(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!
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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!
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Two for the Price of One
I figured that since neither of my last two posts have been very “newsy,” I owe you a news-filled post. So, you’re getting two blogs for the price of one today! I just finished my second week of teaching. It’s hard to believe that I’ve only been doing school for two weeks. It feels like I’ve been teaching much longer than that! But the past two weeks have gone very well.
This week was a busy week in 6th grade. We had a test nearly every day. Some of those tests definitely revealed weak areas in my teaching, but we’ll keep moving forward. I told the kids that if they were patient with me, I would be patient with them, and hopefully, we’ll all learn together. I spend the first part of the morning (8am to 11am) at the Barillas teaching their two 6th graders, then I head over to the school house to help another family until 12:30pm. Right now, a few of the girls are most of their classes via videos. One of the moms is teaching her youngest a few classes, but I’m not planning on teaching until we begin literature next semester. Right now, I’m just helping the 11th grader stay on task—I do her lesson plans, grade her assignments, and help out however I can. I’m also helping grade some of the 7th grader’s assignments. 7th grade is a rough transition from 6th grade. Suddenly, so much is expected and it’s all so different from 6th grade, but C is doing a great job.
This week I started filling up my schedule with my extra-curricular activities as well. I was able to teach all of my violin students this week. It’s hard to get back into the swing of lessons after summer break—I know because I was the same way as my students! But, so far, I’ve been very pleased with the efforts each student has put into practicing. I’m upping my expectations for each of them this year, and I’m excited to see how much they can improve with added practice time. God has graciously brought out two violin teachers in a row to Cameroon, but we don’t know who will come out next year to teach them. So, I’m trying to push them as far as I can while I’m here. Violin lesson 2 with the four-year old ended on a positive note as well. Unfortunately, her violin is too big for her. I brought out a ¼ violin instead of an 1/8th. I figured she would be in the ¼ size for longer than she would be in the 1/8, so it was more important to me to bring out the larger violin. I’m trying to stall by teaching her bow techniques in order to let her grow into the violin a little more. She has, however, already asked me when we’re going to actually start playing the violin.
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Fufu and Jama Jama
| I found a picture online of fufu and jama jama (or couscous and njapcha, as I usually call it). |
Food for Thought
Life in Africa has obvious differences from life in the States. One of the biggest differences is the food. Typically, the only meat we eat is beef (and usually it’s ground beef). Last week, however, we got a special treat. Ellen spent a few days with some missionary friends that live just about an hour away. When she came back home, she brought some pork with her. Pork! It was the first pork I’ve had since I’ve been in Cameroon. While we all agreed that the pork was very tasty and tender, if we hadn’t known that it was pork, we would have just thought we were eating beef. Regardless of the actual taste, it was nice to have a different kind of meat for a change.
Since I’ve been little, one of my favorite foods has always been tomato soup. I love a good old can of Campbells. Unfortunately, cream of tomato soup is not something that is accessible in Cameroon. In fact, canned tomato products are pretty limited. The only canned tomato product we can typically find is tomato paste. Last year, the other teacher and I tried our hand several times at making tomato soup from tomato paste. We got a different result with every batch that we made (probably mainly due to the fact that we never used a recipe). While most of the end results were pretty good, they just couldn’t compare to Campbells. So this summer, I went home eager to have some “real” tomato soup. When the soup was finally ready, I ladled a big bowl of it. To my chagrin, I found that I didn’t like the tomato soup at all. It tasted so bland and boring compared to some of the versions we had concocted in Cameroon. After that experience, I made it my mission to find a recipe for the perfect tomato soup. And last night, I tried the first of my many recipes. Instead of using a base of tomato paste, I made my own tomato puree from fresh tomatoes. And I must say, I think the first recipe I tried is a keeper. In fact, after dinner, I deleted all of the other tomato soup recipes from my computer—the soup was just that good!
At our house here in Africa, we typically cook very American dishes. Once in a while, though, we have the opportunity to eat with the nationals. Last Monday, our household headed down the hill to the home of our house helper, Marie-Claire. Her oldest daughter was turning 19, and we were going to help celebrate. In light of the celebration, Marie-Claire prepared couscous and njapcha. You may remember some of my previous posts on couscous. This is not the traditional couscous people in the States know of. I think this couscous is made of corn (or something similar) and then pounded into a dough-like consistency. (Actually, the term couscous and njapcha is the “French” way of referring to the food. The English term for the food is fufu and jama jama. I should probably use those terms to avoid confusion.) The best thing I know to compare the taste to is Cream of Wheat. Now, I enjoy Cream of Wheat when it’s carefully prepared. However, I don’t like any lumps in my Cream of Wheat. A ball of fufu is essentially one giant lump of Cream of Wheat. Something about its texture just does not sit well with me.
But, when we went to Marie-Claire’s, I knew it was very important for me to eat nearly all my food. They don’t have much, and they were generously feeding us in addition to their large family. I slowly ate small pieces of the fufu, covering them with the jama jama (a sauce made from greens). It took me about twice as long as everyone else to eat, but I succeeded in eating nearly the entire ball of fufu (about 2 cups worth). It was a big moment for me, to say the least. J |
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