December Post #10!!

Don’t worry—I haven’t forgotten about my goal to post 10 updates this month. According to my calculations, this is my last post, so I’ve made my goal!

 

December has been such a busy month, full of unexpected events. I’m amazed at all that has happened here in Foumban over the past month. More than just this month, though, it’s incredible to look back over the year to see how God has led and directed, how he has answered prayer. One year ago, I didn’t think I would be back in Cameroon this year. But God had other plans. Lately, I’ve been asked repeatedly, “What are your plans for next year?” Honestly, I have no idea. I’m not planning on returning to Cameroon at this point, but Africa is still in my blood. (Anyone in Africa need a short-termer this coming school year? J) I know God will lead me exactly where he wants me, and that’s really exciting!

 

More immediately, we have busy months ahead of us as well. Friday, I leave to head into the bush for a week for a medical evangelistic outreach. I’m so excited for this opportunity! Hopefully, I’ll have much to tell when I return. The next week, the Loeschers are returning to Cameroon from a 6 months furlough. We’re all eagerly anticipating their return and everything that entails! Who knows—there may even be a move happening sometime in the next few months. Life has a funny way of surprising us. But, in the midst of everything, what a comfort it is to serve a faithful, dependable God. He is the God who always was and always will be.

December Post #9

It’s hard to believe that Christmas has already come and gone. We just had our last of the Christmas parties tonight. We’ve had quite the bout of festivities, starting with the missionary Christmas party last Friday. We enjoyed a great spread of food, a rousing round of Christmas Taboo, and a great Christmas recital by the kids. A lot of work went into preparing for the night, but it was enjoyed by all. I was especially proud of my violin/piano students. They all did such a great job. I know they worked hard for their performances.

We’ve had several other get-togethers, but our busiest day by far was Christmas Day. You’ve never experienced a progressive dinner until you’ve experienced it African style! Christmas here is a big day for visiting friends and family. So, armed with a few small gifts for people, Ellen, C, and I headed out to visit. We started off at Marie-Claire’s home, the lady who helps us out around the house. She had prepared a giant feast, and she insisted that we load up our plates. I had taro (a starch prepared similarly to mashed potatoes) with a spicy sauce, ndole (a sauce made from pistaches and a plant similar to spinach), a noodle mixture, chicken, and fish. And that was a small portion! I’m sure Marie-Claire would have preferred to load our plates up, but we told her that she was only our first stop of the day.

After Marie-Claire’s, we stopped by the homes of two ladies from our church. We didn’t want to eat food there but just wanted to greet each of them, so those visits were a little shorter. At 3:00, we were then scheduled to eat with another family. The wife prepared a peanut sauce with chicken for us. They also insisted that we try their folere, a drink made by boiling dried hibiscus flowers in water. I must say, peanut sauce is my favorite African dish so far, so I especially enjoyed this stop. But, by this time, we were getting pretty full, and we had one more food stop to make. The three of us felt like we rolled into that last home. Karen, the wife, had prepared a feast! Her food looked incredible—she even had prepared pork. But we were so full, we could just shove a few bites down. Then the three of us sat on the couch, basically in a comatose stage.

After that stop, Ellen and I dropped C off at home before we stopped in at two more homes. The last family we visited was our national pastor and his wife Julianna. I told Julianna that we were stuffed and we definitely couldn’t eat any more food. She then proceeded to try to feed us more food, but I held off. I think bad things would have happened had I eaten another bite!

I must say, this was probably the most unique Christmas I’ve ever experienced. I’m more of a homebody, so to me, the perfect Christmas would be spent at home. But, I had a wonderful Christmas; I’m so glad I was able to visit with people from our church and spend the time with them.

December Post #8

(written December 19, 2012) Today nearly all of the missionaries got an early Christmas present. C went the post office today and came back with about 10 packages! Ellen, C, the family, and I all got at least one package. (Actually, Ellen and the family got about 5 packages.) It seems so strange that all the packages came in on the same day, so I think the packages must have been held up in Douala. I could go on for hours about how excited I am that I got a package, but I won’t. That would bore everyone, including my mother who sent me the package, to tears.   We’re in the final stretch of the week. Just two more days of school! I gave my 6th graders a math test today that they completely bombed. I’m still not sure what I’m going to do about that tomorrow, and it’s nearly midnight. Oops. I think I’m just going to erase their answers on part of the test and have them retake it. I don’t completely fault them because I know that their teacher’s strength is NOT math.   Friday, we have our missionary Christmas party and recital. I put together a program for the kids’ pieces. I was feeling inspired that night, so there’s a theme for the program (“A Light Shined: A Meditation on Christ’s Incarnation”) taken from Isaiah 9:2: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has a light shined.” I’m not completely positive about the grammatical correctness of my title. It sounds a little awkward, but I wanted to take the title straight from the Scripture passage.   Saturday, the ladies are eating a special dinner with the Barillas. During Christmas Eve, Ellen, C, and I are planning on having a special Christmas meal at some time during the day. We have a special program at church that night. We’ll have a Christmas Day breakfast (featuring the hollandaise sauce that I got in my package) before C has to head out to Foumbot for their Christmas program. Then, I start school back up with the Barillas on Wednesday. Thursday, the ladies are heading over to the other family's for another special dinner. (I think everyone feels badly for the single ladies. I do too—we’ll probably each gain 10 pound next week!) And mixed into that schedule, we’ll probably be visiting some of our church family for their Christmas celebrations. All that to say, I’m heading into a busy week!   I’m sure many of you are busy celebrating Christmas with family and friends this coming week. In the midst of your busy schedules, I encourage you to take time to meditate on the Light that came to bring salvation to a darkened world, the real reason for the holiday. Merry Christmas!

December Post #7

(written December 17, 2012) With dry season comes the burning of the brush and grass that has spread and grown like crazy during rainy season. In the past week, we’ve had two near misses with fires set near our house.   The first incident occurred Friday afternoon, when I was up at one of the family's teaching violin lessons. From the accounts from C and Ellen, though, it sounds like they had a few tense moments. Frankie, our 10-year old neighbor, decided to burn some of the weeds at the bottom of the hill behind our house. He just needed a small fire, but somehow that fire got out of hand and shot right up the hill, burning everything in its path. At the top of the hill stands a line of towering pine trees. The fire actually started to burn several of those trees. C happened to look out her window and noticed all of the trees burning. If those burning trees toppled over, our house could easily have caught on fire. So she and Ellen went to talk to Frankie. He was trying his best to set out the fires, one cup full of water at a time. Finally, the ladies decided to call Frankie’s father, Youssef. Youssef, who is also our landlord, rushed home and got the situation under control.   On Saturday, we had a ladies’ meeting at our house. At the end of the meeting, we were sitting around talking, and we all heard a large fire crackling nearby. When the noise grew too loud to ignore, we all headed outside to see the fire. This one was in front of our house in a field right down the hill from us. Apparently, some young kids had set the field on fire. When they realized the fire was out of control, however, they ran away. God was so gracious in his protection of us, though. Just a few minutes before we went to check on the fire, our electricity went out. Apparently, electrical current can speed a fire along. We stood watching the blaze, waiting to see what would happen to the fire. And just as quickly as the fire had flamed up, it went out. Minutes after the fire burned out, our electricity came back on. It’s so neat to be able to see God’s protection in such specific ways.

December Post #6

(written December 16, 2012) Often, I’m asked why the missionary kids here don’t attend the public schools here in Cameroon. Well, I suppose there are many reasons for that, but one of them is that the school system here is drastically different from that in the States. The difference in systems would cause a lot of problems when the missionaries return home on furlough and try to put their children into a Christian school in the States. The transition would be unbelievably difficult.   The school system here is very confusing to me, one who is only acquainted with the American and Quebec school systems. I believe it’s formatted similarly to the French school system. I’ve tried to understand the grades levels, but part of the problem is that the system is different for the English speakers and for the French speakers. Somehow, the English schools name their classes differently than the French schools do. For instance, the equivalent to the American 12th grade year is the “terminal” class in the francophone system. I believe that to the Anglophones, that same class is year 6. (But don’t quote me on that. Like I said before, I don’t really understand the system.)   Well, just this week, each student received his report card from the tests that the students recently took. Two of our little neighbor kids ran over to our house, thrilled to show us their grades. I wasn’t home, but C and Ellen gave me a report of the event. Both of these children are Fulani, speaking only Fulfulde at home. In fact, I don’t think either of their parents speak much French at all, if any. Last year, we could barely communicate with these children, but since they’ve gone to school, I’ve noticed some improvements in their conversational French. Well, Ellen and C looked at the report cards, ready to praise the two children for their grades. Then, at the bottom of one of the report cards, Ellen read, “Mal fait.” In other words: “Badly done.” At the bottom of the other report card, a note read, “Dernier de la classe”—“Last in the class.” Ellen and C were both a little shocked at the notes. Then, the kids eagerly asked, “Can we have some candy?” The older boy that came over with the two little ones said, “But they don’t deserve candy—they didn’t do well at all!” But Ellen didn’t have the heart to refuse them. Ellen was pretty concerned for the kids’ schooling, and she asked me what I thought about helping them learn to read. I did consider the proposal, but teaching a child to read is not an easy task. It’s not something I’m trained for, and it would be a HUGE undertaking. I’m sure these two are not the first children to struggle with reading. They’re probably a little behind because of their lack of communication in French at home, but I’m sure they’ll catch on eventually, even without my help.

December Post #5

We’re continuing to plod along in school. With my 6th graders, I’m trying to cram in several lessons a day in certain subjects. Their mom would like us to be completely finished with the school year when I leave at the end of April, so we have quite a goal set before us. By next Friday when we finish for Christmas break, I’m planning on being two-thirds of the way through our Reading textbook. Of course, some subjects aren’t quite as easy to work through quickly. Math is one of those subjects that requires more thought. But, I have been trying to get in two lessons a day when we happen among an easier lesson.   In English, the kids are working on writing their research reports. Research papers are such an important part of any college curriculum, so I’m glad that our elementary curriculum is emphasizing research from an early age. There’s so much involved in a research paper. Just documenting the sources can be overwhelming. But, hopefully by the time the kids hit college, research papers will be no big deal, and they’ll be able to document their sources with their eyes closed.   Today, one teacher and I were talking about school next semester. The Loeschers are coming back the middle of January, so with the Loeschers will come their three school-age kids. The Loeschers and another family have worked it so that their kids are in the same grades. Usually this facilitates home-schooling. However, the problem this year is that we’re short on teachers. Right now the kids are doing a lot of classes via DVDs, but I’m not sure how well that will work when the Loeschers come back. We’re praying that the Lord will provide us with another home-school teacher to come in January with the Loeschers. Anyone interested? Would you please pray with us that God will provide in this area? The other teacher and I did talk about a plan to put into effect if we don’t get another teacher, but it will require a lot of extra work from everyone. But, I’m trusting that God has a perfect plan, and I’m excited to see how he’s going to work out this situation.   This week, life and school have gone fairly smoothly. As one of the ladies mentioned to me today, I think this may be the calm before the storm of when the Loeschers return. When I look ahead at the months to come, I’m overwhelmed by all that we have going on here. But, I’m thankful that God only expects me to face one day at a time. He is always faithful to provide the grace that I need for that one day.

December Post #4

(written December 9, 2012, but not posted correctly)

Here in Foumban, we live in the very heart of the Bamoun tribe. The sultan himself lives in our town, and in fact, we live in (one) of the former queens’ homes. (And yes, my grammar is correct in the previous sentence. This is the home of one of the multiple former queens.) It seems just about everyone we run into is related to the sultan in one way or another. Of course, that’s what happens when the king has multiple wives.

 

This past week was a week of cultural celebration for the Bamoun tribe. The Ngoun celebrations centered here in Foumban. Apparently, Ngoun has been celebrated for over 550 years! In preparation for the festivities, the town set up a huge celebration site—bulldozing the fairgrounds, setting up tents, putting in lampposts, leveling the roads. It was a huge event! The “fairgrounds” themselves were pretty impressive. I heard from many people that the grounds looked like the Denver airport, but seeing how I’ve never been to the Denver airport, I really can’t compare it to that. Instead, the grounds looked to me like a cross between a medieval jousting arena and an Olympic village. A very odd mix, I know, but that’s how my mind decided to describe it.

 

We went up and visited the site a few times, both times during the day. Surprisingly, neither time was very crowded. On Saturday, the market was jam-packed. It took Rachel and me about an hour to navigate through the market just to get home. We even saw 13 different white people we didn’t know—an incredible fact considering there are only about 2 other white people in Foumban apart from the missionaries. But, despite the congestion in town, the fairgrounds were pretty uncrowded. We found out later there was a big event at the sultan’s palace. The sultan himself was being judged by a committee to see what type of ruler he had been during the past few years. Apparently, during that judging, he was even dethroned for a time.

 

The big celebrations occurred during the evening. We never went to the fairgrounds during those events, but we could hear the music all the way at our house (and we’re probably about a mile away from the event). I can only imagine how loud everything must have been on location!

 

December Post #3

Watching the two girls over the past week made me think a lot about parenting. Not that I ever really thought parenting to be an easy task, but wow—I was exhausted yesterday after giving all of my energies to entertaining a 5^th and 7^th grader for an entire week! I think the girls started the week a little more hesitant of Ellen: she’s usually stricter with her rules. About half way through the week, though, the girls realized that they weren’t going to get away with much from me either. At one point, the girls admitted they were no longer afraid of Aunt Ellen. Then the youngest piped up and said, “But Miss Rachelle is scary now.” (This was said while I was telling her to finish all of her dinner, saying if she didn’t, then she would eat it for breakfast cold.) I told her simply that she was experiencing me in a different setting from school. I don’t actually interact with the youngest at school. Her mom teaches her and takes care of her lesson plans, so she hasn’t experienced me much as an authority.

 

This week, I started giving Emily piano lessons. She’s gifted in music, but she hasn’t been pushed in piano lately like she should be. So, Rachel asked me if I could start teaching Emily, mainly to keep her accountable. Africa is bringing me all kinds of “firsts.” Teaching piano is another one of those firsts. I assigned Emily about 5 pieces (including scales) to practice over the week, but I’m fairly certain she’ll be bored after just a day or two of practicing. She sight read several songs nearly perfectly. But, I figured I’ll give her a break since this is just her first week of lessons. J

 

I’m also moving forward with Kelsey’s violin lessons. We finally have a violin her size!! She’s having a very hard time holding her bow, so I’m not being too picky about her hold. After all, she is only 4. I’m also having trouble knowing how to teach her note values. She can do various rhythms fine (like “Mississippi Hotdog”); I just don’t know how to get her to understand the difference between half notes, quarter notes, and eighth notes. Any thoughts or suggestions on that? I also need to build her a contraption to put on her violin to help guide her bow. She’s going all over the place with her bow. But I think I saw some pipe cleaners the other day here at home that I’ll use to make something.

 

It’s 8:30 Saturday morning. I think I’ve procrastinated enough getting out of bed. It’s time to face another busy day!

 

December Post #2

(written Wednesday, December 5, 2012)
One thing I’m really enjoying about this self-blog-challenge is that I don’t have to think up a post title. I really am not a good titler (one who titles things). I often leave email subject lines blank just because I can’t think of what to write in. The most creative I get is usually “Hi” or “Hey.”

 This week continues to be a strange, busy week. It’s strange in several senses; the main way being that Ellen and I are still babysitting the girls. In fact, we’ll probably have them through Friday if not longer than that. We’re plugging away at school, but sometimes I feel like I’m pulling tooth and nail (or whatever that expression is). The puzzle that we’re working on together naturally has a greater appeal than schoolwork or homework or violin practice, so that’s not helping matters.

When C found out that her aunt and uncle were coming, she asked if the pastors would like her uncle (who is a pastor) to speak at special conference for the churches. The men agreed to the idea and set up the details. The conference was scheduled for today from 2-6 p.m. However, C's aunt and uncle still haven’t made it to Cameroon due to visa complications. There just happened to be another pastor and his wife who are visiting Cameroon this week. When the complications with the first conference speaker arose, the men arranged for this other visiting pastor to be the speaker for the conference. I was able to attend all of the conference sessions today. The theme was the family—a very needed topic here since we have so few strong families in our congregations.

The Lord was so gracious in orchestrating events so that the conference could go on. We were even able to split up for one session, and the men and women were able to hear separate challenges. Unexpectedly, I ended up translating for the women’s session. I’m not entirely sure if the French speakers fully understand the message or not. But I am fully confident that God’s Word is not limited by my translating abilities. And the women were very gracious and understanding, helping me when I got stuck on a word or phrase.

And of course, no conference in Africa is complete without a little excitement. I could give examples of excitement from a conference I attended in Kenya, but I’ll limit this post to Cameroon for obvious reasons. Before the first session started, we were singing a few congregationals, and I noticed one of the men went outside rather quickly, looking around for something. He then came back inside and motioned to another man to come out. That second man then came inside, pulled a stick out of a closet, and then walked back outside. By this point, I had figured it out: there was a snake outside. I started laughing out loud; it was a rather amusing situation. Well, the snake slithered away before the men could kill it, and they both came back into the building. One of the men carefully positioned himself by the door, and I noticed that during the first session, he frequently glanced out the door, checking for the snake.

Between sessions, more men were made aware of the situation. The national pastor came inside and asked Ellen for her car keys. When she asked why he wanted them, he replied that it was probably best if she didn’t know. The men searched all around her car for the snake, even popping the hood to see if the snake had squeezed in there. All of their efforts were to no avail, however. The snake (a small green one according to reports) vanished to safety.

December Post 1

Last week, I was looking over the blogs I’ve posted this semester, and I realized I’ve been rather neglectful in the world of blogging. My goal for this month, therefore, was to post 10 blog entries. Then, life happened (like it tends to do), and I fear I may not reach that goal. But, as Confucius said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” So I will begin my journey of 10 blogs this month with one.

As I mentioned, life just got really busy. Ellen and I are babysitting for two of younger girls while their parents headed down to Yaoundé with C to pick up her pastor and his wife. The girls got dropped off early Saturday morning, and the parents were planning on coming back tonight, but things got a little complicated. So, what was just going to be me juggling homeschool with the kids for one day has turned into an indefinite number of days. Day one of school went pretty well. We didn’t quite get everything done—one of the girls had a test that took a very long time—but overall, school went well.

We’re trying to do some fun things together while the girls are here. We baked Christmas cookies on Sunday—sugar cookies with candy cane kisses to be exact. I may pull out another recipe if we need another time-filler sometime this week. Tonight, the girls and I also started working on a puzzle. It’s a 500-piece puzzle. I’m not sure if I’ve ever done a puzzle over 150 pieces. We’ll have to see how this one goes, and if we all have the endurance to keep going to the end.

Blog post number one—check!