A Painted World

This week has gone by fast for me, which I think is a good thing. By the time I post this I will be all finished teaching geometry! I still have to finish writing their test that their teacher will give them next week upon his return. But God has gotten me through this time. I am excited to be able to focus on my other classes more now.
I have moments in my days where I still can’t believe I am actually here. I like the days where I look around me and see so many new trees, stores, people, flowers, etc. It’s like my eyes are slow to adjust to my surroundings. I am seeing new depths to things I have seen everyday.
I have a fairly clear view of the sunset from my apartment on the top floor of my building. Liz and I like to go up onto the roof (which is safe, there is a very wide ramp to get up there and it is wide up top as well) which gives us a view of the whole sky, not only to the west, but to the east, north and south as well. The other day we sat and watched one of the most beautiful sunsets I have seen since being here. It was like I stepped into a painting. The clouds were perfectly still. They were puffy and thin each taking on a color of their own. The full moon was behind us already up in the purple blue sky. Shining around it were rays of pink sun clouds. It was truly spectacular.
Another day I was out running in the late afternoon as the shadows were getting longer. I was running on a red dirt road next to a soccer field with a team of Cameroonians playing and cheering. I passed two women whom I smiled and greeted, they did the same in return. I was taking in the sounds around me when I looked up and realized what an incredible blue the sky was against the small white clouds and the green palm trees. Then all of a sudden it was like I was removed from my body. It was like I was above the clouds looking down on this white woman running on the red dirt road surrounded by the beauty of African people and trees. I couldn’t believe that was me and that I am really here and truly blessed because of it.
A few nights ago I was awoken at 2 a.m. by a lightening/rain storm. I first closed all the windows, but I was wide awake so I sat there for almost an hour and listened to the rain and watched the lightening. I lit a candle and sat and journaled for a little while. While I was praising God for the power of his storm and the glory it brought to him, another thought came to me. I see God so clearly through creation and it flows from me naturally to praise him in the ways he reveals himself through sunsets, sunrises, blossoming flowers, growing trees, cool breezes, sunshine on a cold day, cloud formations, ocean waves, horses running, I could go on and on. But on this night I realized that as my creator God was making a storm over Cameroon, he was also creating a peaceful breeze on some beach, horses were running in some unknown field, there was a beautiful sunrise somewhere, possibly on the shores of Indonesia, and there was an incredible sunset on the western coast of Alaska. God was displaying his glory all over the world and I was blessed to be a small part of giving him praise for it.
Those are my thoughts for this week. God is forever faithful and constantly revealing himself to us. We just need to open our eyes to see it.
So I pray this week, that you may realize, through creation, how blessed and loved you truly are by the Living God.
May God’s grace and peace be with you,
AMY

This is not the sunset I was refering to, but still it is beautiful.

Blessings in Disguise

Hello friends and strangers who may read this. I realize that outside of my family, I don’t know who reads what I post each week. Sometimes I wonder why I post my personal thoughts and joys and struggles. I guess I post them because I am seeking to live in honesty and truth. I can’t always just share fun stories and say life is wonderful over here because it isn’t. I have great days and I have very challenging days just like each of you does. Serving God in the mission field doesn’t mean I know what I am doing with my life or have it all together. It just means that I desire to serve God with all that I am and follow him wherever he takes me. And it so happens that he has taken me to Cameroon Africa for this year. So here I go, sharing personal things again….Lately there have been more hard days than easy days. But last night I came to a sweet realization. Yesterday I was not thankful for the personal struggles and challenges I am facing right now. But last night in bible study a friend was talking about how easy it was (even though it shouldn’t be) for her to go through her whole teaching day without really thinking about or talking to God. I laughed inside because if I went through a day right now without talking to God, I wouldn’t make it through. That is when I saw the sweet blessing of my struggles. They draw me to fully rely and depend on God each day in so many moments of the day. My need for God is what is drawing me closer to him and that is what is giving me strength, hope, joy, laughter and peace right now. So you see, without the struggles, my joy would cease to exist as fully as it does right now. Tears came to my eyes last night, and even now, as I realized the sweet and beautiful blessing of my pain.
My pain isn’t life and death. Don’t worry about me, I am in God’s hands and will be more than ok. My struggles are in seeking God and his truth in my life and his reasons for me being here and teaching, when teaching is not what I want to be doing. But I am making it. I have only 4 more periods of geometry to teach before the teacher returns. I am very ready to be done teaching that.
Lately I have been craving pumpkin bread and hot apple cider. Mmmmm. It just sounds so good! I haven’t tried looking for pumpkin here, they might have it. I think I have seen some pumpkins growing on the side of the road by my apartment. There is this ‘juice’ called fuleray (I am certain that is not how you spell it, but that is how is sounds), made from flower petals and boiling water. It is bright red and kind of tart, but if you add lots of sugar it is good. Most times it is served cold, but I have heard it tastes excellent if you heat it with cloves and cinnamon. So you see, I might yet get to have cider and pumpkin bread, the African way! I would appreciate prayers to more fully see God’s blessings and understand his wisdom and purpose in me being here.
Thanks for reading this and praying for me and supporting me.
I pray for you, that you too may see the blessings God has placed in your path.
Peace,
AMY

Broken rooster, rapid streets and other thoughts.

Sorry about the delay! I was blessed with a long weekend this last weekend! Islam is one of the religions of Cameroon, so any holiday they have is declared a national holiday. Even though RFIS is a Christian school we take off any National holidays. Friday was declared the end of Ramadan for the Muslims and a national holiday; therefore I didn’t have to work! It was fabulous. We were waiting Thursday evening to hear on the news if it was going to be declared a holiday or not. I felt like I was waiting and hoping for a snow day! It was kind of fun and I definitely appreciated the day off.
I have joined the running club at school. This means that I train from September to January with a group of students and staff. Our goal is to get in shape to climb Mt. Cameroon in February. It is, I think, the tallest Mt. in West Africa. So far I am surviving the training. Right now we have to run 10k a week thru Oct. and Nov. I have never been a huge runner, but I want to enjoy running, so this will hopefully get me there. Yesterday (Tuesday) I went for my longest run yet, 6k! My knees and joints are very sore today. There are lots of hills to run around here. It was not only my first for running 6k, but also for running thru small rivers on the sides of the road. It was pouring rain during our run yesterday! The small ditches on the side of the roads were flowing with water and even had some strong ‘rapids’ in them. It was fun and made the long distance a lot cooler and seem easier. The air is so think here with water that when it is hot and you sweat it just pours off your body, so I preferred the rain to sweat! There was red water oozing out of my running shoes. Just another small adventure.
When you are little and learning animals and the sounds they make, you learn that a rooster crows. You also learn and see in movies, that is crows in the morning with the sunrise, like an alarm clock. I have come to determine that the roosters here are of a different breed. Last night as I was falling asleep around 10:15 a rooster in the yard next door decided to crow. I moaned and said out loud, to myself, “You have got to be kidding me!” Then it crowed a second time and I laughed at the ridiculousness of the very confused rooster. Then when it crowed the third time I was beginning to be annoyed. But thankfully it stopped. It started crowing again this morning to wake us all up. Which is what it is supposed to do right? But NOT at 3:30 in the morning!!! I have come to the conclusion that the roosters in Cameroon are either very confused, were taught wrong, or are simply broken.
I wrote a few weeks ago about my decision to continue subbing for geometry. I did say no. But my boss was unable to find a sub other than herself. She came to me apologizing and asking me to show her where I left off and how she should teach the class. Well, I still didn’t want to teach it, but knew I couldn’t let her take on more when her plate is already so full. So I am once again teaching Geometry. The teacher is now planning on returning on Oct. 27th. I am praying he doesn’t get delayed again. You can pray with me in that and also that I will be able to keep up with all my classes and teach them well, as well as keep a balance in the rest of my life. I have started my journey into learning to speak French. I am borrowing a computer program and have worked on it each day since I got it. You can pray for my understanding of the language as well.
I am in the stage of cultural transition where I am more homesick then I have been before. There are so many emotions I find myself going through and I am learning more and more about myself and about God and dependency on Him. I would love to hear from each of you. Your words bring such encouragement to me.
God bless you! AMY

Kribi!

Here are some pictures with the post so you can enjoy the beauty that I did each day! Enjoy!


I love it when God knows exactly what we need and gives it too us as well! That is what I feel like this time off has been. My beach trip to Kribi was wonderful. There were great times of fellowship with others and time to myself reading and walking. The beach is beautiful, unpopulated and natural. Not touristy at all. My favorite time was each morning when I woke up with the waves and sun around 7 and made some strong coffee, toasted banana bread in a skillet and took it for a stroll on the beach. Those are the times where God met me and refreshed my soul. I didn’t have too many big adventures there. I did get stung be a jelly fish and I did get to each fresh shrimp found by the only waterfall in the world that is fresh water falling into the ocean.
I didn’t sleep the best at Kribi so now I still have until Tuesday off. So I am using these days to relax, sleep, read, watch movies and do puzzles. I did 500-piece puzzle this morning. My roommate, Liz, took off for 2 days to travel to a friend’s village. Even though he lives in the city with his family, his grandparents still live in their village and speak their tribal language. He goes to visit periodically. This is true for most Cameroonians, they live in Yaounde, but still have a village they call home. Hopefully sometime I will get to go to one. But in the meantime, I have the apartment to myself. We went to the nicest restaurant in town yesterday for Liz’s birthday and I got pizza, that tasted so much like American pizza and so wonderful. Today I enjoyed the leftovers, what a treat! Also, a woman who I trained with to come hear arrived at the end of August and brought with her a 3 lb bag of peanut M&M’s for me. They are such a luxury and taste so wonderful!!!! So today I had a feast! I think I should eat a salad tonight. I need to head over to school and get my Business Math book so I can work on planning. I am not looking forward to it, but know I should start now and not leave it all until Monday. I now have 11 weeks of teaching until Christmas break, which seems like a lot to me, but I know with God’s strength I can make it. Then I only have a week after that until I see my whole family. I am so excited they are coming. Mom, Dad, Mary, Kristin, and my brother in law, Jon, are all coming out for 2 weeks right after Christmas! It will be my first Christmas away from home, but they are bringing home to me.


I miss the seasons here. Fall and cooler weather sounds wonderful right now, and I wish I could have a little snow over Christmas. But I guess I shouldn’t complain about the constant warmth. At least it is still the rainy season where it still gets cool at night and the sun still has clouds to hide behind.
Well, that will be all for now. I am not in a story telling mood. Perhaps next time. I hope this finds you all well and healthy. Enjoy the convenience around you. Enjoy the pizza and M&M’s you get to eat. But way more importantly, enjoy the company of those you know and love and take advantage of the convenience of calling them to let them know how much they mean to you. I miss that luxury. I am realizing how important you, my family and my friends are to me. What is the saying? You don’t know what you had until it is gone? Something like that. Well I know you are not gone from my life, but I am also missing what I had and realizing that I have never let people know enough how much I need them and appreciate them. You are all amazing and precious to me, but even more so to God.
Be blessed with His peace this week!
Love,
AMY