Historic Day in Cameroon

 On March 9, 2012 we flew to Yaoundé for a historic weekend.  We took our first direct flight to Yaoundé. In the past we had to fly to and from there through Douala. It's amazing how much time and energy we saved by going directly there.  One less flight is a big deal to somebody who hates flying and sitting for hours in airports as much as I do.  

Yaoundé, in my opinion is the prettiest city in our mission. It's in the hills, with a lot of contour to the land and very green and lush. It's certainly still Africa, but I like it a more than any other city.

  

We went to create the first District of the church in Cameroon.  It's an interesting process and a great day for the city of Yaoundé and for the country of Cameroon. When a group of branches become strong enough to support the creation of a District without decimating the branches of leadership, a District is created.  It's the step in church organization that looks forward to the time a Stake will exist, so it's a big step.  Brent petitioned for this to happen and was granted approval to create a District, officially move the four branches into that District, and determined who the Lord wanted for the District President.  It's a bit of a daunting job since in these outlying cities he goes not knowing anybody really well and has to rely on the Lord to tell him who should be the new leader. He meets with and considers all those now in leadership, but it's not necessary for any of the branch leaders to be called.  This is a most challenging task. Saturday he spent the whole day in interviews.  In reality he could have only done two because when the second man entered for his interview, Brent felt confirmation that this was the man for the calling.  So, he called President Bala to lead the new Yaoundé District.
We all met together on Sunday in a rather interesting rented facility in downtown Yaoundé.
The building was quite interesting in it's design and decorations.  We tried to decide if a giant river rock had fallen from the sky or if it was a baked potato that landed on the building, but in fact the whole big thing was tiled and simply decorative.We wondered if some crazy architect was just in a weird mood when he proposed this, but it's indefinably unique.
 There were more than 350 members attending and you could tell this was a big moment for them.  The energy in the room was high, despite the fact that the meeting room was about 90 degrees and got hotter by the minute. The place was billed as air-conditioned and had three large units visible, but........................


  

The new district presidency consisted of 1st Counselor, Tchapnda Dieudonné, President Bala Foe Crépin Juste and 2nd counselor, Olinga Mbouya Michel.  It was especially interesting and exciting for us the President Bala selected  Michel Olinga as a counselor. He was one of our wonderful missionaries in Lubumbashi.  He's 26 years old. He's been home from his mission for a couple of years and was traditionally married and has a darling little daughter.  He was civilly married on Sat. and actually left his wedding festivities for his interview. They hope to go to the temple in the next month. We know that our returned missionaries are blessing their home branches, wards, districts and stakes. It was very special to be there to see  our "Elder Olinga" called to serve.

The New District Presidency and their wives 

  

 President Jameson and the newly called presidency of the first District in Cameroon                               

                          

 We also spent some time with the eight elders who serve in Yaoundé. Brent did interviews and we held a little zone conference with them and shared a couple of meals. Being with missionaries is the best thing about our calling.  It was our last time to be with Elder and Sister Thompson before they went home to Canada.   We can't even express what a fabulous service they have given to the missionaries and members of Yaoundé. They'll be greatly missed.