Yummy!

Grossest thing happened at Church the other day when we were getting ready to take communion. Here everyone that partakes of it goes up to the front to hold hands and prayer, etc. Anyway I was right up the front and as the pastor took off the table cloth covering, a big ol' cockroach ran out and under the table. Everyone made a mad dash to try and kill it but it was too fast. The pastor said next time we must flame our bread before putting it on the table (holding it over an open flame to kill any germs as bread doesn't come wrapped here). Anyway as we started praying the little guy came out running around our feet until someone finally squished him. Never a dull!

Not sure if I mentioned before about us finding a church that we really like, it took a bit as all the churches here are very loud (huge speakers in tiny little rooms, literally can't hear your self think). Anyway we came across a small new church plant, about 11 months old now. The Pastor is really great and so is his wife Mary. They have three small children just like us. Had them over for dinner and got on really well. Jake has preached at the church a couple of times already and we feel really at home there, a real blessings. After the team has come and gone, I'm going to start helping out with the Children's Church (not enough time right now).

More Pig business

You might remember that I blogged about us slaughtering pigs and processing them to make chops, ribs, sausages, etc. Well, we have had our first major order for 30 pounds of patties for a men's prayer breakfast... we're also going to make sausages for any other missionaries that are interested plus any hotels or other people that might be too. We won't be millionaires from it but it should keep our freezes stocked with Pork which will help out our pocket a bit for one day's work a month. We are doing this with our co-workers the Born's so we started brain storming about names the other day and came up with Borski Pork (gotta say it with a Russian accent for a better effect :). 10 points to anyone that can work out why we called it that.

Update on orphanage: Things are moving along, the Ma and Pa (Patrick and Anna) are all moved in and doing well. They're extremely hard workers, like I said before, they are an older couple but that doesn't stop them. Jake was filling up a wheelbarrow of rubble the other day that Patrick was pushing. He didn't fill it up all the way and Patrick insisted that the fill it completely up, great to see such great workers... praise the Lord! Less than 4 weeks till the team gets here, can't wait!

Whatever the weather....

Yeahhhh, it's officially rainy season now (March 15th)! We had one really good rain about a week ago (could have gone out and danced in it). Since then had a few light showers, actually right now it is drizzling (or spitting as we say in England). It has already cut down the dust, can finally drive with the windows down and open the windows up in the house too. It should also help our water bill out as I've been watering my flower garden like crazy trying to keep everything alive :). All the Cameroonians are getting their "farms" ready, burning the old plants and grass, turning the ground over and making their mounds. Starting to feel a bit like spring here.

Getting close...

Lot's been going on. Really close to having the orphanage open, lots of digging, plastering, and carpentry's going on down there. I've been there painting the ceilings (such a fun job!) and will be working on the walls this coming week.My face is covered with white speckles of paint that Jude keeps trying to pick off :). The "Ma and Pa" are ready to move in so once their room is all finished they'll be there. We have the applications for the orphans ready and they will be handed out next week to all those who have told us of different orphans and then we'll start the background checks on them... so things are moving along nicely. Just seems like we don't have enough hours in the day sometimes to get things done! Jake's been working on the "sponsor an orphan" brochure... if you interested in one or a few for you church, let us know.

Praise God we had our first rain since Christmas... it lasted about two hours.... soooooooo incredible nice! It's just been so dusty lately that it's hard to even go for a walk as it's just all in the air, the house has been constantly dusty, no matter how often you clean it. So it should start raining more and more now. I did my vegetable garden turned over and put into mounted rows. I brought a bunch of seeds back with me from the States, especially different types of tomatoes and lettuce as you can only get plum tomatoes and one type of lettuce here, so that will be a good school project with the boys.

Jude in the garden, having some fun!

More Critters!

We'd just got into bed last night when we heard our dogs going nuts outside... I thought they were trying to get out of our gate as there was lots of banging going on. So we went to investigate with our handy maglite and found this huge rodent dead in our driveway, aka Bush Rat (they actually sell these on the side of the road for meat). Anyway I guess our dogs had managed to catch and kill it. Kinda freaking that huge thing was running around in our yard!

Jude turns one!

Our little boy turned one this past Friday. He's walking now and just the cutest little thing tottering around everywhere. Now I can take him out in the garden with me when I'm working out there and he has a great little time exploring the back yard. I made him a cake and had plans to make a great design, but the dog we're looking after, snuck into the kitchen and ate half of it as it was cooling! Ahhh! So made another one the next day but didn't have much time to decorate.

Seth made Jude a very sweet card, it says "I Luf you Jude," how cute is that! Not bad for a kindergartener :)

God working in Africa

I friend sent me a really cool article on missionaries in Africa, here is a bit of it, you can read it all at:
www.blancocountynews.com/news/article/10997


World magazine reported recently on an unexpected comment by English columnist Matthew Parris about desperate conditions in Africa and what he saw as the solution to them. Parris was raised in Malawi, from which he had just returned, and undoubtedly surprised his London Times Online opinion page readers with the following title of his report: “As an atheist, I am truly convinced that Africa needs God.”

This atheist has observed that something very special has happened to Africans who have responded to the words of missionaries. Those who have heard and heeded their message of faith are changed from within. A transformation has taken place that has produced new life. He has seen this approach to Africa’s problems break old bondages and bring hope to those who believe. No wonder he pleads for more missionaries rather than more money!

I thought it was really interesting that even an atheist can see that Africa needs God! And it sure does, everywhere does for that matter.

To change gears a bit, we had an interview with a potential "Ma and Pa" for the orphanage today. It went really well and looks promising. Both parties are praying and seeking the Lord and we'll go from there. Please keep it in your prayers, as this us a huge responsibility and we want it to be a ministry for the couple, not a job.

Devotion

When we were back in the States our church there asked us to write a message for the devotional they put out at the start of each year. My topic was Africa (very appropriate) and it was for today. You can check it out on their website if your interested.

www.eastcoastdevo.com/2009/02/10/day-31-africa/

Our little preacher!

I got to share at the Crusade as the Speaker (Chris Schneider) was preaching a message geared to children as well as adults. We got there early and made balloon animals and hats to get the kids to come in and of course that worked like a charm. Once the crusade got under way, Chris called all the children forward to hear a special message. We sang a song and then shared the "wordless Book" with them through colored balloons. They were all very excited and payed close attention.



Josh also got to share his testimony, we were VERY proud of him! We talked about it at home and I asked him to just tell how he asked Jesus into his heart and if there was anything else he wanted to share. He chose the Story of Joshua and how we must have faith and trust in God too and then quoted John 3:16. When he finished everyone cheered and clapped, very cool! There was at least 450 people at the crusade. We're hoping to get a video of it up on the web soon. Anyway at the end of the night many came forward for salvation (100+) and lots of them were kids, praise God. Also got to pray for many people at the end for things such as barrenness to doing well in school.

Not a very clear picture but you can kinda see the size of the crusade