Saturday 18th (unedited)

Saturday 18th (unedited)
I awoke early and was processing the events of the last couple of days. We have in a way completed one task as of Friday and will start a new schedule Monday. By 6:10 I was wide awake and remembered that Marceline was planning an exercise walk for 6:30. I decided to join the others and it was a very interesting walk through some neighborhoods around the compound. We saw homes that looked to me to be around 3000 square feet with exteriors of brick, stucco or tile. They were all behind some kind of walls mostly masonry often with large iron gates. Some even had guard posts next to the gates. The neighborhoods were a mixture of elaborate and more modest homes and the streets varied in width and types of paving. Our walk took us through relatively quiet streets, some busier thoroughfares with many motorcycles and motor bikes buzzing past and concluded with about a quarter of a mile along the traffic choked main road we cross to get to the Center. As we turned off the main road I said to Glenda, “Race you to the gate!” She said, “Up this hill?” She did not accept the challenge but did agree to jog the rest of the way which we did. I got a partial compliment something about not bad for being in flip flops. We waited for the rest to catch up and then got buzzed through the gate together.
After a shower I took time to read a couple of Psalms and was kinda dozing in prayer so I decided to lie down since it was still a half hour till breakfast. Peg was doing pancakes at 8:00. I have no idea what woke me but I awoke at 8:10 and went down to the Commons. We were planning a trip through the country side for nine and got off on time only to return quickly for a couple of forgotten passports. The drive out of the city was short and soon we were on a two-lane highway through the rain forest. The sights sounds and smells are too numerous to begin to mention. I learned and observed for the first time the business of making palm oil. The fruit of one of the palm trees grows in bunches somewhat bigger than a basket ball. In the porcupine like bunch are hundreds of little red ping pong ball sized pieces of fruit which contain the oil. I am not familiar with the whole process but we saw many places where drums of the oil or the fruit were being boiled over smoky open fires.
The buildings along the road seemed to be fall into three categories of construction. The first was a framework of sticks that is stuffed with mud made from the dark red soil nearby which is rich in clay. As time goes on the clay hardened to a concrete hard consistency. Next on the scale are the building made of mud bricks and then the ones made with cement blocks. Any of them may be plastered with concrete. I understand that the building we are living in was of the first type but now has a painted stucco exterior. Renovations have had to deal with the concrete like mud walls. We passed a few tolls which were 500 cfa’s or a little over a dollar. We also passed police check points but were only stopped once and then briefly. The toll stops generate their own little economic pockets as venders try to entice the riders in the vehicles to buy bananas, plantain, plastic bags of water and other wares. One of the staples of some of the tribes in the rainforest villages comes from manioc roots. A gelatin like substance is extracted from the root and wrapped in leaves and tied with plant fiber so it resembles a large sausage. I observed one of the missionaries from this area eating some of this product for lunch. It looked Jell-O sausage but rather than red or green it was translucent beige. It is a staple in the diets of many people here in this part of Africa.
Or journey took us though several villages and past many rural homes, farms and gardens. One of the towns was our destination where a skilled potter had his shop. The electricity was off so we did not see the electric wheels turning but a lovely young lady who worked there gave us a demonstration of the old wheel which she operated by starting a lower fly wheel going by scuffing it with the sole of her foot. It was just amazing to see a small vase arise out of a lump of clay. The whole process was described from the old ways and into the 21st century. We all took the opportunity to purchase some his finished pieces and then we headed for a picnic lunch by a broad rushing river. From there it was back on the two lane road though all the check points and tolls back to Yaoundé. Bob and Elaine dozed a little on the way back and I was almost there when a bump startled me. It was good to talk to Mickey’s wife on the way back to see what had brought her to Africa and to share her burden for the work of Bible translation.
I was thinking I might have to actually supplement my daily task of washing things in the sink with a load of wash but Bob and Elaine had room in their tub of darks and when offered I accepted their gracious help. Supper consisted of a great stew that had been in the crock pot all day while we were traveling and a great salad topped off with fresh mangoes which we invited to cut open after Marceline demonstrated different methods. We are all invited to a round of Dirty Rotten Thief playing tomorrow at the school principal’s house so since Rhonda, Marceline and I had some experience others wanted to get in a little training. We had six so we played a round with two teams of three. Tomorrow there will probably be many more playing so it was good to give everyone a chance at a smaller table. After that we got the Blink cards flying and the laughter must have been audible a mile away. We finished by thanking God for Samuel the talented potter, for a safe trip on a narrow highway and asking His blessing on the kids and the rest of our time here.