While Pete Is Away

Pete has been gone for almost two weeks now with another to go. He is visiting family before he attends an annual meeting of Renewal Ministries in Ann Arbor Michigan. If Pete continues with this Mission organization, he will be traveling three to six weeks a year.  I am determined to keep busy and have some “fun” while he is gone, so we don’t miss him so much. So here are a few highlights.

We harvested our farm.  We had planted zucchini, broccoli, carrots, cabbage, and some spices. Our result was five carrots.  Based on all our costs (including seeds mailed from US), these carrots are worth over $6 each. I don’t think gardening is my calling.

Polishing nails in the market is always a treat. Everyone always asks if the girls are twins.

Jessica made bagels.  I made English muffins and we had them with melted cheese (brought by family from Germany) for lunch.

Here, Josh is doing a science project. He is doing great with homeschooling. Our read aloud is Out of Many Waters and is great.

We got a tent and were testing it out.  Unfortunately it leaked from every side and we had to abort by 8pm and carry in all the soaking wet bedding. Guess we will wait for the dry season. It drew quite a bit of attention. One guy explained to his friend that these were used by the army when they were sleeping in the bush.  I thought I heard one boy call it a big bolo bolo (balloon in pigeon).  Therese, the young girl next door said “you people are interesting”. First a sky houses now an outside sleeping house. I am sure we are an enigma to some here. We even build outside fires without cooking anything.

Ruthie is a dream.  She never bleats even the day we left her out in the blazing sun without water or the night we left her out in the torrential rain without cover. The kids have been very responsible about caring for her.

The girls have been doing homeschooling after school and I am so proud of their progress. Josh’s radio show has been going very well.  He even did the show alone one week when his co-host didn’t show.

We have also been able to squeeze in some horseback riding.

It has been nice to have all the school kids back at Sunday Mass.  The St Joseph’s pupils (where I teach) were the choir this week and I was so proud of them.  These 5^th and 6^th graders were just 2^nd and 3^rd graders when I got here. How time flies.

-Joy

Potty Talk

Jessica came home with this information from her Health Education class.  I have recopied it as she printed it nicely in red and blue ink in her exercise book.

Latrines

A latrine is any hole that is properly dug and built for passing feces and urine.

Types of Latrines:

1.      The Pit Latrine

A pit latrine is built outside some distance away from the house, kitchen, and well. With the pit latrine, you squat on the hole when you want to send out waste. The hole should be smooth and hard.

2.      The Bucket Latrine

This is a system where feces is collected in buckets. The bucket is emptied every morning.

3.      Water Closet Latrine

This is a latrine system where all the waste (feces and urine) is flushed into an underground system. Plenty for water is used for flushing.

Uses of Latrines

1.      Latrines are used for passing out solid and liquid waste.

2.      The solid waste from the latrines is sometimes used as fertilizers.

3.      Sludge from the latrines can be fermented and used cooking gas.

4.      The Latrine helps prevent soil, air, and water pollution.

PS (from Joy) On car trips we have gotten pretty used to going in the “bush” too and in desperation within sight of oncoming cars.  You just gotta do what you gotta do.

In Search of a Goat

By Joshua Newburn (Age 12)

I wondered if driving three hours to Kumbo and back was worth staying there for only one night. My perspective changed completely after a thrilling and adventurous experience there, one to definitely blog about.

The first half of the drive was sickening, but luckily my mom got off at Ndop to have a retreat. I got the front seat and felt a lot better. When we arrived, we greeted them (like true Cameroonians) and unpacked our belongings. We got a tour of the garden, where they had more than a dozen different plants growing. We saw that a pumpkin was ripe, so we harvested it and brought it in. I then helped them make bagels and pumpkin pie, using the pumpkin.

During the time that the oven pre-heated, I remembered that we had wanted to buy a goat for a long time. So I asked my dad and then Logan, what they thought of getting one there in Kumbo. The Horne family had bought goats before, so they had some experience with them. I wanted to milk the goat, so it would have to be a female. Logan lectured me about milking a she-goat and how to keep one.

Finally I felt I was ready and prepared to get a goat. Only one thing was left—my mom’s approval. I called her on my dad’s phone and started out, “Hey mom, how’s it going?” After the call I happily announced that I had gained her approval. Dad was surprised, but smiled and agreed to go to the goat farm the next day.

After a great bagel pizza dinner with excellent pumpkin pie, we slept peacefully for the big day ahead. The following morning, we ate breakfast, packed up, then headed for the car to go to the goat market.

The selection process wasn’t half as good as eating pizza. The goats were too thin, unhealthy, or the wrong gender. We went on a walk to see the cow farm to let me think a little bit. I agreed with my dad that I would pay for it, but I started thinking again. Do I really want to spend my money on these goats?

We walked back to the goat market and I saw a single, female goat with an unusual one-horned head. She had a white “sock” on her back leg. I smiled to myself and moved closer to the goat. She pricked her ears up, alerted, and moved away. I asked, “How much for this goat?”

On the drive back to Bamenda, we had a bleating goat, Ruth, in the back of our car. I bargained her from 30,000 francs ($60) to 27,000 francs ($54). We decided not to tell my mom, so she had a great surprise when she heard “B-AA!” when we went over a bump.

Now Ruth is in our backyard, happily eating away at grass. I wonder how it’s going to be having my very own pet.

Renewal Ministries

One of the things I am most passionate about is helping people to understand and experience God’s amazing love for them.  In sharing with others, I grow in my own faith.  This is what motivates me to serve as a missionary.

For some years now, I have been affiliated with Renewal Ministries, an organization based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, that fosters evangelization and renewal in the Catholic Church “by helping people know the personal love of God in Jesus and grow in holiness” (www.renewalministries.net).  Renewal Ministries sends mission teams to over 35 countries around the world.  Most missions have a charismatic dimension, but are intended to be an event for the whole Church.  My experience going on short-term mission trips to Tanzania, China, and Papua New Guinea definitely influenced our decision to become a full-time missionary family with Lay Mission-Helpers.

Recently, a team from Renewal Ministries joined me for a week here in Cameroon.  We led huge rallies in six parishes in four different cities.  We also facilitated some training sessions with priests and religious, and with lay leaders in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.  It was a very fruitful week, and very positively received.

I have now been invited to serve as the Country Coordinator for future missions in Cameroon, and I will be attending a meeting in Ann Arbor at the end of September.  This means that Renewal Ministries will cover expenses for me to lead teams in the future, collaborating with the local Church leadership here in Cameroon to provide training and support for the work of evangelization and renewal.  I had the opportunity last week to meet with six bishops from four dioceses at their annual regional meeting, and they seemed very positive about what Renewal Ministries has to offer.

I see this as a nice complement to my missionary service as a Lay Mission-Helper.  The potential for an ongoing (perhaps yearly) trip to Cameroon will allow me to build on the relationships formed here, both with Cameroonian leaders and with other missionaries.  I am very excited and grateful for this additional opportunity to serve, to travel, and to share God’s love with others!

-Pete