Well, I confess that it is longer than “next week”, isn’t it? I am sorry that this update is later than I had planned. As this update unfolds, I think you will see why there was the delay before I could write this out.
To wrap up Bansobi and our village experience…hey, for almost 3 weeks, we were “Village People”…the value on relationship that we were introduced to there has marked us so much as we have returned to “civilization” and all that the big city has for us. We are grateful that we learned this relationship thing, only slightly though, while amongst some very gracious and gentle people. They took us, warts and all, and loved our family and taught us to slow down. We knew that coming to Africa would mean a major pace of life shift for us and it came to a screeching halt in Bansobi. That was surely the extreme, but we really needed that. I don’t think that in Yaoundé we realized the importance of that slower pace as much as we got slammed into it in Bansobi. As that village phase page has turned, we will surely have the opportunity to visit these new friends again. The Navs has one youth ministry already functioning in Wum, a village on the other side of the “Ring Road.” So, surely Gilles will be back there at least once before the year is out and we will be able to continue this new relationship. All said and done, we survived and even enjoyed some high points of this huge culture difference. Isn’t God amazing??
And on that note we returned to AOC in Yaoundé and 10 days left in this training program. The end of AOC was seasoned with a wacky fun night with lots of games and laughs, an inspirational “pep talk” as we had our closing ceremonies and very tearful good-byes (once again). I don’t know what God was thinking sometimes…I really hate good-byes and He has placed us in a vocation that dictates lots of new friends and lots of transitions…ugh!! In reflecting on the end of AOC, I realized that even though the most heart wrenching good-byes are to our family and closest friends we know that we will see them again (hopefully) before too long. With these newest friends, however, the parting was pretty tough because we really don’t know if we will meet again on this side of heaven.
Reality came in like a huge wildfire very quickly after the end of AOC…we had 9 days left on our visa and had not yet applied for our residency permit. The Navs helped us, as quickly as possible, to get the documents together for the application and went with us to turn in everything. That was on a Wednesday (d minus 4 days) and there the drama begins. One day turned into two, turned into 5 and eventually into 8!!! One thing after another was not satisfactory on the applications, or the Navs wasn’t listed correctly as the receiving agency, or the office had closed two minutes before, or they didn’t like my hairstyle. I joke about it now, but lest you think this was all fun and games, I was quite HOT!!! After going together on the first day and being told outright that we were refused residency and even the visa extension and that the lady was going to cancel any other Navigator permits, Gilles continued the pilgrimage and daily treks without me. I carried on with the kids and even a Spiritual Retreat and let him slay the bureaucratic dragons for us. I cannot adequately put into words the marvel that our God worked on our behalf in order to get the papers through. (We do have them, by the way, so the story finishes well.) I mentioned before in sharing about Bansobi the whole value on relationships theme here in Cameroon. Well, in this process for the residency papers, we saw this one hundred fold…and then some. It was like each Nav person would try their “heavy hitter” to see if they had enough pull to get these papers moved through. There is a proverb in Cameroon that says “The right hand washes the left hand.” We had to end up applying for an extension on our three month visas and were dreading the tax that would be. Finally we struck gold (last Thursday the 14th)….We were walked into the commissioner’s office and he approved the papers and they moved on to the next official. Within 2 hours, we walked away with our laminated temporary resident cards. The irony in this whole thing is that the lady that refused us so adamantly on day #1 was the very lady that had the final approval on the application. As God would have it, before Gilles could go to her, a large piece of furniture fell in her office which practically blocked the whole doorway. There was just a small opening for the Nav helper to slip through and place the papers before her. She approved everything and didn’t even bat an eyelid about the whole thing. Had her door been wide open and had Gilles had to go in…I am sure she would have remembered him and who knows what would have happened. The following day we applied for our driver’s permits and picked them up on Monday. Absolutely miraculous and to the praise of our God and many of your prayers given on our behalf as we battled this one out. Thank you!!!
We moved just two days ago to the apartment at the Nav office in town. We are hoping to be here only 2 weeks (questionable, but hopeful). The highlight of this move is that Smokey, our new puppy, has joined us. He is so fun!!! The kids spent the day (and mom and dad too) playing with him, loving on him and just learning to bond with him. Our house helper, Auntie Florence, started working for us today. She did our market shopping…you know it’s fresh when the chicken she brought us was still warm in the bag…eewwww!!!
We apologize for the lack of photos this time…our digital camera got sat upon and jammed and took a trip to the trash can. We have ordered a new one, but don’t expect to see it before June as it is coming with a short term team arriving then. I will try to include a couple of pics though from some others at AOC.
Blessings and much love! Thank you for loving us, for praying for us and for all that you have done to make this ministry possible. Hugs to you…