A little video

I thought everyone would enjoy a little VBS video.

A Wonderful Welcome Home

We made it!!! Philip, Colin, and Amy are home, and had a surprise welcome from Sue, Susanne, Katherine, and Philip's boys. They had a HUGE welcome home sign (thanks Taylor and Allie) and balloons. It brought tears to my eyes to see Sue and Susanne because I have missed them so much since they left Friday night. Thanks to everyone who has been praying for us during our travels!!!!!!! Colin and I are leaving today to go get our boys who have been with family since Friday night. YEAH!!!!!!!! I also want to thank the Anderson's who willingly and lovingly opened their home to our 2 boys for over a week so Colin and I could have this experience together. Thanks for loving on them for us.

Our final day with the amazing children in Bamenda

The Start of our closing ceremony -

Pictures in Bamenda, Cameroon

No matter how young... older siblings care for the younger ones. They carry their brothers and sisters on their backs. This was a common sight.



Beautiful chilren

Our walk from the guest house to Chris & Karen's home



Our usual way to start Chris' car... Rock it back and forth. Thank goodness for men with muscles




Children in Bamenda, Cameroon (Africa)

Wanted to share more photos

Casablanca - we had hours to "wait" for our flight, so we ventured out into Casablanca, Morocco. Here are some snaps I took at the Mosque.







Casablanca pics from Sue's Camera (The good ones will follow that Susanne/Philip took).

Another answered prayer

All three pieces of our luggage arrived at Sue's house yesterday!! Thank you for your prayers! We are happy that the suitcase was found and all things journeyed on safely to Charlotte. Thanks Tom for all the pics! We can not wait to be able to share all of our pictures and videos with everyone! God did such amazing things in Bamenda and in the hearts of the six of us that were blessed enough to be a part of it! Keep the prayers coming for the final three as they are mid-journey right now.

Some pictures

It's Tom, I wanted to post some pictures from the trip...
The team in Cassablanca in front of the mosque while doing our prayer walk
Wednesday Closing...270 kids


Thursday Closing...300 kids


On the way to VBS Friday - these two kids came up and held "Uncle Colin's" hands as we walked over


Kids at Games on Friday with their CMT T-Shirts on!

On our way out of Cameroon

Well, it saddens my heart on one side and gladdens it on the other that Amy, Colin, and I are in Douala to begin our return flight home. This trip has been an incredible roller-coaster of faith and blessings.

We have been without internet for the last day and did not get to update everyone on the great experience that we had going to a Fulani village. There is a Fulani girl, Fadi, that stays with the Jacksons during the holidays and we were able to go to her village after church - 3 hours of praising a MIGHTY God! I cannot wait to tell and show the wonders of this experience.

Here is a quick snapshot from the Baptist compound before we head to dinner and the airport.

The Jackson's

Love & Prayers to the Jackson Family for being such wonderful hosts. Our love goes out to Chris, Karen, Karissa, Katelyn & Lum. You are missed already!!! What an amazing week. Thank you for EVERYONE's support! Now, Let's pray home the remaining 3 travelers!

...Reminder for Uncle Philip, Auntie Amy & Uncle Colin

Just a Reminder for the 3 remaining travelers...

You are loved, missed and being prayed over. "Auntie Sue" wants to remind you to take your Malaria Medicine. Since I cannot be there with you all to be the Mother... I have to remind you from afar: "Take your med's, my friends". Love and miss you all. God Speed!


Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.
Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.
(Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT)

WAWA strikes again!

The three of us that made it home yesterday - which was the important part! - have hit another bump! After talking to Delta this morning, they can not find our luggage. We brought a printer from the Jackson's to be fixed and Tom had a seperate souvenir which will be on a flight today. The three of us shared a suitcase with all of our souvenirs in it and it is no where to be found. Please, once again, join us in prayer. Although we could live without everything in there, we do not want to! There are lots of special memories and gifts in there that are very important to us and can not be replaced. God brought us home safely and has provided in every way for us this whole journey and I believe that He can also bring our suitcase home safely.

3 of us our home!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow! It is almost 1:00 a.m. and I am beyond tired and headed to bed! I enjoyed a nice, longer than 1 minute hot shower, washing the last of the African dirt off me and I am looking forward to sleeping in my comfy bed. Tom, Sue and I had a great trip home. Outside of our luggage not arriving with us in Charlotte, there were no bumps along the way. We missed the rest of our team and are pleased to see that they continued to enjoy the wonders of Cameroon. I honestly am a little jealous! :) But obviously happy to be home with my family and try to begin to share the wonders of our journey. Thank you all for your prayers and keep them up until our other 3 get home!

Douala was a Blast

Amy, Colin, and I spent a wonderful day in Douala running errands with Chris and exploring an African crafts market on our own. For me, it was so much fun to get to have lengthy conversations in African french. Amy and Colin got to experience African taxis (an empty space in the car means stopping for more passengers en route), an African grocery store, and a "high-pressure" African market.

We had a great trip back to Bamenda and really enjoyed spending more time with Chris talking about future ministry/mission opportunities in Cameroon.

We are about to sit down for pizza and we will be heading to a 3 hour church service in the morning at Menda Baptist (this site of the VBS).

More tomorrow...

Travel Update

Very good news all around.

Susanne, Sue, and Tom have boarded their flight from Maroc to the US and said that their trip so far had been "wonderful". No problems whatsoever and the people in Maroc had been very nice and friendly.

Colin, Amy, and Philip secured new tickets this morning (electronic this time) from Air Maroc and we are confirmed for the Tuesday morning (2 am) flight out. We have been confirmed all the way to Charlotte.

We will keep you posted.

3 are on their way

We just dropped Sue, Susanne, and Tom off at the Douala airport. They were able to get boarding passes ALL THE WAY TO CHARLOTTE. Please pray for them as they travel.

Almost Over, But Not Quite

Praise God! We have finished our VBS. From our standpoint the VBS was chaotic and exhausting (but a great blessing). From their standpoint they thought it was a well polished VBS - if they only saw the chaos in our guest house until 1 am each morning. We are so happy that we were able to carry off this massive task ending with 339 kids on the last day. Again, Praise God!

Now for the continuing saga of this team's travel travails...

We found out yesterday that 3 of us (Amy, Colin, and Philip) had our flights canceled and the rest were booked through to Charlotte. So what that means is that Sue, Susanne, and Tom are heading to Doula right now for their flights and the rest of us will be leaving on Tuesday. I guess this is one more score for WAWA.

It is very hard for us to part paths with our team and to see them off on the potentially perilous journey. Please pray diligently for their safety and comfort. Please pray that their trip will be uneventful and easy. Please also pray for those of us staying behind and for our families that are wishing we were coming home.

This story of how God has worked through us on this trip is not yet over. We will keep you posted as we progress.

Back to the beginning

Our hearts are filled with overwhelming joy as we wrap up our second day of VBS. The Lord continues to bring the children, plenty of church help, and energy for us to worship and play. Today we had 271 children – up from just over 200 yesterday! We prayed that the children would come and they have come in abundance! We are excited – and a little nervous – about how many will be waiting for us in the morning for Day 3!

But, before going into another day, we feel like we need to go back and share with you all about our journey to Bamenda. As we arrived at the airport in Charlotte on Friday, the six of us thought that our “stretching and growing” would come as we embarked on the actual VBS, but He began that process before we even hit the continent of Africa!

As Philip blogged earlier, a familiar term to missionaries in Africa is WAWA – West Africa Wins Again. Below is the score keeping for our “game” - Team Cameroon vs. West Africa.

Score 1 – Team Cameroon – all 16 pieces of our luggage got checked in Charlotte all the way to Bamenda without any big glitches. The ticketing agent did realize after sending Amy and Colin’s 5 containers of luggage out that they had only been checked to Casablanca. Another Delta agent (Angel 1) ran down to baggage and changed out the luggage tags.

Score 1 - WAWA - The ticketing agent could only give us a boarding pass for one person – Colin – for our second flight from New York to Casablanca. She assured us that this would not be a problem as they would be issued for the rest of us once we reached New York.
At this point, we had to pinch ourselves that the time for our trip had actually arrived! We were on such a high as we sat at Chili’s and waited for our flight to board. God had provided for our needs above and beyond for our trip, both financially and with supplies. What could possibly go wrong?!

Score 2 – Team Cameroon – Our flight arrived on the tarmac in NY 30 minutes early, which should give us plenty of time to change terminals and get our boarding passes.

Score 2 – WAWA – We sat on the plane for 45 minutes due to air traffic control problems. We literally ran to the Royal Air Morac ticketing counter, arriving there 45 minutes before our flight was scheduled to depart for Casablanca at 8:30. We were quickly told that we had missed the flight as it was their policy to not let people on after one hour before the flight’s scheduled departure, no exceptions, we would have to stay the night in NY, and fly out the following day at the same time. Air Morac closes at 8:00, so they packed up and left and the six of us wiped away some stray tears and sat down to figure out what to do next. Delta had said that this was not their responsibility as the flight had landed on time and Air Morac told us to come back the next day at 5:00 p.m. and they would get us our boarding passes. We called friends and family to begin the prayer chain as Philip called Orbitz, Tom called Air Morac, and Colin checked with a travel agent.

Score 3 – Team Cameroon – Despite our disappointment, confusion, and a 2-hour conversation with Orbitz, our spirits were great. We knew God was in control and He had a plan. We prayed for His wisdom and guidance as we continued to sit on the floor of the airport. This is when ticketing agent, Rosserio, Angel 2, came to tell us that he had worked it out for us to have 2 hotel rooms and $84 in food coupons. He had been a part of our plight from our arrival at the terminal, looking up flight information, giving us phone numbers, and trying to help us look into other options.
At that moment we realized that God had sent us a gentle reminder that He had not forsaken us and He had heard our prayers.

Score 4 – Team Cameroon - We headed to the Ramada around10:50, tired and hungry but feeling relaxed. This is when Angel 3, Barbara, a New Jersey girl, met us in the dining room and set us up with a buffet. We ate and chatted with her for the next hour and a half, enjoying her company and sharing life lessons and tidbits while we ate a great meal. We all had a great night sleep and looked forward to a day in NY.

Score 5 – Team Cameroon – Sue realized that she had left an important medication at home and our delay allowed us to be able to have it called into a local CVS to pick up before we flew out. As a team we continued to look for answers about the “why” of our delay, and we realized it might be as simple as God knowing Sue would need this medication while we were gone from the States.

Score 6+ - New York was so much fun! There is way too much to put in all the great times of the day. We accomplished seeing the Statue of Liberty from the Brooklyn Bridge, ate fabulous NY pizza, enjoyed a Starbucks coffee, rejoiced Amy had an umbrella in her carry-on so that the ladies could enjoy the street vendors, and truly just enjoyed each other’s company.
How steadfast is God’s grace. Despite a big disappointment, our team forged ahead with a great attitude and again looked forward to our trip onto Casablanca. We continued to pray that He would prepare our path to Cameroon, excited about the children awaiting our arrival.

Score 3 – WAWA – Despite being told many times in NY that we had confirmed seats on the 12:05 a.m. flight on Monday morning out of Casablanca, when we arrived at the Casablanca airport around 8:30 a.m. on Sunday and tried to confirm, there was only record of Philip. Again, Air Morac works limited hours, so we were told to come back to the airport by 8:00 p.m. and they again assured us that we were all first on the waiting list for our flight to Douala.
Without drawing too much attention to ourselves, we spent an hour in prayer and had coffee before heading out to do some sight-seeing in Casablanca. Once again, despite another setback, we continued to have good spirits. We believed we would make the midnight flight.

Score 7 – Team Cameroon – Again, there is really too much to write about our time in the city. We went to the market, had another good pizza, saw the ocean, and visited the famous new Mosque. Perhaps our greatest blessing, came through a conversation with Susanne and Philip’s father on the phone the night before when he mentioned what a gift to have the opportunity to do a prayer walk through heavily Islamic streets of Casablanca. Perhaps our mission was not only Bamenda, but to the people we encountered and prayed for in Morocco.
We were at such peace when we arrived at the airport. We were feeling confidant that we would make our flight and felt slightly rested after catnaps on train to Casablanca and back. Again, although not perhaps our original plan, our Sunday was spent in the presence of the Lord and we may not have been in church, but we worshiped and praised His continued care for us.

Score 4 – WAWA- This is when we really began to feel defeated by WAWA ( or the true enemy, Satan ). At 7:45 p.m. we went to the airport Air Morac ticketing agency. We were told our names were on the waiting list and we needed to just go to the front counter and register. There was no one that could help us for another hour, so we waited. When we finally got to a person, they told us that there was no record for us on the waiting list. We were registered for the July 5th flight. Although it seemed obvious to us since it was July 6th that the original flight would not work! They would not budge, because you can not be registered for 2 flights. Again, we went to the ticketing agency. The next 2 hours was a back and forth battle. The computer screens information did not match between the front counter and the agency (which were only about 20 steps apart). Philip was finally able to get a print out with our names on it from the agency which we took to the counter. Then, they were miraculously able to find us on their system. We were told at around 10:00 that we absolutely would not be on the flight. There were 40 people in front of us for only the 17 spaces available and the next time we could for sure get on a flight out of Casablanca was on Thursday July 9th (which ironically is tomorrow!). Did we misunderstand the call we had to go to Bamenda? Were we not the ones to answer the Jackson’s prayer for a VBS team to come? We called Chris to tell him we would not fly out that night and there was just a small chance that we might make standby on the following day. We called Darin to ask again to begin the prayer chains. Our hearts were broken. We spent and hour looking at our options – should just Philip who had a boarding pass go? Should we wait and get a hotel and try again each day until we made a flight? Could we just send the luggage? What if only a couple people made the flight – who should go, who should stay behind? There were many tears as we paced around crying out to God for wisdom.

Score 8 – Team Cameroon - During this time two Air Morac agents, Ali, Angel 3, and Wafia, Angel 4, worked with us to make sure that things were in order for us wait and see if there would be space. They encouraged us that there was still hope. And although the words came from them, we knew they were God’s messengers – there is always hope in Christ! We sat at a café 10 feet from the counter – where they told us to sit and they assured us they would come get us if our names were called – ate a blessing of 2 cheese sandwiches to share between us (staying away from the ham that had been sitting out for hours) and refocusing on what we needed to do – pray. Pray without ceasing. To ask God for what we wanted – each one of us said out loud – “ I want to get on this flight.” Philip shared a prayer that a friend had given him a month ago when he heard of the trip. We all wept as we were reminded that we are only tools for His purpose. Our adopted team verse, which we had clung to in New York, Romans 12:12 “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer” again resounded in our heart. Our minds continued to repeat a phrase from our adopted team song that randomly came on Amy’s Zune during our New York- Casablanca flight by Phil Keagy, “ When will I ever learn that God will provide all your needs for His mission.” We got out paper and made a list of ALL the blessing that God had provided on our journey. Our tears were now a result of the comfort of His arms in our hour of despair and no longer for fear or anger. We believed that we would make the flight. Time had gotten away from us when we realized it was midnight. The flight was to leave at 12:05.

Score 9 – Team Cameroon - Susanne went to the counter just to make sure that they had called everyone on the list that would make the flight. A man, that would be angel #5, overheard and said, “ We have been looking for Susanne for an hour.” Susanne yelled “That’s me!” as he handed over 3 boarding passes for the ladies. She thought it would not hurt to ask for 3 more, and a miracle happened, what we had prayed for, 3 more boarding passes for the men. We ran! We had only minutes till the plane would take off! Tom quickly called Chris and then Darin and said 3 simple words, “He is amazing!” They pushed us through security and onto the flight. Our prayers were answered in the most amazing way! Five hours later, we arrived in Doula to Chris’ smiling face, only to ironically find out our 16 pieces of luggage had made it on the originally scheduled flight and was sitting in the airport.

So, still wearing our clothes we had left Charlotte in and a little sleep deprived, we arrived in Bamenda and we have had 2 amazing days of VBS and are now ready to go to bed and begin again tomorrow! We know that you were with us during these long days and that your prayers were heard and answered. We hope that your faith is increased through our journey, just as ours has been!

FINAL SCORE - GOD IS THE VICTOR!

VBS Day 1

We are off to a great start at VBS.  We had over 200 kids join us this morning and, even with less than 5 hours of real sleep over the last 72 hours, we sailed (outrigger pun intended) through our morning.  That is not to say there weren't challenges, but we all breathed a big sigh of relief as we sang our last resounding chorus of Jump, Shout, and Sing.  Speaking of which, they knew this song and it would be an understatement to say that the children rocked the church building off of its foundation during this song.  We are really looking forward to tomorrow and seeing how many kids show up (we are anticipating a minimum of 50% increase).

In lieu of a longish update, we are going to send some pictures to better share our experience.

My heart

I am so thankful to hear that you have finally arrived and are resting in preparation for your "real" work.
Casey and I both wish we were there, too. My heart surely is......I don't think a wakeful hour (and some in the middle of the night!) has passed that I haven't prayed for you and the children in Bamenda.
I cannot wait to hear all of the tales of God's faithfulness in your journey. Love and blessings to all of you!
Amy T

Finally in Bamenda

We are here!  I think I can safely say that the feeling is quite surreal, which may or may not be a factor of the extreme fatigue that we are all experiencing.  

To quickly recap the events of our day...

We arrived this morning at Bamenda around 6:30.  It was humid and there was no doubt that it was Africa.  We all easily passed through immigration and Chris Jackson was eagerly awaiting for us as we entered the terminal.  To our GREAT surprise, all 16 pieces of our baggage were already waiting in the terminal.  While Air Maroc could not figure out how to keep 6 passengers on schedule, they did an excellent job of keeping every piece of our luggage on our original itinerary.  Chris already had the luggage loaded and we headed for the customs checkpoint with a number of local workers carrying our baggage.  To our chagrin, the customs officer started to give us a hassle about the large quantity of luggage.  Chris went and spoke with the manager and was able to get all of the bags cleared without paying a single franc - which is really what they were looking for.  We loaded up the baggage and went to the Baptist Guest House to have breakfast and repack for the trip to Bamenda.

We had an incredible 5 hour trip from Douala to Bamenda with Sue, Susanne, Amy, and Tom squeezed in the back seat and Chris, Colin, and Philip squeezed into the front seat of Chris's Land Cruiser - with all of the luggage strapped to the roof and stuffed in the back.  We got stopped by several police road checks and also stopped to enjoy some fresh bananas and a round of raw sugar cane.  The country side was beautiful and everyone took turns napping during the trip.

Upon our arrival in Bamenda, we checked in at our guesthouse and went for a late lunch with the Jacksons.  There were lots of hugs and praises as Karen, Amy, and Sue realized that there longstanding prayer request had finally been fulfilled.

After lunch we headed to the church, put up the decorations up, and - although we were 24 hours behind - we were finally ready to start the VBS.  It was only at this point that we headed back to the guesthouse to finally get cleaned up from our trip.  We then headed to the Jackson's for a big group dinner with many of the team that will be assisting us during the VBS.

We just finished our final group preparations and we are heading to the guesthouse to get some much needed rest.  There are 1,000 stories and praises that we want to share with you, but we are going to wait until tomorrow to gather our thoughts in a manner that does justice to the experience that we had.

We are so thankful for all of your prayers and support.  

We are here by His grace alone

Our travels to Cameroon have come to a successful end.  We are blessed to have been stripped of our reliance on our own feeble hands and to depend solely on His grace, mercy, and faithfulness to carry us through.  As Tom so eloquently distilled His hands in action as we ran across the Casablanca airport after midnight to catch a plane that we were told was filled to capacity, "He is Amazing!".  

More details and updates to follow...

His plans are not always our plans

As we were traveling to the airport in Charlotte, my mom called me and reminded us of an expression that we used growing up in West Africa.  WAWA.  The expressional simply means West Africa Wins Again.  WAWA is not the least bit an expression of frustration.  It is an expression of a surrendered acceptance.  It is an acceptance that reminds us that no matter how much we as individuals or as a modern society believe that we are in control, we simply our not. 

Why the philosophical rant?  Because we got to experience WAWA in its fullest upon our arrival in New York.

The short version of the story is that air traffic control delayed our plane getting to the gate in New York and Orbitz had only given us a 30 minute buffer to make our flight and Royal Air Maroc has the world's strictest policy about being on the plane 1 hour before departure.

Hours - literally - of conversation with agents at the airport and on the phone allowed us to transition from anger to acceptance and we came to the realization that God had not planned for us to make the flight on July 4th.

What was amazing is how quickly He began to show Himself to us through the actions of the people around us.  Rosario, the Delta Agent, who fought with Air Maroc to get them to let us on and, when we collectively failed, he argued with his bosses to get us hotel rooms for the night.  Barbara, the kind waitress at our hotel restaurant, who discounted our meal and shared with us about her life.  CVS, the pharmacy, that accepted a critical prescription for Sue that had been left behind.  In every instance, God provided.

We are now in NY waiting to return to the airport and continue our itinerary exactly 24 hours delayed.  We are able to laugh about it now and we know with all conviction that His plan may not be our plan, but it should be!

On a comical note, the ladies adjusted the words to the Wiki song from VBS to be A-a-WAWA, B-a-WAWA, C-a-WAWA and sang it quite robustly at the airport last night.  I don't know if it ministered to any of the strangers around us, but the it certainly was a ministry to the spirit of our team.

We are looking forward to making the next update FROM Africa.

Philip (from the Starbucks by the World Trade Center site)

less than 24 Hours to go...

I was so moved by Sue's comment that I needed to place it front and center.

Sue Here... It's less than 24 hours before our team meets at the Charlotte/Douglas Airport to take a "really" long commute to bring the love of Christ to the children of West Africa. I am feeling overwhelmed, humbled, grateful and thankful with the outpouring of support that we have received from you all. I am awed at God's provision. God has provided everything we needed and have asked for. We are packed and ready to embark on our trip. Please pray for the hearts of the children and adults of Cameroon to be stirred. We want this week to be lots of fun for the children, and for it to be productive in the way of planting seeds and encouraging the children to desire that relationship to Jesus. We might even be blessed to see some little hearts changed, moved and little souls to be saved. I have been so amazed at God's faithfulness and provisions so far. In my head, I keep hearing the song "Great is thy Faithfulness" over and over in my head (and I'm not a hymn-girl). This song plays over and over in my head every day! We are still asking for your prayers for the Jackson family, for safe travel and health, for the children and for every detail to work out in a way that will Glorify God. Thank you all for your support! It has meant the world to us... and it will make a difference in the life of a child (hopefully everyone we come in contact with over this next week). Thank you!!!

Crunch Time

Now that we are finished with our local VBS it is time to put it all together, packing it up, and heading out in just a few weeks. The support we have received from our home Church, Friends, Family and even complete strangers is overwhelming, not only financially but in prayer as well. It is a great thing God already has a plan for each of us and this trip. We have definitely encountered the enemy every step of the way, but it is just a reminder to us that He has something amazing planned.

Please continue praying for us as we count down our final 2 weeks and put the finishing touches on our trip.

Thanks For Your Support

Thank you to everyone who donated to the yard sale and silent auction!!! God was so good and provided abundantly. We raised over $7,000 in one day. Please support the business's listed on the side, they were gracious enough to donate several items to our auction.

Remember- He Has Risen, Hallelujah He Has Risen!!!!

Silent Auction & St. Patrick's Day Celebration

Where: Church at Charlotte 2500 Carmel Road, Charlotte, NC 28226
When: Saturday March 15th @ 6:30pm-8:30pm

Please join us for food, fun, and fundraising. Do not forget to wear your green!!!

As we prepare for this fundraising event we are reminded of how great God is! We are all excited about traveling to Cameroon, Africa this July, and we know that without the prayers and support of you, our friends, it would be nearly impossible. We look forward to seeing each of you at this event. With your participation, we will reach our goal.

Yard Sale Info

Where: Church at Charlotte 2500 Carmel Road,Charlotte, NC 28226
When: March 15th @ 7am

If anyone would like to make a donation for the yard sale please email Amy P. at
cameroonvbs@gmail.com, or drop off at the church gym on Friday March 14th 2pm-4:30pm.

Upcoming Fundraising Events

Today we were given approval for 2 on campus fundraisers that will be on the same day. On March 15th we will have a yard sale rain or shine 7am-10am. That same night we will have a dance/silent auction 6:30pm-8:30pm. Come one come all and celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with us. Wear your green and donate the green!!!

Why Cameroon?

A conversation with God-by Amy Page

During the spring of 2007 something extraordinary happened one Sunday morning. I heard a voice. A voice I have heard before, a familiar voice. It was God. He said "Amy I want you to talk to Karen Jackson on Tuesday after bible study about a mission trip to Africa with the focus of a VBS" and I said "OK". Even though at the time I did not know where Karen was going to be in Africa, or even what language they would speak. I knew I needed to listen to God.

Karen and her husband Chris Jackson are missionaries in Cameroon, Africa. They came back to the states a year ago, and while they were here they felt led to go back to Africa with the focus of developing Sunday school and training materials for the children there.

On Tuesday after bible study I approached Karen with my apologies because I really did not know what I was doing other than being faithful to God. I told her what He had told me, and she fell back laughing. Then asked me if she had talked to me about this before and I said no and she laughed harder. Karen then proceeded to tell me how she and her husband had been praying about Church at Charlotte sending a small group on a short term mission trip with the focus of a VBS. I started laughing. I was seeing God’s work right in front of me. Out of one act of obedience I was able to experience an amazing moment. Exactly one week later Colin, my husband, and I found ourselves in Karen’s kitchen talking about the missions trip. We feel this was an answer to a prayer, and are hoping to continue by sending a team to Cameroon, Africa the summer of 2008.
Our goal is the have a group of 8-10 adult/teenagers who feel lead to help run a VBS in Cameroon. I feel this would be an answer to prayer for Chris and Karen, and would be an amazing experience of what God has for those who are willing to step outside of their comfort zone. When we are willing to listen to God and step into the dark it may seem scary, but letting go of the control can be rewarding