Christmas update 07

Christmas Greetings

 

We just wanted to send a note out to everybody wishing you all a Merry Christmas. It seems like we just got here and already we are half done.

 

Things here are going well. We had a missionary family over last night for dinner and games. They returned this year from a 2 year furlough and have been good friends this year. Shirley has been helping coach the girl's bball team and her daughter is my starting point guard. They are a lot of fun and we are glad to have gotten to know them.

 

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Conie tonight. There is another family here that is expecting visitors on the same flight so we will convoy out to the Aeroport with them. Dennis seems to know everybody important and he says he can get us all the way in to the customs gate. Nobody is allowed in even to the bag claim without permission from guys with guns so I am skeptical. He seems confident so we'll see.

 

We have been invited down to Kribi on the 27^th by Dennis and his family and another family from New Brunswick Canada. Dan has a fishing boat and asked if I wanted to join him and his 2 sons for a little big fish fishing. He showed me some pictures of last year's catch so it should be fun.

 

We plan to go to Alfred and Oliver's village of Binka on the 1^st and 2^nd. New Years Eve lasts for about 2 days so traveling is not recommended on the 1^st but the big busses should be ok. We will probably stay in Bamenda overnight and go to Binka on the 2^nd. Binka is in the NEast corner of the Nwest province about 30 miles south of the Nigerian border. Betsy went up there last May and had a good time.

 

The Sanchez's borrowed our van to go down and visit the Smiths in Equatorial Guinea this week. Last time they used our van they blew a tire in the middle of nowhere and got stranded for a while. They were supposed to come back last night but we found out that the clutch burned out about 2 hours from the Cameroon border in the middle of the jungle. They found a mechanic last night and he is supposedly working on it now. I hope they make it back today. It would be a bummer if they had to spend Christmas in some strange little village alone. I almost went on that trip but decided not to with all the stuff we had to do to get ready for Kribi and Conie coming.

 

That's about it from here. No school - bball team is 5-0 - 3 days till the beach - We are both healthy - Christmas is here and all is well.

 

Take Care and God Bless

 

Brian & Betsy

WU 07Dec07

Good Day All,

 

Greetings from Cameroon. It seems that another semester is winding down and we are busy as ever.

Betsy's history class is studying the US Civil War and was seen last week reenacting Pickett's Charge from the Battle of Gettysburg. Because explosives and muskets are not in the budget this year, they had to settle for squirt guns and water balloons. The grassy hill behind the library served well as the Confederate students charged the Yanks. It was rather amusing when the whole class came in to assembly soaking wet. Including the teacher.

World Geo is in Latin America. I always like to have primary sources come into class so our lone Latin American representative will come in next week. She is a senior and her family is from Colombia even though she hasn't been back there for 8 or 9 years. It gets her out of Chemistry for 20 minutes.

PE finished a unit on self-defense. The last day I had them practice flipping someone who comes from behind and gets an arm around their neck. I set a mat on the grass and asked for a girl volunteer to flip and a boy attacker. My favorite former next-door neighbor from the Nwest agreed to be the victim. To say that she is in shape would be an understatement. She is about 130 lbs and can bench press more than most of the boys here. After I explained how to safely and effectively flip an attacker I had her try on a boy who is about 6'0" and 170 lbs. It's a good thing he is a good sport because she not only flipped him, but flipped him over so hard that he bounced back up a good 6 inches. He laid there for a second trying to refocus his eyes and reinflate his lungs. He got back up and was ok but a little less willing to volunteer for anything else.

We had the annual Girls Bball game vs. the SIL Women last night. Our school director was a real good player in her day and even after double digit knee surgeries still plays well. Another RFIS alumni who teaches at ASOY came over and she really played well. The girls team came out on top by 12 or so but the women put up a good fight. I had spent the last week or so brow-beating a few of the women teachers into playing. They all had a good time.

We are very much looking forward to Christmas and time away from school. Betsy's friend Conie is coming for 2 weeks to visit and we plan to keep her busy. We have been invited up to Oliver and Alfred's village of Binka in the Nwest for a few days. We also want to get down to Kribi for a little beach time and maybe some fishing.

Every year about this time the rains stop and is starts to heat up and it seems like everybody gets sick. We have been battling head colds and sinus problems for a few weeks now. Just when she started to get back to normal, Betsy came down with a stomach flu a few days ago. She missed a few classes and has been very weak. She was looking better this morning but we just ask for your prayers in getting her back to health.

 

That's it from here. Take Care and God Bless. And Happy Birthday to Imy.

 

Brian & Betsy