WELS

Posted by dmyers on June 2nd, 2008 in AFRICA, Cameroon, Slideshows

No one can explain what it is like to live in Africa, you must experience it first to truly grasp it.  Cameroon may be one of the most primitive areas we work in Africa.  I do not know about Mozambique, but it is definitely more primitive than the rest of our fields to date.

Working with the Lutheran Church of Cameroon is a blessing.  I have always said that farmers are the salt of the earth and almost everyone is a subsistence farmer here and the people are a joy to work with.  Teaching the pastors and certified assistants, (lay workers with a tiny bit of training) is a complete joy.  I try to meet with them every month except for December when they will not let me because it is too dangerous during that time of the year. Thieves abound and they have counseled me never to give a ride to anyone I do not know that month.  We do text studies for all the readings in the Pericope for the next month or two, depending on when the next meeting will be.  I have trained the CAs for two weeks and the pastors for one week.  This time is precious since the men are so eager to learn. 

No Comments

Posted by missions on April 10th, 2008 in AFRICA, Cameroon, Central Africa Medical M, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, The general, Zambia

WELS largest mission field is Africa, where it is working in partnership with five independent national synods that are currently ministering to about 64,000 souls with God’s Word.

In Zambia, in the south-central region of the continent, WELS missionaries have been operating since the early 1950s. 7 expatriate missionaries and 19 national pastors serve 32 established congregations of the Lutheran Church of Central Africa (LCCA)—Zambia Synod, plus over 100 preaching stations numbering nearly 13,000 souls. A residential Seminary, located in the capital of Continue reading this post…

No Comments

Posted by dmyers on February 4th, 2008 in AFRICA, Cameroon

Saturday started out ominously.  We had no water at all.  I do not like not being able to take a shower in the morning.  It is my wake up.  In any case, I translated Matthew 13 in the Greek and then went outside.  We had not had the internet since Wednesday.  We had to take down our about 50 foot pole so that we could find out where the problem was with the internet.  Three workers came from our internet provider.  They tested everything and found that some type of switch was bad, so they brought another one along.  Then they cut the ends off the RG 45 cable, at least that is what I think he called it.  They put on what I would have called Cat 5 ends and plugged things in again. 

While taking down the pole, the pipe snapped in half and the top half broke three 3×8 foot sheets of tin.  I went and bought three sheets of zinc as they call it here.  Actually it is aluminum corrugated sheeting.  I bought some nails for these sheets and some 1.5 inch angle iron.  When we returned, we were greeted by another torrential downpour that only lasted 3 hours.  The ceiling in the one house is now dripping like crazy and we shut the power to the house off so that we would not have electrical problems with all the rain.  We cut the angle iron to about three feet long and put two pieces together.  We then put 1.5 feet into one end of the pipe and drilled two 3/8 inch holes through the pipe on one end and put bolts through that.  We added a pipe coupling to the pipe and screwed it tight.  Then we drilled two more holes and bolted the other end.  We finally got the pole back up.  I was reticent to do this today since it was lightning every once in a while, but the internet provider told his men it had to be done today.  It took five of us to get the pole back up and in place.  I am glad to report that the internet again works. 

The water came back on too.  As soon as the rain abated, we put on the three sheets of roofing and patched some other leaks. 

We thank the Lord that all is well and that all is fixed and that there is no serious damage except to the ceiling in the house which we will have to deal with next week.  Anyway, such is the life in Cameroon during the rainy season.

No Comments

Posted by dmyers on February 4th, 2008 in AFRICA, Cameroon

What a wild few days it has been.  Wednesday we lost power for half of the day.  Thursday the power was out all day.  Friday, it was out for half a day again.  It has poured very hard and we felt the rain hit us while we were sleeping.  Normally, there is little or no wind here at all.  It has been abnormally windy lately.  We received over two inches of rain each day for the last three. 

Friday morning, I left for Douala, 80 miles away.  I had to take the new truck in for its first service under the warranty.  I left at 5:30 am. I drove for about one hour on the gravel road.  It was in bad shape.  Then just before I arrived at Tombel, the road was flooded to about four feet high.  Six cars were stuck in the water that flooded across the road and no one was going through it.  In fact, buses and taxis from the northwest province had been waiting there since 3:00am. 

I turned around and returned to Kumba.  By the time I left again by the only other road to Douala, it was about 7:45.  What a waste of time that was.  I took the other road and was able to make it to Douala by about 11:00 am.  I got in line for the service at the Toyota dealer.  They said they could not get at it until the afternoon.  They take a siesta break in the French provinces from 12:00 pm to 2:30 pm.  I often wonder how you can get anything done with a schedule like that.  Oh well, it makes for a nice lunch, I guess.  I waited until 3:45, then made a mad dash for home so that I could make it in the light. 

I was doing fine and only had about 40 minutes more till I was home.  That was about 6:00 pm.  However, it grew black outside and it rained so hard that I could not see the front of the vehicle, let alone the holes in the road.  When I talk about holes, I am talking about holes made by 40 ton logging trucks and other large vehicles.  These quickly fill with water when it rains that hard.  A few times the water came up to the hood, but as long as I went slowly and kept going, I could make it.  Once, I was spinning my rear tires trying to climb out of the hole and onto the road that was sort of there. 

I inched my way home so that I could make it to Kumba and get some light.  You see, there is no pavement for the last 85 kilometers of the trip.  There is just the red clay soil that has been terribly eroded by this time of the rainy season.  One would never be sure it was a road at all.  And there are no speed limit signs, no traffic lights, no markings on corners or pavement and no signs of any kind at all.  You sort of know where you are going or you don’t, it is as simple as that.  I made it home about 7:40, delighted to be home and out of the deluge of rain that pounded against my windshield and virtually blinded me most of the last hour and 40 minutes. 

No Comments

Posted by missions on February 1st, 2008 in AFRICA, Cameroon

Mentoring pastors. Training certified assistants. Developing the Lutheran Church of Cameroon by beginning programs. Training and equipping the Synod and congregations. This is the way Missionary Dan Myers spends his time in Cameroon.  Later, he will be responsible for training the next group of pastors from the current certified assistants in the second seminary session to be held here.

No Comments

Posted by dmyers on January 27th, 2008 in Cameroon, The Bios

Missionary Myers graduated from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 1980.  Dan has served in Barre, Vermont and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada and Great Plains Lutheran High School in Watertown, South Dakota. 

Dan, his wife, Peggy and daughter Kara arrived in Cameroon in 2007.

No Comments