Cameroon

It has been a crazy couple of weeks, but school has officially started. We had new students on campus Wednesday and everyone Thursday and Friday.

Recent observations:
1. Cement+metal = classrooms that echo, echo, echo….. (I am officially in search of easy ways to deaden the sound in my classrooms. The dilemma with that: it has to be something that will collect neither dust nor mold. I’m not entirely sure that exists in this climate!)
2. Temperatures that I consider comfortable (or even hot) actually make some people shiver. I sweat, they put on a coat and hat! . . . hmmmmm. (This is the ‘coldest’ part of the year. Yikes! I in for some climate shock!)
3. Cameroonian Taxi drivers have an AMAZING spacial sense. They seem to know (to the cm) where their cars will fit and where their tires are. The Moto are even more amazing (motocycle taxis). Oh, and the center line – just a guideline here. If there is room between the person in front of you and the oncoming car, that is another lane!
4. Living between the airport and the presidential palace can be slightly inconvenient, as they close the road along that entire route whenever he (or some other diplomats too I think) is flying in or out of the country.
5. Whoever suggested that I would lose weight because of the food was CRAZY! Main staple of my diet: fresh bread! Seriously, how can you turn that down?!

Yesterday I made it into Cameroon. There were no major hiccups along the way, and all my luggage even made it! I am exhausted and my head is still spinning, but all is well.
Blessings!

Yesterday morning my final paperwork (my Visa) was delivered. I am now official! I will be sorting things out and finishing packing this week at my parents’ place in Omaha, heading down to Junction City on Saturday in order to be at Highland Sunday morning (July 11th), and flying out from Kansas City on Monday morning (July 12). Kansas City-Chicago-Frankfurt-Brussels-Yaounde.

For those of you in the Junction City area, I will be back at Highland Baptist (service is at 10:30) for that last Sunday (July 11), and there will be a potluck after the service if anyone wants to join us.

Praise God my paperwork from Cameroon has been signed! Now that we have that in hand, we can actually apply for my visa, the final step. Though that process is a bit more predictable because it is here in the US, we are pretty tight on the time generally expected, so Please continue to pray that all will fall into place. God’s timing is perfect!

Further updates: I have returned from my roadtrip. I ended up not staying quite as long as originally expected because I wimped out . . . Imagine my surprise when i woke up to ICE on my tent! That and a bit of a SNOW storm that morning as I drove across the park. Crazy, huh?! Likewise, when I was camping in the Black Hills there was a beautiful thunderstorm (though obviously not conducive to camping).

I am currently in Omaha, where I will be staying (with my parents) until my departure.

Well, this week has been a busy one full of a lot of goodbyes here in Junction City. Friday morning I take off from Junction already! Can you believe it?!?!? In the past week I have had goodbye lunches with a ton of friends out here – not NEARLY everyone I wish I could say goodbye to, but definitely some memorable moments. It has been exciting to visit with individuals about everything that is happening and how God is pulling everything together! I can’t even start to say thank you to all the people God has brought into my life and the ways he has used them to bless me recently.

Just a couple tidbits from this week:
*one of the people I had the opportunity to visit with over lunch is a former student (who is now nearly finished with college) who spend last summer in Africa and has a tremendous heart for missions. It was so exciting to be able to share the amazing things God has been doing in our lives and the unexpected ways He has shown demonstrated his sovereignty in our lives. What a blessing! (Have a great summer Bethany, God will truly do great things through you!)
*I got my teeth cleaned this morning. Ok, so no big deal on some level. They discovered a couple of cavities (which also isn’t such a big surprise). Generally it takes weeks, if not months, to get in for dental work and they had an opening THIS afternoon! Crazy, huh?! (Thanks Dr. McGary and staff!)
*Today as I was driving to the neighboring town to meet a friend for lunch I got a ‘random’ phone call from a lady in South Dakota. She had been visiting with the pastor of one of the churches were I will be speaking this coming week and called to invite me to stay with them one of the days I am in there area – her granddaughter is a student at RFIS where I will be teaching next year!! How awesome is that!
*My list could go on and on, but if I don’t want to ramble on for too long

My schedule in the next couple of weeks:
Sunday, June 6 – Speaking in Mason City, NE
Monday, June 7 – Speaking in Abilene, KS (VBS at Ebenezer Baptist)
Friday, June 11 – Milbank, SD AND meeting with a couple whose granddaughter is a student where I will be teaching!
Sunday, June 13 – Winnipeg, MB
Monday, June 21 and Friday June 25 – hopefully visiting Hope Fellowship in KC’s VBS kids viq Skype

From Winnipeg through the 25th I am hoping to head out on a road trip/camping trip to Glacier National park (maybe), Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Black Hills, etc before heading back to Nebraska to spend some time with family before leaving.

As you can tell, I will be putting on a LOT of miles in the coming month, so please be praying for safe travels.

Also please continue to pray for my paperwork to come through. We are still anxiously awaiting my certificate to ‘enter and stay’ which we need before we can even APPLY for my Visa. I am scheduled to leave for Cameroon from Kansas City on July 12 and cannot depart without all those papers in hand.

Also, please keep all the crazy details of moving in your prayers. Specifically I am still dealing with some drama concerning the trailer I purchased to store my belongs

For all of you in the JC area, Mom, Dad, and I will be driving down the weekend before I fly out so that we can be with my Junction City church (Highland Baptist) on my last Sunday here. Please come join us! I don’t know the details yet, but we are located on St Mary’s Road (just follow Eisenhower up the hill and past the hospital until it curves around into St Mary’s Road) and generally our service starts at 10:30. I will try to get more info up about that weekend as it becomes available.

Thank you for your prayers . . . keep ‘em comin’!
Kristi

Well, I survived the school year! I finished packing up my classroom this evening, and I just have a couple of check-out items to take care of in the morning.

Have I mentioned that I have WAY too many books? Wow, I have gotten rid of a LOT and I am still have more boxes than I even want to count (let along move!) of them. I opened a few thinking I could maybe sort through them and eliminate some, but how do you decide what books to get rid of? I totally need to sort out a few boxes worth when I reorganize and reload the trailer this weekend or next week.

Well, only two student days (+ a teacher work day) left at JCHS. I have tons of grading, packing, etc left to take care of but the end is quickly approaching here.

At the same time we are anxiously awaiting the Cameroonian government to process my paperwork. I can’t even apply for my visa until they issue me a certificate to “enter and stay.” Please pray that they get that processed quickly so I can apply for my visa and be ready to leave on July 12.

Thanks!
Kristi

I have been officially cleared by the international office to go! From what I understand, we found and purchased my ticket last week. Leave date: July 12th.

Oh, and school is almost out!

I mention this video in my upcoming newsletter. I put it together for one of my supporting churches and decided it might be useful for others wondering why I am going to Africa and what I will be doing there. Please let me know if you have any trouble accessing it (I am not positive I have it posted properly) and what you think. If you would like to use it in your church, feel free, just let me know. This is a pretty small file, so the video quality is poor. (I couldn’t get the computer to cooperate in uploading anything bigger.) I would be happy to email or otherwise send you a higher quality file, especially if you plan to project it for your congregation to see.

Thanks!

(Oh, and to give proper credit, most of the pictures are copied off the RFIS webpage or blogs from missionaries currently in Cameroon. I can’t claim credit for any of them except the pics of me at the beginning and end.)

Wow –immeasurably more indeed!

Since my last posting God has been so good in making His hand evident and reminding me that He does, in fact, have everything well under control: financial support has been coming in, number of prayer supporters has reached my minimum required, and I have accepted an offer on my house.