We're just back from a quick trip out to the village.  Left Shiloh 2 p.m. yesterday.  Returned 2 p.m. today.  Jim preached this morning.  Otherwise ever part of the service (including the translation into Manguisa) was carried out by Manguisa themselves.  It was a real honor to be there.  And tomorrow night Jean Claude will be leading the Bible study. Damien is at his brother's funeral so we filled in for him.

On our way back into town Eric entertained us with a steady stream of jokes.  Here are the best two:  An older Cameroonian couple took a trip to Israel.  While there the wife suddenly died.  The husband said "Praise God!" and began checking his options.  He discovered that it was exorbitantly expensive to ship her body back to Cameroon for burial in the village.  Conversely it was not costly at all to bury her in Israel.  As he considered these options, he suddenly declared that he didn't care how much it cost to ship her body back home, that was what he was going to do.  He remembered that one time they buried someone in Israel and the person rose from the dead.  He didn't want to run the risk!

So this group of Cameroonian men were standing around talking when the Devil suddenly showed up.  The crowd dispersed as the men ran in all directions.  Except for one man.  He just stood there.  The Devil came up to him and asked why he didn't run away.  "I've been living with your sister for years, so I'm not afraid of you!" he replied.