Almost 3 Months!!!!

Hi Everyone!! I can't believe we have been here in Mbingo for almost 3 months!!! 6 more months to go!! This week it rained!! We have not had rain since early November! We are still in the Dry Season! People have told us that it is rare to have rain in January!! Usually it doesn't start until the end of February! It actually has been nice! It has gotten rid of some of the dust!! But Megan will still have to wash the shoes on Saturday!!!!! Megan added some comments to the pictures!!

Here's Meg washing the shoes!!! Every Saturday after going to Market, Megan washes all shoes so they are nice and clean for church and the next week!! (Everyone has 2 to 3 pairs that need washed! Megan)

Here are all the shoes and the soccer ball drying in the sun!!

(All the shoes are clean from my hard work and 10 steps outside the door on our way to church they are dusty again!!!  Megan)

The kids have learned to use their imaginations and play with what we have!!

Hide and Seek in the sheets on the clothes line!! Gretchen calls this swimming through the jellyfish like Marlin and Dory!!!

(Notice the dirty shoes! This is only 2 days after I washed them!! Megan)

Here's Gretchen's Boxcar!

Randy, Jen, Megan, Elliott, and Gretchen went on a hike to the back waterfall! This was the farthest hike the kids have been on yet!! I did not go on this one but hopefully before we come home I will be able to go!!! 

Here's everyone taking a little rest! Keith and Kaye are the ones who took them on the hike!

These men are Fulani. They live in the mountains and raises cows and sheep and farm. They liked getting their pictures taken! It is very important to ask if you may take photo or snap before you take a picture of the local people here! Most are very excited to have their picture taken though!!

 

Here's some of the sheep!

This is their one room house or hut.

Family photo in front of the waterfall!

 Here is Megan doing her school work! This is their school room/ play room!

Here is Elliott at his desk working hard! If not Darth lets him have it!!

Of course we can't forget about Gretchen! She does not have a desk so we use the dining room table as her desk! She is very serious about her school work!




Last Thursday we took a break from school in the afternoon and went swimming/wading in a little pool at some friends house! The kids had fun!

Gretchen, Elliott, Megan, Cathen, Isaac, and Lindsay

During the dry season, the Cameroonians start burning the dry and dead grass and brush! They say that it will make everything greener once the rains come. Some say they don't like that everything is brown so they burn it!

This is Mbingo Hill.

These men were walking buy and saw we had a camera. They asked to have their picture taken with the kids.  

Thank you for the prayers for Randy's Dad Jim and their family! He is improving! Prayers for the kids and myself as we leave on Sunday to go to our school group session in Bamenda. Prayers for safe travel and prayers for us as we will be away from home for 2 weeks. Prayers for the Muthler family who leave on their Ethiopia trip this Friday. Prayers for a safe flight and a unforgettable experience!!!! Prayers for Adrianne and her family as they deal with the loss of her uncle! A big Thank you to her for helping my mom take care of the cats and all their medical issues!!! Continued prayers for Brandi and Mike as the date for Thad to deploy comes closer!! Prayers for Thad and his safety as well!! I miss everyone and send my love to all family and friends back home!! To my Brother, you better tape Hines Ward on the Walking Dead for me!!!! Hee! Hee!

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

Cooking and Preparing Our Food!

Hello everyone! First we ask that you lift Randy's Dad Jim up in prayer!!! I am praying for you Jim, Bonnie, Randy, and the rest of the family! May God surround you with love at this difficult time! 

People have been asking us in emails what we eat. So we have been taking some pictures! Some of the food we tried just for fun and we will definitely never try again and others we really liked! First I will explain "The Market". It is right down the road from our house and it is definitely not Giant Eagle or Martins! On Saturday all the local farmers bring their produce to the market and sell their items. Pineapples, bananas, po-po (papaya), and passion fruit are very plentiful! (And very delicious) This is the best fruit I have ever tasted! They also have apples and oranges but they are harder to find! Mangoes are not in season yet but I have heard they are really good! The plantains are good also! We make fried plantain chips! Vegetables that are plentiful are carrots, green beans, onions, peppers, cabbage, and hot peppers. In Bamenda, we can get lettuce and cucumbers.

 

This is our Market! It is basically a string of little wooden huts that have stores in them. The stores are open during the week also. They sell the basic needs. Flour, sugar, salt, rice, beans, etc. The people bring their produce on Saturday and lay it out on blankets on the ground. We took this picture from the hill above the Market.

After Jen and Randy go to market, everything must be soaked in bleach water for 10 minutes. Here are all our goodies washed, bleached, and drying!! 

Okay here is a food we definitely will not buy again!! The kids were craving bologna. So they were so excited when they found luncheon meat in a can at a store in Bamenda! It looked like bologna on the can! Definitely did not taste like Oscar Mayer on the inside!!!!

Fufu and Jama Jama

This is fufu and jama jama. This is a Cameroonian dish. They eat this a lot! It is made for any celebration or occasion.  The fufu is a lot like grits. The jama jama is the greens. I like both of them. Jen and Randy only like the jama jama! The fufu does not have any taste. It is like white mush but in a good way! Ha!

Elliott likes both too!!

This is Marlis. She is our helper. She has helped us get settled here in Africa and now she is part of our family!!! She is braiding Meg's hair! She is the one who makes us the fufu and jama jama too!

Over the Christmas, we had one of our chickens killed. Young Margret who works at the hostel killed and cleaned it for us! After she was done she wrapped it in a plastic bag and stuck it in the freezer! So Jen got it out and defrosted it! As she was opening the bag, so she could cut it into pieces, two chicken feet popped out at her!!!! So she screamed! But then she looked closer and realized the head was in the cavity of the body too!!!!! We laughed so hard! On the bright side I have never seen a cleaner chicken ever!!! 

Here's the feet hanging out!!

 

The head!! Here they use the whole chicken!!! Not us though!

Our first African Tea Party!! It wasn't the same without you, Grammy!! But the kids enjoyed it!

Here is Gretchen and her chicken!! We have not killed this one yet! The kids think of it as their pet! He follows them around when they try to feed and water him!

Here are Megan and Elliott in their matching African outfits! They wore them to church on Sunday!

We celebrated Randy's birthday yesterday! We had lunch as a family and also some of the kids came too! We had brownie sundae for dessert! Jen made the brownies and I made the ice cream! We used matches as candles on the cake!!! It worked pretty well except matches burn quite quickly!!! 

Megan roasting a hot dog over the flames of our stove!! The hot dogs over here come in a can! There are 10 of them in one can! The can is the size of a regular soup can! So they are pretty tiny! Gretchen likes them! Hot dog and french fries is her go to meal when she hasn't eaten anything else! We have so many more pictures of the food here so we might have to make another post later!!

Prayers for Jen this week as she is in Banso working there! Prayers for us as we miss having her here with us! The kids and I will be going to Bamenda for a two week stay starting February 3rd! The kids are going to a home school group session! It should be really neat! They will attend class with the other kids and also have swimming lessons. The helicopter pilot is doing the special studies for the two weeks. It is on small engines! Gretchen also gets to attend! She will be in the preschool class! I will be helping out as needed! I'm sure they will have lots to share when we get back!!  Prayers for friends and family back home! We miss you!! Prayers for the Muthler family as they are preparing for their trip to Ethiopia!  Prayers for Leevi Steele!!! Again prayers for Jim and the entire Keyser family!!

 

Fear not, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.  Isaiah 41:10

CMF Retreat in Bamenda

Hello everyone!! This past week we went to Bamenda for a CMF missionary retreat. It was for all the missionaries that are involved with the CBC that are in Cameroon!

 We arrived on Wednesday evening. We got settled in our rooms. Jen, Randy, Megan, Elliott, and Gretchen stayed in a room at the Rest House. I stayed at Elsie's house in her quest room. After we got settled in, we had dinner at the hostel with other missionary families. We then had a worship service. 

We had morning and evening worship services everyday.  Our worship services were lead by Pastor Jon Cooke and his wife Pam. They were from the United States. They are here for our retreat and to visit for a few weeks.

The kids met their worship leaders. Jim and Ann Nesbitt were the leaders. They were from Cleveland, Ohio! They picked on Megan for wearing here Steelers shirt!!!

 Uncle Jim had the older youth. So he had Megan. They had Youth Fellowship and bible study.

 

Then Auntie Ann had the younger kids. Elliott was in her group. 

The kids loved it. Elliott had bible study and made crafts. He played games and really had a good time!

 

This was a really great group of kids!

On Thursday afternoon, we took a walk to the Handy Craft Store. It is a store filled with crafts made by local artists. A lot of wood craved items and hand made musical instruments. They also have a restaurant attached to the store. So we went and sat out on the balcony and had something to drink. We also ate plantain chips and potato chips. Their potato chips are actually french fries. We had a nice time just relaxing and enjoying the view.

The view from the balcony of the restaurant!

Waiting for our plantain chips!

Another view of Bamenda!

Before we got here to Africa, I thought that Bamenda was a little village like Mbingo! No it is a big city! The population is a little over a half million people.



Megan also bought a African dress on Thursday from a local man selling his crafts on the CBC compound. The next day the same man had a vest/shirt for Elliott. He said that brother and sister should match! Here is a picture of Megan in her dress. When we get a pic of her and Elliott together we will post it!!!

Friday two of the older kids organized a photo scavenger hunt!!  We broke up into teams. Elliott, his friend Samuel, one of the youth named Tim, and I were on a team. Randy, Jen, Gretchen, and Megan made up their team! Elliott and my team got second place! Not bad! Here are some of the pictures we took!!

Here is my team with Jon and Noah the boys that organized it!

Take a picture of someone with their feet in the air. Gretchen did this one pretty well!!

Take a picture sticking your tongues out at a rival photographer. I think they were just jealous I was a better picture taker!!!

Most unique picture with Jon and Noah!


Saturday was our picnic and talent show! They played picnic games and then had our picnic.

Megan playing the bean game! Megan and Randy doing the three legged race!
 

Randy racing in the crab race!

Some of the local kids came to watch us play the games!

Gretchen playing on the playground.


After our picnic, we had a talent show. Our group from Mbingo sang a song. We sang "Old Mother Hubbard". Megan dressed up as old mother Hubbard and Elliott and Gretchen were her doggies!!

The best doggies ever!!

 

Gretchen and her ears!!!

Well we arrived back at Mbingo today! We had a great time meeting new friends and worshiping with them! We enjoyed hearing about where they are living and the things they are doing for the Lord! I ask that you pray for all the missionaries and their families! Also before I go, we had our first and definitely not the last miscommunication with English/Pidgin English. As you know Elliott's friend Jesse told us he was moving to Bamenda on December 20. Well, on January 3, there was a knock on our backdoor and there was Jesse. He said I am back! He only went to Bamenda for the holiday to visit his mom and dad. He stays with his grandfather during the school year! So he went/moved for the holiday!!! He probably thought we were crazy because we all were so emotional about him leaving!! So all is good! Elliott is very happy to have his friend back again!!!

Please continue to pray for Randy's dad Jim. Prayers for us as we continue our time here as God sees fit. Prayers for Jen as she prepares to leave next Sunday for a week long trip to Banso a neighboring village. She is traveling with another Dr. to work there. Pray also for us as we will be here without her for the week!