August 2017 Cameroon - "The Miracle At The Border"

The title of this blog is taken from a statement by one of the branch presidents who took a group of members to the Nigerian Temple.  The story and reason behind the statement will follow.

But first, August began with a trip to Yaounde.  Besides taking care of a few necessary items, our main focus was on training the district in using the General Temple Patron Assistant Fund, GTPAF,  to go to the temple in Aba, Nigeria.  Since clearance has been given by the Area Presidency to use the fund to go to Nigeria, our excitement in training Cameroonian's how to access the fund has been high.  We arrived on Wednesday and trained the district presidency first on the procedure.  Then the next day, Thursday, a meeting was scheduled for leaders and members interested in attending the temple.  Because of the difficulty in getting to the temple in South Africa, no group from Cameroon has gone to the temple for years.  When they learned that no passports nor visa's were needed AND they could use the GTPA Fund, excitement was high and plans were immediately put in place to get a group ready to leave.

                             Members in attendance at the temple meeting

After we left for Douala, the district presidency pursued plans to go to the temple. Unfortunately the temple was full for the week chosen, and since the temple is closed in September, the trip was postponed.  However, we now feel the excitement will remain and another trip will be scheduled.

The first of August also brought the Thompson's back to Cameroon for a "real" Zone Conference.

The Thompson's had come a few weeks earlier to basically meet the missionaries but this time was a regularly schedule Zone Conference.  It was held in our apartment and then we went to a restaurant for lunch.
Since we had two trucks available, the Thompson's and us both drove the missionaries.

A picture going to the restaurant,
fortunately it was close at hand.

With missionaries, if there is a will...there is a way.  The thought of free food  provided the "will", and thus the "way"...no problem.




Sunday's generally turn out to be some of our favorite days.  We enjoy visiting with the members and investigators.

Elder Call with 3 of the 4 young men selling popcorn to make enough money to serve a mission.

This picture is of a beautiful investigator I met at church.  When we met, I felt an immediate attraction to her.  Then I learned her name and the bond became even greater.  She has the same name as my most favorite (and only) sister, Claudia.  When we first met, she was just investigating.  However, when I came back, she had decided to join the church.  I hope to attend her baptism.  As with many investigators here, there are obstacles to be met before they can be baptized.  It is the case with Claudia.  She has a child, but is not married to the father of the child.  He is willing to marry her, but he works outside of Cameroon.  Thus, a marriage must take place before a baptism can be scheduled.

Sunday August 20, 2017 after church services, a group of Cameroonian pioneers boarded a bus for the temple in Aba, Nigeria.  We had been working with the branch president, President Yemafo for weeks to ensure everything was prepared and ready for the trip.   The Friday before they left, a miracle took place to allow them the money needed for the trip; we felt God's hand many times in the preparations.  There had not been a temple group planned for years and thus these righteous saints have not been receiving the blessings that come with the temple ordinances. What made this trip even more unique is that we were helping the branch president, but he and his presidency were doing most of the work...and...we were not going ourselves, they were going on their own. Our purpose was to give them the skills necessary to plan additional temple trips when we leave. However, we felt we had done absolutely everything possible to ensure nothing went wrong.

                        The group of faithful and courageous Cameroonian pioneers.

So the temple group left on Sunday night, and Monday afternoon I received a phone call from Elder Call.  He was out doing errands and asked if I had said my afternoon prayers.  I told him I had not.  He then said, "Well, when you say them could you please say an extra special prayer for the temple group, they have been stuck at the border for the last 4 hours."  My heart sank, what had gone wrong?!  Apparently, in the past there have been some "church" groups which have caused problems in Nigeria. Thus, the government passed a new law requiring any church group to get special permission from the government before they could enter the country.  Because our group had not received that permission, they were told they could not enter Nigeria and they needed to turn back.  There were some in the company also desiring to turn back, but President Yemafo was undaunted.  He said, "This is God's work and God willing, we will stay until we get across the border".

President Yemafo and his beautiful wife, Chancella, who is expecting their first child in December.  Their desire was to have their child born in the covenant.



There were many phone calls made to immigration officials, and many prayers said.  Slowly, they started being allowed to cross and by 8:00pm that night, 23 of the 29 had crossed over to Nigeria.  We were able to go to sleep that night knowing that God's power is greater than man's power.  President Yemafo was the last to cross and did not cross over until about 10:00am Tuesday morning.  Tuesday was spent traveling to Aba with many police stops and necessary bribes being paid.  They reached the temple late in the afternoon, in time to eat and go to bed. Wednesday and Thursday were spent doing ordinances, and then they left to return to Cameroon at 5:00am on Friday morning.   Another of the many "miracles" was that when we were planning the number of days to be spent at the temple, initially they planned on returning on Thursday. I had felt impressed to recommend they stay until Friday morning. Afterwards I questioned myself why I had felt that way, for it didn't make much "sense"  to stay an extra day. Never-the-less, Friday was the date decided upon. After learning they had "lost" a day at the border, I knew why I had felt impressed to recommend the extended day.

This is a picture of the 7 children in the Ebere family that went to the temple.  Seraphene, in the red shirt, is our French teacher.  I would like to share her words as she related them to me and I recorded them. She stated, "We reached Aba by 7:00pm. We struggled to look for the site where the temple was located. We spent about 30 minutes looking for the temple site.  Finally, we found it.  It was at night and it was so beautiful.  I shouted, 'Oh my goodness, Moroni!' Tears of joy ran down my cheeks, we were finally at the temple."

I realize that would be a fitting end to this blog, but the month did not end there.

One of the district leaders, Elder Odimba, asked Pres. Thompson if the missionaries could go to the city of Limbe on a P-Day.  Limbe is a coastal city about 1 1/2 hours away that Elder Call and I visited the month before.  President Thompson gave his approval IF the senior missionary couple went with them.  Thus, we planned a trip to Limbe for Monday August 28th.  We were hoping by then the rainy season would be somewhat finished.  It has been raining daily here.  Three of the Elders rode in the truck with us and the others took a bus.  When we got to Limbe the Elders all packed into the truck and we went to the Botanical Gardens and a zoo, that is actually a sanctuary.

A picture taken at the Botanical Gardens holding the seed of the tree in the background.  We were told by the guide that it was near impossible to break the seed.  Of course, this knowledge became a challenge for the missionaries.  However, all their attempts to crack it were in vain.

There was a type of amphitheater at the Botanical Gardens that was a perfect picture spot. I reiterate, "perfect picture spot" not "perfect picnic spot".  The Botanical Gardens themselves were a haven for mosquitoes. Those of us with shorter pants paid a heavy price.  I was grateful Elder Call had suggested I wear gym shoes, not sandals.

There were 5 missionaries who had Birthdays within about a 3 week period of time.  I decided it would be a great day to celebrate all 5 of them.




After the Botanical Gardens we visited the zoo/sanctuary.  The purpose of the sanctuary is to protect endangered species but also to eventually put them back into the jungle.

Elder Tall and Elder Bouthot next to one of the gorilla encampments.  Our guide told us that because of their immense strength, they were hunted and killed by the natives as a show of strength.  The fence has electric current at all times otherwise the gorillas would escape.  

We had a great day and what made it even more amazing is that it did NOT rain.  Just as we were getting ready to leave, it started to sprinkle a little bit.  That morning I had said a little prayer to ask that we have a nice day and that the rain would be tempered.  After I said it, I felt a little foolish for asking such a trivial request.  I decided God indeed loves His missionaries!!

September begins our last full month on our mission.  Helping to do the Lord's work here in Africa has been an incredible experience.  Millions and maybe even billions of dollars are spent on amusement parks.  Just think, one can accept a call to serve a mission and receive many more "thrills" than any amusement park could ever offer. :) How blessed we are!