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