Including but not limited to

Yesterday, Pastor Sam invited our group to join him at a local bible study in the early evening. Putting this opportunity to attend the Lutheran (The Meziere family is Catholic, gasp) Bible study as a priority, we went into the day knowing that we would only have roughly 2/3 the time of our average work day. We took this opportunity to complete several of the unfinished tasks from the two prior days; including, but not limited to, laying the final bricks on the second wall, removing the closets from the bedrooms (in order to clear more space for the bunk beds), and painting the remaining bedrooms. 

Closet removal

Rachel painting

Mixing mortor

Wall inspection

Caroline on paint duty

Breaks are necessary

Stefan and Tim finishing the wall

While the majority of the group was focusing on wrapping up; Mike, Don, and Sophie took a trip to the lumber yard to purchase wood for future projects.



After completing our tasks (and lunch), the group switched focus to new projects; including, but not limited to: reinforcing the water tower (with the newly purchased wood), replacing sketchy dangling lights with new fixtures, and beginning the installation of plumbing and electrical for washing machine.

After a short, but successful work day, we drove to a local Lutheran church. We joined Pastor Sam's Wednesday Bible study. Pastor Sam lead us in a prayer for a safe and successful trip, read a passage from Acts, and answered questions regarding faith. 

Today's post comes to you from Abby and Tim.

Max's Day

Another early morning in Cameroon today, up at 6:30 for breakfast buffet at the hotel, and then we quickly got in the cars on our way.

The yellow cars are taxis, which the common method of transportation

Most of the group went to the house, and a few people went to the store to gather some more supplies. After purchasing the needed supplies, including a door and electrical fixtures, we were all back at the house and work could really start. Today was mainly about constructing walls, again. Outside, we constructed the front wall to reach the height requirements.

Don and Felix (the current caretaker of the house)

Max, today's blogger, filling holes in the wall

The big difference occurred on the inside, where we almost put up one full wall, and smoothed out the one that was constructed yesterday, to prepare for painting.

Caroline's brother lent his plastering skills

Stefan and Mike beginning the other wall

 

The rooms for the girls that will be housed, were also painted today. We think they look fantastic!

Abby

Connie and Sophie painting the trim

We also saw a lot of progress in the community making connections with the local children with the help of a few soccer balls. We all worked super hard, and by the time we were leaving, everyone was exhausted.

Tim playing soccer with the locals

Abby and Caroline

Abby with some new friends

Mary with some of the children

Today was very fulfilling, not only in the progress we made, but the acceptance we saw throughout the community. While it wasn't fun to mix mortar non-stop all day, I felt good that I was working hard. Also playing soccer with the neighbourhood kids was a great way to take a short break. We got a lot done today and had a ton of fun. I hope we will be able to make such progress every day throughout this trip and make the house really amazing.

Today's blog post, if you haven't figured it out yet, comes to you from Max.

The Wall

Normally, I'm more into building bridges, not walls but today a wall was in the cards. The morning started off with breakfast at 6:30am. The hotel has a nice buffet spread with sausage, chicken, boiled eggs, cereal, cheese and plenty or french pastries. The croissants in particular were crowd-pleasers. After "le petit dejeuner" we all loaded into three taxis and ventured off for our first real day of work.

When we arrived at the house we got right to work. The priorities of the day were to start raising the outside wall and to build a wall on the interior of the house, between the living room and what would be the dining area. Since we want to use the space in the house as efficiently as possible, we decided to turn the dining room into another bedroom, which will likely fit an additional 3 bunk beds. Just after we broke ground on the wall, a small group left for the store to get supplies.

I was in the group that headed to a big store lot called "Jacos" where they had all sorts of construction and painting supplies. It was very similar to a Home Depot back home. With our list in hand, Jake, Caroline and I began our Jacos scavenger hunt. For each item we had to talk to a different person behind a different desk. It was really awesome to have Caroline to help us find everything and communicate with the folks that worked there. I got a chance to use my french as well and Caroline made me practice all my numbers.

Mary in the front, Abby in the back.

While we were busy shopping around town, everyone back at the house was stirring mortar and slabbing cinder-blocks on top of one another. The challenge of the day was that the inside wall we were building was under a walkway that was the shape of an arc. If you know how a cinder-block is shaped, it is definitely not arched. Tim took the lead on shaping the cinder blocks to fit across and along the edges. Rachel, Mike, Connie and Shelia seemed to be the steady team of architects on the wall. I did my best attempt at a sequence of photos showing the progress:

Left is Tim, right is Mike

In addition to the beautiful inside wall, we also increased the height of the outside wall. Don and Stefan took the lead with help from Max, Donald, Felix and Gerard. Here are some highlight photos from their exciting adventures:

In addition to the walls, we also prepped the bedrooms for paint tomorrow and dug a trench for a new water line. We were pretty ambitious for the first day and were able to accomplish it all! We were definitely beat by the end of the day. Next up for tomorrow is the second interior wall (with a door frame for an added challenge) and getting started on the painting. Good thing we are getting some rest...

Thanks for reading, Go Team! 

Today's post comes from Clare, the lovely blond with braids in the left side photo.

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!

Time to Embark

Our flight is only days away! On Friday morning our mission begins by piling into our respective vehicles, and finding our seats amongst the luggage. Since the airline allows multiple checked items we will have substantially more luggage than people. (I hope the team is up for a game of luggage tetras.) Despite our lack of vehicular cargo space, the extra bags are proving quite handy for all the tools we are bringing.

This will be the final post before the Africa mission team leaves. Fear not though, aided by the reliability of Wifi I shall be posting daily while we are there. However, I will not be held liable due to unforeseen internet connection problems or exhaustion. That being said the team is super excited and ready to work hard.

Over the course of our 10 working days there we will convert a 3 bedroom house into a place capable of housing 24 at risk girls away from the dangers of the streets of Yaoundè. Additionally, our congregation's own Caroline will be running the center. We hope to have it open in January of 2018.

During this Sunday's announcements at Incarnation Lutheran Church one of the younger members of the team, Max, talked about the significance of this trip for him. "Being a teenager myself, I know how hard it can be without all the challenges these girls face living alone on the streets, so I'm really looking forward to making an impact on the lives of these girls and making their lives at least a little bit easier."  I plan to feature a new member of the team each day and give a run down of our progress.

On behalf of the entire team we would like to thank everyone who has contributed to this mission. Whether it was through financial generosity, prayers, advice, or well wishes. We met our initial goal of raising $10,000 and we are ecstatic about the amount of support we have received. That being said, there is still $2,200 in matching funds left for anyone who feels called to contribute. Additional funds will go toward unexpected materials or costs and help get the center open by January.

Whatever you can give will help, and the team thanks you in advance not only for donations but for your prayers and support while we are away. Bon Voyage!

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Against All Odds

Deciding to take on an International Mission is a big decision for any congregation. Questions of why, how, when, and where constantly plague Church council meetings. To put it frankly International Missions are hard, and there is a lot of reluctance to commit.

Thankfully God always has a plan, whether we know it not. Our mission in Cameroon was definitely a "God plan" and here's why. Incarnation previously carried out mission work in Cameroon building a Church. After that work had been finished a desire to do more for the community still lingered. As a result someone inquired with community leaders regarding their other needs. And, boy was it a steep request. They desperately needed a center for children in danger of human trafficking.

The initial reaction to this request was an immediate no, followed by every excuse that could be found. We would need government permission. We would need a local Church partner in Cameroon. We would need a building. We would need a well qualified caretaker for the center and the children. We would need significant financial support. We would need support and approval from the Incarnation congregation. We would need a team of volunteers willing to give their skills and time to build the center. As per God's plan each of these excuses became irrelevant.

We have a contact in the Cameroonian government who is more than willing to smooth the path for this mission. We have a Church partner in Cameroon that will stand by our work. Someone gifted us a house! In our own Incarnation congregation we already had the perfect person to take command of the center. With a little bit of persuasion, for some, our congregation hopped on board. Volunteers stepped up to the plate to lend their talents. The only excuse left to conquer is the finances.

God's plans can be difficult to discern sometimes, and when your excuses start to diminish it's time to start taking action. Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight."

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