Dust

Just in case you can't comprehend the dust around here, I feel this photo says it all. Reading my Bible this morning where Moses throws his staff down before Pharaoh and all the DUST becomes GNATS! That has never grossed me out as much as it did today.

Providence Store

I had a question about where we shop. Market is our main source of shopping and that rotates every 8 days. In between market days we go to the Providence store to pick up any items we might need. This is where we buy our eggs: In the picture with Drew, the small bag he is holding in his left hand is full of eggs. This is also the last stop we make after market to get all the items that weren't available. Yvette is the pretty lady in the orange dress walking out of the store, and also the one in the suit waiting on my friend Andrea in another picture. Obviously these are taken on different days. This store is just a short walk from our home and across the street from the main entrance to the Seminary where we are staying.

Interview of the kids

I got feedback that hearing from the kids perspective would be a good topic. I asked questions but maybe I should have waited until they were all in a more talkative mood. Here is some of their thoughts in random order: Levi: I've enjoyed playing with all my friends, with the Canadians, the Rundus's and the Cameroonian kids. I especially like playing swords,handball,ashka and climbing trees. When I work in the library, I dust shelves and help check out books to the students. It's annoying that the power goes off so much and we don't always have water. The pineapples are really good. Sugar Cane is delicious. It's rustic here - well actually it's DUSTIC. Ellie: I enjoy playing with the kids in the Child Care Center and trying to be someone they can look up to. It's interesting to see differences but hard to connect with girls my own age because they speak Pigeon English and do not understand me/or me them. I miss my friends and the internet is extremely slow so that is annoying. It's a challenge to find ways to interact with the Cameroonians; the boys just go play football, soccer or climb a tree and they have friends. I don't do that because it's all boys, so it's hard to meet people. The light in my room takes up to an hour to turn on so I wear my headlamp when I go to bed. Kyle: I think the people here are friendlier than at home. The dust is everywhere. It's challenging trying to figure out what the Pastors are saying in church. I think the fruit is better here. In the library I dust books, shelves and sometimes move shelves and desks. When I work with Dad I move rocks, help mix cement and dust. One of the best parts of this trip is not having school work. I like the pace her: they work hard but not too fast. They are very underpaid. I think there should be more handball in America because it is very entertaining and fast paced (better than soccer). It was fun teaching the local Cameroonian kids to play Ninja, Swords and Flamingo - especially Flamingo, it was chaotic with about 30 kids playing. Flamingo is a game where you stand on one foot and try to knock people over. The last one left standing wins the game.

Pictures from church

Here are a few pictures from the First Baptist Church of Ndu: The BRIGHT chair in the front if for the Pastor (and it's not a joke).

The drum set was once Lance Rundus's - he got this when he was about 13. I guess the youth leader asked to use it for a youth event some time ago. The next Sunday after the event the Pastor of the church made a special announcement of appreciation for the gift that Lance had given to the church. The youth leader tried telling the Pastor that they were just on loan but the damage was already done and it is now a permanent part of the church. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow.

The church sits at the highest point of Ndu and it is a beautiful view. One thing about being at such a high altitude, you feel winded when you walk most anywhere. I thought it was just because I'm getting old and out of shape but one of the kids said they feel winded too.

Here is our family with some friends:

Persecution

Today we visited the First Baptist Church of Ndu... this is our 3rd Sunday and our 3rd Baptist church so far. The practice of most of these churches is to invite any newcomers to a room to be greeted. We tried getting out of it today since we wanted to get to market but being the only white people in the place it was hard to slip out. Once in the room they will ask for prayer requests. Today there was a man from Nigeria asking for prayer for his family. Before coming to Cameroon I had noticed in the media that Christian churches in Nigeria had been bombed, and there is growing unrest with the Muslims. This was of interest to me since Cameroon borders Nigeria. This man told of many Christians dying at the hand of these Muslim groups. Apparently the President of Nigeria is a Christian and the Muslims would like to have this country under a Muslim authority. This man told how Muslim children sit in front of Christian churches selling oranges. This is not unusual for people to sell food near or in front of the church. These Muslim children have poison laced in their oranges and have been successful in killing many Christians. Obviously this makes it difficult for people who are just selling fruit to provide for their families. Children seem so innocent but they are just doing what they have been told. According to this man, another strategy to win the country for the Muslims is to win favor with the young Christian women and marry them into their families. If they do not convert to Islam then they will kill them - and this is okay under the laws of the Koran. We have seen a number of Muslim men in this area (one of them proposed to my daughter), and we have heard their call to prayer. None of the people I have come in contact with seem "radical" and some of the local people I talked to say that most of the Muslims in this area are not that devoted. Pray for Christians living in this area of the world. They would love to live peacefully doing what they have always done, instead many of them are fleeing for their lives or burying their dead.

Perpetual

My day didn't exactly go as I had planned but I am quite thankful how it worked out. For the past 2 weeks I was planning on finishing washing all the towels and sheets from the house that our team had used. The original plan I had was to do one or two sets a day, the machine is very small and there was no rush. Just a few days into this plan, the President of the school requested that the house be used for a visitor/friend of his. The thought was that it would just be for a few days but the man and his driver stayed all week long and just left today. The staff house is to be occupied by 4 teachers tomorrow - they will be staying for 2 months. Once the man moved in I no longer had a key, and today I discovered that I still had a load of wet laundry in the washer (from over a week ago - uugh!). This morning I ran down to see about making the beds and washing linens, only to realize there was no electricity. We do not have a washing machine at our new place so Ellie and I had done a few "loads" by hand and I am not very fast at it. There was a woman named Perpetual who was cleaning. I asked her if she knew anyone who would be available to help me hand wash the laundry. She offered to help me and I must say it was very humbling. This woman is so strong and makes it look so easy. I started washing something and she laughed saying "Is that how you do it?" We got through the laundry and I did learn a thing or two - mostly that I am pretty weak. While working together I asked her if she was from Ndu, to which she replied "no." Then I asked how she came to be here. It was a long story about how God brought her to this Seminary to prepare to be a minister. I stopped working all together at one point because I couldn't even see what I was doing from the tears in my eyes. When her youngest child was just 4 months old (she has 3 children), her family had moved into a new home. Earlier her husband's brother had gotten into trouble and ended up in prison. The brother was responsible for him and had to pay bail. The brother again got into trouble and wanted them to post bail again. This time Perpetual's husband said "No, we will pray for him instead". The brother then got a gang to storm into their house and try to kill them. At 2am men came charging into their home with machetes and started slashing her husband. Perpetual said she could do nothing, they had no idea who these men were or what they wanted. Suddenly, she felt a power from within and started saying the name of Jesus and went towards the men and her husband. She layed her body over her husband's and was slashed (she showed me her scar across her thigh and it was over a foot long). Somehow, the 2 of them started fleeing for their lives with the gang behind them. Her husband fell into the ditch and she had to go back and find him. The whole time she believed that they would live, because that would give glory to the name of Jesus. They made it to the neighbors house and after much pounding the neighbors let them in. They got to the hospital and were in for over a month, the husband had been slashed 18 times - over his torso, head, neck, and his arm was severely broken. While in the hospital, the man who was the head of the gang called to see if it were true that they were still alive. The brother had contacted him again to kill this couple but the gang member refused. He came to visit this couple in the hospital to see for himself the miracle that they were still alive. He said that God must be real if they could live through that, because he knows that there is no way the man that he slashed and stab could be alive. I was impressed by this woman's strong hands and after hearing her story I was impressed by her strong faith. This horrific event in her life was the catalyst for her to commit to full time ministry and that is why she is at CBTS to get her training that she needs to be a minister.

Question

So I've been rambling on now for quite a while just telling the day to day stuff. I'm looking for some blog ideas: What would you like to know about Ndu? Or Cameroon? Or what we are doing? Do you want pictures of anything in particular (keep in mind it takes over an hour for just a few pictures). Just thought I would ask since I might be missing something that you are just curious about. Thanks for the feedback!