learning to love and fear God. He told a story of once when he was talking to some young people about the love/fear of God. He asked them, "Would you drive at 100 miles an hour on the highway?" The answer was a resounding no. When he asked them why not, one answer was "I'd be afraid of killing someone." Another was, "I wouldn't want to get a ticket."
"So," he said "you might love to drive fast, but your fear of getting a ticket or killing someone would keep you from doing it." He went on to show them how every decision they make is based on love and/or fear.
After telling this story, he told us how important this discovery had been to his survival as a Christian. And he challenged us to pass this on to the younger generations in order that they would be prepared to face the world--and stay strong in their faith.

This morning as I read the email I had shared above, it reminded me that I need to learn more about God. I need to continue to learn about Him so I can truly understand not only the love, but the fear of God. I have always understood that these two, love and fear, must both be present in my relationship with God. But I think that our present Christian society has forgotten about the fear of God...and I too easily follow suit. It is easy to become so concerned with the love of God, that we forget to fear Him.
I find the picture of God sitting as our refiner truly beautiful. But it is not a soft beauty, it is a strong beauty that fills my heart with the love--and fear of God.

Why I feel called to the Baka people in Cameroon

2009-09-23T16:23:00.001-06:00

I've been wanting to write a letter filling you all in on all the details of how God has lead me to this point, but couldn't bring myself to start in my excitement somehow. There are simply no words that seem good enough to start a letter about the way God's been working in me; it's all just too great for my human understanding.

So this afternoon I've decided to just sit down and simply piece together from my heart how I've felt and seen God's leading me toward the Baka people in Cameroon...without worrying about not being able to fully and properly articulate the wonders of God's working.

I suppose I'll start by saying that God placed a deep love and concern for the people of Africa in me since I was a child, from before I can even remember. I had never been to Africa before the Cameroon Vision Trip this spring though. I went on my first missions trip when I was 11 years old, and went on one or two trips all over the world each year following that. I love people, so I fell in love with the people everywhere I went, and talked about how I could go back and work in all the countries I'd been to, but I'd never felt specifically called to one place or one mission organization.

When I stepped out of the airport in Cameroon I stopped still, closed my eyes, and let out a deep, slow sigh; it was the most amazing feeling--like I could feel myself experiencing the realization, and saying "This is where I belong. This is what everything in my life has been leading up to." That first night I was up almost all night, sitting out on the porch at SIL reading Psalms, Job and Ephesians, praying, and worshiping God through tears of awe at His greatness and my low, sinful state. I was so full of awe that my heart couldn't stop praying silently those first couple days in Yaounde, Cameroon’s capital city. I was so overwhelmed by God's great grace--that He would choose to work in and through me.

I'll actually back up for a moment and share a little snippet about how God even brought me to be on the Vision Trip. It was only about a month before the trip that I found out it was happening and started to raise funds to go. I felt strongly that God wanted me to go, but knew there was no way I could raise all the money in that short time--especially with having to commit to buying plane tickets fairly soon after starting to raise money. I kept saying to God, "Well, I guess I'll know for sure if you want me to go, because there's no way the money will come in unless you bring it in miraculously." It was about two weeks before we would be leaving, and only a little less than $200 had come in for both me and Timothy. I was at my small group that Sunday night, and afterwards one of the ladies handed me an envelope. At the moment that I touched that envelope, peace rushed over me, and I just knew that all the money was going to come in, and Timothy and I were going to go on the Vision Trip. I knew that God had a purpose in sending us on the trip. As she walked away and I was left there holding the envelope I felt my eyes well up with tears. There could have just been $5 inside, it didn't matter, I knew that God was going to bring in the money. ...He did, and there are a lot more stories that I could tell about what God did even before we left for Cameroon. But anyways, back to where I was...

The first stop on the Vison Trip was Baka Land, where the Abbotts, Andertons, and Jenn Jesse were living and ministering. As we pulled up by the Abbott's house in Baka Land God filled me with a deep love for the Baka people, as well as the missionaries working among them. I'm not sure how to describe it, it was an instant connection for me--like family that I'd just never met in person but was somehow deeply connected to. That connection kept growing, and I fell in love with and became very burdened for the Baka people as I met them. What beautiful people!
One day while we were praying as a group in the Anderton's screened in porch I could feel God saying to me, "I love the Baka so much, you couldn't even physically contain my love for them. I'm going to give you just a tiny taste of my love for them..." I couldn't bear even that, and felt like I was going to break down or melt away under His love for them. My eyes began flowing with tears. I was a mess. God continued to reveal things like this to me in tangible ways, growing in me a love and burden for the Baka, and bringing me before Him on my face for the Baka many times. God also began to burden me for each of the missionaries who are working with the Baka, often reducing me to tears before Him, praying against the spiritual warfare I could feel was waging.

I was so full of love for the Baka, my heart couldn't even fully think about coming back to work among them, although I was filled with an overwhelming desire to do so. The day that we left Baka Land was so sad for me, because I couldn't bear to think that I might never again see these people that I loved so dearly.

I continued to desire to go back to Baka Land and pour my life into the people there throughout the rest of the trip...and when I got back to Canada that desire only grew.

I spent many hours praying and asking God if this could be His plan for me, hardly daring to hope that it was at first. But as it says in Psalm 37, “Delight thyself also in the Lord: and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”
What a beautiful thing it is to find your delight in God--and to find that in return He puts His desires in your heart!

I continue to pray for God’s will to be done as I pursue full-time ministry with World Team among the Baka people in Cameroon. I would greatly appreciate your prayers as well!

Recipes From Cameroon!

2009-08-05T16:09:00.000-06:00

I have had lots of fun experimenting with recreating two of my favorite dishes from my time in Cameroon! (After coming up with the right amounts, I have made it for my family several times. Everyone loves it!)

I thought I'd share the finished product with you so you can have a 'taste' of Cameroon from here!

Angeline’s Cameroon Recipes

Njamma-njamma
In Cameroon, Njamma-njamma is the name of the plant that this dish is made from. Here in Canada, other greens have to be substituted for Njamma-njamma leaves.
Ingredients:
2-4 tablespoons of olive oil
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tsp. cayenne pepper, red pepper, or pepe pepper (to taste)
2 (or more) pounds of greens: collards, kale, mustard greens, swiss chard, or spinach; stems removed, cleaned, torn or shredded
1 cup water (or chicken stock)
salt to taste (optional, I prefer it without)

Preparation:
Heat oil in a large skillet or pot. Over high heat, sauté onions and garlic for a few minutes. (Until tender but not brown.) Add pepper and stir for a minute. Reduce heat.
Add greens to pot. Cook over medium heat for several minutes. Stir greens often, but keep the pot covered.
Add water or broth. Cover. Cook over low heat until greens are tender and have sweat down in bulk-- ten to twenty minutes or longer. Add salt if necessary. Serve hot with fufu.

Corn Fufu
(This makes four balls.)

Ingredients:
1 cup corn meal
Water (Boil 5 cups, you’ll use a bit less.)

Preparation:
1. Boil water in medium pot. Pour all but about 2 cups of water into a separate container after it’s come to a rapid boil.
2. Allow water in pot to continue to boil while adding the corn meal, stirring constantly with whisk. (After this, use a wooden spoon.)
3. Add some of the reserved water and allow the mixture to boil for about 15-30 seconds, then stir.
4. Add more water, boil, then stir. Keep doing this until you’re out of water or have reached the right consistency. Cook until you smell the scent of roasted corn. You don’t want the mixture to be too thick or too runny. Then reduce heat and cook for 3-5 minutes longer.

To make the Corn Fufu balls: Form into four balls. Wrap each ball in plastic wrap and put them in a pot of already hot water on medium-low heat. This will keep Fufu hot until the Njamma-jamma is ready. To serve, place the Fufu balls in a serving bowl while still in saran wrap. Let people unwrap their ball when they are ready to eat, this will keep it piping hot!

To Eat Fufu and Njamma-njamma: This dish is eaten with the hands! The Njamma-njamma will be very hot, so a piece of the Fufu ball is pinched off and used to scoop up the Njamma-njamma.

Hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think if you try it! :)

Vision Trip 2009-Update

2009-08-05T16:04:00.000-06:00

Cameroon Vision Trip 2009 Report

Dear friends and family,

We’re back, and what an amazing trip it was! Thank you so much for your prayers and support. What a blessing to have been sent on this Vision Trip on your behalf. We thank God for your partnership with us; without you sending us we never would have been able to go. Each of you was just as much a part of the ministry that took place on the Cameroon trip as Timothy and I were. Thank you for partnering with us in Christ. What a joy to have been placed in this immediate family in the family of God!

Right now I feel like Lucy in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe after she had just come back from Narnia and was trying to relay her experience. When I stepped off the plane in Cameroon I entered a whole new world. I learned things I didn’t know I needed to learn; I experienced things I didn’t know it was possible to experience. Like a child I am filled with awe and wonder at discovering this new world. Yet stepping back into Canada, it is as if no time has passed in my world while I’ve been gone. God is the same in both worlds, but like Aslan in Narnia, He seems to take a more visible form in Cameroon, waging war against darkness for the hearts and souls of the people. And like Lucy, I am filled with an indescribable love for God and compassion for the Cameroonian people. The question is, how do I pass the vision that God gave me on to you? I pray that God will give me the words to paint a picture for you of the amazing work going on in Cameroon.

The first people group we visited was the Baka. What an amazing first glimpse of God’s love for the Cameroonian people and the work He is doing among them! I spent a lot of time playing with the children, learning their words for the various bugs--and laughing with them as I fumbled to pronounce and remember those words! I enjoyed learning each of the kid’s names, and was struck by the fact that God knows each and every one of our names. How great the love of the Lord is for each of the people He created, and how great the privilege to be His tools to show that love to them! The missionaries with the Baka show that love through physical help, medical care through the doctor and nurse on the team, and agricultural help through an orchard. But not only are they providing the Baka with these much-needed services, they are bringing them the Word of God—in a language they can understand. The Baka are an oral people, they use stories to pass messages from person to person, generation to generation. One evening while we were with the Baka, we had the privilege of sitting around the fire with them and listening as a Bible story was shared with them in their oral tradition. The story was of Noah and how there was only one door to the ark. What a blessing it was to be there and see these people interacting with the story and the missionaries, hiding these truths in their hearts. The missionaries have been using storying to work their way through the Bible with the Baka. And how exciting it was to hear that they are very close to telling the Baka the greatest story of all time—the story of Jesus Christ!

The second people group we visited was the Fulbe, a Muslim people group. We heard about the water project that was started by a missionary years ago, which has created an opening for missionaries to minister to the Fulbe. We visited the Baptist hospital where the Jesus Movie is played in the waiting area, and the patients are prayed with daily. And that Sunday morning, what a joy it was to be able to sit in the “Prayer House” with Fulbe men and women who have given their lives to Christ, and worship God together! Books of Fulbe hymns that were well worn and falling apart were passed around. Singing along with these brothers and sisters in Christ, I could not understand the words, but I could hear the joy of Christ in each note! What sweet fellowship there is at the foot of the cross. The missionaries are discipling three of the Fulbe men, so they can go out as missionaries to their people.

The third people group we visited was the Oroko. The missionaries
to the Oroko are working on translating the Bible. (This is where Mike and Becky Scott, missionaries from the Prairie Tabernacle, have been working.) We did a translation simulation while we were there, and it was amazing to experience the process that every verse has to go through to get from English, to Oroko, to paper. The exegesis process was simply amazing! And what got me really excited was that the missionaries are not just sitting in their translation room, but men from all over the Oroko area do the various aspects of translation with their help. What an amazing discipleship and Biblical training opportunity! There are between 18 and 25 men who come once a month to do a “translation workshop.” They come from all over the area, from the ten different dialects of Oroko. We met a few of these men and they explained what they do in the translation process. We all ate lunch together later on, and one of the men shared his testimony with me, and how important translating the Bible has been in his life. It is a sacrifice for these men to give up a week of work each month, and for some of them to travel a long way to Bekondo where the missionaries live, but they do it because they see the great value of having the Bible in their language. And they see the difference that learning the Bible has had in their hearts and lives. An alphabet has been created, many key passages have been translated, and a few books of the Bible have been published in paperback. There are a couple primers that have also been published for use in the schools so that the Oroko will be able to read their language. God has flung opened the doors among the Oroko people, and more people are needed.

Prayer Needs:

The Baka
- The missionaries have come to the point where they are ready to tell them the story of Jesus. Pray that God would prepare their hearts to understand and receive the Gospel.
- Please pray for more people to come out as missionaries so that the current missionaries can pursue their vision to expand the work among the Baka.
The Fulbe
- Please pray for more people to come out so that as each of the Fulbe men the missionaries are discipling are ready to go out and minister to their people, a missionary could go and work with them.
- Please pray for someone to come out to work with the water project, and that the doors would continue to open there.
The Oroko
- Please pray for the Oroko people, that their churches would grow stronger, and that more people would come out to work with the literacy work and discipleship.
- Please pray for the Friesens who are working with the Oroko on their own right now while the Scotts are at home. And pray for the Scotts that God would continue to restore their daughter to health so they can return to Cameroon.

Everywhere we went, the field was white for harvest, and it was amazing to see and hear what God’s been doing and the opportunities He’s been opening up! God loves the people in Cameroon so much, and is moving among them in a powerful way. But more workers are desperately needed. We live in such a fast-paced world that I think we often forget to actually stop and ask, “Lord, do you want to send me?” I would challenge each of us to purposely set aside this next week and pray the Lord of the harvest to send workers, but at the same time, ask if that might be His plan for our lives. God’s not looking for perfection, He’s looking for a willingness to learn and grow.

A Personal Note From Timothy

Thank-you for your support, both financial and spiritual. During the Cameroon vision trip I have grown immensely in my spiritual life. Before heading out for Cameroon I had been struggling some with my belief. While in Cameroon my belief in the Lord and His work in my life was reaffirmed. I have learned much from the people there in Cameroon. Thank-you for making it possible for us to go.
Sincerely,
Timothy J. D. Bowman

A Personal Note From Angeline

Thank you all for your prayers and support! I have felt called to missions since I was young, and while I was in Cameroon felt called to go back as a fulltime missionary. It’s been exciting to see how God has continued to confirm that calling in my life! I have started the process of preparing to go out with World Team once I finish university, and can hardly wait to get back! I would appreciate your prayers for God’s continued leading in my life, and that I would be as soft clay in His hands as I seek to learn and grow in my faith so I can be an effective tool for Christ.
Thank you again for your faithful prayer and support in my life. May the Lord bless you abundantly!

Angeline Bowman