Surprise Trip

Our household recently acquired a bread machine. Saturday night I decided to try it out to make pepperoni rolls. Of course, I had to taste them as soon as I pulled them out of the oven. That first bite transported me back home!

Life can throw rather unexpected events our way, a fact I’ve found especially true in Africa. Last night it was decided that the two older Loescher girls and I would head to Bandjoun for the week to help out the Wright family. Danny had to fly back to the States for his father’s funeral, so we came down to help Carrie. I think we went through about four plans before we finally decided on this last plan. The trip to Bandjoun takes about an hour on a normal day. The Loeschers picked me up at 2:30. We arrived at the Wrights around 5:30. Yes, the trip ended up taking about three hours. We had to pull over at one point because of overheating issues. The place we stopped at apparently was fly heaven. We opened the car doors and hundreds of flies flew into the car. We hurriedly got out of the car as we attempted to clear out the car. Well, the flies drew more out of the car than just the people that were in the car. Cockroaches began to scurry out of the car doors, possibly hoping to eat some of the flies that were swarming the vehicle. It was disgusting to say the least. Please pray for Carolyn, Elizabeth, and me as we’re helping out the Wrights this week. We want to be a help, not more work for Carrie!

The next two weeks, there’s a medical/dental missions team working in the bush. Please be in prayer for them as well. There’s a large group involved in the trip—about 25 people total I think. I would have loved to have gone on the trip, but obviously, there are already enough people involved. And God knew that I would need to be free to help Carrie out this week.

Trials

Life can be difficult. This week, two very good friends of mine both received very challenging news. What do we do about trials that we encounter in our lives, whether it be a delay in travel plans, car difficulties, or the death of a loved one? How does God expect us to respond? And how can we know whether the difficulties are God’s punishment as a result of sin in our lives or simply the trials that James tells us to expect as believers.

In the midst of any difficulty, the most important thing is that God receives glory. We were created for God’s glory, so naturally everything that we do, say, or think should bring him glory as well. Whatever the reason for our trial, we must examine ourselves carefully to make sure that we are where we need to be spiritually. Is there sin in my life? If so, I must deal with it. Perhaps God is chastising me as a good Father. Truthfully, though, we may never know the reason for the trial we are facing. Who are we that we should expect to understand God’s ways. His ways our higher than our ways. Romans 11:33 states, “Oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways?” I, for one, am thankful for a God that I cannot fully understand. If I, a mere human, could understand him completely, he would no longer be God. A god of my own making is no god at all.

Romans 11 concludes with a wonderful statement: “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever.” Nothing happens to us that God is unaware of. Nothing happens to us that God has not allowed. Nothing happens to us that God does not prepare, equip, and enable us for. Nothing happens to us that God cannot receive the glory for. What an incredible comfort that should be to me! May the prayer of my heart be that he receives the glory no matter the circumstance!

Just a Glimpse



Typical view out of the bus window on the way up north




One of the nomads' "homes"



the nomads



Beautiful sunset on Lake Chad



Rowing with sugarcane




Trip to the Far North (pt. 3: the end)

Sunday morning, we met at the B’s again for church. God brought a large number of people, included a man whom Pastor Julius had led to the Lord during the week. Pastor Julius preached for the main service, and we observed the Lord’s Supper. Afterwards, Loveline brought a short challenge to the four ladies that were there. That was quite a challenge. One of the ladies understood both French and Fulfulde. The other three ladies only understood their tribe language (which I believe was Matal). So, Loveline spoke in English. Rosemary translated to Fulfulde (and then ended up switching to French), and one of the ladies’ husband sat in with us and translated to the tribe language. It felt like a huge game of telephone—we’re not really sure what was taught by the end of the translation. But we’re trusting that God was able to work despite us as He always does!

After a meal with the B's, we had to say our goodbyes and head out. The kids wanted to hide me in their room. They were convinced that no one would realize I was missing. Unfortunately, I had to go. We then started our long trip back down Cameroon. This time, our transportation included a small car, motercycles, a pickup truck, a semi-truck (the bed of it), a few buses, and a train. We had quite a difficult time getting all of our transportation. At one point, we laid on the side of the road (literally) for about two hours before we were able to hitch a ride on the back of a truck. God was faithful every minute, though, even providing us with six first class tickets together on the train ride back (which ended up lasting over 17 hours!). This summary only scratches the surface of all that God did in and through us on this trip. We won’t know until eternity all the details of how God used this trip. Our prayer is that God receive all the glory for the trip: “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name be the glory because of your love and faithfulness!” (Psalm 115:1).

Trip to the Far North (pt. 2: Nomads and Lake Chad)

Friday morning we were able to make several visits with people from the church and with other contacts that the missionaries have in their village. In the afternoon, we headed into the bush to find the nomads. We arrived at our destination a few hours before sunset. The guys got to work setting up the generator, screen, and projector for a showing of the Jesus film later that night. We were able to mingle with the nomads during that time (although most of us couldn’t communicate with them at all). It was incredible to see how these people live. They are true pilgrims. These people herd their cattle across the desert throughout the year. They travel in a fairly predictable pattern, returning to Makary about the same time every year. Compared to the material possessions these people have, we are kings and queens! The nomads don’t even own tents. Their homes consist of a bed covered with a mosquito net and blankets, set up in the middle of the desert. That’s all they have! Someone from our group mentioned that if they were to get saved, they could truly understand the meaning of being in the world but not of it. Once darkness came, we started the movie. I was amazed: in the middle of the desert (with absolutely no electricity or anything), we were able to show the Jesus film! What an experience that was. A total of about 75 people came to the showing. Please continue to pray that the truths shown in the film will impact lives.

Friday night was a rough night. Let me tell you, the nights in the desert get cold—very, very cold. We had each brought a blanket, thinking that would be sufficient. It was not. I was glued to Rosemary the entire night, just trying to get some of her body heat to warm me up. (And if you know me, you know that is not something I would normally do!) But the next morning, we woke up refreshed enough to pass out some tracts to the people and spend time with them before heading out. The needs, both physical and, most importantly, spiritual, are so great among the nomads. They have no medicine, no teachers, and the list could go on and on.

In the afternoon, we headed toward Lake Chad to visit the island where Dr. Dreisbach spent several of his last months. We were hoping to be on the lake by noon, but due to complications securing transportation, we didn’t end up on a boat until after 3:00. Once we reached the island, we had only about an hour to spend there before we had to be back on the lake in order to reach the main shore before sunset. Pastor Julius was able to give a short salvation message to some villagers there, and we passed out several tracts. But, we spent a little longer in the village than we had planned. As we left the island, we witnessed a beautiful sunset. Unfortunately, the sunset meant that we would be on the lake during nightfall.

When we were about half way back, the man steering the boat sat down and started washing his feet. We wondered what he was doing, but then realized that he was doing his evening prayers while the boat was moving and he was supposed to be directing it! Shortly after that, the motor on the boat died, and we were stuck in the middle of Lake Chad. The boatmen pulled out their oars and started rowing us. The guys from our group decided to help and grabbed whatever was handy to use as a paddle. A couple of them started rowing with sugarcane. (And yes, I did get a few pictures!) Finally after a little while and several attempts, our motor started up again and stayed on. We were able to make it back to shore safely. God in His goodness even gave us a full moon that night so that we could see.

Trip to the Far North (pt. 1)

(Note: I am breaking this up into several parts, hopefully to encourage you to read it all. I know it's a lot!)

It’s so hard to sit down and describe how God blessed and worked through different people and events. I had the privilege two weeks ago to take part in a ministry trip to the far north part of Cameroon. There were six of us total on the trip, three Africans and three Americans. God provided an amazing unity between the six of us. Before I went on the trip, I didn’t know a single one of them. By the time we got back from the trip, I felt weird leaving them—we had spent nearly every waking hour together for two weeks. After traveling for three days straight, we had definitely seen each other at our worst!

During this trip, we encountered obstacle after obstacle. The first day of our trip, we had a seven hour drive. Our car broke down and we had to wait for another one to come. We crammed six people and luggage into a very small car. We had to pull over six times during that trip with various car difficulties. Our seven hour trip turned into a thirteen hour trip! But, we saw God’s hand of protection in every aspect of that journey. He stopped us in time to catch some potentially fatal car problems. He gave Pastor Julius the opportunity to lead a man to Christ. He gave us safety and protection even though we had to drive during the night. God was good!

We caught the train headed up north on the 1^st of the year then took multiple other forms of public transportation before we reached our final destination the night of the 3^rd. I’m not sure how many hours we actually traveled—I think I’m a little nervous to add up the total!

Our first day in M was a day of rest. We enjoyed a leisurely morning, catching up on sleep and such. I believe this was also the day that the men drove around to try to locate the nomads and see if we could spend the night with them. God allowed them to have success in this venture. Contact was established and plans were made for us to spend the night on Friday. In the afternoon, we headed to the market at a neighboring village to pass out some tracts. The difficult thing about passing out tracts in a market is that a mob can quickly form when people realize that someone is handing out something for free. The best course of action is to engage in a one on one conversation. The men were able to talk to many people and passed out scores of tracts. We ladies were looking for other ladies to talk with. None of the ladies, however, spoke English, and only a few spoke French. Most of the ladies spoke Arabic, Fulfulde, or another tribal language. Rosemary was the only one of the three ladies that could communicate in Arabic or Fulfulde. She did have some good opportunities, but overall, communication was a challenge.

That night we were able to share our personal salvation testimonies with the team. What an encouragement it was to hear how God worked in each of our lives. Despite our different backgrounds, God graciously drew each of us into His family.

On Thursday, the men headed into a neighboring Arab village to visit. The ladies were able to head over to the B's to spend time with mom and the kids. We had a great time just talking and cutting out flannel graph. That afternoon, we gathered back at the their house for their mid-week prayer service. There was a fairly good-sized crowd out (larger than their regular number of four or so), and one of the men from our group challenged us on the topic of prayer.