Praising the Lord!

      

                 The Bamenda Regional Office completed two successful workshops in June. The first on Scripture Use: how to implement scripture through mediums that are accepted by the culture and that will help reach more people with the Word of God. And Paratext: computer development skills to enable the community language project workers to  work develop  dictionaries and other reading materials. Over the next  few weeks we will also be hosting and teaching a Translation workshop and Dictionary Introduction workshop.

I have now met with my three language helpers. I am especially thankful for Venatius and Janet, the couple that has come more regularly. Language Lessons are formatted more like visiting...well visiting with a child. Half the time I point and they tell me what the object is. My favorite word is ‘Bɛlɛy’. It sounds like ’Belly’ and when translated means groundnut, or peanut. Yum! As I said, it’s like visiting a child. *smile* We do have fun chatting and they are more then willing to share their knowledge about their culture and language as well as teach me new words, greetings and commands.

A couple weeks I realized that I’m finally starting to learn my way around town. Venatius was telling me where  he and his wife go to church and I easily followed his directions! It’s a nice feeling. Makes it more like home.

The cold is long gone. Praise the Lord! My co-workers are not able to tease me about my squeaky voice anymore. *smile* Thanks for your prayers. It’s never fun being sick on a sunny day.

This last week the Dibbits, my host family, myself and another family traveled down to the coast and  hung out on the beaches of Kribi. Got a little sun, enjoyed playing in the warm ocean, and relaxed… It was a very refreshing time after the busyness of the last six months. Now, I’m diving into work again and enjoying every bit of it. *smile*

Please Pray…

· That my walk with the Lord will continue to grow each day.

· That the Lord blesses Venatius and Janet and that our friendship would grow. 

· For comprehension during my language sessions. And that  we will be able to meet multiple times a week. Since I am only here for 2 years I will only be focusing on language learning for 4 months. So till mid October.

· That I will be able to manage my time well between working in the office and on my language project.

· That I will be glorifying to the Lord in my work and ministry.

Thank you for your prayers. Many Blessings!

Janelle

Praising the Lord!

       A couple weekends ago I was able to travel out to Bafanji to visit for a few days. That was where I lived with the Hamms almost five years ago when I first came to Cameroon. I was very happy to see everyone again. My how the kids have grown!  Monday, I experienced my first long-ish taxi ride. Jenny and I took it from Ndop to Bamenda. Four adults in the back, four in the front. I wasn’t quite sure at first how we were all going to fit in until they put two of us in the drivers seat, two in the passenger. It was fun!

                 The Wycliffe Associate Team came up a few weeks ago. Eight people including the architect and his wife, Peter and Sunny Oh. The original plan was to visit the new land site that afternoon, but a downpour changed our plans. The next day was perfect and from the new site you can see many of the surrounding hills. The Ohs will return to stay this September/October, but before then we hope to begin building a road and wall around the property.

                 Two weeks ago the Ndop team taught the Grammar Workshop in the town of Ndop. It was been very successful.  There are eighteen people in attendance, three from six of the language groups. Praise the Lord!!! At the end of the first day we asked if they would share anything new that they had learned that day. One lady stood up and said that she never realized that her language had a grammar. Another man stood up and said until now he did not think his language was important (compared to English and French, the national languages). Praise the Lord for understanding!

In my last update I asked prayer for my left ear. Well, this last Sunday it didn’t bother me at all! Praise the Lord!!! 

                 In order to start the linguistic work off on the right foot in any village it is very important to meet all the officials in the area. So last week Marinne took Jane and me to be introduced to the Gendarme Commandant, the Chief of Security Police and the Mayor of Ndop. There are still many more people to meet, field Pastors, the Fon (chief), Traditional Council, the rest of the Language Committee, etc. But it was a nice start.

                 Last Thursday I had my first language learning session for Kenswey Nsey (spoken  in Bamessing)! One of the local pastors, who is from Bamessing, introduced me to three other Bamessing believers who live here in Bamenda and all three are willing to help. Wow!

Please Pray…

· That my walk with the Lord will continue to grow each day.

· For comprehension during my language sessions. And that  we will be able to meet multiple times a week.

· I came down with a sinus cold this last Sunday. Blah! Please pray for healing.

· That I will be glorifying to the Lord in my work and ministry.

Thank you for your prayers. Many Blessings!

Janelle

This week the Ndop team is running a Grammar Workshop in the town of Ndop. Six of the language groups were able to come and it has gone extremely well thus far!


Today, to break up the sessions a bit, I taught the class how to play a form of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Except my version is called Lion, Rooster, Mosquito…and it’s interactive. Everyone pairs up, back to back. Then on the count of three each turns to face their opponent and must either: growl like a lion while making a fierce face and putting up their hands as claws; or crows with one hand on their head to mimic the roosters comb; or Zzzzzzzzzzzzz while moving your imaginary mosquito around between your thumb and forefinger. Lion gets the rooster. Rooster gets the mosquito. Mosquito gets the lion. LOL! It was so much fun! I love it when adults don’t mind laughing at themselves.

Praising the Lord!

Two Fridays ago, I met with Cam Hamm (my linguistic supervisor) and Mr. Bibi (my language helper).  It went extremely well!  I spent the whole time watching them work through half of a story in Kenswey Nsey. Translating it word-for-word and then writing a free translation into English. Very cool and very time consuming. We have a lot of work ahead. :) The next month is very busy for all three of us, so Cam and I will work together during the team meeting and then hopefully with Mr. Bibi one more time before Cam and his family leaves on furlough. Pray that the Lord will really make the time we work together productive and that there won’t be any problems getting our schedules together.

We (the Ndop team) recently came back from our meeting/retreat up at Mbingo. There were a few main purposes for our retreat. Rest for those who just finished teaching a two week Translation Course, time to get to know and orient the new members (myself and Jane from England), prepare for our upcoming Grammar Course and miscellaneous meetings regarding translating, linguistics, literacy and Scripture Use. This will be the last meeting with almost the whole team for about a year. Two families are going on furlough next month and two singles in December, one for furlough and one is moving to Nigeria. 

WE HAVE THE BUILDING PERMIT! PRAISE THE LORD! The Bamenda Regional Office, where I am working at, has been in the process of trying to get a building permit for a recently acquired property to expand the office. All of this has occurred over the last few years. This last Monday we acquired the last signature. The Lord’s timing is pretty awesome in all of this.  Wycliffe Associates is helping with the construction and some of the funding for the new buildings and had planned for a couple months now to send a visiting architect to look over the land and the plans...they arrive next Thursday (May 26th). We are bursting at the seems in our current office and VERY excited to see things moving along.

Please Pray…

· That my walk with the Lord will continue to grow each day.

· That I will be able to find two individuals in Bamenda to consistently help me learn Kenswey Nsey.

· Pray that work on the new BRO will be able to start in the next two weeks. Also, that the Lord provides the rest of finances we need to complete the building project for the BRO. Right now we will being working on it in phases.

· For years I have had issues with my left ear. Constant loud noise and certain pitches cause it to crackle and hurt. As far as I can tell there is nothing wrong with my hearing and so I avoid places that will cause this. But as many of you know, African churches are a lot more lively than at home. I love it, but it hurts my ear. Pray that either I learn to deal with it or that the Lord would heal it completely. I want to enjoy and join in on the worship time every week!

· That I will be glorifying to the Lord in my work and ministry.

Thank you for your prayers. Many Blessings!

Janelle

Praising the Lord!

· The SIL Cameroon Branch Retreat was an amazing time of worshiping and fellowshipping with fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord from so many different parts of the world! This is one of the few times a year (for some, the only time) to see friends who work in different parts of the country.  The retreat was proceeded by classes and followed by the branch meeting. As boring as this may sound to many of you, I must admit I completely enjoyed it. It’s fascinating to see how an organization works especially one with so many different cultural groups.

· This coming week I am anticipating to meet with Mr. Bibi and begin learning from him and Cam Hamm how to sort through the data we already have and continue to add to it.

Please Pray…

· That my walk with the Lord will continue to grow each day.

· Please continue to pray for the people that I’ll be working with and myself, in the office and out in the village. Pray for unity and understanding. That we will be unified and effective.

· For quick understanding of the language in Bamessing, for the project I will be working on. Also understanding and remembering Pidgin and French.

· The language cluster that I am a part of is  teaching a Translation Workshop May 2nd - 13th and then a Grammar Workshop is May 30th - June 4th. Pray that both of the courses run smoothly, for those who are teaching and that many would be in attendance. 

· Mid-May is our (Ndop) cluster meeting.

· May is another month to meet many individuals and families, this time in Bamessing.  Mr. Bibi next week, a few members of the language committee during the Translation Course in two weeks and hopefully many others in the village throughout the month.

· That I will be glorifying to the Lord in my work and ministry.

Thank you for your prayers. Many Blessings!

Janelle

Praising the Lord!

· It is so good to be back! My first week in Cameroon was spent in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon, going through orientation and meeting and visiting with a lot of the missionaries from there, other parts of the country and neighboring countries.

· On Sunday (April 3) I traveled up to the Northwest and am now settling in Bamenda. Hurray! A missionary family, whom I had the pleasure of getting to know last time I was in Cameroon have opened their home to me.

· Last week I started my orientation at the Bamenda Regional Office (BRO).  Ria (Regional Director) and Fredrick (Office Manager) have been showing me the ropes and are wonderful  to work alongside.

· Yesterday (April 12) I traveled back to Yaoundé with my friends Cam and Valerie Hamm. Wycliffe, or SIL as they call it overseas, is having their branch spiritual retreat. Most of the SIL missionaries from all over the country will be coming into Yaoundé for the retreat, meetings and a three week program for the elementary students.

Please Pray…

· That my walk with the Lord will continue to grow each day.

· Please continue to pray for the people that I’ll be working with and myself, in the office and out in the village. Pray for unity and understanding. That we will be unified and effective.

· For quick understanding of the language in Bamessing, for the project I will be working on. Also understanding and remembering Pidgin and French.

· Sometime next month I will meet with Mr. Bibi. He is on the language committee in Bamessing and for years has been very involved in the development of his language. He will most likely be my main contact here in Bamenda as I work on the grammar.

· That I will be glorifying to the Lord in my work and ministry.

· For my family as they adjust to my being away for this extended period of time.

Thank you for your prayers. Many Blessings!

Janelle

Greetings from Yaoundé Cameroon!

Monday I flew out from Portland to Washington DC, then to Brussels, and last to Cameroon. Unlike my first trip to Cameroon, this one was uneventful.  I was also blessed with two wonderful and chatty seat-mates. The first was a foreign exchange student from Switzerland. We talked a lot about her first time in the US and about Cameroon, Bible Translation and why I decided to go in the first place. The second was a Christian Cameroonian lady who was coming back to Cameroon to visit her family for a few weeks. It was really encouraging talking with her about the need for bible translation and just how awesome God is!

In Brussels, you have to take a bus to a second terminal to fly down to Cameroon. While going through the security and having my passport and visa checked I noticed an older white couple in front of me, and the man was wearing a Cameroonian pattern. I suppose they could have been working with any organization in Cameroon, but I had a sneaking suspicion they were with Wycliffe. So as soon as I was through with security I walked over to where they were sitting, sat down, said hello and asked where they were heading. “Yaoundé, Cameroon.” And what will they be doing there? “Working with Wycliffe Associates (WA).” I was so excited I quickly stuck out my hand and introduced myself as another WA member. I had no idea there were any other members traveling at the same time, but knew it wouldn’t be a problem ‘cause I had flown on that route before and pretty much knew my way. Also, I just kept reminding myself of what Paul said in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through HIM who strengthens me.” So the Lord answered my prayer in an indirect way. Later Bob, Elaine and I met up with two other Wycliffe members, so we had quite the little group when we arrived in Yaoundé.

All the bags, made it. Whew. Thank you Lord. Peggy (WA) and Dan (friend and translator in the Ndop Plain) picked us up from the airport and took us back to the Cameroon Training Center (CTC). Dan, his wife Melody and their two kids Sam and Anna had me over for dinner. Ah, it was soooo good after eating greasy airplane food. It was also nice to catch up with them. It’s been four years since I was last in Cameroon.

For the next week I have my own little room at one of the off-site compound with the rest of the WA members and some of the Wycliffe (SIL) members.  I slept like a baby last night. Woke up once ‘cause the power went out and I heard the fan turn off. But the nights are a comfortable 70ish, so I went right back to sleep. One of the things I really enjoyed when getting off the plane was the smell. It’s hard to describe, but it’s a little bit of dirt, tropical plants and people, all mixed with a bit of humid air. I knew I was back in Cameroon. Here in Yaoundé I’ll have my orientation and finish the last bit of paper work for my work visa.

This morning, after eating some homemade granola (Yum!), Peggy and her assistant Eric took me back over to CTC to set up my computer on SIL’s wireless, pull money from my account and enjoy coffee break with the rest of the staff there. More people than I can remember. All from different parts of the world, and many of them are Cameroonians. I did meet two ladies, Helen and Elaine (different) I believe.  Helen and her husband work in the far North, and I will actually be taking over Elaine’s job at the BRO in Bamenda. We all had lots to talk about and found we have a mutual friend who also works in the far North.

That brings me to know. I’m driving up to Bamenda with a few other missionaries on Sunday morning, so until then.

Au revoir!

P.S. A cool fact I just realized today when looking over my emails. The date Cam and Val wrote and told me about the position here in Cameroon was 03/29/10. I flew into Yaounde one year to the day, 03/29/11. How cool is that?!