Having
some down time has been really nice to be able to be more present to life
around us. One of my favorite moments of
the past week was the kids and I went on a walk and upon our return the boys from
the neighborhood were so excited to see the kids. They were all so happy and saying they had
something for the kids.
One
of the boys, Joel, we had not seen in awhile.
He is one of the sweetest boys.
He handed Patrick a sword he had made out of bamboo. For the girls he built a race car for
them. Each of the gifts were
personalized with their names and a message written on them. Patrick’s sword said “Sword for Joy.” Joel must be thinking Patrick will use the
sword to bring joy, we are not sure that will be the case.
Regardless,
I was touched by his thoughtfulness. I
found out he had been on vacation to the village and while there he created
these gifts. It is remarkable the
generosity people have here for us. It
is embarrassing at how little we give compared to how much is given to us
here.
Friday
we drove to Kumbo, about 2 hours away, to visit the Horne’s (another family
from Lay Mission-Helpers). We lived with
the Horne’s during our training in Los Angeles so we have gotten to know them
well. They have 5 kids the same ages as
our kids so all 8 of them had a blast.
We had a nice visit Friday evening with them and the highlight was the
fish tacos with homemade tortillas they made us.
Saturday
morning we drove about 45 minutes to Tatum to go to the wedding of Debbie,
another Lay Mission-Helper who just finished her 3 years here. Her fiancé is from the US and came to have
the wedding here. Debbie’s parents were
the only family members that were able to come (they had never been out of the
US).
Three
out of the four of the Lay Mission-Helper families were able to attend the
wedding so it was special for us to be there to support her. It was our first church wedding in Cameroon
so it was a neat experience for us too.
The bishop was the celebrant of the wedding along with 11 other
priests. The bishop said in his 27 years
of being a priest he had never celebrated a white person’s wedding so it was
special for him.
It
was a true missionary moment for Debbie and James to share their wedding with
the people she had been living with for the past 3 years. They were very appreciative and excited for
them.
-Ryan
