Dear Melissa,

How can I even describe a film showing. I mean, we have only done the film showings for 2 nights to about 7,000 people & over 850 people have come forward publically to follow Jesus. On the other hand instead of being elated, we are all beaten down & struggling to survive physically. Our team members are dropping like flies. First 1 person, then another, then 3 more, then 5 more. Severe vomiting & dehydration. ½ the team got to stay back & rest today while the other ½ went to preach at church. mostly we are all a little scared & trying to just get back our energy so we can do this. But in the meantime, amazing things are happening.

Our 1^st night, we all piled into the van with our Cameroon partners. We piled the bus high with 10 mm reels of film, generators, speakers, projectors, gasoline & wiring. The Cameroon partners have planned everything ahead of time & know exactly where we are going – but we never know what is going to happen next. We drove for awhile on dust roads, past shrubs, rocks & boulders, & heads of cattle, goats & pigs – and many, many thatched roof huts. A few times the road was covered in deep mud holes & I imagined we would all be out pushing, but we managed to navigate through. At times we would see a lone child in the distance who would wave as we passed.

Finally we drove into a clearing & there ahead of us we saw the people. Hundreds of people. Drums were playing. People were singing. As they caught sight of the van, they let out a shout of excitement & began letting out their shrill tongue trilling of celebration.

As we piled out, and began unloading, the crowd got more excited. Several men with bows and arrows jumped out from the crowd signing and acting out shooting the weapons. Then several rows of women in matching fabric came forth singing and changing in procession. On their heads they carried handmade bowls full with sand, representing a bountiful harvest. The head drummer stepped up on a stool to reach the top of his very large drum & began beating out a rhythm for the singers. It was quite a welcome & display of celebration knowing that their home language would now be memorialized forever.

They provide school benches for the whole team and had seated everyone in the audience in a very organized manner, children on the side, teenagers next to them, then the women, then the men. Behind us & the projector, in several seats of honor, sat about 5 rows of village leaders, Muslim leaders & government officials.

Everyone was ready & waiting. Now we just had to get the thing to work.

Dear  Melissa,

Since I don’t journal, I thought that I might try to write you a letter or 2. That way, I can keep you informed.

1^st of all – the plane ride and jet lag almost killed me. I thought I might not be able to wake up in time for the trip. I prayed & prayed, & thank God today is Friday & I finally woke up feeling more myself. I really, really WANTED to be here because I WANT to be here & be at my top game.

So, day 4 and we are still travelling. Travel the Road was a very good name for a missionary reality show because that is like a huge part of missions – getting there. Then you are so depleted & are at your worst, but you have to suck it up & find it within you to be your best again because now you have to go & enter the culture.

So, this kind of will tell you how I feel. We got off the plane, got our luggage, took a van through the “city” to our hotel. Bam! We entered the culture. Mopeds everywhere, shacks & storefronts jammed together & on top of each other with not one inch of space. Trash in the streets, vendors selling bananas, homemade furniture, mangos, roasted corn, clothing, women dressed in full African colored fabric from head to toe & young boys in tattered clothes selling 100’s of bags of peanuts which they carry on their heads. The smell was the 1^st thing that hit me. It is the unique smell of Africa; smoke from burning coal & trash, people who are very hot, & various meats being grilled over open fires – even in the city. I breathed it in and smiled. I looked  around at all of the sights and honking mopeds swerving in & out of traffic, and I thought to myself “you know if this doesn’t kill me, it’s going to be awesome.”

Since then, we have just been having orientation and trying to get enough to eat, which has been difficult. Sweat is literally dripping off of us at all times. Tonight, a 4 hour van ride to our last & final destination far into the northern villages. And then, tonight it begins! We are showing the 1^st film show in Gizega tonight!

I picked Cara up at the airport today at 4:20pm – she’s back and she’s safe and sound. Overall, she seems happy but tired and dehydrated, which could have to do with the 4 days of travel or the illness that she picked up in Cameroon. (She’s fine, don’t worry)

When she was there, she wrote some posts for the blog and took a lot of videos…the first one is going up tonight if I can get it uploaded.

I just wanted to let everyone know that I received a note at 12:03pm today that Cara made it safely to Cameroon. I’ll certainly let everyone know if I hear anything else, but it isn’t likely that I will…

Also, I am going to be taking a bit of a hiatus during Cara’s two weeks away to try to get the blog moved over to another platform, as I wrote in this post. If anything exciting or noteworthy happens, I’ll post, but otherwise, you can expect to hear more in June.

Happy Memorial Day!

This is a special guest post from Cara – the first that she has ever written for this blog!) 

Hi Everyone,

I just want to say thank you all so much for praying.  I am totally excited and ready for whatever may come my way – even the long boring plane trip.  Here is a copy of my “fight boredom” plan.

1. Read SkyMall
2. Do a 3-D puzzle of the world
3. Learn French
4. Enjoy a free beverage
5. Write some song lyrics
6. Read exciting travel book
7. Go to the bathroom (repeat as necessary)
8. Play Solitaire
9. Calculate how much more time I have to spend on this plane
10. Advil PM

And that is just the first hour… ha ahah

Anyway, thanks so much to all those who gave clothes and a suitcase to the kids in Cameroon. Johanna, Stephanie, Vanessa, Deirdre, Jodi, Mary and Beth you guys are great. The clothes were the exact right amount to fit into the duffle bag. I hope to get some pics of the kids wearing them, if possible.

I am also bringing Melissa’s camera and am going to try to get some video of the villages, people, and sights I will be seeing, along with the work that we will be doing there. 

Moe, Jay, Mom, Jess, Barry, Melissa, Kim and Chris, thanks for all you gave and did to help me prepare for the trip. 

See you when I get back!

Cara

These are the bags that Cara brought with her on the trip. The big one is STUFFED with all the clothes that people donated for the children of Cameroon. (THANKS!!)

I dropped Cara off at the airport today for her 2:55 flight to D.C., and everything went fairly smoothly. I just got a call from her, she’s in the Dulles airport and has met most of the people on the team (all nice so far), and she is getting ready to board her Air France flight to Paris. From Paris, she heads to Cameroon.

I heard a bit of trivia from Cara today on the way to the airport. She wanted me to make sure to tell Jay that she brought her long john’s with her. To Africa. When I pointed out that no one in their right mind brings LONG JOHN’S to the EQUATOR, she told me that the first time that she ever owned a pair of long john’s was when she went to Kenya. She specifically bought her first-ever pair of long john’s to travel to Africa.

That tells you how hot it is in Houston!

I’ll be sure to post a note here to let you know when Cara arrives in Cameroon (they are supposed to notify me), and she left a message for me to put up here for all of you, as well.

I got Cara to agree to a video about her upcoming trip to Cameroon (she leaves tomorrow!) It was a little weird because I had a camera and was asking her questions as I was video taping, but hopefully it will give you all a sense of what she’ll be doing on her trip.

I am totally bummed because I wanted to include an audio file here, but I can’t get it to upload. This link goes to a page where you can listen to the Tupuri language being spoken. Click on the link on the page that says “Listen now!” with the little megaphone icon to hear it. So cool!