Gateway Teams

January 18, 2007

Greetings from Allat, Cameroon (about 600 km inland on the Nigerian border),

Thank you for your prayers for us today! Here’s some of what happened –

Our team parted ways this morning as the other half headed back to Bamenda for the weekend and we headed 6 hours further inland to Allat where we all arrived safely. We traveled over quite rough and difficult roads, mostly dirt, over most of today. Our car ended up getting a flat but it happened right as we were entering a village where we were able to get it fixed. We were also able to meet a regional pastor in that town and ate lunch at his home before we got on the road again; so, it was really a blessing that the flat happened right in that village.

Shortly after we left that village, we came to another where there was a routine check that either Gendarm military police do or customs officials. But, we ran into a customs official that decided for whatever reason to hassle us about my 15 year old beat up guitar. He wanted to see a receipt for it of all things! Our host pastor, Godwill Ncham, really handled the situation well and basically called the man’s bluff (he was obviously looking for a bribe). He argued with him about this for about 10 minutes and then the customs guy said he was going to lock us up and he got into our car next to Godwill! It was obviously a ploy when he sat there for about 10 seconds and then got out and told us to go. I’m telling you, your prayers matter! J And we thank God for Godwill’s discernment in handling the situation as well.

After the long ride and these events, and going up and down mountains and across hot, dusty plateaus, we made it to Allat and are now enjoying being at the mission station here and the hospitality of Cal and Susie Hohn and their daughters Ysabelle and Elianna. Susie made a great meal for us here tonight and we’re relaxing before the beginning of our final round of Sonlife seminars tomorrow and Saturday. Allat is kind of like northern Arizona, high elevation, dry and dusty, but very comfortable and incredibly clear skies at night where the stars are more numerous than you’ve ever seen…..

Please continue to pray for us, especially tomorrow as Chris, John and I teach. Pray that our words would be clear and that we would communicate well. We’ve found that people have traveled from a number of hours away to be here in Allat and so we’re continuing to see God’s purpose for us here unfolding.

I’d also ask you to pray for the other half of the team as well in Bamenda as they begin their seminars there tomorrow as well. The Bamenda team this weekend is Paul, Mark and Jud.

Thank you Gateway Teams prayer partners for your continued faithfulness. It truly does make a difference. Blessings!

In His Grip,Randy Schmor