Our Cameroonian Friends

We are privileged to have several people who work for us in our home. We are thankful to be able to provide jobs for a few students and women who live in the nearby village. This also frees us to be able to spend more time working on our classes and interacting with people.

Our cook, Martha, has a daughter who is 6 years old and goes to the primary school here at CBTS. After school, she, along with a few friends, stops by and hangs around outside. They are fascinated with Isaiah and fight over who gets to hold him. The older boys have been enjoying going out and playing with them. They seem to be warming up to us a little bit more. At first, they would simply scream and run away. This was a bit scarey to Jonathan, who now spends most of his time inside. The other boys are enjoying the games, where they chase the girls, or the girls chase them. The children here speak Limbum…and Pidgin…and are also learning French and English in school. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to communicate very well with the girls, but that doesn’t keep the kids from having fun. Sometimes, the girls are hanging around nearby until Martha is finished and goes home for the day, but more often, they are here for a little while and then leave. I asked Martha where they go, and she said that Goodness’ friends live a little ways from the seminary, and they walk together. Then Goodness either meets up with some students from one of the other schools or finishes the walk home by herself. They live 4 miles away.

I’ve also learned that our laundress walks about an hour to get to our house each morning around 8:30. Her husband has recently passed away, along with her father and sister. She has a nine year old little girl and also helps to care for her sister’s three children. The night that we arrived in Ndu, both Martha and Marcelline were at our home to greet us with a warm meal. It was about 6:30pm and already dark. (It gets dark at about 6pm.) I think they were there until about 7:30 or 8. It wasn’t until just this week, that I found out they had so far to go before they were home, and they were back again by 8:30 the next morning. Not only do they work hard, but they also have been very helpful in getting us settled into a new place. I am very thankful that they are ready and willing to answer multiple questions about things that we do not know how to do or understand.

We have hired a student to help with washing dishes. There are actually two women who takes turns depending on how heavy their homework load is for that evening. The dishes usually take 2.5 to 3 hours to wash each evening. One of the young women, Anita, is in the five year certificate program here at the seminary. She is a beautiful woman and delightful to have in our home. I am amazed that when the electricity goes out she continues singing praise songs and without a single complaint lights a simple pillar candle and keeps right on washing. She is always eager to help out with many of the simple things that I am learning to do…for instance, lighting the oven or the stove top when the electricity is out. (I think I am getting much better at this now. I usually can manage it in only one or two matches instead of 5 or 6.) Last night, we had dinner with our neighbors and forgot about the laundry that we had left out on the line. We have to take the laundry down or move it under the roof behind the house so that it is not stolen or rained upon. When Anita stopped to say goodbye, she let me know that she had also moved all of the laundry for us. Isaiah is always wandering into the kitchen and has enjoyed the attention that he receives from Anita. Maybe he misses his high school and college friends back home and is glad to have someone else who is doting over him. Anita’s parents died when she was very young, and she and her younger siblings were raised by various different people, but the children never were able to live together. Her family quit speaking to her when she became a Christian, but has begun to be a little bit more accepting just recently. She is hoping to continue school so that she can become a counselor for women, children, or couples. Her summers are spent working to pay her tuition at the seminary.

We also have a student who is working for us as our gardener. There is always something that can be done, chopping grass with a machete, pulling weeds, trimming, etc. He is free to work as many hours as he would like, and is also a joy to have around the house.

Creechies

Before we came, we read about some of the different critters that we would likely encounter. For some reason, I hadn’t paid much attention to the description of creechies. I was more concerned about the tumbu flies that would be laying eggs in my clothing. We iron everything to kill them so that the larva do not borrow into our skin. I’ve heard too many stories about squeezing the little worms out of you skin, yet I won’t be too shocked if somebody ends up with one, or many. At this point, our main pest has been the creechies. They are very small, but quite terrifying. They seem to love our fluorescent lights and we find them in various places throughout the house, especially in the bathroom around the shower. We have been warned to never smash one that lands on your skin. Instead you must flick it off. When you smash them, they release an acid that causes burns on your skin. I am certain I have not intentionally squashed any of them, except for the ones that are on the floor or the wall that I’ve hit with my flip flop. This past Sunday, however, Dale ended up with a burn on his forehead, I received one on my neck, and later in the week, Jonathan suddenly had one appear on his leg, and Micah had one on his neck.

There are very large spiders as well. They seem to come out only at night, and I think maybe they will eat some of the bugs that we do not like. If you were ever at our house in California, you will know that we were somewhat fascinated with praying mantises. We have enjoyed seeing many of them here. Also some varieties that are different in color from what we are used to. They are also quite large and seem to be everywhere, including the backs of the pews in church. The saying, “Ants in your pants” has been given new meaning for us this past week. I bet you could have guessed, the ants are also pretty big, and there are many of them. I am not sure if they bite or simply have little pinchers on them, but it is not uncommon to come back from a venture out into the nearby forest and feel these sharp pinches on your skin. Jonathan performed a very nice little dance as we removed his clothing after a venture of this sort.

First Week in Cameroon

We have finished our first week in Cameroon and I realize there are so many things to share that if I try to touch on everything I will never finish this post. The week has been filled with many joys as well as various frustrations as we learn to live in another culture. I'll try to give a glimpse into some of our experiences from this past week.

Tuesday began with our chef and laundress coming around 8:30am. We had not yet figured out how to turn on the water(this was simply our lack of following the instructions that were left for us.) We had running water about midway through the day. Our cook works Mon-Fri from approx. 7:30am until 2:00pm. There is a chunk of beef in the freezer that must be ground for hamburger or chopped for any other meals. We've found that the meat is much tougher here...and difficult for little boys to chew. We have enjoyed amazing meals this week. From omelets, coffee cake, and cinnamon rolls, to baked fish(thankfully Martha removed the heads and prepared nice filets for us), spaghetti, Cameroonian Beef Stew, cabbage rolls, and hamburgers. The only cheese I was able to find while grocery shopping in Bamenda was Mozzarella. This was a new experience for burgers and is also so expensive that we use very skimpy amounts. (I believe it was about $36 for a block of cheese...2.5 kg?) For those of you who know our boys, you know that a few of them are quite picky eaters. They have really been doing very well in trying new things. We decided not to suggest meals yet and to simply try whatever is prepared. Some things have not gone over so well, and tummies were a bit hungry at bed time. Most of the time, however, we have been surprised at how easily they will try new things...since they are a bit afraid of starving. While cheese and meat are very expensive(also some canned goods which can be purchased in Bamenda, 5 hours from here), fruits, vegetables, and fish are more in abundance.

We have an American family next door to us. They have 5 children. The boys have been very excited to have friends so close by. They have ventured out into the forest together and have built tree houses. We are praying that none of them fall out of a tree as the nearest hospital is 3 hours away. Today the kids were out playing when a sudden downpour of rain and hail came. We realized we had laundry on the line which we ran to pull down and then remembered the kids were out playing. By the time they returned, they were completely drenched. I think it has rained every night since we have been here. It rains very hard(even harder than the winter rains in Roseville) and sounds even stronger coming down on a metal roof.

Sleep has been interesting as well. We are getting used to new sounds. Apart from the rain, there are the birds that scamper across the roof and sound like they must be ostriches, there are the goats crying out in the morning, and the electricity going in and out throughout the night causing the security lights to turn on and off. My favorite experience of the night, however, came at about 4:30 am on Saturday. We were suddenly awakened to a very loud gong being sounded. Having no idea what would prompt someone to sound a gong that could be heard for miles in the middle of the night, I wondered if it was some sort of alarm or security signal. After it sounded a second time about 5 minutes later, we finally fell back to sleep. Saturday morning, our new friends informed us that Dale had actually missed Bible Study. The gong was calling the men to Saturday morning Bible Study. (I think he will miss it every week.)

Today we were able to attend a Cameroonian church. There were many things we did not understand and other things that were uplifting. If you have been a part of an African service, you may have already experienced the song and dance of joyful praise as the offerings are brought forward. I think we have much to learn in expressing ourselves in worship. We were also brought to the front of the church and introduced. There is an amazing amount of gratitude from students, staff, pastors, and churches throughout the area for Dale being here to teach at the seminary. We'd like to pass that thanksgiving on to all of you who are supporting us financially and/or with prayer.

So much more to say, but it will have to wait. Tomorrow brings my second grammar class and the first meeting of one of Dale's classes. Please pray that God would direct our words as we teach tomorrow.

The Thieles Travel to Ndu, Cameroon

Dale’s Perspective (with Erin's editing) Sorry so long... there is a lot to take in. We'll try to get some pictures up soon.

Days 1 & 2 (Friday & Saturday): Air Travel

Our day started at 3:30am after a brief fidgety sleep. It was difficult to relax and fall into a deep sleep when we were on the eve of moving to Africa for six months. Questions kept running through my mind: What if we oversleep? What if we miss a flight? What if we forget something? What am I doing moving my family across the world? Even with these things swirling through my head, I was able to doze off and on for 3 hours.

Our first flight out of San Francisco departed at 9:45am. We wanted to leave Roseville early enough to miss San Francisco Bay Bridge traffic, get our luggage checked in (13 checked cases), and move our small force of a family (6 carry-on bags and backpacks on most of us; can you picture us going through security?) to the boarding gate without the stress of rushing. Jon Peterson drove us in a church van and Troy Wilson (experienced oversea missionary traveler) came along to help us move our luggage through check out. We made it over the Bay Bridge with spare time to stop at Krispy Kreme Donuts (one of the boys’ favorites).

God was kind to us during the whole air travel process. There were no problems checking our luggage. We made it (slowly) through security just fine. We never felt rushed trying to make it to one of our gates. The boys were super helpers carrying their backpacks and pulling wheeled suitcases through the airports and onto airplanes. The boys also were super on the airplanes, being content with the activities they had in their backpacks, being excited to eat a meal on a plane, and even sleeping well crossing the Atlantic. Many were praying for Jonathan specifically because he developed an ear infection right before we left. The change of air pressure never bothered him. We are just so thankful to God for such a smooth travel across the world.

We landed in Douala, Cameroon on Saturday at about 5:15pm (Cameroon currently is 8 hours ahead of California). It was about 89 degrees and very humid. This just made moving through the airport a sweaty adventure. We made it through immigration just fine, having all of our paperwork in order. We were slow at moving through the airport, so by the time we made it to baggage claim a gentleman named Roger met us and had already pulled 9 of our cases off of the belt (I guess using Rubbermaid Action Packers scream “missionary”). Eventually all of our luggage came out (we had been prepped to expect one or more of our pieces not to make it) and Roger walked us smoothly through customs (“Yes, all of these items are our personal belongings. No, we are not here to sell anything.”).

When we actually stepped out of the airport, things became overwhelming. Several men approached our carts full of luggage ready to carry away our things. We were not sure who to let touch our bags. Apparently, Roger and our driver, Dieudonne, prearranged with these men to help carry our things down the stairs to the parking garage. Well, we didn’t know what all was arranged and both Erin and I were cornered by different men demanding to be paid for helping. This scared the boys, thinking the men would hurt us or steal our belongings. Dieudonne and Roger, however, had the whole situation under control and took care of us. All of our bags and all of the family were stuffed into the van and taken to a European Baptist guesthouse for the night.

Even though we were exhausted from the air travel, this first night in Cameroon was not very restful. It was uncomfortable with the heat and humidity, and the boys just were not at ease in the new setting.

Day 3 (Sunday): Road Travel to Bamenda

At the guesthouse we had breakfast (homemade bread and omelets) and packed up in the van again for the drive to Bamenda. Bamenda is the capital city of the North West region of Cameroon and has a population of about 400,000 people. The road is all paved between Douala and Bamenda, so we were able to enjoy the scenery along the roadside. We saw shops, churches, villages, mango trees, banana trees, papaya trees, a volcano in the distance, motorcycles with 3 or 4 people on them(and sometimes also carrying another motorcycle!), and tons and tons of people walking. It seems like the Cameroonian people all come to “hang out” along the main drag. Anywhere we saw a church there were people crowded along the road leading to the church. Most people walk and have no other form of transportation.

We arrived at the Cameroonian Baptist Convention guesthouse in Bamenda in the mid-afternoon. We were greeted by George Ngwang, the gentlemen who was working on this end to obtain our residency paperwork so we could get our visas. George warmly greeted us and set us up with our room accommodations for the night. He also introduced us to some missionaries from America who proved to be Godsend encouragements as we began our stay here. Elsie, a teacher for missionary kids who has been in Cameroon for 15 years, invited us to her home for dinner. We greatly appreciated her “orientation” to Cameroon and helpful hints to ease our transition into our new life. We felt ready to take the plunge into the village of Ndu.

This second night of sleep was much more restful. It helped significantly to have the hospitality of Americans to ease us into a foreign land.

Day 4 (Monday): Road Travel (there was a road, right?) to Ndu

During the weeks leading up to our travel, many different people warned us of the “adventurous” or “treacherous” road up to Ndu. No words, actually, could have prepared us for what we endured on Monday.

The day started with Erin and I attending to some business items, which needed to be addressed in Bamenda (setting up our money account, purchasing SIM cards for our cell phones, shopping for food not available in Ndu, etc). We were finally all packed up and ready to go just after lunch. After stopping to purchase some frozen fish and fresh pineapples on the road out of Bamenda, we started the trek up into the mountains.

Side note about Bamenda: This city is located in a beautiful valley among some majestic mountains. From the guesthouse we stayed in, we could see several waterfalls flowing out of the mountains. It truly reminded us of Yosemite Valley, where you are surrounded by mountains and waterfalls. Just incredible! And on the road out of Bamenda, we drove by a couple more waterfalls. We loved it.

Ndu is a small village (Population? Not sure. No one has ever done an official count. We have heard 10,000 and we have heard up to 40,000), nestled in the mountains of northwest Cameroon that border Nigeria. It is only about 140 km from Bamenda, but there are paved roads for only about a third of the way. The six month rainy season is just coming to an end, and the rains this year have left the road in its worst condition (ruts, trenches, canyons, can I say canyons? Yes, canyons. It’s only the work of God that our van never got stuck). All of the long-term missionaries and even the Cameroonians have said that the road is the worst it has ever been. It was a five-hour bumpy drive to make it to Ndu.

At 6:30pm, and in darkness, we arrived at the Yong’s home on the campus of CBTS. [Philemon and Linda Yong’s home will be our residence while we stay here in Ndu. The Yongs are on home assignment for the year. It will be by God’s grace that I will be able to fill in some of the gap felt by CBTS with the absence of Dr. Yong.] At the door of the van, Rev. Mbongko, the president of CBTS, warmly greeted us with hugs. Along with Rev. Mbongko were the academic dean, Rev. Nseimboh, our house help (our cook, laundress, and dish washer), and several other members of the CBTS community. We immediately felt welcomed and loved, which proved to be such a great encouragement after that long drive.

Everyone helped unload our luggage and dinner was already prepared on the table. Our house help stayed late to clean up and assist us in getting set up in our new home. The electricity went off and on several times during the evening and eventually stayed off. Linda Yong prepped us well for this experience and we had our headlamps and candles ready to guide us to bed. Exhausted and overwhelmed by our new environment, we made it to bed, looking forward to daylight to explore our new surroundings.

We have a departure date!

Thank you for praying for us in our preparations to leave for Cameroon. We now have purchased plane tickets and are awaiting the official visas from the Cameroon Embassy here in the US. We will depart on Friday Oct 29th. We will be flying to Chicago and then on to Europe. After a short 3 hour lay over in Europe, we will continue into Cameroon, arriving early Saturday evening. Once in Cameroon, we will have two days of driving before arriving at the Seminary in Ndu.

Please continue to lift our family in prayer, as well as the students and faculty at CBTS. We look forward to sharing much more with you in regular blog updates over the next several months.

We'll be there soon

After several months of waiting for approval for residency, we still have not received the necessary paperwork to enter Cameroon and stay. It turns out that the official in charge of these documents was dismissed by the president of Cameroon this summer, and while a replacement was hired, he has not yet started working. CBTS has decided that it would be best for us to come now on a six month visa rather than continuing to wait for residency. The 6 month visa can be applied for at the embassy in Washington DC and does not require the more extensive paperwork from Cameroon. We expect to be able to apply for the Visa early this week, purchase plane tickets and depart some time during the week of Oct. 24th.

How does this affect the seminary? Our time serving at CBTS was planned for this current academic school year in order to help fill in for a professor that needed to take an unexpected leave of absence. The president and academic dean of CBTS have been able to work out a schedule which will allow Dale to teach all of the classes they had hoped for him to teach this year. While we are late for the first semester, Dale will still teach all five courses as originally planned. Three of these will be taught during the rest of the semester with make up class times in the evenings. The other 2 courses will be taught as intensives during January. We will be in Cameroon for a majority of the second semester, but with the six month visa will have to leave a few weeks before classes typically end. These class times will be made up with a few extra meetings during the semester as well.

While this is not what we had anticipated when God called us to Cameroon this past June, we trust that this is His plan. Please be praying for our final two weeks here in California as we finish packing and say goodbye. We recognize that the 6 months in Cameroon will be much fuller than we expected as we condense 9 months of classes into 6 months. Please pray for strength and endurance. We are overjoyed to be a part of the ministry at CBTS. Please be praying for the students in Dale's classes who will be working on this shortened schedule, for the effect this may have on their families and their abilities to learn and retain what is taught in the classes.

(The photo is of Isaiah packing his clothes for the trip. We will be packing everything we need into 12 rubbermaid actionpackers. Isaiah will sit on our laps on the plane...not in one of the actionpackers.)

Still Waiting...

We had hoped that our next blog posting would be to let everyone know that we have received our residency approval from Cameroon and have bought plane tickets; however, we felt we couldn’t delay this next posting any longer. While we still have not received any news on the visa progress, we are continuing to prepare and plan for our time at CBTS. Typically the process takes between 6 and 12 weeks, we are now at about ten weeks. I hope that tomorrow we will be updating the blog to let you know that the paperwork is in. Please continue to pray that God would open up this door for us to arrive in Cameroon in His perfect time. Pray also for our patience as we grow a bit anxious.

Classes began at CBTS on August 26th. The students in Dale’s classes know that we will be coming, and are waiting for the teacher to show up for class. Please be praying for students as they are studying and learning right now. The courses which Dale will be teaching have changed a bit from what you may have last heard from us. He has been asked to teach five courses for this semester: Exegesis of Galatians, Greek Grammar 1, Systematic Theology 1, New Testament Introduction 1, and Later New Testament Letters. The first four courses have both M.A. and B.A. students in them, while the NT Letters course is a certificate (high school) level course. Though we are not in Cameroon, these classes are beginning. The Greek course is being started by a student who has had a few semesters already, and Dale is sending over syllabi and assignments for the students to begin in the other courses.

While we wait…We moved out of our house at the end of August and have graciously been given a place to stay by a family in our church. As we continue to finalize various details for our time in Cameroon, we have also started our school year here at home. Dale is continuing to prepare for teaching. As a family, we have had 36 immunizations over the past 2 months. We’ve found that Canada sells malaria meds for much cheaper than the US…especially when you need them for 7 people. We have 12 Rubbermaid Actionpackers which will transport all of our necessary belongings to Cameroon for this year. At this point, headlamps are extremely cool to four little boys…we will see how they feel in six months. Our lives are already being simplified as we wonder, do we really need any of that stuff we packed and moved into storage?

Please pray with us that our Visas would come tomorrow, and that we would continue to wait patiently for the right time. God knows very well that there is a faculty member missing at CBTS, and He will get us there at precisely the right time. We are only a few thousand dollars short of being fully funded for our time of ministry in Cameroon. If you are interested in supporting us, please contact us and we will let you know how you can do this.