While Americans look at bicycles as a children’s toy or a
piece of exercise equipment, in Africa bicycles are the main means of
transporting people and goods for a large segment of the country. Malawians use
bicycles to move wood, sacks of grain, furniture, chickens and goats from home
to market. Bicycle taxi drivers move customers quickly and efficiently around
town.

Some people use bicycles for longer trips from one village
to another, travelling on both busy tarmacked highways and deeply rutted dirt
roads. Until recently, about a third of the pastors in the LCCA Malawi were
using bicycles for transportation in remote rural areas. Some pastors serve as
many as six different congregations, getting to some of them only once a month
for worship. It takes Pastor George Chumba over two hours one way to reach his
congregation in Migowi, and that’s when the weather is fair. During the rainy
season, you can add an hour to his travel time each way. He is glad to be able
to reach his front door before sundown.

The pastors of the LCCA Malawi must be both spiritually and
physically strong to fulfill their calling, but even so the time they spend
pedaling could be used more productively. One of the ways that WELS One Africa
Team has helped its partners in the LCCA is by securing the funding of
motorcycles for the pastors to use in their ministry. Recently, funds became
available to provide eleven motorcycles to pastors, a significant investment in
both terms of money and time!

The logistics of providing eleven new motorcycles are
incredibly complex, from importing the motorcycles to registering them with the
department of Road Traffic, insuring them, delivering them to remote locations
around the country and then training the local pastors how to operate and
maintain them. Thankfully, the leaders of the LCCA took on this enormous task.
The members of the Board of Stewardship filled out the necessary paperwork and
arranged transportation at a fraction of the cost that their US counterparts
would have been able to secure.

The LCCA has assumed the cost of operating, maintaining and
insuring these vehicles, as well as assuring that the pastors’ licenses are all
up to date. It is the sincere hope of WELS One Africa Team that these
motorcycles will be of great benefit to both the pastors and the members of the
LCCA in Malawi, providing them with more time to connect with each other and
with God’s Word.

How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
“Your God reigns!” (Isa. 52:7)

Missionary John Roebke
lives in Malawi and manages Communications and Publications for One Africa Team

Please
pray for those working in fields that are ripe for harvest. Share their story,
engage with future news and receive updates. Go to this link to learn more
about our mission fields in Africa and how the Holy Spirit is working faith in
people’s hearts  https://wels.net/serving-others/missions/africa

Every mission trip needs clear objectives.  On our recent trip to Liberia we had two:  1) Introduce record-keeping to help people understand that this is a proper program rather than simply a series of workshops, and 2) Bring together the Confessional Lutheran Church of Liberia (CLCL) and the Royal Family Fellowship International (RFFI) into one group to whom OAT and PSI can bring a unified program of study.  With Pastor Dennis Klatt, we came with the truth of Scripture for the first two weeks of February, 2109.

In effort to make this a truly Liberian program:  it was agreed to take four leaders from CLCL and three from RFFI to form a “Joint Education Committee.”   Those men are working on a system of organization now.  As they plan their own program, our focus becomes more pinpointed and better understood, so that we are all together in our efforts to develop the Lord’s kingdom here in Liberia.

Many of our “students” already carry the name “Deacon” or “Pastor” in their congregation, but might not have clear standards of what that means – it can change from one group to the next.  It was fascinating to me to have a conversation about titles with one of the CLCL leaders on a Wednesday, and by Thursday in class, people were addressing one another with the title “student,” explaining “we don’t want to get wrapped up in titles.”  In a similar situation, I used the word “heresy” to explain the importance of our teaching only truth; within two hours, the same students brought it up in Pastor Klatt’s class: “Is that heresy?”   It seems they are listening, learning and applying whatever they hear.  The Holy Spirit is working here!

As we look at these two different groups forming into one, they agreed that they would like a particular curriculum to know what the final target is going to be and to know, at any given time, how far along they were toward reaching that goal.  On this particular visit, we took attendance and evaluated students to give grades.  We will then have an objective opportunity to evaluate exactly where our students are in their understanding and helps us teachers to know whether or not we are teaching well.

Some of the courses taught in the past will be reviewed at the next visit and a test taken so we have a record for it.  On this visit we taught:

• Level One  – Aiming for a “Deacon” or “Elder” Certificate
  • BIC course – Pastor Klatt
  • Storying through Genesis – Pastor Kroll
• Level Two – Aiming for “Evangelist” or “Pastor” Diploma
  • The Three Ecumenical Creeds – Pastor Klatt
  • Teaching Bible Class – Pastor Kroll

… But we are just beginning – completing this program will require commitment!

It’s a pleasure to work amongst people who don’t regularly hear the truth of Scripture.  On this visit, we taught about sixty-eight students in the two levels of courses.  Perhaps not all of them will stick with the program for the full ten years, but we praise the Lord for their desire to better understand the opportunity to share the love of our Savior to a struggling world!

To God’s glory,

Missionary Dan Kroll

It was reported in the news that the hospital had been intentionally set ablaze.  Other reports include private homes burned down and fairly regular gun battles between the military and the separatists (who wish to secede from La Republic du Cameroon).  Many people are being killed while others are losing all they have.  We have refugees galore who have run from their homes in fear, and it’s safe to say that most of the population in the Southwest and Northwest Regions of Cameroon (where WELS carries out the bulk of its mission work) are discourage – inclined to give up.

On the other side of town, on top of the hill towards Mbalangi, sits the Headquarters and the Seminary for Lutheran Church of Cameroon.   It seems to be sorted out now, but for about a month, even here, some thieves thought they might be able to get something from the place.  It’s a bit of a mess.  In the midst of all the chaos, we are sending a statement: We are still operating as a church body and making plans to train called workers for the future.

Milton is our welder as well as general handy man and administrator these days for our mission while the missionary cannot be on site.  He also painted the gate to our LCC compound at Barombi Kang.  The gate painting was a gift from the WELS mission in memory of student Zacheus Amibang who passed away last summer.

While we appreciate the work Milton has done, we
appreciate even more the spirit of our called workers in Cameroon: The Lord’s
work is not defeated by bullets nor any other form of hostility.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms… take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Ephesians 6).  We are stubbornly and confidently NOT going to be discouraged from the work the Lord has put in front of us.  We want everybody to know that we trust not in earthly weapons, but in “Faith Alone, Scripture Alone, and Grace Alone”-  based on the empty cross of Christ.  While we cannot deny the worldly suffering amongst the people of Southern Cameroon, the LCC stands to focus on spiritual matters.  We focus on God’s promise of protection and guidance here on earth and eternal glory with him in heaven through Jesus’ death and resurrection.  May his Spirit hold us in that focus as we continue to make the statement of our faith and look for ways to serve him better in Cameroon.

Missionary Dan Kroll

Please pray for those working in
fields that are ripe for harvest. Share their story, engage with future news
and receive updates. Go to this link to learn more about our mission fields in
Africa and how the Holy Spirit is working faith in people’s hearts  https://wels.net/serving-others/missions/africa