Greetings, to all our friends and family, from across the Atlantic Ocean. Brian and I departed from D.C. at 11:30 pm on January 15th. It was approximately a 10 hour flight to Istanbul, Turkey in which I had no access to my entertainment screen on the seat directly in front of me. We reported it not working several times, with broken promises to reboot. It was a good thing because I had plenty of time to catch up on my bible reading. Our flight from Turkey to Cameroon was about 9 hours including the surprise stop to Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon. Brian had the blank screen this time, we almost expect these kind of things to happen to us. This flight was difficult for me. A French man had the aisle seat and was not very nice about letting me out to go to the bathroom or walk around. By the time we reached Douala (2 am on the 17th here, and 8 pm on the 16th Eastern time), my legs were swollen from the knees down, which finally went away after a day and a half.
Jeremiah Hostetter was at the airport to pick us up, and took us to a hotel in Douala. After getting some rest we stopped at a local place for a delicious breakfast—chocolate croissant, bread, an omelet, choice of coffee/hot tea/hot chocolate, and choice of juice (the pineapple juice was so good, as if a fresh pineapple were pureed after ordering). We made it to Buea in the afternoon. We spent the rest of the day feverishly catching up with Jeremiah and Brittney. That evening Brittney made delicious homemade pizza, which we had with salad and homemade ranch dressing. We then sat down around the TV to eat and watch a movie for family night.
Sunday morning we fellowshipped with a local church down the road. Later that evening Jeremiah and Brittney held a bible study in their home, and Brian had the opportunity to provide a communion meditation. He spoke on how we are all foreigners on this Earth but the blood of Christ is what unites us.
Monday, I left the house with Brittney at 5:45 am to go to the gym where Brittney trains a group of women. After the gym we went back to the house to get ready for the arrival of the school children. School started shortly after breakfast. The 6 students were guided through their lessons, with Brian and I mostly observing. We did get to read to them during story time. While school was still in session Jeremiah had to travel to another town called Limbe, and Brian joined him, to take care of some government paperwork. I stayed behind with Brittney and the children. School was finished by 12:30 pm and the children played while they waited for their taxis to pick them up. Jeremiah and Brian finally returned at 4 pm. Brian was able to see the ocean and some sites while in Limbe. Brian and Jeremiah went to the gym to train some of the men and do a devotion, about the need for Jesus in our life.
This week has been filled with gym in the morning for Brittney and I, and gym in the evening for Jeremiah and Brian. We have worked with the students everyday reading to them and working on phonetics. Their have been multiple bible studies and devotions throughout the last few days which have been very encouraging. Jeremiah and Brittney had been house hunting for us while waiting for our arrival and found a few places that would not only be safe but be a benefit to the ministry here. We looked at one of the houses to rent, and after prayer and discussion we will hopefully be making a payment soon to secure the place. Housing goes quickly around here, and it seems like it will be a very good place to stay with many pros. We also got a guard dog (puppy), german shepherd mix, we named Jack Bauer
We have experienced so much already in such a short amount of time. We are learning to understand the accent and also learning to slow our speech down so we can be understood. Water, electricity, and the internet are not as consistent as in the states, though we had our fair share of power outages while living in Illinois. Driving a round-about is opposite here than in the states. In Cameroon traffic entering the round-about has the right of way, while those already in the round-about must yield to those entering.
Our stomachs have been slow to adjust, mine especially. Brian was nervous about the discomfort I had with the flight and my recent stomach issues, so we had an ultrasound done. The baby continues to be healthy and it was certainly comforting to see our baby’s heart beating.
We feel so blessed to be here and to have so many praying for our journey and time here. We are thankful for the Hostetter family and their aid during our period of transition. We are excited to be a light here, and hope to be a benefit to the ministry in Buea. We have specific prayer requests for health (we are both still dealing with stomach issues), also for the hearts of the people in Buea, that the devotions and bible studies will penetrate their soul's with the grace of God. Also that we will be quick to understand the locals, as they speak a hybrid of french, pigeon, and African english, with strong french African accent. it is difficult to understand to say the least.
We need to raise additional funds for a vehicle, and to help subsidize the rent for the the house. Part of the reason we decided on this house is it has room for about 4 years of school growth. The neighborhood it is in has water turned on about 2 hours every other day, which is a lot better than other places in town. We also have more consistent electricity, which makes it a safer place. We will give more details on these needs later, for now please pray.
