Hello friends,
Well another week has passed. I have now successfully, I do believe, completed my second week of teaching and my third week of living in Africa!
There are parts of life here that I really enjoy: the fellowship around me, the new relationships I am building with staff and students alike, the African children who shyly want to shake my hand (hand shaking is a big cultural thing here—it is polite to shake hands with every person upon entering and leaving a home), the new lessons I am learning about making food from scratch (I made chocolate pudding from scratch this week), and right now I am enjoying the sound of the rain pouring down outside. It has not rained too much here yet; especially considering it is rainy season. However today, I am stuck at work until someone offers a ride or until the rain lets up. This is a pouring rain that is turning the red dirt into a red stream.
There are parts of life here too that are hard to adjust to or things I really miss from home. I miss real milk, not powdered. I miss deep comfy couches, instead of shallow hard ones. I miss real chocolate. I miss having boxed meals to throw in the pot or microwave when I am lazy. I enjoy my new fellowship, but I miss the fellowship with you who know me already and so well.
Yes, there are changes and things to adjust to. But I try not to dwell on those, but rather dwell on God. He never changes. If the saying, “Home is where the heart is” is true, then my home over the last few years has changed so often. My heart has turned toward the people I am with so my homes have been in Wexford, PA, Lakewood, CO, Dewittville, NY, Strathmore, AB and now my home is in Yaounde, Cameroon, West Africa. But ultimately my home travels with me because my true home is in Christ. He is where my heart is. Changes may come, life will happen, God will give and take away, but ‘I will yet praise him, my savior and my God’. God seems bigger in Africa somehow. I experienced this in Kenya too. Perhaps my experiences in Africa are so big and God fills every part of my experiences. I want to share with you a few verses I have been dwelling on these last few weeks. It is found in Psalm 94, verses 18, 19 and 22, “When I said, ‘My foot is slipping,’ your love, O Lord, Supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul….But the Lord has become my fortress, and my God the rock in whom I take refuge.” If there is one thing I can say for certain about being here. It is that the Lord my God has me here and he is teaching me to depend on him and him alone as my rock.
I pray God blesses you this weekend and next week. Rest in him, he will revive your soul.
Be Blessed,
Amy
I am not sure if I shared my address here, but it is: Amy Oxendale Rain Forest International School, BP 1299, Yaounde, Cameroon West Africa. I would love any hand written letters you can send and I promise to write back as soon as I get the chance.
