8/10/2015 - Baptism, Dinner with Chief, Gifts, Farewells, a Million Tasks, Final Week

There was another baptism in the New Bell Branch this week.  That makes 9 weeks in a row!

Elder Mbikayi, Frere Njampou, Marte, & Elder Mpongo

Marte's family and friends

We invited the chief, Majesty Tchatchoua, his family, and Princess Stephanie to dinner Monday to say goodbye.  He brought one of his 5 wives, 2 children, and his brother.  Good thing Sister Coleman made a lot of food, because she fed 10 after another relative dropped in and the wife took a tray out to the chauffeur.  The chief is so nice and we had a wonderful visit.  Here are the chief’s entourage:

Queen: Gertrude Ychatchoua Tchande 691 20 51 01

Daughter: Silizienne Tchatchoua Tchatchoua 690 94 08 28

Daughter: Pieny Tchatchoua Ekongo

Chief’s Brother: Nana

Princess Stephanie: 675 13 04 98

Nephew of Princess Stephanie: Stephen

Majeste Tchatchoua with wife, daughters, and brother

It started off slowly, with small talk and photos.  Then I said that it was going to be hard to leave because this is now our home; we are Cameroonais; and I launched into the Cameroon national anthem.  Suddenly everyone was trying to out-sing everyone.  I passed out flags and we had a good time with anthems, flags and photos.  The chief said that we can be part of his tribe and village, so, we are hereby Bamilike from the Banwa Village!  With pomp, drumming, and a speech he gave us some symbolic, artistic dolls, that are much nicer than what the shops typically sell to tourists.  Or maybe they just seem nicer to me because they were given with love.  They often give these dolls to couples at their weddings for good fortune.  They promised to try to visit us in California, so we are looking forward to that.

Gift of Dolls

Gift of Flowers

The next day Valery gave us both African outfits, a dress for Sister Coleman and shirt and pants for me.

Our New Clothes!

The rest of the week we rushed through a lot of last minute tasks, including:

We applied for a Carte de Sejour for Elder Sperry in record time.

We painted the Douala Elders’ apartment walls where the paint had peeled.

The paint was really bad!

We audited the Bonaberi Branch.

We spent an inordinate amount of time getting medical tests and passports and doing other missionary application tasks.

Futile attempt to apply for an ID card.  But they were out of forms.

We gave our girls some cash to buy some mission items.  They had a great time and got great deals. 

Mission suitcases and clothes!

The Dimonds arrived to take over our apartment, truck, and all of our duties.  We are so glad to have them here.

Petrus made it back safely from Central African Republic with a passport!  On our last day we will try to help him get ready with medical tests, vaccinations, photos, etc.

Davy, Purita, Fleur, Petrus, Jacques, & Valery

It was sad to say goodbye to our piano class in Bonaberi.  We made a speech and officially turned it over to Vinick.  He and Wilfrem (who was gone to his village) and Brenda will be able to continue the class.

Another internet failure started midday Thursday and lasted until we left on Monday.  I had to quickly write an official letter on Saturday but didn’t know the gender of an obscure word.  I couldn’t look it up on the internet.  An hour later I overheard some members use that word and my problem was solved.  It seemed like a tiny miracle to me.  For my final reports and this blog I am using the wifi at the church.

We picked up Elder Batoum at the airport.  He finished his mission in Lubumbashi and was heading home to Yaoundé.  We thought he arrived too late to take a bus home but a friend of his showed up to travel with him and helped him find an 8pm bus.  Blessing!

We spoke in three branches and said a lot of good-byes.  After church the Elders came over for ice cream and farewells.  We were also joined by Noah, Purita, Laurencia, Jean Marie and Sidonie Su for a nice visit, lots of photos, and sad farewells.

The District at our place to say farewell

Sisters Laurencia and Purita

Now we are about to head home and have mixed feelings.  We would like to stay and continue the things we started, but miss our family.

Here are a random few of the many things we going to miss:

Our wonderful friends

The swarms of thousands of bats returning to nest in trees in the early morning,

The warm weather year-round

The days being always the same length with no need for daylight savings time

Being treated like nobility everywhere

The ease of sharing the gospel,

Certain foods, like ratatouille in a can, French breads, ndolé, mangos, papayas, fresh bananas,

The constant outpouring of love from the church members,

The many opportunities to make a difference in peoples’ lives,

The examples of sharing and service we see in the church among the poorest people

The other couples

The piano students (“Seesta Coleman, Seesta Coleman”)

The constant string of adventures

At the hospital (Dr. Frankenstein's lab?)

Yep, Superman works here.

The will be the last blog entry.  Thanks for reading!