Presents and pickpockets

The following is from our Weekly Updates. If you would like to get those, drop an email.

Hello from Yaounde, Cameroon!

We are still in the capital city and nearing the completion of our stay in the CMF hostel. It has been a wonderful change of pace for us and has definitely been a time of ‘resetting’. We are now looking forward to our annual field conference with fellow World Team missionaries. The conference starts on Wednesday evening and continues through Monday of next week. The men will spend two of those days helping one of the families move from a town north of here to Yaounde where they will start a new phase of their ministry teaching at Rain Forest International School.

The last week has had its share of excitement and drama. We were excited to receive news that our container shipment arrived and cleared customs. Nathan came in from the village on Monday and Tuesday we made the trip to Douala to pick it up in our two vehicles. After some creative repacking in Douala, we got a late start heading back to Yaounde. The sun went down halfway through the three and a half hour drive. That wouldn’t have been so bad except that a light rain began to fall. The oncoming headlights of large trucks combined with the mist on the windshield made it difficult to see. I never was so glad to be back.

The following day (Wednesday) we got up early to make a doctor’s appointment for Desma.
The clinic is located in downtown Yaounde near the largest intersection in town. It is a roundabout. That means that there is a huge circle with eight or nine main roads that branch off around the outside. We had to park in an area that required crossing a very busy street. There were about 5 lanes of traffic to cross. Desma was holding Brendan and I was holding Brianna’s hand with my left hand. A man crossed in front of me a bit close for comfort and proceeded to place his hand in my pocket. Luckily my pockets were very deep and I noticed what he was doing. I was able to sweep his hand away before he got anything. The area is known for pickpockets. Thankfully, he wasn’t a very good one. We got home after lunch and had a much needed nap after two long days of driving and drama.

We have enjoyed going through some of the things that came on the shipment. We were only able to keep a few things here to search through. As Nathan was leaving to go back to the village on Wednesday, we needed (for space sake) to send most of the things back with him. We are looking forward to going through the rest when we get back. One thing I am personally very excited about opening is my mountain bike. I have missed it. Thanks to all that made the shipment happen. We will be sending out more personal thank yous, but wanted everyone to know what a blessing it was to receive. Many of the things we asked to have shipped will help us to bless our neighbors with some basic needs such as clothing for babies and vitamins for kids. You should have seen us acting like a couple of kids at Christmas. Some of the things were gifts that will have to wait for Christmas. We’ll do it, but it’s going to be difficult. Note the photo of me and my new collection of Sudoku . . .

We’ve also enjoyed getting to talk to family and friends on Skype and telephone. That’s something that we don’t get to do very often from the village. Here we have been able to sit out on the balcony and casually chat. While in the village we have to drive down the road to get a signal and roll down the windows of the car all the time hoping that a truck doesn’t decide to pass by.

The next couple of days will be devoted to packing up all of our things and preparing to move to another rest house in Yaounde. The new house parents will be arriving here on Thursday and we need to get the place clean and ready for them. Our kids are looking forward to having some other kids to play with. There will be four families at the conference, the Conrods, the Scotts, the Colemans, and us. That means a lot of buddies for them to play with. We are also looking forward to a time of fellowship with the other World Team missionaries in Cameroon.

Speaking of the kids, they have really been into role play lately. Brianna is the mom and Brendan is the dad, which means that Desma and I are ‘little girl’ and ‘little boy’ respectively. It is an odd feeling to have your two year old son call you ‘little boy’. But its also pretty cute. They have especially enjoyed the yard here and the

two German Shepherds (Tess and Ruby) that serve as guard dogs. Brendan has really begun to hold up his part of a conversation. He has added an unbelievable amount of vocabulary in the last few weeks. Most of it comes from mimicking Brianna, but some of it is definitely Brendanesque. I always knew that he would evolve from being our little grunting cartoon character to a little person, but it is surprising to see him communicating so well. He’s definitely all boy and Brianna all girl. I think its amazing how God does that. Nobody told them to act that way. It’s just in their makeup. Wow. Oops, I think I hear them unloading all of the Tupperware from the kitchen cabinets. Better go check on that soon!

After the conference ends we will hang around in Yaounde until the 20th of July, then we’ll head to the beach (Kribi) for some relaxing time before heading back to the village. Were not sure if we’ll be able to squeeze in another update by then, so don’t be surprised if there is a delay in the next ‘weekly’.

We appreciate your prayers and encouragement.

All of our love from Cameroon,


Barry for Desma, Brianna, and Brendan