Bonjour from Yaoundé

We made it! Not only did the entire group make it to the hotel after 24+ hours of travel, but every single bag made it as well. We loaded the cars to the brim then stuffed them full of people and were on the road to LAX before 10:00 on August 4th. We boarded our plane around 17:00 and jetted off to Paris. The group landed and immediately lined up for our next flight. After many hours of flying (16 but who was counting) we finally arrived in Yaounde. We then waited around for another hour or so to pass through customs, battle the sea of people at the baggage claim then find our larger than expected bus.

All in all we finally made it to our hotel around 22:00 on August 5th.

August 6th! A new day and a fresh start after a good nights sleep for all was successful. As it is Sunday we headed to Church. Half of the group managed to pull themselves away from bed for Mass at 07:00. I for one am thoroughly impressed that they even managed to get out of their beds. The rest of the group slowly got up and ate breakfast before heading off to service at 10:00.

From left to right: Clare, Rachel, Don, Jake, Max

Thank you to Stefan for the group picture. It was a wonderful service, although all in French. We saw a baptism, heard many community announcements, Clare spoke for the group when all visitors were asked to introduce themselves, and we heard a wonderful sermon centred around sharing the life and teachings of Christ with your community. Unfortunately we had to leave after communion, since we had already been at the service for two and half hours and planned to see the house we would be working on.

In the afternoon most of the group went to see the house we would be working on for the next week plus. The drive there was mostly paved until the last mile or so, then the roads got rough. We all made it and took a little tour of the place to establish a game plan.

Tomorrow we will begin our first full day working on the house. Caroline has done a fantastic job making all the necessary preparations for some of the materials we need, and are very grateful for her hard work.

We returned to the hotel to pick up the rest of the group for dinner at La Salsa. Which contrary to it's name is not a Mexican restaurant, however it does have fantastic pizzas!

Before our meal we read some of the prayers from Incarnation Lutheran Congregation members. We want to say thank you for all of your support. We are excited to kick off God's work with our hands tomorrow.

Until then Bon Soir!