It went against everything I’ve taught our kids about internet safety, but I answered the message anyhow.  This woman in Germany wrote a message on the International Christian Church of Yaounde’s Facebook page, of which I’m an administrator.  She was asking help to find a cheap place in Yaounde for her Cameroonian friend to stay.

The goofy questions that ran through my skeptical head!  Is this really a woman?  Is it a trick?  What’s the scam?  Is this a terrorist group posing as a kind woman so they can target Christians?  Oh my!  I’ve been reading too much bad news.

So I contacted the church elders, who suggested the guest rooms at the translation training center for SIL.  So I replied to the woman in Germany, and we began a long and very interesting text conversation through Facebook messages.  Keep reading only if you want to know what happened next.

Through our conversations I learned that the woman in Germany is Sue.  She met “H” a Cameroonian woman when she went to a local refugee center to encourage Syrians who’d escaped persecution.  H, from the English speaking NW Region of Cameroon has been living in Germany for 10 years.  Initially she was brought there by a tourist who said they’d help her find a job in Germany.  I don’t know what job she ended up finding, but it is possible that she was trafficked, a common practice.  It seems in the past year people in Sue’s church have been trying to help H in a variety of ways.  Sue was concerned for H’s safety flying in to Yaounde late at night.  She understood that H was not familiar with Yaounde, and didn’t know where to go.

So I reserved her a room, arranged for an honest reliable taxi driver to pick her up at the airport.  She had an appointment on a specific Wednesday at the German Embassy in Yaounde where she was to begin a process of gaining legal status in Germany.  All seemed well planned.  We even exchanged photos of H and of the driver.  The driver had a sign with H’s full name on it.

So it came as a surprise to get a phone call from the taxi driver late on the Saturday night of her expected arrival saying that she did not show, was not in the airport, and her name not on the manifest (he knows people inside the airport).  We figured she must have missed her connection in Brussles.  So we messaged Sue, “met” on skype, we contacted people we know in Belgium thinking she may have changed her mind 1/2 way, or got really lost.

Sue contacted a lawyer and a social worker who had been working with H..  Their advice: Wait to see if she shows up for the appointment on Wed.

We set praying friends in motion, I skyped with Sue, we prayed together leaving H and her future in God’s hands.  It was quite a faith journey for us all.

And then word came through that H had indeed arrived in Yaounde, she went to her appointment.  When she arrived and where she stayed is still a mystery — maybe she knew people in Yaounde after all.  So we contacted friends in Belgium informing them that H was not lost in Brussels.  Thanked God for protection & provision.  And praised God for allowing us to get to know Sue, an American living in Germany for 20some years, married to a German.  And HER testimony is another story completely!  Sue shared with me in our skype conversation of her being healed from leukemia after being given just months to live… 24 years ago!  Praise God!

What fun it was to participate in communication in the huge international network of the Body of Christ, His Church.  Sue only contacted us looking for Christians in Yaounde who might be willing & able to give assistance.  And now we have friends in Germany!  Our friends in Belgium were willing to help out, and Cameroonian friends & colleagues were also ready & willing with transportation and lodging services.  It really is amazing to be a part of the Family of God!