Days 6-8 - Update

Day 6

Just kidding! Today I spent the day studying Lamnso’. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be attending the other literacy class. We’ll see. It depends if it rains or not.

I am going to the café today to send this off, though! I’m leaving in a few minutes. Yay!

Day 7

Just kidding again! I crashed the computer when I tried to update my blog, so yeah… But I’m trying again! Hopefully you’ve all read this.

I didn’t go to a literacy class today. They only had motorcycles up to the place and I’m not allowed to ride one without a helmet. I don’t really want to ride one, anyway. So I worked on organizing what I know about Lamnso’.

Day 8

It’s Saturday and I’m at the internet café, trying to post this. After this I’m going to the market to try and get some tea, at least. Karl gave me some eggs, so I don’t have to worry about that. We’ll see how that works! I’m all alone and it’s rather scary. But I’m okay! If you don’t see another post by next Saturday, though… :P

Day 5 - To LAP with Love

Yesterday…. I was up at 5. I made it to Kumbo. It’s pretty awesome here. I’m staying at the LAP center. Since I’m going to be here awhile (so I’ve heard. I don’t really know the plan), they put me in Little House, which is pretty great. I have a living room, with a fireplace, a bedroom with two beds, a full bathroom, and a kitchen. There is also an attic, which looks like it has at least another bed up there and a little door which I really want to know what it leads to, because there is no ladder to climb up. Next time I’ll make sure to bring a couple other people and stay here a couple weeks so we can stay in Little House and find out what’s in the attic. There is a little window I can see from outside, so I know there’s something up there. Plus, I can see into it because there is a hole in the ceiling of my living room.

It’s really cold here. Its fine most of the time, but it rained today and I am chilled to the bone. There was a man who said if I wanted a fire to call him, but I don’t know his name or where he is. It is sad.

Okay, this is probably not something to be excited about and would be a real hassle if I did not have a laptop, but as it is, this is pretty fun. Sometimes the electricity goes out, so they left me with a kerosene lamp. I tried it out yesterday just for fun… Yeah. It’s pretty exciting. I can’t wait until the electricity goes out and it’s dark and I’m not sleeping. I’ll throw a party. With myself…

I’ve taken the taxi. Many times. I mean, I’m no expert on Cameroonian taxis and I’ve gone with someone each time, but still. I’m doing pretty well. I’ve experienced all the degrees of life-threatening I ever want to and I never, ever want to sit in the front with three other people again. But it will probably happen, because if the taxi driver can squeeze one more person in, they will take their 100 francs. One thing I have noticed, though, and I’ll test this later to see if it’s because I had a local with me or not, taxi drivers are pretty honest. I didn’t have anything smaller than a 1,000 bill yesterday, but they gave me the same rate and correct change. And today I only had a 2,000, and the same thing happened. So yeah. They drive like maniacs, but they are (so far) honest with money.

I’m sorry. I’ve been talking so much about these little things, I haven’t even written anything about what I’m actually doing (besides almost dying in taxis – but don’t worry, Mom, I’m not going to ride on the motorcycle taxis). I hung out with some Lamnso’ translators yesterday. I remember they have interesting names, but I don’t remember them exactly. I think one of them was God Bless Don’t Laugh at Me Too Much. The ‘don’t laugh’ part was a name in Lamnso’, but that’s about what it means, if I remember correctly. I also have a book on how to read and write in Lamnso’. Because of that, I can read and write Lamnso’ (read better than write, because… I don’t know what I’m reading to write anything.) but I have no idea what I’m reading or writing. I do know the word for elephant: kitam. And two elephants are vitam. Yeah. I know a few other words – the first word I really knew was kici, which is stick, and it is pretty cool, because they add other words to kici to make different things – I know pen is a book stick, a pencil is a dry stick, and they use other words (with kici) to mean jump drive and all sorts of other things. I also know a bunch of different words for God.

I’m doing okay with the grammar. I know how to make most words plural, so that’s pretty good, I think. It’s not as easy as other languages I’ve studied. Okay… I’m not doing very well on grammar. I have no idea of the sentence structure, even, and don’t know anything about verbs and conjugating them. Actually… I know conjugating them has something to do with the tones.

That’s right. Lamnso’ is a tonal language, just like Chinese. But Lamnso’ doesn’t have four simple tones. It has eight. Eight tones. And I could barely deal with Chinese’s four. But so far I’m doing okay. At least no one has corrected me too much when I’ve read the sentences I don’t understand. But I’m getting better at understanding, kind of.

I went to a literacy class today. That was interesting. It would’ve been better if it wasn’t -50 degrees outside. Okay, not really, but it was raining and we’re up in the mountains, so when the sun doesn’t come out, it doesn’t get warm. I’d talk about it here, but I want to keep talking about Cameroon, and I’m going to another tomorrow, so I’ll spend some time on them tomorrow. Alfred, the guy I’m working with, says the class is about an hour away. I’m fine with that, as long as I’m not stuffed in a car with 7 other people. Okay, I’m actually okay with that, too, I just don’t want to be in the front again. It is terrifying, because you can see the potholes he’s avoiding and when the driver swerves to the side in order to not hit a truck which is barreling down the road in the other direction.

Speaking of roads… There are three different types here, of varying degrees of scariness. Asphalt roads are usually fine. There are often potholes – sometimes really bad ones, but the ride is generally smooth otherwise. Dirt roads are the most common. The holes in them can be pretty bad, but they can also be surprisingly smooth. Not very often, but they can be. These roads can be from anywhere between ‘I-think-one-of-my-teeth-just-rattled-loose’ to ‘If-I-make-it-out-of-this-alive-I’m-walking-everywhere-for-the-rest-of-my-days’. I’m surprised I still have teeth.

The lights just went out! I can barely see my keyboard, but I’m going to wait and see if I should light my lamp or not. They just flickered… We’ll see. Typing by lamplight. Yeah.

The last bit of road is the scariest and I hope no one ever has to ride on one ever. Stones. In some dirt roads the potholes get so deep instead of filling them in with dirt they have filled them in with stones. So, I guess technically this isn’t a type of road, but there are some pretty long stretches of just stone. Now, you may be thinking, whatevs, sounds okay to me. This is not gravel I’m talking about. These stones are not even. They were put in place to fill in potholes and they are just normal stones, not cut to be smooth or anything. Just trust me; these patches of road are not smooth and quite scary.

I have a perfectly good stove in my kitchen, so tomorrow I’m going to buy eggs, tea and sugar. I’ve heated up water (I have a cute little tea pot) because I needed it for washing and stuff, and yesterday Karl Grebe, the linguist working here, made me some tea and I’ve been craving it ever since. This is what you did to me, Canada! Hopefully the market is on the way to the class tomorrow so I can stop by and get some tea and stuff. My kitchen is fully equipped and I have several frying pans, so I’m excited. I have to make my own breakfast and dinner, so I bought some bread, tartina, and bananas, but that’s kind of lame. I had a mango, but they don’t grow up here, so I can’t buy any. Also, mango season is almost over.

Well, that’s all for tonight.  I hope to also stop by an internet café and actually send this off so people can read about my travels.

Bamenda

Tomorrow I leave for Kumbo! I think that’s how you spell it.

I met a lot of people today. Good news! I would’ve been friends with Julie. She’s pretty awesome. We walked roughly …4 miles? I’d say 4 miles. Together today, mostly uphill. She was about to die from the walk but I was fine. They were all shocked. I was like, “Whatevs. Go to Georgia. It’s all hills.” And, I only got two blisters, so I really was fine.

I also met a Swedish intern student who has been here a year. I’m jealous of her hair. She has these braids that are different colors… Her’s are only two colors, but I’ve seen some girls with more. Jealous. Once I’m more sure of my finances and my money from Wycliffe comes in, I will probably go get that done to my hair.

I slept so much yesterday that at 5 am my body did not want to sleep any more. How ridiculous is that? In Georgia, I was just going to bed at 3 am and now I can barely sleep past 5. Of course, I also don’t have the  internet to surf or a book to read and I’m going, going, going all day, so I go to bed as soon as they let us. Last night I was upset at myself for going to bed at 10. I thought for sure I’d be exhausted in the morning, but nope. I was fine and ready to go, which was a good thing, because we paraded to the dedication. It was long… But I already talked about that.

Is it bad that I feel like I could take a nap? I have a bottle of coke, so I’m trying to drink it so I won’t take a nap. I have to be up again at 5 tomorrow because we are leaving at 6. I’m traveling with a Canadian, so I’m kind of excited about that, if only because there will be fewer mis-communications. But really, it’s not so bad. I really, really, really wish I knew French, but there have only been a few awkward moments.

It’s so funny! It’s somewhere between 65-70 here and everyone is running around in scarves and sweaters, making out like it’s below freezing! I’m like, this is wonderful! I could do this all day! It’s not cold (I did get chilly last night, but then I had sheets to use) and it’s not hot. Honestly, if this is as bad as it gets cold-wise… I’m not sure I want to be here when it gets hot. Of course, when I told Julie what it was like in Georgia, that right now it’s consistently in the 90’s (which I converted to Celsius for her, go me), she was like, “whoa, that’s hot,” so it could be that I’d be fine. I dunno.

I still haven’t been able to get on the internet, but I’m going to a new place tomorrow and from what I hear I’ll be there awhile, so hopefully I will be able to find an internet café or the place where I’m staying (another center), will have internet.

Oh! Oh!! They said “The Lord is good, all the time. All the time the Lord is good!” And the whole crowd said it! I about jumped up and down like a crazy I was so excited. Nate and Ginny – they say it more in Cameroon than in our church! I hope I hear it more. I don’t know why it is so exciting when someone else says it, but I got all happy when I found out my roommate knew it, too.

It just started raining, out of nowhere. I hope it stops… We’re going to a cultural something or other at 3 (it’s 2:10) and it’d be lame if it was raining. I guess it is time to pull out my raincoat.

Later:

Well, I did not pull out my raincoat and I stayed perfectly dry. No, there were only two short showers, although from the looks of the clouds in the distance and the lightening in them, it may storm tonight.

I saw the funniest thing! At the cultural event they showed a bunch of videos showing the fruits of CABTALs labors (which are really awesome and something I should probably talk more about), so in one video they were talking about the some different denominations. When they were talking about the Baptists, they had a bunch of people laughing in a Baptismal. Then, they started talking about Presbyterians and I almost died. The video for Presbyterians was a bunch of people sitting calmly in the pews. I was like, yes! Stereotypes hold true worldwide!

Okay, it’s almost 9 and I have to be up at 5:30 and I still have to say good-bye to some people and get the receipt for my stay here. Good night!

Day 1....Or Day 2? I'm not sure.

Sorry this is so long! I’ll try to write less next time.

Day 1 (or has it been two days? I don’t really know)

Day 2

I fell asleep yesterday. I’m still pretty tired, but if I can sleep through the night tonight I should be fine in the morning.

Last night… they could not find the key to my room at the center, so I stayed at the general director’s house. That wasn’t bad at all. He has a Canadian wife and three adorable little kids who love guests. For anyone who knows the Knights – I promise you, they are the African equivalents of the Knight children. They read, the youngest is fairly quiet and when he wants something he looks at you with these big doe eyes, and the order is even the same – boy, girl, boy.  It’s pretty crazy. I hope I get to see them again before I leave.

Today we were up at 6 am, left at 6:30 and traveled until about one. I am now in Bamenda where CABTAL is having a get-together with people from all parts of CABTAL. Tomorrow they are having a ground-breaking ceremony for a new center (I think it’s a school) they are building here. I’m to attend that and then we’re going to see if the rest of the week we can do my training on the fly or, since I was supposed to be in Bamenda this week anyway, if I had come last Friday, they’re going to see if maybe I can go work with the translators anyway. Who knows what’s going to happen? I’ll get back to you on that.

I haven’t been able to connect to the internet yet (obviously, or you’d have read this June 17^th), but that’s okay. I have my phone set up and I called my parents. Hopefully they let everyone know I’m alive and well. If not… Well, I am. I hope you know by now.

It’s 9 pm. I slept practically as soon as we got here at 1 until 6:40, then went to dinner. Then we had a prayer meeting and now it is bed time. Yay, bed time! I’ll write more tomorrow night and hopefully I’ll have more to say about what’s happening with me. Right now I’m going with the flow because they are trying to remake plans for me. We’ll see.

Oh my!

I leave on Friday!! How exciting is that? Pretty exciting, I say. I've waited all this time and now I'm finally getting to go!!

There's only one hang-up. I don't have all my funds yet. I trust God to work it all out, but it's a little scary, not going to lie. I only have one day to have around $1,000 donated to me! Eek!

I want to keep this short because I've been writing so much lately, so let me just say, this will probably be my last entry written in my Georgia home. Possibly even before I get to Cameroon. I'm going to be busy tomorrow, running around like a crazy person, so I probably won't write then and then I leave Friday. Plus, I probably won't have anything interesting to say until at least Monday.

Mostly I wanted to write this just to pray, so please join with me.

Lord, I ask that you provide these funds for me to leave on Friday. You have brought me through many trials while planning this trip and money is just one. I still need quite a bit, but I trust You to help me. I want to take this time to also praise You. You continuously showed Yourself to be faithful to me and proved that You have a plan. You brought me home when I thought I couldn't come home, You provided all these funds for me, You've showed me Your love and allowed my visa to come. You allowed me to spend so much time with my friends and family in Georgia when I thought for sure I wouldn't see them until August. Thank You. It amazes me that the Creator of the universe, the Lord of all creation, would take such an interest in my life. I feel blessed to be able to go on this trip and to be able to learn and grow because of it. I know You have the power to provide my funds and You also have the power to not, so please, no matter what happens, help me to remember this feeling, right now, where I am in awe of You and remember You have control. Amen.

My visa came!!

In case you didn't get the full force of the title...

MY VISA CAME!!


Hooray! God is so good!

It is pretty sweet. I mean, I've had stamps in my passport before, but this one.. it looks all official. Yeah. And it's right at the front, lie it's saying, "Yo. I'm important. This girl has permission to go to Cameroon. Let her through." because, you know, that's what visas say, in a nutshell.

I still need monies, and if you'd like to donate, that would be wonderful. Having to reschedule my flight from last Friday has bumped my budget up to $5,770 or so (that's Canadian, for all you Americans out there) and I may have to change it again.

Let me explain.

I was freaking out last Thursday because my visa hadn't come and I didn't know what to do. I could barely get in touch with anyone all day and Friday my contact in Cameroon was leaving and so was my travel agent, who could change or cancel my ticket, so I had to get it all sorted out by Thursday 4 pm EST. At one I was e-mailing Sandrine saying my visa hadn't come and asking her what to do. It took me about five minutes after sending it to realize... It was 6 pm in Cameroon and she wasn't in the office. So, after e-mails and phone calls and more e-mails and not a small amount of tears, I cancelled my plane ticket. About five seconds after that, we decided that was a bad idea because it would take a while for the money to be refunded and that's not good, so it was decided I should just reschedule for a flight next Friday and we'll work from there. It was too late that day, but the lovely lady in charge of booking my ticket managed to change it today. So, long story made a little bit shorter, I have a flight for this Friday, but I still haven't heard from Sandrine. I will, almost positively, be leaving either this Friday or the end of June and be staying later into August.

And that's the story thus far. God willing there will be no more bumps in the road, but He's tested me a lot these last few weeks, so I wouldn't be surprised if He tested me again. I just have to keep moving forward and asking Him for guidance.

Good is good all the time. All the time God is good.

Peace Like A River?

I know the question buzzing on all of your minds right now is, "Why did she call her blog It is Well With My Soul? Wouldn't it be more practical to call it Cameroon Trip or My Really Complicated Journey to Cameron Where God Has Tested Me Every Step of the Way?" Well, first of all, that last one is a really long name and I didn't know it would be such a test when I made it. And Cameroon Trip? Come on. That's boring and so confining. I'd have to end it after my trip. No, I wanted to name it after my favorite song in the universe because it helps me remember what really matters and that I should always keep my heart pointed towards God.

I don't know if you know who Horatio Spafford is, but he wrote that song. Actually, let's not start there. Let's start with the song. I don't know if all of you have heard it. You should. Go youtube it right now. I recommend the version by Jars of Clay, but there are other good ones.

I'm trusting that you have all listened to it now. Did you hear those amazing words? They lift me up every time. I'm jst going to put them right here for you, in case you can't listen to it. I just highlighted the stuff I think you should take a while to really reflect upon.


When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say.
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain:
It is well, (it is well),
With my soul, (with my soul)
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life,
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

But Lord, 'tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul.

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

Now let me tell you about Horatio Spafford. He was a lawyer and wealthy man. In 1870 he had five children, one son and four daughters, and enough wealth to live comfortably, at least. In 1871 his only son died at the age of four and then he lost all of his money in the Great Chicago Fire. In 1873 he and his family was going to go to Europe, but something came up at work so he sent his wife and daughters ahead. The ship sank and the only survivor (within his family, I don't know about the whole ship) was his wife. In two years the man had lost everything except his wife. And his faith in God. So he wrote the lyrics to this song and in 1881 he and his family (including two baby girls) moved to Jerusalem and started American Colony - a group dedicated to serving the poor.

I have experienced nothing like this man has, but I've constantly doubted and tested God. I've wondered what He's going to do in my life, what He could possibly do. What good am I? Why would God use me? Why does He test me? Why do bad things happen to me whenever I feel God has most called me to do something? Why do things never work out the way I want them to? First of all, because I'm not God. I don't have His infinite wisdom and power. All I have is a doubting heart and the wisdom of men. This song helps me remember that. "Whatever my lot thou has taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul." If a man can not only sing this, but write this words and truly believe them after he has lost everything, I think I can put a little more trust in God while I wait for my visa. His plans are not the plans of men and he works all things out for my good and His glory.

On a less serious note, Horatio Spafford is one of the reasons why I want to name my son Horatio. I only know three Horatios; one was Hamlet's best friend, another was Horatio Hornblower, and the last was the amazing man who wrote this song. Hamlet was crazy and a little bit annoying (Just freaking kill your uncle, for crying out loud! Stop waiting.) But Horatio. He never waved, he didn't sell out Hamlet to his uncle. He was Hamlet's sounding board and stood by him through everything. And when Hamlet is dying, Horatio is like, "Let me die with you!" But Hamlet says, "No! Live on and tell my story." and Horatio does. He tells Frotinbras all about it when Fortinbras just comes in and assumes the throne. Such a good friend! it brings tears to my eyes.

I'm going to admit right now, I don't know a lot about Horatio Hornblower. All I know is that he is a character in these books and there are a lot of them. However, he's an officer in the Royal Navy, so that alone makes him pretty awesome in my book. I just read the wikipedia article and now I want to read the books. He has "skill and daring" and although he starts off poor and has no influential friends he rises in the ranks. I like him. But then, I'll read any novel about the navy but only set in the 1800-1900s, that is. I only like it if they can fight duels.

So yeah. Seriously, I'm finding so much peace in that song right now as I wait for my visa and funds. I seriously can't do anything except pray and call people. Everything is out of my hands and in God's. But I can trust Him because he took all my sin away at the price of His own Son. Why would anyone, especially the God of the universe, do that for someone if He didn't have a greater plan for them and was constantly working towards that plan? The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever (thank you Westminster Catechism of Faith). That means remembering and trusting that He is in control no matter what.
I hope you can remember that with me, as you go through trials.

And no, as of 12:38 on June 7th my visa has not come yet and I'm supposed to leave tomorrow. I'm still short in the funds department too, although I really don't know by how much any more.