New Wind Blowing

We are excited that God is blowing his fresh wind through the NavYouth ministry here.  Together with Wilson & Rose, we really see God calling us to line up to the vision of this ministry which is to work with young people to bring them to a place of being able to reproduce into other disciples of Jesus.  We realize that some our labors and activities while not being bad at all, require tons of energy and investment for very little fruit.  As a result, we are paring down the program activities and focusing on those few who deeply want to grow and study, rather than those that only want to come for fun and games.  We will still have some fun stuff for sure, but I think we realize that we have spent much of 5 years running after the youth and reminding them of every activity.  We look forward to having them come because they are passionate followers of Christ and not passionate followers of Gilles & Wendy.  We will have a 3 day, 2 night spiritual retreat in mid-July to earnestly begin this time of investing in those God brings.  We are passionate and excited about what God is doing.  Thanks for being a part of His work here in Cameroon.  We love that you walk this journey with us.

What a day of rejoicing!

What a welcome “home”!  We saw God move so fantastically on our behalf while we travelled from Colorado to Virginia to Chicago to Brussels Belgium and on to Yaounde Cameroon. Why does that amaze me?  Sometimes I am so ashamed when I expect so seemingly little from our Great God.  But alas...please keep me on the Potter’s Wheel, dear Jesus.

So many of you prayed specifically for our seats to be together and for our luggage to make it in its entirety on the same plane with us.  God moved and moved some more...all our luggage arrived with us with nothing stolen.  We also were granted an amazing grace to be seated together on our flights.  We didn’t even have to ask anyone to switch with us...they boarding passes printed out with us sitting together.  I just love it when God shows us so wonderfully.

Despite not much rest on the flights, we arrived in Yaounde overjoyed to see our friends and family.  We were really blessed to have a welcoming committee of about 25 at the airport to greet us.  Within that group were close Cameroonian friends, expat friends, and some co-laborers.  

And more - at our home, not only were our two dogs, Smokey and Milka, waiting for us, but there was a group of youth from NavJeunesse that were here throwing confetti, singing in both French and English and dancing...what a rejoicing!

Our 11 days here so far have been complete with seeing friends, cleaning, unpacking, cleaning, fixing broken things, cleaning, sleeping, cleaning...etc.  Need I say more?  It really is great to be back.  It’s not without challenges and trials, but we feel more prepared to attack those as a team and in a unified spirit this term.  Praise God.  Thank you for your prayers and love...we totally couldn’t be here without you cheering us on.

The Nasty Four-Letter Word

Ok, so it's not really 4 letters.  In the life of a missionary, MK, TCK or cross-cultural worker, I can't think of much worse than TRANSITION!!  (that's the word)  We are in the throws of it right now and it is most definitely NOT my favorite part of this season.  I know that God is faithful.  I know that He has called us to Cameroon.  I know that He will not give me more than I can handle in one day.  BUT, it sure feels way worse.  I think that Gilles, Gaby and I have an advantage over the boys.  We are somewhat able to express the weirdness going on in our hearts.  For Josh and Sam, however, it's a challenge.  My heart breaks as their little hearts struggle and work to process all these odd feelings.  You think we'd get used to is - NOT! Man, I love these kids so much...they have been through so much transition already, so many times.  May God continue to give us all grace enough for each step of this transition.

Seriously Lame-o!

A special visit from Aunt Margaret, who we served with in Cameroon

A great time at Christmas with all the Withers-Naine cousins

And Gilles' mom, Denise, joined us for 10 days at Christmas

My guys skiing at Ski Cooper

The ROCK at TKD!  So proud

(A very special date for Gilles and Gaby)

(At the top after a hefty hike - all downhill from here....)

Egads - it's been way too long since I updated this blog.  It has been a good thing to have some distance from it, but I feel bad for letting you guys down.  Anyhoo - welcome back and here we go.  Last update was about Josh's Bday...woah!  Since then we went to VA for a fabulous Christmas vacation trip with both my brothers and their families (one from China), Gilles' mom and snow!!  We took a family ski trip (first time for all 3 kids) and reconnected with one of my college professors.  Gaby had a very special "date" with her dad at the Father-Daughter Purity Ball at the Broadmoor Hotel.  Josh has gone on multiple fishing trips with his dad and one deer hunting trip with a family friend.  The kids have been clipping away faithfully at school work.  All 3 kiddos and Gilles are excelling weekly in their Taekwondo training and are currently orange belts and hope to go one more before we blast off.  Gilles and I have continued to meet weekly with members of our dear Care Team who have so faithfully invested in restoring us and refreshing us.  Gilles gained one more year in March with his birthday and Gaby also is now 15 years old - where has the time gone?  Well, this home ministry assignment (HMA) is rapidly coming to a close.  I can hardly believe it.  God has been so gracious, tender, faithful and full of love to us, individually as well as a family. So humbled....We are greatly rejoicing about returning 'home' and are excited to see our dear friends that have been so far away over this past year.  God has provided a new home for us - we will move in July.  Gaby and Josh will both be at RFIS in the fall.  Wow!  Enjoy a few pics of these past months.  Thank you for praying and loving our family.  We will keep you posted as we progress towards our move.