News from the Langdjis--January 2024
Living in Yaoundé, Cameroon and Helena, MT, USA
Serving West and Central Africa
The year 2023 was one of the celebrations as well as decision-making. In our family Anne and Micah moved back to the USA for schooling needs, so Micah started 9th grade at Helena High School in Montana, where Anne's parents live. It was a big change: bigger school, new environment and new learnings. He joined the cross-country team, got to meet new teachers and started making new friends. He enjoyed it and his first semester has gone well. Anne ended service with the ELCA on December 31st and has been job hunting. The last few months were a time to get settled and learn to live in the USA after 28 years of service with the ELCA overseas.
Willie continues to live in Cameroon and serve as regional representative of the ELCA in West and Central Africa for the time being. He has accumulated other responsibilities in the region, relating to companions in Ghana, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria, Gambia, Guinea, Cameroon and Central African Republic. He enjoys serving and the opportunities to support our church companions in their varied ministries.
We celebrated Christmas and New Year's together in Helena with Anne’s parents, as well as friends, and the family at St. John’s Lutheran in Helena, Montana. Willie returns to Yaounde, Cameroon in early January and has trips planned to CAR and Senegal in the next couple months.
Last year was marked by the celebration of 100 years of Lutheran presence in Cameroon and the Central African Republic. The ELCA, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Cameroon and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Central African Republic (CAR), as well as other international partners, all held events to remember the history of their work together and to look forward to the future.
Events began in Minneapolis in July, continued in Cameroon in October, and in November they concluded in CAR. In both CAR and Cameroon, the ELCA was represented by companion synod bishops, clergy, lay people, ELCA staff, and former missionaries and their kids. Cultural and religious events and services, special music and trips to communities with special significance, as well as commemorative fabric all helped to make the year momentous.100 years of joint mission is today lived and reflected in the accompaniment model of walking together, sharing our gifts, talents, prayers, and resources, and building and sustaining relationships.
Your congregation has been and continues to be part of this calling to live together as children of the same God, united by God’s saving grace. In CAR and Cameroon your congregation, synod and ELCA churchwide are involved in ministries of health, education, evangelism and outreach, theological formation, food security and disaster response, and much more. All of this happens because of your support that contributes to our companion churches' programs, as well as special giving to ELCA World Hunger and Lutheran Disaster Response.
This is Anne. Over the years, your support has remained strong even when our communication of stories about the work we are involved in through the ELCA has not been regular. 28 years ago, I wrote on paper and sent it to my parents who copied and addressed and mailed it to many of you! (Thanks, Mom and Dad.) It's a bit different now! How fun to send more photos! And yet we're all bombarded with information and images, so I think our way of understanding has changed. I hope Willie will keep sending news to you (and will help him if he asks). For now I am struggling to summarize the time I spent serving as an ELCA missionary in the Central African Republic and Senegal, then in a regional role that took me to about ten more countries in West Africa and Madagascar while living in Cameroon. Hard times come to mind, both personal struggles and seeing others suffer. But when we think back we mainly remember people we enjoyed getting to know -- working, crying, laughing, dancing, praying, eating and drinking, walking and driving with so many people in so many different settings and circumstances. That includes people in the US who hosted us and wrote to us and supported us. I am grateful to God for the privilege of knowing you all and for your interest in the rest of the world and commitment to making it a better place for all.
We have no mission but to serve In full obedience to our Lord:
To care for all, without reserve,
And to spread God’s liberating word.
—“The Church of Christ, in Every Age”
(Evangelical Lutheran Worship 729)
Living in Yaoundé, Cameroon and Helena, MT, USA
Serving West and Central Africa
The year 2023 was one of the celebrations as well as decision-making. In our family Anne and Micah moved back to the USA for schooling needs, so Micah started 9th grade at Helena High School in Montana, where Anne's parents live. It was a big change: bigger school, new environment and new learnings. He joined the cross-country team, got to meet new teachers and started making new friends. He enjoyed it and his first semester has gone well. Anne ended service with the ELCA on December 31st and has been job hunting. The last few months were a time to get settled and learn to live in the USA after 28 years of service with the ELCA overseas.
Willie continues to live in Cameroon and serve as regional representative of the ELCA in West and Central Africa for the time being. He has accumulated other responsibilities in the region, relating to companions in Ghana, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria, Gambia, Guinea, Cameroon and Central African Republic. He enjoys serving and the opportunities to support our church companions in their varied ministries.
We celebrated Christmas and New Year's together in Helena with Anne’s parents, as well as friends, and the family at St. John’s Lutheran in Helena, Montana. Willie returns to Yaounde, Cameroon in early January and has trips planned to CAR and Senegal in the next couple months.
Last year was marked by the celebration of 100 years of Lutheran presence in Cameroon and the Central African Republic. The ELCA, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Cameroon and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Central African Republic (CAR), as well as other international partners, all held events to remember the history of their work together and to look forward to the future.
Events began in Minneapolis in July, continued in Cameroon in October, and in November they concluded in CAR. In both CAR and Cameroon, the ELCA was represented by companion synod bishops, clergy, lay people, ELCA staff, and former missionaries and their kids. Cultural and religious events and services, special music and trips to communities with special significance, as well as commemorative fabric all helped to make the year momentous.100 years of joint mission is today lived and reflected in the accompaniment model of walking together, sharing our gifts, talents, prayers, and resources, and building and sustaining relationships.
Your congregation has been and continues to be part of this calling to live together as children of the same God, united by God’s saving grace. In CAR and Cameroon your congregation, synod and ELCA churchwide are involved in ministries of health, education, evangelism and outreach, theological formation, food security and disaster response, and much more. All of this happens because of your support that contributes to our companion churches' programs, as well as special giving to ELCA World Hunger and Lutheran Disaster Response.
This is Anne. Over the years, your support has remained strong even when our communication of stories about the work we are involved in through the ELCA has not been regular. 28 years ago, I wrote on paper and sent it to my parents who copied and addressed and mailed it to many of you! (Thanks, Mom and Dad.) It's a bit different now! How fun to send more photos! And yet we're all bombarded with information and images, so I think our way of understanding has changed. I hope Willie will keep sending news to you (and will help him if he asks). For now I am struggling to summarize the time I spent serving as an ELCA missionary in the Central African Republic and Senegal, then in a regional role that took me to about ten more countries in West Africa and Madagascar while living in Cameroon. Hard times come to mind, both personal struggles and seeing others suffer. But when we think back we mainly remember people we enjoyed getting to know -- working, crying, laughing, dancing, praying, eating and drinking, walking and driving with so many people in so many different settings and circumstances. That includes people in the US who hosted us and wrote to us and supported us. I am grateful to God for the privilege of knowing you all and for your interest in the rest of the world and commitment to making it a better place for all.
We have no mission but to serve In full obedience to our Lord:
To care for all, without reserve,
And to spread God’s liberating word.
—“The Church of Christ, in Every Age”
(Evangelical Lutheran Worship 729)
WEB LINKS
ELCA Global Church Sponsorship
http://www.elca.org/Our-Work/Global-Church/Global-Church-Sponsorship
 Katie Narum Miyamoto
ELCA Missionary in Japan
|
Anne & Willie Langdji
ELCA Missionares in Cameroon
|
Lutheran InformationCompanion Synod
http://wndsynod.org/companion-synod/ |
CAMP METIGOSHE -
http://metigosheministries.com/ |
|
|