Personal Blog

What Love Does

2009-10-23T16:26:00.005-04:00

I am at a conference, What Love Does, and David Ruis is leading worship. The first session of worship was lead by David Ruis with Sherry, Jeff and Amanda. There was 5 songs and it was awesome, especially one new song written by Suhail Stephen from Hong Kong. It was sung by Sherry Ansloos.

To the right is a picture of David Ruis, Kenny and myself.

Currently, I am listening to Nathan Rieger; pastor of the Winnipeg Vineyard. He is telling us about a vision that had years ago; the vision of the Musk Ox.

Musk Ox, when in danger, put the weak and vulnerable in the middle and then create a circle around them, facing outward. Then when the wolves come, or other danger, the strong defend the herd.

So often, in our society, the weak and vulnerable are put to the outside. The strong are worried about staying strong. It could be people on welfare, people who can’t work and those who are disabled; they are left on the outside to fend for themselves from the wolves and other dangers. The strong don’t help in fear that they themselves might become poor.

God loves the poor. Where is God? He is where the homeless live, he is where the single mom lives, the drug addict, the alcoholic, the guy robbing a bank right now. He is where the most vulnerable are.

Where are we at? Are we where God is, or are we just trying to survive and worried about becoming vulnerable? If we focus on not becoming poor, we will become poor. If we become the strong on and form the outer circle, we will become strong.

Luke 12:22-34
22Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[b]? 26Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
27"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. 28If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! 29And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
32"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Videos Now Work

2008-02-08T08:07:00.000-05:00

I posted the videos on YouTube and then linked them here. Now they work

Testimony from Michel

2008-02-07T22:30:00.000-05:00

I received this email Jan 31st from Michel.

We are very happy to send you this mail.
We continue saying: many thanks for your visit, your teachings and your exhortations.
According to this specifically point (exhortation), we have a testimony to tell you.
Before you came in our local church on saturday 12 January 2008, we were facing many problems that we don't really know the sources.
Among those problems, we can quote:
- The incomprehesion between brethrens,
- A difficult character of one brother, who always discourage even old believers.
During your predication, we understood that God loves us so much . Because he reveled to you our situation, and the exhortation our God gave you for us came as a specific consolation, encouragement and true.
You know some of us according to what they heard concerning others churches, want us to grow in the same way or speed like them.
When you spoke about building a house, especially how to lay a solid foundation,
When you spoke about the importance of the foundation,
When you spoke about problems as a strengthening way of our faith.
The good news is that, all those who were in that situation , recognize their fault and the whole church agreed that JESUE SEND YOU TO HEAL US, TO ENCOURAGE US AND TO GIVE US POWER AND INSURANCE TO WORK FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE KINGDOM OF OUR GOD.
The church has become understandable, peaceful and joyful again. we would maintain that restoration in the name of JESUS.
Let the favor of the All Mighty be with you .

Michel & Beatrice Ngankam from Cameroon.

In Top of the TV Gospel Africa

2008-02-06T06:36:00.000-05:00

Here is an email Clever wrote me Feb 1st

You are every day in tevision in Cameroun.
Your message is helping all the nation christians.
many people are calling asking about question to know you.
the Gospel TV is just showing all your message.
The secretly came and taped all the conference. Now you are in top of the TV gospel africa.
i will just corporate with them so the can give the tape so i will bring to you.
Ani is unable to work, but i have giving all to some one to do it.
Glory George , God has used you better to help our country.
i am very happy for God plan. Genevieve father is hospitalised since yesterday and we are praying.
Clever

Healing took place later

2008-01-26T05:42:00.000-05:00

So many leaders came yesterday to our friday teaching training.
We just worship and remimber you.
Do you know that when you teach about SOZO, we got alot of healing with take place after.
many home were heal, and some sick people got heal; in Kribi group one man told me about his hernia which disapear, Joy came to all, and personnal reconciliation to bring people together in all our community was one of our goal.
Thank for your determination and courage to come in africa.
God will never forget this day he plan since the fondation of creation.
Greetings to all your children. i am in prayer to prepare my visit there in Mars (March GE) as we discussed here.

The history will never forget that you GEORGE AND JANET are the first white person who visited vineyard cameroun the first time. All s/africa mouvement is happy for what you did here.
This is God plan George. It is not a man plan. We are looking forward to ask for more wisdom and revelation. We all love you George.
We all are very please to welcome you again.
Thank and all those who contributed to this Dream.
Greeting all Rivers city vineyard family.
We love them.
Clever

Home Again Post

2008-01-24T07:43:00.000-05:00

by George

We arrived home after 28 hours of travel. We were blessed because our plane arrived before the weather got bad. Janet and I have known what it is like to circle the airport for 2 hours waiting for weather to clear enough for the plane to land.

We finally got on the road and the weather was getting worse. The traffic stopped on the 401. We were just at a median so we turned around and took another highway. There ended up being a 75 car pile up at Woodstock about 20 miles away from where we had to stop. We were blessed not to be one of those 75 cars.

We made it home to a warm welcome to our children who cooked us a nice Asian meal to give us a break from African.

Final thoughts
Here are some final thoughts about our journey. The Cameroon people are wonderful people. We saw no crime there. Quinton from South Africa was totally blown away by this as he said he as never seen it quite like this in Africa. No one is ripping your watch off your hand, no violence, no drugs, etc. We didn’t even see people smoking. I only remember seeing 2 people smoking and one was at the airport. The people are very friendly loving and hospitable.

There are no white people in Douala. We saw maybe 5 whites at the most.

The Vineyard Church here has a good start and is working on a good foundation.

I asked Clever which of my teachings impacted him the most and he said “Sozo”. That is a teaching where I show that healing, salvation and restoration are all integrated and you can’t separate them. Jesus didn’t come to just heal us (make us physically better), or to just save us (for most that means just get into heaven), etc. he came to “Sozo” us (Greek work which means healing, salvation and restoration, etc.) and totally restore us and let us begin to live and experience the Kingdom of God.

I felt like a major breakthrough came when I talked about poverty. They had a mindset that Clever was receiving money from Vineyard Europe or Vineyard west and that their little bit of money would make no difference. I spoke about the mentality of poverty, how we are rich in God and if they want us to assist them then they have a poverty mentality. I went over a story call “the rich people in our church” and showed them that poverty was a mindset. I really felt a break through in the spirit. We all feel poor because we spend more than we make, we look at what we don’t have, and compare ourselves to those who have more than us.

We didn’t have much ministry time. It seemed like more foundational teaching on the Kingdom of God and other groundwork and less teaching on other important subjects like worship and healing. Also, they start late and the meetings go for 3-4 hours, and it is hot and humid and ministry time does not seem very conducive.

Cameroon is 80% French and 20% English. They have 10 provinces and 2 provinces are English and the other 8 are French. You would think that it would be easy to communicate with the people who speak English. Well it can be quite difficult for 2 reasons; one accent and two, choice of words. For example instead of saying “go quickly” they say “go fast” but is sounds like “go fawstt” so you go “pardon” (they may say for pardon “please”)
Another example is “the fly of Quinton reach” which means “the airplane Quinton is on has arrived”.

Speaking French was interesting. A lot of my high school French came back to me (last class was Grade 9) but if their French is like their English then I was learning Cameroun French. I do want to learn more French so I can eventually preach in French. To learn it, I will need to maybe do some CDs or schooling and then get immersed in it. One of the main problems is I also want to learn Spanish, Dutch, and Russian so we will see. Life is so exciting and so much to look forward as we partner with the Kingdom of God.

The Last Night

2008-01-23T21:04:00.001-05:00

by Jan
Well, here it is on Wednesday morning, exactly two weeks ago since we left for Africa. I crawled into bed last night at 10:30, exactly 44 hours after having gotten up. Of course I caught some wink-eye on the plane, but sleeping sitting up just doesn’t seem to have the same restful effect. It took us 4 and ½ hours to get home from the airport as we had to take all the back roads home. Traffic had come to a complete stop while we on the 401. We decided quite quickly that things didn’t look good. There was no traffic at all going eastbound which meant one of two things – either the highway was closed due to weather conditions or due to an accident. Because we happened to stop just before an overpass, there was a section in which we could do an easy u-turn. In hindsight, it was a good decision because as we listened to the radio, the situation was not good and we could have been stuck in traffic for hours. When you get that close to home, you just want to get home, especially when travelling has gone on for so long.

I am just going to share a few final thoughts about the trip. First of all, George and I thank all of you who prayed for us and for our safety, and for those who supported us financially to make this trip possible. A trip such as this one is very expensive and not something one would do on a regular basis. Your support has been much appreciated. The first few days I had to pinch myself to believe that I was actually in Africa. I did really not know what to expect since George had been the one who had the email contacts and I didn’t really ask him too much. I didn’t want to form anything in my mind and I just wanted to take it as it came, although I had no idea that the place where we were going was as “third world” as it was. The heat could also be overwhelming at times and it is hard for me to imagine that the hot season we were in, is still going to get hotter. Then the wet season begins after that, in which it apparently rains constantly and it doesn’t get a whole lot cooler either. The last afternoon I was there, I was helping in the kitchen, cutting up some cabbages for our party that night and the sweat was literally dripping off of my face. I don’t think that I have ever experienced that before as I am not one that sweats easily. Coming home to winter was a welcoming thought at that moment.

I wondered as we first arrived, how we were going to be able to make an impact on these people and if indeed, all the money that had been spent to make this trip possible, was actually worth it. I mean, what do we have to offer that they can’t accomplish themselves? But now that the trip is over, I do believe that we made a positive impact. I thought that George’s talks went really well and his speaking seemed to get stronger as we went on. Quinton’s (the VBI guy from South Africa)talks were also very good and spending time getting to know him was fun for both of us. Sometimes you really wonder why you get to meet people who live far away, wondering if you will ever see them again. Quinton was very interesting and fun to hang out with. After reading Clever’s email which he sent us this morning, I truly knew that God had used us to impact the people there and to encourage them. As we have stated before, the people are very special and kind and hospitable. I felt as if we made a lot of new friends. Of course, there is an immediate bond knowing that they are Christians and then even more of a bond, when they have our Vineyard values. They don’t come across so religious. Once again, are we ever going to see them again?

The Douala group threw a wonderful party for us which they called their “African Night” on our last night there. We got decked out in true African garb (Quinton asked if we had our pajamas on) which they had specifically made for us. We got lavished with all kinds of gifts from different individuals, most of which was African clothing. (So if any of you need any African dress, you know where to go).The courtyard was all set up with tables and decorations. We were sat at the head table and it actually felt like we were at a wedding.

There was nice music playing in the background and some final words were said. I wish I could have taken more of it in, but many wanted pictures taken with us so it seemed as if the night was done almost before we started. We were going to spend some time doing worship before we left, but Clever decided to call the airport to see if our flight was on time.

They bumped up the time! So all of a sudden we were in a mad rush to get last minute packing done (the gifts and such). Some people wondered why we got out of our African garb so I tried to explain to them that we would freeze once we got to Paris. After some very quick good-byes, we left. Things were closing at the airport when we got there, and we just managed to squeak in, which meant that we could not say good-bye to Quinton, Ann, and Genevieve. I was really bummed about that. I thought that once we got checked in we could go back and say good-bye but it is set up differently there. Genevieve became very special to me. She is only 5 years older than my oldest and a very dear lady. She has a sweet spirit and I felt an extra close bond to her. Eunice came from Nigeria for the conference and she grew very special to me in a few short days as well. I really like the black people and find them very beautiful. I made sure that I kept telling them that as I was told that they often don’t like being black. I also find it amazing what these people accomplish in the midst of difficult circumstances. Once again I was reminded of how much we have here in North America, compared to the rest of the world. This particular country has next to no crime, which was truly amazing to me, so I never had a time when I did not feel safe (except when I was in a car).

We came to a wonderful welcome home. All our kids, (except Denise who was on business), son-in-laws, and Hayden were there to meet us and once again, I felt like a truly blessed woman. Will I ever go back to Cameroon? Absolutely, if the opportunity arises.

Comments by Clever

2008-01-23T06:37:00.000-05:00

All i can say now is let all glory be giving to God.
George can you read this mail to all the church Rivers city vineyard?
Hope you better do it.
Beloved family of the rivers city vineyard canada.
It is nice mailing you from Africa cameroun .
I am Clever, father of 3 children and married to Genevieve.
George and janet just left us with tears. Can you know what separation can cause? Seperation is not divorce.
We passed a nice time here with your pastor and his wife,
During this time i do not know what God was ministering to George,
it was only when he was teaching i realise that he was speaking spiritual fact and was just playing foundation to all french vineyard in africa. Wanderfull time just like he knew all about africa and our spiritual need. I exclamated!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is very important to us today for all what George and janet have done and left behind.
For all of you, africa need true gospel and prayers from you.
Now we are not alone, George and Janet left behind a Big greet family which hope to serve Jesus.
Janet has been very nice when God minister to her to teach about married.
This teaching just lay soild fondation to our community.
I have never teach about married, but i am just busy planting and training leaders.
We are very happy and greatifull to George and Janet.
When George started Laying solid fondation, the evil came with sickness to stop all and george became sick. I then prayed and asked solution to Jesus. We prayed and God told me what to do next, i then bought some drugs very urgent to give to George since all the community was waiting for the next section.
He then took his drugs and all became in order.
Beloved family, We passed a full time of worship with Eunice from Nigeria and Quinton from S/africa VBi teacher.
Since we can (not GE) convince George and Janet to stay here for ever, I just say to God let your will be done.
Some of our leaders are just crying with joy but also missing George and Janet/
Some are asking when next they will come?
Some are still confuse and surprise if really George and Janet have left.
Some are wandering (surprized GE) to see white people very simple,
some are astonishing why George will go back to canada? and let him stay again and prolong his stay;
Some are happy and hoping to see them again one day,
some are planning also to come there and experience you and the community.
All George and Janet did here is hundred percent Good.
He gave me the direction i must follow specialy the purchasing of our property to worship and how to train leaders and encourage them and solve some problem in case problem arise.
He bought us a musical system we wanted to rent;
He supported us by feeding the participants;
Beloved,
I just thank you on behave of the community i am leading here. Now George mailled me that they are back home.
Remain bless
Clever

In a later email Clever wrote this
Here it is like we are orphan since you left us.
Many can not believe that you left, it is like dream.
How is janet?
All her friends are in tears.
But i believe God who put us together will also follow his plan.
I so love you as a father that is why i will alway send you all reprot or weekly or montly.
Genevieve is very worry for the absence of janet, hope she will recover soon the sock of separation.
Thank you so much George may God strengh your heart the more to equip africa french vineyard as you are the first white visiting us with power and determination.
Clever

Kribi Videos

2008-01-23T05:27:00.000-05:00

I now posted the videos on YouTube and put them here.

Kribi Welcome

Janet's African dance.

George's African dance after laying the first stone, with Janet "cutting in".

Last Day

2008-01-21T06:28:00.000-05:00

We are spending the last day recuperating from the conference. It was a good conference but tiring. They go on and on and then finally it is time to speak and they expect 2 hours. Well on Thursday, Quinton preached from 11-12pm (supposed to be 10-12pm) and then said he was done. Then Clever stands up and says, "We will take a short break and come back for Quinton to do another teaching." Basically we ended up doing 2 teachings in the morning, back to back, and 2 more in the evening. I have done something like 16 hours of teaching on this trip in 8 days (out of 11 days). We had 2 cities cancelled so that saved me an additional 4 hours. I still have a closing speech to do tonight. Tonight is African night where we will dress up in traditional African clothing. They will give us gifts (we already received several) and we will give gifts. Then there is 2 hours scheduled for closing speeches. We leave for the airport around 10pm and our flight is scheduled to leave at 11:45pm. Then 7 hours to Paris, 5 hour layover and 7.5 hours to Toronto and 3 hour drive home. Pray for 2 things, one for safety and two, that Air France is overbooked and they pay us to delay our flight in Paris so we can spend a couple of days there.

One really neat bonus was Quinton. He and I clicked really well and it was great to gain a friend in South Africa and to have some Western connection to talk and relate to (besides my wife). He is a PHD theologian and works for Vineyard Bible Institute and has much experience in African culture and helped me to understand certain things.

Well that is all for now as I had no free “local” internet since Friday and I am trying to get my internet stuff done quickly in a travel agent office.

Thanks for all your love and support. It is much easier doing this knowing we have a group at home who love and care for us and are praying for us.

Love George

One really neat bonus was Quinton. He and I clicked really well and it was great to gain a friend in South Africa and to have some Western connection to talk and relate to (besides my wife). He is a PHD theologian and works for Vineyard Bible Institute and has much experience in African culture and helped me to understand certain things.

Conference

2008-01-19T10:58:00.000-05:00

Jan 17th Pre conference (George)
Our camera batteries are dead so no more pictures for now.

We woke up to 2 Hursts in our front yard. Later on there were 3 coffins sitting off to the one side. Apparently they were the parents of the land lord and have been dead for 17 years. I don’t know if they do this every year or what, but there was some wailing going on and a lot of friends visiting. The people are Catholic and in parts of the world like this, there is a lot of ancestral worship going on.

For the conference, they wanted to rent a system and I said we should look at our options as I didn’t want to use money for temporary things. What they really wanted was an amp, to go with their new speakers. They also wanted a keyboard as their keyboard player said he wouldn’t play their Casio because it kept cutting in and out. I said that the keyboard could be fixed. One problem was the proper cable to connect the Casio to the main system; the other was a loose adapter. What they really needed was an amp and mixing board. Clever found a really old one for 150,000 fca and while I didn’t like that, I thought it was better than renting. Then I asked how much to buy the sound board and he said 240,000. So I told Clever “I will buy it for 200,000” ($220) so he sealed the deal. It was really new and had a built in Amplifier, just what we needed. God does provide.

Next I still needed the a cable to go from a 1/8” headphone jack to a ¼” mono plug to plug in the new board. I kept telling Clever for the last 2 days that we needed to buy a cable for the keyboard, he kept saying “yes” but we never went. He told me after lunch, and that lunch was in 10 minutes. I said “bien” (French for good) and went into the kitchen and saw 4 raw fish. I asked him if that was for lunch he said “no the chicken is” and I looked at this huge raw chicken in the sink and thought “Great, I get to see my first miracle here; lunch in 10 minutes”. So after more than an hour, we had chicken. I grabbed the plate as I was hungry at this time, took the piece of meat closest to me and offered it to Quinton. It was a foot, that looked you should tie it to a stick and scratch you back with it. He politely said he could fetch his own piece. The next piece I grabbed was the neck and when I offered it to him; he gave me that “don’t bother” look so I put that on my plate too. Next I grabbed a drumstick. You would need 129 feet and 46 necks to fill you up not including the extra you would need to replace the energy to remove the morsels of meet off those pieces. It’s amazing how these people eat every piece. Clever can even be heard chomping on bones.

So I decided to find a flash card for Eunice as they said “$100 USD for 2 Gig” and I said “Then let’s see about a 256K as she had no flash card for her camera. The guy who told me was Boniface as he went and scouted out the land before and told me about the giant prices. So here we are: Boniface 98% French, and me 2% French which makes 100% French and not much English. So we got out of the gate and each mounted a taxi-motorcycle and off we went adding to the craziness of Douala driving. We weave, swerve, get cut off, honked at and sucked in a lot of fumes from the very poor running motorcycle in front of me. But we arrive, in one piece and gave each driver 100 fcf (~$0.22) and were off to a store to buy a card. Trouble with the card was it was a Sony and 3 times the price of a SD flash card so we didn’t buy it. Now I understood.

I saw some musical instruments. An acoustical guitar, an electric guitar, a bass, couple of speakers and odds and ends. I thought “Great, I can get some cables. Surely if they have electric guitars, they have a cable. I wanted to try the acoustic. So after 3 minutes, I finally made myself understood and they went to get it off the rack. It had a layer of dust on it and still had a protective covering over the pick guard so I knew that it was a new one, trouble is that I am sure that it had been hanging for at least 3 years, if not 5. So they placed this brand new relic into my hands and the thing is so out of tune, that I am sure that even the tone deaf shook their heads. I started to tune in when “Twang”, pop goes the 3rd from the bottom string, which is solid string with another really fine string wound around it. So they try to take the string that was wound around the broken core string and was wondering why it wouldn’t work. So I just gave it back.

Next I asked about a cord. I pointed to the electric guitar ¼” jack and then to an Amp and and said “six meter” (in French but pronounced zes).I didn’t realize it until about 7 puzzled looks and some part French part English that they were asking, “You want to try it out?” I motioned “No” and told them I wanted to buy which then Boniface understood and spoke to them. So they agreed and out came the calculator, and they showed me 7,200 fcfa. They took me to the counter and showed me the parts as they had to make the cable up. I said “Okay, but I only have 2,000 and will have to come back. They said for 2,000 they will make it and I could come back and pay the rest. I said no, I will just come back.

We went back on 2 different taxi motorbikes and, while the adventure was the same, I was looking for the next challenge, as I already seemed accustomed to this driving style. (Now back home my wife does 90% of the driving, so you can draw your own conclusions).

I found an 1/8” jack and a ¼” jack and went back with Clever. First I had to exchange money so we pull up to this corner and have 5 eager faces waiting to exchange money. There are a lot of “nos”, Clever puts it in gear, goes ahead twice and finally the exchange is done. This time I got 87,000 fcfa instead of 84,000. So off to the cable store.

We walk in and you would think they would know what I want, but it is the ceremony all over again. This time I pick up the 1/8” jack, join it with the ¼” jack, pull them apart and say “six meter”. They have this “ah ha” look and pull out a roll of cable and cut off 6 meters. They put the 2 ends and the 6 meters in a bag and hand it to a store clerk who won’t give it to me. I already paid the 7,200 fcfa. So I decided “George, just go with the flow”. I follow Clever, Boniface and the store clerk to our vehicle. Apparently we had to drive the clerk to another store so he could solder on the ends. So after much ado, I finally had my cable.

Conference
Jan 17th
We started our conference at around 6pm. As the conference started, I felt flu like symptoms coming on. I did a teaching on the Kingdom and the people seemed to be receptive to the message. I went home that night, missed supper (you know that I am sick when I turn down food) and slept till morning. They woke me up and I definitely was suffering from either something I ate, or something that was eating me. Dr Clever said he would get me some good drugs and they ended up being a very strong anti-biotic. (Twenty four hours later I am feeling 95% of my normal self.) I just wanted to sleep all day as it was my body’s way of fighting what was ailing me. I fell asleep wherever I could. I slept on 4 chairs at break time and then about an hour later, while we were waiting for lunch, I flaked out on the floor. I had no idea, as I was in such a deep sleep, that everyone had to walk right past me to get their lunch. Genevieve took a picture of me with Janet’s prompting, since her camera’s battery was low. I haven’t seen it yet but Janet tells me it was pretty funny. I was flat on my back with my wrists limp in front of me (kind of like when your dog Josh, lays on his back to sleep, with his paws hanging limp in the air). After I woke up from this nap, I desperately just wanted to go home and sleep but we still had to go to the radio where we sat in a small booth with 7 people and a temperature of 92ºF. We got back to the house at 4:40 and the next session started at 5:30, so I only managed to sleep for 45 minutes. It was hard to get up and drag myself to the evening session, but with a few more drugs, I managed. This was the session in which both Janet and I had to speak, each for an hour or more. Janet did a teaching on the five love languages and had the undivided attention of the crowd. It was her first time speaking with an interpreter, which she found a little more challenging. You’re on a roll, kind of thing, but you have to stop after every few words. But I was really proud of her as she did great.

Finally

2008-01-17T10:42:00.001-05:00

I have been trying to upload this picture about 6 times and finally succeeded. I have 3 good videos but will have to wait till I have a better internet access.

Bafoussam no go - by Jan

2008-01-17T10:38:00.001-05:00

Jan 16th
We left for Bafoussam at 5 o’clock this morning and after a good 1/2 hour into our journey, we experienced a blowout. We felt very fortunate and protected by God, since we were full of passengers and feel that it could have caused an accident. It was still pitch dark. After some searching around for flashlights and tools, someone on a motorbike stopped and helped us. Fortunately there was a small town about 2 km. up the road and he got some tools for us. After we got the spare off the back door, we realized it too was flat. So the motorcyclist strapped the tire onto his little 50 cc and went on his way. By this time it had gotten light, so at least we could see. Clever decided at this point that it was going to take time to remedy the situation and that we may not make it up to the mountains, so a taxi was called for us and by 8 o’clock, we were back home again while Clever, Michael and Annie stayed back till the tire could get fixed. We received a call from them at about 9:30 saying that they were on their way back home when 2 km into their trip, the tire on the other side blew. Needless to say, we did not make it to Bafoussam today. But we have been going almost non-stop, so it was totally ok to have another rest day.
We continue to enjoy the people and new friends we have made. Learning French has also been quite fun and we are surprised at some of the words that have come back to us after not seeing them for 35 years. Yesterday, I (Janet) saw the word etoile on a bill board and I immediately remembered that it meant star even though I have not paid any attention to French words for so many years. It made me realize that our brains are so amazing and what we learned many years ago, is somewhere tucked in our brains. I have become really interested in learning more words and phrases, so when George was in town yesterday, I asked him to pick me up an English-French dictionary. Just going through it and remembering more words is enjoying for me. Though I didn’t have the time before I left, I wish I could have brushed up on some French before I got here.

Everyday again, I am amazed at all the poverty here. Douala is a very dirty city. It is actually hard to believe. There is 55% unemployment, yet everyone seems to have a cell phone. You can get practically anything here, but there are no malls. Just markets on the side of the road. For example, we wanted to get some money changed, so Clever just stops by the side of the road, knowing who are money exchangers, and strikes up a deal with them. It is apparently more costly to get money exchanged at the bank. We were looking for speakers yesterday, as well as a transformer and just stopped on the side of the road where there are huts upon huts of different items that can be bought, all amidst the poverty and garbage. It is hard for me to get my head turned around on some of the stuff I see. Today we were traveling on the street and it was already quite busy, even though it was early in the morning, and our vehicle had to come to a quick stop because a herd of about 15 skinny cows were crossing the street. Although it wasn’t serious, a car lightly hit one of them. Once again I found it comical and amazing. I told George, “Quick, get your camera out and take a picture,” but by the time he was able to do so, they were already across the street.

We have only had to make friends with 2 cockroaches in our room so far. They are very quick and hard to kill, so one might as well befriend them. Actually George did manage to kill them, because they don’t want them around. They could make more cockroaches if we let them hang around too long. Fortunately, I have not seen one spider yet. Now, that would freak me out. I think that God is good and He knows what it would take to chase me out of here in a hurry.

I am so grateful for the experience of being here. I feel that I have experienced so much in a few short days. Montesuma’s (spelling ?)revenge hit yesterday, but fortunately it was not a travel day. I had to chuckle at the combination of our toilet situation and that situation. We take so much for granted at home when so much of the world lives so differently with so very little.

Tomorrow is the first day of the conference, so I don’t know how much we will be able to blog. Please pray that it will go well because that is the reason why we are here. We want our presence to be a real encouragement to the people here. It is quite fascinating what Clever and Genevieve have accomplished here in a year or so. They both came on their own (he quit his job as a medical surgeon in Switzerland) to start Vineyard churches and though they are both from this country, Douala is a new experience for them as well. They so take everything in stride and are so grateful for what they have been able to accomplish so far, and for our willingness to be here to encourage them.

Blown Away

2008-01-16T14:58:00.000-05:00

Added new pictures to this post

I am sitting in the dark outside, stealing some neighbour's wireless at 1 mps and i may have to finish uploading tomorrow (pictures and video) at an internet cafe.

Jan 14th by George
Today blew me away. We went to Kribi to visit the vineyard there. They were the first plant, 2 years ago, and are the largest and are self sustaining. It was a 2 ½ hour drive and we left at 5:50am to beat the rush hour. There are only a few main roads leaving the city so getting out is hairy as all the street vendors like to take advantage of the slow traffic trying to get by. Even at 6am, it was starting to get hairy. In all our busyness, we forgot to deal with our anti-malaria drugs. Janet had been gotten bitten and they highly suggested that we get on some drugs right away. So we started last night and it caused me not to be able to fall asleep till about 3am so I only got about 2 hours of sleep. I asked them what percentage of the mosquitoes carried malaria, thinking like 20 in a thousand. They said it was low - about 40%. That is 400 out of a thousand and seemed pretty high to me. The mosquitoes are different here. They are very small, and you don’t feel them bite and the bites don’t swell up or get itchy. Janet knew she had bites, but didn’t realize they were mosquitoes bites till Genevieve told her and that is what got us on the anti-malaria drug thing. We had to take it last night, this morning, tonight and then once a week. So while it was a great day, I battled sleepiness all day. We arrived in Kribi at 8:30 to about 20 young leaders, all standing in a row with yellow Vineyard T-shirts on. Then we went into the house and saw them cooking breakfast for us. Before we started to eat, we did some worship and they started worshiping the song we know as “Come reign in me” in French. The Spirit of God really hit me with that and it was so awesome to hear a group of young Vineyard leaders worshiping our songs in their native language. Next we ate fish for breakfast. They plopped a whole fish on Janet’s plate; head, body and tail. She is more worried about her upbringing where you have to eat everything on your plate than their generosity. I took part of her fish and added to my own. Instead of coffee, we were presented with a Coca-Cola. We also had fried plantain (a variety of banana but more starchy) and bread. While I am used to more of a “bacon and eggs” type breakfast, it was very good as the fish was caught that morning.

Next, we get into the pastor’s car, for some reason, instead of Clever’s 4 wheel drive. We drive slowly to the church and notice people we recognize that were at the house earlier, taking videos of us as we drive down to the church. Janet said “I feel like Lady Di” as we had a taste of paparazzi; and that was just the beginning. As we arrive, we hear music and then pull up to see 150 African Vineyard folk, singing traditional African music and dancing and all singing at the top of their lungs. All to honour us! I just stood there in shock and wept. I wept for one, because I really felt the Holy Spirit and two, because I felt like they were giving us way more honour than we deserved. They grabbed Janet into the dancers circle and she did the best job she could to mimic the natives. We once took ball room dancing so she could learn to dance in public. Well let’s just say those lessons didn’t help.

They presented us with a small gift of a carving of a small dug-out canoe with a fisherman and there were a few speeches. Next we went into their existing church building and we had a service where I was asked to speak for 1 hour. I spoke mostly encouraging words and on Vineyard values.

The chief (see the picture of the chief and me) then got up and said some words to us to encourage us. He stated how he really liked the Vineyard and everything they stood for. He donated a large piece of property, which he was going to let them use to grow food. He also wanted them to use his wood working shop to teach the younger men skills. I was so tired at this point, in a small church with 100 people inside (150 outside) that I nodded off twice while he was speaking which I felt bad for as I knew what an honour it was that he was speaking to me and to the Vineyard. If he noticed, he didn’t let on that he did.

The land he donated was to build a new church and orphanage and after the service, they wanted me to lay the first stone. I couldn’t believe that they waited to start construction till I could lay the first stone. So I took the stone, took the mortar, and used the trowel to cement it in place. After that, we had another African shindig in which they pulled both Janet and I into the dancing circle. Janet said that my dancing lessons were a waste of money. Needless to say, it must have been pretty bad because the natives were all laughing. Another sermon illustration on judging. I (Janet) am just inserting a little more on the chief story. He had originally rented his building to the Vineyard, so they had a contract that he couldn’t legally renege on. But after renting it to them, he became very annoyed with the Vineyard (he was a nominal Catholic) and he became a real pain in the butt for them to the point where he went to higher officials to try and get them out. Last year he became very ill and was told that he wouldn’t live. He went through 4 surgeries and to make a long story short, through this God changed him and now he is totally for the Vineyard and doing everything he can to help them. Clever and Genevieve did not know about this change of heart and when Genevieve saw him in the service, she was quite taken aback. When he got up and said that he wanted to say something, she was a little nervous, wondering what he was going to say. As George wrote, he donated some land, which is a different piece of land than the one they are building the orphanage on. He is now very excited about what God is doing through the Vineyard and wants to help in any which way he can. Cool, hey?

After this was all over, we went to the sea and saw the Limbé waterfalls, where the river dumps into the sea. We put 10 people in our jeep-like vehicle and traveled for about 25 minutes. It was beautiful to see and it was neat to see all the dug-out canoes and fishermen on the beach bringing in their catch.

The picture above from left to right is me, Annie (the journalist), Clever and Mama Marlise (pastor of the Kribi Vineyard). On our way back, we stopped at a picnic area and had a mademoiselle cook us up some fresh fish (Ber and Rock fish) which we ate with our hands. We also had some semi-fermented Cassava to go with it. Janet got to drink fresh coconut milk from a new coconut.

On the journey home, we almost smoked a motorcycle guy who decided to just cut in front of us as we were going around 90 km/hr. We had to do quite a high speed cut to the left and then back to the right. I wondered for a sec if our vehicle’s four wheels were going to stay flat on the ground. We had been spared within a split second of what would have been a bad accident. I had been sleeping for the past hour in the vehicle and that event was enough to keep me awake for the rest of the trip.

Jan 15th
Today is a rest day. We had a pretty good rest day as I had gone to bed at 10pm and got up at 8am; normally I only need 6 hours of sleep. This is the first day I didn’t have to preach. We are resting up for a 6 hour journey to Bafoussam (be there for 11 o’clock) to do a 2 hour service at a Vineyard church, and then return home. Apparently this place is quite high up into the mountains and Clever keeps saying that it is very cold there. We keep chuckling at him saying that it is very cold. I think that we are going to welcome the cold. (23 degrees-it sounds like heaven as everyday it has been about 36 degrees here-I have not worn my leather coat since I got here. It is unbelievable I know, but true.) I will take my leather coat along though.

Quinton from Johannesburg South Africa came to join us. He is a Theologian that works for VBI (Vineyard Bible Institute) and is here to do some teaching and work with the VBI students they have here. We knew instantly that he was a fun-loving guy when in all seriousness he told one of the pastors that he had just been introduced to, that he had 2 little girls and four wives (in his Afrikanse accent). I had to chuckle as the pastor did not know how to respond. You see, here polygamy is maybe not common, but definitely not uncommon either. Eunice from Lagos, Nigeria will be joining us in Douala tomorrow.

We purchased some sound equipment for them today. At this point, we have purchased 2 speakers. All these places need a lot of help with just basic clear sound. So we will hook up everything they have in the house and see what we still need.

Jan 12th by George

2008-01-14T12:49:00.000-05:00

We now have time to add some pictures. Internet is slow and I had 87 emails to get rid of in one hour. Here is Janet on the radio, I think she looks kind of cute; don’t you?

Denise said she wanted to see mom riding a lion, so here you go. The lion was petrified when she jumped on its back.
Church has been interesting, and they are keeping me busy. Genevieve said that they wanted to squeeze every last thing out of me before I went home. So far I have spoken, for at least one hour, every day, and twice today (Sunday). The churches are all church plants and have around 50 people in attendance. They sing mostly acapella or with a Casio keyboard. The microphones have a distinct distorted sound that seems to be part of church in countries like this. While the worship is not as we know it, it is worship and is culturally current. They like long services and don’t want me to cut it short. The kids are very well behaved and just sit there, side by side for hours. There are very few white people around and they love to stare and stare. One little boy was at first afraid of Janet, but slowly he warmed up to her and kept touching her.

We love the Cameroon people. They are warm and friendly. The country also has very little corruption or crime as the government has zero tolerance for that.

That is all I have ready to post today. Today blew me away and I will try and get that post ready for tomorrow. I fogot my reading glasses and am struggling to just get these two posts up. I always keep a spare set in my leather jacket, bu for some reason I didn't need it as it is a constant 28-30 degrees here. Thanks for all your prayers.

Jan 12th By Janet

2008-01-14T12:46:00.000-05:00

On Saturday morning our day began with a trip to the tailor to get measured up. Apparently, on our last evening here, we are going to have an African night which means that we will eat traditional African food and all dress in traditional African clothing. Since we don’t have any traditional African clothing, Clever decided to get us our own outfits. Everything is a brand new and interesting experience. We now understand first hand what Denise was saying in her blog about Asian traffic. It is fascinating, amazing, frightening and comical all at the same time. It is hard to imagine unless you experience it first hand. There are motorbikes everywhere. They are all small bikes (50-250cc) with rarely less than 2 people on them. We have seen up to 4 people on one small bike and even babies as small as our little Hayden. We have only seen one person wearing a helmet. The bikes and cars and trucks get within cm. from each other. Traffic lights are rare and the occasional stop sign that you see is ignored. As Genevieve said (Clever’s wife), “There are no rules.” I thought that she would be used to the traffic but she still gets frightened sitting in the car. I try to be relaxed and occasionally close my eyes and hope for the best. Now, those of you who know me well, know that I like to have control of the steering wheel and I usually do the driving, but in the case of driving here, I am happy to leave it to those who are experienced in this type of traffic here. It is truly crazy as people cross the streets, dodging the cars and motorbikes. The comical part was when a goat crossed the road in the craziness, and actually made it to the other side with its four feet flat on the ground.

Late morning we left for Limbe (aprox. 1 hr) to see the botanical gardens and hopefully some wild animals. Unfortunately, there were no safari type animals, but it still was a great time. And I finally got to meet a few of George’s relatives (see picture – I won’t mention on which side of the family).

We feel that we have made many great friends in such a short time. The people are wonderful and are very excited for us to experience their country and culture, and excited for us to be here. They are very friendly and hospitable. We have already gone to several different churches in the area and George has already spoken 4 times, always with an interpreter. The food we have eaten is very delicious. We both love trying different foods and have not had anything that we didn’t like. On Saturday, we stopped on the side of the road and had soya, which is beef roasted on an open fire, along with roasted plantain. Ymmm. And the fresh fruit and fruit juice is so incredibly delicious.

First few days

2008-01-12T04:32:00.001-05:00

We don't have regular internet access and we are trying to type on a French keyboard so we will see if we can do this every day.

Jan 9-10th
After 28hrs of travel, we arrived in Cameroon to about 20 eager faces that came to meet us at the airport. Some traveled 1 hour or more to greet us. True to the French, they were more passionate and expressive about us then our reserved Canadian “that’s cool” approach.

We are living upstairs in an apartment where Clever lives. Living here is one step up to Nicaragua. We have our own bathroom, and at this point, we haven’t figured out how to turn on the light in the washroom. The toilet is constantly running, and has no water in the reservoir to flush. Being a farmer from a way back, living with water problems we subscribed to “if it is yellow let it mellow, if it is brown flush it down”. Well, let’s just say that I needed to flush. I finally figured out how to remove the lid of the contraption, and managed to hold the valve down so the bowl could fill. The water made it half way up when there was a knock on the door and an indisposed wife who couldn’t answer it, so I let go and got the door. I stuck my hand in the back of the reservoir again and held the valve down again to let it fill up. The comical thing about this is that there was no lid or seat on the toilet, finally it was full. I let go of the valve, the apparatus flushed slowly, but alas, it didn’t work. I jerry- rigged the valve and put a mug on it for weight and that seemed to close the valve. Then I searched for some kind of bucket. The best I could find was a kettle. So finally it was full again. Quickly removing the mug, while adding a kettle chaser to the mix, the flush was finally accomplished. Janet and I had a good chuckle in the midst of our weariness. We dived into bed at about 11 o’clock Cameroon time, which was 5 pm our time. We feared that our bodies might just take a little nap and be wide awake, but we slept for 9 hours solid. Maybe this time change won’t be too hard to handle after all.

Jan 11th
Today we did a bit of mini touring, visiting some leaders and speaking on the radio. I was proud of Janet as they asked her speak, basically putting her on the spot. She did great as she was well poised, and articulated herself well. We just got started, with introductions and while Janet was in the middle of her riveting talk, the power went out and we had to wait till the generator started up. They started the whole program over and Janet got to do her introductions again. Then they asked her theological questions. She handled herself very well.

We also went to church tonight to give a teaching to the leaders. I was to teach for an hour, but only went 50 minutes. When I said I was finished, the interpreter said “you have 10 minutes left”. It seemed more like they wanted to get their money’s worth than “we love this so much we want more.”
The interpreter is doing a great job even though he has not done a whole lot of interpreting. He speaks English, French and German fluently, and understands some Italian and Spanish. He has had to do interpretations from one language to two different languages.
The people here are very warm and friendly and hospitable. We now understand what our kids mean when they said that they stick out like a bunch of giraffes amongst a herd of gazelles. Though the height difference is not as much as compared to the smaller Asians, we are amongst very few white people in the city. We have seen only two other white people so far.

Immunization Shots

2007-12-25T22:33:00.000-05:00

Traveling requires immunization records to be up to date, plus Yellow Fever immunizations were needed to even get into Cameroon. So that should be easy…. phone up your local Health Unit and book the appointment. Well, no surprise, next available date is in February. Hello, what about last minute people; you know orange types? We only were invited in November. Funny...they don't seem to care. Plus, all you get is an answering machine and they are not very helpful.

You can get immunized at your doctor's office, (if you have a doctor) but they can't do Yellow Fever and give you the proper certificate. London Health unit is booked too. Fortunately there is a clinic that does immunization walk-ins, a few times per month so we find out the only one left before Christmas and before we leave is in London Dec 17th. You have to register between 1 and 2pm or sorry about your luck.

So we head down there and fill out our paperwork and find out we are a little behind on most of our immunizations. 3 needles and $230 each, we now get to moan about our sore arms. Mine wasn't too bad but Janet, well, you would have thought she was going to charge that doctor with abuse except she was too sore to pick up the phone to dial 1-800-doc-abuse. She went to bed and was lying their moaning… refusing to take a painkiller… she figured there was already enough foreign crap in her system and if you know her… (Janet says that I am totally exaggerating, though nine days later, she still feels it… ) It didn’t help that I totally elbowed her in that spot in the middle of the night a few days ago. She woke up hearing herself yelp and I woke up wondering what was going on. She thinks that my arm hurt just as much, but being a man, I just won’t admit it. She now has a new appreciation for babies who get immunized and can’t say what’s wrong.

Tickets

2007-12-25T22:12:00.000-05:00

The responsibility for trips like these usually are the responsibility of the people going on the trip. Countries like Cameroon rarely can pay the speaker enough to cover the ticket price. This is true in our case. The tickets are around $2,000 each. Additional costs are immunization and obtaining visas to enter the country. I prayed about finances for this trip. Originally, Peter Fitch from St Croix Vineyard in St Stephen NB said we should do this trip. He was the origonal person that was asked but couldn't and when they asked him who could take his place, he prayed and felt like we should. He felt like his church should help us with one ticket and that River City should help out with the other. I didn't believe that River City could come up with a ticket but, with his encouragement, I appealed to the congregation for assistance. I felt like to state that we needed $5,000 to put this trip off. In my mind I had thought of going myself to save costs but did feel to bring my wife.

So after I asked River City, we recieved $5 the first week. Then a man on a low income gave me $30 cash. So now we had $35. So now what was I to do? As time marched on I felt like I was to just order my tickets anyway. So I called up and used Visa to make it happen and ordered 2 tickets. After I hung up the phone I recieved a phone call that $5,000 had come in towards this trip. I was pretty elated as I had told my wife that I felt like it was going to come in. The source came indirectly from the appeal I made to the congregation even though the source was not from our congregation. Faith stories are always great after they happen, but suck when you are in the middle of it.

The cost of the tickets, taxes, visas and immunization shots came to $4,995 plus $4.50 for parking.

Cameroon Africa

2007-12-23T22:39:00.000-05:00

We are headed for Cameroon Africa to be the main speakers at their 1st National Vineyard Conference. We are leaving January 9th, arriving in Douala Jan 10th and will fly home Jan 22nd. We have a stop over in Paris and are flying Air France. The conference is Jan 17th till Jan 20th; from Thursday evening, Friday morning, Friday Evening, Saturday morning, Saturday evening, and Sunday final day morning and evening. The first session they expect me to speak 2 1/2 hours

The host is Dr Clever who speaks French as his native language and knows English

This is what he wrote about himself
I have 3 Children, one boy Clever Elvis and 2 girls Sandra and Chara> I am 38 years old and Genevieve my wife is 32 years. I am a Medical Doctor Surgeon practising in France strasbourg > But since one year now i am a missionary for a while. And i brough the vineyard to the francophone countries in Central africa. I have been in the vineyard for now 14 years from france.

This should be fun. I already am entertained by his emails.
Examples: On the date for the conference which he wrote "We will put the date together so it will not disturbe some of your daily plan or occupation."
"All of us will be at the earport."
"It is nice having you in Cameroun. can you tell me the fly name?"
But About the Theme SEEK HIS KINGDOM FIRST.
    christians values and objectives
    full equipment of the kingdom
    answer and rational needs.
    rules, orders, and benefits.
    excellence and humility
    developping a kingdom heart
    multiply new leaders and others you can be inspire

Clever wants us to visit 4 cities; Douala, Yaounde (Capital), Bafoussam (mountain) and Kribi (Coastal). 80% of Cameroon is French and French is their official language. They spell it Cameroun. I pray that my high school French will come back to us.