Congregations Grow And Division Prevented...

Dearest in Christ,

I bring greetings to you from my family, and the members of the Wotutu congregation. I do hope this report meets you all in good health and a sound faith.

As I mail this report to you, I am just making my way back to Wotutu after two days mission work in one of congregations we established last year which was having serious problems.

Andongateh Cliffort obeyed the gospel after studying with us in the Wotutu congregation for a while. Keep him in your prayers. He lives in mile four very close to Wotutu.

All the students of CBIW are doing well as I have received calls from them that their campaign went on successfully. They will all return to school on Friday, March 30th before 6 pm to prepare themselves  for the next quarter that commence on April 2nd 2012.

The gospel is for all. I went inside the forest after leaving miles away where the motor bike stopped me. I am moving to Atongeh village where in Atongeh we established our very first congregation when we started CBIW last year march. There was a serious problem there and no one to handle because there is no preacher there. By His grace peace is restored and division, that was already taking place, is okay now. Keep this young congregation in your prayers.

There is a young congregation that tried to erect a worship place, but it is not easy with them financially. Keep them in your prayers now that I have rekindled their focus for God again.

In the village, I move from house to house sharing the gospel. The people are so receptive. I am in the chief’s palace sharing the gospel with members of the royal family who are still mourning their dead father after 8 months.

The Lord opened the heart of sister Charlotte in Atongeh village. She stood beside the river to make a confession to follow Jesus and Jesus alone. Some members of the congregation stood by her to be witnesses to her baptism.

Charlotte was buried in water for the forgiveness of her sin and she will live in newness of life. Please remember her great zeal and keep her in your prayers so that through her many will come to know the truth in her family. She got baptized this morning before our worship time.

The Atongeh congregation had many backslide before the problems that erupted in the church about marriage and leadership. I am convinced that by His grace everything will come back to normal. I pray that a student will go there after graduation to handle the affairs of the church and provoke more growth. Keep them in your prayers. I saw zeal but they need a leader to guide their ways.

Plans
1) The Batoke mission is still pending. Please keep it in your prayers that as we resume we shall have the ability to go and establish the Lord’s church there.

2) My plans to travel to Africans Claiming Africa for Christ conference in Zambia is still on. Please pray and see how you can be of help to me financially.

Appreciation
We lift up our hearts to God for His great care over us and the work we are doing. We thank you sincerely from the bottom of our hearts for your prayers, deep concern and support in this work. God will not pass you by when He comes to reward His servants.

Do your best to share this report with others whom the Lord may want to use to accomplish something in His kingdom. God bless you. Next week, by His grace, we shall share with you CBIW students campaign news.

Elangwe and Family
By His grace director CBIW

Students Take A Vocational Class In Cameroon...

Dearest in Christ,

Greetings from Cameroon. It is a good, bright day and we had a wonderful worship in Wotutu with two, first time visitors. I worshiped in Tole congregation to assess one of our students on campaign in that village. I do pray this mail will meet you in good health and a sound mind. We are doing great here in Wotutu, except for the fact that some brethren are not okay in health. We know God is able.

Brother Gage Coldwater taught class during his vocational training. It was a great class to help our students be self-sustaining when they will graduate from school. Keep this program in your prayers. We also have gardening and other things that will help us have meat on our table and also to raise income. We thank you brother Gage. God bless you as you share your wisdom to many others on your way.

Last week in CBIW was a busy one as our students and the visiting lecturers from the USA were rounding up studies for them to take off for campaign. It was a hectic week with much learning from class and outside work to keep the line straight to avoid any doctrinal problems in the future from congregations as our visiting lecturers visited to encourage.

Brother Gage taught the students and some interested Christians from the Wotutu congregation outside on the field practically. He also hired some experts from a non-governmental organization who are specializing in snail farming to come and help teach us so as to create diversity. It is a great development.

We had our rabbits in their cages as we have started. Please keep our efforts in your prayers so that we shall share pictures of our developments by His grace in the future.

We were laughing and smiling, making jokes as we happily constructed our snail pens. It is a good thing because it is rich in health and also to improve our family income. God bless you all who contributed to the realization of this work.

After a busy week for vocational training, all CBIW students were set after the send forth ceremony for our visiting brothers who came to contribute their own quarter in the training of men to preach in Cameroon. Campaign this time for our students took a different face, as all our married students went to their campaign villages with their wives. Our focus is to start getting their wives to be more mission conscious as they prepare to get into full time ministry after graduation. Many congregations in Cameroon called my office to applaud the gestures, even though it is expensive, but it serves a great deal for the work we are out for.

Brother Nicholas Etongwe was to travel with his wife Barbara who is five pregnant. Please keep these students in your prayers that God use them to accomplish His purpose.

Cameroon is known as Africa miniature. All of Africa is in Cameroon. After a hard week of work and services, I took our visiting lecturers to admire nature like lava flow and the beautiful shores of the Atlantic Ocean.

Friday, the 16^th of March, was our mid-week prayer meeting days. We also attached the program to a fellowship meal and send forth ceremony to brother Martin Johnson and brother Gage Coldwater who sacrificed their time and money to come over and to help us accomplish a lot. They visited 5 different congregations and helped many that they saw were using Lord Supper wine containing a low percentage of alcohol. Their visits increased the soundness of the gospel in Cameroon. As I mail you, brother Gage is very close to returning to the USA, in the air now, while brother Martin stopped in Paris, France to worship in a congregation and then continue home. They left Cameroon, by His grace safe and sound. We give glory to our King for care.

VISIONS
1) I am still praying and planning to attend the Africans Claiming Africa for Christ conference  in Zambia. Please find a place in your heart to help me attend this conference financially. ($ 2000)

2) We appeal for the young congregation we established in Lebialem village that appealed for me to come over to help solve a problem there that is still pending. I was busy with the lecturers that came and the means is not there now. Keep this young congregation without a preacher in your prayers.

3) We shall move to Batoke village to establish a new congregation when the students come back.

APPRECIATIONS
We give thanks to God for all His wonderful things towards us. We thank Him for helping us go through the quarter without any major problems.

Thank you for all you are doing to help this work continue. You are clay in God’s hands and He is using you well for His glory.

Continue to pray for this work here. Think about it.

Join my entire family in appreciation to God for watching over the life of my son Welisane Raymondchris Elangwe, who was two years last Tuesday 13^th March. Keep him in your prayers that he will grow up to defend the truth and to help many know God.

Do your best to share this with others, God is able.

Elangwe and family,
By His grace Director CBIW

Austin Report...

Dearest brethren, 

Last month we wrote you with about 2 feet of snow on the ground, today I am writing to you with 68 degree weather (expecting snow in two days though).  We continue to be blessed in so many ways.

Cameroon Bible Institute of Wotutu (CBIW) has completed its long courses of the first quarter.  Over the next two weeks they will be taking their two short courses taught by Marty Johnson from Utah and Gage Coldwater from Texas.  Marty is teaching 2 Corinthians and Gage is teaching Vocational Skills.  I am so thankful for their hard work and sacrifice in preparing for this trip.  

CBIW continues to reach out and evangelize every weekend to surrounding communities; sometimes several hours away.  They had 27 souls immersed into Christ this past month just in one new town.  We are excited to see their progress.  Because of the impact the school is having on the church in this region of Cameroon, there are a lot of interested young men wanting to come to the school for training.  There are also a lot of churches begging for these men to come to their towns once they graduate. 

I was back in school this month.  Bear Valley has a class called Ministry Technology, which was not offered when I was in school.  An anonymous donor generously gave me an electronic Bible software called LOGOS, which is not cheap.  This is an extremely valuable tool when studying the Bible.  However, to effectively use the software, you need training.  I received a little over 20 hours of instruction, which has already helped my everyday studies, but I think I still need another 100 hours of instruction.  

The weekly preaching at the Retirement home continues right along, as well as the Wednesday Bible study.  We continue to have a consistent number of about 12 souls.  

I was also presented with three other Bible study opportunities with a friend of ours from the congregation.  He is inviting all his family members and some of them have allowed us to study.  

One night we really enjoyed having two couples over for dinner and games along with their kids.  We also hosted a teen devotional and a student-wives devotional.  We ending up having about 60 people in our house for the teen devotional; it was the largest turn out they had ever had for a teen devo.  It was a little crowded, but the singing was awesome.  I was asked to share a few words of encouragement.

Some other highlights include preaching on the RESURRECTION one Sunday, and teaching in the book of Psalms for two Sundays for the Bear Valley church.  Those were some great studies.  

My parents also visited with us for a week this month.  My dad took his second “Blitz Week” courses in the Master’s Program.  We really enjoyed our time together.  My mom continues to be healthy and we are so happy she could make the trip.  

Last month we shared some good news about our support, unfortunately we lost $200 this past month.  We are planning a support trip to Tennessee the first part of April.  Please keep those efforts in prayer.

The children continue to grow.  Amazing!  We have been really blessed with good health and sharp minds.  They are growing in their knowledge and service.  Aaliyah participates in “God’s Precious Daughters.”  Every Sunday they get together and are receiving extra training and service opportunities.  We have started taking the kids to the YMCA at least 3x a week for some PE, mostly basketball.  It has been fun.  

We are so very thankful for your support and prayers.  We are thankful for our God who has designed the body to help each other accomplish His will.  May He be glorified in all we do together. 

In His service, 
Austin Family

TAKE A MOMENT SOME TIME TO VISIT THE BVBID WEBSITE AND READ MORE ABOUT TRAINING PREACHERS THROUGH EXTENSION SCHOOLS:http://www.wetrainpreachers.com/extension-news/tag/cameroon

You will also be able to read all of the past reports from Cameroon and other extension schools.

Short Course Teachers In Cameroon...

Dearest in Christ,

Accept greetings from all over here. We are always pleased to let you know what made news here in Wotutu Cameroon. We praise God for you and your family. We are convinced that you are doing great in all that you do. We are just fine except for few of our Christians who are sick and some students. Some of their wives or relatives were sick in the course of this week and they went to their villages to check on the situation, like brother Ashu Evaristus who just left campus now from an emergency call about the sickness of his wife.

Minister Martin Johnson from the USA arranged his table last Monday with ties which he gave to all the students as lovely gift from his lovely wife sister Julie. The students were very happy for such a gift that makes them decent in the pulpit and from house to house as they scatter the seed of the gospel. Thank you sister Julie. May God bless you for such wonderful love shown to us.

We praise God for all His blessings toward us here as we were really busy with the short courses. Brother Martin was busy in class teaching 2 Corinthians while brother Gage and I kept moving to set all things for the vocational training that will start tomorrow. They are reporting well in health just for the fact that the climate is too hot for them now, but all is well because God still sits on the throne.

Brother Gage Coldwater taught Bible class in the Tole congregation. Their visit has been characterized with visits to nearby congregations. It is good to discover  the work here in Cameroon.

Brother Martin supervised his class final on the book of 2 Corinthians. It was really great as the students understood the in-depth studies of the book.

The students were smiling as they enjoyed food made with corn and beans. It is pathetic to me because a blind sister left the Tole congregation just to come and feed the students of CBIW. I was worried about that but she said, God is blessing me, so let me share that blessing with the students who have sacrificed their time to study the word of God.

Today we visited one of our youngest congregations in Mondoni. Brother Martin taught on the topic, “Who Is A True Disciple?”

We enjoyed great fellowship with one another, especially those who share the same vision and dreams to train men to preach the serving message. We moved around in Mondoni village to visit some Christians in their home before worship. Brother Gage and brother Martin were able to be a part of these visits.

At the end of our worship today in the village, with an attendance of 56, we stood for a family picture. This congregation was established one month and two weeks ago today. Keep this young congregation in your prayers for them to keep growing in all angles of life.

Visions
1) The quarter will end this Friday and the students will go to 18 different congregations for a campaign. Some will be in virgin lands to see the possibilities of establishing a congregation.

2) My plans to attend the African Claiming Africa for Christ conference in Zambia in August 2012, is still fresh. I count on your support to attend this conference. You can check on the conference program on www.aca-zambia.org

Appreciation
We give thanks to God for all His blessings toward us. We thank you for your prayers and support toward the successes that are happening. God bless you and keep you in all that you do. Do your best to share this report with others.

Elangwe and family
By His grace director CBIW

Mondoni Village Is Growing In Cameroon...

Dearest in Christ,

Greetings from my physical family, the staff, students and members of the Wotutu congregation. We pray this mail will find you all in good health and sound faith. We are excited to share with you our weekly report.

This is the young congregation we established one month ago in Mondoni village. The Lord’s hand is upon our work and your prayers and support keep us going. After one month 27 souls were added and the worship is sound.

God is still sitting on the throne. All is well with us except for few members who are sick and some who lost dear ones like sister Grace Itoe, who lost her husband and sister Schorlar who lost the senior sister. She died and leaves behind a four month old baby. We feel bad about these type of situations.

It is good some members of our congregation went to these places to show our sympathy making the Bible to be fulfilled in us, to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn.

Students of CBIW finished their exams this week and all went on well. We pray they improve on their grades and their devotion and passion for the gospel to plant and water so that God will give the increase in due season.

Thank you very much for all your prayers. I made a request for your prayers for two brothers who were supposed to travel from the USA to come over to CBIW to help teach a short course for two weeks. Brother Martin Johnson from the Moab congregation where he is preaching full time in Utah is here. He was assigned this morning in our Wotutu congregation to teach the adult Bible class. He did well as he encouraged the congregation to continue with her evangelistic efforts drawing inspiration from the parable of a sower.

Brother Gage Coldwater spoke in his sermon on the conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch, making wonderful application for all to benefit. Our congregation this morning was blessed by their presence. A total of 95 Christians listened and took home great messages from them. Glory be to God.

After worship, I took them to the Buea congregation where I went to attend a meeting. It was great for them to meet with other brethren who were also happy to welcome them. We returned to our home in Wotutu where they are lodging and had a delicious meal cooked by my lovely wife.

Even though Exams took a lot of time for the students, to be fully involved in our evangelistic efforts, some few were sent out for weekend evangelism. Brother Muofo taught in Mondoni village house to house. Keep the work in your prayers.

APPRECIATION
Thank you for all your prayers and support. We are prepared to send our students to 18 different congregations after short courses from brother Martin and Gage from the 16^th of March 2012.

APPEAL
My personal appeal to you and your family and the congregation is to help me if you have the means for my to travel to Zambia. It will cost me about $2000.

God bless you and all that you do.

Elangwe and family by His grace
Director CBIW