Cameroon - June 2016

The months in Cameroon are flying by and another blog is due to be written.

The month started with transfers.  The word for transfer in French is "mutation", which is fitting.  A "mutation" can be a good thing and a bad thing.  When transfers come, the good thing is that we get new missionaries to love; but the bad thing is we have to say "good-bye" to others that we already love.

Missionaries are much like our own children...they are the joy of our life, but they also "provide" opportunities for extra work.  The month of June was a month of broken "things".  First, the missionaries broke their couch and Elder Call (with the help of the missionaries) had to fix that.  Then they broke one of their chairs.  The chair was metal, so we had to take it to a welder.

                                         A picture of the men welding the chair.

You notice the lack of safety precautions used.  I was the one to remind the young man to put on his glasses.  Well, while we were waiting for the chair to be repaired, Elder Call noticed a man close by who was weeding.  Many may know that Elder Call has followed in the footsteps of his father and has become quite the gardener, which requires removing weeds.  He stood and watched the man cutting out the weeds, and the urge to weed overcame him.  He asked to borrow the man's tool.  The tool used here for farming and weeding is one of ancient date and requires the farmer to bend over considerably.  A back-breaking task indeed! After only a short time, Elder Call's desire for weeding was satisfied.

Baptisms occur here regularly and it is almost impossible to include all of them.  However, I do want to tell about Anita.  Anita is 17 years old, but will be 18 in November.  She had been investigating the church for about 1 year.  Her mother was very opposed to Anita joining the church, but finally Anita decided she could make her own decision about which church to join, and she decided to be baptized.  I met Anita at a baptism.  She came to see a baptism because she is terrified of water, and wanted to see a baptism beforehand.  I spoke with her and told her I would attend her baptism and then afterwards we would celebrate her courage.

Anita with the others who were baptized on the same day.

Anita just before her baptism.  The other girls are the branch presidents's daughters.

Outside the ice cream store where we took Anita to celebrate her baptism.

In June we invited our friend, Suzy and her son and grand daughter to church with us.  Afterwards, we came to our apartment for dinner.  Suzy and the children enjoyed church.  However, she has only attended church once since then.  When she learned we were not always going to be attending the same branch as she was attending, I think she was disappointed.  We love doing missionary work in Africa, but it is very hard for us to be "the fellow shippers" because we attend different branches. Suzy is still taking the missionary discussions and we will keep being her friend.  We hope some day she will decide to join the church.  

After church with Suzy and her granddaughter who is 10 years old, and her son who is 8 years old.  Her granddaughter is currently living with her because her daughter is taking care of her mother.  Got all those connections? :)

The pictures I am sending this time, may look like all we do is eat!  We were invited to eat at the home of Irene and Romeo Dim who are members of the Douala Branch; in fact, Sister Dim is the Relief Society president.   

Eating at the Dim's home

The food was delicious The conversation was delightful, but took an unexpected turn, the result of which we are now teaching a Temple Preparation Class in the Douala Branch.  Sunday was our first time teaching the class.  With the little French we know, it was OK.  Fortunately, Elder Call and I use the now new "Teaching In The Savior's Way" method of teaching which emphasizes  a lot of discussion and the class members teaching.  If we had to lecture in French, the class would have been the shortest class in the history of the church.  Also, as explained before, we attend different branches each week, making our teaching very sporadic.  The Branch president "fills in" for us when we can not be there.  

During the month of June we spent one week in Yaounde, which is the capital city of Cameroon.  Since the other senior couple have now gone home, we are now assigned to take care of both cities and both sets of missionaries.  There are 14 missionaries in Yaounde.

Yaounde is a little different than Douala.  It is inland from Douala and in the mountains.  This makes the streets quite hilly and the temperature cooler.  Cameroon is interesting in the fact that there are many nurseries by the side of the road.  Douala has several road side nurseries, but the nurseries in Yaounde are breath-taking.  Here is a sample. 

We paid bills (which have to be paid in person and with cash), took care of some missionary concerns, attended a baptism, gave two budget training meetings, and cleaned the apartment for the arrival of Elder Ellis who is a member of the Area Presidency whose office is located in Johannesburg. The apartment is quite a lovely one.  We thought we would include a picture as a possible enticement to any who might like to come on a mission to Cameroon...and specifically to Yaounde. 

I believe one of the greatest joys we experienced in Yaounde was going to church and seeing the young man who used to "walk" to church on his hands, who is now in a wheel chair.  The first time we went to Yaounde, we were introduced to this young man.  When we came back to Douala, I couldn't help think of the many we knew in Ghana who had received wheel chairs and wondered if this young man could qualify.  We pursued finding out what the process would be to get a wheel chair in Cameroon. To our great pleasure, a wheel chair was purchased.  I would have loved to have gotten his picture,  but I felt a bit awkward asking for it.

We returned to Douala to find some uninvited and unwanted visitors had moved in during our absence.  In French the word is "souris" in English, the word is "mice".  We had a suspicion just before we left for Yaounde, but there was no doubt by the time we got home.  I believe those who make up stories about mice being cute and adorable creatures, have never had to live with them.  We are now in the process of finding new homes for them...some may be "eternal homes".

Our days continue to be full of adventure...both physical and spiritual.  God is in this work and we see His hand daily in our lives and in His Kingdom in Cameroon.  

  

Cameroon - May 2016

What a month we have had!  There is so much that happens every week, it will be hard to condense it for our monthly blog, but here goes. :)

The month of May started with the Elders coming over to our apartment to Skype home for Mother's Day.  More than anything for me, it brought sweet memories of waiting at home for the much anticipated call from our own missionary children.  The American Elder's were excited to visit with family.  The African Elder's, however, were not able to Skype because none of their parents had Skype capability, but they did call home.

May included a trip to the city of Yaounde, which is the other city in Cameroon where we have missionaries.  We went with the other senior missionary couple, Elder and Sister Dimond, who have now gone home.  Besides visiting the junior missionaries in Yaounde, learning how to pay all the bills, speaking in church, etc., we did a little "site seeing".  Yaounde is the city where Cameroon was dedicated for the work of the Lord.  Elder Holland came to Cameroon about 2009.  He went to the top of a hill over looking the city and gave a powerful prayer for the preaching of the Gospel.  In the prayer he pronounced some  prophecies about the church in Cameroon including the construction of temples.  Some day those prophecies WILL be fulfilled.

Overlooking the city of Yaounde.  Elder Call is reading the prayer given by Elder Holland

Standing on the rock where Elder Holland dedicated the land of Cameroon

We were obviously in our P-Day clothes, because prior to visiting the spot of dedication, we hiked through an exercise park in Yaounde. There were various exercise stations at the park.  However, we did not participate in any of the exercise stations....except one. 

There was a basketball court with a young man playing basketball.  Elder Call watched him for some moments and then could not stand it any longer...he walked over and showed the young man how to make a three-point shot. 

As previously mentioned, we were able to attend church in Yaounde and the Saints there are just as great as everywhere else in Africa.  We attended a French speaking branch and an English speaking branch.  After Sacrament in the English speaking branch, I went to Relief Society.  During the lesson, I encouraged the sisters to share their feelings about why they joined the church.  It was great to hear  their experiences. :)  Unbeknownst to me at the time, there was a non-member who also shared her positive feelings about the church.  I felt such a unity and love for the sisters, that after class I asked if I could take their picture. 

The Relief Society sisters in the English speaking branch in Yaounde.  I am standing next to the investigator who "bore her  testimony" about the peace she felt going to our church

During the month of May, we decided to get to know the Elders better.  We have begun visiting their district meetings to learn of their needs, and also invited each apartment over separately for Family Home Evening.  We fed them dinner, played some games, watched a church video and just generally had a good time.  We have the greatest Elders in the church here in Cameroon!

The Elders from the Douala apartment "haming it up" after playing scripture charades for Family Home Evening

Elder Call visiting with the junior Elders in their apartment

The junior missionaries here in Douala have not had a senior missionary couple for some months, which may have contributed to the lack of cleanliness of their apartments.  Since we have learned that "sugar" works better than "vinegar", we told the Elders if they would clean up their apartments and keep them clean, we would celebrate by taking them for pizza and ice cream.  I suppose it was enough motivation, for they really stepped up their cleaning efforts.  Each apartment "won" a trip to the pizza and ice cream store.

The Bonaberi Elders

The Douala Elders.  Elder Cicon is frowning because he just learned he was being transferred.

Since we felt our French was in need of help, in May we decided to hire a French teacher.  Our teacher is a 20 year girl who is a member of one of the branches in Douala.  She was a great help to translate for me the first time we visited the branch and I felt impressed to ask her to help us with our French.  After visiting with Elder Call, we both decided to ask her to be our French teacher. She comes over one day a week to not only help with French, but anything else we may need, like shopping.

Purita, our French instructor

Purita's life, as with many who live in Africa, is not an easy one, but she remains positive and happy.  She is also preparing to serve a mission, so she often goes out with the missionaries.  One of her "jobs" in the church is to wash the baptismal clothes after each baptism, which is not an easy task.  Baptisms occur often and her washing facilities are primitive. 

At the big marche with Purita where she helped us find mosquito nets for the Elders

Missionary work here in Cameroon also went well in May.  The missionaries had several baptisms after going for a few weeks without any.  We feel the unity and love that has grown among the Elders has truly helped with the "work".  

Some of the baptisms in the month of May

I told the Elders when one companionship has success, they all succeed.  So at each baptism, I take a picture of those getting baptized and ALL the junior missionaries.  I then print the picture and tack it on the missionary's wall.  Soon, their wall will be covered with the success they have had working as a team.

The junior missionaries are not the only ones to have success in missionary work.  Elder Call and I have also had a chance this month to share a Book of Mormon and will be bringing an investigator to church in June.  There is a wonderful African shop that we have visited a couple of times.  There was an immediate bonding with the owner, Suzy, even though she speaks little English and we speak little French.  She made me a purse and when I went back to get it, I also saw an African picture I liked.  When I asked the cost, she said it was not for sale, but she would make me another one.  We went back at the appointed time to get the picture and she informed us that she had not had time to make us a picture, but she would sale the one she had.  I hugged her and thanked her.  I then asked if she had read any in the Book of Mormon we had given her previously.  She told us she had and then she pointed to my missionary badge and said, "I want to go to your church".  

Suzy, the shop owner.  The purse I am carrying is the one she made for me.

Since we do not always go to the same branch each week, we decided on the week we could take her to church. When we went back to remind her about going to church with us, she asked if her girls could come too.  :)  She has been married, but is now divorced with 2 girls.  After assuring her that her girls were welcome, I invited them over for dinner after church, AND also asked if we could bring the missionaries by to meet her.  She happily said, "Yes" to both offers.  The other wonderful thing is the last time we visited her shop, her cousin was there.  He seems like a fine man and has a wife and children.  Elder Call invited him to also come to church and dinner.  We may have a houseful for dinner next Sunday, and will be excited if we do.  

The picture Suzy made that now hangs on our apartment wall

I have one last experience to share that happened in May.  When we came to Cameroon, we wondered if the Young Single Adults shared the same problem with "bride price" as they did in West Africa.  It did not take long to find out that they do.  After Elder Call did a training on Welfare Principles at one of the branches, we met a fine young man who is the branch mission leader and a returned missionary, but not married.  Elder Call pursued the reason for his unmarried status and he mentioned he had a girl friend, but they could not get married because of the bride price.  We then shared with him the wonderful examples of faith and courage among our Ghanaian "children" who followed the council of the brethren and got married without paying the bride price.  The young man, Leonard, said he would talk to his girl friend.  A few days later, he called us and said he indeed had spoken with her and she agreed there should be no bride price.  When we visited  that branch again, I spoke with Leonard and asked him about his marriage status.  He told me his girl friend had agreed that the most important thing was to get married and she was going to go against the wishes of her family and they were planning on getting married in July!  

A picture of Leonard (on the left) and a couple I met at church.

I don't remember the name of the sister, but I told her I liked her dress and wanted a picture  because I wanted one.  The dresses here are called a "kaba".  They are gathered at the bodice and are flowing and  comfortable.  I bought one when we were with Purita at the marche, but it is too big. :(  The man next to the woman with the beautiful dress is her husband.  I have no idea who the other fellow on the right is...when you go to take a picture here, everyone wants to be in it. 

I think I will end with May's adventures though I have not even mentioned Zone Conference and transfers.  OK, I have to say one thing about transfers.  We had two Elders from the States coming to Douala who had been at the MTC in Ghana.  There was a mix-up, so when we went to pick them up, they were no where to be found!  Needless to say, our mission president didn't get much sleep that night.  However, I am happy to report they were found...in another city.  We did finally get them, fed them, gave them their sheets and mosquito nets etc, took them to their new companions and they seem to be doing fine.

I will end with my testimony about missionary work.  Twice this month, we had a visit from our mission president, President Monga.  He is a wonderful and inspiring man and it was good to spend time talking with him.   While having a meal at our apartment he did tell us that missions were supposed to be a sacrifice.  Though I believe him, I do not feel we are sacrificing much.  I liked Elder Call's response to Pres. Monga about a missionary being willing to sacrifice.  He said, "It may be a sacrifice, but it is a sacrifice that brings much joy".

Cameroon - April 2016

As promised, the next blog is being written from Douala, Cameroon.  Douala is a port city, thus it is by the Atlantic Ocean and is the biggest city in Cameroon with a population of about 3 million people.  It is by the equator so the weather and vegetation is much like Ghana, which is just fine with us.  We will take "heat" over "cold" any day.

We left Boise, Idaho on Monday, April 11 and arrived in Cameroon late Tuesday afternoon.  We were met at the airport by the other senior couple in Cameroon, Elder and Sister Dimond.  The Dimond's are nearing the end of their mission and will go home the end of May 2016.  They are serving in Yaounde which is the capital city of Cameroon and is about a 4 hour drive inland from Douala.  Before we came, the Dimond's took care of "things" in both cities; after they leave, we will be responsible for both cities. (Anyone out there feeling some longings to serve in Africa?! If so, we can help with those desires.)

We had three days of training with the Dimond's and then they left early Saturday morning for Yaounde.

Elder Call with Elder and Sister Dimond

Our responsibilities began almost immediately, for we needed to pick up the mission president, Pres. Monga, and his wife, at the airport on that same Saturday at 1:30 in the afternoon.  President Monga had scheduled interviews with the missionaries, leadership meetings, and releasing of missionaries that would all be taking place at our apartment.  Having the meetings at the apartment was not a problem, but when I learned I would also be feeding them, my stress level rose.  Fixing meals is not a problem, but shopping in Africa is.  I still am not exactly certain how it all worked out, but we did it.  Miracles began early.

President and Sister Monga at our apartment.  The Monga's live in Brazzaville, in the Republic of Congo which is about 600 miles south of Douala.  They were delightful to be with and so kind and appreciative. 

One of the meetings President Monga entitled "The Souvenir Meeting".  It was a meeting for the Elders who were going home.  For those who don't know, the word "souvenir" is French in origin and means "to remember".  He had the missionaries reflect about the things they had learned on their mission and then gave them some advice for returning home.  After he and Sister Monga spoke, he was so kind to invite Elder Call and I to also share a few words of advice.  

After "The Souvenir Meeting" with the departing missionaries.  The one in the middle is from Ghana and actually remembered us when we did some YSA training while we were in Ghana.  

Elder Call took the Monga's to the airport on Thursday morning, I was still in bed, and we spent the rest of the week doing some much needed cleaning and organizing.  In fact, we spent much of the next two weeks cleaning and organizing.  There have been no missionary couple living here for many months, so there was much to be done.  Fortunately, some women and men from the branches did a lot of the "big" cleaning.  The sisters washed all the dishes and cleaned the mold off the furniture, etc.  The men painted.  We were so grateful for their help.  

Besides taking care of the mission president, another of our responsibilities is to take care of the junior missionaries serving here.  We have 10 Elders in our area, 4 in the near by city of Bonaberi and 6 in Douala.  Since no senior couple has been here for eight months, and the mission president is such a long distance away, there were many things that needed our attention.  Some of those needs included broken appliances, old and sagging mattresses, and electricity that needed to be reinstalled after not being paid for.  

I bought a picture frame,  took the pictures of all "our" Elders and have it hanging in our "office".  There are five Elders from the States, two Elders from Madagascar, one Elder from Burundi, and one Elder from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  We love them all!

Last Monday night we had a FHE with the Elders from Bonaberi and have scheduled a FHE with the Douala Elders this Monday.  

Having root beer floats with the Elders from Bonaberi.  Drinking root beer floats was reminiscent for the American Elders, since root beer is a rare commodity in Cameroon, and a new experience for the African Elders. 

After dinner and getting acquainted,  we watched "The Other Side of Heaven" and were again reminded of that great story of Brigham and Heber C. leaving on their mission to England..."Hurrah for Israel".  

For this first blog, I thought I would show a few pictures of our apartment.  It is actually quite spacious and more than adequate for our needs...and now also clean. :) 

Dinning Room and Living Room

In our "travels" I spotted the table cloth seen in the photo.  It was hand painted by a local artist.  I felt it was perfect for our table.  

The "office"  

The kitchen

The grey canisters are how we filter our water.  The stove and oven use propane gas, which I don't mind, but I am still trying to get used to the oven temperatures.

 The other side of the kitchen and my "gift from God" refrigerator.

Elder and Sister Dimond mentioned that the previous refrigerator was having some problems. The day before we arrived, it completely "gave up the ghost".  Thus, one of the activities we needed to do with the Dimond's was to buy a new refrigerator.  We went to the store and when I saw this one, I said, "This is the one I want".  I know it was a little larger than the ones they were looking at, but Elder Dimond said I could get it.  Had the previous refrigerator broken sooner, they would have replaced it with a smaller one.  If it had broken later, my food would have spoiled and we also would not have known where to go to replace it.  Thus, I call it "my gift from God", refrigerator.

A photo taken from the Living Room, looking into our office.

This is also a picture of my African purse.  I had wanted to buy one, but wasn't able to find something I liked.  One day we stopped at this little shop with the most darling shop owner named Suzy.  She speaks little English and I speak little French.  However, with the little knowledge we possessed, I learned that she sewed the purses in her shop.  I asked if she could make me one like the one I had, except using African fabric.  She agreed.  In the course of the "conversation" I learned she was Christian and I told her I was a missionary for my church.  We arranged for the day the purse would be finished.  When that day arrived,  I decided to take her a Book of Mormon with my testimony written in French. When we returned to her shop, she was not there, but I gave the Book of Mormon to her sister.  One day soon, we will return because I want to tell her how much I enjoy my purse, take a photo of her, and see if she has done any reading in the Book of Mormon. 

That sums up some of our doings here in Cameroon.  However, the many miracles we have seen just in this short period of time, can not all be related. We are grateful to be here and our testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ keep growing stronger.  

January 2016 - The Call To Serve

Elder and Sister Call

We think we may have been bitten by the "missionary bug" in Ghana, for not many months after returning home, we began thinking of our next mission.  It did not take long before papers were submitted and the wait for "the call" began. Though we love being with family, the "Call To Serve" rang deep in our hearts.

While visiting our eldest son, Jeremy, and his family in Guam for Christmas, the "call" came.  We opened it in January when we returned to Boise, Idaho to learn we had been called back to Africa.  However, this time we were assigned to labor in the Republic of Congo Brazzaville Mission in the Cameroon Mission Region.  Our primary assignment is to labor as member and leader support missionaries.

Opening the "call"

We felt pretty comfortable about our assignment until we learned that the language mostly spoken in Cameroon is French. We were told we could "get by" without knowing any French, but since we felt we didn't want to just "get by" we began doing all we could to learn French.  We purchased some on-line classes and were also told of a former French teacher who was willing to help us.  We began meeting with her a few times a week. 

Our French teacher, Norma Jean Sears. 

We did all we could do in Boise, then learned of immersion language classes taught at the MTC.  Since we had already been "trained" as senior missionaries less than three years previously, we were allowed to waive the regular MTC experience and enrolled in some French immersion classes.  Our day consisted of personal study time and also studying with volunteer French speakers.  It was wonderful and we learned a lot.  However, that is NOT saying we now speak French, we are just better than when we arrived at the senior language training center.

The Amanda Knight Hall

This wonderful, old building used to be the language training center for all the junior missionaries.  In fact, a mission president learning Russian while we were there, had spent time in the same building as a junior missionary learning German.

Though we had classes in the Amanda Knight building, we still ate with all the other missionaries in the "regular" MTC.  The MTC is a fairly large building with some great pictures on the wall.  One of those pictures depicts an experience that happened in the life of my great, great grandfather Heber C. Kimball.

Joseph Smith had called Heber C. Kimball and Brigham Young on a mission to England.  It was actually Heber C. Kimballs second mission to England.  As the time came for their departure, both Heber and Brigham were sick.  Not only were they sick, but Heber's family was also sick.  When the wagon came to pick him up, he left his wife in bed, too sick to get up.  As they drove down the road, Heber turned to Brigham and said, "This is pretty hard isn't it".  Brigham agreed, and then Heber said, "Let's give them a cheer".  So the two of them stood up in the wagon and called out, "Hurrah, Hurrah, Hurrah for Israel".  Heber's wife, Vilate, got up from her bed, and with her children came to the door and wished them well and waved them goodbye. 

There was one day at the language training center that I got rather discouraged, even to the point of tears.  As I prayed that night, this story of Heber C. came to my mind.   I said to the Lord, "If my great great grandfather can serve a mission under those circumstances...so can I."  With greater determination, I went forward.  

I want to include one more picture.  This is a picture of some of our children and grandchildren, the ones who live close by.  We have three other families, with 13 grandchildren who live further away. This was our last "party" together before our departure. I dearly love them and all my other children and grandchildren.  It is not easy to leave them.  I had an acquaintance ask why we were serving another mission and how we could leave our grandchildren. I suppose the first reason is that Elder Call and I both felt, independently, that the Lord would like us to serve another mission.

The other reason we are serving a mission is because the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true, it is the only true church on the face of the earth today.  It is the same church that Christ organized when he was on the earth and also has apostles and prophets.  God lives today and has power to grant blessings to His children.  When we were preparing for our mission, I decided to study one of my favorite books of scripture, the Doctrine and Covenants.  As I was reading, I came to Section 100 which is a revelation to Joseph and Sidney Rigdon who left their families to serve a mission in New York.  The section begins: "Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, my friends Sidney and Joseph, your families are well; they are in mine hands, and I will do with them as seemeth me good; for in me there is all power."

As I read that verse, the Spirit whispered to me that those same words applied to me and my family.  Does that make it easy to leave the greatest family in the world....No....but I have the assurance from the Lord that He is watching over them.  :)

Elder Call and I leave tomorrow morning, the next blog will be written in Douala, Cameroon.