Counting Our Blessings

We are very happy to say life in Cameroon is moving along nicely.  God has graced us with so many blessings we feel overwhelmed.  We left the U.S. with much support and well wishes and then arrived in Cameroon with similar sentiments.  The people here have been very welcoming and excited to have us live with them.  We are grateful for all the guidance we have received from our neighbors.  The greatest treasure thus far are the many relationships we have been able to cultivate is such a short amount of time.  Our favorite saying here is "we are together."  Every time we hear this it reminds us of God's call to us to be here.  Even better is we have had the people closest to us explain that we are now part of their family.  It is humbling and an honor to be part of so many families.

The kids love their life here, although they would love life anywhere.  Everyone pays a lot of attention to all three kids.  Many of the people here treat our children as if they were their own.  Honora and Clare started at the local catholic school.  Honora is enjoying all her friends but she says she still doesn't understand what they are saying (they speak English but have accents).  Clare was brave and started in the nursery with 75 other kids in one classroom but it turned out to be too stressful for her so we decided to let her stay home.  Patrick walks around like he is the king of our neighborhood.  People constantly feed him and it was just pointed out to us that he has a little Cameroonian belly from all the feedings.  Our most treasured gift is our neighbors.  The family that lives next door adore our children and spend a lot of time with our kids in their outdoor kitchen, cooking over a fire.  They are in the attached picture with the kids sitting on their laps.

Work for Maura and Ryan is going well.  The pace of life here is slower but that does not mean we are not as busy.  Maura is working at the local pharmacy that supplies medications for the 24 clinic in the Archdiocese of Bamenda.  Her work is very critical to the operation of the remote village clinics but she does miss the client contact.  She travels to the remote village clinics a few times a month.  Ryan is working as campus minister at the local and only Catholic university in Cameroon.  The students are eager to discover all that he has to offer.  He foresees many wonderful opportunities to engage the students while accompanying them on their spiritual journeys.

For Thanksgiving we only invited two people over as we had a rough week of kids being sick.  The evening was very nice and tasted just like home.  After dinner we had a few more neighbors over for dessert.  (Picture of dinner table was taken on Thanksgiving.)  For Christmas we plan to spend it in our new home and experience all the festivities.

We still struggle with missing family and loved ones especially this time of the year.  There is a large missionary community in Bamenda which has been supportive of us being here.  

Our blog is continually being updated so please visit it for ongoing reflections on our lives in Cameroon (http://martinfamilyincameroon.blogspot.com)  Also, Ryan started an email titled "Daily Ramblings" to give a more day to day look at life here.  If you are interested in receiving that please let us know.

Enjoy this time of eager anticipation of the coming of Jesus!

Lots of Love,

The Martins (Honora, Clare Rose, Patrick, Maura and Ryan) 

P.S.-We would like to start a prayer calendar.  If you wish to support us through prayer please pick one day a month that you would commit to praying for us.  Let us know what day you pick so we know who is praying for us and we can pray for you too.  For example, someone would pick the 4th day of each month to pray for us (in other words a number between 1-31).  Its ok if more than one person picks the same day.  On that day we ask for you to pray for us in any way you feel called, it could be through petitions, specific form of prayer or send us an email/letter/care package.  Thank you!