Africa Journal Day 17

Monday, May 9, 2005
Day 17
Bert & Wilma Visser’s Guestroom, Yaounde, Cameroon

For my birthday today, Wilma cooked a nice supper of chicken, potato scallop and vegetables, followed by a delicious carrot cake. After supper we worked at planning and packing for our trip to Mt. Cameroon.
Most of my day was spent seeing some of the missionaries who had attended the Everything that Hinders Seminar. I believe these consultations were productive, and I hope that people were helped by them.
Yesterday was an enjoyable day. Sunday morning worship was with Bert and Wilma in a small francophone church they attend; Bert was preaching, in English, translated into French. He had a good message on marriage, an area that needs significant work here, just as at home. He quoted some stats from a BBC interview he had heard about the divorce rate in Sweden—60%. Peter Dzawua in Nigeria, an evangelist and pastor, also had shared with me the high priority he places on teaching principles of biblical marriage and family relationships.
After a lunch of potato salad, we were off to the French Club, a private sports club. Here we played tennis (it was too hot for my liking), followed by a refreshing dip in the pool. We relaxed and read some, and by 5:30 pm, we were actually starting to feel cold; Wilma was wrapping herself in her beach towel.
There was an evening service for all the SIL staff, which was quite a large crowd. The highlight for me was the time when new people were welcomed, others preparing for furlough (missionary leave) were prayed for, and all the needs of the mission family were shared, and in turn prayed for. It was heart-warming to experience the caring; Cathy and I well remember how the mission family becomes your “surrogate family” when abroad.