Wesley's Letter to Supporters

5 June 2007

Dear friends,

This will be my last update letter from Cameroon. I can hardly believe it, but in less than two weeks I'll be on a flight out of the country.

Here are some snapshots of what's been happening here since I last wrote. You'll also find listed below some specific ways you could be praying for me.

· My teammate Charlie's mom and dad came for a visit (we just got back to Ndu last night from dropping the two of them off at the airport in Douala for their flight back to the U.S.), and we had a fun three weeks of showing them around CBTS and other places in Cameroon. One of the highlights of their time with us was a trip we took to the East province, to a small village near the town of Bertoua. A couple of missionary families, the Abbotts and the Conrods, live there and are working on a long-term strategy of planting a church among the Baka people. It was eye-opening for all of us to stay for a couple of nights in a very primitive setting and listen to our friends tell us about the ever-so-slow process of learning the Baka language and culture and trying to build relationships with the Baka. Our friends' ultimate hope is that, three or four years down the road, they will be able to share the gospel with the Baka and see the Baka worship Christ in their own way, as Christ makes himself at home in their particular culture. In between great conversations about frontier missions, we also made time for an exotic rainforest hike, complete with half-submerged log bridges, tree trunks that were literally 40-50 in diameter (at their base), made-on-the-spot Baka animal traps, and more sweltering heat and "no-see-ums" and fularia-carrying flies than you can imagine!

· One of my students, named Linwe, asked me a few weeks ago if he could come over to the house and talk with me one-on-one. Linwe has been in four of my classes. He started the year as an average to below-average student. Occasionally he would ask incisive and insightful questions, but it was not at all unusual during my first semester of teaching for me to see him asleep at his desk in the middle of my lectures. As the year has progressed, he has become more alert and attentive in my classes. When he came to the house, he started our conversation by saying, "I just want to tell you that when I started seminary, I hated to read. But through your classes, especially the Missions class where we read those difficult articles by Andrew Walls and Christopher Wright, I have learned to love reading. I feel like I can follow an author's train of thought now. I no longer fixate on sentences, but now I look for connections between paragraphs and larger units. It makes me excited to write my thesis next year!" Needless to say, at this, I wanted to jump up and shout "Hallelujah!" (As a side note, many of you will know that in African culture, it is socially acceptable and very normal for people to ask directly for what they want. Many of our students who know that we're leaving soon are asking for things they want from our house. For example, one of our friends asked Tommy for his Nalgene "flask" and his coffee carrier, Charlie for the sconces he brought from the States, and me for my stapler and laptop. When Linwe came to meet with me, he said: "I know that we Africans are always asking for things. But today I want to ask if there's anything I can be praying for you or doing for you as you get ready to leave.")

· CBTS' 60th graduation was held on Friday, June 1. It was held at Ndu's First Baptist Church, with (I would guess) around 1,000 people in attendance. It lasted from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., with no lunch break! Despite the fact that it was a joyful occasion, for me there was a dark shadow cast over the whole day. Shortly (too shortly) before graduation, the faculty had two long meetings to make the difficult decision to disqualify four students from walking. I made a recommendation that one student whose thesis I was reading not be allowed to graduate because his thesis needed much more work. One of the disqualified students had already butchered a cow for an after-graduation reception for his family and friends (a HUGE expense here in Cameroon), and he felt that the faculty were being unfair and unreasonable. Quite honestly, as I sat up front in academic regalia for the graduation ceremony, I had serious doubts as to whether we had done the right thing. Such doubts are especially sharp when you realize your decision has affected the lives and futures of students who are struggling to complete their seminary education in the midst of (relative) poverty.

· On our way down to Douala this past weekend to take Charlie's parents to the airport, we stopped for a few hours in the coastal town of Limbe and hung out on a black-sand beach. We swam, threw a Frisbee, jogged through the surf, and rode body boards. It was spectacularly beautiful – a reminder of our Creator's delight and overflowing goodness. The sky was overcast – it even started raining at one point as we swam – and there was virtually no one else around, so we had the beach to ourselves. I felt more relaxed that day than I have in months. It was a great way to conclude our time with Charlie's parents, not to mention our time in Cameroon.

Here are some ways you could be praying for me specifically over the next few days:

* For travel: We fly out of Douala on June 15 (my 26th birthday) and then the three of us, Charlie and Tommy and I, will spend almost a week (on our nickel) in Munich and Zurich before we fly back to the States. Pray for safety, a good time in Europe, and joyful reunions with our families and friends in the States.

* For goodbyes to our students: Today I am planning to meet with probably a dozen students here at my house. They have asked me if they can come by to say farewell and talk and pray one last time.

* For goodbyes to Tommy and Charlie: When you spend almost every waking moment of a year with two of your best friends, your heart becomes knit together with theirs in a profound way. Pray that God will show us ways to grow in our friendship even as we have to part ways in a short time.

* For knowing how to process this year I have had in Cameroon: Over the summer I want to think and pray about what God has done in the past ten months here. I want to think and pray with an openness to coming back to Cameroon, if that's the way God directs. Pray with me that God will continue to expand my heart for panta ta ethne, "all the nations."

* For next years's plans: I am hoping to apply for a student visa this month so that I can study in Durham, England next year. Continue to pray that God will guide my steps into the University of Durham and will make it a fruitful year.

Thank you so much, again, for being part of God's work in Cameroon and at Cameroon Baptist Theological Seminary. What a joy it has been to tell you stories of his faithfulness. Perhaps this sounds cliché, but there really are no words to describe the delight that God has given me in my ministry here this year. The people of Cameroon and the work of CBTS are securely in my heart. Thank you for making that possible through your generous financial support and your persevering prayer. "From God and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever" (Romans 11:36).

"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all" (2 Corinthians 13:14).

Full of gratitude,

Wesley