I love writing on Fridays because I am in a good mood because it is Friday! Today the sun is shining once again and the air is hot. It is nearing the end of the dry season, but it is the driest part of the dry season so far. Dust everywhere, very dry contacts, chapped lips, thirsty skin….. But rainy season is around the bend because the mango trees are growing mangos. From what I understand they are here for just a short time, but very plentiful and very cheap. I look forward to adding it to my fruit intake.
Tonight, my co-worker, Anna and I are hosting a “Girls’ Night” for five 11th and 12th grade girls. We have a whole list of girls to eventually invite to a girls’ night. After retreat we decided we wanted to be active in getting to know the female students better. We are having pizza for supper and dessert pizza for dessert. It should be a fun time.
My roommate, Liz, is gone for the weekend. She left today with a drama evangelism group from school. They are traveling to a village where they will perform their dramas, which present the gospel message to music, and minister to the people living there. They can use prayer for safe travels and for God’s protection on them. They will be out on the front lines fighting for God’s kingdom and Satan never likes that. They need protection from sickness and discouragement. We have two teams at school and Liz leads both of them. They have performed several times at churches and neighborhoods in the area. Each time people have come to know the saving grace of Jesus Christ. People here seem to be ready to listen and eager to respond. I pray the response in the village this weekend is the same.
I have been feeling well this whole week. I am so thankful for that.
I just started a new Bible study called Becoming a Women of Excellence. It is with a group of 7 women from the missions community ranging from age 25 to over 60. I am really looking forward to the fellowship, accountability and personal growth with Christ.
Well this sums up thing for today. I hope you are all well, but I know that is probably not so. If you are stressed, exhausted, sick or worse I pray you can truly feel God’s grace and mercy surrounding you today.
Blessings to you all,
AMY
Friday, February 22, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
Living in Massive heat
Greetings on this very HOT Monday. I am sorry I forgot to post on Friday, I have excuses, but won’t use them. So here I am on Monday, putting off planning lessons for this week. I am good at that.
I had fun this last week. I was able to go to one of the hostels two nights to hang out with kids. It was a lot of fun to keep building relationships with them outside of school. Saturday we had our Valentine’s Dance community event. Every class puts on a few community events each year to raise money for them as a class. Part of the money goes toward tithing, part towards their class ‘bank’. It is traditions for the juniors to put on a banquet for the seniors each year so they have to save money for that. Also, the seniors get to go on a class trip each year. I am an advisor for the 10th grade class and they were helping the seniors run the dance, so that meant I was cooking rice and chicken for hours on Saturday. But it was good to be serving with students and getting to know them better. It was also a good patient tester and cultural teacher. The work ethic between Cameroonians and missionaries is very different and can be frustrating to deal with.
Sunday I had a wonderful day of rest.
I had another doctor appointment Friday, hopefully my last one. I was given some more medicine and she thinks all my ulcers and symptoms should be gone in two more weeks at the most. I pray this is so. I am definitely feeling better already.
Well, that is all for now, I finished my newsletter, so you should be getting it soon. Once again, if you do not get it and would like to, please let me know.
Enjoy your week.
AMY
I had fun this last week. I was able to go to one of the hostels two nights to hang out with kids. It was a lot of fun to keep building relationships with them outside of school. Saturday we had our Valentine’s Dance community event. Every class puts on a few community events each year to raise money for them as a class. Part of the money goes toward tithing, part towards their class ‘bank’. It is traditions for the juniors to put on a banquet for the seniors each year so they have to save money for that. Also, the seniors get to go on a class trip each year. I am an advisor for the 10th grade class and they were helping the seniors run the dance, so that meant I was cooking rice and chicken for hours on Saturday. But it was good to be serving with students and getting to know them better. It was also a good patient tester and cultural teacher. The work ethic between Cameroonians and missionaries is very different and can be frustrating to deal with.
Sunday I had a wonderful day of rest.
I had another doctor appointment Friday, hopefully my last one. I was given some more medicine and she thinks all my ulcers and symptoms should be gone in two more weeks at the most. I pray this is so. I am definitely feeling better already.
Well, that is all for now, I finished my newsletter, so you should be getting it soon. Once again, if you do not get it and would like to, please let me know.
Enjoy your week.
AMY
Monday, February 11, 2008
Praise God I thrived!
Well, after getting over 25 hours of sleep in 2 days this weekend I think I am fully recovered from the retreat. I had a blast on retreat though! I felt I was truly in my element. I was able to be goofy and myself as I sought to connect with the kids. I led a small group with 4 girls as well as led 2 of our worship sessions. Both of those went really well and I feel that God truly used me to bring the group into an interaction with Him. Also I set up 8 different prayer stations for the hr. long optional worship time. That went really well and about 1/3 of the students came. But of course, I would have been content had just 1 person come and truly met God. I didn’t get much sleep (we had 3 hr night guarding shifts, mine was from 2:30-5:30am), and spent a lot of energy, but God kept me going strong. I was hoping for some conformation that working with youth in a spiritual/small group/connection level is what I like and am gifted at. I got that confirmation! Praise God. I feel I started building trust and relationships with so many more students this last week on retreat. I am so thankful.
Now we have about 6 weeks left until semester break. Which seems like a lot, but I know the last 5 went really fast, so I am expecting the same. My days coaching Jr. girls soccer are over. Sad, but true. However, my days assistant coaching Sr. girls volleyball will start this week. It is feels good to add on some new things and not be completely overwhelmed like I found myself at the start of the school year.
Well, please look for my winter newsletter. It should be coming out in the next week, I am almost finished with it. If you didn’t get my fall one and would like to receive my next few, please send me an email or respond on the blog and let me know.
At the beginning of the year, I found God everyday in the struggles and challenges and He was what sustained me and kept me going. Today I can say I find him in the joys of each day and in the satisfaction of serving Him. In both cases I am blessed and rejoice in Him. But today it is nicer to breath more easily.
If you are in the hard times now I pray for supernatural strength for you and a capability to praise Him still. If you are in the joys of life, I pray you will not forget who brought you to this point. God deserves our praise in every circumstance.
I thank the Lord every time I think of you and the support and encouragement you give me. I would not be here loving these kids and growing in Christ without so many of you. Thank you.
Because of Him,
AMY
Now we have about 6 weeks left until semester break. Which seems like a lot, but I know the last 5 went really fast, so I am expecting the same. My days coaching Jr. girls soccer are over. Sad, but true. However, my days assistant coaching Sr. girls volleyball will start this week. It is feels good to add on some new things and not be completely overwhelmed like I found myself at the start of the school year.
Well, please look for my winter newsletter. It should be coming out in the next week, I am almost finished with it. If you didn’t get my fall one and would like to receive my next few, please send me an email or respond on the blog and let me know.
At the beginning of the year, I found God everyday in the struggles and challenges and He was what sustained me and kept me going. Today I can say I find him in the joys of each day and in the satisfaction of serving Him. In both cases I am blessed and rejoice in Him. But today it is nicer to breath more easily.
If you are in the hard times now I pray for supernatural strength for you and a capability to praise Him still. If you are in the joys of life, I pray you will not forget who brought you to this point. God deserves our praise in every circumstance.
I thank the Lord every time I think of you and the support and encouragement you give me. I would not be here loving these kids and growing in Christ without so many of you. Thank you.
Because of Him,
AMY
Monday, February 4, 2008
God's Awesomeness!
I am alive! I realized I didn’t write after my climb. So if you are a person who comes to dramatic conclusions, you could conclude that I didn’t make it. Ahh, but it is quite the opposite. I made it all the way the summit! What a great experience it was. Thank you for you prayers for me and my team. All but 1 made it to the top and we all made it back down in one way or another. It was so great to get to know the kids better and to see God work in their lives. I could feel your prayers around me and I truly believe that God sent and angel to protect me and get me up the mountain. I had some knee and feet problems on the way down, so I rode the last bit down on my porter’s (bag carrier) back. Quite an experience. He ran and jumped down, wearing socks and flip flops, a span that would have taken me over 2 hours and took him only 25 min. We had a beautiful view up top! God is Awesome!
More new….I have some small stomach ulcers. I had been having reoccurring stomach problems, so went to a French specialist to get tested. I got an endoscopy done last Friday and was put under, which is why I forgot to write. I have meds for my small ulcers and a follow up appointment to try to prevent any further problems. I would appreciate prayers for this.
If you pay attention to international news you will know that both Kenya and Chad are very unsettled right now. We feel no effects of that, except for the evacuation of missionaries, some parents of our students. Kenya is having tribal wars as a result of the recent election and Chad has rebel soldiers rising up to the govt. and trying to take over. I encourage you to read up on the issues and pray for the situations. Choose to not be ignorant and even take action if you can.
It is very last right now (but by request of my sister, I am writing). Tomorrow we leave for our school retreat. I procrastinated on some last minute details and just finished them. But now I have to pack. If you know me well, this is now surprise. I am in charge of worship for the retreat and am very excited. Please pray with me seeking God’s provision and intervention during this week (5-8). I feel this is more in my element than teaching is and I am very excited to get involved. I am praying also for some sense of God’s leading for my future through this.
Well, this is detailed but shorter. I will post a picture of Mt. Cam if I can. But I am tired and hoping for bed soon.
I love getting letters from you. I have just received numerous Christmas ones and it brings me the joy of Christ’s birth all over again! What a blessing.
God be with each of you this week.
AMY
More new….I have some small stomach ulcers. I had been having reoccurring stomach problems, so went to a French specialist to get tested. I got an endoscopy done last Friday and was put under, which is why I forgot to write. I have meds for my small ulcers and a follow up appointment to try to prevent any further problems. I would appreciate prayers for this.
If you pay attention to international news you will know that both Kenya and Chad are very unsettled right now. We feel no effects of that, except for the evacuation of missionaries, some parents of our students. Kenya is having tribal wars as a result of the recent election and Chad has rebel soldiers rising up to the govt. and trying to take over. I encourage you to read up on the issues and pray for the situations. Choose to not be ignorant and even take action if you can.
It is very last right now (but by request of my sister, I am writing). Tomorrow we leave for our school retreat. I procrastinated on some last minute details and just finished them. But now I have to pack. If you know me well, this is now surprise. I am in charge of worship for the retreat and am very excited. Please pray with me seeking God’s provision and intervention during this week (5-8). I feel this is more in my element than teaching is and I am very excited to get involved. I am praying also for some sense of God’s leading for my future through this.
Well, this is detailed but shorter. I will post a picture of Mt. Cam if I can. But I am tired and hoping for bed soon.
I love getting letters from you. I have just received numerous Christmas ones and it brings me the joy of Christ’s birth all over again! What a blessing.
God be with each of you this week.
AMY
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