Mbanga, Cameroon school baptize and restore 54 souls

BVBIC-Mbanga Report

Happy new year to these powerful people of God. He has done it for us again! May His name be glorified. The staff and students of Bear Valley Bible Institute Cameroon - Mbanga say glory to his holy name as we prepare to graduate and send out our 4th batch of students here in 2023. 

The month of March shall be a month of jubilation and congratulations as our newly trained, fresh for the ministry men, enter into the field both here in Cameroon and in our neighboring country of Chad. We are also joyful of the work done by the fourth batch of students especially during this December’s field work and internship. The interns went to about 10 different fields to work for a period of two weeks, but more for those who used their week of rest to stay in their mission ground.

The students shared the gospel with about 300 persons. About 2000 tracts were given out within this 2-week period to 14 different areas. Some of them traveled to a lecture ground and to some other villages to continue work there. One new congregation was established between the frontier of Cameroon and Gabon.  

About 23 souls were added into His kingdom during this evangelism campaign as well as about 31 souls being restored. This makes a total of 54 souls that entered into the kingdom of God. Let us continue to depopulate hell and populate heaven. Many are still outside and are looking for an opportunity to be converted. Who will come for us? Lord, send us! The Bear Valley Bible Institute Cameroon - Mbanga is ready to answer, “Present, and ready to go!” Let's put this young assembly into the hands of God. Let us pray for the new converts as well. 

Weekend evangelism is still part of our mission, as the students still go out every weekend to Kerunzo and Ewangelion to lead worship and continue to make connections with prospects.  

The mission to distribute Bibles to our suspects, prospects, and eventual converts is not left behind. We thank those who have supported this initiative. "They need Bibles." 

Short courses went well with a special one on “Pastoral Counseling” by brother Rufus. Brother Dafta also came to teach a December short course while brother Bigda taught the wife’s class their course.

The students of Mbanga and the staff also took part of the graduation ceremony in Wotutu last December before going for their internship.The sister school was sending out their 6th batch of students or the "Zentians.” It was great to be a part of the one big family. 

One of our students, by the name of Balobagne Vincent, lost his father. The burial took place on the 24th of December 2022 at Banessen village. The director and one other staff member represented the school during the burial. Two students, on their internship around that area, also took part in the burial. Also included were 3 other preachers who worked in that area. Let's continue to pray for our student and his family as he is now back in school.

Todd Crayton visits Mbanga

The steadfastness of the Lord never ceases, and his mercies never come to an end. They are renewed every morning. May the almighty God bless this day and new month. We pray that He also blesses the mind of the support team.

The work in Mbanga is going on well as we, the students and staff, are doing pretty well. At this moment we are making plans to attend the graduation ceremony in Wotutu. We will then move to about 14 assemblies for the final evangelism campaign and internship as this fourth batch of students in Mbanga will graduate in March. We commit them in our prayers, especially now as traveling these days is very difficult. Let us continue to pray for journey mercies for everyone.

This quarter has been very challenging as we have had plenty of activities. We also had the visitations of Elder Todd Crayton and coordinator David Ballard. It was good to have them in Cameroon again after about a 3-year absence due to Covid 19. We thank God for preserving their lives and the lives of many Christians both in Cameroon and abroad.

Their trip to Cameroon was motivating to both the students and the staff. It was a reminder of our formal slogan, “God is with us, we are never alone.” We know that God is always with us as well as our big Christian family abroad. Their mission was successful. You can see sister Mary, the wife of the director of BVBIC-MBANGA, putting on her smile. A lot of time was taken to observe how the instructors teach the students. Brother Todd and brother David were very happy with our staff. After that, it was time to observe how the students had received the transfer of knowledge.

Our last mission trip and internship was also great, as we sent our students to 12 different assemblies, including a congregation at Yaounde. It was successful as the feedback from the hosting preachers was encouraging. Most of the students were approved to go, and were ready to get to the field for zealous and religious work to be done.

God, through this mission added 12 souls, and 3 were restored back to the Lord. We seek for lost souls to bring into the kingdom of God. "Our mission is evangelism and evangelism is our mission." 

The Moungo Zonal Lectureship was also successful. The Mbanga assembly hosted the last edition of the Moungo Zonal Preacher’s Forum which brought up the idea of pulpit exchange. I therefore, was at Bomono preaching in a small, but very old assembly along the Mbanga Douala road.

The fourth batch of students shall be going out again for another internship and evangelism campaign after taking their short course on the book of Hebrews and also the women taking the course “Essentials Doctrine.” It was great to have these powerful instructors giving out their best to transfer knowledge to the students. 

Here is the combination of students and their wives after they had taken the last part of their short course. Some of them had new born babies and some are still pregnant. What a blessing it is to have these great people in our midst. 

The instructors of the Bear Valley Bible Institute Cameroon – Mbanga also paid a condolence visit to director Elangwe who lost his father in the month of October. We went officially, to comfort our own brother and colleague who lost his father, for we constitute one family.   

We shall resume classes in January and be preparing for the up-coming graduation   March 2023. May God continue to bless us all, as we promise to update you again.

The field is ripe but the laborers are few. 

 Remain blessed.

Your humble servant Ititi Benedict

Mbanga Balong Cameroon school is busy with school and evangelism

The staff and the students bring greetings from Mmbanga Balong Cameroon. The church of Christ that worships in this town brings their salutations in Jesus’ mighty name. 

 The fourth batch of our students are already working in their second year. What a great moment to say that this month marked the 7th year of the creation of our Bear Valley Bible Institute in Mbanga Balong Cameroon. All along, we've gone through a lot, but God has always been on our side.

To conclude our year one activities, our students traveled to 14 different assemblies in French speaking regions of Cameroon. Our internship for the month of March was really great. God took us out safely and brought us home safely.  

It was good to have a student from Wotutu in the same preaching field as another student from Mbanga. Some of our areas are really bilingual and we don't have bilingual students this time around, so we made a combination with students from the two schools. Nevertheless, it was really successful as we did this in two mission grounds. It yielded some fruit both in Kotto Mission and in Sangmalema.

 A number of souls were added during this mission work. In fact, 14 souls were added into the kingdom of God and 6 were restored. Some areas of work are really too difficult, as our Francophone brothers are more into Catholicism and Pentecostalism. Most of them don't know about the church and some students were even chased out of some neighborhoods. This is not strange to us though as it has happened to me also several times in our French speaking regions. We need a lot of prayers for the churches in these regions.

Bibles were also given to new converts as in the case of a sister who was sitting with her baby. Let's pray for these new converts as they enter into the work of the Lord.

We took our short courses after our fieldwork this time around. This was due to some missionary activities that took us a lot of time as we were going out for evangelism as well all at the same time. Our mission is evangelism and evangelism is our mission. 

As the men took the class on Leadership, and the sisters also took part. The “Leadership” course was taught by minister Ewang Divine, a graduate of the Wotutu school. It all was successful. This took us to the beginning of a new quarter which we started immediately after the short course.The students are now talking about graduation so spending one more year in school will not be that easy. 

Brother Giress had on his usual smile when he was teaching the students in class this Thursday. The darkest moment in the night is when the day is almost dawn. This is the moment where our students will face a lot of temptation, for the devil will not want to see them all graduating. It's a very difficult moment, as we have always seen with the other batches in the past. It is also a moment where God will want to expose all those who are still hiding their bad character and attitude. But prayers conquer all. We still follow up with our activities both in the congregation and in school. 

The congregation in Mbanga was proud of hosting the Francophone Zonal Women’ Seminar. Congregations from the 8 regions of the French speaking part of our country were hosted by the women of the Mbanga assembly. About 16 assemblies were represented. It was a wonderful week with us in Mbanga. 
We continue with our mission to other localities for implantation and revival. The church in French Cameroon is still in renaissance. Lots of work is still to be carried out. The school in Mbanga and the churches in French Cameroon, are calling on all of us to put our efforts together on this theme, " Let Us Evangelize the French World.” Tracks are now available, as we plan to storm the next community with the gospel of peace everywhere that the man of peace is found. 

Our next mission will be in Chad as we plan to begin our journey Friday with my wife Mary and Elangwe and his wife Magdalene where we will be prepared to teach both the women and children as a part of our mission. We shall be working with the preachers on the preacher forum as well. 

We shall also meet our graduates and other preachers in Chad. While we think about souls, their physical worries are also our concern. May God lead us safely to our destination and fulfill our mission for Him in this country. Please put us in your prayers. Chad here we come.  

The people of Cameroon have acknowledged the work of the Bear Valley Bible Institutes in this country and we are proud of belonging to this Bear Valley family. More grace and more prayers. The devil is being put to shame.

Lectureship in Cameroon

"No Cross No Crown," was our watchword for our last graduation and, "Total Commitment," was the theme for this year to move the church and the new batch of students to another level. It all went well. We now use this medium to congratulate all partners of this great work that is going on in French Cameroon. 

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end, but they are new every morning. We greet all in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. We have gone through this year with a very big cross on our head but we can see the crown awaiting us in 2022. Our commitments were so great but we still see that even with the Covid-19 and other related crises, the supporting team has never relented their efforts.

Even though we have not had any missionaries here since the start of the crisis, we also want to thank God for the work that is going on inch by inch but there is still a lot to be done. We, the evangelists, are still in the field working endlessly. We appreciate you all for your prayers, your words of encouragement, and your finances also.

 The students will complete their first year of training at the end of March 2022. Their maturity in preaching and handling the word is coming in with enthusiasm. They came with little or no experience, but today, with a lot of courage and knowledge, they can do more and better things in the vineyard of the Lord. God is still sitting on the throne. Before it's graduation time, they will be doing things with a lot of wisdom.

  Students and staff also assisted greatly during the Annual Church of Christ Lectureship in Limbe. The director, the staff, the graduates, and the present students all took part along-side the general assembly of the churches of Christ that took place in Limbe, south west region, Cameroon. 

It was a pleasure to join all of our resources to make this lectureship a success. While the staff and director were taking an active part in the activities, such as preaching, round table discussion, translating from one language to another (French to English and English to French), the students on their part were active in the organization of the grounds and in preaching. The van could be seen taking people around to various preaching grounds. With the use of the speakers on the top of the vehicles, some students and graduates were preaching through these instruments to the whole city.  

  The lectureship recorded 3 baptisms as well as some restored persons. It was the 2021 edition of the annual lectureship. Tracks were also shared to the majority English speakers in that area but also to the francophone population in Limbe as well. Thanks to Richard Renfro with Mission Printing and Barry Baggot with French World Outreach as well.

Mission Printing tracks arrived in Mbanga via Wotutu. These tracts will help us to push the work along for a good while. Materials of different kinds came to us including WBS programs in French and the lessons which are so interesting. We are also sending some to the congregations in the French (or francophone zones) both in Cameroon and in Chad Republic. Bibles and hymnals were also included. 

It was time for short courses, and this time around we had missionary Bassay Louis and his wife Linda from the Bonaberi congregation in Douala teaching the students and their wives. It was great to have Louis teach the book of Galatian to the brothers and Linda teaching “The Holy Women of Faith,” to the women. 

 As weekend evangelism continues both in Mbanga and other communities, sister Tatiana was added to the church in Mbanga and some two other souls to Bafia and Kiboum. We would like to bring to your knowledge the establishment of the congratulations in Kiboum and in Bafia respectively. They also are a part of our newly created assemblies. We offered them a few benches and tables for worship.

The number of new congregations is quite motivating even though it is a timid start. Let's put these young assemblies in our prayers. Bibles were also sent to these young assemblies to be given to the new converts. The church also assisted sister Cecile during her grandmother's burial in Dikouma village. It all went well. Sister Cecile is a new convert and also very active in the church, but due to lack of work, she has decided to settle in Douala were she now worships with the Bonaberi church of Christ. Our prayers are needed. She is a young widow with four children who are still in primary school. 

Thanks so much for reading. Happy new year in advance and many more years to do the work of the Lord.  

Your servants Ititi Benedict and Mary

Saving souls in Mbanga

The world is a place of transit, and children of God are called upon to live in it as pilgrims, believing that someday we shall be with Christ in our celestial home. We bring salutations from the country-side of Mbanga from where the gospel is going to French Cameroonians and to other parts of French Africa. We are glad to be a part of this great work that is going on in the world and in Cameroon in particular. It is clear that the work of God is a noble vocation which brings people from one end to another. Today we bring you another report from Mbanga Balong and the BVBIC-Mbanga school of preaching. We also bring you a report from our various mission fields.

Firstly, we are happy to bring to you information that our students are doing well with their studies even though some of them are going through serious health crises. Our school nurse is doing his best. With some cases, he will refer them to the hospital. Never-the-less, we are already in the third semester and by December, it will be time for internship and visitation. Prayers of the faithful are needed to accompany our brothers who are student preachers to the end.

Mission work and internship in the month of September was great as our twenty students went into thirteen different fields for campaign and evangelism. The field is ripe but the labourers are few. Even though our terrain is a difficult one, we want to reassure you that our God can do what no man can do. Within the space of 2 weeks, and 3 for those who decided to spend their resting week in the same village or town and to continue with the work of God, about 152 persons heard the word of God on one to one evangelism and the door to door evangelism methods.

It was great as about 12 souls were added into the Lord’s church, and 3 were restored, making a total of 15 souls. Let the name of the Lord be glorified! We also used our graduates to work with them in their congratulations and in their new fields of work which yielded the establishment of a new congregation in Bafia town. The sound-system was also used in public to send out the sound message in Mbouda during this mission trip.

Immediately upon the return of the students on the 8th of September, we went out with the students again for another mission trip which gave birth to 4 new souls that were added to the kingdom of God.

It was also a great joy as I was able to preach the gospel to these women in the village of Kotto where a sister who ran away from the Matoh assembly due to the ongoing crisis invited us for church planting. I thought it wise to go and visit the area for visibility studies. I have found that the land is spiritually fertile and is ready to host the men for implantation. We are still doing our best to see that the work grows.

We are now putting up a temporal building in Loum after a long struggle with a place of worship. God is blessing our few Christians over there. We praise God almighty for blessing us.

Up-coming events.

**- Moungo Zonal Lectureship, (Kake Douala)

**- Francophone Zonal Sister’s Seminar, (Mbanga Balong)

- Annual Gospel Seminar, (Limbe New Town) **

Thank you all for reading this report.

Your fellow servant.

Ititi Benedict

More souls saved in Cameroon

The joy of the Lord is upon His own. We bring greetings from Mbanga Balong. It's another back to school season and all the kids are busy going to school. Among those who took part in the public examinations this past year from the local assembly in Mbanga, all had a successful result. We want to really thank God on their behalf as they have done well. We took a moment to give thanks in the assembly.

Our work in the BVBIC-Mbanga and in the church is going on well. We want to use this media to appreciate all those who are in the support team for their marvelous contribution both spiritual and physical.

Time is flying and our students are growing. After a first class in homiletics, the presentations of students changed immediately. We could experience a new way and a more mature presentation from a good number of our students who are serious in their studies.

Growth is our goal. We have to attend maturity. We believe before the end of this batch, we are going to be proud of these men who will be ablet to preach the gospel. We expect to have men who are going to be serious in evangelism and men that God is going to use to add more souls into his kingdom. We give all glories back to God.

Weekend evangelism is in going very well and for the past 3 weeks we have been doing evangelism in another dimension. We now get into strategic places with the aid of a mobile speaker. One of our graduates brought his own while we were preparing for mission work to establish a new assembly in the locality of Bafia. 

Evangelism is our mission and our mission is evangelism. It was a good strategy that was implemented in Mbanga by brother Nanfack Pierre as he was here to teach the sisters and also to accompany our team to Bafia for a new mission ground. With this method, we could speak from our end and many people could listen from their very position and choose to come nearer if they really interested. It was a kind of public preaching without having organized a lectureship. We are bend on evangelizing the town of Mbanga. God, please help us. It's high time we invent modern ways of preaching. If Mbanga Balong could have a community radio program, it could be a great use in filling a need, by using all dimensions of preaching available in this modern world to reach lost souls. 

Our short courses went great with minister Simon Parfait from the Ngousso assembly in Yaounde taking the preaching students and minister Nanfack Pierre, one of our graduates from last batch, taking the women’s class.

It was really great to have these great men of God in our midst. A week of studies was excellent, and it was a blessing for them to be a part of our team in the BVBIC-Mbanga.  After this short course, it was time for mission work. Our students travel into 11 different areas.

They were ready to go and preach the gospel to other areas of duty where we have heard the Macedonian call. They went with beautiful smile on their faces as “we think souls” and accept the commission to " go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." We are still waiting for the s which will come in the next two or three weeks. God is showing the way.

Our graduates are also doing great work in the field but most of them are still having difficulty with a place of worship and also other difficulties in being able to maximize the work. The new assembly for example, that started some months ago in Koumra in Chad, is having difficulty to have a place for worship so far and thus are worshipping only where they can.

Even to get a place for baptism is really difficult and it is expensive to get there even with a bike as only bikes can easily go there. Also, the work is richly growing both in Chad and in French Cameroon. A new assembly at Balgong is also in need of a place of worship, in the hinterland, in Yaounde, and also in Banjock. We have been helping them to pay rent but most of the time we have been disturb by some landlords and neighbors. 

Upcoming events:

The congregation in Mbanga will be hosting the Francophone Zonal Sister’s Seminar, that will take place in the month of October. This seminar will help the wives of the student preachers that are in the school presently.

The annual seminar for the churches of Christ in Cameroon will take place in the month of November in Limbe South West Region of Cameroon.

Our evangelism campaign in the Moungo Zone also is at hand as well as the Western Region Lectureship this October. The students are requested to be a part of these activities.

Remain bless as we pray for the work in French Cameroon and French Africa in general. 

Yours faithful: the servant Ititi Benedict

Sowing and reaping in Cameroon

Dear Brethren,

I bring greetings to you from Cameroon and from Mbanga in particular. Our new students are gradually getting used to the BVBIC-Mbanga system. They are adapting themselves to the book-work and also to the 5 AM devotional with the local open-air radio program. 

The month of July came with its challenges and also with its own good tidings such as the harvesting of our corn and melon farms. Our students are learning a lot in the classroom and are working hard on the small farm.

It's time to harvest! As the bible says, there is time for everything under the sun. There is a time to sow and a time to harvest. We praise God almighty, as we are an example of this hard work. This is part of our vocational training which we plan to activate very seriously next quarter. Brother Kunda Julius from Wotutu, who is a brother in Christ, is a specialist in agriculture who is working with the students of BVBIC-Wotutu and Mbanga to help them learn to provide for themselves and others now and when they graduate and become ministers in the field. We also invite other professionals in this and other fields of interest at times to come and train our students in their vocation as a short course study. This is a part of our “tent making” training as they like Paul will have to labor with their own hands to help support themselves during their ministry. 

Brother Foka, another brother in Christ who is an animal scientist, has already been working with the students in both schools on animal farming. He is doing very well and all of the students appreciate the school leadership at home and abroad for seeing that this powerful initiative is put into place. Again, we have not been opportune to do as much of these practicals in the past as we are now. The instructor deemed it necessary that we build a poultry fence for a start and raise a few birds. This will help the students to gain a proper understanding of the poultry business. May God bless you for helping to put this together to help perpetually assist those who are working in the vineyard of God by giving them the skills to do their own “tent making on the side. 

As we move toward the end of our second semester, our students are now showing some level of improvement in their studies, and weekend evangelism. Our pulpit is now being used by the students and we are witnessing great improvement. The door-to- door evangelism is gaining more ground and the outcomes are growing.

We are handing over bibles to prospects, and to some assemblies both in the English and French as we cover English, French, and Bilingual villages. Thanks to the donors. 

This was Brother Voksia’s his first time to ever take on a pulpit. He is the son of a preacher in the north of Cameroon. Today he is preparing himself to become a preacher of the gospel like his father. He is also a trained nurse and so he has the ambition to think of the souls and bodies of those who are sick spiritually, physically, or both.

Our greatest challenge right now is health challenges. We purchased many medications in the month of July for our students and some members of the church who benefit also. When kids are sick during worship or internally displaced persons are sick, it helps a lot to have the aid of our school nurse. He does not sleep at night but takes his time to check on the sick ones even back at their homes such as students who are living off campus with their families. 

Our congregation is really growing in number. We are experiencing a shortage of space almost on a weekly basis. We go out for weekend evangelism, and we invite prospects every day. Some will show up and others will not. With these efforts along- side the morning radio program, there is a continual flow of new persons visiting with us on a weekly basis.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

The students shall be traveling for their first time to take part in the summer youth retreat in Buea next week. We shall not be there for one full week like others due to our classes but we can be there by the grace of God during the weekend or maybe even after our classes on Thursday.

Our second quarter exams are coming up by the end of this month followed by the short course and an intensive two weeks on internship. The family will then take a rest for one week before the next quarter begins. We are improving every day. 

Evangelism is our mission and our mission is Evangelism.

Remain faithful my dearly beloved in Christ.

From the servant of God in Mbanga. 

ITITI BENEDICT

Doing much good in French-speaking Cameroon

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

Graduation in Mbanga

We found a friend in Jesus and He is everything to us. He is the lily of the valley and the bright and morning star. It is a great thing to have God almighty as our father.

I bring greetings from Mbanga Balong. My wife and household send you greetings. The church of Christ salutes you. The staff and all part time short course teachers also send greetings. And finally, the new set of students from all over the national territory and the foreign students from Chad send special salutations to the missionaries and all the entire crewmembers that make the work in Mbanga to be a success.

I know it has been quite some time since my last report and a lot has happened within this frame time. We are bringing you our report covering time from before graduations and after graduation. God bless all for your long patient. 

The first short course was on, " I Choose My Spouse Again.” This course was taught by brother Jean Claude who is the preacher with the church in Cite De La Paix in Douala. He is well experienced in married life. He is a father of about 5 kids and the profile continues. He used the 10 major bridges in communication. It was a time for all to smile with the numerous practical examples he used during this one week with all the students and their spouses. 

After a week in class, we passed on to the court signing of their legal marriage certificates and to that of the church. It was a great moment. We prepare our graduates to go into the field well-armed, even in their homes, so that they will be able to do marital counseling which was also a part of their course on pastoral counseling. This was a great event that took place in the presence of the government authorities.

We left from this short course to a week of oral presentations of their term papers in what we usually call defenses. It is a time that they come to defend their research work on the theme that has been allocated to them.

This is our end of course exercise that we, the school in Mbanga, always carry out before graduation. All of the instructors were present and appreciated the students for their bravery and work. God blessed this section also.

Soon we will be getting to the day of graduation. But, before getting there, we had the validatory night which was on the 10th of March. We had a message from one of our graduates in the person of minister Ngula Evaristus. All of the coordination of the event was done by the graduates from Mbanga and Wotutu.

The 11th of March was the day for graduation. We witnessed 14 students graduating in the presence of about 700 persons who are all present for the graduation of our 3rd batch of students. We want to thank all who have made this day a success. The coordinator’s speech, presented by Elangwe in his absence, was of great encouragement. Another difficult moment in the life of these young preachers as they enter the field of preaching is for them to settle down in their new areas of work with little or nothing to start with. Some just went with tears in their eyes and even wanted to leave with a school mattress as a gift to go and begin a new life. All the same, let's put them in our prayers. Their work has started already and some are already being spoken of in their community as people talk about their good work and their presence in their new places of work.

The men in black are the new batch of students. 20 of them started this new batch and we pray that all of them shall go through successfully. 

Classes have commenced already and they are all still in the process of becoming familiar with the new-life style of being away from family for a while. The young are trying to cope without active life in their former community and so on. Let us keep them in our prayers for the next two years.

We have been blessed lately with a series of baptism, in the church, and out of the church in Mbanga. From February to last Sunday March 4, the church in Mbanga has baptized about 13 souls and all are worshiping on a regular basis. They are made up of 4 mature persons who are living permanently in Mbanga and 9 youths who came to school this way. The church in Mbanga is growing in number and in spirit. 

The church has been blessed this year with a piece of land. We had the opportunity to buy a piece of land just closed to our campus. It will be another big advantage for us if we have these facilities around us to host a lot of persons in case of great occasions. The house on the land, the director's residence, the church campus and the school campus can all host visitors. God is faithful.

As we were planning to begin school with the fourth batch of students, we have a fire incident that took part of our school building. One dorm room went on fire completely, as well as part of our library, a part of the next dorm room, and the corridor close to these areas. We have finally replaced about 55 sheets of zinc, the 3-meter type, and some ridge caps to stop the rains from destroying the other part of the building. A lot of other things are to be arranged including the electrical wiring repair which was the major course of the incident. We must also replace the beds and mattresses, cloths, food, books, a laptop, ceilings, doors, and ceiling fans just to name a few. We want to also thank God that there was no human lost. One brother had pretty severe injuries but the school nurse did some follow up and he Is now doing great and is in class already. 

Our first mission work will be at this month’s end in Bekoko. Evangelism is our mission and our mission is evangelism. God bless you all for being a part of this great work.

From the office of the director of BVBIC-Mbanga. Stay blessed

Evangelism in Cameroon

There is joy in my heart as I send out this report to all who are able to hear from Mbanga Cameroon. Accept warm greetings from this part of the globe. I hope you are doing pretty good. I want to personally salute you for all your support during this, another two years of training with our students. They all send their salutations to their powerful support team worldwide. We are one big family.

The assembly of Mbanga is really grateful for the work the students are doing, most especially during the weekend evangelism and the teaching of lessons they have offered the church on a weekly basis. Through this, the Christians of the Mbanga church of Christ send words of appreciations as they acknowledge the fact that the preacher training school is making a great impact on the church. God bless you all. 

Even thou this last semester is also tied up with work in the class room, preparations for graduation are on-going. We have also not left behind weekend evangelism. We have gone to new areas of evangelism as need be on the voice of the Macedonian call. 

We have gone to Loum, to Kake, to Bonaberi, to Banjock, to Kombe Gare, and to Manjo where we are intending to start a new work. So far, God has been with all our trips. The new assembly in Manjo has been established for and is stable as the church has worshipped now for 6 conservative weeks, with 4 restorations and 1 baptism. Some friends have been attending worship including some kids. We are looking forward to getting them a place to worship including benches and some other items. A graduate shall be making his way to do full time ministry over there. 

Kombe Gare is located close to Kombe village. We have been preaching there for 5 weeks now. We are planning to carry out some mass evangelism there after graduation. The church in French Cameroon is at work. Implantation and follow up is what is needed now, as we still look forward to having more workers in the field to carry out this function.

It was good to have these men from various backgrounds to come and spend two years with us. They are now about to leave Mbanga as evangelistic men. Go and preach the gospel! Go preach the word! Preach the word!

The mission trip to Chad was successful. It was a good vision for us to go and see how our graduates from there are doing in the field. We met all five of them doing great work in their various communities such as in Moundou were we have 2 graduates preaching in 2 different assemblies in that same town. In Njamena, were Benjamen is also managing the assembly, there is still also the presence of 4 other ministers who graduated from other schools of preaching. We appreciate him for his full-time work. Even thou he is doing it with no financial aid, but he is still preaching the gospel. Bangar and Koingar are also doing marvelous work in their village assemblies in which they manage close to 3 assemblies each, at the same time, due to a lack of preachers. 

We met a part of the congregation in a village called Bejomdoli 2 in front of their worship place. This could be just one of the difficulties we met in these localities. Our worship on Sunday was even under a mango tree. Dear God, Please, help this work in the French world and especially in French Africa in Jesus Name. Amen 

God bless you all. From the slave in Mbanga. Happy view of the report fellow workers.

Ititi Benedict

Director BVBIC-Mbanga 

Evangelism opportunities in Cameroon

Calvary greetings from this part of the universe. We are in Mbanga Balong, in Cameroon, and in central Africa. We are glad to be alive this day, strong and healthy for some are incapable.

We praise Jehovah God for taking us this far. The end of year is quite near and lots of things are ongoing. We want to beg for your prayers as our students and staff will going for field work and we will be campaigning for the next batch of students as we go as well. We bring our report to you this day. It will be the last for this year as we proceed to 2021 by his grace. All roads are leading to Wotutu for the end of coursework graduation ceremony as we also prepare for our own in Manga next march. But, so far, we are doing fairly well, even thou with some ups and downs.

The students and staff just finished this 7th quarter with no major difficulties. We also took the short course on the book of Hebrews. We ended with a short course taught by Ename Paul, minister with the Bertoua town assembly. It was pleasant to study the book of Hebrews. In his nature, as it is, He took 6 days to exegete the book with a written part on Saturday in the evening. All of the students were able to make it with green (flying) colors. 

The students had a course on “African Traditional Religion.” This is a course we brought in as we use this to study some traditions and culture of the people in order for us to know how to penetrate these areas of work. The case study was that of West Africa.

We took some time off to go into the field and visited some of these fons (chiefs) and their royalty in order for them to tell us what their tradition is all about. It was a great trip, as we are planning to move this course from being just an elective course to becoming a part of the curriculum in the nearby future. 

To make marks, it was exactly one year ago that we organized the annual conference in Mbanga. We still want to say thank you to all who supported the hosting of the annual last year. We successfully traveled safely to Bangante this year for the annual lectureship with both the students and members of the congregation.

The church in Mbanga and the students also welcomed a new born baby in church. The student from Chad whose name is Josuè presented his newborn baby with his wife Leah. The two of them came but today they are 3. More blessings should accompany this family.

We offer a special end of year greeting from the church in Mbanga to the sister assemblies all over the globe. We love you all. May God bless you this end of 2020.

From your servants in Mbanga,

ITITI BENEDICT AND MARY.

Happy New Year in advance. Thanks

Soul-winning in Cameroon

We wish blessings to you all as we send you this report from Mbanga Balong. Shalom to our fellow workers in the vineyard of the Lord. We hope God has given you all his grace this day as you read this report.  It is great to tell you that we are doing our best through Christ who strengthens us.

Our students went out for field work and on a soul saving mission for about two weeks to various places in our country. "We think souls." We ended our last short-course on the 5th of September 2020 and everyone was set for mission including the director and his wife. It was not very easy as some students had to travel for about 2 days on tarred road. Most of them went to the extreme distances of our mission. 

Firstly, two of our students travelled to Kiosy with our school bus and brother Idriss who is a graduate from Wotutu who is ready to serve there permanently. It was a very long and costly trip but the gospel is calling on us to save the lost. Some also went to Bayomen were we are still worshiping in open air and in Banjock were the work is still very timid with only sisters as the worshipers. Work in French Cameroon is taking a new turn even though there is still a very long way to go.

Brother Prince went to Azimotel Street in Kumba and God blessed the church with 2 souls after a very long work along-side the minister and some members of the assembly. I was also fortunate to have a day to work with brother Prince. Keep these sisters in your prayers. They are still passing through some temptation in their homes. God bless you all.

It is good to be on the side of the Lord. These souls needs to be shepherded. Our weekend evangelism team is doing their best, even though they have a very long distance to cover. Sometimes they will arrive on a Sunday morning and continue with classes immediately. Lord, we always thank you for according a safe journey to us, our students, and many others along the line.

 The same scenario went on in Mbanga as 2 souls were also added into his vineyard during this end of semester field trip. God added 9 souls into his vineyard and restored 2. Glory be to God ALMIGHTY.

We thought it wise that our students could get a little knowledge on counselling before graduation. This is our first year of doing this in Mbanga. We develop the idea and translated it to French. It was very impressive for everyone, and now we have a course for it even though it is not the best yet. But we believe that in the near future we are going to be able to develop it into its best.

This first week of full studies came with another experience with brother Kunda from Wotutu who took the students out for a hands on experience in vocational training, especially on agriculture. This study was to help then to see and to know the various products to use during farming. He also took them to the delegation of agriculture in Mbanga to explain to them the realities of the benefits from the soil. The lady you see in the photo is the sub- divisional delegate for agriculture in Mbanga. BVBIC-Mbanga is continuing to grow to full maturity. 

Weekend evangelism continues with our brothers as they too are growing. Door to door evangelism is going on every weekend both in Mbanga and to other areas of work. Our students are continually talking to people, giving out tracks, and at times giving Bibles to some serious prospects. God is richly blessing us.
We praise God for his mercy. God bless you all my beloved. Your beloved partner in the work. The slave in Mbanga.

Ititi Benedict

More progress in Mbanga

We bring salutations from the church of Christ Mbanga, from the staff of the BVBIC-MBANGA, and also from the provost and family. We want to thank the almighty God for giving us life today and to grant us this special moment to talk about the work of the church in Cameroon in general and to the francophones in particular. By his grace we shall overcome. We pray this report meets you in very good condition. 

The congregation of Mbanga wants to say thank you for the work that the students are doing in this town. The students now present mature lessons and are able to answer questions from all directions.

The more time goes by, the more the boys are becoming men. They preach today with all authority. They have great lesson titles and a good mastery of homiletics. Dear God, we thank you for this work that is taking place in Cameroon and in Mbanga in particular. May the name of God be praised! 

As we prepare for short courses, we also do not fail to nurture young assemblies and to check on the prospects we have made for some time now.

We had a very successful short course with both the men and the women. Brother Mesach Ndah did a great job talking about the “Holy Women of Faith,” while brother Ititi was the interpreter. On the other hand, brother Yemte Albert, the preacher with the Batouri assembly, did a marvelous job with the students as he exegesis of the book of James. It was great to have him in our mist as an old man in the field with lots of experience since he graduated from the school of preaching in Benin. He too was greatly happy to have worked with the Bear Valley school and sends appreciation to the coordinator. We should keep him in our prayers as he is just recovering from a back spring. On this same light, we were also blessed to have this visiting minister from the extreme north or far North region of Cameroon to teach in the school.

God added one soul into the church in Mbanga just as we planned for this semester’s internship. She came up out of the water smiling as the Lord adds to the church daily as they are saved. Thank you, Lord Jesus!  May your name be glorified!

May God give long life to the Bear Valley Bible Institute International. 

From your servants of the church of Christ Mbanga

Continual growth in Mbanga

Greetings again from this part of the world.

We extend our hand of fellowship to our lovely ones as you read this report from the extension school of preaching from Mbanga Cameroon. May the power of God accompany you all in your hard work and grant you success in this life. I hope we all met again in good health and strong hope of our glory.

It is raining in Cameroon and the climate is really too hard for us to be on mission but God is still helping us to continue on. The congregation in Banjock sends special words of appreciation for the numerous help that all of us have been offering to them. Their distance is really too far but our students are still trying to make it there each weekend which is a great sacrifice.

This assembly also needs our prayers. It is made up of some IDP's from the Anglophone regions who are planning to get back to their regions of origins. It is time for us to think about how the church can be stable and can carry out serious evangelism so as to establish a.permanent assembly over there and not just have displaced persons as members who may return home one day. The congregation needs to have some permanent Christians in it also. 

After our powerful exhortation yesterday, God added one soul into his kingdom. We preached on the topic " Hear Him," and after worship, she decided to obey the gospel and listen to the call of God. She had been following our preaching on air and at times she would come to worship with us. God has finally added her to the church. We praise the Lord almighty.

We are also praying for our graduates as they are putting forth their all in the field. We are praying for brother Sylvanus and brother Benjamin who graduated with the first batch and are doing great work in the field in Chad republic. Brother Desire and brother Nicanor are from the second batch. They are moving from home congregations to established new congregations in neighboring villages. At times they have to walk long distances so as to meet up with this big task. The scenario here in this picture shows brother Desire who has managed to get a bicycle to ride on to visit the new congregation that he has established. Brethren, the Bible says, “The soul is willing but the body is weak.” In this case, I see that the mind is willing and zealous but the means is not there. I think if it was a motorcycle, it could have helped a lot to manage this kind of situation. We pray God should provide to his servants, these various needs and necessities for the work.

People of God, we keep on praying for your good heart and for your concern for the work in French Cameroon and in Mbanga in particular.

Remain blessed! From your humble slave. 

Ititi Benedict and wife

Let's think about 2 Timothy 2:2.

Evangelism in Cameroon

We bring our warm greetings and salutation from Mbanga Balong were the church of Christ and the students of the bible institute are working hand in hand for the glory of God. We are doing our best in the midst of Covid-19 as we do our very best to keep and respect all the measures put in place by the state and the WHO.

God is richly blessing us with the breath of life and His spiritual food even though sickness has been a great challenge to our community and to our students. By the grace of God, we are gradually overcoming this stage.

We begin with the work of our students and instructors of BVBIC-Mbanga. We are happy to let you know that the students are growing and are now becoming good pulpit men and are also hard working in the field. Their presentation on the pulpit and the level of handling church activities is showing some level of maturity. We are getting good reports and feedback from their weekend evangelism and other mission work. Keep on praying for this 3rd batch of students who are now in quarter 2 year 2 of their studies.

We are still very concerned with health safety during weekend evangelism as we move to neighboring assemblies and to some distant assemblies. As we do make way for evangelism, God is adding to the church of our Lord, such as it should be saved.

Evangelism is a great vocation and God is faithful, giving a way for faithful ones to carry it out as He is prepared to give the increase. Still in our studies, we are also progressing in vocational training as we train them in animal farming and gardening. Paul was a tent maker and we are also training our students to become “tent makers” in the field of tomorrow as one can decide to either enter into animal farming, gardening, or both to help support themselves as they preach for the Lord. God bless Bear Valley for this endeavor.

We also accomplished a mission to Mombo in a mass evangelism program with brother Alfred and brother Giresse. It was a very good mission of sharing tracks and doing door to door. These two souls were also added in the church in another mission to Tombel. Bibles were handed over to the new converts. We are praying for these new converts and for them to use their weapon of warfare to God’s glory. 

Still in our campaigns we handed bibles to the young assembly in Loum. The leader is a new convert named brother Maturin who is facing many challenges after been displaced from the southwest region. As he traveled to Mbanga to collect these Bibles, one of the major challenges he told me about was about a child in the congregation who was suffering from hernia. God used our beloved brother David and the support team to intervene and the surgery was successful.

God added 5 souls during our mission work as we concentrated mostly around Mbanga and some closely neighboring communities. 2 were baptized in Mbanga and 3 others in nearby communities.

  We are now back in class. We started last week on Thursday and we now in our 2 quarter in the 2nd year of studies.  We harvested some maize (corn) from our garden and some melon (like pumpkin) or what is commonly called egusi here.  Thanks so much my fellow workers in the vine yard. God bless you 

 From table of the willing slave in Mbanga,

 Ititi Benedict Nimending

Director BVBIC-Mbanga 

Pressing on in Mbanga

Dear fellow workers in the vineyard of the Almighty,

We praise our God for Jesus, who came and died for us all. In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Lord has been so kind to the church in Cameroon and to the world at large even though one case has been reported among the brethren in Chad republic. I wish we put this brother into serious prayers for he has been quarantined for over two weeks now. His name is Feltoing Daniel and his cousin is in school in Mbanga.

The work has been going on, although with lots of inconveniences in trying to do door to door evangelism and weekend evangelism to small assemblies. Some people will receive us and some others will be scared of us. Never the less, the Lords will always bless our outings with a few who are ready to listen and even ask questions some of which arose from listening to our morning radio program. 

As you can see, all those going out must put on their mask just as we do even while we are in class. Prevention is very important. May the name of the Lord be praise, in Jesus name! On the same light, our week evangelism has also been going on to various destinations and to very far places.

This is another assembly in Edea where an ex-convict from the Mbanga prison is now worshiping. Our student, brother Prince, went there visiting and find out about their difficulties in the field. We realized that the field is ripe and ready for evangelism but they need help. We are planning for a mass evangelism there. Another circumstance, according to his report and a letter of appreciation send by the leader is, that the church still worships in his home and he is advanced in age. He is therefore wishing for the school to help get a place for worship and some benches and at graduation give them a preacher to come and handle the congregation. Let the will of God prevail!

Since studies are on-going, we bought some library books for the students to facilitate research and develop very good lesson outlines. All of these are in the French language. I just discovered where we could easily get books to equip our library even though they are very expensive but very useful.  

Our morning radio program "Back to the Bible," is going on every day from 5 AM to 5:50 AM. My fellow workers in the vineyard, we want to appreciate every effort made by those who helped us to be able to purchase this sound system. It covers a vast area in our large village but not all. Mbanga is too vast for the speakers to send the message to it all but the Lord’s time is the best. In the Lord’s time we would like to be able to cover the entire Mbanga area with a community FM radio station that would not be for any business purpose but for the spreading of the gospel only. Maybe someday we will be able to realize this dream. We need to spread the gospel in the modern ways that people will hear it. We pray for those who are listening to it every morning and for their immediate reactions.

For the past two Sundays we have worshiped, along with a visiting family who came all the way from Yaounde to come and take a short vacation here. Their presence at worship was due to the present morning radio topic on love that she has been following. After listening, she decided to come and worship with us. May God accompany her as she travels back to Yaounde. Paul planted, Apolos watered then Christ gave the increase. We know that the influence of different people who may be in different places can go together to help win a soul.

The students can be seen here spreading sea-ward around their campus and also on the road that leads to it. The neighbors along the way are able to benefit as well. We offer a special thanks to brother David Ballard and the support team for helping our campus with these seawards to keep the campus free from mud during this raining season. Kudos to all.

The crisis in the English-speaking part of our country is still on-going and the consequences are seen in the life of the displaced brethren and non-Christians. Both are having very serious difficulties.

Some congregations are still suffering with where to worship. We know the early church worshiped in homes and it was working but today, just like I early mentioned about sharing the gospel in modern ways, the people are looking to worship in a more modern place. This archaic system does not work well today in some villages and even less in township's as it is hard to get visitors to come to a home for worship. This is the challenge of the congregation in Bafang.

The church also received this family who came to present their child to the church, not because they are members of the church, but because we have been visiting and sharing the gospel with them. This this is why they decided to come to us. This could be a good step for us to be able to keep on encouraging them. At the end, we gave them a very precious gift that was suggested to us by a relative.

Thanks for all your concern and for your effort to make the work in Cameroon and Mbanga to continue to move.

By His Grace,

Ititi Benedict director BVBIC-Mbanga

The work continues in Cameroon

Blessings and glory all in the name of the Almighty God. I bring my condolences to what is happening today in the world and most especially as New York State and the City has become the center of the Covid 19 Pandemic. 

My beloved brethren, it has been quite a long time. I hope this report meets you in very good condition even though everybody is in quarantine. My regards to all the Christians and all those that will be reading this report. 

The Bear Valley Bible Institute Cameroon – Mbanga is doing fairly well as we attend classes these days without putting on our normal daily wear. So far, no students or staff have been infected with the current pandemic. We are putting all the measures in place that are recommended by the Cameroon government and WHO. Even in our class room, we apply the social distances with our benches. Washing of hands is regular as we have placed running water and soap at the entrance as well as a disinfectant. We are also wearing our face masks everywhere we go. Brethren, as we are praying for you over there, we wish you do same for us.

To begin this report, I wish to let you know that we are already planning for our upcoming graduation in March 2021. We have started preparing the minds of our students as they begin to think on topics for their term paper and defense. Everybody is doing fine except for one student who failed to return to school due to personal reasons but we are still praying for him. So, we are left with 15 students. It is always said that the final year is very challenging and anything can happen at any time. Our students are in need of serious prayers as the devil is always about, and trying to disrupt their studies.

We have had some series of mission work before the outbreak of COVID 19. This is our mission work in Sanchou. It was on this day in the month of January that we embarked on a journey to the hills of the western region of Cameroon but this time in a place called Sanchou which is a baby assembly that the school planted during the first batch. It was a four-day mission work that ended up adding two souls to Lord’s vineyard and one restored backsliding brother. We preached to so many souls in that locality and created an awareness to this population that is almost completely Catholic and traditionalist. One good trip deserves another. We are making another plan to storm that arena again.

Still in the month of January, we distributed gift to some displaced persons. These items were distributed to some displaced persons in Maleke and also to the young assembly that was established in November which is mostly made up of displaced persons from the Southwest and Northwest regions of our country. This young assembly is growing up rapidly. We are doing our best to improve the knowledge of the students.

God bless Bear Valley. 

It was also great to meet with some graduates in the month of February in Douala during the Jim Corner seminar, most especially those from the north of Cameroon. They are still faithful in preaching the gospel even thou with very difficult and hard conditions. I pray God should help their congregations to reason and have something for them to put food on their tables and that their kids can have a good living condition and good education for their children. Brother Victor from Ngong visited our campus and preached a powerful lesson to the students and to the church. Across all of this, the students have been going out for weekend evangelism to very far places and bringing back home successful results.

We went through another period of long courses, exams, and then short courses for both men and women. Then came preparation for another field work. It was great to send out students to various fields of work and to hear their interesting reports.

One new assembly was established at the frontier town between Cameroon, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinee. This assembly was created with 12 members who worshipped on the 1st and 2nd Sundays but it was rather unfortunate that we had no brothers but just sisters. This is the situation in Kiosy, our newly established assembly. The young man there was a prospect. We also had about 8 baptism all together, 15 restored persons, and many persons who were exposed to the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  

My beloved, our congregation is also growing and the Lord is watching over us. Myself, Ititi Benedict, the director of BVBIC-Mbanga was also operated upon some 3 weeks ago and things are getting better.

Thank you for your continued prayers,

Ititi Benedict

So much good in Mbanga!

Our God is able to do what no man can do. He took us through 365 days with joy, favor, good health, and above all, love that binds us together.

We pray for a happy and prosperous new year to the big Bear Valley family. It has been quite some time that you haven't received my report out there. But,I am pleased again this morning as I report to you on how the work is going on in Cameroon and in Mbanga in particular. My family sends special greetings to you all over there. The staff of the BVBIC-Mbanga also send their greetings and appreciation for your partnership in the year 2019. The students send greetings and appreciations also. This photo was taken during the meeting held with the instructors and the students as we begin this 4th quarter of the 1st year with our 3rd batch of students. The Mbanga Balong assembly also send salutations.

Let me beginning with the work of BVBIC-Mbanga. We ended with the last quarter successfully. Both students and student’s wife had their short course after the main part of the quarter. During the short course, we had brother Evaristus and brother Nicanor teaching the sisters while brother Desire was teaching one of the short courses to the students on the book of Galatians. It was great to have the alumni coming back to help their own alma matter. 

God accompanied us through this period and next on our scheduled was the long-awaited annual lectureship of the churches of Christ in Cameroon that was to be hosted by the campus church of Christ here in Mbanga. Both BVBIC- and all were involved both the BVBIC-Mbanga and the Mbanga congregation were involved in the planning and hosting of the lectureship.  

It was a great gospel lectureship. About 600 persons were present all together and God added 5 souls during the 5 days of lectureship and evangelism in Mbanga. Our next rendezvous will be in Bangante.

My beloved brethren, the field is vast but the laborers are few. God has blessed us this year with a big number of students to facilitate the work in our institution. The newly created congregations are experiencing rapid growth in some areas such as Loum and Banjock. The brothers are ready to sacrifice all their time just to go and preach and struggle to come back by Monday morning and continue with studies that same morning even after a sleepless night.

About 15 souls have been added to the church in these new areas as well as 4 restored brethren. Bibles are handed over to all of these converts some in French and some in English. Some are given to prospects who are in need. May God bless you as you put these assemblies into your prayers.

Here are the results of the third quarter field work for the students in Mbanga. 16 brethren went out to 14 assemblies and spend 2 weeks with each before they went for holidays for 10 days. Our students went as far as to Tchad republic and to the far north regions of Cameroon. Actually 2 were programmed to go to the far north but as the demand became high, I finally send 3. The third was out of my sponsorship as God blesses me. Our students all together had 35 baptisms, 5 restoration and the restoration of another big family that had abandoned the worship of God in favor of a denomination. One newly assembly was established in Tchad during this field work and many souls listened to the gospel in one way or another.

The school of preaching in Mbanga is doing her best to reach all the corners of the earth. If we could also have a “Gospel Chariot” for evangelism, it would help us to get into the interior of some new areas that I, Ititi Benedict, the director has seen to be fruitful for evangelism.

Up-coming events: 

The school is preparing for her first evangelistic campaign of this year to Santcho next weekend. We are praying to our God for it to be a success. 

News Break:

Our morning radio program is moving on well every day as from 5 am from our campus. Thanks so much for the equipment and the prayers. We receive this new year with some increased amount of seriousness in our work due to new opportunities like this one. 

Yours in the service,

Ititi Benedict and wife, my mission partner

More souls saved in Cameroon

In Him we put all our trust, for He is able to do exceedingly and abundantly! Our good God is taking us through our third batch of students gradually. We had a successful back to school this semester in BVBIC-Mbanga.

From their faces, one could draw a good conclusion about the report that will come from their field work. It is departure time and everybody is ready to fish men for Christ. It was on this day that the students, after going through their second semester exams and their short courses with their wives, were preparing to go out and put into practice the hermeneutics and homiletics they had for the second semester. Beloved, it was good to see our students ready again for another mission field.

So far, we visited Bomono were brother Raoul, one of our graduates, is presently working and also students in the name of Remi and Romain are spending some precious time. We continued the next day with the congregation of Tombel, were brother Prince, the released inmate from the Mbanga principal prison, spend his 2 weeks. He did great by restoring this retired military brother. We also went to Santcho just to name a few. It was good to be on the mission ground with the students as all were very happy to see the director and instructor of the BVBIC-Mbanga there in their mission site. The purpose was also to answer small calls that have been made by these assemblies and to know some of the challenges they are going through.  It was great to meet with the brethren to give them some words of encouragement and do some promises that we believe God will see through in Jesus name.

 The field work was another fruitful event as God blessed us with 12 souls, 5 restorations, and 1 new congregation. The congregation was planted in the Centre Region in Bayomen. To add to this, God has added some 3 souls again during this weekend evangelism. One was in Mbanga and 2 were in a newly created congregation in place called Loum were 2 sisters gave their lives to Christ. 

Students returned to campus some 3 weeks ago to begin with the 3rd semester. This was done because we want the students to follow their normal school schedule and not be distracted by the up-coming annual lectureship. Some Chadians are already there with their wives, and are now living off of campus. 

God is richly blessing the work in Cameroon and we are making plans for new assemblies to be planted. Our vision for this next field work is to send our student up to Kiossi, a neighboring town to Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. If God permits and the means is there, we shall send students to that virgin land and preach the gospel there. May your works still be blessed in Jesus mighty name.

Your humble servant,

Ititi benedict

Evangelism in Mbanga

Our God is exalted far above all heavens and His glory is above all the earth. God blesses his church and the work of the Bear Valley Bible Institutes in Cameroon. I hope all is well over there. 

Cameroonians, since Monday, have been so busy with back to school or school resumption which has been a major problem to our English-speaking brothers. Nevertheless, we of the school of preaching are very busy with examinations, short courses, and the sister’s class. We praise God almighty for another successful week that our students and the church passed through. It was a very busy one with examinations for the students. 

This is when the students are presenting, “Practical Homiletics” for their exams. It was good for them to present in front of their peers for “Homiletics I.” For “Homiletics II,” it shall be with the congregation.

As we were rounding up with exams it was time to go to Bomono Ba Mbenge, a community along the Mbanga Douala highway were one of our graduates, Raoul, is working full-time. There was a mini lectureship for the zone. Tracks we carried along including “The Good News and Seven Ones,” in French. The students motivated evangelism, singing, reading of the bible, and many other activities as one of them won the best price for bible quiz. Souls were touched during door to door evangelism and even open-air preaching. It was a blessing as the zone expect much from the students and staff of the Bear Valley Bible Institute Cameroon. Our challenges there were the poor sound system which has been a problem most of the time. Keep our hundreds of prospects in your prayers and for brother Raoul to get have good follow- up with them. We returned Saturday evening after the last evangelism.

Please continue to pray for us.