D squared + J squared = Anderson

Ouch!

Posted on June 4, 2014 by David

I (DeAnna) recently sent out prayer requests to those who’ve said they would like to receive our raw prayer requests. We all need prayer and I think it’s important for His children to pray for one another, so I want to say that first before proceeding.

I recently shared via social media about a reverse culture shock experience here in Yaoundé. I won’t go into it all, but will explain what reverse culture shock is. When someone leaves his or her passport country and lives in another country he/she will experience culture shock waves because things will be different. It may be subtle things or injustices or stark contrast things. When that same person lives in their host country and gets used to certain things and it’s time to return to his/her passport country that person goes through reverse culture shock. It may be brought on at Wal-Mart where there are 50 million choices for a bottle of salad dressing and this person may not have seen a bottle of salad dressing in three years. That’s reverse culture shock. The symptoms are the same, feeling overwhelmed (head spinning), feeling judgmental, feeling out of place (not belonging anywhere), wanting to flee, etc… In thinking of this reverse culture shock, I started thinking about an experience we had a year ago when we helped a missionary leave a bad situation. She was sent by an organization I won’t name, to serve with a person who made her believe he had an established orphanage, hospital and church, but in reality, he didn’t and she felt stuck and scared. She asked us to come get her and we did. She stayed with us a few days and we helped her. I’ll never forget what she said when she walked into our home and how coming to our home was reverse culture shock for her. Ouch! I’ve made someone else’s head spin with the stark contrast in how she was living compared to how we live.

Something struck me as I’ve thought on the prayer requests sent (cries for help), sharing about the reverse culture shock – they are self-focused. How many times just in this blog post have I used the word “I”? If I truly look deep within, I’ll see that I’m a selfish person thinking of self a lot. So often, I think that I’m putting others interests before my own – raising children, wifehood, helping others around me, etc…, but deep down I’m still selfish. I tend to think of the impact of something on me before saying yes to helping or get perturbed when something/someone disrupts my schedule or get frustrated when the power is cut when I want to watch something or hold my breath when someone just coughed or sneezed in my direction and the list goes on and on.

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” Phil 2:3b-4

Posted in Cameroon, home | Tagged Cameroon, Culture Shock, selfishness | 2 Comments

Crazy Ants

Posted on June 2, 2014 by David

We thought the ant population was dwindling in our home until we returned from church. We don’t leave unwashed dishes lying around because swarms of ants arrive, so we were surprised to see the ant invasion on plain tile. We watched them for a bit and realized the ants with bigger thoraxes were fighting the smaller ants and even pushing the smaller ants off the side of the tile to the ground. We put out more poison both the protein lovers poison and the sugar lovers poison to kill whatever type they were.

My Mom is a West Side Story fan. She took us to productions of West Side Story growing up and I couldn’t help but think of songs from West Side Story watching these rival ant gangs fighting (petit ants vs. grande thorax ants).

To the tune of Jet Song:

When you’re an ant,
you’re an ant all the way
from your first big load lift
to your last dyin’ day.

When you’re an ant,
let the big thorax ants do what they can,
you got hundreds of ants ‘round
you’re a colony man!

When you’re an ant,
in the Anderson home
we’ll put out poison for them
we want them to die as they roam.

Posted in Cameroon, home | Tagged ants, Cameroon | 6 Comments

Creation Flashback

Posted on May 30, 2014 by David

We’ve all heard sayings like, “Take time to stop and smell the roses.” I remember in a Beth Moore Bible study when she talked about saying something like, “Look at the beautiful sky God painted for us,” to point out to children creation and reinforce who created the sky. I remember when David was serving in Kuwait and I would listen to the weepy, cheesy, love radio show by Delilah where callers request songs to the one they love. It never failed someone would request the song, Somewhere Out There. The chorus says,
“And even though I know how very far apart we are
It helps to think we might be wishing on the same bright star
And when the night wind starts to sing a lonesome lullaby
It helps to think we’re sleeping underneath the same big sky”

Even in this song it talks about how the sky is the same even when you are far apart from those you love. I have bouts of homesickness. Sometimes it’s overwhelming and seeing a picture or reading a Facebook post or hearing a voice or wanting convenience can make tears flow. Over the past five years, I’ve thought about that song. There have been times when I have to remind myself that God’s creation is all around me wherever I go, He’s always with me wherever I go and that’s comforting. There are times I need to be reminded to stop and take in His creation, like to stop and smell the roses. While I was transplanting a seedling in our backyard, I saw this in the midst of the caladium. Caladium is part of the lily family, so it makes sense that a lily was emerging, however, this was the first time I saw this happening in the caladium and was reminded of the amazing creation I’m surrounded by daily – the sky both night & day, the downpour of rain, the plants around me, even the unique insects and enormous snails.

Posted in Cameroon, home | Tagged Cameroon, creation, Rain, sky, snails | 3 Comments

Babysitting and Bible translation

Posted on May 26, 2014 by David

We were able to be part of something amazing!

In April, we attended our organization’s annual spiritual retreat. The speaker this year challenged us in many ways, however, two questions really struck a note. (1) Does the Word of God excite you? (2) Does the Word of God keep you on the edge of your seat? We saw first-hand a literal example of being on the edge of a seat for the Word of God.

Some of you know that we’ve been very discouraged, exhausted and feeling like we’re barely treading water.

We wanted to do something enjoyable and special to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary and have a pause from daily struggles. Although it may not sound like much, we went out to eat just the two of us. We asked Sophie to watch the boys for us. The last time she watched the boys for us, she watched the movie Faith Like Potatoes with French subtitles. She loved it! She loves to plant and tend to her field in the village, so it was encouraging for her to watch this movie.

This time David purchased The Jesus Film from our media department in her mother tongue, Ewondo. She said this would be her first time seeing the film. When we returned from our date, I walked into the living room and she was literally sitting on the edge of her seat, eyes glued to the television completely entranced. I greeted her so she knew we were back and she didn’t blink or respond. After a couple of minutes she must have seen me out of the corner of her eye and she was a bit startled. She was amazed watching the story of Jesus in her mother tongue.

The day following our anniversary, she wanted to finish the film. Afterwards I asked her what the film was like for her. She had tears of joy filling her eyes as she explained that hearing and watching the story of Jesus in her mother tongue touched her heart profoundly. She understands French, but for the message to be in her mother tongue was much more profound, she said it was difficult to use words to describe how deep it touched her. At the end of the film there is an invitation to accept Jesus as your Savior and she recited the prayer. She had never been asked before in her mother tongue to accept Jesus as her Savior. She is a Christian and was before the film, but she said by reciting the prayer at the end and accepting an invitation in her mother tongue was a deeper commitment for her. Sophie has been a Christian for many years and has been persecuted by her family for her faith. Her husband left her and took their children when they were young because of her faith. Her family mocks her for not participating in the things they participate in because of her faith. Her family blames her when bad things happen in the family because of her faith. She told me she wants to show her family the film because in the film people were mocking Jesus and in the end were convicted and she wants them to see that Jesus is victorious regardless of mockery. She has humbled me many times throughout the years and she’s been an example for me in many situations.

She did take the DVD home, along with a DVD player, so she could show her children, her children’s significant others, her grandchildren and hopes to travel to her village to show her extended family.

Posted in Cameroon, home | Tagged Cameroon, Ewondo, Jesus Film, Sophie | 5 Comments

Tree Trimming Flashback

Posted on May 23, 2014 by David

Our first home had huge trees that provided us wonderful shade and many leaves to rake.

….and leaves to play in…..

…and our swing hung from the front yard tree, where I would swing our babies many hours to help them fall asleep

While living in our first home, we needed to have the huge trees trimmed before winter because they were overhanging our roof and Missouri gets ice and we didn’t want large branches to crash onto our roof. When the tree trimmers came they used ladders, lifts, had a chipper they placed the branches in that chopped them into mulch and trimmed the branches with gas powered trimmers while wearing safety glasses, boots, ear protection and safety harnesses.

Then we moved to what was our “dream” home and one of the first things we did was plant trees.

We had two papaya trees at our current residence, however, one fell onto the house and one needed to be cut down. I have planted a moringa tree that is growing quite well.

Our neighbors have an avocado tree that overhangs our backyard. Unfortunately, the fruit from that particular avocado tree isn’t very good and our neighbor decided to start cutting it down. He was balancing on the tree barefoot using a machete to cut the large branches. I wanted to snap a photo since my mind was wandering to the first time I watched tree trimming and the stark difference in the experience we had with tree trimmers at our first home and the tree trimming experience I watched just the other day.

Posted in Cameroon, home | Tagged Cameroon, flashback, Home, trees | 1 Comment

Happy Anniversary

Posted on May 21, 2014 by David

Today is a special day for us. We are celebrating 15 years of marriage! This is our journey in pictures from when we met in 1996 to being wed in 1999 to becoming parents and beyond.

As Shaina Twain song says:

You’re still the one I run to,

The one that I belong to,

You’re still the one I want for life.

You’re still the one that I love.

The only one I dream of,

You’re still the one I kiss good night.

My own: I still want to grow old with you!

HAPPY 15th ANNIVERSARY!!!!

Posted in home | Tagged anniversary, Home | 6 Comments

Nighttime Sky

Posted on May 19, 2014 by David

I remember from an early age enjoying the nighttime sky. I’ve always been awestruck at gazing at the stars, watching for a falling star, looking for constellations like the Big Dipper and looking at the moon. At a very early age I would have been taught that blinking lights in the nighttime sky are airplanes, especially growing up so close to an Air Force Base.

We rarely go outside at night. The main reason we don’t is to try and prevent contracting malaria. Between dusk and dawn is the most probable time to be bit by the type of mosquito that carries malaria. We don’t take prophylaxis for a few reasons, so we need to take precautions like staying in during the time when the malaria mosquitoes are out, having screens on our windows & doors and sleeping under mosquito nets.

We are part of a small group who meets after the sun goes down. Side note: we have roughly twelve hours of daylight everyday all year round. The sun sets at approximately 6:30 p.m. daily. While we were walking to the car to go home after small group, Jonah looked up into the nighttime sky to admire the stars and said, “Whoa, that star is blinking and moving.” I looked up and noticed he was watching an airplane in the nighttime sky. I told him that was an airplane. He responded saying it’s cool and asked if the planes we ride in look like that at night to other people. It dawned at me at that moment that he hasn’t been exposed to star gazing or enjoying the night sky, so he hasn’t learned certain things like what an airplane looks like in the nighttime sky.

Posted in Cameroon, home, Kids | Tagged Cameroon, Kids, moon, nighttime | 3 Comments

Ball Game Flashback

Posted on May 16, 2014 by David

The boys and DeAnna recently finished the Joint Learning Session. During the session, the boys learned how to play baseball. Families were invited to play a game together.

Sung to the tune of Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out to New Land;
Show me which team I will play on,
I don’t care if I field or I bat,
Let me root, root, root for both teams,
We play for fun so no one wins,
For it’s one, two, three, strikes you’re out,
At the old ball game

The flashback portion of this post is Joshua played T-ball before we left the USA. I played ball for several years growing up and in early adulthood.

Posted in Cameroon, Kids | Tagged baseball, Cameroon, flashback, JLS | 1 Comment

Seeds

Posted on May 14, 2014 by David

I enjoy walking weekly with others. We do it for exercise and socialization. While walking one of the subjects we were discussing led us into a discussion about how the subject was like the Parable of the Sower found in Matthew 13.

Later that same day, our newly sprouted papaya tree in the backyard fell over in the wind. When I went to inspect to see if it could be placed upright with more soil, I noticed how shallow the root system is and was reminded again of the Parable of the Sower.

I’ve been asking myself introspective question: am I planting good seeds in my actions, thoughts, speech, parenting, wifehood? Am I planting seeds on the path, rocky place, in thorns or good soil?

Posted in Cameroon, home | Tagged Cameroon, papaya tree | 1 Comment

Carnival

Posted on May 12, 2014 by David

I grew up in a small town with little entertainment options. I remember some highlights growing up were the Leeton Fair. We would ride our bikes to watch the fair workers (carnies) set up the rides and couldn’t wait for the rides to open. I also remember getting excited about the PTO (Parent Teacher Organization) annual carnival at the school. One of my favorite carnival activities was the cake walk.

Fast Forward almost 30 years to the present time and guess what – we live where there is a carnival similar to the carnival I grew up with. There is an annual carnival here put on by the Middle and High School students at RFIS. The boys knew the carnival was coming. They couldn’t wait until it opened at 2 p.m. All they could think about was the carnival. The first thing Joshua wanted to do was the cake walk. He participated in the cake walk four times and sadly, didn’t win a cake. And yes, I joined him on the cake walk, and no cake. Jonah found a new activity this year that captured his attention – hunting for candy filled plastic eggs. There was a competition that whoever found the most candy would win a grand prize of glow sticks. Jonah was determined to be the grand prize winner. He did win the prize! Other activities they enjoyed were: zip line, funnel cakes, kettle corn, soap soccer and more. You may be asking yourself, “What is soap soccer?” Soap soccer is a tarp laid on the ground with powdered soap (laundry detergent) sprinkled on the tarp and then the tarp is watered. There are goals at each end and the kids play with a soccer ball on the tarp. Both boys loved it!

Posted in Cameroon, Kids | Tagged Cameroon, Carnival, Kids, RFIS | 1 Comment