April 19, 2004

Dear Friends,

With Easter just past, and nature springing to life once again, it is a time to reflect on the blessings and challenges of new beginnings. For the Bauerband family, 2004 has been and will continue to be a time of new beginnings.

In late fall of 2003, our family was going through some changes and it was decided that it was best for Anna and the kids to return to the States, but that Larry would stay to finish out our commitment to the seminary and teach through the final semester.

With the decision made to do this, effort was made to ensure that the kids had good closure of their time there. Carissa and Elijah’s best friend, Livan, spent several days at the beach with us over the Christmas holidays. We also brought along Irene, the young woman who has worked with us since our arrival in Cameroon and who has been a friend to us and a sister to the children. We truly felt it was our best Christmas in Cameroon.

We also celebrated Carissa’s 8th birthday before returning. This entailed a party with all the kids who were a part of our Kids’ Club. We did crafts, sang songs, ate cake, and had a wonderful last day together.

Larry has been busy with the usual semester activities—teaching, grading papers, as well as all of the normal student/lecturer interaction. His “extra curricular” activities this past year have been working with our church there on various building projects, particularly the new Sunday school building that will serve as two primary school classrooms during the week, and the new pews for the church. This has all been undertaken during an especially hot dry season. The rains that should have started by now still have not begun, so the extreme heat has affected not only his health and ability to function at top level, but that of the students as well. (The Cameroonians have been complaining just as loudly as the Westerners over the extreme heat this year!) He is also feeling the pinch of tying up various loose ends before he returns to the States in early June. Anna will return to Cameroon at the end of May to attend one last graduation, help with final packing of our things, and to accompany Larry to all the “send-off” parties that the Cameroonians are so fond of having when saying goodbye. Carissa and Elijah will remain home under the care of their two grandmothers.

At this point, we don’t know what the future holds for us. At least until the end of November we will be with the Worldwide Ministries Division and be available to speak at churches about our work in Cameroon. We hope that many of you will contact us about coming to visit your church. We have appreciated all the letters of support we have received over our four years in Cameroon and look forward to putting faces to those names on the letters. If you are interested in setting up a date for us to come and speak, please contact Anna at (973) 228-2668 or by email marthavw@cs.com (use this address only until May 26th) or Familybauerband@cs.com after May 26th. We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you soon.

We thank you for all the prayers and support you have showered upon us over the past four years. We have appreciated all you have done for us and ask that you contine to keep us in your prayers as we seek to find out where God is leading us next. We look forward to all the new beginnings that still await us.

Yours in Christ’s Service,

Anna & Larry Bauerband

The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 38