June Update

Oh man, there is a lot to share...so I best get right down to it!

I have been enjoying our summer break. I am still keeping the kids busy with their vacation station books. We are also really focusing on learning our times tables, since Drew has a weakness in that area, and Kate should be memorizing them now too. The kids are doing well and don't mind the bit of school I push on them each day to keep them caught up.

Ben found a special treat in Bamenda a couple weeks ago. They are long gone by now, but we managed to stretch them out for a few days anyway:

Yummy! Who doesn't love Lucky Charms?! It is my favorite cereal...or one of them anyway. I'm kind of a sugar cereal fanatic.

The kids have also been doing well with their piano. They love their teacher, Miss Sarah and she has been such a blessing to teach the kids each week. One of our favorite days of the week is Tuesday because we go up to the Needhams for piano lessons. Check out this dinosaur of a fruit that Aunt Barb had on hand:Last week the kids finished up their final piano lessons and Sarah held a piano recital as well. It was so nice. Our three kids prepared music and there were two Cameroonian girls that Sarah and April have been teaching. Sarah also played some beautiful solo numbers.

The kids did a great job and we got the whole thing on video for the grandparents as well. :D

We have a new restaurant we have been going to on Mondays for the past few weeks, Friman's. It isn't really new to us, but we don't take the family there very often until recently when my girls have gotten a hankerin' for Fufu and Njamajama. It is a very typical Cameroon dish that my girls love. Kate and Emma are really funny - they make the perfect pair. Kate prefers the Fufu, and Emma the Njamajama. So, they eat a bit of both, but end up swapping for their favorites near the end of the meal.Well, most of you know that our furlough is fast approaching. 17 days to be exact. :D In preparation for furlough, I wanted to get a suit made for Drew. I figured buying him a suit in the states would cost near an arm and a leg, and we got one made for 30 bucks. It isn't finished yet, but I've seen how well the suits look here, so I have no doubt it will look professional when it is finished. Here is a shot of the suit man measuring Drew.

I am also going to get an outfit made for myself - something I've never done successfully. This time I have a trusted seamstress, Mirabel. She came to the house today and took my measurements - I can't wait to see the finished product. Here's hoping it fits ok! :D

This past Friday we had a meal in our home for our church leaders from both Bambili and Bamenda. I'm always a little nervous hosting Cameroonians b/c they don't ususally like my cooking. I figured I'd go with a favorite all over the world, Spaghetti. It was a hit!

Something new that I learned on this night... Cameroonians like butter. I put it on the table thinking...maybe some of them will have it. I know my kids will anyway. My kids barely had any and the rest of them took down an entire cup of butter for that meal. Wow. I also had french bread of course, to go with the butter, carrots and green bean medley (that sounds so fancy - really just carrots and green beans steamed together) and carrot cake for dessert, which they also loved. We had a great time of group prayer after our meal. We are so thankful for these leaders in our church and are just praying that one will step up and commit to becoming a pastor for one of our churches. Please pray with us.

This past Sunday we had a wonderful baptism service. Brother Walters was baptized.

This man has an amazing testimony of God's miraculous work in his life. His first and foremost miraculous work was his spiritual birth of course, but he also had a brush with death and God spared him. And amazingly enough, his brush with death occurred in America. He came to the states many years ago as a student. Late one night he picked up a man needing a ride. Unfortunately he could tell immediately this man was on drugs. The guy pulled out a knife and made him drive to the nearest ATM machine. He demanded that Bro. Walters pull all his money out of the bank, which he did at several thousand dollars, and gave it to the thief. They got back in the car and the man told him to take him back to where he'd picked him up. Somewhere along the way, the guy must have had enough presence of mind to realize that he could be identified unless he did something, so he took his knife and slashed Bro. Walters throat. The man ran off, and bro. Walters made it to the nearest phone booth, dialed 911 and the next thing he knew he woke up in the hospital several months later. The doctors told him that when they found him, he was clinically dead. And of course he was in a coma for some time and they never knew if he'd ever wake up. Thank God that this man received two new lives - a physical one and a spiritual one.

The last thing I want to mention is something very important taking place this week. Our Bamenda church has the privilege of hosting a Netcasters seminar. Pastor Mark Gilmore from Falls Baptist in Wisconsin has come out with a team, to train believers how to share the gospel effectively. The days are full - from 8 in the morning until 6 in the evening. All the sister churches were also invited. We are running our bus from Bamessing all the way to Bamenda and back each day. Pray that the bus keeps running. Pray for fruit that remains as hundreds of Bamenda residents will hear the gospel this week. And how encouraging it was for our church to see this group on the first day of Netcasters:

Thank you to so many of you who read my blog. I really appreciate it. I hope it has been a blessing and help in keeping up with our ministry. I also hope to see some of you on furlough in just a couple of weeks!!