A Day in the Life…

Though this might not be a typical day in my life, I thought it would be interesting enough to share.
My day began at 2am. I awoke to the voice of my teammate and close neighbor Barry, who came to my bedroom window to warn me of an ant invasion that was already beginning to take over my house and come through the bedroom windows. There are many kinds of ants here, but one specific type, the driver ants, can be a true menace. When these insects are on the move, you don’t want to be in the way! They travel in wide trails that can sometimes be several feet wide and voraciously eat any meat that might get in their way, including living animals. The night before last, our friend Augustine lost a chicken to the ants that had come through. He, his wife, and some other close neighbors spent the whole night by the fire to avoid being eaten alive. I was a little more fortunate, as I had ample notice and was able to vacate my house before too many made it inside. I high-tailed it to the refuge of Reda’s house, where I spent the rest of the night on the couch. Barry and his wife Desma spent the night with the kids in their room, as the rest of the house was crawling with the vicious little critters. We were all a bit edgy and on-alert through the night, and every sound and movement was suspect as we kept an ear out for more invasions.
At 7am, I wearily walked back to my house and had a breakfast of oatmeal and a boiled egg. I was very grateful for my cup and half of coffee. After spending some time reading my Bible and in prayer, I headed off to Barry and Desma’s house. I was a little late for our meeting, but they didn’t mind, as they had let the kids sleep in after being awoken during the night. We sang and prayed together, and then we spent a couple hours discussing various aspects of language and culture as a part of my ongoing orientation.
Toward the end of the morning, Reda came to tell me that we had some patients under the mbanjo (a little palm leaf shelter). We saw an older man who has pneumonia and COPD, a close neighbor who has been having lots of trouble with foot sores, a young boy with a badly infected finger, his brother with a tropical skin disease called Yaws, and a young man with a dental abscess. After a bandage change, distribution of appropriate antibiotics to each one, and some patient teaching, we were done, and I headed home to research the best technique for draining a dental abscess. Then I returned to Reda’s for a delicious lunch of grilled fish and fries.
Feeling a bit drowsy, I decided it was time for some R&R. I borrowed a book from the bookshelf and settled down to read for a while. Later in the afternoon, I made a visit to Bilinga Pauline, who lives just a kilometer down the road from us. My goal was to do a little bit of language learning, and Bilinga, her sister and a whole gang of kids were glad to oblige. We talked about the ant invasion, the children, and the animals. Upon returning home, I stopped to visit with teammates and then fixed supper. Tonight we will have a team prayer meeting and then turn the satellite internet on for an hour of internet access. Hopefully we will have an uneventful and restful night

A Dusty Jog

Today I went jogging on a dusty road carved through the rainforest. For some that would be a once in a lifetime experience, and a dream come true. For me, it is a dream come true, but it is also “just life.” While we were jogging, I commented to my teammate that it sure was nice out today, and she responded by pointing out how cool it is to be able to jog through the rainforest like we do. I agree! As we ran today, I enjoyed the tranquility of birds flitting about, the majesty of some scattered remaining canopy trees and the company of a friend.
The road that leads to our house is much different than I remember it. It has not been maintained in some time, so there are large ruts, potholes and boulders scattered here and there, and the surrounding forest is fast encroaching in on it. If it were not being used at all, I bet the road would completely surrender to the rainforest in a matter of just a couple months.
Today was an overcast day. It was still warm, like it usually is here, but we did not have the dry season sun that is so common this time of year. In fact, even though it is dry season, we have had several hard rains. I think it is quite nice, as the rain keeps the dust level down, but I hope the unusual weather is not affecting the local agriculture.

What I Learned in School Today

In August of 2001 I went back to school for the express purpose of preparing for the mission field. With nursing school, support raising, mission training, French language learning, and various other trainings and activities, it has taken until now to finally be prepared enough to arrive in Cameroon. So now the learning is finished and I can start this ministry that I have been preparing for so long, right? Well, no, and yes…
Today I started reading a little booklet entitled “Language Learning IS Communication- IS Ministry!” by E. Thomas Brewster and Elizabeth S. Brewster. It talks about how important it is to learn the language and the culture of a target people group. It emphasizes the importance of taking the humble posture of a learner. As a cross-cultural missionary, I cannot pretend to know better how to speak or act in my new culture than the people that I have come to minister to. I have lots of knowledge to share, and a big part of my job here is sharing information, but I am not the ultimate authority on everything. If a foreign missionary were to come to California, he or she would have to earn the respect of those in my home town before having an effective ministry. That respect is not earned by proudly showing how much knowledge one has, but by placing value and importance in the language and the culture of local people.
So my job, as a foreign missionary is to be a learner, for now and forever. No matter how proficient I become in Baka, no matter how many years I am here, no matter how well I do my job, I will always be an outsider and I must always take the posture of a learner. My hope is that by taking that humble posture, I will show God’s love to those around me.