Encouragement from Cameroon

I am sorry that I don't have any pictures yet for this post, but I wanted to share a very encouraging email from the Kennedy, Campus Director who oversees the 13 countries that comprise Francophone (the French speaking countries) Africa. Many of these countries (Cameroon included) have deep divides over religion (Christianity, Islam, tribal religions), deep economic poverty, and daunting health issues because of HIV. 2008 marks the first summer that the students of Missouri and Southern Illinois have traveled to Cameroon to initiate campus ministries. Their work in the orphanages opened up an opportunity for them to speaker with the Minister of Health for Cameroon and to share about their work on national television.

Kennedy sent this email:

"We rejoice in the Lord as we see the fruits of our partnership coming alive. This evening the summer project students were on the national television to talk about Good News and Good Deeds. This gives us the kind of visibility we need and credibility follows quite naturally.
This is certainly a land mark in the history of our ministry in Cameroon. We have never received such a big team for such a long time.

We have made so many mistakes [with the summer project] but, the capacity of the STINT and summer project teams to understand and to correct and move on is exceptional. It is a wonderful learning process for us as a national ministry.

We wish to say a very special THANK YOU for considering Francophone Africa as a partner. Thank you for giving us a chance to learn and grow in missions. We will never be the same again.
The sense of sacrifice that your teams express takes us by surprise. The teams have had some members suffer from malaria and even Typhoid fever but, their capacity to endure is just wonderful. We thank God for modern medicine but we have seen faith in these young people. Their capacity to stay out of their comfort zone is another very huge challenge to some of us who know the difference.

The Lord is preparing grounds for a mighty harvest in Francophone Africa and we are grateful to you for having accepted the challenge to be used for this special mission. We are praying that the Lord will continue to raise students and staffs who will be available to STEP OUT and MAKE THE DIFFERENCE.

Accept the appreciation of our entire AOA campus team and the AOA team.
Partnering in the harvest to launch Movements somewhere and then have Movements Everywhere.
Kennedy"