Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
End of semester activities had us all as busy as can be:
The kids studying for exams, Ben and Nate had soccer tournament (and their team won 2nd place)
Ron preparing grades for his Construction class, keeping the duplex construction going, setting up the auditorium for Christmas concert and for exams, cooking hot dogs for the soccer tournament, planning our Christmas trip to CAR.
Janet working with seniors on college applications, organizing the hot dog sales at the soccer tournament, printing and distributing report cards and packing for our trip.
And then we were off to Gamboula, Central African Republic (CAR) for Christmas and New Years with good friends who are serving there with the Covenant and Free Church (Reach Global) missions.
Though there was news of rebel activity many miles to the east in CAR, we had a very quiet and peaceful vacation. We had the opportunity to visit Berberati where we lived and worked about 7-8 years ago. It was great to visit friends there and have lunch with Alexis, a special friend for the past 15 years.
There had been news of some rebel activity far to the East and North in the country, so we did keep our ears to the internet and TV just in case it became necessary to head to Cameroon for safety. Missionary friends (in other missions), did join us in Gamboula, having left Bangui. So we had more visitors with us than we’d anticipated. Thankfully the rebels stopped advancing toward the capital for the remainder of our stay. Since then peace talks resulted in an agreement between the Government and Rebels. Pray that both sides honor the agreement for the good of the innocents in CAR. All in all, it was great to be away from our normal responsibilities and to hang out with good friends.
Besides good friends and food, Christmas celebrations etc. our kids really enjoyed being with missionary friends the Turks and Festens. The Turk family in Gamboula always have interesting pets. This time it was a baby gorilla and a sitatounga (miniature deer) that kept the kids entertained.
The trip home was uneventful – just a lot of dirt and dust on the first, bumpy part of the trip. And we were pleased to be welcomed in our own home by the Norens who’d come to stay in our house. Paul & Sheryl had come to Yaounde for dental work; Karl & Mary had come to get baby Esther’s first passport. Both sets of Norens are staying here in the duplex behind our house for a little while. They are most helpful … more on that subject later.
Our trip to Central African Republic was important for our family in many ways. We had time to rest and relax free from normal responsibilities. But we also had opportunity to reunite with Central African friends we’d not seen in many years. We also remembered, with all the talk of rebels and unrest, that it was exactly 10 years ago now that we evacuated from Yaloke, Central African Republic. We praise God for calling us to serve in Africa twice since then. God is so good!
