Jan 26, 2007: Prepping for the School Retreat Olympics

Good Day All,

It is amazing how fast time goes by here. It seems like just yesterday we were having Christmas dinner in the North. Second Semester is twice as busy as the first from what we have been told. We are plugging along fine now that the health fairy has had a visit or 2. Our school retreat is coming up next month and we are busy planning for that. This year grades 9-12 go to a place called the Rock Farm about three hours south of the city. It is a resort of some type and the high schoolers (about 80) and most of the staff go for 4 days of guest speakers, worship time and fun. It is quite an event. We start at 7:30 and quit around 10 pm every day. There are events all day with plenty of free time for the kids to splash in the pool or play soccer. They are placed in 1 of 8 small groups for bible studies and other lessons. I am on a committee to organize and officiate the Olympic Games. Day 3 afternoon is for the Games and each team is 2 small groups together. We have a 4-way tug-o-war, and a cheering competition in store plus a few individual games like the coconut put, limbo, Frisbee golf, waterballoon volleyball and canned food eating. We also have a few elective type classes like orienteering, mock trial and an Art class. Betsy is teaching an American Sign Language class as well. She is also on the Night Games committee. She is working with a group of kids planning these games. So far they are planning on having a talent no talent night, a board game night as well as a large capture the flag with a twist game. It will be a lot of fun but a lot of work.

The girls basketball team is on a roll. They have been improving steadily and are playing very well going into the playoffs next week. We scheduled a game this past Wed against the Yaoundé city champs FUSTEL. They are in the other league for big city high schools. I was very impressed with our ball movement and shooting. We ended up winning by 16 and every girl scored and had at least 1 rebound. It was the most fun I have ever had coaching. This is a very special group of girls and I will be sad to see the season come to an end.

‘til next time. GOD Bless and take care.

Brian & Betsy

Dec 31, 2006: "Happy Happy!" (A Xmas trip to the far north)

Good Day All,

One thing we find very interesting here are the little nuances about the wide variety of cultures here. One such thing is that Cameroonians from the NWest say "Happy Christmas" and to that you would reply "Happy Happy". We had a small gathering on Sunday 17 Dec after the kid's Christmas program at church which went fantastic. Betsy got so many compliments. The place was packed and the kids were great. We took Alfred our night man and his wife Edeline and daughter Brenda and Oliver our day man to the service and then had them over to our place after. Betsy made pizza and Brenda (age 5) and I decorated our small tree. It’s a good thing she was there to fix all my mistakes. We had a few small gifts for them and they were very happy. We borrowed the video projector from school and put in The Wizard of Oz for them all. Edeline was on the edge of her seat the whole time. They don't get too many film opportunities in the village.

We had a great time up in the far north. We left on Wed 20 Dec on the train and were fortunate enough to have a Cameroonian man who works for the school go down and reserve a spot and pick up tickets for us or we would have been miserable. There were about 500 people trying to get on this train and pushing and shoving each other to get reserved seats. We got a cabin with 2 beds which was not too good but considering the alternative it was great. Once they opened the doors for boarding it was mayhem. People getting trampled and shoved and pushed around trying to get on and get a seat because there were about 200 more people with tickets than seats. There were people everywhere. The restaurant car had at least 150 people crammed in every inch. I had to step over families lying on the floors in the pathways and Army guys with machine guns passed out in the walkway between the cars. I think it is written somewhere that one shall not wake up a tired crabby man with an automatic rifle no matter how bad you have to use the bathroom. We had stopped about 3 hours from Ngoundere and we got a knock on the door. It was a security guy telling us that “the machine is spoiled”. We translated that into the train engine crapped out. 6 hours later they got another engine that pushed us the rest of the way. Instead of getting into town at 0930 we get in about 330 pm which is too late to catch the last bus to Maroua that would get us in before dark. We are strongly recommended not to take bush taxis after dark because of thieves and crazy drivers. We ended up meeting a woman from Italy on the train who incidentally didn’t speak French either and we decided to go to Garoua instead which is about half way to Maroua. 31 people crammed into a large van with room for about 20 comfortably. We got in about 900 and found a taxi that took us to a Catholic mission where we got a room. Our cell phone had quit working somewhere along the way so we were about 10 French lessons short of getting anyone to help us out. We made it back to the bus stop and almost 5 hours, 3 crying babies, 8 million potholes and 4 crossword puzzles later rolled into Maroua where a missionary family met us and took us up to the Smith’s. They were hosting all the families from the area for an English (British) Christmas party. The Smiths are from England working as translators and running a Christian organization there. Jacob is a 9th grader and is in Betsy's IGCSE History class. He got to pick any teacher to invite and he picked her so I get to go as default.

They have 3 boys and live in a small village about 5 off-road vehicle miles from a paved road. They cook outside with kerosene and use solar power for electricity. The sun heats jugs of water for baths and they have drop toilets. Tony designed and built their little compound about 10 years ago when they arrived and has become a much respected man in the village. The people are called Muyang and are one of about 6 different language groups in an area of about 50 square miles. If you walk in any direction for 2 miles the people are speaking a whole other language. I was told that about 200 years ago the Fulani people from Chad and Niger and Sudan worked their way down to this area and gave the all the tribes 2 choices. 1 – become Muslim 2 – Die. Some converted, some fought and lost but most of the tribes moved up into the mountains where the nomadic herdsmen Fulani would not follow and they didn’t. The area is very dry most of the year and water is scarce so I couldn’t imagine how they managed collecting water up there in the dry season but they did. Anyway, about 50 years ago when Cameroon got independence and cleaned things up a little they started moving back down onto the flats to their old lands. Inevitably, tensions arose and there are still problems today but for the most part people leave each other alone. Its interesting driving through there villages seeing 2 small settlements right next to each other where one is Christian and the other Islam. And they don’t even speak anything close to the same language. I couldn’t even begin to try to understand all the politics. Anyway, we went to Waza Park on the 23rd for a little safari. We saw tons of giraffes and millions of birds. There were warthogs, ostriches, antelope, gazelles and some weird really fast monkeys. We drove around for a long time looking for the elephants but they were hiding somewhere. Our guide and I went off into the bush to look for sign and found beds and tracks and a line of trampled brush that a blind man could follow but no elephants. He knew some French but “watch out for snakes” is easily translated into English. We got back to the house and had a very nice dinner. The Smith’s play a lot of games and spend a lot of time in the Bible and we loved every minute of it. On Christmas day we went to a service in the village and even prepared a song to sing with Jacob (9th grader at RFIS) on trumpet. The service is kind of off the cuff and was good even though everything was in Muyang. After lunch we went back down to see the party with dancing and drumming. We took some pictures and soon all the kids started following Betsy around trying to get in the pictures. I decided to have some fun and found 3 rocks and started juggling for them. Within 1 minute I had at least 250 kids circled up around me watching. I am not an expert juggler and really only have one trick and they could have done it all day long. We said goodbye and headed back up to the house and soon realized that they were all coming with us. Tony said “you got ‘em, they’re yours now”. They eventually lost interest and headed back to the party. We got a ride from the Smiths all the way down to Garoua on Wed 28 Dec and took a bush taxi back to Ngoundere where we would catch the train the next day. We got a taxi right away which isn’t hard to do when you stick out like a corn stalk in a bean field. In our best French we asked to go to the Lutheran Mission where we had an American guy waiting for us. It’s well after dark and there are no lights so he drops us off and leaves and the guard confirmed we were at the right place. The first red flag was the nun that took us to our room. The second was the picture of Mother Mary on the wall in our room. Since our phone was dead we couldn’t call the guy. After breakfast in the morning we managed to relay our predicament to the nun and she drove me over to the other place where I got everything straightened out. After 2 breath-taking rides on motorcycle taxis, I had train tickets in hand and got back just in time for lunch. We got home Fri morn and invited Barbara (the Italian from the train – we met her again on the return) to stay over and we sent her to the train station this afternoon. She is the most energetic person I have ever met. She teaches Art History in Rome and every Dec for the last 10 years has toured a different part of Africa by herself. She has just a backpack and sleeping bag and makes it up as she goes. She wants us to go to Rome and visit. Her family owns a pretty successful restaurant there. So, our Christmas was certainly the most interesting we have ever had. School starts again on Jan 8 so we are just hanging around and might go to the beach in Kribi again next week with some other teachers.

We want to thank everybody for your thoughts and prayers as we finish the last half of our first year. We are trying to arrange speaking engagements for next summer so we can raise the remainder of our support. We would very much like to be able to come back next year but it will take a lot of financial support and God's will for that to happen. Trying to raise support from here is very difficult so we will definitely be coming back home in June.

We also would like to send out a reminder to those who pledged support but have not yet sent in your pledge. There are quite a few who are behind and we respectfully request that you send it in so we can see how we sit as far as our budget goes. We appreciate all that everybody has done for us and wish you all a Happy New Year!

Brian & Betsy

Dec 9, 2006: red season snakes; helping choirs, dances & videos

Hey All,

It seems there is a chill in the air, the leaves are gone and we are faced with another cold and dreary winter. The bite of frosty weather and warm cider fill up the lazy days. Everywhere except here. It's in the 80's and humid and getting hotter everyday. We have had 1 tiny rainshower in the past 4 weeks. They call it "red" season because the soil here is mostly volcanic rock and clay. Dust blows up from the cars and coats everything near the road a rust color. They have to spray down the road next to the classrooms every morning to keep it under control. It also seems to be bug and snake season. They seem to be in full force lately. A bunch of snakes have been relieved of duty around school these past weeks. There is a biologist guy who works for SIL that collects them and does something with them. Apparently, he has a fairly wide variety.

The girls had their 2nd game today. We came back from 10 down and lost it with 3 seconds left when they hit 2 freethrows to win. Bummer. They played hard and had fun. We do a short devotion as a team before the games and close after the game at center court. Our girls invite the other teams to join us and the school today was not a Christian school and the whole team came over except the coach. It was really special to have these girls join us considering it is an American school that has very few Americans. At least this time I got to close myself. Last time, the other team only spoke French so I had to make a last minute change in plans and have one of my girls close. There is so much more respect and courtesy in the girls league than the boys. I really enjoy it and it is much less stressful for everybody.

Tonight is the big formal Christmas dance/dinner. Betsy and I have been helping set up all day. We weren't asked but we knew they didn't have enough help so I brought in 50 tables and 200 chairs from all the classrooms down to the courts and Betsy spent her afternoon cooking and cutting fruit. It went well but I feel sorry for the partents who will be waiting to pick up their kids from cleanup at midnight. Its still going now but we are going to bail out soon.

There is a choir thing north of town tomorrow that Betsy is doing something related to American Sign language for. She may have been asked to be an interpretor. I will not be attending the concert but I will be sadly missing out and shedding a tear all through my weekly street hockey game with the Cannucks. The sacrifices I make............

There has been a videographer here this week making a teacher recruiting video for the school. He asked me when was a good time to get some diverse students to do a little intro for him so I brought down my World Geog class. 2 Germans, 1 Colombian, 3 Cameroonians, 1 Irish, 1 English, 1 Australian/American 2 Americans and 1 Texan ( you know how they are ). They did very well.

That's about it from here. French classes are going well. We can conjugate verbs now.

God Bless and stay warm.
Brian (& Betsy)

Dec 4, 2006: hockey weather eating girls rubics cube

Hello All,

No snow here. A guy told me that they got hail once during a big storm when he was a kid. I guess they still talk about it.

I got invited to play street hockey by a bunch of Cannucks yesterday. We had 6 on 6 for a while on the double basketball court. The goalie on the other team was the soccer coach who was a goalie in college. Not a lot got by him.

Betsy has her final exam in her Foods class tonight. I keep telling the academic director that I want to teach an elective course called Eating. It would meet right after the foods class but she won’t listen to reason.

Dry season here. It rained every day for 2 months and then one day the high level winds switched and it hasn't rained in 2 weeks. It has gotten a little hotter and a little less humid but you still sweat. B.O is not socially awkward here. It's not that people are dirty it's just that hygiene products are luxury items for most people.

Betsy leads a small prayer group of girls at school and had them over Friday for a girl's night. They watched movies on DVD until 0430. We got the big screen projector from school and played them through the laptop on the wall with speakers so we had a private little movie theater. We finally rousted them all up at about 1000 and went to the fair. It was like a craft show with lots of food. Some of it edible.

That's it from here. I'm doing a short history unit in my Geo 9 class and I have to cover the late 70's and 80's today. I wish I had a rubics cube.

Later,
Brian

(editor's note: If you've seen B&B's email updates, you know the subject lines are pretty generic. I hope the title of each blog entry is a bit more descriptive, yet not too bizarre. Enjoy?! ~clb)

Nov 24, 2006: How we spent our Thanksgiving

We came in today to finish up a big school report with all the other teachers. Most of it has to do with how we are making the school better compared to what it used to be. Since we have no idea on how it used to be, we find ourselves frequently staring into space at these meetings. It’s all important stuff but it is hard to contribute.

French class went well. It was just basic stuff but it looks like it will be a good time.

We are planning to spend the weekend in Douala and it looks like we will be leaving soon. We got out of the meetings early and we will get an early start.

We spent yesterday at the Stoker’s with the Ekstrands, Sanchezs and others. The food was marvelous and we all had a great time. We did some hymns and a few other fun things. There were about 20 of us in all. We invited 2 single teachers who missed invites to other places and they had a good time as well.

That’s it from here. Hope all is well.

Brian & Betsy

Nov 22, 2006: Sightseeing plans; Basketball ends and begins

Hello All.

Things here are running smooooooothly along. We have a half day tomorrow and a few hours fro teachers in the morning on Friday. Betsy and I are planning a trip to Duoala on Friday night for the weekend with a couple of other teachers. There is a Baptist mission there that rents rooms real cheap and we can use one of the Covenant cars. Betsy is doing most (all) of the planning and there is a lot to see. There is an old slave fortress close to the city that we want to see as well as some other historical things.

We start French classes tonight. Our new Covenant teacher is offering a beginners class on Wed nights and we are starting in a few minutes.

I have been asked to be the head Girls BBall coach this year. I have never coached girls before but my advantage is that I already know them all unlike the boy’s season that started the first week of school. I am real excited to start and it will be fun.

The boys finished the season in fine style. We had our Championship game last Saturday against our archrivals ASOY at their place. We lost bad the last time we played them there so we definitely were ready for a tough road. We were down 2-0 before we scored a few and never looked back. We finished by winning by 10. The team stepped up and played great. Everybody got some playing time and it was a great feeling to see them hoist that trophy. I think the whole school was there because the girl’s soccer team played 2 hours earlier at the same place. I am very proud of them and can honestly say that I learned more from them than they learned from me.

Brian & Betsy

Nov 4, 2006: Fixin' roads

Good Day All,

Hope all is well there in the frozen tundra. It is hard to take my mind off another deer season missed. The only thing to hunt here are mangos in my back yard. Things are going well. Our health is on the upswing after weeks of not so good. We have been battling some real nasty head colds this week along with most of the staff. Classes are going well and all the kids are trucking along. betsy and I had the opportunity to speak at the chapel service a few weeks ago and tell everybody a little bit about ourselves and how we got here in our faith journey. That was fun.

Today I spent the morning working in one of the neighborhoods by school fixing some washed out roads and cleaning some road ditches. We cut out a bunch of overgrown vines and bushes next to a soccer field and fixed some steps, too. I saw that it needed work a few weeks ago and thought it would make a great community service project for the school. I put up a flyer saying we would do it Saturday from 0800 - 1200 assuming i might get a few kids to come and help. i enlisted a couple of janitors at the school and my night watchman to come down too. I was very surprised to see 19 kids from school show up at 0800 on a Saturday morning with shovels and rakes in their hands ready for work. We got so much done. THe people down there were very excited to have the roads fixed. It was really great.

When we were done with that I had to get the court ready for a basketball game at 2pm. The other team wanted to play at their school but we said no way because it was our turn to host. We went so far as to bring the team taxi money on Friday to insure they would come because they didn't show up last time. They finally came at 330pm and we started. We played so well adn i was really proud of the boys. We were up 24-4 at the end of the first. I saw the rain coming in hard up the hills so i worked in all the younger players and my bottom 5 guys played most of the 2nd quarter. We were ahead by 12 or so at halftime and the rain came. We play outside with no roof so the concrete court gets real slick when wet so we called it quits. We have had 11 games scheduled so far: 4 1/2 games played, 3 1/2 rainouts and 3 no-shows. THe other schools don't want to travel to play so they just don't come. They sometimes call later in the day and tell us they aren't coming but not always. The soccer coach says "AWA!" (Africa Wins Again!)

That's it for now. I better get going before the traffic at the bush taxi stand builds up and I get stuck for an hour.

Take care and stay warm!
Brian (& Betsy)

Aug 17, 2006: Getting to know the neighborhood

How busy we have been! Brian’s basketball team looks quite promising. Final team cuts will happen in a week or so. 12 spots, 23 boys. 2 local guys, Jean-Paul and Mark, are helping coach as well. The players represent at least 7 different countries.

Betsy is keeping very busy with 3 classes. She has US and World History and Foods. She also is running an American Sign Language class, co-directing the student council and chairing the learning support (special ed.) department.

Brian has an IGCSE (Advanced Placement) Geography, World Geography and a P.E. class. He is co-directing the Community Service effort, chairing the Social Studies department ACSI (Association of Christian Schools International) self-study, coordinating intramural athletics and coaching the boys basketball team. It seems like a lot, but the staff is very closely knit and everyone is willing to lend a hand wherever needed so we get a lot of support. We are very impressed by the attitudes of the students. They are very respectful and driven. Many of them do not claim English as a first language so it can be challenging. Brian’s World Geography has students from 8 different countries.

We like our house very much. It is quite spacious and more than we need, but it was the only place available at the time. We are back down to just the 1 cat. She is kind of a pest sometimes but does okay.

We ride into school with some other teachers from our neighborhood and 1 student. It is about 10 minutes or so of squished behinds, but we have a lot of laughs. We usually taxi home together after practice or lesson work.

It seems that the only people here who are in a hurry for anything are the taxi drivers. The streets have no lines and no real rules except don’t hit anybody. It is not uncommon to come over a hill and see 3 cars wide coming at you when only 2 will fit. It is like a 2-way go-cart track at 50 mph. Taxis make up 2/3 of the vehicles on the road and we can get from our house to school fairly quickly and for about 200 CFA (40 cents) each. (we learned the hard way to have exact change) You pay by the person and the driver will stop and pick up more people along the way. Most are mid-90’s Toyota Corollas but not all. We rode in one yesterday that had 530,000 miles on it. We met one driver who many missionaries hire to take them to markets and guard their stuff. Emmanuel is a devoted Christian and a real nice guy. He thought we were pulling his leg when we told him about stores in the USA that are as big as 4 football fields and have everything you could want to buy and more. Stores here are open sometimes, have a wide variety sometimes and give change for big bills sometimes. He was kind enough to give us the secret for telling when to pick mangos. We have 4 mango trees in our yard and had no idea how to tell a ripe one from a green one. The fun starts when you draw straws to see who climbs the tree.

We have recently discovered a “store” very near our house. Clement has fresh eggs, bleach, some bread, candy and some various bathroom items. It all fits in about 15 square feet of shelves and the prices are pretty good. The whole store is about the size of a closet but we like it (he speaks English). That’s it for now. We will be in touch soon. Thanks for the thoughts and
prayers.

Brian & Betsy

Aug 8, 2006: Johnson's Time Warp

The News on Getting Started at RFIS

We got off to a rocky start on Tuesday the 1st. We got out of town much later than anticipated and after stopping at Wal-Mart in Mankato, we got a flat tire in the pouring rain at 1:30 am. We managed to limp into a motel with a canopy and get it changed. We got to my sister’s in Eden Prairie at about 3:00 am. Up at 7:00 and off to the airport by 9:00. The flights were pretty uneventful all the way to Brussels.

We got in there about 8:00 am local time. We had about 27 hours on the ground so we decided to get a hotel room but we couldn’t check in until noon so we sat in a coffee shop in the airport before heading to the hotel. After a quick nap, we headed into the city for a look around. The people were all very friendly and the architecture was amazing. After another sleepless night, we were on our way Friday morning.

We met some other teachers and a handful of students on our flight going to RFIS at the airport so that was nice. There is only 1 flight per week from Brussels to Yaounde. We met our contact at the bag claim and after waiting quite a while everybody had their bags. It seems that when you want to get through the customs check, your level of hassle and headache is directly proportional to the amount you pay to the “porters” to handle your luggage. There were at least 15 or so of us to get through, so we feared the worst but it was less than 10,000 CFA ($20) for all 6 porter guys total.

We had a couple quick stops to drop people off and then a hot meal that was very welcome. The teachers and staff were having a kick-off party that night and we managed to keep our eyes open through it. We got dropped off at our house about 10 pm and were greeted by an overflowing catbox and an all-night party down the “street”. Our sleep total in 4 days was about 12 hours.

We will get out another newsletter in a couple of weeks once we get into a rhythm. Betsy arranged to get rid of the cats and that should happen soon. Brian has been named head boys basketball coach and starts practice next week. More to follow. Bon jour!

Brian & Betsy

Updates from the archive ...

Greetings, JohnsonsinAfrica readers!

The blog editor has discovered some previous "Brian and Betsy" updates hiding in her email and will share them with you all. My apologies if some are missing. Enjoy!

Peace, clb

Highlights from Girls' BB Games and a Geography Field Trip

Good day all,

Once again we find ourselves at the end of the week and looking forward to the weekend for some relaxation and rest. Both Betsy and I have picked an additional class so our free time is scarce. Christmas break was very relaxing and we managed to wind down very well but it seems that as soon as school started again we caught every bug going around. Betsy got malaria AGAIN and I have been fighting a head cold and a bad case of digestive rollercoaster. Betsy hit her head getting into the car the other day and it is still swelled and painful. I seem to have developed tendonitis or something in my lower leg in the shin area so driving and running is very painful. I can still get around alright but it is tender. So we ask that you just keep our health in your prayers as well as progress towards our support goal.

The Girls basketball team was victorious over our archrivals ASOY last Saturday. We were down by 6 with 4 minutes to go and managed to pull ahead by 1 with 15 seconds left. The big scorer from the other team threw up a wild 3 pointer with 5 seconds left and the ref called a foul so she got 3 free throws. If you remember the first time we played them we lost by 1 when the same girl hit the only 2 free throws her team made in the whole game at the end so I knew the LORD would not hand us the same heartbreaking fate twice. She swished the first and clanked the next 2. On the rebound our best shooter was fouled with no time left. I about had a heart attack after both attempts missed. While we were regaining our composure and getting ready for overtime, the referees called a technical foul on a girl from the other team who had fouled out and came back in the game at the very end so we got 2 more free throws to win it. I conferred with the other coaches and sent up our point guard to finish the game. To make a long story longer, she missed them both. Overtime. The first play was ASOY on a breakaway lay-up to go ahead. I immediately put in a sub for defense. The sub lives next door to us and is from the NWest province. She is probably the fastest high school girl I have ever seen ( only a 10th grader) and gets a lot of steals. She guarded their big shooter and didn’t let her score another point. We ended up winning 42-41 in overtime.

This past Wednesday we played the big high school in the city that we beat pretty easily back in December. I was expecting another easy road but they showed up (an hour late) with 5 or 6 new players all of which were at least 5’10”. There went my game plan. Because it was already after 5 and the sun is down at 6:30 we agreed to do 2 12 minute halves instead of 4 8 minute quarters. We started out good and kept them running. At the end of the first half they hit 3 crazy shots and a couple of free throws in a row and there went our lead. We were up 15-14 at the half. I put my speedy defender on their shooter for the next 8 or 9 minutes and that was all it took. We won 27 to 15. It was cool because the boys soccer team played the same school and got done just after our half time because we started late so the 100 or so people at that game showed up for ours and the girls responded very well.

The team we were supposed to play on Saturday forfeited already so we scheduled a game against Cite U which is the university women’s team. It will be good work but I am not getting my hopes up for a win. We will enter the playoffs in a tie for first place and play again on 31 Jan probably against the team we beat on Wednesday if they show up.

I have been talking with one of the translation team leaders here at our campus and hope to include some stuff about how the bible translation effort works in Cameroon and elsewhere. Just talking to him I am so amazed with how much GOD is working in Africa. It seems like there are so many obstacles in getting the Word to people and the ways things seem to fit together is truly divine intervention. Cameroon has 600 distinct languages and it is quite a team effort to get the work done.

That’s it from here. Sorry we have nothing really exciting this week except basketball. Betsy tells me all I talk about is sports in these letters so I thought I would tell you all about the other people we have met outside of the school. Next time, hopefully.

The picture is from a field trip my geography 9 class took to the new school property and a nearby quarry. On the left is a Cameroonian girl from the NW, next are two Cam boys and then a boy from India and 2 American MKs. Its a fun class and the kids seem to like it.

God Bless and take care.
Brian & Betsy

Please welcome, Conie, our blog editor!

Greetings, friends, family and other onlookers of "Johnson's in Africa!"

I'm a friend of Betsy's from high school and am volunteering to post Brian & Betsy's weekly updates here on the blog. I hope you find this helpful!

Cheers, Conie