New Year's Eve 2011

21 Baka believers were baptized!  Some of the guys cleared a place in the forest at a nearby river.  In preparation for this baptismal service, we held a baptism class.  Nathan expected just a handful of guys to step forward, but we were overjoyed as we saw that God's Spirit had truly worked in hearts and prepared many for this event.  One after another stepped forward and gave testimony which included such statements as "I love the death of Jesus because it takes away my sins." and "I want to follow God's path with my whole heart."  A truly amazing day that we continually praise God for.

We posted a bio on each of these folks on a facebook page called The Baka People (look it up and click "like") for 21 Days of Prayer for the baptized believers.  Here is an excerpt from that page:

Day 8: There's so much I (Nathan) could write about Nestor... He has truly become a friend to me. We've seen so much growth in him over the last few years. He has been growing as a leader and I've been able to count on him to keep things going while I've had to travel. He used to hit his wife when he got angry and cared more about buying new clothes than caring for his family - but now he's a model husband and father - an example to those around him. He desperately needs your prayers as The Deciever would like nothing more than to trip up this emerging leader and de-rail the growth of the Baka Church. Please pray for Nestor.

Day 14: This is Mango (mah-ngo), a grandmother at Mayos who stepped forward for baptism and surprised us with her understanding of the Gospel and desire to follow God. She publically confessed to the sins of her past and how her life has changed now that she's on God's path. She's the first one in her family to be baptised. She acts as mother to many in the village, providing help and counsel when needed. Pray with us that she will be an example to her family and a light to her generation as well as a spiritual guide to the next.

December 2011

Jenn brought home another very sick newborn.  This little guy’s body was so tense and he wasn’t figuring out the whole breastfeeding thing.  His mother had given up.  But with much prayer, Jenn’s care, some supplemental formula and medicine, and a whole lot of encouragement to the baby’s parents, he is thriving today!  We are so thankful for Jenn’s medical ministry and the ways that she can reach people through meeting their felt needs.



We visited Nkolbikon, a village 16 km way that’s dear to us, to greet them for Christmas.  We took this opportunity to give out pillowcase dresses for the little girls donated by a church in Chesapeake, and other clothes (mostly hand-me-downs from Boaz & Asher saved up over the last 2 years) for the boys.  We left some rice and other provisions for their Christmas/New Year’s celebrations.  We also played the Christmas Baka Likano Bible stories and had a time of worship together.  Wow, these kids love to sing!

I think this is the place where our kids have had the best interaction with Baka kids.  Just the other day, kids from Nkolbikon walked all the way to our house (16 km away) because they wanted to see Asher!

One of our dearest family traditions is to celebrate Advent.  We have a candle for each week before Christmas.  We do more purposed family activities in the evenings in the month of December, in preparation for Christmas and for reflecting on God’s greatest gift to the world, Jesus. 

 Our family gift giving on Christmas is so special.  We try to do our various celebrations with our neighbors and our nearby village ahead of time so we can guard this special time just for us.  This year, since Christmas Day was on a Sunday, we opened most of our presents on Christmas Eve.  It was so incredible that most of the presents where very thoughtfully home-made, with each recipient specifically in mind.  

November 2011

Got into canning…local corn was being harvested and I was excited to save some for the next couple months!  Also did beef…helps for preparing “quick” meals later on.

We had our 2^nd Thanksgiving celebration this year (we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving in October).  However, we had a cold meal (potato salad, bread, turkey lunchmeat, salad and dips) due to the unavailability of propane…we were on our last bottle and praying that it would last until Christmas, or that another bottle would become available.

 

Geri, our home school tutor, arrived for her 6 month stay in Cameroon.  We were so glad to have her come and teach the kids.  She’s done great with them especially in the areas that I’m weak, like writing and special assignments that I just never have time to get around to do.  And...we decorated our Christmas tree right after Thanksgiving.  So glad that we fit it into our suitcases coming back this time! 

October 2011

Found good homes for the last 2 puppies (these guys will make good guard dogs eventually), and salvaged my garden!!!

Aunt Elsie, our home school coordinator, was out for her 2 week home visit and did school with the kids while I entertained the flow of visitors that came our way.  She was a true God-send and I don’t know what I would have done without her there.

Among the visitors were friends that we met in Switzerland this past summer at Breathe.  They are an Australian family that brought their 3 girls (the ages of our kids) and another Aussie friend.  We had an amazing time, Nathan got to travel with Nick, the husband, to visit Baka camps farther down south.  Then Nathan took them on a tour of a few other parts of Cameroon (including the beach…we were a bit disappointed that the kids and I couldn’t take a break from school but had to keep pressing on and miss this). 

 

And…6 weeks later, Nandry took out her studs and try on the assortment of earrings that she had been waiting to wear since forever!  So hard to wait.  Such a pretty girl! 

September 2011

Nandry got her ears pierced.  We had gone to the hospital in Bamenda to see if they would do it there, since many baby girls have their ears pierced after they are born.  But, the hospital method was a little too traumatic for us (“hold still while I push this by hand through your earlobe…it will hurt, but be brave”), uhhh, no thank you!  We were able to find a pharmacy in Bertoua that had an ear piercing gun.  Still painful as you can see on Nan’s expression, but it was worth it!

 

Buttercup had six puppies in August that reached the age where they were making a mess all over our veranda and yard (and garden!!!) and were ready to bless some other people with their presence.  They are a German Shepherd and Beauce Shepherd mix.  Found homes for 4 of them pretty quickly. 

Spent a couple of days with the Schilinski clan!  We got to ride horses in the beautiful hills of Bamenda, visit Prespot and try our hand at the pottery wheel, and just a have  a great time with their family.  This picture is from the trip home from our picnic that got rained out.  Good times! 

Africa Area Conference in Bamenda.  A week of catching the vision for the future of our field and spending time with our WT colleagues. 

The kids had their own Bible Boot Camp during the conference.  They practiced putting on the armor of God.   

Playing Catch up

Time to play catch up here...It's been way too long since I blogged.  There's so much I've wanted to write about, and so much that has gone on with our lives here in Cameroon, with the kids, with the ministry and with me personally.  Most times I don't know which thing to write about, and how much to share.  But, I'm attempting to catch up and keep going. 

Family photo in at our August SCA school session.

Harmony

I like to think this says something good about us as people, and as pet owners.  Our dog, cat and bunny enjoy each other.  Or at least can stand each other.  The cat thinks the bunny is fascinating, and often tries to eat the same vegetarian diet, but just doesn't get it.  The bunny loves hopping around and over the dog, often stopping to nap on the dogs neck.  And the dog and cat, I've just noticed the game that they play every day.  The cat's version of it is "Try to get past the dog and into the school room to nap while the kids are doing school."  The dog's version is, "Can't let that cat in again today,"  but they aren't ever mean to each other. 

Day of Worship

Half way through our retreat at Breath , we had the opportunity to hike in the mountains above Grindelwald, right across from the Jungfrau. We took a cable car up quite a ways, then got out and hiked to two lakes, where we had a picnic lunch with our group. We were in awe of God's awesome creation, and we kept "wow"ing the view.

We had the option of going further, to the top of these hills, but we weren't sure our kids would hold up. We seriously hiked well over 5 miles and weren't sure how much more the kids could handle. Still, we were so close to snow. So close. The kids agreed that they wanted to try to make it to where they could touch the snow, since we haven't seen snow for a couple years. In this picutre, Nathan is pointing to the first snow spot where we trekked.

We threw a few snowballs, slid down the snowbank (by a surprising accident at first, but then for fun), froze our fingers numb, and packed a bag of snow to take back down the mountain to show those who didn't quite make it as far as we did.

The farther we hiked up the hills, the bigger the mountains across from us seemed to grow. It was simply breath taking (and not just because the air was getting thinner). We kept reminding the kids that this would probably be a once in a lifetime opportunity. They enjoyed every minute of it. The boys loved straying off the trail and walking the crest of the hills. We praise God for this awesome time we had together as a family. Our awe and gratitude was a true expression of worship to our mighty, loving Creator.

Breathing

I'm waiting for the words to come, to describe our time here in Switzerland. Hopefully I'll be able to more clearly communicate in my next post. It's easy to worship amidst the beauty of God's creation.

Get Well, Asher

This picture is from last week, the first day we realized Asher was sick. The kids were driving me crazy inside the house, so I announced that it was time for them all to go outside and play for a while. About a half hour later, I looked out into our veranda and saw Asher sound asleep on top of a trunk. He was wearing a dress up shirt from Brianna. When I snapped the picture, he opened his eyes and said, "What? You told me I couldn't stay inside but I was really tired."

We treated him for malaria starting on Saturday. He doesn't have the high fevers anymore, but he is still looking pale and has little energy. We are giving him vitamins and "reconstituant du sang" (I think it's basically iron) to build him back up. We are still waiting for lab results from Tuesday when we took him to the clinic, hopefully we'll hear this afternoon.

We are leaving on Tuesday for Switzerland for two weeks. Pray that whatever this is clears up before then.