Alexandria, VA

August 20, 2001

Friends:

     And then there was one day left . . .

     Tomorrow evening we leave for Cameroon via Air France 89 from Washington Dulles to Paris. We are scheduled to have a layover of only two and a half hours before boarding our plane for Douala, where we hope to arrive Wednesday evening. Thursday we travel to Bamenda, where we will spend two days meeting with other missionary homeschooling families, and then at long last arrive in Ndu on Saturday. I begin teaching my five courses on Monday, the 27th: Spiritual Life, Genesis, Jonah and Habakkuk, and two sections of Economics.

     We are here today on the threshold of this mission by God’s grace and your faithfulness to His call to serve as Senders. Your prayers and offerings – over and above what we thought or imagined – have brought us through all the details of preparation, and have enabled us to buy for the seminary:

n      more than 200 books, with a retail value of over $3500, for the seminary library;

n      the latest theological journal CD-ROM for the seminary computer room;

n      considerable memory, CD-ROM drives, and anti-virus software for the seminary computer room

      Your offerings have also enabled us to plan a trip to Allat, where a fellow homeschooling missionary ministers to an unreached Moslem people-group. We hope to schedule this early during our stay, so that our children can see frontier missions, and so that we can plan a trip there for the seminary students – who normally view missionaries as those who teach and provide administrative support.

            In your prayers, please praise God for the following:

n      Our children have been great throughout this time of saying our goodbyes. Thank you for your prayers in this regard.

n      Our friends Gary Steward and Matt and Heidi Perman returned from Cameroon a few weeks ago and brought us a lovely video of Wilfred Fon (president of the seminary) giving a tour of our house. This just arrived here in Virginia today (via Williamstown), and was a great encouragement. Beth plans to make the kitchen pantry a library (we’re carrying about 300 lbs of homeschooling books)!

n      Because of some mistakes on my part, our passports only got to the Cameroonian embassy on Tuesday, 14 August.  The consular officers were very helpful, however, and we picked up our stamped passports on Friday.

n      With a little more packing to do, we have 12 boxes and three suitcases packed. Three days ago I thought we would have to pay $600 for excess luggage, but now we should be able to keep that down to $150.

 

Please also pray about these matters:

n      For those 12-14 boxes and three suitcases, that they might arrive together, with all their contents, and make it through customs in Douala. Each one contains vital materials for us or the seminary. So pray that God would be glorified in the use of these items in Ndu.

n      Our schedule is tight; even arriving a day late would cause us to miss almost all the time with our fellow homeschoolers. So do pray for safe and timely flights – in particular that we (and our luggage) would not miss the Paris-Douala flight.

n      For our initial contacts with the homeschooling missionaries. In addition to wanting our children to feel part of a group, these are key people for our dreams of helping the seminary to become even more missions-minded.

n      For a box of 35 copies of John Piper’s Future Grace which is on its way from Minneapolis. I hope to use these books in my Spritual Life class. We have contacted the mailman, asking him to deliver the box early should it come tomorrow, since we leave home at 3PM.

n      For grace and strength and patience these first few days in Cameroon.

n      For continual, active dependence on God, especially during the normal hassles of traveling in Africa. May we shine the light of His love even after sleeping less than 2 out of the previous 24 hours.

n      For our initial contacts at the seminary with faculty and students.

      We are so thankful to you and God for your faithfulness to Him and the love you have shown to us these last few months. Fundraising was a tremendous joy for us, as we saw you all give so joyfully for His glory. We wish we could see each one of you tomorrow, to give you hugs and say goodbye one last time. Thank you for sharing this ministry with us.

 

            Pressing on in His love, all the way to Cameroon,

 

            Coty and Beth