Phillip and June Nelson are ELCA missionaries in Cameroon where they are working in business administration and nursing. To support Phillip and June, or another of the ELCA’s over 200 missionaries in the global church, go to www.elca.org/missionarysponsorship.

June and Phillip Nelson

Dear Friends,

Moussa Oumaru is a young boy who is about 13 years old from the Fulbe ethnic group, who is thin of face and body. He is not a strong or powerful young man but he has a strong heart.

It all started with an accident about two years ago in the small town of Madjidou where he and his family have been living for the last several years after starting to follow the teachings of Harouna Iisa. The accident burned his legs and caused way more pain and suffering than a young boy of 11 should have to go through. He wasn’t able to get to a hospital for several weeks because public transport often refuses to take people who have those kinds of oozing sores. The assistant to the bishop here in Ngaoundéré was coming back from a trip out Moussa Oumaru’s way and had the compassion to bring him to the Protestant Hospital here in Ngaoundéré.

The burn unit here worked with him for about three months, and this cost way more money than his poor family had. The Medical Assistance account took charge of his bills and paid the more than $1,000 dollars for his treatment. It was around a year ago that he went home to continue the healing process, which included exercises that Nicole Danki (the physical therapist) gave him to do.

Because of the pain and other factors that come from such an injury, he was still unable to straighten his legs and walk. We have the good fortune to have acquired the services of Yve Obombyok, an orthopedic/trauma surgeon, this year at the hospital who was able, in the last month, to perform the necessary surgery for Moussa to be able to straighten his legs once again. It brought a tear to my eye when I saw him walking out of the surgical ward without even a cane to help him.

Moussa is going home today and his father came by to say “thank you” for all that we had done to make his son able to walk again. Moussa’s father told me in no uncertain terms that he knew that his son was healed thanks to all the people here in Ngaoundéré but mostly what made it possible was the healing power of Jesus Christ. We only need to trust in him. Not everyone has such a dramatic recovery, but Moussa did and we rejoice with him and his family.

Often times we forget the reason we are called here, but every once in a while we get a reminder of the reason God calls us to this place when we are privileged to be a part of lives such as Moussa and his family.

Blessings,
June and Phil