Sunday Hike

For our weekly hike we went to the Bali waterfall this last Sunday. It was a bit disappointing as it rained the whole time but still, it is just so extremely beautiful it was totally worth it. There is a huge cave behind the waterfall that we had a picnic in. We were all soaked but it was still a lot of fun. We're heading to another waterfall next week that Jake and the girls discovered when they went out to the village yesterday, the could see it from the road, we'll try to make our way to the bottom.

Home school is going great, we're into week three already. It is soooo nice to be ahead than trying to catch up all the time (as I was last year due to our trip to the States). Teaching First and Third grade is definitely more challenging than Second grade and Kindergarten though. I actually have to use the test keys now :-)

(Will post pic of waterfall once internet connection is better)

More Children

We joyfully received two more children into the Children's Home today, PTL! Aaron is a 13 year old boy with a Muslim background and Tahija (not sure of spelling yet) is a little girl of 8. They are both so precious, we're so happy to have them. Jake, Tim, Shanel, and Jenee (our interns) all went out to the village of Ndop to pick them up (two hour drive). The girls really enjoyed it, even though Shanel did mange to fall into the village squatty potty! Praise God for soap! On Friday they go out to another village (an 8 hour drive) to pick up 5 more orphans. So that will be another adventure I'm sure. Please pray for a safe trip.

Jenee with Tahija on the way home (Tahija got a bit car sick)

Aaron with Shanel, he is 13 but really small!

This is where Tahiji used to sleep with 4 other children

All the kids enjoying lunch together (wearing their Crowns from the previous Bible Class)

The village Squatties!

The bridge!

Sunday afternoon we drove out to see the road that collapsed and stopped everyone from getting into Bamenda. It seems it was one of the bridges, and it just fell away, they've built a road that now goes around it and they're busy constructing a new bridge (even working on a Sunday). On the way up there we saw lots of land slides too, seems like the ground is just too saturated and can't hold itself together anymore. Below is a picture of a landslide, it doesn't look very big in the photo but it's huge, it came across two roads and blocked them for a day or so too. 

Then more drama, we had a sand truck come to the orphanage today to deliver sand... He drove over the Septic tank (which isn't in use, PTL!) and the truck's front tire just smashed the whole covering of it in and fell in (see pic below). Not sure if the rain has something to do with this too as lots of cars and trucks have driven over this before... it took a bit to get the guy out. So we have another project to complete now :-)

Right now me and the boys have SCA session going on, it's a bit like a home schooling co-op where about 10 missionary families get together and have two weeks of school with the kids. It's always a lot of fun and a great time of fellowship. This session's theme: Spies, a big hit with all the boys :). I'm teaching music which is a lot of fun. This Friday we are wrapping up.

Road problems!!

Well praise God our two interns made it safe and sound to Bamenda. And in the nick of time too, a couple of days after they got here the road to Bamenda (about 30 minutes out) got washed out and is impassable (we’ve been having some serious rain to say the least). So now you can only get in and out of Bamenda via a bush road that is more like a path and you have to have 4 wheel drive to do so. So because of that no fuel trucks have been able to get into town, all the gas stations have shut down. You can still buy gas on the side of the road but it is now over $14 a gallon!! So needless to say we’re not driving much or taking taxis as prices have doubled. The road should (key work) be fixed by the weekend. So till then we’re just sitting tight :0).

There has also been a landslide at the top of the hill that leads into Bamenda, it covered two roads, knocked a few houses down and even killed a few people. One of our good friend’s house got completely flooded on the same day due to all the rain. Never a dull moment!

 

You'll never know what you'll see down town here :-). They over loaded this truck and then when it started to go up hill is tipped up. Glad I wasn't driving it!

Well, I start school with the boys on Monday, I'm really looking forward to it. It will be so nice to actually be starting on time and not having to catch up all year. We also have two interns coming from our home church next week. Jenee and Shanel are two young girls who have a huge interest in missions. They'll be staying with us for almost 3 months, helping out wherever needed. We'll get them to continue summer school at the orphanage and spend a lot of time with the kids. Also they'll be helping out at bible class and of course there is always lots of painting to do.