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!