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The big event this past quarter was another (holiday) trip back to Canada for another milestone family event – the wedding of our youngest son, Daniel, to his lovely bride, Breanna. Given our family history with Camp Nutimik, and that they met at camp and her family is very involved there, it was a natural place to hold the wedding. But it had to be very early in the season, and the May long weekend in Canada can be lovely . . . or not. We were blessed with cool but lovely weather the wedding day, with cloud and a few scattered showers that did not affect photos or anything. It was a weekend affair, complete with family from British Columbia, friends from Alberta to Texas, table tennis, spikeball, gaga ball, and Sunday brunch. It was fantastic to be out enjoying the time together and (the view of) our favorite lake, which was just too cold even for Sonya to swim in yet.
Can you find Sonya?
Our ‘biggest’ Sea Bears fan(s)
After seeing Cari off to Scotland again, we enjoyed a week more in Winnipeg attending the Sea Bears basketball home opener, then took a whirlwind drive across the prairies and back. We visited Sonya’s dad, brother, and a few other friends, and, with some vital last-minute assistance from our West Meadows Baptist connections, we packed the last of our personal items from storage in our rental house in Alberta into storage at our house in Winnipeg, where Daniel and Breanna are now living. So gradually our Canadian ‘home’ is shifting eastward – just not officially quite yet. Jeff got in another Sea Bears game in Winnipeg (with courtside seats!), while Sonya packed in one more weekend at Camp Nutimik (this time actually on the water) for some staff training.
Then we were back on the long journey to our Cameroon home. In Yaoundé, we adjusted to the time zone, made another foray to the Nigeria embassy, and shopped for stuff we can’t get in our area, and Sonya got in a swim or two.
We usually skip around Bafoussam on the way home, but this time we stopped in because Sonya had a bit more shopping to do, but more importantly, she wanted to watch and support one of her young Banyo badminton players who was at the national FENASSCO competition.
Rain was a lot heavier than expected for June, so we had more than the expected adventures on the road home.
After a very short time settling in at home, Jeff taught another online course for the CBC seminary while Sonya prepared to slip back into Nigeria. School does not end there till into July, so it gave her a chance to follow up on some work there before they ended the year. Again, the roads were worse than expected for the time of year, so she experienced a new form of river crossing, and it took a couple of hours longer than other times. She was quite exhausted this time around and wasn’t sure if it was the road conditions, the way the luggage was tied behind her, or just that she was feeling her age a bit more.
While in Nigeria, Sonya checked in on some work projects we have various levels of investment in – repairs to the clinic staff housing, completion of the pipe portion of a water project, plus the slow progress on a new ‘House of Prayer’ that the Lemke family has been supporting. She also was able to meet with some of the leaders for updates and discussions about some projects and issues, and also with the accountant as we continue to improve the accountability systems. There were some glitches in the plans for new projects this past dry season that we hope we have addressed.
A weekend in Gembu gave her some hot showers, internet, shopping for some school-related items not available near the village, plus visits with friends – old ones, newer ones, and furry ones.
Back in the village, and most important to her on this trip, Sonya had a chance to check in on her preschool project, as well as test and discuss with the Class 1 teacher there some of the materials she has been working on. (She should also be working with a Cameroon teacher in Banyo with the same materials.) She has also been trying to help the school and community figure out how to manage with the continued classroom shortage, since two interim classrooms built by the local community collapsed over a year ago. Then, very recently, we received the encouraging news that the classrooms approved by the government (promised a number of years ago) may be built this year – they actually sent someone to start surveying. Also fortunate, Sonya’s trip back to Cameroon was preceded by two days without rain, so it was much less exhausting coming back. (She takes that to mean her age wasn’t the major factor on the trip in.)
The financial crisis and related inflation continue to produce enormous challenges and hardships. Everyone we know with any ‘farm’ land is desperately working it because they expect there is no way for them to survive the next year if they have to depend on cash for purchasing food. Recently, Nigerian youth across the nation have called for and begun 10 days of protests around the country, with a rising death toll. We haven’t heard of protests in ‘our’ region but pray for the country and for Christians of all stripes there to be wise and be a light in the midst of this chaos, and for the government to take wise and meaningful actions to address the crisis and the protests.
Please pray for one more issue related to our Nigerian visas. The embassy wants us to embark on the process of getting something called a CERPAC Card, which we had when we were there in 2008. It would be preferable to have, but it’s quite a song and dance routine to get it and can be very costly. Pray that all the parts of this process come together well, without affecting our planned travel there in the coming months.
Jeff has been doing a lot more teaching in our local hospital – sometimes at staff devotions and sometimes classes at other times. The people in those classes are very engaged, and it is a joy to him. He has plans to speak to the Nigerian pastors of the MBCN this September and is waiting to see what courses he may have for the Cameroon seminary in the upcoming academic year.
An important upcoming event for us is an anticipated visit from Randy Schmor, with members of one of our supporting churches this November, Lord willing. We could never have anticipated that the NW crisis and COVID, etc., would delay teams from visiting us for this long!! Randy is the interim VP of International Missions at the NAB, plus still the director of Gateway Teams, so he will be wearing two hats on the trip. Pray that everything comes together for this. Hopefully in the next newsletter we will have more details for you so that you can be praying specifically when they come!!
As we write this letter, we are sitting under grey or rainy Cameroon skies, enjoying the more moderate temperatures (Sonya particularly), albeit with its attendant pesky bite reminders of why we take a malaria prophylaxis. God bless you all as you pray for us, and our national ministry partners/friends. Any of you who send us snail mail, we’ve finally created a lovely home for it. Please note, do not send mail to the old Bamenda address anymore, but use the Banyo address in the PDF version of this newsletter.