Thanksgiving, Cameroon Style

Tonight was one of those nights when I thought to myself, “Wow, I really am in Africa!” What happened, you might ask, to bring that thought to your mind? Well, I was lying on my bed, in complete darkness due to a power outage, listening to drums beating. Around that time, I was also contemplating taking a cold bucket bath by candle light. Beating drums and candle-lit baths do not happen every night, especially not in conjunction with each other, hence the realization I had.

 

We had  a wonderful Thanksgiving here in Foumban, Cameroon. The Barillas hosted Thanksgiving for all the missionaries around us. We had a great group of about 35 or so, and we were not lacking for food. We did use our imagination to pretend the chicken was turkey, but other than that, we got to enjoy traditional, American Thanksgiving food. I even got to enjoy my personal favorites: sweet potato casserole and cranberry sauce. One of the missionary ladies even shared with me her recipe for making cranberry salad from craisins. Let me tell you, her concoction tasted pretty authentic! (Of course, anything she makes is incredible.)

 

We are not lacking in fun here in Cameroon, either. Thursday night, we had 11 ladies spending the night at our house. It was definitely a full house, but we made the most of it, playing game after game until about 10:30 or 11 at night. (And that’s considered late here in Cameroon!) Conveniently, the power was off, so we didn’t have much difficulty ending the night with a rousing game of sardines in the dark. It’s incredible how hard it can be to find someone in pitch dark, without any street lights reflecting into the house. I may have been just about the last person to find the hider, but it was still fun!

 

On Friday, we continued our festivities by heading to our “water-park.” For those of you who may not remember from previous mentions last year, our water park is a river sourced by a natural spring with various pools and small waterfalls. I think we ended up having 7 kids and 6 ladies go on the excursion, and we all had a blast! All of the kids braved the rocky waterslide down the miniature waterfall. (Nothing grandiose, mind you, but still scary for some.) The youngest, the 4-year-old, however, had absolutely no fear of the water. She spent all afternoon watching the rest of the kids enjoy the waterfall, before deciding that she couldn’t leave without trying it. She finally told me, “Miss Rachelle, all of the other kids are having fun, and I want to have fun too.” I was nearly completely dry at this point, but I decided to give in to her plea. I eased into the freezing water, set her on my lap, and slowly scooted myself over bumpy rocks. Finally, we sat perched at the top of the big foot drop. (Like I said, this was a small waterfall.) Although that may not sound like much, I was a little nervous—not for me, but for the four-year-old on my lap who couldn’t swim. But, I finally pushed myself over the last rock and slid down. It was fun! I held the little one with one arm, and when we hit the water, she just naturally floated.

 

Of course, her immediate response was, “Let’s do it again, Miss Rachelle!” And so we did, three more times. By the fourth time down, however, my body had sustained enough scrapes and bruises protecting the little one from the rocks. She hadn’t felt any of the rocks, so she was still eager for another ride down. I was able to pass her off, and she took two more trips down the waterfall. Despite the fact that I’m still sore today, I have absolutely no regrets!

Bureaucracy Excitement

I’m so sorry for the long silence. At first, I was waiting for something interesting to happen so that I could write about it. Life was kind of stuck in the routine mode. Then, some excitement happened, and I couldn’t get on the internet. And now, I’m just procrastinating the writing part. So, I’m out of excuses, plain and simple. Allow me to fulfill my duty to you faithful blog readers.

 

Last Saturday night, Ellen and I found ourselves packing for a last minute trip to Yaoundé. I think I had 11 hours notice of the trip, and I was supposed to teach that week. But, we got the basic details squared away and headed down to the capital city to help a fellow missionary get visas for his two adopted children. Let me say from the get-go, this was no vacation! This missionary and his wife are from Canada, and they’re heading back to Canada in order for the wife to deliver. Last month the family was planning on heading back to Canada; however, the two adopted kids’ visas weren’t granted. The wife and three of the children were able to fly out, while the husband and the two other children stayed in Cameroon. Ellen and I headed down to help out with Yaoundé traffic and navigation and language translation.

 

During this trip, I got to experience the joys of African government efficiency. Monday, we had a doctor’s appointment at 8:00 a.m. for the two children. When we arrived at the doctor’s office, the lady who was helping us said we needed some more paperwork and passport pictures. Of course, she couldn’t provide us with the paperwork, so we had to find somewhere to print them out. Now, in the States, you would most likely drive to the nearest pharmacy to print some passport pictures. In Cameroon, it’s even easier to find someone to print out passport pictures. There are “booths” set up all along the side of the road, designed to help with picture and printing needs. Anyhow, we got what we needed and headed back to the doctor’s a few hours later.

 

This time, the lady said we needed to pay for the children’s physicals and then head across town to get an x-ray on the oldest. We could then come back at 4:00 to try to see the doctor. (Later, we found out that the doctor didn’t even come in until 2:00 p.m. I won’t even try to figure out why our appointment to see her was scheduled for 8:00 a.m., before she even came in to the office.) We managed to find the medical center for the x-ray. We waited around for a while, but we did manage to get the x-ray. Finally, at 4:00, we headed back to the doctor’s office. We sat in the outside waiting room for a while, and then finally an assistant came out to see us. Unfortunately, he did not bring good news. He told us the doctor was too busy to see us, so we’d have to come back the next day.

 

Up to this point, I had let Ellen do most of the translating, but I realized I needed to speak up. Ellen had told the man that we needed to see the doctor today because they would be “traveling” on Wednesday. He just didn’t understand the extent of this travel. I essentially said, “No. We need to see the doctor TODAY. We need to send the visa paperwork off TOMORROW so that they can FLY on Wednesday.” The man just stared at me, realizing that we did indeed need to see the doctor that day. (Oh, and a little detail I forgot: There is no Canadian immigration in Cameroon. Any visa applications need to be processed in Senegal. And, the Senegal immigration office phones do not work. Their offices cannot be contacted.) The man finally responded saying he would talk to the doctor and see what she could do.

 

Finally, a little after 6:00 p.m. (8 hours after our “scheduled” appointment), we got to see the doctor. When she learned a little more about what was needed, she took a look at the paperwork we had filled out and started laughing. She told us that with that paperwork, the children wouldn’t leave Cameroon for another 6 months. This was the paperwork for adopting children and never bringing them back to the country. But, because the missionary was just bringing his kids to Canada for a visit, the process suddenly became much simpler. After all the money and gas and time that was spent running around Yaoundé for various requirements, all that was needed was a handwritten statement from the doctor that the children were in good health. That was all.

 

While the situation was rather frustrating, I’m still thankful for how God worked. There could have been so many more complications than there were. As it is, that family is now happily reunited in Canada, after over a month’s separation. I also learned some important things about paperwork in Africa: Don’t expect it to be resolved in one meeting or one day. And, visiting Yaoundé always has its perks. Like chicken, and pizza, and Chinese. And the artisan market. I LOVE the artisan market! I bought a few presents, including my own Christmas present.

 

I have another praise of God’s working. On the way home, we had to stop in Bafoussam, a city an hour away from us, to get my temporary residency card extended. It expired on Wednesday, so on Wednesday, Ellen and I booked it back from Yaoundé to Bafoussam (a trip that takes about 4 hours). We weren’t sure what time the office closed, but we really had to get the card dated that day. We pulled into Bafoussam at about 3:45, and I ran up the stairs, into the chef’s office. I probably looked like a crazy woman after traveling all day, but I didn’t care. I just wanted him to extend my card. And 10 minutes later, I walked out of the office, stamped card in hand. Apparently, the office normally closes at 3:30, but for some reason, they were still open, and the chef was still there at 3:45. What a blessing from God!

The Many Hats of a Missionary

Missionaries (particularly in Africa, I believe) tend to wear several different hats when the need arises. I’ve heard stories of missionaries acting as surgeons and hearse drivers, just to name a few. Obviously, that’s just a small sampling of what may happen in Africa. Yesterday was one of those days when all kinds of things happen.

I started out the day in the kitchen acting as cook and dishwasher, well, and janitor, too, I guess. I had to make kettle corn for a ladies’ Bible study we had in the afternoon. Typically, when I make kettle corn, I ending up creating a disaster zone out of the kitchen with popcorn and sugar all over the floor, counter, and stove. Yesterday morning, after my first batch of popcorn, I was ready to extol the virtues of kettle corn—there were only two pieces of popcorn lying on the floor at this point. And then I made a second batch. Never mind my previous pleasant thoughts towards kettle corn. During this batch, I dumped popcorn on the floor, flung sugar around the kitchen, and burnt my arm (not badly, mind you, but burnt it none the less). I decided that laughing was probably the best option at this point.  

In the early afternoon, I acted as a teacher’s assistant for our Bible club. We had a large group of about nine kids show up at our house around 1:00. These kids had stopped by a few Saturdays ago after Bible club was over. I told them the Creation story, although they seemed more interested in financial aid than spiritual aid. This week, they stopped by for some water on their way home from gathering fire wood. Ellen was able to detain them long enough to hear another Bible story. Although some of the kids appeared to be listening well, they once again wanted food and taxi money more than anything else. We had to tell the kids that they were welcome to come to Bible club, but it’s not a time for us to provide for their physical needs. We want them to come to Bible club so that they can learn about Christ and how he can fill our spiritual needs. It’s a hard thing to know how to help in such situations.

Later that afternoon, I went to the ladies’ Bible study. Our pastor’s wife began a study through the book of Revelation. This is quite a book to take on, but the ladies seem very interested in the challenge. During the Bible study, I unexpectedly had to take on the role of translator. I love the French language, but I definitely feel poorly equipped to be a translator. But, God can work in spite of my inadequacies: I think the ladies understood the main concepts Julianna was presented to them.

And my evening ended rather eventfully when I took on the role of plumber. Ellen’s sink has been backed up, so I scoured the internet looking for home remedies for unclogging a stopped up sink. I stumbled upon a recipe involving baking soda, vinegar, and salt. I poured the combination down the sink and waited. And then I waited some more. The sink was still stopped up. C suggested that I unscrew the pipes to clean out the junk, but Ellen’s sink has a pedestal, and I didn’t think I could get to the necessary pipes. So I tried shoving a metal wire down the sink to see if I could loosen anything up. I then realized that the baking soda and salt had not dissolved as I thought it would. Extreme measures were now necessary. I tried to find a small bucket that would fit into the space behind the pedestal so that I could try to avoid making a mess when I unscrewed the pipes. Then, to my great relief, I realized that the pedestal could actually be removed. So, I unscrewed the necessary pipes, and out plopped a large clump of baking soda and salt. I’m not sure if my home remedy cleared anything out of the pipes, but the sink now drains properly. In a few days, however, I fear I may have to take up that hat once again.

Like I’ve said before, every day brings new adventures. I’m rather dreading the day in which I will have to don my nursing assistant hat! That day will probably come sooner than I wish it to.

Bible Club

(Note: I wrote this post on Sunday, October 21 but just realized I never posted it. So sorry!) On Saturdays, Ellen and I have a Bible club with the children that live around us. Yesterday was our fourth meeting. We started at creation, and the plan is to just keep going. To this point, Ellen has been the one teaching the children. I’ve been doing a little crowd control and helping with the songs. Ellen was helping someone move yesterday morning. Since she wasn’t sure how long that would take, she asked me to prepare the lesson. We typically only have French speaking children attend the Bible club, so I prepared the lesson in French. Ellen actually came home in time for Bible club. We ended up having two English speaking kids come, so I taught in French and Ellen translated for me. We had a very small group of kids: just two English speakers, one French speaker, and one little girl that I don’t think understands French or English. But I had a great time teaching. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to teach a little more in the future. Our Bible study usually goes from about 2:00-3:00. Yesterday, around 4:30, Ellen was getting ready to head out the door, when a knock came at the door. I went to the door, and there stood five children of varying ages. I didn’t recognize them, and I couldn’t understand what they wanted, so I went to get Ellen. Well, Ellen didn’t really understand what they wanted either. They said that they had met her, and she had told them to come by her house. She didn’t remember any of this. Finally, though, she was able to figure out that she had invited them to Bible club. They were only a few hours late.  Since Ellen was heading out, she asked me if I would be interested in giving them a Bible lesson. I decided to start from the very beginning with them, figuring they hadn’t had much Bible exposure. So, I taught them about creation. Honestly, I don’t believe any of them had ever heard the biblical account of creation, let alone any story from the Bible. It was such a privilege to share this account from Scripture with them! I’m not sure if they’ll come back next week or not. They had to gather wood in the morning, and I’m assuming that’s something they do every Saturday. But I’m so thankful that I was able to share at least one account from Scripture with them. Today in church, one of the boys that came to Bible club yesterday asked me if he could invite his friends. I would love it if we could get a larger group of kids out this coming Saturday! His little sister asked, “Can I come again this Saturday?” When I told her it was every Saturday, she was very excited. Please pray for the children that we come into contact through Bible club. Pray that God would give clear understanding of His Word, and that He would change hearts, even through these Bible stories. I know that God cares about even the smallest of the children. In Mark 10:14, Jesus said, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.”

The Adventure of Ordinary Days

It’s so hard to believe that October is nearly over. Where did the month go?! Here in Cameroon, we’ve kept busy with school, traveling, househunting, and so much more. Unfortunately, I’ve really only been able to participate in the school part of that list. I did get to enjoy a mini-vacation when the Barillas went out of town for a few days. I stayed at their house to take care of their dogs, and I got to sleep in for four school days because two of their kids are my students. It was wonderful not having to go to school until 11:00 am. I’m definitely going to miss those few days! However, as nice as it was to sleep in, I’m excited to have all of my students again starting tomorrow.   Another great thing about watching the Barillas’ house for them was that I got to enjoy their internet. They have a much faster system than we do at our house, so I got to Skype my mom and several friends. It was such a blessing to be able to talk to everyone. Just about every evening I was at the Barillas, I had a Skype meeting set up with someone. I was definitely spoiled!   Every day is literally an adventure in Cameroon. One night, while I was still at my house, I was just about to go to sleep when I heard a sound I couldn’t place. I listened very intently, and all of a sudden, I realized I was hearing running water. I got out of bed and headed to the bathroom, convinced I was hearing things. But sure enough: out of my sink faucet was running a beautiful stream of water. Now, running water is a wonderful thing, no matter what country you live in. (If you don’t believe me, try going without it for one day. In other words, haul water, wash your dishes and clothes by hand, flush your toilets with a bucket, and take a bucket bath. You’ll appreciate your running water pretty quickly.) However, running water is especially exciting in Cameroon. Since I first came over to Cameroon in August 2011, the house I live in has not seen one single drop of water out of the faucets. The water I saw that night streaming out of my faucet was literally the first running water I have ever seen in this house. It was an exciting moment to say the least. I even washed my hands, just to use the faucet and running water. I felt like a small child at Christmas, overwhelmed by presents. It was just that great of a feeling. (And I do want to clarify that I’m not trying to complain about our lack of water. Actually, I’ve become quite adept at conserving water. I still have my struggles, however. For instance, tonight I was trying to pour a pitcher of water back into the barrel we keep our water in. I missed and ended up pouring the entire pitcher all over the floor instead of into the barrel. Yeah. That was a fail.)   Later that week, we had another exciting event at our house. Unfortunately, I wasn’t home to enjoy this one. Friday morning, Ellen and C heard the neighbor kids outside suddenly start yelling, “Serpent! Serpent!” Sure enough. There was a baby snake on our water tower. Their father came out a handled the situation flawlessly, getting rid of that snake menace once and for all. Come to find out, it was a baby black mamba. Apparently, the baby snakes are more dangerous than the adult ones because the baby ones can’t control their venom. When they bite a person, they unleash all of their poison into that one bite. Adult snakes portion out their venom, so I’m told.   Well, tomorrow it’s back to the regular grind of school. However, since we’re in Africa, we never know what adventure may lie around the corner!

Seeing God Work

On Sunday, we had a guest speaker preach in the morning service. This man’s name is Godlove, and he and his wife are starting a new ministry in a town about four hours away from us. It was a huge encouragement to hear of their ministry. They are having Bible studies in the town of Bafia as well as in two neighboring villages. God is really doing a work in that area, but it’s going to take a lot of prayer and diligent hard work. Godlove actually grew up in our town of Foumban, and I believe he was saved in our church as well. His message on Sunday was definitely from the heart. He spoke on the topic of hypocrisy, asking those in the service to examine their motives. Why is it that we come to church? How committed are we to Christ? Godlove shared some personal examples from his life, examples that hit home in the lives of the congregation. This was definitely the message that the Lord had laid on his heart. He preached passionately and sincerely from the Word of God. He did go a little longer in the service than we’re used to. In fact, I believe this was the longest message I’ve sat in—Godlove must have preached for an hour and a half. I don’t think, though, that the time was a distraction to most. I believe the Spirit was really working in the hearts of those in attendance that morning. Please continue to pray that God’s Word would truly change lives here in Foumban.

Today I got to go to the church plant in Foumbot with two of the ladies. I typically go to the church here in Foumban on Sundays, and on Wednesdays, I go to Foumbot to help out with various Bible studies and to attend their prayer meeting. God is doing a work in Foumbot, and it’s so exciting to watch. The number of faithful attendees has really grown in Foumbot. I think last week we had a record of eleven adults (not including any missionaries or our national pastor) in the prayer meeting. That’s a larger number than we often have at the prayer meeting in Foumban. Today I was able to go with one of the ladies while she held a Bible study with some English speaking ladies. This was the first Bible study they’ve been able to have in several weeks due to sickness and other complications. I believe there were a total of seven ladies that sat in the room during the Bible study. Three of those ladies have given a profession of salvation, and one has been baptized at our church. The other ladies were just friends and relatives, but they sat and listened. There are so many needs around us. In our own strength, we can’t help meet any of those needs, but God’s Word is powerful and can reach even the hardest of hearts. I’m so excited to see how God will continue to work in the ministries in Foumban and Foumbot.

I experienced the greatest answer to prayer tonight. I believe it was last week that I posted about the various violin issues we’ve been having. On Monday, I took home the violin that lost its sound post. The reinserting of the sound post was not something I was looking forward to doing, so I put it off and put it off. Finally, tonight, I decided that I just needed to try to put the sound post back in place. Even if it didn’t work, I could at least say I had started to work on the violin. I found a web site with information on properly inserting the sound post, and I pulled out my tools: a pair of pliers and two bobby pins. Bobby pins are a wonderful invention. As I set to work on the violin, I just kept praying, “Lord, guide this sound post. I have no idea what I’m doing, but you know where this needs to go.” I had a few failed attempts. I spent more time fishing the bobby pins or the sound post out of the violin, but in just about 30 minutes, the sound post was in place. I tested the violin out, and it sounds acceptable! God is so good!  He even cares about the little things, like violin sound posts.

Adventures in Violin Land

I’ve seen my violin students make great progress already this year on their instruments. Lately, after lessons, I’ve been almost giddy with excitement because of how the lesson went. I had violin lessons with the two older Barilla kids yesterday and lessons with two of the other girls today. All of the lessons went incredibly well once again this week. I’m more organized; I’m expecting more of the students; and I’m seeing a huge difference. Each of my student’s is showing great focus and improvement from lesson to lesson. I’m thrilled with their hard work!   For a while now, one of my students has been complaining of pain in his bow wrist when he plays. The pain starts just five minutes into his practice time. Now, pain is never a good thing. While there may not be a serious problem right now, something is sure to develop after playing the wrong way for an extended period of time. I had given him a few suggestions, mainly telling him to always keep a loose wrist, but it was hard for him to know how to actually “do” the theory I was presenting to him. Since I have a better internet connection this year, I decided to scour the internet to find some help. I didn’t find too much information, but I did find one website with tips on relaxing while playing. Last week, the two of us worked on how to loosen up before practicing. We stretched and wiggled and flopped our arms all around. As crazy as it sounds, the method actually worked. At his lesson yesterday, my student reported that he had rarely felt any pain during the week. And he had a beautiful, relaxed bow hold!   Despite the great progress I’m seeing from the kids, this year has also brought rather unexpected challenges in the violin realm. Now, at this point, I’m going to get pretty technical about violins. Please bear with me, as I try my best to clearly explain the issues.   While I was looking up violin relaxing strategies online, I decided to try to find measurements to help with sizing children to the right violin. The four-year old’s ¼ size violin is just too big, but I wanted to see how close she was to fitting the violin. The wonders of the internet never cease! I found a list of measurements that one violin teacher swears by. Unfortunately, when I measured her, I discovered that she’s several inches away from fitting the ¼ violin. In fact, according to the measurements, she should probably be playing a 1/16! Well, I don’t have access to a 1/16, but I do have an 1/8 at home in the States. I think I’m going to have to try to get that out here sometime this year. Pray that I can keep the four-year old interested in music and in the violin until we can get the smaller instrument out here!   Rainy season in Africa wreaks havoc on violin. There’s so much humidity in the air that parts of the violin begin to swell. Then, just as the violin gets used to all the extra water around, dry season abruptly arrives, causing the wood on the violin to shrink. Right now, we’re nearing the end of rainy season, but it’s definitely leaving a mark on the instruments. One of the instruments in particular is really struggling with the humidity. One of my student’s parents mentioned to me that they were having difficulty tuning one of their instruments. I tried to tune the violin. Sure enough, the pegs had swollen so much, they refused to budge. Well, actually, the part of the peg outside of the violin turned, but the part inside the violin didn’t. At this point, the peg definitely needed to be replaced, so the dad went to work getting the peg out of the violin. I had my student’s mom order a new set of pegs, knowing we would need them. Thankfully, someone was coming over to Cameroon for a short ministry trip, so we were able to get the pegs. Now, one important thing to know about violin pegs is that they have to be fitted for each violin. In Africa, we don’t have violin shops or luthiers. Neither do we have any of the special tools a professional would use. So, we’re going to have to manually sand down the pegs to fit the violin. After that, we’ll have to drill a small hole through the peg so that the string can be strung on the violin. I did a lot of research on the internet (like I said—it’s a wonderful tool!), and I found enough information to reassure myself about the process. Although it won’t necessarily be easy, I think it’s manageable.   If only those were the only problems with that violin…. Naturally, removing the strings from the violin loosened everything else on the violin: the bridge, the tailpiece, all of it. What I didn’t realize was that the tension from the violin also holds the sound post in place. Yesterday, I realized that the sound post had fallen out of place, and I began to despair. (The sound post is located inside the violin and is carefully positioned through the f-hole and secured under the bridge. This is not a location easily accessible. The smallest positioning can severely affect the sound produced from the instrument.) I ran to the internet to scour its resources and find wisdom. Over and over, I read, “Do not attempt to replace the sound post yourself. Take your violin to a professional immediately!” That’s a great recommendation; however, that’s not a feasible solution in Africa. At first, I thought to just leave the violin alone, without worrying about trying to put the sound post back in place. Then, I read how vital the sound post is to supporting the structure of the violin. Who would have thought?!   Well, I figure a working violin is better than a cracked violin, and I’m the best this poor violin has. I believe in the next week or so, I will acquire a new title: violin doctor. Thankfully, the wonderful resource that is the internet explained a little about creating a tool to properly place the sound post into the violin. I also found information about the best location for the sound post. Had I known back in college the things I would one day have to do to a violin, I would have taken a few different classes. But, despite my trepidations regarding this procedure, I’m a little excited to try to replace the sound post. I know this is a rather small issue in the grand scheme of things, but I really would appreciate prayers for wisdom and patience as I work to resolve the violin issues.   Well, maybe after all of these experiments with the violins in Africa, I’ll be brave enough to make my own violin. I have to admit, I think it would be a fun experience to make a violin—especially if the violin ends up sounding good. And truthfully, I don’t think I would trade any of these experiences for anything! I know that even the small incidents in life are a part of God’s plan in making and molding me more into the person of Christ. I’m suddenly reminded of how we, just like an abused, damaged, seemingly worthless violin, are being transformed into priceless treasures in the hands of the Master. Only He can reveal the full potential hidden in weak instruments for His glory!