Ending Well

During our four months of training at the Mission House we were blessed with so many teachers and mentors. A lot of what they said didn’t sink in until after we were in mission, but then it made so much sense. One instructor emphasized the need to ease into the culture.  That is the opposite to my nature as I like to jump right in an get things organized and get involved. But I followed this advice and it served me well. I plan to do the same (to a lesser degree in Illinois).

Another thing we were told was it was less important what we do as to how we did it.  I found this to be true over and over again.  It was the presence of our family living in Cameroon that meant the most to people.  They of course appreciated our ministry, but they just really enjoyed our family---- Doctor, Madame Newburn and the Trinity as some would say. Our presence was the true present.

And now going through my head, singing to me daily is “end well”. An instructor had told us that and it is something that Pete does very well and I do poorly. I am busy with airline tickets and moving vans and buying a house and it is easy to forget to stay focused on the now. Additionally, I am not very good at goodbyes. I just want to say a quick goodbye or no goodbye and slip out the back door. Part of it is that I don’t want a lot of fuss made about me when I feel I have done so little.  Part of it is the tears that well up, when I start to say what people have meant to me here.

I have been trying as best I can to say goodbye.  The school year ended for the kids May 28. We gave the school a collage of our time at the school and sang to the kids at graduation. Pledge was just the right choice for our kids. It provided good education with so many great cultural experiences. I loved watching Jessica sign a prayer before meal at the assembly and chuckled watching Emily holding a banner against inter-tribal war during a dance performance.

I finished at the Treasure Center in grand style. They had a huge assembly to honor me and to thank me. They danced and sang and had memory verses. Yes, I cried as I said goodbye.  I love those children so. I am convinced that they gave me infinitely more than I gave them.

Other goodbyes are still to come as we finish our last few weeks here. Part of me is rushing to finish up here and get on to the next adventure.  But God whispers “every day is an adventure, don’t rush, breathe it in, cherish each moment, end well”.

-Joy

What's Next

What does one do when has finished an amazing, fabulous, arduous, life changing experience in Cameroon? How do you go back changed and keep what is good and not just return to the same old way of being. These things I guess I will know with time.

But here is what I do know:  Pete has accepted a job with Alpha USA.  He will be the Nation Associated Director promoting Alpha in the Catholic context.  That is a mouthful, but he will helping dioceses and parishes in the US implement a ten weeks course including a weekend retreat on the Holy Spirit. The office is located in Bannockburn, IL which is 31 miles north of Chicago.  It will involve some travel and we expect that he will be able to work from home some of the time.

On a wing a prayer, I flew to Chicago and looked at 25 houses in two days and on the third day put down an offer on a wonderful family friendly house in Lake Zurich.  This fulfills a dream I have always had to live in a Lake community. While not on the lake, our house is less than a mile from the swimming area. God willing we will close on the house August 12. 

I cannot begin to tell you how God answered prayer after prayer while I was there.  Transportation, housing, perfect house, great schools, furniture for the new house, leads on cars and on and on.

The kids will start school on the 24^th.  Emily will be in the 4^th grade and Jessica and Josh will be in the Middle School.  I was able to visit both schools and felt such peace about both schools. I feel confident that it will be the best transition possible. Jessica is very excited about being in middle school and Emily can’t wait to ride the bus.

We leave our beloved Cameroon on July 10^th and will be visiting family in New England and Colorado before heading back for our reentry program with Lay Mission Helpers.  We are all excited to see the LMH/ MDA a crew as well as a few other returning Missionaries at the Mission House where it all began in February of 2012.

My heart sings with joy for the way God has blessed us and continues to bless us. Thank you all for your prayers-keep them coming.

-Joy

Time in Cameroon (by Emily, Age 9)

I have a lot to talk about since I have not been doing any Blogs recently. (Sorry!) On this blog I’ll be talking about two things.  When we first came to Cameroon, what the experience has been and also about a journey we made to Limbe.

When we first arrived at the airport in Douala, I was too tired to really look around and explore very much. After all it was nearly midnight! It was all just a blur in my mind. I do remember staying at the guest house though. After what we had seen we expected something not very nice, but to our surprise there were nice beds and blankets and mostly everything people have in America.

There was a priest with us. We were asking him all our questions. It was a rainy evening. We weren’t expecting the rain because we weren’t used to it. One of the questions we asked him was, “does it rain like this every day?” Luckily we got into our rooms just before the rain.  Unfortunately, in the morning we had to go through the rain with our luggage.

The next morning, we started our trip to Bamenda. It’s a six or seven hour drive. We used to think one hour was a long time. Can you imagine seven? It was long, but it was nice, there was a lot to see. Finally we entered Bamenda. We were so eager to see our new home that we nearly died of waiting. When we saw how big and nice it was we were very pleased. There were several beautiful rooms: The living room, the dining room, the kitchen, the two bedrooms (Which we all had to share) and the bathroom. Because we thought we needed to, we made an extension to our house: A hallway, a bedroom and another bathroom. (One bathroom is not really enough for five people.)

Since we moved to our house we have made a lot of adjustments to the house. Like:

New tiles, new bunk beds, new shelves, a new oven, an extension to the house, new curtains, new paint, new cups, silverware and other kitchen things.

There are several other things we did to make our house better and more comfortable. At one point, all five of us were sharing one room. My parent’s bedroom was being kind of broken down. Back then all three kids had to share one room and my parents got the other one. It was really crowded.   

Living in Cameroon has been a wonderful experience for me and my family. I have really loved living here and will be sad to go back. Though I do miss being in America.

Now I’ll talk about my trip to the beach. A few weeks ago we made a trip to the beach. It’s a six hour drive there, if you’re driving quickly and there’s not much traffic. When we finally started it was pretty late, at least later than we expected to leave. It was a long six hours but when we finally got to a city, the place where we were going to be spending the night with some friends, we were really happy.

After a night we went to Limbe, the beach. When we got there it was raining. We found a small, but nice hut, but found out that there were no working air conditioners or T.Vs. So we asked for another room but the beds weren’t made. Then finally we got another room that was bigger with a whole other room.

The beach was really fun. I enjoyed the waves and the sand. We dug some holes but there were some little biting flies so we didn’t do that very much. The waves are huge in Limbe.  It was really fun surfing the waves. I must have caught and rode at least twenty waves while I was there. Although there were some disadvantages like giant crabs and the long six or seven hour drive there I really enjoyed the trip to the beach.

I can’t wait to see you all when we come back to the US.