Yaounde

Well i have finnished my week breack. It has been great. Yaounde is a very nicy city very hilly and the climate is a little more managable for a kiwiboy.
I have been able to see lots of the city, including a really amazing church (you will see the pictures) the zoo and lots of government buildings. Shopping was interesting i needed to but pants for outreach the problem is im white. In Cameroon white is equal to target for extortion. I saw one pair of trouses they tried to sell me for 7000 cfa (about 20 nzd) in New Zealand this would be a good price for trousers but i knew i could getthem cheaper. I gave 5000 cfa to Felix and found somewhere to wait while he went through the market to get the trousers and he got 4 pairs! I dont need four so i gave Felix one pair.
Another story about attempted extortion, Felix and i got into a taxi and before the taxi could pull away the other two passengers displayed their "police cards" (Other wise known as i have a cousin who can make forgeries card) and asked for our papers. Felix showed them our papers and they noticed my visa hadrun out they arguedin French and tried to get 10000 cfa out of us. Felix told them if there is a problem and they are "police" then they can take us to the station. They decided to let us out.
Anyway i will be travelling back to Douala tommorrow and then outreach starts on Saturday.

Love you all and Holland got robbed (so did Spain that was so not a penalty) so go England

Outreach

Hey, The lecture phase has finnished. So i am halfway through myAfrician experience. As for the next three months i will have one week off which i was going to spend in Bamenda. But it is too expensive to travel to Bamenda so I hope to go to Yaounde instead. For the outreach phase we will be starting in Boue and then going to Bamenda and finnishing here in Douala. Please pray for us many of the students have not paid their school fees yet. Please pray that they can pay them before outreach startsor they cannot go on outreach. God wants all of the ten students to finnish the school in September so please pray that he will provide for the students that still need money.

Thankfull

I always have reasons to be thankful but this week I’m extra thankful.
Why? I have four reasons to be extra thankful.

· On Saturday night (Cameroon time) I was able to talk to Mum, Dad and James. I heard some news from James - he is engaged! i just got an enail with photos and a story man nice effort bro its hard to top that you little Romeo.

· On Sunday I was able to attend an African wedding ceremony which was a privilege. The bride and groom where pleased to have a couple of white folk (Kahlia went as well) at their wedding and we managed to get into wedding photos despite never having meet the bride or groom ;)

· On Monday I had to get my visa renewed, apparently they changed the law and you can no longer renew visas in Cameroon. You can (with a letter from the pastor of the Lutheran Church of Cameroon) become residents of Cameroon. So I am officially an African now and I have the papers to prove it! For ten years I am a resident of Cameroon and can visit without a visa!

· One of the first things you notice in Cameroon is there are no street names (except in the CBD) and hence no numbered houses and hence no letter boxes. So receiving mail is done through a PO box at the central Douala Post Office. So the reason to be thankful? I got mail! A couple of birthday cards from the family and a package of goodness from my cheer leading squad (thanks Christina, Ruth, Estie, Sarah, Hannah and Ray) you gals rock! I was so overwhelmed I broke into song (admittedly it was not very good but you may recognise the tune)


Packages from home and letters from friends
Vegemite on toast and chocolaty goodness
Ferrets farms and soufflé day and NCEA
Penguins on pyjamas and hot cups of tea
Lions, stick figures and political news
Letters in French and funny Asian paper
Sachets of coffee and birthday wishes

These are a few of my favourite things
When the lion bites when the bee stings
When I am feeling sad
I just think of my favourite things
And then I don’t feel so bad!

P.S The vegemite never arrived, maybe the Cameron customs got curious. The coffee was the best cup I have had in three months! And chocolate is always good but the best thing was the letters thanks so much.
(This is an e-hug for you guys {--------o--------} )

Week 11

I lost track of the weeks this week is week 11. After struggling last week im feeling better less ioslated as a had time to realx and get away from the base for a while. This week the subject has been evangilism, it has been really good. Thanks for all the support after the last post. Love you all

Week 11

The second half of this week has been very difficult for me. Im finding it really hard to adjust to the lack of privacy.
We have quite a lot of down time in the afternoon and many of the students sit and talk but because i dont speak French and Kahlia normally goes to her room to listen to music i feel very isolated. As soon as i lie down my mind starts wandering.

Im an extreverted person i find it hard to not be doing anything and normally have very little down time.
When i do have down time i need to be completly alone - i normally isolate myself completly.
This is very difficult in a small place withabout 15 people. I can handle communal living at camps and things when there are other people to relate to but it is not the same being one of two anglophone people and the other one is really intreverted.
The only time i can do this is after everyone else is asleep i get up to pray and just hang out with God.
I also have not had the freedom to relax by going for a walk or playing basketball.
I have had trouble concentrating in class, worship and prayer etc. and have had to leave prayer meetings and worship. For African people they seem to find this hard to understand.
For me worship comes from the heart and if my heart is not in the right place i need to be alone. I have even done this in New Zealand at times.
I have had trouble agreeing with what the speaker is saying and he has noticed this and i have tried to explain that im having trouble concentrating but it felt to me like the lesson today was aimed at critising me and i think the class could see this. He as been talking about adopting the culture of the culture you are in. Im having problems because i see culture as not being neutral.
Sure i have had no problem with eating, sleeping, behaving and dressing like an African. But culture also reflects they way we think - I have problems with thinking like an African - some parts are good and bad how can i adopt the good parts without being critical of the bad parts?
I dont know if it is me being over sensitive or not.

Mission Vision

Well this week the subject has been mission. Ever since I was young I knew that God was calling me to cross-cultural mission. I just didnt know vision.

I never felt comfortable in New Zealand I actually at times hated my New Zealand Pakeha culture and have felt ashamed to be European. God has helped me to see that yes there are parts of my culture which i should be proud of and there are parts that i should not be proud of. There are only two cultures in this world that of the Kingdom of God (Biblical culture) and that of the Kingdom of the World all cultures have elements of both of these. He has restored me view of mission from being full-time unpaid ministry¨to anything where we are displaying Gods character in our workplace.

I have an Arts degree, when i was doing my degree and until now i didnt know why i had an Arts degree other than because it was interesting. God has shown me that he directed me in my study and that what i have learnt about teaching, Enlgish, linguistics, history and sociology is very useful in understanding cultures and this is what he wants me to do.

I believe he has shown me that he wants me to go Turkey (or more accuratly the Turkish speaking people) to teach English and display His character to people who have had no experience of God.
Turkey is a very straegic country in the Islamic world because it is attempting to become part of the EU it has freedom of religion by law. Which means that Turkish Muslims are the most accesible to reach, to disciple and to send.
It is also the home to most of the Kurdish people, one of the largest ethnic groups in the world without an autonoumous homeland 30 million in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria.

Im aware that this is not this safest place in the world but we are not called to live safe lives we are called to reach every nation including closed ones. Brother Andrew of Open Doors said ¨There are no closed countries if we are prepared to go in and not come out¨ I think that God wants to me to prepare ¨to go in and not come out¨. God will use my life (including my death if neccessary) for His glory. I also have the advantage that as an English teacher i can go where other Christians are unable to get Visas etc.

He has given me this i need to do before i go to Turkish people but more on that later.
This is a long term vision but it is one that i am commited to.
There was a group of Christians called the Moravians from the modern Czech Republic. They where committed to prayer and mission. When a young man around my age sold himself into slavery in order to reach the slaves he was asked by his mother why?
His response is also my response to the same question:
¨That the lamb may recieve the reward for his suffering¨
Jesus died for the sins of the world not just the sins of Christians.
His death and suffering were for all the world. He has paid the price for the redemption of all the world. Im commited to serving him in being part of the Holy Spirit bringing people to that redemption.

Love you all

Restoration

One of the things that I have learnt here is that God’s intentions for our redemption affect us in all areas of our life. Holistic redemption or reconciliation is restoring us completely (physically, spiritually, socially, emotionally and mentally) to the way he intended us to be.
For me he did this as I confessed things that he led me to confess in my life and released myself to serve him with my whole person not just spiritually.
God has restored me in my whole person and I have experienced release spiritually, physically, emotionally and mentally (the social release will happen when I return and restore the relationships that need restoring).
Physically my health has been preventing me from being effective in serving the Lord.
I have not had enough energy to do many things that I would like to do. BUT God has released me since I have come to Africa I have lost a lot of weight, I don’t know how much as I have not had access to scales. In the last two days I have done a lot of walking in the African sun. Anyone who has been to Africa, or parts of Asia, knows how much weight you loose in sweet. I think in the last two days I have lost at least 10kg! (rough guess).
I need to buy new trousers as my trousers are too big!
I feel much more energy now and I just want to run and play sport as an act of worship to thank God for what he has done in restoring my health. I havent lost any muscle mass though which is good.
God has given me a new start in all areas of my life. He has shown me that food is a gift from God and it is good but I need to respect the gift and the Giver and only eat what I need rather than what I want to eat.
I pray that he gives me the self-control needed to keep me feeling great.