Highlights from Traveling

(1) On our jungle forage, Ally slipped off a treacherous log, planting her legs on both sides, submerged in jungle water. We could laugh at this, because Ally has emphasized to us time and time again that she’s the slipping type. UPDATE: Her shoes now smell horrible.

(2) While we spent the night in Yaounde, I was able to catch a replay of Game 2 Cavs vs. Pistons. I already knew the outcome, but it was still fun to watch, despite Lebron’s sub-par performance.

(3) In Bertoua, we slept in a two bedroom rest house; Wes, Charlie, and I in one room, Charlie’s parents in the other, a curtain separating the two. At 2:30am one night, I woke up to hear some one pounding on our door. I was terrified. I almost woke Charlie up, who was slumbering next to me, but I realized that the rapping was strangely rhythmic, sounding like 3 quick pounds followed by a pause. After some hazy thinking, I decided that the circumstances better fit a large, rainforest-sized moth, trying to escape through the screen windows of our porch. Then, it came to me—Charlie’s dad’s snoring. It was incredible, surpassing all the hype I had heard about it.

(4) Listening to a tape of Celine Dion four times through on the drive. At the end of the trip, we were quoting Jack’s soliloquy to Rose in the prelude to My Heart Will Go On.

(5) Finally, as Wes said, it was wonderful to be with the two missionary families working with the Baka people. Their main goal now is learning the language; hearing them fluidly converse with their Baka neighbors caused us to stop and marvel at their devotion to their ministry and to hope that a some sort of breakthrough comes soon. We also enjoyed hearing about their concern for preserving the Baka’s culture. Wes mentioned how a philanthropic group built rows of black-sheep concrete houses for the Baka, which look like colonialistic disturbances in their land. The Conrods and the Abbotts deepest desire is that Christ to transform the people’s culture, yet it’s clear that they value and respect the Baka traditions. The last thing they want is to make converts to Americanism.

(6) I can’t end on too serious a note. We had a fierce dart competition one night. Nathan Conrod placed first, I was a near-miss at second, Wesley came in third, and Earl limped in at fourth.

--tg

Ps. Wes has assured me that he’ll put up some pictures later this week.

Back from the East

On Sunday night we arrived back in Ndu from our excursion to the East province. We were able to spend two days near the village of Dimako, which is about a 45 minute drive away from Bertoua, a larger town. As I mentioned in a previous post, we made this trip in order to visit two missionary families (from the U.S.) who are working with the Baka people (formerly "Baka pygmies") in a VERY remote part of the bush country in the East. It probably goes without saying that it was extremely hot and muggy when we arrived. Mosquitoes, big orangeish-looking flies (that can carry a disease called fularia), and "no-see-ums" were everywhere, so we were extra careful to take our malaria prevention pills every day. We hiked through a rainforest and had to walk across logs in murky water. We got our picture taken next to trees that, at the base, where the roots were extending out, the diameter was probably close to 50 feet. We watched two of the Baka make a trap in the forest with a sapling bent over towards the ground, a piece of wire, and a strip of bark carefully concealing a hole in the ground for the animal to step in. And we got to eat exotic Eastern dishes and see the Baka make a mongulu (which is a small, igloo-shaped hut) from scratch just a few feet from the house where we were staying. Oh yeah, and we got to visit a Baka encampment and see some sad examples of a well-meaning international aid organization's attempt to "improve" the houses of the Baka (the organization had replaced all the mongulus with dozens of ugly concrete houses that the Baka told us were too hot and too different from what they were used to). All in all, we had a fantastic time. I'll see if we can upload some pictures of the trip soon.

One of the missionary families we went to visit -- Barry and Desma Abbott, and their two adorable kids, Brianna and Brendan -- live in a house that is literally three rooms (two bedrooms, and a TINY kitchen) and a bathroom, with a bucket suspended on a hook in the ceiling that you pour hot water into if you want to take a shower. We were reminded that, despite the fact that CBTS is in a fairly "bushy," backwoods area of the Northwest, and despite the fact that our power and water goes out for days at a time, we do live pretty comfortably, nonetheless. It was a whole different ballgame with our friends in the East. They truly live in a remote, inconvenient, uncomfortable place. And they're doing it all because they want to see a church planted among the Baka. So they're spending years (literally) just to learn the culture and the language, then they'll begin to try to teach the story of redemption from Genesis to Revelation, along the way work on a translation, and then, as Desma put it to me, "We want to the Baka to know the gospel, believe it, and then figure out what 'church' should look like in their context. We don't want to give them any direction on it other than encouraging them to make it authentic within their culture and keep it faithful to the good news of Christ's death and resurrection."

If you think of them, pray for Barry and Desma Abbott and Nathan and Laurel Conrod, two couples who are living a very simple existence and taking a lot of risks in order to participate in God's kingdom work among the Baka. I was totally inspired and encouraged by their (in the world's eyes) reckless, foolish existence.

We'd also appreciate your thoughts and prayers this week as we grade stacks and stacks of papers. We're working around the clock trying to get everything done before Friday, graduation day!! Everyone on the faculty here, not just the missionaries, is in the same boat. It's a hectic time for CBTS, but it will all be over soon, Lord willing.

Peace to all of you, and thanks for being interested in our adventures,

Wes

Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, and Wesley Hill: at a theatre near you…

Tonight we watched Pirates of the Caribbean (the first one). Wes liked the movie so much that he wanted to give us his best pirate impression. We grabbed the camera, and here is what we saw...



Tommy and Charlie

Travels and ceremonies

Last night CBTS held the 60th annual Senior Dinner for students graduating from the Certificate, Diploma, Bachelors degree, and Master of Arts programs. True to form, the program lasted over four hours, and that includes a lengthy delay when the decorations hanging from the ceiling fell down on the head table where the president and other school administrators were sitting while two fluorescent lights were changed by the station headman (with a little help from Charlie's dad) standing on a wobbly chair. Sometimes you just have to sigh, shrug your shoulders, and laugh. Despite the length of the program (6 pm to a little after 10), it was a special occasion. At a couple of points in the evening I felt my throat getting tight and my eyes getting teary with gratitude and sadness. I'm so grateful for my students -- for the lives that have intersected with mine, with the impact going both directions -- and I'm sad to be leaving them in less than a month.

The official CBTS graduation ceremony will be on June 1, in a large Baptist church here in Ndu. If the Senior Dinner last night was any indication of what is to come, the commencement ceremony will be uncomfortably long, filled with rhythmic music, dancing, speeches, acknowledgments, endless thanks and honors bestowed -- and, yes, emotion and flashes of delight and thankfulness to God for what has happened at the flawed yet powerfully effective institution of CBTS.

Before graduation, Charlie, Tommy, and I -- together with Earl and Denny, Charlie's parents, and our faithful friend Ally -- will travel to Bertoua, a smallish village in the East of Cameroon where some missionary friends of ours work with the Baka (spelling?) pygmy people. On Wednesday, we'll head down to Yaounde, spend the night, then travel on to Bertoua and spend a couple of days with our adventurous, fun-loving friends the Conrods, and then head back north to Ndu. It will be a whirlwind trip but also a nice break for us, since by that time we will have administered our last final exams and officially concluded our second semester of teaching here at CBTS. SO hard to believe, let me tell you!



Here are a couple of pictures. One of them is of Charlie, his folks, and Emmanuel ("Emma"), our tailor friend in town. If it looks like he's beaming in the picture, that's because he's just gotten a lot of business from the Shepherds!



The second picture is of Charlie and me dressed in our most formal Cameroonian attire -- "saros" -- for the Senior Dinner.



And the third picture was taken on the first night that Charlie's parents arrived. We went out to dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant in Douala immediately after picking up Earl and Denny at the airport. Here we are with another missionary friend, Elsie Lewandowski.

God's peace to all of you, and thanks for reading, always,

Wes

Photos for Friday

Here are two pictures from the service for Charlie’s parents. We had about 50 of our students jammed into our living room. (Interestingly, they crowded around the perimeter of the room. I had envisioned them organizing into rows in the center of the room. Now that I think about it, this probably says more about me than about them. I remember how my family had a house-cleaner who would evenly distribute pillows in a straight line across couches. It drove my mom crazy; she preferred having them bunched together in the center. That’s how she always does it. And now, either through nature or through nurture, it may be my ideal formation as well. I always favored zone defense over man-to-man in basketball.) These pictures were taken before Wes, Charlie, and Charlie’s parents had arrived. When they did, everyone was on their feet, dancing to the drums, singing about how good God is. One of the traditional dances features the left arm crossed over the stomach and the right arm extended as if to pull a slot machine lever. In this position, one keeps the left arm stationary and rocks the right arm rhythmically to the beat. It’s fantastic. The program turned out to be one of our most memorable experiences here. We sincerely felt honored and loved by our students, as they gathered together with us to welcome Charlie’s parents. We’re going to miss this place.




These last two pictures show two of our younger friends, Victory and her little sister Favor. I think Favor was hoping the mango would have an enriching effect on her skin, seeing as she smeared it all over her face. I think Victory believed the mango’s exotic power to be most effective on dresses. In the picture, Victory had already polished off her fruit snack and moved on to her cookie. After they came over, I went up to the football field with them and their cousin, Glory (in the last picture), to watch the final CBTS football match of the year. Many students where there; intra-class football matches are probably the primary organized social activity among students. Afterwards, they handed out trophies to the top teams and to honored players.

Thank you all for praying. There’s one encouraging aspect of the past couple weeks I thought I’d share. In one of my classes, I’ve noticed that an older woman who is typically withdrawn throughout every period has begun to ask questions, both during class periods and after class. Today I met individually with groups of students to provide guidance for group projects, and I was blown away when this student confidently and naturally asked multiple insightful questions. It’s a small grace that has been a blessing. Thank you for praying.

--tg

"You are highly welcome, Pa and Ma Charlie!"

Hi friends,

Some of you know that Charlie's parents have been planning to visit us here in Cameroon for a few months now. Well, yesterday evening around 7:30 p.m. Charlie and I arrived back at CBTS after picking them up at the airport in Douala on Monday night. Earl and Denny Shepherd, Charlie's folks, arrived a bit jet-lagged but in one piece -- and with all their luggage! -- and we had a long but good day of traveling the length of the country in a small car to make it all the way back up here to the "bush" of the NW province.

We'll post more about this later this week (with pictures), but we had 30 or 40 students at our house pounding drums and singing at the top of their lungs and dancing in our living room to welcome us in last night. There was lots of fufu and njamanjama and rice and stew and "sweet drinks" (=pop/soda), and a whole lot of laughter and handshakes and hugs and speeches and jokes. It was a ton of fun. Earl was even gifted with a traditional cap that students enjoyed helping him try to fit on his head. And he confirmed for Charlie's incredulous students that, yes, indeed, Charlie has a black belt in karate. "But how then can Charlie be afraid of the big cows that wander around on the campus?" demanded one student, still not convinced.

We'll post more on all this soon, but, for now, just know that they made it safely and were able to sit in on our morning chapel service and several of our classes today. They're doing great and having a great time.

Wes, for the team