He stopped by this afternoon to take care of some final details.  We won't see Guy again until noon time on Monday in the village.  While he was at Shiloh he asked us to get to know his brother's new fiancée.  He's bringing her out to the village on Monday to attend the Bible Conference.  Our numbers keep bouncing all over the place!

Aristead is a lovely young man.  I suppose he must be hugging 30 by now.  Guy says his gal is young and she's an English speaker.  Looking forward to meeting her.  I hope she knows the Lord and that she is perfect for Aristead.  We shall see.  We are determined to do our part.

It's finally going to happen.  We've talked about it many times over these last three weeks.  And now she has to move out of Shiloh.  She has to have moved out, cleaned the room, changed the sheets, set out new towels, all before seven in the morning.  But it's not as bad as it sounds.  She's going to stay with Doris.  And Princes Angle.  It's just for two nights and then we move out to the village.

They came all the way from Brazil to stay at Shiloh!  Imagine that!!  Dad, Mom, three teen age kids.  They've been missionaries there for a long time.  They run a Christian school that is a big success.  Their kids all speak Portuguese.  But they've come all the way to Cameroon (via furlough in the U.S.) to visit their relatives.  Dad, Mom, three kids.  The Dad of this family and the Mom of the Brazil family are brother and sister.  And their Mom (the Grandma of the six kids) came along for good measure.  They're really enjoying this trip.  It's the last time the Brazil family will be together as they are leaving their oldest in the States to attend college.  So this is a really big event for all.  When they leave us they are going to Paris for two weeks.  And then to the States and before long, college and back to Brazil for the family minus the oldest son.  Life marches on.

Last night's guests finally arrived at 4 a.m.  Their flight had been seriously delayed.  Fortunately today was a rest day for their program, so they did a lot of sleeping.  Tomorrow they head off to Kribi to spend a few days at the beach.

We spent the day preparing more things for the Bible conference.  Papa Jim made sure that our new solar lights and the solar panels work well. Dorothy made some granola.  We'll be eating that in our room at nights when we want a more Western taste in our mouths.  Doris and I finalized the shopping list.  She and Dorothy will do phase one of shopping tomorrow.  Then Doris finished all the ironing.  The closer we get to "D" day, the more things we cross on the list.  We will surely be ready on time.  No problem.

She's been looking for work for three weeks now and finally a job has come up.  It's just for two days.  The problem is that it's during the Bible Conference.  She has really been looking forward to going out with us.  Dorothy says we have talked to her about Eyene for years now, and she would love to see our work there.  But she needs to take whatever job comes along.  So she's going out with us on Sunday afternoon, only to come back to Yaounde 24 hours later.  Six in the morning on Tuesday she will take a taxi across town to her two day job.  Market shopping and food prep.  Then she'll come back to Shiloh for the night.  On Wednesday it's back across town for a day of cooking.  At three she'll collect her pay and take a bush taxi back out to Sa'a and then a motorcycle to Eyene.  She'll be back in time for the evening meeting and to cook the meal.  Wow!  It's going to be a challenge, but she does not have much choice, since work is her first priority.

Theirry and I meet every Sunday when he comes home from church.  He gives me a report on the sermon and his young people's class.  Then he goes over the Bible study he is doing through the week.  I answer any questions he has and then our time together is over.  I generally spend my time praying that God will guide my thoughts as he asks questions.  I don't want to be off in my doctrine.  Today I was touched by his parting comment.  He thanked me as always, and then said that I had really helped to clear things up for him.  So I gave all the honor and glory and praise to the Lord.

We are just back from the village and Grandmother is duly buried.  It was a challenge to find the place as we couldn't get hold of Jean Magloir for directions.  We went into his village and finally found someone who knew where to go.  But there was another funeral in the vicinity and we went there first.  Thankfully they knew Grandmother so were able to give us good directions.  Jean Magloir was so happy to see us.  He appreciated the sack of rice, though he had to carry it on his back, and it weighed a ton!

While nobody knows for sure, it is assumed that Grandmother was around 100 years old.  They didn't keep track of such things back in the day.  Her husband chose her to be his wife because she came from a village noted for girls who produced large families.  She lived up her village's fame, having seventeen babies.  Four times she delivered twins.  Imagine what it must have been like without electricity and running water.  She left four generations of descendants when she died. 

We were fed afterwards, but I was skittish.  All I could think of was the recent funeral when I vomited all the way home.  So I ate some rice and drank pineapple juice.  

We're heading to bed now.  Tomorrow will mark one week before the Bible Conference.  There are just the last minute things left to do.

Nine of us gathered in the living for a handful of hours this morning to put the finishing touches on the plans for the Bible Conference in Eyene.  We developed the theme and came up with sermon topics for each of the seven nights.  And the guys volunteered to take a couple messages apiece.  Then we lined up our movies with each message.  Changed one of the movies in the process.  Went over a whole lot of nitty gritty plans.  All those little details that make up the whole.  Spent time in prayer.  Agreed to begin each day in prayer.  Six to six thirty.  Prayer and a brief devotional.  

Tomorrow we go out to the village for the funeral of Jean Magloir's grandmother.  Five of us will be representing the whole at this occasion.  Trusting God to be shining through us.

 

I returned to Shiloh this afternoon from my monthly retreat to news of the fighting.  The French/English issue continues to heat up.  They arrived in Sabga the other day and started fighting as predicted.  Then Monday and Tuesday they went into Bambili and killed people.  We have friends living in both places.  Seven adult missionaries in Sabga and a family of six in Bambili.  Increasing numbers of French speakers, and even in the President's own administration, want him to step down.  Some are saying that he will not be permitted to serve another term in office.  We wait, wonder, and pray.  God alone knows the future.

The call came around 10 a.m. today.  He asked us to pray for them.  They woke at 5 a.m. to the sound of gun shots.  The Ambazonian Rebels had entered their village in the North West and were fighting the soldiers who were there.  In fact a soldier was killed right on his door step.  It was a frightening time for all.  The Rebels were killing every soldier in sight.  Finally things calmed down and the people in that neighborhood were told to leave their homes.  Word had got out to the military in Yaounde and they were sending a large contingent to their aid.  When they arrive later on today, the fighting will be fierce and they will kill everyone in sight.  Our friend gathered his young family when the road was opened back up and drove part way down the mountain to safety.  He is trying to find a better location further down the mountain to move his family to.

I asked him about Camp Joy which is virtually right next door to his compound.  He said that God was really with them.  All this week they had been having counselor training.  That ended last evening and everyone left the camp.  The first campers were slated to arrive on Monday.  Camp is canceled for now.  So when the fighting broke out, camp was empty.

Next I asked about the village of Sabga.  He said the Rebels were marching directly to Sabga with their captives.  When they arrived in that village fighting would again break out.  We have been in prayer all day for our friends.  There are seven adult missionaries who live and work in Sabga. And we pray for renewed peace in Cameroon.  But mostly that people will come to find the Lord during this time of war.

It was a balmy evening. They had enjoyed a good meal at a restaurant, but it was too early to go back home.  The driver had lived in Cameroon for four years with his family.  He new a great place to go that overlooked the city.  His two passengers, airplane mechanics all, went along with the idea. They drove up a winding road that came out near the top of Mt. Febe.  It was pitch dark.  The city lights were spectacular.  They got out of the car and took pictures.  After awhile they decided it was time to come back to Shiloh.  One climbed into the back seat and dropped the passenger seat in place, effectively locking himself inside the car.  The driver got in and the front seat guy was just coming up to the car when it happened.  A young man came out of the bushes brandishing a machete and yelling at them to give him their money.  The driver slid across to the passenger side and got out of the car.  The back seat passenger remained trapped in the car throughout the incident.  The driver began throwing bills down the road and calling out to the bandit.  He would run after the money and the driver tried to get back into the car.  The front seat passenger got in the car.  Finally the bandit broke two windows and then leaned into the car on the driver's side.  He began hitting the passenger with the machete, cutting him only in one place.  When the back seat guy gave up his phone and money he told the bandit there was nothing else of value.  The bandit swept the car with his flashlight and then melted back into the bushes.  Our friends took off, praising God for his protection.  They went to a clinic where the injured was bandaged and given antibiotics to take.  They arrived back at Shiloh after midnight, shaken but grateful to be in as good a shape as they were.

A light rain was falling as we rode to the Hilton but it did not dampen our spirits.  We were on our way to the largest event of the year for the U.S. Embassy, the annual Independence Day celebration. It's quite an honor to be invited to this event.  Mostly it is the diplomatic community, government ministers and senators, and other dignitaries.  Of all the years we have attended this event, this one was hands down the best.  Good food, good atmosphere, good decorations, good music, good ceremony.  Just an all around great evening.  We feel special to be on the permanent list of invitees.  And we were able to have our picture taken with the Ambassador.

It was seven months ago when her life ended.  She was only twenty-nine.  They had been heading towards missions since they were young.  Had finished their education, applied to a mission board, went through all the training, and now were traveling about raising support.  But she got sick.  The doctor said it was serious.  Sent her back home.  And two years later her young life was over.  But he has moved ahead with their plans.  He's with us for a couple of weeks while working on repairing an airplane.  He's an airplane mechanic.  His dedication humbles us.

We had another planning meeting yesterday for the Bible conference in Eyene.  Worked out the bugs on housing.  Settled on a guys bedroom and a gals bedroom, with all the single guys sleeping outside in the tent.  Dorothy wants to go with us so she's in charge of fixing the evening meal along with Sylvia, Damien's wife.  And speaking of Sylvia, she's decided to come out for the whole week.  We're renting a 15 passenger van and most of us will go out that Sunday afternoon to set things up.  Went over menus and tweaked some things.  And Doris and Damien selected 18 songs which he will start teaching everyone now. One special song was chosen to be sung at the baptismal.  We're getting excited.  The finances are coming in for the expenses.  So far we have three who want to be baptized.  There may be more.  We're having one last planning meeting with all the adults present.  These next three weeks will fly by.