I Stand in Awe

"Road Trip!"

2012-01-19T15:02:00.000-06:00

Ahh, we are off on an adventure! With some quick, very last minute planning we're hitting the road bright and early tomorrow morning! We're heading to Yaounde, Cameroon's capital city in the morning, spending the night there and church the next day. Then we'll catch an all night train (14-16 hours!) Saturday night and then continue with buses and mottos until we reach Koza where Spencer is volunteering this year. Once we meet up with him we plan to do some sight-seeing which includes a Cameroonian safari if all goes as planned!! Thanks for all your prayers and I'd esspecially appreciate them throughout this next week. I'm saying goodbye to internet and all of you for the next week, I'll be thinking of you and taking plenty of pictures to fill you in when we get back!

Happy (BELATED) Birthday Lea!

2012-01-17T16:42:00.000-06:00

Lea's Birthday was actually in December! We were planing to do this for her all along, but because her birthday fell right in the middle of campmeeting and just before Christmas it was a pretty swamped time to find an empty evening and extra baking time. So, now, almost a month late we finally got around to celebrating her birthday!

We had such a good time, and such a legit celebration I think we even had Lea convinced that it was really her birthday!

We supplied the sweet stuff (like cake!) and Christian made a traditional meal :)

"Mashed" potatoes and black beans!! Other than the palm oil involved it's quite a nutritious meal.

Cutting the cake! :)

Before we ate they gave us some photo albums to look at, I just had to take a picture of this picture of Christian and her twin sister! So cute! <3

Mmmmmm!

We ate cake first, then fruit, then the potatoes and beans, and THEN, we introduced them to S'mores! They had never seen marshmallows before, and though slightly confused by the whole thing, I think it was love after first bite! Richard however, still can't like things as sweet as we do... and made us take his chocolate... what good friend we are! ;) A few days ago Brandon saw the bag of marshmallows and asked what they were, I was going to give him a real treat by letting him have one but as soon as he eagerly bit into it his face turned to a horrible "WHAT IS THIS!?!?" look and he promptly spit it out! He turned around and said, "I'm a village boy! I don't eat that stuff!"

Saving a Life

2012-01-16T13:43:00.000-06:00

We've been trying to donate blood for a couple of weeks, but coordinating schedules has taken awhile. Today we did it though! Wasn't quite the same as the blood drives and donating facilities we're used to, but essentially the same thing. :) We were told that our blood will be used in the pediatric unit, so some precious little kid will benefit from our donation! The staff was surprised and pleased by our voluntary donation, donating blood is very uncommon, almost tabooed here... definitely not promoted like it is at home. If a patient needs a transfusion they have to personally find someone to donate; and as you can imagine, that's not very convenient or quick in the case of an emergency.

The needle was huge, I'm serious, I'm not new to donating blood and I've never seen such a gigantic needle go in my arm before, but it sure pumped fast!

success!

Kudos to Sarah for having the idea, getting us on board, facing her fears like a trooper, and donating for the first time! You're my hero!

Sights and Sounds

2012-01-15T02:44:00.001-06:00

Here's another little video I put together to TRY to capture some of the common sights and sounds around here. The song throughout most of the video is one that plays (nice and loud) across the street every day, multiple times a day!! The kids are from school and church and then some snapshots of our friends and fun so far! Enjoy! :)

Counting ↓ & ↑

2012-01-10T02:03:00.002-06:00

As of today the official countdown of "Days 'till 'home'" equals the number of "Days in Cameroon." (that's the hard way of saying we're half way!)

One specific October day, after none of the kids had showed up for my class, I remember walking 'home' from school with tears in my eyes, when I got to our room I crawled into bed and set a countdown on my ipod of "Days 'till 'home.'"

Here's what I wrote and how I was feeling that day:

(a direct quote from my diary October 11, 2011.)

On my walk home from Clark’s quarters I started to sing the “somebody’s praying” song and when I got to the 'many miles from home' part I just basically started crying. After skyping with mom for a few minutes and then crawling into bed I was in a real dark mood and I didn’t want to do ANYTHING I thought about how it would be a good time to update this [my diary]… but I didn’t want to move! I started to dink around with my ipod and checked my “days until CAMEROON” countdown which has now turned into a days since CAMEROON count up… we’re on day 21… so, this is how bad it was, I downloaded another app, and set the countdown for home… 203. I don’t know what my problem was but I didn’t want to look at anything, do anything, or see anyone… I devoured one bag of bread, practically two small loafs and when I head Bill’s car drive up I flattened out in bed knowing that the door was locked and I could pretend to not be home if anyone knocked… I pulled the covers up over my face for protection from an obnoxious fly and to shut out some daylight…

I am happy to inform you that praise the Lord that was the darkest day in my Cameroonian experience and even so, it ended with making koki with Lea and a very much enjoyed evening; really not a very bad day at all for being the one that stands out in my mind as the worst. Ever since I set the countdown that day I have checked them both periodically and then notify all of you of little mile stones like 50, and 100 days in Cameroon. I've noticed something though; the first day when the count was 21/203 I felt almost sick, but each time I check and the numbers continue to shift, my mindset does as well. Now that the count is 112/112 I find it rather bittersweet. So I stopped to think about it, what has changed? I missed my family and friends horribly in October, but that has definitely not changed, I miss them as much and more than ever, so what's the difference? I figured it out... it's our friends.

One night when we had just gotten here Mary and I made a list of our Cameroonian friends. We listed anyone we could think of, the only criteria needed to make our friends list was if we could remember their name. We wrote their name, where we met them and a couple things about them including at least one physical characteristic so that we could remember who they were. However, very soon we were making real friends and when we did, our list was forgotten and unneeded. We rediscovered it a couple nights ago and just had to laugh at our early descriptions and first impressions of the people who are now truly our friends.

Here's another quote from my dairy from December 12 to illustrate my point and show how my mindset has shifted:

[Tonight] we played dutch blitz and had a great time! I just sat there and was so sad watching Lea and Christaine, I was just overcome with how much I’m going to miss them!! and it’s still months until we leave! I go so back and forth though, I am “homesick” and I can’t wait to see my family, but I will miss this place and PEOPLE like CRAZY!

In conclusion: On October 11 I saw a depressing number of 203 days until I could go home and be reunited with the ones I love and care about. Today, I realize that in 112 days I will have to say goodbye, likely forever, to a group of people here that love and care about. Yet another reason to live each day to the fullest, thank God for every moment, and claim the precious promise that this world is not our home! We have the blessed hope to be reunited with our friends and loved ones from EVERYWHERE on that glorious day when Christ returns!

Brandon

"Twin A" ;)

Helen

Te'Claire, Sarah, me, and Christian

Can you see why I'm dreading goodbyes??

How the Garden Grows!

2012-01-06T13:38:00.000-06:00

Brandon stopped by today for a visit and ended up helping us with some Friday work :). Earlier this morning I did a couple more hours of work in the garden, even got more blisters from using my machete! I got everything watered and cleared more space for some special green beans that Trixy had and are suppose to grow 5'-6' tall! with beans up to 3' long! I can't wait to see that! The way things grow here though, I wouldn't be surprised! The rest of the garden is growing by leaps and bounds! Keep in mind that the first life I saw was on Monday, they poked their heads out...

... and today, Friday, 5 days later the beans look like this!

The peas also are growing BEAUTIFULLY...

... and the Corn also is very impressive for being only ONE WEEK from when the seeds were placed in the ground! I think if I sat and watched them I could see them grow!

Last night Mercy brought me some plants from her garden!! It was so sweet, along with a bunch of other produce for us to eat she gave us 3 pepper plants for the garden! I have been so blessed by this garden already, and it's only been a week! I will be sure to keep you all updated as the progress continues!

Cameroonian Food

2012-01-05T14:51:00.000-06:00

Here's a couple of pictures from Christmas time relating to food here in Cameroon! :)

Potluck at church on Christmas Eve

Our potluck food! :) Several yummy Cameroonian dishes including fufu plus beans and rice, yum!

One of the pharmacists that the clinic gets drugs from invited us over for a Christmas meal because she felt sorry for all of us not being able to be with our families for Christmas. They gave us an incredible meal! it's hard to see each thing on the plate, but there were several different kinds of veggie dishes and one almost like a stew, then plantains, corn koki, cabbage salad, and delicious rice with pepá.

This is gari fufu and okra soup with agoosy, SO GOOD.

... and this is not really cameroonian, because it was made by me :) but it's made with Cameroonian koki beans and tomatoes, seasoned up with some some yummy mexican seasoning from home and pepá.. it was also pretty good!! Mmmmm

White Man Farming

2012-01-02T18:17:00.000-06:00

The past week or so here during Christmas break I've been keeping my spare time busy in "the garden." Mom sent me some seeds from home and I was shown "the garden" spot here in the compound... It didn't look much like a garden at first, when Trixy said, "here it is" I though, "where??" But I set to work and have thoroughly enjoyed the sweet familiar feel of farm/garden work! It's dry season and although it's still much more humid than I'm used to, it really is dry. The ground is very dry and all the water is carried by hand :) it's good for me! The Cameroonians who have heard of my garden and come to visit are more than surprised to see a "white man farming" some of them can't believe it at all. One church member told me basically that the people of his village wouldn't believe it till they saw it! I just smile and tell them this is what I love, I live on a farm at home and I can't wait to share the produce with them!

Before.....

After....

Before, you couldn't see the dirt....

Now, it looks more like a garden :)

Caleb came to help me one day, the multi-purpose farming/gardening tool around here is a machete! (yes, I have one) The day I bought mine in the market and was carrying it home a guy yelled out to me, "white man why you need a machete!? you a farmer!?" (making fun and fully confidant that I was not) but I was very pleased to be able to reply with a smile, "yes, I am!"

Caleb and I got to talking while we were working, here's a thought, the first job ever given to man was gardening...

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. Genesis 2:15

Also, what "work" will we be doing in heaven?

"...they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit" Isaiah 65:21

From The beginning of man kind, through eternity... there will be farmers! :) I personally feel there's few greater joys than planting a seed and caring for it as God makes it grow!

After there still being nothing up yesterday...

Zucchini! After no evidence of life yesterday these guys popped out and GREW today! I was so excited when I found them tonight!

Yellow beans :) I'm excited to introduce my Cameroonian friends to yellow beans, there's lots of green beans here, but they've never heard of yellow beans! The corn is up too! I'm so excited! today was nice and warm so the sun must have just pulled it all up! I'm just thrilled to have a garden just getting started with the new year!

P.S. Despite mom's fear that, "those ND seeds might not know which direction is 'up' in Cameroon!" it looks like they figured it out! ;)

Happy January 1!

2011-12-31T20:05:00.003-06:00

The first of January doesn't just mean a new year in our family, it means Janae is literally starting a new year of her life! :) Janae, I can't believe it's been 15 years since that cold January morning when you were born between blizzards! I love you so much! I hope and pray that this year will be even better than the last and that you continue to follow God and discover where He's leading and guiding in your life! Happy Birthday!

P.S. It really is January 1 here, my computer is still set to home time and it knows that it's still 8:00pm December 31, 2011 in Venturia, ND. But really, it's 3:00am January 1, 2012 here in Buea, Cameroon!

100

2011-12-29T07:46:00.004-06:00

I feel like it has only been a few days since I posted about the fact that we had been here in Cameroon for 50 days. Well, it's been more than a few days, it's actually been another 50! I can't believe my time in Cameroon has doubled since my 50 days post, makes me wonder if the next 100 will go as fast. So here's another post of random pictures to commemorate 100 days in another country and another thought I had recently for you to ponder.

I am constantly taking pictures, video clips, and trying my very best to remember every detail possible so I can tell my friends and family what it's like here. I get overwhelmed just trying to write in my journal because there is just so much I want to record and remember. While we were walking along the beach in Kribi I, once again, had a dozen "mental notes" and images floating around in my head that I was trying desperately to remember long enough to get to my journal so I could do my best to capture them for my family. I stopped and just stood there as a new thought entered my mind.

Every day I try so hard to capture my African experience as vividly as possible because I have such a passion to share it with my family. I realized that if I had nobody to send these pictures to, I wouldn't have taken a single one. My experiences feel void and pointless unless I have someone to share them with. And that's when God connected the dots in my mind. When He works in our lives we should have the same passion to tell the world! Without someone to show and tell I would have ignored most of the beauty in Kribi and my African experience so far; but because I want to capture it and convey it the best I can, I notice and treasure ever little detail. I am constantly using worlds like "incredible," "indescribable," and phrases like "I can't even tell you how beautiful," or "I can't describe..." I wish there was some way to convey how amazing these things are, but I really, just can't capture it. It's the same with God's working in our lives. If we don't share the amazing things He's doing in and for us, the blessing will not only be prevented from blessing others, it will seem void and pointless to us as well. So I challenge you to do your very best, though you can't fully capture it, to tell everyone what God is doing for you!

Little girl from Kingston

Ignostius "mowing" the lawn

Sharon :)

Log trucks we saw in Douala

Richard

African Sunset :)

3rd roommate! :S

There is a wide variety in means of transportation.... This kinda reminds me of supper in the pasture Schumacher style!

The Cameroonians are very often dressed in 3 or more layers, hats, scarves and way too much clothing when it is HOT outside! It is simply NEVER, EVER cold enough here for this kind of clothes! This kid was selling all kinds of winter hats and scarves in the market, the other day I walked past some ladies in the market selling the same thing and they tried to sell me some, I told them it was too warm for scarves! and they just laughed! :) and today I saw I guy shoveling sand (it was 80+ degrees) and he was wearing a stocking cap!

Market

Moving van?

Beans and puff puff! :)

Puff Puffs

2011-12-28T10:59:00.000-06:00

Elizabeth taught us how to make "puff puffs" :) (essentially doughnuts) they are a local favorite, Charlotte dropped by to visit when we were getting started so she joined the fun because she knows how as well... I think I've mastered the art, which is more complicated than you think, and will make some for all of you when I come home.

There really is a very specific way to plop them in so that you get nice round little puff puffs... it took some practice and is a crazy cool process to watch!

Mmmmm.... :S deep FAT fried!

Wrist

2011-12-27T10:09:00.000-06:00

This X-ray was taken one year ago today...

This one after my surgery in July

And these were taken today

They're not very good quality and esspecailly so because it's just a picture taken with the x-ray film held up to the light (outside). :P

When I first got here to Buea Trixy (the Doctor) was asking all about my wrist and said that I should get an x-ray while I was here just to see how it's doing, not that we can really tell much, but mostly for the experience of getting an x-ray (and for MUCH cheaper) in Cameroon. Mary and I went up to the General Hospital today and got it done because we don't have an x-ray machine in our clinic. I thought that one year to the day from the original break was a fitting time to get it done.

Christmas in Africa

2011-12-26T06:20:00.003-06:00

Season's greetings from the other side of the world! I hope each of you had a wonderful celebration with family and friends. I feel incredibly blessed this Christmas for so many reasons. I have a wonderful 'family' here in Buea that consists of other missionaries and volunteers from all over the world who also were unable to spend Christmas with their real families. We had a good time together and thanks to skype I got to be a part of Christmas back home as well! The best part of this Christmas is knowing that I am exactly where God wants me to be, there is an unfathomable joy in following God and allowing him to do amazing and unbelievable thing in my life!

Christmas morning started out like most Sunday mornings here with an early morning (6:30) run with Richard. Then we made a yummy Christmas brunch complete with some delicious imported treats such as peanut butter, apple sauce, and syrup! Then we set to cooking for the next meal!

All this past week at campmeeting I was inspired by the women's abilities to cook over a fire. So when it came down to cooking our huge pot of potatoes for mashed potatoes Mary and I decided to give it a shot! Since the pot was so big we knew it was going to take a lot of gas to cook on our stove, plus we have such limited burner space... so we scrounged up some things to start a fire... it's so humid here that nothing is ever really dry so my pathfinder skills were put to the test! (Thanks for the farmer matches Janae!)

After a lot of fanning, dry leaves, some paper and a lot of patience we got it going! (here I'm pretending to have "African hands" it's crazy, the ladies here just pick up the lid of a pot that has been over the fire for hours with bare hands! all of my skin would stay on the lid if I tried that!)

Boiling!

I thought we might have to bring them in and finish the cooking process on a "real burner" but they turned out perfectly! Mashed potatoes cooked over a fire and mashed by hand Mmmmm :)

Some of the girls :) (LtoR) Trixy (doctor), Kim (volunteer from Germany), Kathrine (local friend), Sarah (SM from CA), Me and Mary :) (ND SMs).

Nate found a "snowman in a can" RANDOMLY at some little shop here! you mix up the 'snow' and the kit was complete with little eyes, carrot nose, and a ribbon scarf!

Sad leaning little snowman! It must have either been to hot so he was melting, or not warm enough because the snow wasn't sticky enough!

of course, with snow around, even if it's only a small bowl full of silicon snow...

it's not gonna take long to start a "snowball" fight! (Nate started it!) What great fun!

Christmas meal

Desserts!

the gang! :) 4 continents represented!

This is a picture I stole from the family blog, this is skyping with my Flemmer family in ND on Christmas Eve :) I got passed around the room on the computer, was so great to get in on a little of Christmas with my family! Then last night I got to watch my family open presents at home!! What a blessing technology can be!

Merry Christmas from Mauye

2011-12-24T15:51:00.003-06:00

Hope you all have a blessed holiday season!

Sugar Cookies! :)

2011-12-23T17:47:00.000-06:00

Thanks to some cute cookie cutters Mary's mom sent in a package we had the urge to make some good ol' fashion Christmas cookies!

Once again, limited space, tools, and "baking" facilities, but we made it work!

Three friends from church were SO EXCITED to learn how to make cookies American Style! We had a great time, Elizabeth is coming back on Monday to teach us how to make puff puff! I am SO EXCITED about that! (stay tuned!).

We got "powder sugar" in the market, but it got all chunky from the humidity... to whipping up frosting was a little more of a challenge because those chunks were like cement! We also got "green spice" and "red spice" at the market, earlier on we had asked what flavor it had or what it tasted like but they basically just told us that it was for looks and coloring... so we figured it'd work perfect for "food coloring" :) fun stuff.

Campmeeting

2011-12-22T17:51:00.000-06:00

It's campmeeting time here in Buea and I've been loving it so far! I spent almost the whole day up at church today (besides a quick trip to market because this was our last chance for market until after Christmas). This is my friend Kathryn, you can see the "kitchen" behind her!

Beans and carrots I helped prepare this afternoon for the supper time meal, smoke in the background from the fire where the okra soup was cooking.

This was dinner, SO GOOD! :) it's basically the same thing we had at Elizabeth's house, okra soup (this stuff had agoose in it which made it extra yummy) and gari fufu which I liked even better than the casava fufu. But once again, just imagine okra soup (the definition of slimy) eaten with your fingers...

Dorine and Mercy, remember, all 5 fingers is the proper way to consume this stuff!

Charlotte and Elizabeth snapping green beans

The cooking area

My little buddy! When we were in Douala with Pastor Rich we ate at this little guy's house after church, his family is here for campmeeting and he was my shadow all day! Followed me everywhere and fell asleep by me in the meetings :) such a cutie!

Inside the kitchen, Helen is sitting down and mum Rugina is in the corner, they both work at the clinic so they are especially good friends of ours :) These African ladies are amazing, do you see that big pot on the fire, it's been cooking there for 3 hours and one of them walks up and picks up the cover to check the food (wrapped in banana leaves inside) with her bare hands!! Mary and I just cringed! But she was totally fine! It was so much fun hanging out in the "kitchen" with these ladies! They are so sweet! This is just right beside the church and set up just for campmeeting, the cement blocks were all there because they will be used to build the pastor's house. So for this week they just set them up for a kitchen and threw a leaf roof on top!

What a Catch!

2011-12-21T16:07:00.000-06:00

I caught a lizard!!

(accidentally!)

I got some seeds in the box from home so I've been "gardening" the last few days out in the back part of our property. Right now there's still more weeds out there than garden, couldn't even see the ground when I started but I'm making progress! There were lizards watching me all day, sitting on the rocks along the garden probably trying to figure out what I was doing to their home! I had this bucket outside because I was using it to carry water and left it out while I came back to the room for awhile, while I was gone I "caught" this guy! He got in, but couldn't get out!

Just Thinkin' About You!

2011-12-20T00:27:00.000-06:00

Kribi

2011-12-19T01:44:00.004-06:00

Kribi! What a gorgeous, beautiful place! We had a wonderful time, it was like a little getaway to somewhere you would see in a book labeled "paradise" The entire time we were gone I was trying to soak up my surroundings, take mental notes, and capture as many pictures as possible in order to relay a small taste of the experience to all of you! You were literally on my mind the whole time!! I wish you could have experienced it with me! Pictures (especially from my small camera!) do not do it justice! There's just NO WAY to really capture it! But I did my best to put together a little taste for you. I always tell my sisters not to post too many/pointless pictures.... but today I'm breaking my own rule! This is a long one! Sorry! I just wish there was a way to give you a good feel for what it was like!

Taking pictures most places along the beach is fine, but allot of the pictures I sneak to show you guys what things are like are sly and carefully planned. For one thing, it's usually not a good idea to pull out a camera in a crowd because, well it shows that you have a camera. Second, allot of Cameroonians do not want their picture taken and will get pretty upset. I try to be as respectful as possible, and most don't mind at all, in fact, love to jump in a picture, but you never know who does and doesn't unless you ask, which is usually not really an option. so I've gotten really good at setting my camera for no sound and no flash and just pausing somewhere as still as possible with it cupped discretely in my hand. I try to capture the moments and peice them together for you to get a little idea of what it's like here! (pictures from the fish market, bus station, and our bobolo in the bus are prime examples!)

Like I said, this weekend was incredible, a paradise vacation... but, we're still in Africa, public transportation took a solid 6 hours in a "45 passenger bus/van" to go roughly 80-90 miles, and our motel room and restaurant had no electricity half the time we were there... but I love it!

Our hotel bathroom the first night, no toilet paper, toilet seat, soap, towels, and well, water either... if there was water though, you could take a shower while standing basically against the toilet and look out the window!

Our bathroom the 2nd night... once again, shower, sink, toilet, and window are all "in the shower" :)

The beach is lined with little places to eat or buy souvenirs, all kinds of quaint little places, things that just seem straight out of a picture-book, or brochure for somewhere you never expect to actually visit!

...like this "restaurant in nature!"

I wish you could have been standing there...

There's just no way to know how beautiful it is without experiencing it, but I'm trying to give you a small glimpse!

at the "restaurant on the rocks" Just some tables and such setting up there on the rocks!

our "guides" (two guys that just walked with us to help us find our way around) took us up to a place to swim on the falls or "shoots" and just a little ways from where we were these ladies were washing clothes and there was a little girl taking a bath... when she was done soaping down she stood there the rest of the time (with nothing on) and washed clothes.

One of our "guides" hung out with us and showed us his little swimming hole, however, he hung out with us until it was about lunch time, as soon as we got out of the water and appeared to be done swimming he quickly fetched the other "guide" and they made sure we were going to their restaurant to eat!

This place was amazing!

Just before we left our little swimming spot some more guys showed up to show off... they jump in one at a time from the side and stay down until you get worried! I believe what they were doing was mapping out where the rocks were!

The water was not deep at all, I could stand up in most places because there are just random rocks really close to the surface....so... needless to say, this is very dangerous!! but they sure enjoyed our concern for them and gasps each time we were sure they were going to kill themselves!

To the right you will see a man swimming, to the left you will see his shorts!

A colorful little souvenir shop along the way to the shoots

We made a friend the first evening when we got a motto ride back to the hotel, the next day he took us around Kribi for a little tour! It was so great!

Our friend took us through the fish market, he explained that you can pick out your fish and buy it, then go a few steps away to where all the fryers were and have your meal made.

Fish of all sizes and other sea creatures! Even some small sharks apparently!

Wow... pinch me!

December!?

Mosquito net!

The "bus station" in Kribi on our way back, lined with cases of alcohol... one guy who we thought was our driver was drinking away, just slightly unnerving! We decided to get a bus to Douala instead of Edea. African driving in the first place makes you grip the seat with white knuckles and hold your breath! Compared to our very first taxi ride from the airport to Buea, I've calmed down completely and enjoy the rides. I expect them to pull out to pass with a car coming head on and almost clip off every motto driver.

On our way back to Buea we were flagged off the road by the gendarme (police)... all vehicles were waved off the road. We didn't know what was going on but kept hearing things about a parade, and president in french, finally realized that Paul Biya the president of Cameroon for almost 30 years now, just re-elected in October, was coming by... when we were outside the bus I was going to try to get a picture of the motorcade but one of the gendarme across the road started yelling at me... so I put it away quick! All I could get a was a sneaky picture of the Paul Biya billboard beside the road. But at any rate, I thought it was amazing cool to see the Cameroonian president's motorcade!

When you take public transport you have "concessions" continually every time the bus slows down enough for people to hold stuff up to the window. On the way back today we got a couple bags of plantain chips, a coconut, and this... something wrapped in a banana leaf, it looked like "bobolo" (something I do not like) but the ones she had cut open were a dark red-ish color and "normal bobolo" is white, so we we decided to try it... when we got it unwrapped it was all gooy and the looks of it would have made my stomach churn a few months ago... but now it made me think Mmmm.... looks interesting, let's try it! :) ... it's wasn't bad! (this is one of those pictures that was taken sneakily basically from my armpit).

Happy Birthday Trixy!

2011-12-15T15:20:00.000-06:00

Today we had a great time doing our very best to prepare an extra special birthday for Trixy. Her favorite local snack is the smile cookies, and chin chin which spells her name on top :) the white and pink candy is something you should recognize from home! ("good and plenty" candy fresh from my wonderful box!).

Our "oven" (and might I add, the cake did not come from a box!)

Love from Lehr! (good ol' North Dakota!!!)

2011-12-14T17:18:00.000-06:00

Sarah wanted to go to the post office this afternoon when they got off work in the clinic, I told Mary as I was leaving the room that there was no reason for me to go to the post office, I've heard of packages on their way but mom said they were just mailed... but I decided to go along anyways mostly just to give Sarah company... but what to my wondering eyes did appear!?!? TWO packages! WOW!

My family and church family is absolutely amazing! I couldn't ask for more love and support! I am SO blessed!! This box was the best package anyone could imagine!! SO MUCH STUFF and even MORE pure LOVE!! I got a box from Union too!! but I was so overjoyed with this one I have to wait awhile to open the other one!!

Water and S'mores!

2011-12-13T14:45:00.000-06:00

The "staff" at the health clinic are putting on a health seminar this week about the 8 laws of health, I guess I'm considered staff because they made me take an evening! My talk tonight was about the importance of getting enough clean, safe water to drink. did you know that your body is 60% water!? (your brain is 70%, Muscle is 75%, blood is 83%, and your lungs are 90% water!! When you don't drink enough water all those VERY important parts of you body are not functioning properly.)

When we got back from the seminar we enjoyed S'mores! Trixy got a package from her mother with marshmallows in it!! She was gracious enough to share with us and Bill got a box of graham crackers from the heartland (a little store that gets a container of stuff from wal*mart twice a year) so we had quite the treat! roasted over a candle and finished off with some Cameroonian chocolate... MMMmmmmm!

Everything Grows!

2011-12-13T03:08:00.000-06:00

Having a year-round growing season and fresh foods all the time is incredible! While I am greatly enjoying the abundance of delicious fruits and bountiful produce that living in a tropical climate has to offer... The fertility of Buea has also taken some getting used to, everything grows! Even the stuff that you'd rather not...

This is what our carrots looked like not even two days after market, when I set them on the window louver they looked fine, overnight, they looked like this! Since we have no fridge to keep our veggies before they're cooked, or left-overs when they are cooked... We're learning how to be pretty intentional with our cooking. Buying and making food is a delicate science these days!

Winter Camping Africa Style

2011-12-11T02:18:00.000-06:00

Last night we thought that we'd be able to see the lunar eclipse and were very excited to see such an event here in Africa... we later found out that, 1. It was actually Friday night, and 2. The western side of Africa probably wasn't able to see it anyways... but we decided to sleep under the stars anyways, or moon rather...

Who would have ever thought I'd be able to sleep under the moon in December!?!

The "jungle" we slept by...

and the sunrise this morning!

The only thing I was worried about was sleeping with lizards... but only an African cat visited us :)

December?

2011-12-09T05:35:00.000-06:00

Yesterday Mary and I got the day off, she worked the night shift in the hospital and I had the day off from school because the kids are taking exams for the end of this term. So... we decided to head off to the beach in Limbe. An hour and a half of public transport for roughly $2 each, and since it was a week day there was no entrance fee for the beach... AND there was nobody else there! The tide was low and we had the ENTIRE place to ourselves! It was a great day, this is exactly where we would normally be dreaming about being instead of studying for finals!! Ashia (very sorry) to all our classmates back home trying to survive finals, and family watching it snow while we're enjoying a sun tan!

>----------------------------|----------------------------<

This much! (and more!)

When you don't have snow, next best thing is a sand angel!

Tutorees!

2011-12-06T11:30:00.000-06:00

I started with one little boy coming to the hospital after school for tutoring, then it was two... then 5, and now 7 kids have come. They range from class 1 to form 1 (roughly the US equivalent of kindergarten to freshmen year HS) about 5 to 13. We have lots of fun! I'm not totally convinced that all of them NEED tutoring, especially when the 5-year-old can write out numbers no problem!! For example, when I write an 18 on the board, he doesn't even hesitate and writes "eighteen" .... I finally quit in the 20s satisfied that he knew what he was doing! Even though we have a couple geniuses in the bunch ;) I've been finding things they need help with and having tons of fun with them! My form 1 student came with trouble in fractions and decimals (she has since informed me that she needs help in physics and other such topics... we'll tackle those tomorrow) ... she said, "the way our teacher explains it doesn't make sense to any of us and he just keeps going because he thinks that because he understands we do too!" I had to smile, students around the world, including myself, have echoed that same complaint! I helped her and tried to explain it the best I could and got to experience that "ah ha!" moment when the lights came on!! When her homework was finished I asked if it had helped at all and she said, "oh yes! so much!" I got those teacher warm-fuzzies and the million dollar satisfactory feeling of helping a child!

The only "problem" with my tutorees is that... well, when they're done, they don't go home!! So today when we were finished I joined them on the lawn for some fun!

Let's just call it PE class!!

Sunday With Elizabeth

2011-12-05T08:45:00.001-06:00

Each night I try to record the day's events and capture as many of the sights, sounds, smells, and emotions that I can possibly put into words in my journal and can be several typed pages per day. To keep from making you all board stiff, my blog usually gets the simplified and filtered version of my stories with pictures.... This time though, I'm going to give you the "journal version" description of my day, hope it's not too long and I'll try not to lose your attention; and yes, I'll throw in some pictures too! :)

Saturday night Mary and I crawled into bed with great anticipation of the joyous fact that we were going to get to sleep in the next morning! We had made plans with Richard to cancel our 6:00am run because Mary wasn't feeling well, and the other youth would all be up at the church helping dig the foundations for the new pastor's house. Last Sunday we were shot and tried to sleep in, but the kids knocked on our door and peered in every window they could until we joined them. So with no run and no kids to play football (soccer) with the next morning, we were going to get to sleep past 6 on a Sunday! Which may not happen again while we are here.

The next morning at 8 there's a knock on the door, I know it was past 6, but I was hoping... I laid in bed, didn't move, but the knocking didn't quit. I wasn't trying to be extremely rude, I was half in my sleep, the knocking was like an alarm that I snooze the first 5 times without even hearing, I was in bed, and not presentable to go to the door. I'm on the top bunk so I opened my eyes to peak through the railing to see if I could possibly see who it was through the inch crack in our curtain on the door. I don't know how it's possible to make eye contact through an inch crack in the curtain and the railing of the top bunk, but we did. Her big brown eye met mine and now I had no choice. I got up and met her outside, it was one of our little friends from church who had happened by on her way to church when a lady was painstakingly walking to the clinic. Dorothy told me that she is with child and by the way she walks looks to be in labor. The doctor wasn't available and Lea, the nurse, wasn't there yet. So I went to meet the patient. Even when we are open and seeing patients we can't deliver babies here until our container of equipment gets here. I asked her some questions, even though I am the very least qualified person to be helping her, she said she is not due until February, but I personally don't know how she could go that long, I was pretty convinced she must be carrying twins. I suggested and asked if she could go to the general hospital. She said no, she would wait for the nurse, there was nothing more I could do, so we waited and I checked in later when Lea had seen her, all seemed fine.

I got ready for the day which included an exceptionally cold shower, I usually avoid the morning ones because the water has an extra icy bite in the morning but such is life. It took my breath away, more of my breath than normal that is! We got ready to visit my friend Elizabeth. Elizabeth is a teacher at the deaf school who I've been spending most of my time with while there. I started out observing in her class and last week got to help one of her youngest students who is still struggling with the alphabet in sign language. She invited me before but we had trouble communicating and meeting up that day and had to leave after waiting over an hour and a half. But this time we found each other at our meeting place and she took us to her home.

I almost didn't recognize her when we first met her, she wasn't in her school clothes, but rather her Sunday, market dress and head piece, then later when she took her head piece off I still almost didn't recognize her because she got a new "hair plant" over the weekend! When we (Mary and I) got to her home we met her family, husband, 5 children, and "Jr. sister" who lives with them. The youngest two girls showed us pictures while she changed out of her market clothes and cleaned up. We met her husband and had a very interesting conversation with him about the education system here. He works at the place that writes all the exams, basically the standardized tests and ACTs, the assessment tests and entrance exams for the system here. We were brought a huge bowl of the sweetest and most juicy pineapple you can possibly imagine as an appetizer and then continued to visit with Elizabeth and John as the kids came and went. They have 5 children, 4 girls and 1 boy who's name is Paul! When Elizabeth and I realized this fact one day at school, that our families are "the same" she was elated and stated, "see we were meant to be to friends, God doesn't make mistakes!" We got on the topic of "snail meat" and John took us outside to see their snail farm. on the side of the house were two small pails with boards and rocks covering them. One was the big snails, he showed us one that was "almost ready to eat" and then showed us the baby ones, separate from the rest to that the big ones wouldn't eat them. The oldest girl came around the corner of the house gave a shudder and disgusted face... glad I'm not the only one that felt that way!

Mary and I asked if we could possibly be of any help in the "kitchen", knowing the we would really be more in the way but we'd like to see, and assist if all possible. She said there was no need to help but she'd love to show us where they make the food. So we followed her through the house and out the back to a separate little shelter, the kitchen, where the fire and such was. she let us taste a piece of the "crust" in the kettle from making the cassava fufu. It was basically like the stuff that's left over on the edges of the kettle when you make mashed potatoes. I put it in my mouth and my throat and under my tongue tightened... it was very "bitter" I can't really describe the taste, but bitter is close, cassava has that taste, bobolo is also made from cassava and I can't like that either. I tore what I had left in my hand and put the two soft sides together, hoping that if the more crusty stuff was all that hit my taste buds it would have less of an effect. We went back in to enjoy the meal.

We were each dished up a perfectly formed wad of cassava fufu and a bowl of okra soup. We prayed and she told us to "go ahead" Mary and I hesitated, there was no silverware, we both reached toward our fufu, then hesitated again, I'm fine with eating with my fingers, but are we suppose to? I was hoping someone would make the first move before it got awkward so that I could copy whatever they did, but nobody did... so we just dug in. Once we started, we were given more directions, you pull off a little piece of fufu, form it in your fingers, and then get some okra soup on it and enjoy! :) I started eating, yep, it tasted like cassava, but, if you formed it thin enough, you could get enough Okra soup on it to hide the taste. The Okra soup was seasoned wonderfully and I was really enjoying it! For anyone who doesn't know the consistency of Okra when it is cooked, well, let me just use a word Mary used to describe it, "snot"... it's very slimy and not very easy to eat with your fingers... so I realized that I need to make sure I get the soup used up before I'm out of cassava to "scoop" it up with, but as I kept going, I realized, oh no! If I run out of soup before fufu I can't eat the cassava plain! I need the soup to cover the taste! A viscous circle! without even thinking I had started in with my first two fingers and thumb, then Elizabeth's sister bumped me and said, "if you really want to enjoy it, you will use all 5 fingers" so I did, all five fingers in my soup! MMmmm! :) Elizabeth offered us more so I was relieved that I didn't have to calculate my fufu to soup ratio, I began smothering the bitter fufu with the flavorful soup once again and really enjoyed it. I was VERY full by the time we finished.

Elizabeth took us the equivalent of a few blocks away to their tribal meeting her husband John was already at. She told us that we were more than welcome there and would like to introduce us to her tribal people. Most of them had clothing made from a matching fabric. The "house" was full and people were sitting outside, but there was room for us inside so the had us go in, there was a seat for me on the front row and I sat down in awe. there was a head table where three men sat and one was standing and saying something... in dialect, I had no idea what he was saying, but it had something to do with their tribe. The entire house was plain cement with bared windows, there was a little room off to the side of where the three men were sitting at the head table, in the little side room a bunch of older men sat in a circle, I couldn't really tell what was going on in there, but it seemed interesting. They greet or say welcome by starting by almost rubbing your hands together, then turning it into a very soft clap until the entire room is together and gives a couple gentle claps all together. They did this when we came in, and then a couple of other times when other people entered.

The meeting continued, the head table kept shifting members and random people stood to speak, still, I'm understanding nothing, but interested nonetheless. There was a very plentiful supply of drink, so far all of it was coming from two dirty, plastic containers that remind me too much of roundup jugs, as one would be emptied, they'd bring in another. Palm wine, when they set one down and opened the cover it just foamed out the top until a picture was obtained. John, Elizabeth's husband came to the front and eventually was in the center of the head table, he gave a couple of different speeches and apparently said some funny things because everyone laughed a couple of times. They said things, read from a book that looked like a record book of some kind and people would randomly bring money to the front. I turned around to ask Mary when we should go and asked Elizabeth how late people would be selling at the market, we decided to stay about 15 minutes longer. I waited for a good time to make an exit, but one didn't come.Suddenly someone entered the room and everyone stood, Mary and I followed the crowd, as the group passed me I couldn't figure out why or which one of the men was extra special, but one was holding a huge gourd or some sort and they all entered the little side room. We all sat down and the meeting continued, I found out later that the man with the gourd was the chief of the Pinyin tribe. More drinks were brought in, this time in glass bottles and I spotted a Fanta in the case. Just a few minutes later I was offered a drink, I tried to convince him that I was fine, and say "no thank you" but I quickly realized that he was not going to take no for an answer. The Fanta was already taken but I asked for a "sweet drink." I learned early on in my time here in Cameroon that "pop" or "soda" whatever you call it at home, is called "sweet drink" here. Had I asked for pop he would have looked at me very funny and not had a clue what I wanted, but since I asked for a sweet drink he didn't even hesitate and gave me anana top (pineapple pop) (my local favorite!). I was very pleased that I had some former Cameroonian knowledge to prevent some awkward confusion at that moment! Another guy whipped out a bottle opener and another offered me his cup which had already been used by more than just him... I thanked him but "no thank you" and then shared the anana top with Mary, who had been given a shared cup she couldn't turn down. A man came with the gourd and began to fill it with the palm wine, a special

After more meeting and waiting for an appropriate time to leave Elizabeth stood up and got everyone's attention, began to introduce us, she had me stand, introduced me, and then Mary. They gave us a warm welcome and then one of the men from the front promptly asked something in dialect to which Elizabeth responded with a large smile, "no, both of them are not yet married!" and the whole house laughed and cheered. The meeting continued and when we finally got a chance to make an exit it was an hour after I had said 15 minutes. Elizabeth saw us out and the lady of the house met us outside, beside herself that we were not going to stay to eat! I know it's in the culture and Elizabeth had told me last week at school that if we didn't share food in her home by culture they would feel unaccepted or unloved. So I hated to turn her down but we tried to explain that Elizabeth had already fed us and we were quite full, but appreciated her offer. It took some talking but we were finally able to leave.

Mary and I made a quick trip to the market, by the time we got there most shops were closing down but it actually was a good time to be there. Late in the day when the sellers are ready to head home they'r anxious to get rid of things rather than haul them home, so we got a couple of bargains including 30 bananas for 200francs roughly 50cents.

When we left our room just before noon we expected to be gone a couple of hours tops, but when we got back to our gate it was almost 7!! what a day! Yet another day jammed full of those once in a lifetime experiences and things I could never have imagined before coming here! I'm so thankful for EVERYTHING God has done for me and allows me to experience and learn every single day!

This is where the cooking is done for Elizabeth's family.

Mary, Elizabeth, and I beginning our meal.

Most of the family.

Me enjoying my meal with all 5 fingers!

Sorry, no pictures from the tribal meeting, didn't seem like a good idea to get my camera out.

God's Precious Little Children!

2011-12-03T21:42:00.002-06:00

Children are a gift from the Lord Psalm 127:3

I thank God for allowing me the privilege of working with and enjoying the company of these precious children. I learn more from them than I could ever hope they learn from me, they touch my heart and I'm sure they will touch yours as well!

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14

Realizations

2011-12-01T13:42:00.000-06:00

I frequently have little moments when I come to the realization "I am in Africa!" all over again. Here's a few little things that have triggered this awareness recently.

When buying bread today we examined the dark spots on it to decide if it was mold or dirt, since we decided it was dirt, we bought it.

Taxis are decked out... and seeing an American flag gives you extra warm fuzzies!

"Gross things" seem less and less disturbing and after trying multiple times to do something, you learn to allow them. Especially when the parent is right there and does nothing.

"Beef" have more skin than beef.

Rodents get your packages before you do.

Carrying things in any way but on your head is improper.

I come face to face with banana and palm trees every time I step outside.
At prayer meeting a friend points out to the night sky and asks, "How did the day pass by?" (how was your day?).
Another teacher at school asks how I am, I say good and you? and he replies also good... I smile and sit back feeling very accomplished, because (even though it was only about 2 sentences long, this "Conversation" just took place in French!). Then, when this same teacher comes back in later and asks me if I've eaten, once again in French, I knew what he was asking and responded!
You can "go shopping" for anything from shoes, movies, dishes, hangers, TV remotes, and whatever else walks by while you're "eating out."
We're eating at "restaurant" that has a menu, but only rice and beans are available... so we all order rice and beans but when half of the group has been served, the waiter comes to tell us that, "the rice is finished."
The ladies in market ask me to marry their son.
The equivalent to McDonald's is a lady beside the road who has a bowl of oil heating over a fire made in a tire rim to deep-fry her "Irish Potatoes" (French fries).
The taxi I'm riding in dies on the way up-hill, so I get out and help turn it around and aim it downhill... the driver jumps in and pops the clutch to restart it, then as it's billowing black exhaust he picks me back up and we continue up the hill.
In the morning you're asked "how did you spend the night?" (instead of "did you sleep well?" or "did you get a good night's rest?").
It's getting hotter and hotter! Happy December!

Mauye

2011-11-29T16:58:00.001-06:00

Yesterday Mauye was here bright and early because he didn't have school, but I still had to go teach at Kingston so he just hung around most of the day and was waiting for me when I got back. He said he had a surprise for me! So when we got up to the classroom he made me close my eyes and led me in, right up to the marker board. He had been hard at work while I was gone and apparently put lots of thought into this drawing for me. So cute :) definitely was one of awww :) warm fuzzy moments teachers get from time to time! ;)

Thanksgiving Report

2011-11-25T03:44:00.000-06:00

Thanksgiving, especially here in Africa, requires hours, even days of preparation! We cooked for hours in our room plus up in Sarah and Alyssa's room. I will tell you though, the results were good!

This is the tofu that took about 6 hours on Tuesday... glad we got an early start!

A sweet potato that looked amazingly similar to a duck! (yes, these are sweet potatoes, not very sweet and not orange at all!)

Food EVERYWHERE! Like I said, this meal took litterally days, tofu on Tuesday, sweet potato dish on Wednesday, and everything else on Thursday. Did I mention we have NO counters, just our "desk" table.

Mary and her "home hat" :)

Our room was grand central station all day... there was hardly space to pass each other!

Two kids from church showed up to get in on the action and help out, Moye (in the green) is one of my kids that comes everyday for tutoring, but today he came for fun! They helped us out and ground up some of our groundnuts for topping on the sweet potato dishes.

Gnochi :)

Veggies for stir-fry and fancy boiled eggs.... so much food filtered through our room and across this table, the order of events was literally a science!

When there's just no space left inside... you sit outside and clean, cut, and chop!

"Counter space" wasn't the only thing we were short on... dish, bowl, and buck space was in hot demand as well... so the potatoes had to wait in our water filtering pail.

Thanksgiving pumpkin pie! Andrea tackled this and was greatly successful!

And after days and hours of prep! Give thanks and dig in!! (this is only some of the food! the table had some too, and the DESERT was in the kitchen!).

Our Buea Family Thanksgiving 2011

(4 of our Cameroonian Friends had already left, but our group consisted of representatives of Cameroon, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, and of course, The United States!)

Yesterday us girls produced....Two large pans of stir fry with homemade tofu, four pans of sweet potato hot dish, two pans of apple crisp, gallons of gnochi, 60+ deviled eggs, and koki beans all with two burners on a gas stove... no, no oven! God is so good! I have so much to be thankful for! All my needs are supplied and provided for with great abundance! Hope you all enjoyed a blessed Thanksgiving day!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T10:42:00.006-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving family, friends, and loved ones! Wishing you a day filled with love and joy as you count your blessings and thank our heavenly Father for them! God is so good and I continue to stand in awe!

I want to leave you with a thought to ponder, I don't claim this to be super profound or wise, just something I've been sorting out in my mind. When I talk to people back home, my mother dear in specific, when we come blessings vs. needs there's often comments like, "oh I just feel so guilty." But I would like to suggest that we should not feel guilty. For example, feeling guilty for taking a warm shower does nothing for the temperature of the water in Africa, they key is to be thankful for what you have! When there is something you can do to help others, do it, but when guilt creeps up, identify the blessing that is causing you that guilt and then just thank the Lord for it! People who have MUCH less than you can be MUCH happier than you if you're forgetting to thank God for everything. Remember, it's really not about what we have, it's who we have!

When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Count your blessings, name them one by one,

Count your blessings, see what God hath done!

Count your blessings, name them one by one,

Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.

Are you ever burdened with a load of care?

Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?

Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,

And you will keep singing as the days go by.

When you look at others with their lands and gold,

Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;

Count your many blessings—wealth can never buy

Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.

Count your blessings, name them one by one,

Count your blessings, see what God hath done!

Count your blessings, name them one by one,

Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.

So, amid the conflict whether great or small,

Do not be discouraged, God is over all;

Count your many blessings, angels will attend,

Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.

Count your blessings, name them one by one,

Count your blessings, see what God hath done!

Count your blessings, name them one by one,

Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.

God is SO GOOD! I am blessed beyond comprehension, and I am eternally thankful for each and every one of you!

Random and Thanksgiving Prep!

2011-11-22T16:52:00.000-06:00

First of all, let me just make it very clear that if I haven't already mentioned or let you realize, I want to say that I really appreciate the wonderful produce and fresh food options here in Buea. The home-grown goods are definitely a big item on my thankful list! I walked a little ways out of of my way today on the way home from school to swing past a tomato farm, my favorite place for wonderful, beautiful tomatoes and purchased a bowl full! When I got back I counted them because I was curios... 48 red beauties! (only some are in this picture). Getting lots of tomatoes for cooking always seems like a splurge to me, but I like my little tomato farmer ladies and the price doesn't seem too bad.

So, before I tell you how much it cost me in francs, I want you each to tell me what you'd pay/expect to pay at your local grocery store for 48 of these!?

Today's project was TOFU! :) I've been looking forward to tackling this task for the special occasion of Thanksgiving! :) It was a long process so we were in the thick of it when the boys came for tutoring... so they got in on the fun! This is a shot of the pressing stage, trying to make it nice and firm!

This is what 10 cups of soaked and ground soy beans plus 10 liters of water looks like! Waiting to be strained, drained, cooked, pressed and prepared! Since we know we're going to have kettles on every burner come Thursday, I wanted to get this project covered early.

Last night I said goodbye to my braids and with some help removed them one by one over a 3 hour hair party! It was quite amazing to see how much mesh came out of my hair and how my hair responded to being in braids for 3 1/2 weeks!

Yesterday at school they had a "program" basically, a talent show for the kids, it was incredible!! The things those kids performed was just unbelievable! Dances like you've (and I've) never seen! This stage just appeared too! and it is NOT portable, it was hefty duty wood, looks like it was built right there and will be taken apart right there! It was a BIG DEAL! I had no idea this was going to be happening, but that's how everything is here. I tried to find out today if/when my school has Christmas break, the teachers I asked (when they figured out what I was asking) said oh yes, we have one... when I asked when, they had no clue, the 14th? 15th? maybe 16th, no idea... So I suppose I'll find out the day before when they tell me there's no school tomorrow, or maybe when I get there and there is no school haha! The program was being taped by CRTV, a television station from Yaounde, this is the most (or only) technology and equipment I've seen for 2 months! Wowzers!

I didn't have my camera or anything with me!! I tried to ask around and find out how long the show would last, but couldn't get a straight answer or really fully understand anyone I asked, so I finally decided to try to get my camera and a couple of the girls to see this!! But when we got back to school the show was over and they were just getting one last shot of the two student representatives who served as MCs. But just take my word for it, it was QUITE the show!

Pathfinders!

2011-11-20T13:50:00.000-06:00

The very first weekend I was here in Buea there was a special youth service at church and my heart just melted when I saw the kids and the Pathfinder club here in Cameroon, so similar to ours, so very far from home! I set to getting my Pathfinder uniform sent ASAP, but (if you remember) we had no internet at all for the first two weeks so it was a process to figure it out... but I got word to mom who made the arrangements...

I was beginning to wonder and worry if my uniform was lost somewhere between here and there.. :( but then it arrived JUST in time! :) (God's timing is always perfect!) This week was Adventurer Sabbath at church and Mary and I were asked last week to teach the children's lesson. The mission this quarter is the NAD, so we got to tell them about home! It was SO much fun and scratched a major itch of mine to work with the kids and be involved with the Pathfinders!

I marched in with the pathfinders and the Adventurers, (12 and under) had the sermon.

A few of us :) the little girl in the corner is a twin :) so cute!! Not sure where the other one was :P

"The Gang" This is my "family" away from family that lives at my "home" away from home! (SMs: Sarah, Me, Mary, and Alyssa, Doctor Trixy and Bill).

This is what African potluck looks like, just outside the church :) We brought a rice, carrot, and green pepper concoction, it felt so good to belong, be part, and contribute! We even got multiple compliments on our dish! :)

After you eat you clean the dishes right? Well, this is just a small example of what I mean when I say everything is just different here. We set all the dishes down in the dirt, got two buckets of water, one with laundry detergent in it, the other for rinsing... and got it done!

On the way back from church we practiced our African skills, I must say, I'm pretty good ;) I walked most of the way home with our pot on my head and didn't even need my hands!

Moto Ride

2011-11-17T13:56:00.000-06:00

Riding a "moto" has been on my 'to do' list since I arrived in Cameroon nearly 2 months ago! Since motos are not allowed to be taxis within city limits I hadn't had the opportunity, till now. Today my wish was granted when a moto driver offered to take Nate and I out to the deaf school (for a price). When the three of us were bouncing up the rough road that a 4-wheeled vehicle could never manage, Nate commented about the uniqueness of the crowded, bumpy ride. I had to smile, I have 4 siblings, a dirt-bike, and section lines at home... this ride felt more like a sweet taste of home than an unusual foreign adventure.

Hugs from the mailbox!!

2011-11-16T08:51:00.001-06:00

A little edit/addition to this post...

Dear Family,

Be watching for this "hug" to show up in your mailbox sometime in the next few weeks... I really hope it gets where it's going because the seemingly confused post office worker placed all 5 stamps on top of each other, the return address, and yet not one of them was fully on the envelope!! I tried to fold them over and attempted to make them stick as much as possible... but there was only so much I could do... so I'm just hoping and praying this little letter finds it's way to you! <3

Our mail is "external" :) dropping it in there was so scary!

This afternoon Sarah, one of the other SMs, asked me if I would come up to the post office with her to mail a letter. I had no reason to go to the post office but I did anyways. And what to my great surprise did I find!?! A PACKAGE for ME!! :D I was thrilled to find my Pathfinder uniform, just on time for Adventurer Sabbath this weekend... which was packed full of goodies and treats from home! :) priceless!! Also! My t-shirt from Union with notes and signatures from friends back at school!! Mary's came about 2 weeks ago and I was really hoping and praying that mine wasn't lost forever! the whole package sure put a bright spot in my day!!

After 18 days....

2011-11-13T14:56:00.001-06:00

...The braids are still in! Today I straightened mine (with boiling water), it's a whole new look, and feel! Originally my goal was December 1, now I'm thinking I'd like to have my own hair back for Thanksgiving. So, I"m aiming for another week(ish) :)

Random Pictures, Countless Stories...

2011-11-10T10:39:00.000-06:00

It’s been 50 days since I said good-bye to family and friends and left my comfortable, familiar surroundings.

50 days in the scheme of things is no time at all; it’s not enough time to learn a new language, understand a different culture, or reverse lifelong habits. However, 50 days is more than enough time for the “little things” in life to trade places with what used to be the “big things.” It’s plenty of time to start counting your blessings, and forever change how you see the world!

Here's a little collection of random pictures from the past 50 days that contain countless stories...

There's a little place down the street that makes "spagettii omelets," one day while enjoying spagetii and beans there I asked the rhetorical question, "I wonder where they wash their dishes?" and almost simultaneously noticed the buckets on the floor where our plates were being washed.

When we were in Douala with pastor Rich we saw a lady gut a fish and wash it in a bucket of water, then watched a boy run up to the same bucket of water and wash a plate.

This little boy was just sitting in the middle of bustling "Clark's Quarters" a little neighborhood center for vendors, a few of our favorites are a bakery, bread shop, and a little store in an old, blue shipping container.

The kids here are so independant and things that would make me cringe don't even concern the parents in the least. Last time I was at the blue container store a little toddler stumbled by down the broken sidewalk, no parents in sight... not a big deal, just another little thing I'm not used to.

This is a prime example of the little street vendor shops. For sale here we have fresh sugar cane; The empty shelves you see on the far side of the chair are usually stocked with bananas, plantains, oranges, tomatoes, or pears (avocados). You're never more than a few steps from one of these little stands, if you want bananas and they are "finished" at this one, just walk a few yards to the next one.

This little girl just tears my heart up. She's the daughter of the lady who braided my hair. She laid on the floor the entire day, never stood or used her legs for anything. her limbs, feet and hands are so tiny and underdeveloped that they are of no use. Trixy said it's a combination of Cerebral Palsy and a malnutritioned diet. Plus the poor thing had a cold on top of that. Her siblings and other kids played circles around her and us all day. When it was time to eat the oldest "scrubbed" the floor, and sat them all down in a circle around a little pot of food, and fed them one bite at a time with the same spoon.

This is the local car wash! It's so pretty and amazing! You can barely see it, but way on the right side you can see that it's a small waterfall-like stream coming down off the mountain, they drive they vehicles right down into the water and wash away!

It was hard to get a picture, had to do it when we were driving by slowly, and even then they started yelling at us for taking a picture... but this gives you a little peek.

What do people really get for all their hard work? 10 I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. 11 Yet God has made everything beautiful for it's own time. he has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people coannot see the whole scope of God's work from begining to end.
Ecclesiastes 3:9-11

Over the last 50 days I have almost worn out words like "WOW," "incredible," "amazing," "unbelievable," "awesome," "indescribable," and "crazy." I can't have a conversation with my family and friends without saying, "I can't even tell you how much...," "I can't explain...," "I wish I could tell you how..."

...

Words cannot describe the things I am learning and experiencing here! Try as I may there's no way for me to convey what I see, hear, smell, taste, and feel as I go through each day. I often just stop and wish with all my heart that you could trade places with me for just 10 seconds and experience what I am living!

I've become overwhelmed with questions... I feel like my head is constantly swimming. Striving to understand what is being said around me, remembering and processing cultural lessons I'm trying to learn. And forever struggling with questions like how can I make a difference, what should I be doing, where do I start?? (I could go on and on, but "I can't even describe to you" haha).

Search me O God and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts Psalm 139:23

Douala Weekend with Pastor Rich!

2011-11-09T01:23:00.000-06:00

The last weekend of October we got to spend the weekend in Douala thanks to pastor Rich from Union College and some very gerous (unnamed) former student missionaries who show their support of and appreciation for SM each year by sending pastor Rich to visit and treat as many of us as he can. I never knew how much this could mean to an SM until it was me!! It was so great to see pastor Rich and the whole weekend was the very boost I needed! I hadn't posted about it until now because pastor Rich was the one who took most of the pictures and I just got them from him!

The beautiful ocean in Douala, he said if we were homesick enough we could start swimming!

Gorgeous tree at the edge of the ocean

A whale vertebra

"My" hair! this was the day after I got it done, I've had it for 2 weeks now, it's not going to last 'till December 1st like I had originally set my goal for.... but I'm gonna give it another week or so... it's been so amazing to have thick, curly hair with no effort at all every morning!

Sabbath in Douala, Unionites, and three Dakota kids at that!

Christmas in October!! PR brought us TWO suitcases of things from home, family and friends!! They were filled with most exciting surprizes!! We just couldn't even contain ourselves! I don't think I stopped smiling all night!

Just seeing the Union College logo on his shirt when we first met up with him made my heart skip a beat! The first familier thing in over a month! It was a WONDERFUL weekend!

Erkle

2011-11-08T13:26:00.000-06:00

I would like to take this moment to tell you all about my childhood hero... Growing up, dad and I had a very strong appreciation for a wonderful child star named Erkle. Erkle provided us with hours of entertainment and a continuous challange to perfect our Erkle laugh,

"hehehehehehehehehehe `snort `snort did I do that!?"

Litttle did I know that roughly 15 years later I would encounter and have the privilege of teaching my very own Erkle!!

There is nothing staged or "cheesed" about this picture, this is "Erkle" at his finest. He is in my "special needs reading class" but should not be; he flies through the assignments I give him with 5X more than I ask for. Today after completing more than I told him to do 3 or 4 times he finally went out to play (but was back shortly). While he was gone I caught two little boys quietly "doing their work" with Erkle's paper conveniently visible under their desk.

Dad, I hope this brought as many memories for you as he does for me every day! Sometimes I look at him and almost expect him to say "hehehehehehehehehehe, `snort, `snort, did I do that?!?"

First Weekend of November In Beua

2011-11-07T03:21:00.000-06:00

Late Friday afternoon we made a quick stop by our favorite little shops for some Necessary ingrediants and then set to work and settled in for a wonderful weekend! We've developed a few bad habits here... hehe turning a pot into an oven so we can make cookies may be one of them!

Friday night's meal was a major team-effort... with BIG sucess! My project was chopping tons of garlic, tomatoes, and Pepā for some salsa I have been craving for so long!! I added "a little bit of this and a little bit of dat" from the wonderful variety spices and seasonings we got from Union, plus some of the "green spice" from market for an excellent salsa if I must say so myself! ;) hehe, Mary and Alyssa did an incredible job on the tortillas and gave them a little bit of seasoning of their own. we took it over to Bill and Trixy's house where there was a big pot of rice and a wonderful stirfry of veggies that the interns had put together!! We combined our works of art for one of the yummiest American Mexican food in Africa Friday night meals you can imagine! MMMmmmmmm! it was SO GOOD!

Our wonderful Friday night meal!

A great meal must be followed by an equally great dessert... after we tickled our taste buds with the amazing tortillas this dessert just kinda evolved, with direct result in mind we just started cutting up banana and melting some Cameroonian chocolate, soon granola, chopped nuts, brow sugar, and peanut butter was added! What a great serendipity!

We did it Schumacher style and all dug in!

There was a baby dedication in chuch this week, the whole family (+ about 6 or 7 more that you can't see in this picture) all had clothes made of the same fabric for the dedication. It was really neat to see.

(some of) OUR FRIENDS!! :D

Left to Right: Sarah (SM from Walla Walla, from CA), Te'claire (pharmacy and cashier at the clinic), Mary (my roomy from ND and Union! :) ), *in front of/between Mary and I is Te'claire's neice holding the baby who was dedicated, Me :), Hellen (the janitor/receptionist/self-made-nurse in the clinic), Alyssa (SM from Walla Walla, WA), little guy in front is one of the kids that comes for tutoring :) out little buddy!

Sarah and I looking as African as we can hehe! Her dress is one Trixy had made here, I'm wearing my first African skirt, and our look is finished off with our braids! :)

Sunday morning started out GOOD :) powdered soy milk was one of the things I asked our SM directors back at Union to send AND surprize granola from Cherilyn was one of the many goodies that came with pastor Rich!! It was such a YUMMY treat!!

We've been decorating with some things that pastor Rich brought!! We have to make it look like fall to remind us that it really is because it still looks like a tropical paradise outside!!

Cutting out the letters for "HAPPY THANKSGIVING" to put on our door, Albert (Te'claire's son) was hanging out in our room more than slightly confused and ammused by our "fall decorating" because neither "fall" or "thanksgiving" exist here in Cameroon! So we had fun explaining them to him.

Our good friend Richard invited us over last night, we had a wonderful time teaching our Cameroonian friends how to play UNO and then made up several variations of the game as the night went on, we played that cards in your hand at the end were points and whoever had the highest points was out for the next round (but got to sit in the corner and eat oranges! hehe) we had random point values, draw 2 cars were worth 7 points, and wilds worth 20! It was great fun!! Then at the end we played with the entire deck and when you had to draw cards you took them from the next player! It was a great evening!

All the ladies that come into the clinic tell us that Cameroonian men can't cook and their men cant even boil water, but Richard sure was hospitable and perpared us an impressive meal! Coco-yams, Plantains, and Jamma-Jamma.

No furniture in the house :) just gathered around in a circle on the floor, this area rug by the way, is the first contact with "carpet" of any kind I've had since I'm here.

Alyssa and I took over the dish-washing! Two bowls of water, one soapy and one for rinsing that were carried in becaue there's no running water in his sink. Richard went outside and took this picture in the window :)

I'm so blessed by the friends God has given me here in Cameroon, red and yellow, black and white, all are precious in His sight! I love the African concept of EVERYONE being your brother, sister, auntie or uncle!! What a special family I have here!

Kumba

2011-11-05T19:17:00.001-05:00

Here's some pictures from a little trip we took to Kumba on Monday. I keep hearing about first snows back in the states and it just makes my head spin!! It's so warm and tropical here it's hard to imagine snow but I miss it already!!! Kumba is about an hour drive from Buea with public transport, a "19 passenger van" which I'll just say I'm thinking is made for less than 19 people ;) the main attraction at Kumba is a crater lake, VERY beautiful... the pictures will convince you of that!

You can see the remains of rainy season... but this is suppose to be dry season!! I'd hate to see it in June! This road made our section lines look like interstate!

Such a variety of pretty landscape on the walk out to the lake!

Crazy looking plants and trees!

FYI, just incase you didn't notice!...

Doesn't this just look like something out of a resort photo album! Gorgeous!

Our Cameroonian friend Kelly was incredible!! We met him on the bus to Kumba! He just took us under his wing and hung out with us the whole day. We got in trouble for taking pictures and this guy was really upset with us, said that pictures were going to cost us 500cfx each (multiply that by 5 cameras and way too many picuters each!). Kelly argued with him for us and paid him a bribe wich was all the guy was after... there was no rule against pictures... just saw a chance for some money... But Kelley was amazing!

Dougouts! They offered to take us across the lake in these to see the village on the other side, but we decided not. :P

The girls! :) we're the 4 amigas here at 7 days clinic here in Buea this year! :)

A shot in one of the "19 passenger vans" The messages written on the inside were pretty good! A couple of them were, "No fighting" "No Vometing" and I quote exactly, "Do not send your hand out when the is moving" :) oh Africa!

AaaaAaaaaaaAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAaaaaAaaaAaaaaaaaaAAAAaaaaAaaa!

Mt. Cameroon

2011-11-02T15:40:00.049-05:00

This is the longest blog I have ever posted! It took my quite awhile and I appologize if there are just TOO MANY pictures! I had to at least try to give you a very, very small taste of my lastest adventure which was about 17 hours of hiking Mount Cameroon, about 14,000ft elevation, at roughly a 45 degree angle, over 2 days. We set out at 5:45am, not quite midnight for those of you in central time back home and hiked "all night" for you until we reached "hut 2" around noon here, a total of 5 hours and 45 minutes the first day. At one point where we were feeling pretty tired out, slow, and pathetic, we asked our guide what the fastest "white man time" is from the countless people he has taken up the mountain and to our great shock he said, "This is the fastest time" we questioned in disbelief and sure enough, getting to hut 2 usually takes his groups 8 hours and we did it in under 6! :) Guess Mt. Cameroon has just never seen a group of ND kids!

We had some nice time to relax at hut 2, rested in the sun, played some Dutch Blitz, and ate some yummy food!! Warmed up and crawled in bed around 8 because it had already been a long day and our next one was suppose to start before 5! After breakfast the next morning we started out before the sun and reached the summit 2 hours and 44 minutes later!! 2 hours after that we were back at hut two (and I had collected a sprained ankle) but we fed our tummies once more and then started the 6.5 hours down to complete the trip! Most trips up Mt. Cameroon are 3 days and you go down the back side which is less steap but we opted for the 2 day trip that comes back down the steep part... was nice to be back last night, but treck down the steep part was excruciating work and we're all walking like VERY old people today!

The start is litterally like a jungle/rain forest, then you climb through the equivilant of landscape from many different states back home... all the way eventually to "ND" at the summit!

My pictures are all in radom order because they came from 4 different cameras, and with the size of this blog there is almost no way I can sort them for you, plus there is some from the way up and then back down... so just try to follow my captions :) hope you're not too confused! The sights of God's amazing creation were too numerous to absorb as we climbed, though physically exausting, it was mentally and spiritually refreshing!

Job 26:14
And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him! Who then can understand the thunder of his power?

Not sure what, but I guess there was something cool we were looking at :)
Despite what you might think, going down is not easy, every single step requires much thought and care, loose rocks, dew, moist ground, and a rolled ankle make every step a real treat. Oh, and you can see some of Buea far below in this picture.

They made us a nice little fire for warmth when evening came, these are our native faces.

You know you're tired when: You fall fast asleep in a standing position!

The facility ;)

At the summit, it feels pretty amazing to be at the highest point in Cameroon with your camera.

A beautiful sight, hut 2 where we spent the night 5 hours and 45 minutes from the start.

This cave was only about 5 minutes from hut 2 so we took a little trip over there before our meal... it was really neat, went pretty deep but since we're not totally in the dry season yet it was too wet in there to go down very far.

Hut 3, 45 minutes from the summit.

My ankle... It got bigger and some color now, Mary is so proud of this picture, says it looks like it should be in an African disease book... I look like I have African feet with super long toes! An albino African that it!

A little rest :) this is at hut 2, done for the day, just waiting for food.

It looked like dill, smelled like dill, ...and tasted like dill. African pickles?!?

The summit!

It's a bit hot up here for North Dakotan blood! ;) (really it felt a lot like home hehe)

Hut 1, good thing there was another set of "stairs" around back!

Another cave :)

This is taken as straight as I could possibly get it, no exaggeration, this is how steap it really was!

Caught the Skittles in the air! Oh imported candy!

"Magic Tree"

Dinner time!

Our whole crew at the end of our adventure!

Limbe

2011-10-30T17:53:00.006-05:00

It's been an incredible weekend! Friday we got to go to Douala and see Pastor Rich from Union College!! It was SO GOOD to see somebody we know! We've got an awesome group of people here and are so blessed!! We have GREAT friends and feel SO loved and fortunate but Mary is the only person I've seen in the past 6 weeks that I've known for more than 6 weeks!! So seeing pastor Rich and Spencer who got there Friday evening from the far north in Cameroon was so great! PR brought us two suit cases of stuff from home!! Talk about Christmas in October!! We were like little kids!! It's been a jam packed weekend of SO MUCH FUN and very little sleep!! I have lots more pictures but here's some from Just today, we went to Limbe and on Tuesday we're going to climb Mount Cameroon!

We ate at the super good resturaunt in the wild life center this afternoon, I love the Bunny Chow!

The resturaunt is in the front of the zoo, this guy was facing the other way and we were trying to take pictures, calling, coaxing, trying to get him to turn around, all of a sudden he did and started posing it up!

You wouldn't see this on the table in a resturaunt at home very often now would you?

As if we hadn't eaten enough, we walked down the road to a little bakery while the rest went through the wildlife center... MMMmmmmm the bread and such is AMAZING here!

Hair, Hair Everywhere!

2011-10-27T15:39:00.015-05:00

The (Gold) hair you see hanging here, ALL of it, plus more was added to my head over the course of 8 hours today!

When I say everywhere, I mean everywhere! There was "hair" or mesh, fake hair on everything... the little kids in the shop provided great entertainment throughout the long day of sitting in one place but when this little guy started eating crackers, spilled them on the ground and kept eating them... my stomach turned! I felt like I shouldn't/couldn't let him eat them and continuously put hair along in but his mother was standing right there never saying a word, so I just let him finish up the crackers while monitoring for hair (and pulling it out of his mouth) the best I could! But I'm afraid there was just nothing I could do about all the other goodness that he was collecting off of the floor!

The ladies who did our hair were just awesome and I feel like we some what bonded in the 8 hours we spent together!

Trixy dropped us off at 9:30 this morning, then came back for about the last hour, and like I said, the cute kids provided a lot of fun!

Random guys that wanted to be in on a picture...
The 'Sisters'

Class 3A

2011-10-25T14:43:00.005-05:00

I would like to welcome you to class 3A, The experiences I've had here are both countless and undescribable... but allow me to attempt to relay a very small bit of the activity!Here's some things that you will hear the teacher say on a regular basis, these are exact quotes but other variations of them are fair game too...

The teacher asks for one student to bring her health book to use as an example for another class, finds the work unsatisfactory and insults the student and several others who bring their health books forward... then she calls on another student in the front row (who has been univoled until this point) to bring hers, the student confrims, "my health book?" to which the teacher replies, "Look at this big fool, she sits in the front and cannon hear!"

One morning as the class was getting started a little boy was mindlessly tapping his pen on his desk. The teacher starts down his row, "Is that your pen noise!?" he freezes, she grabbs his face in a very common violent cheek pull that I can usually nearly feel in my own, then proceeds to throw his pen on the floor and shouts, "stupid!" as she walks away.

I am not trying to villianize anybody, I am just continually amazed by the tough African culture here and the contrast between my school experience and the Cameroonian norm. Countless times in a day I hear "look at that big fool, "What a big empty head!" "What is wrong with this child!?" "Read! or I will whip you well!" and witness teachers herding students with branches, pulling cheeks, slapping, hitting, banging heads with rulers... Yet through it all I have only seens tears once, back home I feel, with drastically more tender treatment, I would almost expext to see tears in this age group daily. One day when I was handed a list of "noise makers" by another teacher and instructed to "punish these children" I looked at her totally blank and gave a dumbfounded gasp/laugh as I almost whispered, "how?"

Today when I was done teaching my two classes (that went very well :) ) I came back to spend the rest of the afternoon with class 3A. The teacher handed me their reader and said that I should read their reading assignment today, a sentence at a time and then they read after me. So I stood at the front of the classroom and began... It's a continued story, today was scene III, having NO IDEA the kind of story and taste of African culture I was about to experience... This is the exact story I found myself reading to 6-8 year-olds today... and I was the only one who didn't find the content completely normal.

The Broken Calabash

BY NJIMELE GEORGE M.
Scene III

At dusk. Grand Mama sits in front to the hut, trimming a basket. Titi is inside the hut, perhaps eating or doing some other thing. The cock crows and Grand Mama suddenly becomes time conscious. Nightfall will soon approach, she thinks. Then, she trims faster.

Grand Mama: Titi! [She calls out]
Titi: Grand Mami, I was winnowing the beans. [She lies]
Grand Mama: Learn to be busy always. It’s good to be busy. When you are busy, you lack nothing to eat. But I was not happy with the way you worked in the farm.
Titi: Big Mami, you know I’ve to learn gradually. In the city, we do no farming.
Grand Mama: but at your age, you must know how to make a ridge. Your must know how to make a big ridge which can take the seeds. Your ridges were like large pits.
Titi: I will do better next time.
Grand Mama: A promise is a debt. And in all this, I blame your mother. What does she think will become of your life? You’re already ripe for marriage, and who is that husband that will accept for a wife one who cannot make a ridge?
Titi: But Big mama, I won’t be a farmer in future…
Grand Mama: What would you be?
Titi: An office worker.
Grand Mama: And if by some misfortune, you fail as an office worker, what will become of your life?
Titi: I will be a trader.
Grand Mama: What if you’ve no capital to start a trading business?
Titi: [Silent.] I will…
Grand Mama: Look my daughter, the earth is for everyone. We shall all return to it in one way or the other. The earth is like a mango tree behind the house. We must all return to it when hungry. Work in the office can come to an end, but work on our ancestral farmlands is eternal. [a young adolescent boy approaches from the small footpath that leads to the hut. Titi is instantly gripped by fear. The boy is timid, probably afraid of Grand Mama.]
Titi: Welcome. [The boy keeps observing the old woman’s face.]
Grand Mama: Who are you, my child?
Boy: I’m Jacob…
Grand Mama: Jacob is no name!
Boy: I’m Komofor Jacob.
Grand Mama: You’re Komogor’s son?
Boy: yes, Big Mama.
Grand Mama: Your father is a good man. Whenever he comes here, he reserves a cola for me. He lives in peace with us. But his second wife is a proud she-goat. Whose son are you, my child?
Boy: I’m the son of the first wife.
Grand Mama: That’s good. That one is a good woman. She greets people well. Even though, she has never given me anything, she greets me quite well. She may not because she does not have. The second wife behaves like a queen. She sways her large buttocks at us. She dresses like a coastal goddess, and behaves like a foreigner meanwhile she is our own daughter. My child, does she fare well with you at home?
Boy: Yes.
Grand Mama: What of your brothers and sister?
Boy: they are all well.
Grand Mama: Komofor is a kind man. So my child, what have you come to my house to do?
Boy: Big Mama, I came to greet Titi. We are students of the same college in the city. [Titi glances at Grand Mama, noticing that she is not happy.]
Grand Mama: Titi, is it true what he says?
Titi: Yes, Big Mama.
Grand Mama: But I will accept him only for today because his father is a kind man. I do not hate you my son. But I will not like you to visit Titi because you might be tempted to do what is bad in the eyes of the gods. And if that happens, it will be a disgrace to all of us. So keep away from her and you should all know that whatever you do behind my back, I will know through the soothsayer. I can allow Titi to have a girlfriend and I’ll still be there to control their activities.
Boy: I’ve heard, Big Mama.
Grand Mama: Good! So you can go and help in the household work. You can accompany your grandfather to the fields. He’s a great hunter. He will teach you how to hunt the leopards and the panthers. You can also learn how to tap palm wine and you get initiated in a good cult where you learn the ways of our ancestors. Have you been circumcised?
Boy: No!
Grand Mama: You have to. You have grown big and you need to be initiated in the ways of our clan.
Boy: Big Mama, I have to go….
Grand Mama: Good. Greet everyone for me.
Titi: Bye!
Boy: Bye!
Grand Mama: [She draws closer to Titi.] You’re not being honest to yourself, Titi. You can’t cheat yourself, can you?
Titi: [Surprised.] What’s the matter?
Grand Mama: The young boy whose footprints I’ve seen for the first and the last time can do no good to your life.
Titi: He’s merely a school mate. I didn’t even know that he was here.
Grand Mama: That’s not important to me. I have to make things clear to you. I don’t want him here again. Tell him to stay at home and be useful to his parents. He’s no good to you and maybe to himself as well. But he must learn to be useful to himself or to his parents, so to say. [Titi nods in approval of her counsel, but she seems dejected and confused. The scene gradually black out on them.]

Scene IV
The scene is Nkeh’s shrine. He is the oldest soothsayer in Lankong. His hair is as white as human teeth and his beard is very long. He is too old and looks very fragile. He wears black sandals made of rubber. His costume is quite similar to the boubou of a Moslem Man. He is stout and perhaps owner of many wives and children.

Favorite Passtime...

2011-10-24T17:02:00.008-05:00

... You guessed it! Cooking and EATING!
Sarah getting ready to dig into the soya goo!!!

Milking the Soya cow! It actually takes some milker's muscles!

Boiling the soy milk to make it edible... and making some potato chips in some yummy palm oil...

Alyssa and Mary were the potato chip experts!

We barged in and took over Bill and Trixy's kitchen... after enjoying ourselves greatly and eating till we almost couldn't anymore!... we had two nice bottles of soy milk to chill for breakfast!! Mmmmmmm!

And this has nothing to do with food... just a little visitor I found in the bathroom...

This morning started off very rainy and gloomy. It rained from the middle of the night till well past noon, flooded a good portion of the hospital and quite honestly, seemed to flood our spirits too. This morning wasn't one of my brighter ones and it was an overall rough start to the day and leaving for school this morning took a lot of will power... However, THREE letters in the mailbox from good ol' North Dakota had a VERY positive effect on the mood and as you can see... our evening was quite a blast!
Plus, to finish off the day with an extra special treat... Just now Mary was taking a shower and all of a sudden she said, TABBY.... I THINK... the water, its getting warmer!!! what is going on!!? There's no way the water was being "heated" and no reason it should have gotten "warm" but it just did for a while!! so I got in right after her, we didn't even turn it off in between becuase we were too scared of it going cold again! It did cool off towared the end of my shower (and when I say it was warm, it was still a temp that at home a month ago I would have for sure called cold but...) it felt SO GOOD!! Random little blessing! :) A not so wonderful day in the begining, turned wonderful! :)

Random Experiences

2011-10-23T10:07:00.014-05:00

Mary and I were down the road waiting for a teacher friend from school today and this guy showed up and asked if we recognized him... haha no... so apparently he's a South African celebrity and informed us that he wanted us to be in his next music video! We just laughed but he left us with an autograph and a special copy of his newest music video that doesn't actually come out until December!!

These are some of the little letters I sent home with kids at school about tutoring :)

This, although it looks like a green water bottle, is really a rolling pin!!

Our mess that turned into yummy totillas and burritos! :)

Standing on the tofu!! making it nice and firm :)

TOFU!

Tryin to be an Arican cook!

We attempted our own Koki with the left over soy from making tofu!

Twin dresses for church! :)the locals were SO IMPRESSED!

This is a little butcher shop along the main road...
The part of the picture I would like to draw your attention to is the nice pair of horns left over from this morning's meat. Last Sunday when we walked by there was a perfect cow nose setting in roughly the same exact spot as these horns were today.

I attempted "fry bread" Saturday night, it was nothing like light and fluffy fry bread at home, the flour just feels different here and it was much thicker... but it was yummy none the less.

One Month

2011-10-21T02:59:00.005-05:00

It's hard to believe that we have been living Buea, Cameroon, Africa for one month! In some ways it feels like we've been away from home and familiarity for MONTHS but in other ways the days and weeks have pass quickly! I've taken roughly 30 cold showers, but then I've also eaten roughly 30 acvocados! Month 1 of this adventure has been filled with adjustments I can't even describe but God's blessings and watch care continue to cover my every step!

Mary and I got some beautiful fabric from Buea Town, the oldest subdivision of Buea. You cant really tell how beautiful and vibrant the colors are in this picture but they are! and there is a shiny print over the top! So we found another sweet seamstress (just a few steps down the road from our other one) and she made us twin dresses! :)

We were shocked to find this toilet... There really is no such thing as a public bathroom around here, if you're just out and about and have to go... The nearest bunch of trees or other hiding place it where you go... or if you're a man around her, you just don't find a hiding place, standing on the sidewalk is just fine. So Mary decided to make use of this public toilet which she was surprized to find actually had toilet paper! Even the "teachers' bathroom" at my school doesn't have TP, you're expected to bring your own "tissue." But Mary did discover that there was no flush on this toilet but a bucket of water beside for you to flush and refil.

You know you're in Africa when the teacher writes "means of land transportation" on the chalk board and elephant and camel are on the list!

The stories I could tell you are endless! I try to write every night and do my best to record my experiences of the day, I just get overwhelmed by trying to remember and relay all the details I want to save and share.

Today at the deaf school when lunch time rolled around the kids were dismissed and then returned with a plate of rice with beans spooned over the top. The first day I visited the school I got to see these beans being cooked in a huge pot setting on three big rocks with a fire burning under it and I even got to stir it. The kids in our classroom were busy eating and then I noticed kids from another classroom standing around our windows with thier plates. I didn't really notice that they were just standing there with their food until the teacher told me that these older students were waiting for our students to finish eating so that they could use the spoons. There's only so many spoons, so they have to take their turn. When the teacher was given her plate she waited for awhile and then split her food between the three students she thought should eat more; one who was sick, the smallest boy, and another student.

Food in Africa

2011-10-17T15:01:00.011-05:00

You would be amazed by both the WONDERFUL foods here and also the ones that make your stomach turn at the thought... but we have been finding some GOOD STUFF :) and cooking up a storm in our room! Here's a little "sample" :)

J's Grill" is a little more "upscale" local favorite we were introduced to tonight, our plates cost about $4 converted to American Money.

I got the "potato cake and vege salad" the potato cakes were very good, not quite like anything I've ever had before, nothing like a hash brown or something you would expect a "potato cake" to taste like... the potatoes were shredded VERY thin, then I'm guessing breaded and deep fried so it was soft... yet the potatoes inside were still very "sringy" like I said, quite unlike anything I've ever had before!

This is a little stand by the road, there's bobolo which I believe is ground up cassava formed into a banana shape by wrapping and tieing it in banana leaves. Also at this stand was fried plantain chips (bobolo and plantains are two of Mary's most favorite Cameroonian foods, I however don't appreciate them QUITE as much) and there was one more thing at this little fast food stop... whole fried fish!

You can top of an already amazing meal or just treat yourself to the YUUMIEST chocolate icecream you've ever had just because... :) I really need to stop being so naughty! :P but it was SO GOOD!

The market is really where we get our food, (eating out is really about like at home, kinda a rare "treat") this girl took special notice of us in the market yesterday and became our personal tour guide as we finished our shopping. She kept asking what we wanted next and took us to the best place to find it!

We walked the roughly 3 1/2 miles down to Moonya Market and then got a taxi back with all our loot! we are stocked!! we got okra, sweet potatoes, garlic, some African seasonings, agoose, oranges, grapefruits, bread, and papaya!

55 years

2011-10-16T03:09:00.002-05:00

55 years ago today my dear dadyo was born :) Happy Birthday Dad!! I hope it's a very special day!! I love you, Birthday wishes from Africa!!!

Indescribable Beauty

2011-10-13T14:32:00.002-05:00

The view of Mt. Cameroon, or old Mt. Fako was absolutely incredible tonight. It was a very clear day and evening and as the sun set the colors were amazingly vibrant. The picture is a sad portrayal of what it actually looks like in real life. I wish you could have all been standing there with me to see it with your own eyes! I stand in awe!

Koki!

2011-10-13T07:46:00.013-05:00

Lea and Christian, the two nurses who work here taught us how to make Koki! Lea came over around 5 and we dug in! There's lots of steps, kind of a process! But so worth it! Christian joined us when she got off work, it was so much fun and such a YUMMY result! So, to make Koki, you start with Koki beans...
Sort them,

Wash them! :)

We had to take the prepared Koki beans over to the machine to be grinded, we are pretty amazed with the African talent of caring thins on your head, EVERYBODY does it here, from little kid on! Today I saw a guy carrying two bags of sement mix on his head! Mary was trying and Lea is an expert... she tried to help Mary but after trying just said "hmmm, I have a spot on my head where I know I can carry things... I can't find yours"

The grinder which saves HOURS of grinding by hand on a stone!

Heating the banana leaves over the fire to clean them and make them soft and flexable.

Mix it up GOOD!! had to keep "stiring" all one direction to fluff it up!

Fill the Banana leaves.

The two cooks who actually knew what they were doing! :)
(notice our colorful notes on the wall behind Christian! :) thank you to all who sent them! :) they make me feel so loved!)

Boil it for... at least an hour... ish ;) It is just such an amazing concept for this ND girl to wrap her mind around the fact that I am cooking with BANANA LEAVES! And I can go out in "my yard" and get them!! Doesn't this just look so, ....wow!?

The finished product!! Several hours later, "Koki" and boiled plantains... It was SO SO SO SO good! But I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan of the plantains, the Koki however, was incredible!

Visit to the Tole Tea Feilds

2011-10-11T14:52:00.006-05:00

This evening the two nurses from the clinic came and taught us how to be African cooks!! It was great and a frist time cooking with banana leaves for me! I can't blog those pictures now, but here's a late post I didn't get to on Sunday! :)
Sunday afternoon Trixy took us on a nice walk out to the Tole Tea feilds, it is a BEAUTIFUL walk, the plants are just more than you can imagine!

We met Elizabeth and Joey on our way out to the tea feilds, they ran back to their house and all of a sudden were back to meet us with a gift of bananas! :)

This is another little "friend" we found on our walk... how he got here... so far from water is the real question.

Monday 10/10 =)

2011-10-10T11:17:00.015-05:00

Hope you all had a very marvelous Monday! :) it was a good day! I went on the "tour of Buea" That Bill took our new student missionaries on, and then got dropped off at my school. I taught my class and it went really well, but then the teacher left for the afternoon and I was in charge till school let out! The French teacher came and taught his lesson after recess and then had ME grade the French homework! :S

This morning I decided to tackle the challange of making pancakes in Africa! Our two new SMs don't have food or a stove yet so we've been trying to keep them fed! I started with a little recipe that I found on Google the other day and improvised drastically from there!! The real trick was getting them loosened and flipped... with a fork being my only weapon! Plus I didn't have a real smooth non-stick pan... just the cover of our pot, so I learned to make them a little smaller than your average pancake and it worked real well :)

if I must say so myself... I thought they were real good!

This is a banana leaf in the garbage can at school... You know you're in africa when a little boy brings his lunch to school wraped in a banana leaf!

I got to pick up my skirt today!! and I LOVE IT! :) I dropped off the fabric I got at the market on Thursday, picked a picture I liked, she took three measurements, and voilà! A BEAUTIFUL skirt today!

A simply pretty bridge bridge on the walk home from our favorite store.

right under the bridge is some nice trash (clothes and all) and it looks like the water has been washing over them for awhile!

An icecream cone fore everyone at Bill's favorite icecream lady :) at less than a quarter each it's a nice little treat!

Another week in Africa!

2011-10-07T08:59:00.015-05:00

Wednesday, the 5th was teacher's day and I was invited to the celebration! They honored me at the head table with the 5 "big wigs" of the school!! it was incredible!! I very big production and a VERY big honor!

Mary had to work the night shift last night and I got to spend it with her!

She even let me help with a few tasks I could handle!!

Mary got mail! =D

I just love the key for our mailbox!! it's a super old-looking skeleton key and it's just rough and looks homemade! But it works!

Christain gave us a wonderful sample of real African food!! We enjoyed learning and tasting at her house and even got to take some "home" for our meal!!

This is something... it's Gari wrapped up in a banana leaf until it gets stiff, Hey AFRICA!!

This is the food we got to take home!!

We've been getting pretty good at making our own German from Russia American African food!! This was SO tasty!! I think it's of resturant quality!! Unsalted beans on the bottom smothered with a delicate Gari Potato/Carrot stew and topped off with an exquizit Okra sauce with extra flavor. When eaten all together the beans on bottom added a wonderful texture and the Okra sauce complimented the beans with an exact salty ballance.

Trying to take matters into our own hands when it comes to our lighting situation! Than goodness for Big Iron Ford tools! :P

Thank goodness for duct tape

Sunday in Buea

2011-10-02T17:57:00.011-05:00

Mary and I started a "nap" yesterday afteroon which for me ended up lasting until 8:30 this morning... 16 hours of sleeps means two things... you were REALLY tired, and you wake up feeling wonderful! Haha, then it was a full day of all sorts of fun with Mary. Since we working in different places we feel like we never get to see each other haha, even though we do live together... :P but we had a wonderful day!

Do you know how to cook palm nuts? ... yeah, we don't either :P

We went for a nice long walk down the main road, we were going to walk for as long as we felt like (down hill) and then get a taxi back, but then decided when we turned around that we might as well keep walking, and it would be good for us! :P

on the shoulder of the main road :)

A Yummy treat toward the end of our walk :) Cold, Soy Strawberry/Banana Smoothy!

I was too overwhelmed to look for the ingredients at first but we located what we needed for a "German meal" and this German from Russia who has never left the United States till now, made Kneophla in Cameroon, Africa! :)

The progress!

Add some potatoes and carrots...

... And share with friends! (Mary, Trixy, Bill, and Andrea).
MMMMmmmmm a little taste of home! it was Amazing!

VIDEO From Cameroon!

2011-10-01T03:06:00.001-05:00

IT WORKED!! :) This took FOREVER to upload but I hope you enjoy it!

When we were on the way!

2011-09-30T18:43:00.000-05:00

Long Awaited Sights of Buea, Cameroon, AFRICA! :)

2011-09-30T17:14:00.026-05:00

Greetings from Buea, Cameroon, AFRICA! Here are a few of the pictures I have been just dying to share with you!! there are many, many more! But here is what I can share now! I had to pick some favorites which is VERY HARD to do... Thanks again for all your prayers, God has been SO SO SO GOOD to us and we feel so blessed and privilaged to be here!

These little "friends" are everywhere! :S

Our first groundnut or peanut roasting experience :) some were a little dark :P

Packages just MAKE OUR DAY! THANK YOU!

Our eating practices... Hmmm...

When cars... or busses "die" here, they just pretty much stay right there, I walk by this bus whenever I walk to school or church, it's quite a sight, nice and green thanks to the humidity and such... Dad, I noticed that the International logo on the front looks about the best of any other part of the bus!

A common sight, you're never quite sure where people really live.

This is what I saw, walking to school, down the main road of Buea, a city of 225,000 people!

This is all in our yard!

Pineapple! (or "Anana") There is just no words to describe how good it is here!

Eating Papaya!

ANOTHER Amazing plant in our yard!

Our first Sabbath in Buea :)

Our first friday night meal :) our new favorite... rice and potatoes, with some occasional carrots... it's easy to just boil up all together and add some yummy seasonings :) plus a DELICIOUS avocado or in Cameroonian "pear" which we purchased for the equivilant of about 10 cents US. :)

we miss you!!

and love you!

at the beach! :)

This was our the evening of our first full day in Buea!

A PICTURE from CAMEROON!

2011-09-28T16:04:00.002-05:00

We have horrible internet here and it took me FOREVER to get this ONE picture uploaded!! I have many, many more I want to share and videos too... plus stories to no end... but I am trying ever so hard to figure out a way to COMMUNICATE with all of you!! I WILL! SOON I hope! for now! Love and prayers! God Bless!

(This picture is taken in our "yard" right out our front door right before we walked to church :) )

In Cameroon!!

2011-09-22T16:25:00.002-05:00

I want to talk and talk to ALL OF YOU! We are here and getting settled in!! We even did more "venturing out" today than I thought we'd be ready to do for awhile! :P :) we are enjoying it very much and God has been blessing big!! THANK YOU THANK YOU for all the prayers!! they have been huge! our flight(s) went extremely well and got ALL our bags wonderfully! the first few out of the baggage claim! I could go on and on! but I am on borrowed internet because we cannot get any of our own yet. So know that I would love to talk to YOU... but for now just know that we are safe and happy an anxious to connect more later!

The experience so far has been INCREDIBLE! I want to explain and tell lots of stories! There is just so much to see and experience, I can hardly even begin to tell you! There is so much to soak in and we have only been here ONE DAY! :) more to come!!

Family Photo Shoot

2011-09-11T01:38:00.007-05:00

Getting Ready

2011-08-28T09:49:00.002-05:00

After potluck the church ladies helped cut out felts for me to take to Africa! :)

Water! :)

2011-08-25T20:50:00.000-05:00

We had to take down the pool and when the girls were done scrubbing it dad washed it off with the power washer... and someone had to hold it! Then it was time for a water fight!

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Water! )

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Phrozen Moments Photography

2011-08-23T17:25:00.002-05:00

I had two photo shoots on Thursday! Here's a sneak peek! :) more to come!

Garden Day!

2011-08-21T20:43:00.001-05:00

We put up about 18 doz of corn, a big pail of 'patio pickles', and made 14 jars of 'gramdma pickles' today! I love this time of year and it's been so long since I've been home to really help! :)

Sweet 16

2011-08-02T20:37:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday my little sisters! I can't believe how OLD you're getting to be!

Mission Trip

2011-08-01T10:39:00.003-05:00

I haven't said much about the option of being a missionary this fall because there has been several possibilities that have not worked out. Now, things have come together and for the first time this summer it is promising enough to be working on plane tickets and visas! Many, many prayers have gone into this and it is so exciting to see God leading!

This is the EXACT place where I will be spending about 9 months this school year as a student missionary in Buea, Cameroon, Africa! :)

Wrist Update

2011-07-12T16:02:00.006-05:00

Here's a peek at my wrist, when they opened it up I was surprised to find that they went in on the top and bottom, I thought it was only on bottom. I got 1/2 of the 23 staples taken out yesterday and another temporary cast because it's pretty swollen yet.

I'm really not as sad/out of it as it looks!! Just smiled a little too late for the picture! :P Taking out some of the Staples!

Here you can kinda see the size difference from the swelling, and this is Monday... it's down from what it was over the weekend!!

You know it's been a busy week when...

2011-07-07T21:19:00.003-05:00

Sice my last visit to the world wide web (Saturday night
): Chelsea Roberts (Gill) is married, I got to be a bride's maid for the first time, gave a maid of honor speech, played Volleyball with my family and Mary Erickson, Ileah Schmuhl, and Joel Larsen :) , Walked 20+ miles on a wagon train, got a nice sun burn (hopfully a good tan), pulled 40+ ticks off of myself (Not even kidding!!) :( , played some fun "capture the flag", spent the night at Brad and Susie Kahler's house :) , had my first surgery, had bone grafted from my hip (therefore got to ride the motorized cart at Wal-Mart!! :P ) , and am now sitting here with a newly broken wrist that contains a metal plate and 8 screws (which requires my mother dear as a personal typing assistant!) ....it's been a full week and it's not over yet!! God is so good and He's always right beside me!

Phrozen Moments Photography ~ Jeff and Sheri

2011-05-19T13:17:00.007-05:00

On Friday I had a brand new experience, Wedding Photographer!! It was an outdoor wedding at Coldwater Lake, very fitting considering the fact that it was in the 30s! Despite the cold it was great, Mindy came with me to help capture the moments, here's a few of the edits I just finished.

ASB Spring Banquet ~ Masquerade

2011-04-11T01:52:00.013-05:00

Last night was the ASB spring banquet! :) the theme was Masquerade and we decided to take the mask part literally! Aaron and I supported the theme with our surgical masks and accompanied an elderly couple who were sporting their oxygen masks for the theme!! :)

Our beloved elderly friends Mary and Jordan! :) even had a granny caddy for the occasion!

"Mary! look at this old picture!! it must be your grandparents or something, she looks kinda like you!"

My pretty flowers! :)

We had a wonderful weekend!! Now it's time to hit the books extra hard this week! I'm looking forward to surviving this week and then the end of school is close in sight. I have about a total of about 40 pages in research papers due this week along with an exam, project, presentation, and several other assignments... but the good news is that most of these assignments are the final "big one" for allot of my classes and then I'll have some time to take a breath for finals!

Hope you all have a great week! God bless!

Back in NE

2011-03-21T20:47:00.006-05:00

Spring break where did you go!? Ahhh, I'm back in Nebraska and VERY MUCH back at school! I had a test this morning, first day back, that I didn't realize I had until last night after midnight. So it was a nice and short night to welcome me back to school and get things going with a bang! :) here are some of the last little snapshots of my trip! :)

Making Grandpa German food! :)

AZ Adentures :)

2011-03-16T22:30:00.017-05:00

Lots of pictures tonight! Hope I don't overwhelm you... but I had two days worth of pictures and had a hard time thinning them out!

Sedona Red Rock

How'd you like a house like this!?! It was incredible! notice the built in 4-stall garage and the gazebo (kinda behind the tree) in their own personal "pond"

Montezuma Castle

Oranges!

... an unwelcome visitor on Grandpa's Mountain

At the top of pinnacle peak (grandpa's mountain)

Spring Break - Phoenix AZ

2011-03-14T23:59:00.012-05:00

In the plane :) When we met Grandpa and Janet at the airport (grandpa forgot to smile but when I asked him if he wanted to try again he just said, "no, it just gets worse" ;) hehe ).

Wetting our toes :-)
Basking in the sun... ahh... so relaxing....
...that is until the sprinklers so rudely (and unexpectedly!) made an appearance!

Mmmm smoothies! (notice the pretty trees in the background! ;) )

Downtown we stumbled upon none other than the Wells Fargo History Museum! Random? Yes. Good pictures? Yes again!

Would you like to send a telegraph?? :)

... or make a phone call??

...need a ride??

... We're good drivers!! Promise!

Having a blast so far!! Even noticed little sun-lines on my arms already this evening! :) Tomorrow morning we're climbing The Mountain!

Crunch Wraps!!

2011-03-06T10:01:00.002-06:00

This week Taco Bell had an $0.88 special on their crunch wraps... While we were enjoying our $0.88 crunch wraps one day we got to thinking.... WE could make these!! SOooooo..... We did! They (ours) were SO YUMMY!! Mmmmmm! beans, a hard shell, lettuce, peppers, olives, tomatoes, and dressing all wrapped up in a delicious burrito shell, then lightly fried.... Mmmmm!!