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
