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Well I am back in New Zealand,
I finally arrived home after a marathon adventure in transit and airports. I hope to catch up with everybody. I have already seen lots of the family and a few other people.
Love you all and thanks again for praying and following my intrepid journey, I hope you have enjoyed following along as much as I have adventuring!
I will keep the blog open but won't update it.

Steve

Im coming Home

I have confirmed all my flights, I am leaving Douala tonight to Nairobi and then Bangkok and finally Auckland.
Kenya Airways were very helpful they didn’t charge me anything to change all my flights including my flight with Thai Airlines.
I will be flying with Kahlia as well as far as Bangkok, she flies to Brisbane, so that is good I have company on the long haul flights and in transit.
Kenya don’t put the bags on the same flight as the passengers from Douala to Nairobi so I still have my bags. But it also means I don’t know if my bags will arrive in Auckland at the same time as me.
My flight From Auckland is confirmed for Sunday the 1st of October I arrive in Christchurch at 950pm on flight NZ599.
So all in at has turned out very well at no extra cost ,except changing the NZ flight and extending my insurance for a few weeks.

Love from Steve PS KEEP PRAYING

Sense of humour

Hey everyone
I understand the need for a missionary to have a good sense of humour. I was suppose to be in Kenya today waiting in transit to fly to Thailand.
I’m not in Kenya, I am still in Douala!
I got to the departure lounge at the airport gate 22 (as it said on my boarding pass) waiting for my flight to Kenya. The lounge was full of people waiting for a flight to Guinea. I have no watch so I was not aware of the time there was also no clock in the departure lounge (of an international airport!) So I was waiting for a boarding call for a flight that is suppose to leave at 11:55. After waiting for a while I asked the person next to me ‘whats the time?’ He says ‘1 am’ I did a double take and then headed to the Kenya Airways office only to find my flight has left and they did two boarding calls but I never heard them.
Whats even more ironic the plane was boarding at the gate 10 metres away from the one I was waiting at. At one stage I went looking for my flight I found a Kenya Airways flight but it was not going to Nairobi – or at least that what the sign seemed to indicate- later I found out this was in fact my flight and was going to Nairobi after all.
So now I have to go to the Kenya Airways (on Monday morning) office and arrange to get a new ticket and wait on standby! The next flight is Tuesday evening (Cameroon time)So it may be a while before I get home. PLEASE KEEP PRAYING I look forward to seeing you when I get home.
Steve

Round up

We graduated last night! I will be home in just over a week I get back on the 26th of September at 1:50 pm from Auckland on flight NZ531 after 3 days in transit!
My time here has been a great experience I can’t write all the things I have learnt now but I will share a few things. God is faithful, I have seen that when we follow him he will be with us. I arrived in Cameroon with no Visa no French and no luggage but God came through for me and he always does. I had a case of an unknown tropical disease and God came through for me also several other team mates had health problems as well but God is good we all surivived and graduated as a class. Many of the students came to the school by faith having only paid their depoist believing that God wanted them to be there and he provided for all of our class to finish the school!
I have learnt that the foundation of our lives is our spiritual life, our realtionship with Jesus. This and this alone, is our source of strength, joy and peace. For many years I was trying to live the Christian life without this foundation being laid firmly and it is not until I have come here that I have laid this foundation.
There has also been a lot of down time so I started spending that time reading the Bible I started at Genesis and read through to Revelation and I have seen that it is one book, that is the Bible actually fits together to one theme.
God created us to share in his love and to enjoy a relationship with Him the abundant life in John 10-10 but we humans can’t experience that love and relationship because we are sinful Romans 3-10 and 3-23 but God wanted so much for us to share this love and eternal life with him that he gave his Son John 3-16 and Romans 6-23 that if we believe in Him we have eternal life. This eternal life is nothing we can earn Ephesians 2-8 and 9 but comes through grace and through believing in the Son, John 1-12 and Romans 10-9 and only through the Son John 14-6. I have now started again from Matthew and when I finish again I will start from Genesis and read slowy and for detail.
So what is next for me? I don’t know but God does! I know I need to develop my spiritual foundation and starting pouring the concrete and putting up the walls. I also need to work to pay off my loan and seek God for the next step. I have had many ideas but I dont know which ideas are mine and which are God’s. I’m looking forward to seeing you all again may God bless you and keep you may he make his face to shine on you may he make the road rise up to meet you Amen!

Home Straight

Well we are almost finished here and I will be home in two weeks. We have been working with one of the leaders of YWAM in Cameroon for the last two weeks, doing evangilism, leading a prayer cell and helping to build his house. It has been very good and we have made many new friends. My time here has been a great blessing, God is good all the time. He has shown me that he is faithful and that no matter where i am and what happens i am secure in my place in his arms. Psalm 63:8 says 'my soul clings to you and your right hand upholds me' and I bless the Lord for upholding me in his right hand and I know that he will continue to uphold me. I realise that the whole time i have been here i have been living by his grace on the smell of an oily rag (holy oil!).
I am almost a disciple, we graduate on Friday. At graduation i will get my walking on water and trampling on scorpions badge im still working towards the deliverance badge.
Im looking forward to seeing you all very soon lots of love
Steve

Here I am

I am Alive! The last three weeks have been very challenging for me. I had a problem with an in grown toenail, it was not healing, and I had to get it removed (the nail not the toe). I didnt tell anyone back home because i did not want people too freack out with a case of minor Africian surgery.
My experience of the Africian health system was very interesting. They put me under general anesthetic but I thought it was going to be local so I got quite a shock when I woke up! I was in a bit of pain for a day or so but then it stopped. I was unable to do lots of walking not because of the pain but because I had to let the wound heal.
The good news it is fine now and I was able to join the team in evangilism again, I have been with the team but resting and not involved in some of the activities. I have been incredibly bored, home-sick and distracted with nothing to keep me busy.
This last week we have been at an orphanage it has been very interesting all of the children speak French and a little bit of English. It has been good sharing with a few of them. Felix and I had the priviledge of leading one boy to Jesus. I did evangilism yesterday and Felix and I were able to lead a husband and wife to make a commitment to recieve Jesus.
One of the boys from the orphange ran away from the orphange and took a very expensive cell phone with him! Just a reminder that I need to be careful with my things. Most the older kids have been on the street and they have picked up some bad habits.
Anyway I have to go love you guys heaps.
Hey congratulations to Lanie and the All Blacks who I hear are both having good seasons.

Long post for Dad!

Sorry Dad that my posts have not been long but I have not had much time at the internet cafe. Today i have nineteen minutes so here is the long update!
Buea - the first week we were at the YWAM base, we spent the time doing door to door evangilism and helping to repair a section of road. Buea is on the side of Mount Cameroon in the South-West province it is one of the Anglophone provinces so most people understand English. Cameroon is bilingual but it effectively has an Anglophone area and a Francophone area people learn both languages at school but very few people are effectively bilingual.
Many people in the area are members of one church or another so we were encouraging them in their relationship with God. The next week we were at the Mission Evangilique Eglise de Cameroon (Evangilicial Mission Church of Cameroon) again the main focus was evangilism door to door. The church was beside the Univeristy of Buea so most people around where students. We were in groups of two or three my group we had one person accept Christ for the first time and two make recommitments.
After Buea we went to Mbambou a small village south of Douala, we were doing evangilism door to door and open air. For the open air they got me to do the haka in an Africian market place apparantly it attracts attention! After Mbambou we returned to Douala where we spent one week at the YWAM base working on the team and developing areas of our character (fruit of the Spirit).
After the base this last week we have been working with the Grace of God Mission a Nigirian based (Anglophone) Church in Douala, it is a very 'interesting' church very pentecostal and a too much into prosperity doctrine for me. We are maybe working with them for another week maybe not not we are waiting to get the programme of the Pastor.

Is that long enough Dad?

Steve