Here is a story whose winding thread leads to our ministry with Monique Bessomo in Yaounde, Cameroon.
A few years ago an elderly woman settled with her possessions under a tree beside a main road in Yaounde that Julie Anderson often traveled. Julie asked about her. People called her "the crazy woman"--why else would someone be so dirty, live under a tree, and talk to herself?
However, when Julie began to talk to the woman herself, she learned that she was not crazy. She was Marie Therese and she was a homeless widow and destitute because she had been turned out by her children.
Julie searched for a home for Marie Therese. A friend told her about another widow who might have a room, and she did. Marie Therese had a home again and no longer looked or sounded crazy.
The woman who took in Marie Therese is the mother of Monique Bessomo. During visits to Marie Therese, Julie became familiar with Monique and her work among people with disabilities.
Knowing my involvement with Joni and Friends, Julie wrote me to ask if there was any way JAF could help Monique.
That led to the work of the 2007 Harvest Project team in Yaounde, and to our return now in a few days.
I wonder if Marie Therese grasps that God used her to bring wheelchairs and walkers and the gospel to dozens of people?
(Photo, l. to r. -- Monique Bessomo, Noel Piper, Julie Anderson, Marie Therese)
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