Apples, prayer and prison

Posted on February 26, 2012 by David

The man that we buy apples from and occasionally washes the car that we are borrowing was robbed a few months ago while riding in a taxi. He was given a very large sum of money to buy 50 crates of apples; my guess is that the amount of money was probably equivalent to two years worth of his washing cars and selling apples. He is legally blind and the other taxi passengers quickly realized this and took his cell phone and taxi money then starting cutting on his hand and arm until he let go of the bag that was holding the money and they threw him out of the taxi. It was raining at this point and he had no phone or money and was bleeding. He finally made it to the hospital where he received treatment and then went to the police station to report what had happened.

Almost 2 weeks ago the police arrived at his home and took him to prison because the woman who he was getting the apples for pressed charges against him. His only option was to pay back the extremely large sum of money that he didn’t have. So instead of realizing how bad his situation was, he decided that he would organize a church service in the jail. Criminals who had killed, robbed and raped people were confessing their sins and 20 of the prisoners accepted Jesus as their Savior. During these services they took an offering, because in Cameroonian jails the only way you get food is if a family member or friend brings you something to eat and many of them had not eaten for several days. The money they collected was enough to buy bread for all those in that jail.

The guards of the prison were also thankful because the peace that passes all understanding had come over this prison and the prisoners were not fighting, yelling or causing problems in general. Yesterday he was released and was able to go back to his family. The woman is still trying to move forward to get her money back, but they have agreed to a much smaller amount that he would need to repay.

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Acts 16:25

 

Posted in Cameroon | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Adventures with auditors

Posted on February 23, 2012 by David

The last few weeks have been an edge of your seat action adventure, well if you’re an accountant or an auditor it would be an action adventure movie on the scale of any James Bond movie. Every year a volunteer or two commit to spending three weeks examining our procedures, processes and piles of papers to ensure that we are operating as we should; it takes a patient person but the two that came this year were very excited to help.

This year required a visit to our Maroua office; I was up there last year and took the train and then an eight hour bus ride. It was decided they would take a commercial flight on Cam-Air, in theory it is only a 3 hour flight. But it’s still harmattan time so the desert sands rerouted there flight to Garoua, this was after several hours waiting at a different airport to determine if they would get to go at all. Then they boarded a small bus crammed slightly tighter than sardines in a can, the average is 19 people in a 12 person van. They were very thankful that the finance manager went with them since they didn’t speak any French. They arrived to the lights not working, no electricity. Two days later they made it back to town without any other incident and were able to take a Yaoundé taxi back from the airport, no visit to Cameroon is complete without a ride in the yellow thrill ride. They were glad about the detour, it gave them a chance to see many of the villages that they would have just flown over had the flight went the entire way.

They continued with their work and all was going as planned until I received a text message that the police were not going to accept a certified copy of their passport. Note, when looking for proper identification for the police check points it is important that they don’t see how much money you have because they might assume that if you have so much you will be willing to part with some of it to continue on your way without delay. But, eventually they were released and were back on their way.

They have now finished their work and have returned to the United States I’m waiting for the final report, but I was pleased with all they were able to do and am very thankful for all those who volunteer and assist us for any length of time.

And we know that God causes everything to work togetherfor the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. Romans 8:28 NLT

Posted in Cameroon | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Treasures in the bed

Posted on February 13, 2012 by David

Anytime you walk anywhere with Jonah, he finds many things that interest him to pick-up.  He ends up with a unique collection of things.  When I change his bedding, it’s also a time of revelation to all the “treasures” he’s found.  Today when changing his bedding, in addition to his 21 various sized stuffed animals, I found the following:

  • letter X key from a laptop
  • Nerf gun bullet
  • Lego piece
  • End of a blue balloon a.k.a. his ring
  • orange barrette
  • SD card in case (missing from our desk drawer)
  • Gum by the foot empty container
  • Scotch tape starter strip (you know the part on the end of a roll of tape that indicates where to start the roll)
  • Two bottle caps for his necklace
  • Coconut change purse
  • Homemade envelope/pouch on a string

 

Posted in Cameroon, home, Kids | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Art Show

Posted on February 8, 2012 by David

In case you missed it last week we had our first rain, which means the dust we had is now in its other state know as mud.  Many of the missionary kids took advantage of this change to mold the mud into dozens of creations and they had the official art exhibit last week. Several pieces have already been acquired by collectors of these rare objects.

Here are a few of their creations. If you have a desire for a special creation that you would like, please let us know and I will personally contact the artists and present their challenge to them. We might even be able to deliver the creation, not sure though how well mud travels. We can always add more picture to the blog.

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

Wedding Time

Posted on February 6, 2012 by David

We were able to attend a wedding this weekend and we are learning that in Cameroon weddings are very expensive, mainly because of the number of people that are needed to be fed and also it means that the bride price needs to be paid. A bride price is the amount that the bride’s family requires the groom to pay for the privilege of marrying their daughter, check out Genesis 29 and think of the 14 years Jacob had to pay for Rachel. Although they have been legally married for many years John has been working for many more years to be able to afford to have the wedding. To make this even more interesting cultural experience she is Catholic and he is a Baptist.

The bride has been working for us the last few months since our regular house help has been sick and she has been very excited since we were planning on attending. She had sampled a cake one time that DeAnna made and hinted that this would make a great wedding cake, so DeAnna became the official wedding cake baker for the wedding. They picked it up at 10am the day of the wedding and she had finished icing it 5 minutes before they arrived.

Wedding Cake designed by DeAnna Anderson

Bride and Groom arrive (only 30 minutes after the wedding was suppose to start)

Service started getting long and it was rather warm in the building

DeAnna with the bride and groom after the service for the "official" pictures

Notice that they have services in 3 different languages!

Is it time to eat yet?

No reception hall necessary, just line up chairs outside of your home

Posted in Cameroon, Church | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Water Fun

Posted on January 31, 2012 by David

Last Saturday at RFIS (Rain Forest International School) the 9th grade class was doing a fund raiser for their class functions. The fund raiser required children to pay 1000 CFA ($2) to enter the fun, first they soap themselves up to see how far they could get on the slip and slide, and they also had several other water activities and ice cream.

After we got home we had our first rain since October, which translates to fun in the mud. I think the kids had more fun in the mud then they did with the soap and the slip and slide.  Thankfully they had enough soap all over their bodies that the mud came right off.

Posted in Cameroon, Kids | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

CABTAL turns 25

Posted on January 27, 2012 by David

Today CABTAL (Cameroonian Association for Bible Translation and Literacy) celebrated their 25th anniversary. It has been a week of celebration as they reflect on what God has been doing for the last 25 years.

I heard one story of a man who went to church all his life and he was listening to a Proclaimer in his mother tongue and he said, “Do you hear what they are saying?” He finally understood why Jesus had come and died for his sins.  He immediately accepted Jesus as his savior and became active in his church and active in sharing the gospel with his neighbors.

I was reminded of the challenge of vision 2025 to see a language project started in every language remaining before the year 2025 and that will only happen when all the various Bible Translation organizations work together with the national churches.

CABTAL

Congratulations on 25 Years!

Church Leaders

Different denominational church leaders praying for CABTAL

Posted in Cameroon, Wycliffe | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Our version of Snow

Posted on January 26, 2012 by David

We know many of you are experiencing winter and snow.  We don’t have winter, but are very cold when the temperatures drop to the mid to upper 60’s and we put blankets on the bed and wear jackets.  We would probably have hypothermia if exposed to a real winter.  Right now we are having the hot, dry season.  It hasn’t rained one drop since late October or early November plus it is harmattan time, which is when the winds blow across the Sahara Desert and brings dust riding on the clouds and drops a thin layer everywhere.  Walking and driving up and down our dirt streets is similar to walking and driving in snow.  The layer is anywhere from ½” – 1” thick and swirls around with the outer edges more deep.  Your feet slide around and your vehicle’s back end fish tails.  I shared with the boys how this is our version of snow and they took a little too literal and did make “snow angels” plus were throwing it in the air and letting it rain down upon them.  Those clothes took a lot of scrubbing with block soap to see the true color again.

Tracks in the dust, as close as we get to snow.

 

Posted in Cameroon | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Road side ticket

Posted on January 24, 2012 by David

It’s always a learning curve when you are living cross-culturally.  You think you have it down and then something will always come up.  We’ve heard this also from people who have lived cross-culturally for 30+ years.  When you don’t have instant access to information and services that we are used to in our passport country, it’s hard to know when you are breaking a law.  We try very hard to ask as many questions as possible and dot the “i’s” and cross the “t’s” but something will not be addressed.  David found this out on his drive to Tombel for the New Testament dedication.  He was stopped many times for this or that without any problems.  He came across a roadside checkpoint stop where about 20 other cars were too.  He was asked where his fire extinguisher was.  He didn’t have and didn’t know it was a law to have one.  He was fined and here you pay on the spot and receive the ticket receipt.

A few weeks after he received this ticket receipt, he spoke with a Cameroonian man, who had just returned from visiting the USA. He is part of the Children Evangelism Fellowship and went to the States for further ministry needs.  He was being hosted and driven around by fellow ministry colleagues when a bad accident happened.  This man was not hurt, but the driver was seriously hurt.  The Cameroonian man started to try and push the vehicle to roll it over upright when all the sudden emergency personnel were on the scene and a helicopter arrived after that to take the man to the hospital.  The Cameroonian man couldn’t believe what he saw because in Cameroon, when you have an accident there aren’t emergency personnel, you are on your own and therefore, that’s why it’s a law to have a fire extinguisher in your vehicle.

Posted in Cameroon | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Flat Stanley

Posted on January 22, 2012 by David

Flat Stanley arrived in Cameroon last week and has had a busy week visiting around Yaoundé. It took him two months to make the voyage from Dominca.

For those of you not familiar with Flat Stanley it is a 1964 children’s book written by Jeff Brown. Stanley Lambchop is given a big bulletin board by his Dad for displaying pictures and posters. Stanley hangs it on the wall over his bed. During the night the board falls from the wall, flattening Stanley in his sleep. He survives and is now as flat as a piece of paper.  Flat Stanley can now visit his friends by being mailed in an envelope.  There are even iphone apps for tacking him around the world.

Below are a few of the adventures that Stanley was able to have in Yaoundé.

Jonah and Flat Stanley ride the ride behind the new Mahima

Flat Stanley goes to PRS (Parent Run School)

Flat Stanley looking at Downtown Yaoundé from the top of the Hilton

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