Merry Christmas!!!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Ours was very nice! Different but nice! We woke up bright and early, thanks to Elliott!! We actually had to make Gretchen mad to get her awake! She did not want to get out of bed!! After we opened some presents we went to church. After church we had Christmas dinner at the Palmer's house.
On Christmas Eve, Jen, Megan, and I went with the other missionaries caroling around the hospital! We went all around to the different wards and sang about 3 to 4 songs in each ward! I enjoyed visiting the children's ward! The little children and their parents sang with us and the smiles that the kids had on their faces!! Everyone wanted to shake your hand or give you a hug. Meg and I saw things that Jen sees everyday but it was a real eye opening experience for me!! Megan and I definitely want to go back to the children's ward and visit with the kids soon! We also got to meet and see some of the people that Jen has been treating! It was nice to see faces of the people she is helping.
Meg and Elliott with their "socks"!!
The kids opening some of their presents!
Gretchen liked her cow!!
Jen and Meg outside Nancy and Dennis' house.
Elliott liked playing with Archer!
Although Archer was less then thrilled to play with him!! Ha!
Nancy and Dennis Palmer, Carolyn and Jim Brown, Ben, and all of us
Megan and Elliott both got new walking sticks to use when we go hiking! Megan and Gretchen both got African baby dolls. It was a very nice morning. While everyone back home was getting snow, we had sunshine and 80 degree weather!!! The gift that all the kids are enjoying is the swing set! Jen and Randy had Rene a local carpenter make the kids a swing set for Christmas! Our house is quite popular with all the local children! They like playing with Megan and Elliott but the swing set is a plus!!
Rene, Meg, Elliott, Gretchen, and Jesse
It was a rough week for Elliott last week. Elliott's friend Jesse moved to Bamenda right before the Christmas holiday! They had become very good friends! Elliott liked teaching Jesse all about Star Wars. We are hoping that Jesse can come back for a visit before we leave in July. But God answered Elliott's prayers and about 2 days before Jesse left 4 children showed up at our house and have been coming to play everyday since then! Elliott still misses his friend but is actually having a good time getting to know all the new kids! Now we have about 6 to 8 kids that come to play every afternoon!! Jen and Megan have taught them how to play kick the can!! That is a new favorite game!! Although we had to stop Elliott and the kids from hiding in the tall grass by our house! We were told that some of the other missionary families have started seeing snakes around! They said in the dry season that they are hiding in the tall grass and bushes!!!!! We have not seen any ourselves and really do not want too!! The most common snake is the green mamba, but there are also cobras, pythons, and bush vipers! None of them are cute and cuddly!!
The week before Christmas, the kids and Randy went on a hike to Half Dome! Jen and I went to Bamenda shopping for the day! We had a nice girls outing with Carolyn another missionary here at MBingo! It was my first trip into town. Here are some pics of the kids and Randy's hike.
Some of the hills they climbed!
The view from the top of Half Dome
The kids at the top!!!
Keith and Hayden at the top. Keith and his wife Kaye are from Australia. They have been here for a little over two years.
Here is Kaye with the kids! Megan and Kaye are hiking buddies! She really helps Megan up and down the mountains!
Jen and I didn't take any pictures in Bamenda. It is illegal in Cameroon to take pictures and your camera can be confiscated by the police if they see you taking pictures!
Well I finally went on a hike too!! I went with the kids, Randy, and Kaye the week after they went on this hike! Kaye told me it was the easiest hike to take so we could start with that one!! Well I made it!! It was crazy and about the last 10 minutes of the hike I kept telling Randy I wasn't going to make it!! It was shorter than the other hikes that Randy has been on but it still was about 3 hours long! I definitely have to work up to the other hikes but I had so much fun! Oh I only fell down twice too! Anyone that knows how clumsy I am knows that is not bad!!! I did take Megan out on the first fall though! Lost my footing and fell and she fell on top! We were laughing so hard!
This is Mbingo 2. It is across the road from the hospital and Mbingo. We are just starting out on our hike.
This was on our way up the mountain. They are red clay bricks drying out in the sun. They use these to make their houses.
On our way up we picked up a few more people. The local children were going to work in the fields and decided to walk along with us! It made me realize that these children walk this trail 2 to 3 times a day!!! I could barely make it once!! The corn field that they were walking to was at the top of this mountain!
The view from the top!!! It is pretty hazy due to the dry season! The buildings are the hospital, Mbingo and Mbingo2.
Still smiling!!! (Really red but still smiling)
Gretchen had the best way to travel!! As we were walking through the village of Mbingo 2, little kids were running out of their houses to see us. They would start giggling and laughing! I couldn't decide if they were laughing at the big white woman who was out of breath or Randy carrying Gretchen!! Turns out they were laughing at Randy! They would run along beside and point a Gretchen riding on Randy's back! See over here the women carry the little ones on their backs not the men plus some of them have never seen the backpack thing she was riding in!! Gretchen just smiled and waved!!
We really enjoyed seeing all our family and friends on Christmas day using Skype! It was nice to see both my Grandma Pepple and Grandma States! Also my Aunt and Uncles and Cousins too!!! We ask that you continue to pray for us and also Randy's dad Jim.
Elliott is already planning our next post! He is going to do a Bugs of Africa post! He has been busy taking pictures and learning about all the bugs!! Hopefully on Sunday we can post that! Goodbye for now!!
