Calvary greetings from Mbanga Cameroon. We praise God for another gift of light. The church and the school in Mbanga are doing pretty good and are growing in number and also spiritually. The staff and leadership of Mbanga bring to you an update on the work that has been going on in Mbanga since last month.
It is good to inform you that all of the students who came for this batch are still present in school. In former batches some would have abandoned by now with numerous family problems and calls from back home. But he who is ready to follow Christ does not look behind but takes up his cross to follow Him. Some of them have lost father, son, and even mother already in this first term but they are still doing their best to meet up with their studies.
Even though they are still in the observation period, some of them are already going out for week end evangelism to some needy congregations. Some others carry out personal evangelism to our own neighborhood here in Mbanga. The little effort they are putting forth during this work in the neighborhood is starting to gain ground which could yield to potential fruit in the future.
It was good to have a first baptism conducted by a student of this new batch. Bro Souleyman from the Bertoua assembly, today a student in the Bear Valley Bible Institute Cameroon – Mbanga, has opened the door of harvest. It's TRUE that we are still in the planting season in Mbanga but God can do what no man can do. This is why this batch can harvest crops planted by former batches while they are also busy planting new ones.
The students are also preparing for their exams. After exams, they will take their short courses and then go for their first field work. We met sister Thierita this day. She surprised the students with food on campus during their break. It was a great gesture from this sister in the Mbanga assembly. She has done this with every batch of students since she was converted into Christ. May God keep on blessing her family in Jesus’ name.
The church in Mbanga also gave a small support to the students who lost their properties during the fire incident. An envelope was given to each of them to restore to even a little extent some of their needs. It was just as a sign of loving concern. The Mbanga congregation also handed a separate envelope to the just graduate who was still using the dormitory while he was waiting to look for a room in the Mganga neighborhood. He is one who was going to stay behind and help us in the Mbanga assembly and as a speed test instructor and discipline master to the Bible students.
Lastly, an envelope was also handed to the director of the Bible college in support of the ongoing reconstruction work on the campus. We want to say thank you to the Mbanga Balong assembly for their love and generosity.
We are almost finished with the reconstruction work on the campus. The rooms already have a new look with the new pant. Left for us to take care of, is new windows that are to be amaco type. Thank you so much to the Frisco assembly, The Pattonville assembly, David Ballard and the Bear Valley mother institution. Remain bless in Jesus’ name.
We also used some time to check on the student’s dormitory rooms to see if there were any abnormalities in any of them. It was a surprise check when they just finished their class. The dorm check was done before anyone could get back to the dormitory at the end of class. We checked their beds to see if they were well dressed. We checked their toiletries. We check to see how neat or nasty their rooms looked. We also checked their belongings to make sure not had come to school with any dangerous stuff or other things against the internal rules and regulations of the school. We thank God that no such thing was found in the search. Let's put them in our prayers so that one will not be tempted.
The director, on one of his mission trips, decided to check on some graduates of the last batch. It was so great to meet with the former students who today are colleagues and fellow slaves in this work. We had some good times together sharing experiences in the field and also giving advise on how to go about this work. We had time to discuss with brother Beni of the Bayomen assembly. We saw some blocks and the side that the church was able to build on her temporal building.
Some of them presented their difficulties. It was not easy to bear with, especially when I saw how some of them were sleeping on benches with no mattresses although they were still happy to do the work of an evangelist.
Our congregation in Mbanga has grown beyond her worship place so during our fellowship meal last Sunday, we decided to move outside the worship hall which is actually the classroom for our Bible college. I think the length of this canopy is telling us the size of the building we should aspire to build on the church land that is not too far from the school campus.
We want to thank you for reading all of this. Put us in your prayers as we travel today night to Bertoua for the planting of a new assembly in that town. "Evangelism is our mission and our mission is evangelism."
Remain bless from the bureau of the slave in Mbanga.
Ititi Benedict