Bus Rides

When we landed in Cameroon we landed in Yaounde, naturally, so after a couple days of prep in the big city we headed out to Bambalang.

We hired a bus, so we were able to sit comfortably in what would have usually been an 18 passenger van. It was an eight hour bus ride, but we stopped every couple of hours at bathrooms and food markets. This journey happened on maybe our third day in Cameroon, and most of the team was still pretty nervous, so when we stopped to get lunch at a market, only a couple of us ventured out and bought food for the whole group. We weren't sure what to expect and we acted very cautiously.

Now, on the way back we hired the same bus and driver, Sidu (who was absolutely wonderful and marvelous), and headed back to Yaounde. We were much more confident in our knowledge of Cameroonian culture this time, and we even decided to buy unknown foods through the window (you can read that story below). We all ventured out into the food market, and we knew how to haggle for food. We were used to the stares and people calling out to us. It was a completely different experience.

Then our tire popped. Two hours later, after some interesting encounters on the side of the road, and Adriana chasing lots of bugs with her camera, we were back on the road. And everything was still fine. On our way up, I am positive we would have handled the experience very differently, but as it was, we were okay and that experience didn't color the rest of our time in Cameroon. Instead, the rest of our time in Cameroon had taught us how to deal with the experience, how to be patient and okay with sudden changes in the schedule. How to deal with unwanted attention and remain safe.

Flying into Yaounde, we didn't think much of it being a big city. The city itself is large, but it is nothing like Toronto. There are stores, with buildings and everything, and lots of traffic and people. But it isn't a North American big city. Driving back in from Bambalang, we thought a lot of it being a big city. Having stayed in an even more rural part of the country, we know thought that Yaounde was a huge city. Our eyes were opened to differences we hadn't been able to perceive before.

All this to say, even though we took the same route and even rode in the same bus, that month of living in Cameroon really changed us. And we didn't notice until we realized how different each bus ride was.

How to Ride a Benskin

Some of you may have seen the pictures of my team riding benskins, or you may have heard that motos were the best way for us to get around. Well, they were, so I thought you might like to have the low-down on how to safely travel on a motorcycle in Cameroon.

First, you have to know the lingo. Moto, benskin, motorbike, all are appropriate words for the vehicle you will be riding. However, there is a difference between a benskin and a moto. A benskin is a taxi, while a moto is a personal bike. Benskin drivers are part of a union, so if they see someone taking money for driving people then they can report them. Their motorbikes are usually covered in bright vinyl with lots of different designs, so benskins stand out from motos. But not always.

Secondly, you need to get a helmet. Safety first, people.

And the last thing you need to do is learn how to flag a driver down. The best way to do that is to walk in the direction you are wanting to go, and every time a motorbike comes by, you stick your index finger out. If they are a benskin and free, they will stop and ask you where you are going. If they aren't free, they will drive right by, and if they aren't a benskin, they will usually shake their head at you.

So now you are ready to get on a benskin and go to your destination! Don't forget to agree on a price before you get on the bike, and tell the driver to go slow, especially if this is your first time. With the price set and the driver ready, now comes the challenging part of getting on.

Men, you are probably thinking, how is getting on challenging? I dare you to get on a moto in skirt, and then you can come back to me. Ladies, I hope you are wearing long, flowing skirts, because otherwise, you are going to have to ride side-saddle. With you long, hippie-like skirt, just hop on like you were wearing pants. Make sure your knees are covered, but kind of gather your skirt in front so the driver won't sit on it. If you are wearing a tighter skirt, one which would show your knees if you tried to ride normally, you should ride side-saddle. It's actually not so bad. I think I rode side-saddle more often than not because I made poor clothing choices while packing. Just hop right on, and you're golden. If there is more than one person riding (besides the driver), you'll have to sit on the back, because otherwise it'd just be awkward times.

And know you're on a benskin! You may be wondering where to hold on. If you are in between two people (say the driver and your travelling companion), don't worry about holding on. At first it might be a little scary, though, so I suggest holding on to your companion's knees. It won't help at all, but it's slightly more comforting. If you are on the back, just reach down and hold onto the seat or the luggage rack (which you are probably sitting on anyway). All in all, don't worry about it.

As you drive along, enjoy the sights and everyone calling out to you. Wave at people if you are feeling daring. If you feel uncomfortable with the speed, you can try to tell your driver to go slower. I won't promise that he actually will, though. Benskin is a lovely, refreshing way to travel. It is fast and beats the heat of walking, so I recommend it. It's a lot of fun, too, especially when you get passed the scared stage of riding benskins.

Photo credit goes to Rebekah Schumacher, for
capturing Serena and I riding off on a benskin.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! If you have any questions about benskin riding, feel free to ask. I'd love to tell you more. (If anyone more knowledgeable about the art of benskin riding reads this and sees any mistakes, please let me know.)

My (Brief) Encounter With Teaching Chrambo

Our family had four kids, and a live-in babysitter, so there were always around 14 kids hanging around our house. Usually we had fun, played games, taught them some songs. Some times they taught us songs. And they were our language teachers, so we would ask them what something was and they would tell us in their native language.

One day we were doing a bunch of crazy things, like hopping around in circles and having kids hang off us, so I wanted to calm them down a bit. I asked if any of them knew how to read or write in Chrambo. They said no, so I gave them a mini lesson. I taught them the vowels of Chrambo, because they have eight vowels and only some of them are represented in the same way as English. So I taught them how to read those. A lot of the kids weren't interested, but the young girls were. It was so cool to see, because they were totally enthralled and thought it was so strange to have Chrambo written down. There they were with their little siblings on their backs, because if they are older they have to take care of their younger siblings, and bending over my scribblings on the ground, discussing, in Chrambo, how to say the different letters I had written.

It was really encouraging to me and I loved being able to share that with them, although it also broke my heart that I couldn't speak their language but I was teaching them their alphabet. I felt so torn, like I wanted to share this with them, but also like I was encouraging the white man stereotype. Just because I was there learning their language, I didn't feel like I had the right to teach them their alphabet. But I also didn't want to leave these young girls without them knowing that their language was being written down. I was torn between a chance to open the door to Chrambo literacy for them and a feeling of guilt  for being white and teaching them. I don't know if I'm explaining that well, but that's how I felt. I really wanted to get them interested in learning to read and write in Chrambo, but I felt guilty that it was me teaching them.

This happened a few days before we left the village, so I had promised them that if they came back I'd give them the full alphabet, but I never got a chance to. If you could pray for those children who showed a real interest in learning to read and write Chrambo, I would really appreciate it. They are the next generation, of Christians and of villagers, so if a fire for Chrambo literacy can be built in them now, how much stronger will mother-tongue language work be in the future. (By the way, I am working to rectify my leaving them without giving them an alphabet, so please don't write me off as someone who doesn't keep their promises.)

An Adventure in Food

On our last Wednesday there, were were on our way back to the capital city, Yaounde. We hired out a bus to take us, and we had lots of ups and downs on that trip, but one of our ups was when we passed through one check-point. There are various places along the road where the army checks your papers and takes a traveling fee. Also at these check-points are people selling food, so you open the window, give them money, and they give you a bag of peanuts, or whatever they are selling. At one check-point we saw these things that looked like raisins, and we were curious, because they don't have grapes there. So we bought some.

We started eating them, and they were like nuts, but didn't really have any flavor. They were a little bitter and not good, but not inedible (like kola nut). So we pass them around the bus and no one is really impressed. Then we give them to our teammate sitting by the driver. The driver looks over and goes, "No! No! You don't eat that! Who bought that?!" It turns out we had bought a spice. People cook them and put them in their food, but nobody eats them raw. 

Later on we were telling our driver to the airport about what we had done, and he could not stop laughing. He thought it was the funniest thing that these white people had come in and just tried everything. He said, "I'm impressed by missionaries because they aren't afraid to eat things. They just come in and eat whatever they think the locals are eating, and sometimes they eat the funniest things!"
.
We never got into serious trouble as a team, we never offended the king or anything, but we were always doing something not quite right and having other people laugh with us.

A Surprising Encounter With Cameroonian Hospitality

Hospitality is super important to Cameroonians, because sharing time with someone means sharing part of your life with them and building relationships. We walk up to her house, and she's expecting us because she had seen us in church the day before, but this man comes up and starts talking to us. To this day I'm not sure who he is, but he had the same last name as her, so I think he was her brother-in-law. But he comes up and starts chatting with us, and he offers us a kola nut. Now, they have a saying in Cameroon, "He who brings kola, brings life." They love the kola nut and it symbolizes life to them. But it has a very... distinct taste and is not something easily swallowed. He offers each one of us a whole kola nut. We accept it and we break it into sections (it has natural cracks in it which allow it to be broken up and shared), and both start nibbling on a section each. Then we pass some around to the other people around, because that's a polite thing to do and a great way to get rid of it. So we had that to nibble on the whole time we were there. So we could already tell they were really excited we were there, which was nice, but completely unexpected. The tailor shows up a little bit later, but we still are talking to the man about his children, who are all working in Europe, by the way. Then the tailor asks what we want made, so we give her our order. I start to kind of gather my stuff and prepare to leave, but she goes, "Oh no! You can't leave yet! We made food for you." Which we, as good guests, didn't turn down. She serves us a typical dish, fufu with enjamajama. Fufu is ground corn which is then boiled and steam into a ball-shape. You pinch pieces off and eat it with whatever it is served with. It's pretty bland, but filling. Enjamajama is a vegetable leaf similar to spinach, but with none of the flavor. It is also called bitter leaf. It's boiled and served like that, and usually has different spices added to it, depending on who cooked it. The tailor had made her's with lots of spicy pepper, so that was fun. :) We enjoyed the meal and joked about how we had weak white stomachs, so the pepper was hard to eat. After we finished the meal we spent a few more minutes talking, but we left soon after.

But I wanted to share this story because we went to her house on business and left with a bunch of new friends. Her kids were there too, so we chatted with them, and we talked with the old man, and her. Life there is just way different, in this respect. They appreciate friendships over jobs. Even though we were bringing her money, she still wanted to get to know us, and her neighbors came to visit us. It was a great reminder that although our work was important, we were there to build relationships and meet people as well.

All About Niya (pictures to come)

So, I know it would make more sense to start by setting the scene by telling y'all all about the scenery and the town, but I really love this little girl. I wanted to write about her as soon as I could because 1) I knew it would be fun and 2) because I didn't want to forget anything about her. This is all about the smallest child who lived in our (mine and Serena's) family home.

Niya is two and a bit years old. She's turning three in July. She has no sense of privacy and loves getting into everything. The first time we met her, on Thursday, may 22^nd, we didn't think anything remarkable of her. She was just like every other toddler – absolutely adorable, loud, and playful. She was also introduced to us with her Christian name, Ruth, but we soon learned that everyone calls her by her Chrambo name. That was very confusing at first and I thought maybe there were two little girls in our house, but we cleared it up pretty quickly.

After a few days spent with her and playing with her we learned how very... loving she really is. She loves everything everyone else has. We learned the value of knowing “nga!” as compared to “no”. Because she is only three, she doesn't know any English, so even just saying “no” in Chrambo helped us with her. One day we came home and we realized we had forgotten to lock the door. Niya had come in and played with my toothpaste (luckily there was still some left) and lost the cap to my After Bite.

But I don't want to just tell the negatives. When we left she was the hardest one to leave and she started to follow us to the truck, but unfortunately we couldn't take her with us.

Niya is adorable. The first time we did laundry, we asked the “babysitter”, Adela, to help us. She taught us how to scrub clothes by hand and how to rinse them. And then Niya came up. Naturally, she already knew how to wash clothes, so she just reached into the bucket, grabbed a sock and went to work. And so it went, every time we did laundry she would end up washing socks. It was probably the cutest thing in the world. Until she put clean clothes back in the dirty clothes bucket. Then we had to pull out our “nga”, again.

In our last week there Niya greeted us at our door every morning, often with loud bangs and cries to be let in. Who needs an alarm clock when you have a toddler? She followed us around everywhere, including to the bathroom. There were some holes in the tin door, and I saw little eyes peeking in once or twice. One time she wanted to open the door on Serena, but I helped her out by picking up Niya and carrying her to the front of the house.

She knew our names pretty well, but she didn't know us separately. All she knew was that the two white girls in her home were named Karima and Serena and she that's what she said anytime she wanted us. “Karima and Serena. Karima and Serena. Karima and Serena.” It was fun to quiz her and see if she could get our names right, but she usually didn't.

Apparently by the end of our time she didn't want us to leave. She didn't want to come with us, either, but she wanted us to stay with her. We told her she could come in our suitcase, but she said no. She also said all this in Chrambo, and her mom and brothers translated for us.

What was especially cool for me to see, and this is the Linguist in me really coming out, was how much English she started mimicking while we were there. She doesn't speak English, even though she was going to pre-nursery (I'll talk about the school system in another post), and she never knew what we were saying, but at the beginning she would only say a few phrases in English. Before we left, she was saying so many things in English, and with our accents. Don't get me wrong, I love the Cameroonian accent, but it was so cool that she was copying our accents. I was touched.

That's Niya in a nutshell. I hope you get a good feeling of her and you can understand why I teared up having to leave her behind. When she wasn't getting into our things she was the funniest, most energetic little girl, and she wormed her way very deeply into my heart.

Rebekah's story

This happened last Friday at the market here in Bambalang. it's one of my favorite stories.

 The 'white mans' overtake the Bambalang market

Friday was market day here in Bambalang, so after meeting for a devotion and a short language lesson on useful market phrases we were packed off two by two on motorcycle taxis down to market to test our skills. We were given shopping lists and 5000 CFA to spend.

Serena and I (Rebekah) were paired together. We bought our first few items no problem and then we came to buying an avocado (they call it a pear here). We approached one lady who had a bucket full of 'pears' and, after greeting her (an important first step) we asked her, “How much?” She gave us a price of 1500 CFA (about $3 CAN). We were shocked at such a high price and decided to look around some more. A short while later we greeted another lady with a bucket full of pears and asked how much she was selling them for. She said 1000 CFA. It still seemed high to us since we were told nothing should be over 500 CFA except one item. We managed to barter it down to 500 CFA. Handing over our money I reached and took one 'pear' from the bucket, said, “Awufa” (thank you), and began to walk away.

As soon as we began to move away were were swarmed by a crowd of ladies all suddenly talking at us and to each other. We were worried at first that we had done something rude or wrong. One lady spoke a bit more English than the rest and started asking us if we wanted more and insisting that we take more 'pears'. Slowly it became clear that when we had asked the price of the 'pear' the lady had assumed we wanted the whole bucket (as all normal people would)! When we just took one 'pear' they were all suddenly concerned because we had paid way too much. When they were certain that we really only wanted just one 'pear' they began to move away. We realized that we had paid way too much but were unsure if when we went back, we would be returned some money or if we would have had to take the whole bucket. We really didn't want a whole bucket so we decided just to let it go. In the grand scheme of things it was no big loss.

Later we discovered that the story of the 'white man' buying a single pear for 500 CFA had traveled through the whole market and even back to our host families. We all had a good laugh and learned our lesson to be very specific when we are buying something from a bucket!

A Brief Recounting of Our Time So Far

Hello all!

I hope no one was worried because I haven't written in so long. We have a bit of down time right now, so Dan Grove, the missionary who lives here, let me on his computer.

We could really use your prayers right now. A few people on the team are sick, and also a few of our "families". We've split into pairs to live with different families, so we're spread across Bamblang. But we're all living with Christian families, so don't worry about that. Serena and I are living with Pa David and Ma Joy, Kyle and Sheldon are living with Pa Tom, Rebekah and Adriana are living with Pastor Pius and Ma Daphnine, and Melanie and Ann are living with Pastor Novetan and his wife. A few team members seem to have caught a bug from their family, and some people are feeling the effects of a new culture and village living. Prayers for health and the ability to merge into Cameroonian culture would be greatly appreciated.

We arrived safely in Yaounde last Monday night, at midnight, so Melanie got to celebrate her birthday by arriving in Cameroon! The next day we went to the market with Jessica's sister, Joanna, who has been living her for almost a year, I think. We celebrated Melanie's birthday some more, and because it was Cameroon Day, there were fireworks and it was kind of like all of Cameroon was celebrating Melanie.

We left Yaounde last Wednesday, drove the 8 hours to Bamenda, were picked up by Dan and Greg, who both live here with their families, and they brought us to Bambalang and our families! We've been here ever since. We won't be moving again until June 9th, I think (two Sundays from now) when we are going to debrief in Mbingo, and then go back to Yaounde after a few days in Mbingo. If you look up Mbingo, you'll find that there is a very good hospital there, where people can come and be trained in medicine. It's also good for hiking and it's a bit of a resort, so that's what we'll be doing there. Hopefully everyone will be well by then, so we won't have to take advantage of the hospital.

The best way to get around Bambalang is benskin, or motor bike (I'm working on my Pidgin), but don't worry. We've all got helmets. They are a pretty interesting way to travel. Serena has been saying she wants to buy one and bring it back home, but she's still trying to figure out the logistics of that.

We've got some really great stories, especially from the market, so I'll try to send y'all some of those. I asked everyone to type the up, so I'll be copying and pasting them over.

This is us with our driver, Sidu. He drove us from Yaounde to Bamenda. We actually had that whole bus to ourselves when we should have been crowded in 4 to a bench. We were blessed. Photo credit goes to Larry Seguin, who taught at Tyndale last semester and beat us to Cameroon by two days.

Team Spotlight: Kyle Chatzis-Fox

My name is Kyle Chatzis-Fox and I just graduated from Tyndale University with a major in Psychology and a minor in English. I love meeting new people and experiencing different cultures. I really love working with people and talking to them, learning all about them. For the future I am planning on going to a master's program with a focus in Counseling (hopefully at Tyndale!), and eventually be a counsellor. My main reason for going to Cameroon other than experiencing a different culture is to grow and learn personally. My girlfriend wants to be a full-time missionary and so we want to test our compatibility on the field.

When I am not learning about the brain or reading science-y/space/biology books, I like to sculpt things with Plasticine (clay). It has been a hobby of mine for the past 22-23 years. (I'm bringing some for the plane ride. 10+ hours on a plane? Definitely time to do some plastecine sculpting.) :)

~ Kyle

Team Spotlight: Melanie Crumb

I'm Melanie Crumb (bring on the last name jokes :)). I am currently in the third out of four years studying applied Linguistics at Brock University in St. Catherine's, Ontario. I have always had a natural love of other languages and cultures and am SO excited for this trip to Cameroon. Wycliffe is a definite possibility of an organization I would love to work with in the future, so i am praying that this trip will help me discern that calling a little more. :) Oh, and I love cats.

~ Melanie

Team Spotlight: Serena Lazaroff

My name is Serena Lazaroff. I grew up on a farm outside of small town Canora, Saskatchewan. the farm is a grain farm as well as a cattle farm. I am very blessed to have been raised by amazing Christian parents. I have two older sisters and a "little" brother. I went to school in Canora and graduated there. Now I am attending the University of Saskatchewan in pursuit of a career in nursing. Ever since I was little I had thought about doing missions. This is one of the reasons why I am wanting to be a nurse, because I think it opens up a lot of mission opportunities.
The path that lead me to participate in the trip to Cameroon, I believe is truly God inspired. Last, last February (2013), a few days before the February break, a friend texted me asking if I would come to Alberta with him and two other guys that I didn't know and participate in the Race to 2025. This is a race put on by Wycliffe Bible Translators to raise money to start Bible translation in a specific present number of languages by the year 2025. The race is done in teams of four with the necessity of at least one member being a different gender than the rest. The girl my friend originally had on his tam had recently injured her back playing volleyball and was not able to make it. She had done all the fundraising, though, and was willing to give all the money to whoever would replace her. Within a few days, I was stuffed in a car with a bunch of luggage and three guys, two of which I barely knew. The guys arranged everything so I would get to Alberta and back home. When I arrived at the camp where the race was, I soon realized that I was the only high school student there. The race was hard, but a lot of fun! At the end of the two day race, the team was supposed to choose one of the team members that we thought deserved to have their name put in a draw for a scholarship for a short term missions trip with Wycliffe. At the supper when we were supposed to do this, the team was all spread out eating with different people we had made friends with. The guy who got the form for the scholarship just scribbled down my name and submitted it. Then my name was drawn. I was actually not too happy at the time. I was the youngest person there. There were so many more Bible college students that were more mature and could use the scholarship in a better way than I could. I wasn't even supposed to be there! I didn't do any fundraising or anything! After awhile I learnt to accept it. The scholarship expires within 18 months of receiving it and I couldn't go last year because I was in school until June high school departmental exams. So this summer is the only summer I have left to use the scholarship. The trip to Cameroon is the only trip that Wycliffe is putting on so this is where I am going. Looking at how all these things happened, I am amazed at how God lead me to be part of this team going to Cameroon. I know that this is where He wants me to be and He has great plans to use me and the rest of the team there. God really does work in amazing ways.

~ Serena

Team Spotlight: Ann Cheung (and some updates)

This time I'll be spotlighting Ann Cheung! (And telling a couple good stories!) This one will be a bit longer than my last few because I'm way behind on telling y'all what's happening!

Here's Ann's bio:

"I graduated few years ago majoring in molecular biology and biochemistry at Simon Fraser University. Currently, I am working as part-time receptionist in physiotherapy clinics. I never thought of getting involve in cross-cultural missions work before. But I remembered in fellowship’s life-camp last year when we shared about what we want to do in the next five years, I said I want to travel with God. I am so thankful that He led me to the Perspectives course at the end of last year, where I met a local Wycliffe missionary and got introduced to instigate Cameroon. It is truly my privilege to be part of this team. For someone who has Dyslexia, I don’t know what to expect. However, I am excited for this cross-cultural experience, to see Bible translation in action, and to learn and grow together with my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

It’s never too late to step out and explore what God has in store for our lives. It’s truly our honor to be part of His great mission."

~ Ann

I'm super excited to be working with this whole team and only have 20 days until we all meet for the first time!! That's so cool!

Lately, Adriana, Kyle (his bio will come soon) and I have been running around preparing for the trip Kyle and Adriana had to get their shots (mine are still valid from 2 years ago) and everyone had to send in their visa stuff. Now we're working on police checks. I'm actually the only one who still has to do that.

Anyway, Kyle and I were at his house for Easter this last weekend and we were talking about shots and how expensive they were. And we're both broke from this trip and school, so he wasn't sure how he was going to get the $130 by Tuesday for his yellow fever shot. I told him to trust God and count on His providence. If He wanted to give Kyle money for his shots, He would. That day (Sunday), Kyle's family came over to have a big Macedonian Easter meal, and it was a lot of fun. Lot's of laughter and food. And his family has a tradition of giving each other money. Guess how much he raised? I'm quite happy to say that on Tuesday Kyle was able to get his yellow fever shot, and today he got his last shot and his police check. He's ready to go (form-wise)!

God has shown how awesome and powerful He is to me in the past, and now He is continuing in this! I'm so thrilled to be a part of this team and to be watching God bring us all together and help us on our journey!

Please be praying for us as we continue raising funds and preparing our hearts for our first meeting and our trip to Cameroon.

I'll write again soon.

- Karima Horton

Teammate Spotlight: Sheldon Pon

Here's what Sheldon says about who he is:

I am a fourth year linguistics student attending the University of Calgary with one more full year to go, because it took me a couple of years to end up in the program. I really love what I am taking, and when I heard from Kevin Derksen about this trip to Cameroon at one of Wycliffe's cafe nights, I knew right away that this trip could be for me. I have never done any cross-cultural missions work and have wanted to for a while, so not only was this a good opportunity for that but also the trip is related to what I am studying, which is really exciting! I have been fascinated with the Bible translation process ever since I started to learn about Wycliffe, so being able to see a project in action and even assisting in some ways will truly be a great blessing and I am thankful for this opportunity.

I was always a little unsure as to what I would do with my degree and although I still haven't figure it out completely I think it would be awesome to work with Wycliffe, so this trip will not only be a great cross-cultural experience for me but also an eye-opener as to what it looks like to be a part of Wycliffe.

~ Sheldon

Check back for more spotlights coming up!

Support Letter

Here it is... My letter telling you how to donate. Let me know if you have any questions!

Dear Friends and Family, 

Greetings! I want to share with you a tremendous opportunity that God has opened up to me to serve Him this summer. I will be travelling to Cameroon with a mixed Tyndale and Wycliffe Bible Translators team. Our role as a team will be to work alongside the translators and literacy workers in schools and churches to help increase momentum and raise the profile in the community for literacy and Scripture translation. Adapting to onsite teams’ activities we will assist in local literacy and Scripture Use programs. This may include, linguistic research, supporting local creative methods of Scripture engagement, leading Scripture studies and developing dramas. One key aspect of this cross-cultural experience will be interacting in village homes with local families along with one or two other team-mates, as well as language learning and engaging in local culture.

I am excited about the experience that lies ahead, both for ministry to others and for personal growth as I seek to communicate Christ cross-culturally. We recognize that our service needs to be supported in prayer and so would first ask you to consider joining our team in this regard. I will supply you with a schedule and prayer needs before I leave, and will share with you the blessings of what God accomplishes through us on our return. It would be great to have you minister with us through your prayers for the people of Cameroon.

We also have financial needs to cover the airfare, inoculations, room and board, health insurance and ministry costs of this trip. Each team member needs to raise approximately $3600, with half of it in place by the end of February to buy the air tickets. Please consider being a part of this mission team in this regard. If God leads you to participate with financial support, make your cheques payable to “Tyndale Foundation” and note ‘Cameroon Trip’ on the memo line. Include a separate note with my name on it for allocation toward our team fundraising efforts. As well you can now donate online at giving.tyndale.ca/donate. Once there, indicate that you would like to contribute to Greatest Need and in the comments section indicate it is for Missions along with my name. All donations for the student mission team are tax deductible and will be receipted accordingly. Thanks in advance for your prayers and financial support. May God richly bless you as you partner with us in this outreach opportunity.

In Christ, 

Karima Horton

Mail to: Student Life Dept.

Tyndale University College and Seminary, 25 Ballyconnor Crt., Toronto, ON, M2M 4B3

Team Spotlight: Rebekah

We are quite officially a team and getting to know each other, so it is with great joy that I bring you the spotlight on Rebekah Schumacher.

So here is a little but about me. I am Rebekah Schumacher. I am 22 years old and just finishing up my BA in Linguistics at Trinity Western University (TWU) in Langley, BC. I've grown up here in Langley and so am still at home with my parents. I am the youngest of four siblings.

I was so excited when I read a short blurb about this trip back in November in an e-newsletter I recieve fom within the linguistics community at TWU. I knew I wanted to do a short term trip with Wycliffe at some point in the next year or so to explore more about how I could fit into the work that they do This blurb just jumped out at me as soon as I read Cameroon as I know a lady who is part of the Ndop Plains Cluster project currently working with the Bamakumbit language. I have been inspired by her work and her stories. I am so excited to be able to experience a bit of what her life is like and to allow God to direct me in what He may have for me to do in the future.

The timing and everything of the trip is just perfect as it is just after grad for me and I really did not have any clear plans in place yet. I did not have to go searching for this opportunity, God simply placed it in my lap for me to pursue. Now I must trust in his provision for the trip.

I am excited to see how God is going to work in and guide each one of us through this journey together.

~Rebekah~

What's gonna work? TEAMWORK!

I have some exciting news. I'm actually so thrilled about this. There are two more people coming on our Cameroonian adventure! I can't name any names, yet, but one person is one of my good friends. As soon as everyone turns in their forms and we get their names, I'll be posting a little bit about each person on the blog. This one! Right here! So you'd better stay tuned.

But for now I'll tell you a little bit about Adriana. She doesn't know I'm doing this, so she's probably going to be embarrassed. Sorry, Adriana!

I went to Alaska with Adriana last year, and let me tell you, she is a hoot. She's a third year Psych major at Tyndale and she has a heart for suffering people. She is very quiet and soft-spoken, but once she gets to know you she's not afraid to share her opinion on things, and she has some great opinions! (Honestly hilarious. I love her.)

She is a strong woman of God and I could always count on her to know of a book or a Bible verse to go with a situation. I remember when we were making our team covenant (a list of things we wanted to make sure we accomplished spiritually) last year, she brought verses in instead of her own thoughts.

Adriana has never been to Africa before, but she has been on a few missions trips (obviously, she went to Alaska). She's really excited to see what God has in store for her in Cameroon and to learn more about the work Wycliffe is doing.

She also knits and her scarves are beautiful and warm.

And that's Adriana in a very small nutshell. She's a wonderful young woman and a great addition to our team and I cannot wait!! to be working with her this summer.

Keep checking back for more updates on our team. God bless you and keep praying for Cameroon!

We're ready to go! Kind of....

Well, I've been ready to go since I came back two years ago, if I'm being honest. If someone came up to me and said, "Hey, I have this plane ticket to Cameroon, but I can't go. Do you want it?" I would take it and leave so fast no one would know where I'd gone. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened, so I'm patiently waiting until the end of the semester until the whole team is ready and, you know, our finances come in and the people we're working with are actually ready for us to be there...

But the rest of the team has been chosen by Wycliffe!! Yay! There are eight people going in total. Seven girls and one boy. That'll be interesting. Jessica is leaving the application open for a couple more weeks to see if we can get any more guys. (So come on, guys. If you're reading this, take it as a sign that God wants you to apply.)  We're one step closer to actually leaving!! Once we're official, I'll take some time and introduce everyone on this blog so you can learn more about the team as a whole. But for now, you'll just have to be patient.

Christmas

I have been home for the last three weeks and it's has been so marvelous. Everyone asks me what my family does for Christmas, like Southerners live in a different little world with strange customs all the time, and I have a hard time making my Christmas sound as awesome as it is. "We go to my aunt and uncle's and celebrate and eat food. Lots of food." It doesn't sound as wonderful as it really is. It's not my aunt and uncle's hunting-based menu that is the reason I love coming home for Christmas. I love coming home for Christmas because of the card games, the laughter, how my family can make me feel like such an idiot, but still loved beyond compare. It's about having long conversations with my grandma, asking my grandfather how long he's been married and having him tell me "as long as she has." It's the late nights playing video games with my cousin and catching up with my brothers. It's singing and watching Doctor Who with my dad and making my mom laugh. It's hearing my grandma choke up over saying how thankful she is for Jesus' sacrifice. Christmas is about love, because we celebrate the greatest love story ever - the story of God's love for us shown through the gift of His Son. And that's what my family represents. That's why the last few weeks have been the best ever, and why coming back to Toronto will be great as well. Because I'm surrounded by people who love me and whom I love. At any given point in time I only get to see some of the people I love, and not because I can't have them all over at the same time, but because everyone lives in a different place. I have to enjoy who I'm with when I'm with them because time is short. I live a traveling life. So, this is to everyone who's loved ones are close by - love them. Enjoy your time with them. Let God's love be the example for your love and be quick to forgive, slow to anger, and use every chance to show or tell someone you love them. Because you never know when God will tell you that you're to live out of a suitcase for a few years.