A young girl of 13 years becomes very sick in her
grandmother’s home. She is running a
high fever and is having fatigue to the point that she is unable to get out of
the bed. Her parents and grandmother
collect her from bed and decide it is time to take her to the hospital to be
evaluated. They leave in a van which is public
transport to go down the mountain from their village. The young girl is checked
into Mbingo Baptist Hospital and is found to have a hemoglobin that is very
low. She is in need of a blood
transfusion quickly. The girl receives 2
units of blood and spends some days in the hospital treating some other
infection that she has made her very sick.
After a short time the girl becomes well and is released from the
hospital.
The family returns to the house of the grandmother to find
that very shortly after they had left for the hospital the roof directly above where
the young girl had been resting had collapsed and everything in the room is
destroyed. The home is not able to be
lived in any longer. Many people in
America would be devastated at how things were going in their life. They would complain and say, “Why God? Could you just give us a break? It is almost Christmas.” However, instead of
great sorrow this family rejoices for the providence of God to save their
daughter from what would have most likely killed her. They praise Him for the gift of the healthcare
that she received due to the hospital being close enough to their village to
travel to quickly and the medical staff there that provided her with care.
This is the story Grace, the cook in our home, told me this
week. Her daughter was this young girl that was ill and was saved not once but
twice by God due to his providence. Her
daughter’s name is Lovette and is now 14 years old. This happened one year ago,
her family spent this last weekend celebrating the amazing gift of God of
sparing her life. I sat and listened to her story and she was praising God and
telling how great He is. I looked at her
and said, “Did you mother get her home repaired and is able to live there
again?” She said, “No mum. She now stays
in my home. It is fine!” I was so
encouraged by her! I told her that it was so wonderful and such an amazing
thing to celebrate. I asked if I could
share her story and she then gave me permission.
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| Left: Kids and Gardner Leonard. Right: Kids and Cook Grace |
I find that I am learning more about the love of family and
community by the people of Cameroon. They desire to know how we are. They want to shake our hand and welcome us
everywhere we go. When they see us they stop to see if our family is well. Even if they just saw us yesterday. They celebrate with their family and friends
when a special time has come such as a retirement, anniversaries, etc. They do
this by going to the event then to the persons’ home to eat and visit. This is not just 1 or 2 people. This is 50-100 on that day!
We are quickly
learning that the people here are showing a better way of loving the body of
Christ, and what it is to invest in someone, not financially but emotionally. This
is also not just some of the people here.
It is all the people! How refreshing
to be shown such love! Chris and I are
finding that they are showing us so much about how to love God passionately and
fervently as well through their witness and actions.
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| Retirement for 7 Workers at Mbingo |
I thought that with Christmas being here I want everyone to know
that we are blessed to be at Mbingo, and are thankful for the opportunity to
serve in a place that needs us. Mbingo has
shown us astounding love and care. We
are thankful that our Savior came to earth to redeem us from Hell and the grave
in the form of a baby being wholly man and wholly God. We pray that you have a wonderful weekend
with family, friends, and those that love you.
Have a blessed Nativity.
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| Kids decorate Christmas Tree |
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| Caja makes bread from Scratch |
In Christ,
Ashley
“The Will of God will NOT take you where the Grace
of God cannot protect you.”
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