Sunday, March 13, 2016

Then the rains came

The home team clearing the court of puddles


The rain has come.

It sounds so ordinary, but after 112 days of no rain, it is exceptional.

The land here in Yaoundé on the edge of the rainforest was parched.  The dust measured more than an inch deep on the dirt roads, blowing into all homes through the waiting open windows of houses sweltering in the dry season's heat.  Fans running as long as the power was on and taking showers a blessing even if the electricity wasn't on to warm the water.  We needed rain.  We prayed for rain. It was due to return mid March and blessedly, it came a week early.
Lois playing with dust covered rocks
Driving in Dust







Rain drops after a sprinkle of rain 



Trying to beat the heat.  My kids were too big.  :(
Now a cool breezed flows through. The sky, once white with the dust of harmattan, now gray with real clouds bringing the refreshing rain. The grass, ugly parched brown, is transformed rapidly, daily, into a deep luscious green and the leaves of still green plants are no longer covered in the reddish-brown haze.

Sunset over RFIS
This winter has been difficult for me.  I have been sick (nothing serious), tired, and longing for home.  The internet has not worked well.  The power has been out. The bright side is that he water cuts were not as bad as last year.  My kids have had ups and downs- no different than what we probably would have had in the states.  But I have been dry.  I have not been able to write my prayer partners consistently.  But so many we have prayed for consistently over the last 3 or 4 years are suffering deep hurts of unfaithfulness, disease, divorce, cancer, lost children, death, loss of jobs or difficult work situations.  We pray for these dear souls, dear friends,  but sometimes I fear my prayers are not heard.  I wondered in the desert time of my faith.  I need the living water in a dry and thirsty land.  I need to sit by the quiet springs of the life giving hope, faith, and love.  I need to trust in my Lord and Savior.  He is real and He is good and He cares about even the little things.
How can that be? Can the creator of the universe really care if I have cheese to eat or a new bed?  Or the bigger things:  Does he care that my house help is sick, our favorite taxi driver's eight year old daughter has infection in her leg bone so bad that it snapped just under her small weight? Does he care that the Americans are screaming about the poor in our country, while even the very poorest has so much more than the average person in this country?  (I had thought that the statistic that says people live on less than $5/day here meant food is cheap. Really it means they don't eat much.)
Does he care?  The Old Testament talks about the people being commanded to set up rocks as a monument to God and a testimony to his faithfulness and love and specific events.  We are to remember. But we are to leave memorials for ourselves and our children so that we do not forget that He cares and He loves us in real and specific and tangible ways.
Sometimes for me pictures can remind me of His grace and answered prayers.  I'm still learning to build those memorials as reminders of what he has done.


I haven't written since Christmas, so here's a picture diary:

CAMBO- Cameroonian Branch Orientation
Preparing fufu

Mea time

Meeting translators who work with CABTAL

The cook taking a much deserved rest


A printing project at CABTAL

Steve Santos sharing about what he does here to help make life easier and better for missionaries

Fashion show

Visiting the boutique at the offices.
For now it is one of my responsibilities too.
Visiting the hanger and learning about the aviation department 



Valentine's Day dance at RFIS




Other stuff
The guard with Lois

Passion fruit flower


Wanna buy a chicken - downtown Yaounde

Finding out our bunnies are all male
The bunnies are both MALE - so is the new one! Kids are sad....
Visiting the Market
Happy Birthday Laura and Rachel
Baby Noah with his mom's house help

The kids looking at a dead snake in the library at the elementary school.
I help out here three days a week.

A pangolin given as a thank you gift to a friend.
It was to be eaten the next day.

Commissioning service for Michel Kenmonge
A group on arrival

The US Ambassador to Cameroon in the red tie

A full hall

The VIPs

The family who sat behind me at the commissioning
Chris taking video and pictures

more music leaving


Volleyball
Kristin Serves

Noah serves

The courts at the offices where I play on Wednesdays
Noah picked this from a tree after his game.
 Weird things in the grocery store
Strange tea.  Really strange.

Trip to the US Embassy
Walking outside the wall

Shaking hands with our guides afterwards

Goats downtown on the way home

A day at school - RFIS
Presentation in French class

Middle school

The play CIRCUS OLYMPUS - Noah worked back stage - tech crew creating sets and costumes
My neighbor plays an unhappy Dionysus for Midas

Final bow

Advertising on the wall by the soccer field
Commissioning a drum
Chris visits villages and records local music

Women's Day Presentation

Cervical Cancer is the number one cancer killer of women here
Greenhouse fun
Taking Mrs. Taylor's hair down
Bug on my wall (outside)

Beautiful gate
We really did get a new bed and good sleep for the first time in a long time!

Sunset

Thanks for reading.

Please pray:
*For our branch conference and retreat the next two weeks and the children's program during the meetings.
*For Chris and my trip to England the first week of April for a retreat with other missionaries from one of our supporting churches, and for the children who will stay in Yaounde with friends.
*For furlough arrangements, including the kids' school, and appointments with churches.
*For good health for us and our friends here in Cameroon.
*For safe travels
*For Cameroon. That many would read God's word and be transformed from the inside out.
*For the music that has been recorded to be Glorifying to God as it processed and sent back to the communities where it was recorded to be shared with many.


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