My Life Adventure

Insights to Life from my Cat

2009-03-13T08:41:00.002-06:00

*Side note introduction: I have never really observed a cat before. I have never owned a cat before (I still don't) and I used to always have something against cats (the kittens were always cute, the big cats...notsomuch). But now I have a cat to take care of that came with the house I am sitting for several months. His name is Ash. I have come to like Ash and am learning to be thankful for him. My nick name for him is 'Little Buddy'.*

The Trust of a Cat
Tonight Ash climbed onto my lap and got comfortable. He then nudged me to pet him, nothing new. Then he nuzzled his head into my hand, put his paw over his face, and closed his eyes to nap; so relaxed, not a worry in sight. (I wish I had a picture to post, he was so cute, but I would have ruined the moment had I gotten up). I realized that, because of the placement of my hand, had I moved my hand his head would have fallen off my lap. Did he know that? I don't know. Did he even think about that? I doubt it. He just trusted that I would hold his head steady and keep him warm.
How many people have I ever trusted like that? Not knowing or even thinking about what would happen if they let me go, but just trusting that they will support me and love me. I think it is often even hard to trust God with that. I feel many people, whether key players or not, in my life have 'let me fall' enough times to cause me to doubt rather than innocently trust. I am not really referring to trusting random people (I realize there can be an element of danger in completely trusting strangers) but I am more so referring to my friends, my peers, those I love.
I want to be able to trust so innocently like Ash. But even more so, I want to be seen as one capable of receiving the trust of others.

The Contentment of a Cat
As the sun shines through the windows Ash is drawn towards it. (Often because it is reflecting off something and he chases the bouncing light.) He will go over and just plop on the floor and stretch out in the warmth of the sun. It doesn't matter that his 'bath' was interrupted or that the floor is hard. He is simply content to just bask in the presence or the sun for a while. I guess I could look at it as laziness, but because I tend to be optimistic I see it as contentment. I want to be so content. I want to put aside my duties, worries, obligations, to go bask in something so simple; friendships, silence, God's presence, actual sunlight, whatever it may be. It is often so hard to let go of the worries and be content with what is...

Simple Joys
There are bird feeders outside the windows that line the front sitting room of the house and Ash will watch them all day (in between eating, bathing, litter boxing, and napping). I know when he has found some exciting birds because he gets this high short squeal to his meow. Sometimes he scales the window to try to catch them. If there are no birds he royally lays in the corner chair and watch small animals or people. I honestly don't know what else he does all day (other than what I already mentioned, plus climbing on my lap and chasing the mouse arrow on my computer screen). Now I am not saying I want this to be my life. I think it would feel empty and rather meaningless to me. But It does make me think about simply enjoying what is present and not needing more.

Personal Lessons from Ash
My Little Buddy has honestly caused me to rediscover something about myself that I thought I had lost. For sooo loong I have dreamed of being a wife and mother. I still dream of it. However, sometimes it is easier to try to forget or submerge a dream that doesn't seem it will become reality anytime soon, rather than hold onto it and hope. That is what I had done for the last several years with my dream of being a mother. In having to care for my Little Buddy and have him depend on me for so much it has brought my maternal instincts back to the surface. There is a huge part of me that was created to nurture and love with the tenderness of a mother. I don't know much beyond that. I don't have answers or insights to my future. I just have a cat for a few more months that needs me to take care of him.

Well those are my insights into life from my cat. You may think I'm crazy or that cats are evil. But I'm thankful for my Little Buddy. He keeps me company when I am lonely. He warms my lap on a cold night. He 'sings' to me each morning and greats me with 'kisses'. He reminds me to trust, be content and enjoy the little things.

Dust

2009-02-27T16:57:00.000-07:00

Ash Wednesday always makes me feel somewhat useless. I see the ashes on my forehead all day long and am continually reminded that from dust I came and to dust I will return. My initial thought is that dust is the layer of grime people never want in their house. But then I’m reminded that dust can also be a blessing. “May you be covered in the dust of your Rabbi.” If I could choose what kind of dust I want to be, I would choose to be the dust that Jesus stirs up as he walks and teaches.

But then, I guess I can choose. I can choose whether I want to settle or be stirred up by my Rabbi. However it is a continual choice I need to make. For even the dust that gets stirred up settles eventually. Then I need to make a choice again.
Settle or be stirred.

I know what I want to choose. What will you choose?

A new stage in Life

2009-02-10T12:21:00.003-07:00

Two years ago at this time I was living in Strathmore, Alberta, Canada working at Covenant Bible College and loving even through it was well below freezing everyday. One year ago at this time I was living in Yaounde, Cameroon, Africa working at Rain Forest International School teaching some math, science and music to High school kids. There it was around 80 degrees everyday. Now I am living in Chicago, IL, United Stated where I just started my classes at North Park Theological Seminary this week. Crazy where God will take you!
The last two years I found that the highlight of each of my jobs was mentoring and discipling the young adults I worked with. I seek to help them understand more of who they are and how much Jesus Christ loves them. I found that it is something I can do and love to do in the USA, Canada and Cameroon. It hit me that working with youth is not just something fun that I enjoying doing. But rather, I feel it is the call God has placed on my life. It is not a game, but a path he has put me on and I find myself back at Seminary seeking to gain more tools and resources to help me continue well on this path I believe God has placed me on.
I miss the weekly updates I would do on this blog in Cameroon. It helps me process things and I had lots of good feedback from ways God may have used my words and the lessons he taught me in your lives. It is my hope to keep writing as I go through Seminary and share openly of the joys and struggles that God blesses me with.
Be Blessed, My friends!

A change of pace

2008-07-11T10:09:00.003-06:00

I have arrived safely in Pennsylvania! I even got to briefly explore Paris on my way here. My first breath of fresh air was after getting of the metro outside Notre Dame Cathedral. It felt surreal. There were big beautiful old buildings, sidewalks, trees, trash cans and white people. I still heard french all around me, but my eyes took in all the sights to see. I sat in Notre Dame listening to the music and wondering how many others had sought refuge in there before myself. That was a rest for my soul. I also saw the Eiffel Tower and the outside of the Louvre museum. I took my final rest at a sidewalk cafe with a cup of real espresso and a square of dark chocolate in my hands. I arrived home last friday evening with all my luggage intact. I was also however, very sick with the worst headache and sore throat of my life. I spent the next day in the ER and was tested for many things, thankfully the only positive result was strep throat. I was put on an IV and felt the pain ease out of my system. I am now healthy once again and still trying to get used to routine here.
I like to picture myself in the huge international terminal of the Atlanta airport. I came up the escalator and could smell Starbucks. (For those of you who don't know, I am a huge coffee fan.) I stood about 15 feet outside the entrance and felt like I was smelling and watching my past go on around me, like in a Christmas Carol. I then faced the food court and stood with my mouth agape, literally, as I looked at all my options for supper. I was reassuring myself in my head and telling myself to take it nice and slow. I ended up enjoying a burrito from Qudoba. I waited until later this week to get my coffee.
I look at things differently now. The grocery store was an interesting trip. It took me longer to get my small basket of things then it did for mom to complete a larger list. I feel like I take everything in and I do so very slowly.
Some of my first observations upon returning (these are in no way meant to offend anyone and are generalities): everything is very expensive, many in our culture struggle with obesity, clothing is way more revealing than I remembered, kids seem louder and less respectful, patience is limited. Right away some things I appreciate are: the medical care I can get, convenience, english, driving, peace and quiet, family, familiar food, good sales, milk and cereal, grocery stores and plenty more. it is nice to be home. My life will not be the same ever again because of the lessons learned in Cameroon, but I am excited to move toward my new life here. I will continue to update my blog with stories of life at home for those of you who would like to keep reading. Thank you all for your support in prayers, words, and finances over this last year. I could not have done it without you. I will be working on my last newsletter to send out in the next few weeks. If you have not received my past 3 and would like to receive this one, please let me know (amyoxendale@gmail.com)
May God bless each one of you with his abundant grace.
With love,
AMY

I will be sharing in our church service this sunday at Stoneridge Covenant Church in Allison Park, PA if you would like to come hear.

A quick update from my amazing journey!

2008-06-22T13:09:00.003-06:00

Greetings! We are now a week into our 2 week missions trip to the North West province of Cameroon. I feel so blessed to be here and sharing the love of Christ with the people we meet. I feel this trip is the toppings on my year of hard whipped cream. I'm not sure if that analogy makes sense, but just know I am so blessed. I can talk to most people in english which is a huge answer to prayer. I have visited a village and seen first hand the relationship work that goes into learning a language so the Bible can be translated into that language. It is amazing work. Each place we go the students have done various dramas and puppet shows speaking of the love of Christ. God has used us and blessed us. Tomorrow we leave to go into the mountains to live in and work at a Fulani village. We will be serving two widow compounds by helping them with weeding and working in the fields, as well as working with the cattle and animals. We will speak of Christ as much as we can without offending their muslim faith. Please pray that the love and joy of Christ can shine through us and speak louder than our words. The mountains here are green and beautiful! I feel God's presence all around me. Please keep me and my team of 15 students and 5 other leaders in your prayers untill we return a week from today on Sunday the 29th.
This is a wonderful last adventure for me in Cameroon. God knows me so well and knew what I needed.
May the love of God dwell in you all.
Love,
AMY

Last Adventures

2008-06-13T07:09:00.003-06:00

Well, today is my last official day of working at Rain Forest International School. Graduation was last week and this week has been finishing up paperwork and class work. I can’t believe it is over. I still have 3 weeks in the country and get the chance to go on a missions trip for two of those weeks.
I feel my time here has finished well. Many students and fellow missionaries have left the country to go home, wherever that may be, for the summer. So things around here are quiet. I say goodbye to two more friends tonight. By the time I leave I will have no one else to say goodbye to.
The graduation service here was so different than what I am used to. There were only 12 students in the class so something personal was said for each one of them. There were continual celebrations all last week so there were many chances to say goodbyes to my students. (the first picture is my business math class and the second is my science class)

I got to go on a bus 3 hours to Douala on Monday to have 1 last adventure with some other ladies. We stayed at a guesthouse and went shopping in the artisan market. Found some good treasures. Markets here can be very overwhelming, just ask my family. Because they don’t leave you alone and follow you around and set the price WAY too high to begin with and you have to barter a lot to get it down. But if you don’t know French very well, this can be even more challenging! I guess it is a good way to NOT spend money. I often get overwhelmed and feel I can’t buy anything. But then I remember I can always tell them no. The trip was nice. The bus ride amused me because it was very ‘fancy’, which just doesn’t normally happen in Cameroon. It was air-conditioned and there was a stewardess on it. She reminded me to buckle my seatbelt. They even showed a movie (in French) on the way back. The whole package entertained me very much.

The 2 pictures below are of myself and good friends and co-workers, Liz and Anna, and of me and some of the guys I connected with being themselves.

My Last Day! It has arrived!

2008-05-30T07:54:00.001-06:00

Praise, glory and honor be to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! He has gotten me to a point I was not sure I would ever make it to—my last day of class. It is 8th period on the last Friday of school. Next week is finals and graduation is Thursday night. Then I get to wrap up everything at school and say goodbye to many people. I remember a few weeks into school I honestly could not even grasp reaching the end because I was so overwhelmed with what was.
I have 4 more Fridays in Cameroon and I am really looking forward to time to just be and reflect on all I have learned before I am forced into the movement of the American culture again. Some lessons I am sure of, others I am not sure I even realize I have learned or grown in. I need to time to reflect and give God the praise that is due Him for every moment he has given me strength to move on.
Please pray for me as I go through this transition of goodbyes and reflection these next few weeks.
Sorry I don’t have many words to say today. My heart is full, but my mouth is empty.
Blessings to you All,
AMY

Trusting God's call

2008-05-23T06:29:00.002-06:00

Wow! I can’t believe it is Friday already! I feel like I JUST wrote a blog. (Apparently I was very out of it when I wrote my last update because it had a lot of grammatical mistakes in it.) We had a long weekend and started school on Wednesday this week, so the days have gone by fast.
Our school banquet last weekend turned out great. I helped do hair for 7 girls. It was fun to see everyone all dressed up. I will post a few pictures. It was a time to say goodbye to the seniors in a formal way. So many goodbyes are happening, they cannot be stopped.

This week in chapel the worship team members each shared about how God has been working in their lives this year through being on worship team. Being a worship team advisor I got to share as well. I was struggling with what to say because I don’t feel like I have gone through as many changes in worship and understanding of it as the students have. But I did realize something. In college I started as a music ministry major because I felt God has called me to lead people into worship. But then my desires changed and I switched to a youth ministry major. I thought perhaps I had felt God’s leading wrong. But because of being on worship team this year and leading the kids into worship at the retreat, I realized something. I realized that though standing in front and leading worship through music is not something I feel strongly called to do; leading youth into worship by encountering God in new, different and real ways is something I have a great desire to do. I want these kids and any others I work with to understand how much God loves them and be drawn to worship Him because of that. So my understanding of God’s call for me is different now than I originally thought, but I didn’t hear Him wrong. I feel He has called me to lead youth to encounter Him and I desire to use whatever means I can to do that. I just thought I would share that realization with you.
We shouldn’t doubt God’s leading even if it confuses us. He has reasons and timing that we may never see. But trust His voice. His timing is so different.
I think I could write a book on timing and all the confusing things I have learned this year about time and how slow, fast and confusing it is.

Tonight we have a staff appreciation dinner. Just one more goodbye thing to go to, but it should be fun. I enjoy the staff I work with. I have one more week of teaching left, then finals. Just over 40 days before I leave. My emotions are torn.

I would appreciate prayer for finishing well and strong. I need to manage my time well so I get a chance to say goodbye to all the people, places and experiences I need to.

Enjoy God’s beauty around you this weekend. Get outside and seek to give Him praise for all He has created and all He is.
Be Blessed,
AMY

The ending begins

2008-05-16T09:22:00.001-06:00

Hello again. Sorry I didn’t post last week. We had some internet issues at school. As for this week, I am tired. It went very fast though. I had been staying at the Hudlow house with 3 teenagers for two weeks until this past Tuesday. That was a lot of fun and a huge blessing, but also very tiring. You have to think differently when you are now looking out for 3 others and feeding 3 others, (2 teenage boys).
I know only have 8 days of teaching left. Monday and Tuesday of this next week are holidays for Cameroon, which means no school for us. So hopefully I can get my last days planned and work on goodbye notes to my beloved students.
A tradition at the school is to take some time during lunch to express your appreciation for the staff who are leaving. Today was my day, along with some others. I was truly blessed and encouraged by what the students had to say. Those who I never expected I truly impacted were the most who spoke up. I am blessed and encouraged.
This weekend they high school has their Banquet. Which is somewhat equivalent to prom in the states. (Only ballroom dancing though). I get to attend and sit with one of my students. It should be a lot of fun and another level of saying goodbye. Following banquet there is an after party at a students house, that the everyone is invited to. I have been one of several who have been asked to chaperone that. It is until 6 am and they don’t sleep. So I am very grateful to have off Monday and Tuesday.
Our volleyball season ended last Saturday with my team (I was one of two assistant coahes) taking the trophy in the tournament. I was proud of the girls. They had some awesome rallies and showed great improvement. I learned a lot too.
Well I am going to go. It has been a long day and I need some exercise then rest.
I hope you are well. I fly into Pittsburgh on July 4th. I have 48 days until I leave for home. I will never understand time and how it flies by yet moments of it can be so long.
God bless you all.
AMY

New Adventures to Share

2008-05-01T03:01:00.007-06:00

Bon jour! As I write this I am free from school for 4 days! There are two national holidays today and Friday. I now only have 18 days of teaching left! I need to work at figuring out how to get my students well prepared for their final.
My choir tour weekend went very well. There were 3 vehicles full of 23 people that caravanned together. We went east to a town called Batouri. The landscape was beautiful! The contrast of the green plants, blue skies, white clouds and red dirt was awesome! We traveled for about 10 hours each way, and were gone for just 4 days, so it made for a long trip. About 75% of our traveling was on dirt roads, but none so bad that we couldn’t pass them. We did lose our spare tire at one point because of a rather large rut in the road, but we had no other problems, which was amazing. We had the chance of singing at a prison, hospital and church. Two nights we invited the town to come to the mission compound and hear us sing, watch a Christian movie with a gospel message and hear a gospel message presented in person. It was a unique and great experience for myself and for many of the kids. We ate true Cameroonian food the whole weekend. This means plantains (boiled or fried), seasoned beef, rice, dried fish, okra soup, a grassy/leaf peanut sauce combination and manioc fufu (finely ground root mixed with boiled water to form an expanded sticky substance that is used as utensils to scoop up the other food on your plate—a staple food for many Cameroonians).
At the prison the men only get feed what their families bring to them, generally speaking, so some looked healthy, but there were quite a few that looked like they would not make it another week. Up to this point I had seen malnourished kids and hungry families, but I had never seen someone literally starving to death until last weekend. I pray we planted seeds for Christ in the lives of the men there.

The hospital was unique too. Don’t picture an American hospital, but rather try to picture a dirt cul-de-sac with 5 cement buildings around it. We sang outside each building as there wasn’t much room inside. We had many come out of their rooms to listen to our singing and to the gospel message shared. There were many Fulani refugees staying outside the buildings because family was sick inside. The Fulani people are traditionally of the Islam faith, but it was neat to have them attentive to the message of Christ that we shared. I could write more about this weekend, but I need to stop somewhere.

I am now staying with 3 students for 2 weeks while their guardians are in the US (the same kids I stayed with for a weekend in the fall). It was Kati’s birthday yesterday and today she is having some friends over. That should be fun for all and hopefully not too tiring for me. The 2 boys are in 9th and 10th grade and Kati is 11th, so they are fairly responsible on their own. It is however, something I enjoy doing.
My last piece of news is that I have finely decided for sure, that I am returning to the states next year. I plan on living with my parents in the fall and attending North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago starting in January. I will be arriving in Pittsburgh in the first week of July.
Well, I hope this finds you all well. It is hard to leave hear, but I look forward to seeing many of you again soon.
Much Love,
AMY

A week of learning

2008-04-18T07:22:00.007-06:00

I just re-read my post from last week and find it very fitting and so God like that this week we had a women, Libby Stephens from Interaction Int., here speaking on transition, leaving well and the process of saying goodbye. Almost all of the kids I work with are TCKs (Third Culture Kids). This is the largest growing people group. Their 3 cultures are that of their citizenship, all other cultures they have lived in, as well as the culture of other kids like them. TCKs are kids of missionaries, international businessmen, immigrants, diplomats, military persons, and refugees. They are often constantly moving and saying goodbye both as they leave and as others leave. It has been a very hectic week, but a very enjoyable week as I listened to and learned from Libby.
Tonight we have the school carnival. It is an annual event that creates something fun for the community to do and raises money for each class. Each class sets up 5-7 booths that people give purchased tickets to be able to participate. The community loves it and the students look forward to it as well. It is supposed to be outside, but has been raining off and on. Hopefully the skies will clear and plans can stay as they are. Tomorrow night is what they call Music Night for the main mission branch here, SIL. I have been invited to perform which I am looking forward to. The chamber choir I sing in with the students is also singing. It will be a good preparation for next weekend. The chamber choir leaves next Thursday to travel to Batouri in eastern Cameroon. I have not been east of Yaounde so that should be a very fun adventure to see more of this country and spend more time with these kids.
I am still enjoying assistant coaching volleyball. I get to practice my own skills with the kids a lot and really enjoy that. I am improving immensely and get very excited when I do something right. A few times I have seen the girls laughing at me because I get so excited about learning something new or accomplishing a hit. I guess I have never been very good at hiding my excitement about things.
My women’s bible study is studying a book on becoming a woman of excellence. Last night we discussed the chapter on obedience; never a ‘fun’ topic to discuss if we are truly honest with ourselves. I realized that I often seek to obey God by doing what I think is right or by what I have always done. In the study she talks about asking God first how he wants us to obey him, then listening for his response, then acting on that. I often skip to the last step. I am working on asking, listening, then acting. Just a recent simple lesson that I wanted to share.

Here are some pictures of my Covenant World Mission retreat at Kribi over break. The first is of our whole group that gathered there. Many came from other parts of Africa and we made quite a unique group. The second is a picture of our group gathering to pray for one another each morning on the beach. It was truly a blessing and encouragement.

You will not hear from me next week until Monday perhaps. I will be traveling with 16 youth and 6 adults an 8-hour van ride away. Please pray for safety as well leave next Thursday and return Sunday. Pray for God to be seen and heard through us as we sing and perform at outreaches for Him.
Thank you for the part you have played in allowing me this experience.
God Bless You,
AMY

Contemplating Goodbye

2008-04-11T06:15:00.004-06:00

Let’s see, what new adventures to share….Nothing much new has happened this week. It has gone by very fast. I can’t believe I now only have 7 weeks of teaching here left. I am excited to return home and see all of you and discover what new adventures God may have for me. I am also looking forward to putting into practice the many things I learned this year. I have learned a lot about how to live more simply. It will be harder to do in the American culture as there are more temptations for materialism and more availability to it. But I am determined to not spend God’s money on things I do not need. I have learned to cook from scratch and found I really love it. I rarely eat out here and have found great joy in sharing a meal with friends in their home.
I have students asking me to stay and trying to convince me that I should teach choir (our music director it leaving) and help out with chapel details. I would not want to teach again. But there are some other things that would intrigue me to do. If I am honest I can say that I don’t know what to do next year yet. I think of a great idea and get excited about it, but then become so uncertain. Then I find another idea and get excited about that. This is my biggest prayer request now. That I will be seeking God’s wants and will for me and not my own. I know I will find true joy in what He has for me to do. Please pray for wisdom in decision-making as I look toward what may come next for me.
Also, you can pray that I can finish well here. I have built some great relationships with students and co-workers and it will be hard for me to say goodbye.

This first picture is one of my co-worker and good friend Anna and I. The second is Anna and I with some girls at one of the hostels after a water fight.

I get tired of saying goodbye so many times. It is an emotional thing for me. I get tempted to shut my emotions down and not care because often it is too exhausting to care. I don’t enjoy saying goodbye to new friends and people God has used immensely in my life to challenge me, encourage me and love me. I wonder if it is something in me that needs to move on each year and fears the deeper relationships that would come with staying put. I do enjoy the adventure of moving on, but I hate the pain of leaving. I will leave it at that. I don’t have the time to analyze myself anymore and I am sure you do not care to read it all.
I pray you are blessed today and that you can take some moments to be still and truly know that He is God.
May His peace that passes all understanding guide and guard you this day.
AMY

Fellowship and Sunsets

2008-04-05T08:12:00.003-06:00

April. Wow! I cannot believe it is here. This spring break has been wonderful, but is almost over for me. We start school again on Monday. Then I only have 8 weeks left of teaching until I finish this year. I have already finished all of my teaching units for Science 10 and it is now time to review for the IGCSEs, a sort of standardized test for the British school system. So may main teaching for that class is over. I still have to plan review, but basically my main planning and teaching will just be in Business Math now. I still enjoy that class very much and am excited to teach them more.

I had a very nice time at our Covenant retreat on the beach. There were 34 people there at the most. We had missionaries come from Equatorial Guinea, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Cameroon, a Nigerian and a Congolese man, as well as CWM staff from the states. It was a great time of fellowship and growth. We had meetings twice a day to learn, discuss and make decisions. Also we had many times of worship and prayer. The highlights for me came in the fellowship with the new friends around me. I was blessed immensely by their love for each other and the Lord and their example of dedicated service to Africa. I am excited and encouraged by the growth and changes the Covenant World Mission is going through and I am honored to be a part of it.

(Pictures of a beautiful sunset, some of my buddies for the week, and an example of fun times and quirky magic)

I have been having conversations that are spurring new ideas for what I can do next year but it is all still unclear. Prayer for guidance for decisions and direction as I search would be greatly appreciated. I want to continue to use the gifts and passions that God has given me of relating to youth, loving them and encouraging them to come alive. But what that will, can or should look like, I am uncertain. I cling to the fact that God knows already where I will be next year and what new adventures He will take me on. I am reminded so clearly of His love and provision for me through these verses I recently read.

“When I am overwhelmed, you alone know the way I should turn.” (Psalm 142:3)

“Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you.” (Psalm 143:8)

My life is His. I strive to trust Him. I seek His unfailing love each day. He will show me where to walk.
God’s grace and peace be with each of you this day,
AMY

2008-03-23T09:36:00.008-06:00

He is Risen! What a glorious day this Easter has been. It started with a ‘Sonrise’ Service on the school grounds with a bunch of missionary families, including many of my students. Then I got to rest for about an hour and headed out again to a baptism. In Cameroon it is very traditional to celebrate the resurrection of Christ with the baptism of new believers. Then it is a celebration of new life all around. The baptism I went to today was that of my friend Fiacre. He started out as a ballroom dance teacher to Liz and I, but is now a dear friend. He has recently been growing in his faith and decided the next step for him was baptism. It was a very loud and vibrant celebration. That is the way Cameroonians celebrate! A Cameroonian church service and a lunch to celebrate followed the baptism.

Good Friday I went up Mt. Nkolbesan with a group of 12 students as one of two chaperons. It was lots of fun. You hike up, sleep on a rock face over looking the city and then watch the sunrise and hike down the following morning. It is about an hour-long hike up and 45 min. down. It was a great time from great Easter discussion and quality conversations as well as a lot of laughter.

This Tuesday, the 25th, I leave to go to Kribi (the beach) for the Covenant meetings and fellowship. There are Covenant missionaries from all parts of Africa coming as well as some folks coming from the States. We stay there a whole week. I am looking forward to it and hoping to have lots of free time on the beach to read and swim.

Well I wish a Happy Easter to all of you and prayer to you may truly celebrate the resurrection of Our Lord and Savior and all it has brought into our lives.
Much love,
AMY

Drama, drama, drama...

2008-03-14T06:25:00.001-06:00

So the rainy season is definitely here! Late yesterday afternoon it rained so hard I could scream and barely hear myself over the rain on the metal roofs. The humidity is back in full force as well. This is a very busy and exciting time here. Our break starts next Friday and our grades our due for this quarter on Tuesday morning. So I am finishing up tests and grading. It is also the weekend for our school play. They are performing a play called Reunions, written by Kevin Chilton one of our English teachers here. The kids have worked hard and done a great job. I have been involved in the beginning and end. I helped cast students at the beginning and this last week I have been helping give notes on acting and character development. Opening night was last night and I helped with hair and makeup. It all takes me back to high school and my high involvement in theatre then. I am really enjoying it. On top of that the 10th grade class I advise is doing a fundraiser at the show. They are selling dessert and drinks at intermission and after each show. This means I have to help set up and supervise and clean up and sell coffee (my specialty) all at the same time. I am exhausted and dreamed of coffee and hot chocolate last night. But I just need to make it through next Thursday, then I get to go to the beach the for a week the following Tuesday!
I was just talking with a co-worker today about how fast this year is going. I can’t believe I am almost ¾ done with teaching here. It is amazing and sad all at the same time. I remember when I didn’t know if I would make it through the first quarter! I year goes by so fast, yet so much can happen in a year. I think I have grown more these last two years of my life then the 4 before that combined. I have been challenged, stretched, broken and God has built me up, saved me, used me and taught me so much. What a blessing these struggles have been. I don’t know what will come next year. But I know that God will walk me through it and amaze me in the midst of it and on the other side of it as He has done for me again and again.
Things are still calm here. The President will speak Saturday, which will hopefully be a good thing for the people and not stir up any problems.
You can pray for energy for me these next few days as well as a restful break with lots of relationship building with both God and others.
I hope this finds you all well and looking forward to spring. Thank you for your words of encouragement and support. As always, I love to hear from you. Please feel free to post a note or send me an email (amyoxendale@gmail.com)
I pray you may see and experience God’s goodness around you in both the peace and the pain.
Sending you love from Africa,
AMY

Peace

2008-03-07T05:31:00.001-07:00

Greetings my Friends. Sorry for the delay in a post. Last Wednesday, the 27th was the start of an adventure for all of us living here. We were sent home early from school as a result of riots going on in the main cities of the country, including this city, Yaoundé. The riots started with a huge rise of gas prices along with many other rising prices. Those riots turned into some political problems and got worse. School was cancelled both Thursday and Friday and we were not supposed to leave our neighborhood at all. I never saw or heard any danger, it was further away. Our city was one of the calmest and as far as I know, none were killed here. The last total I heard was 20 killed throughout the country. This country has been very peaceful for years and years. Many Cameroonians were terrified at what was going on. However it is also a very corrupt country. Many who are well educated cannot get jobs. Those who have good jobs have them because of connections and not skill or education level. People who are supposed to be paid by the govt. often don’t get paid. It is sad to see. I don’t want riots or war, but it would be nice to see the corruption gone. It just runs very deep. Paul Biya, the president of Cameroon has been in office since ’82 and is seeking to amend the constitution to allow him to be in office for life. This would not be good. The decision and vote for that is happening next week. So I am leaving my evacuation bag packed until that is over with.
All that said, the city does feel safe again. The main damage was done on gas stations and vehicles. You can pray with all of us for peace and resolution in Cameroon.
Today I am tired, but this week has been good. I have only 2 weeks until our semester break. I get to spend a whole week on the beach with the Covenant World Mission Africa staff. I am looking forward to that rest. Until then I strive to keep working hard and serving God.
Yesterday I had the opportunity to speak in chapel. I could not have asked for things to go any better. I performed a monologue I had written of the adulterous woman in John 8 and then spoke on how we can each find our story in the Bible. I have heard so many positive and encouraging things about it. God is so faithful and really came through and used me. I am humbled and blessed.
I will finish on that positive note. Tomorrow I have a volleyball tournament with our senior girls team. Should be almost all day, but lots of fun. I hope each of you has a blessed weekend.
In His Hands,
AMY

TGIF!

2008-02-22T05:19:00.002-07:00

I love writing on Fridays because I am in a good mood because it is Friday! Today the sun is shining once again and the air is hot. It is nearing the end of the dry season, but it is the driest part of the dry season so far. Dust everywhere, very dry contacts, chapped lips, thirsty skin….. But rainy season is around the bend because the mango trees are growing mangos. From what I understand they are here for just a short time, but very plentiful and very cheap. I look forward to adding it to my fruit intake.
Tonight, my co-worker, Anna and I are hosting a “Girls’ Night” for five 11th and 12th grade girls. We have a whole list of girls to eventually invite to a girls’ night. After retreat we decided we wanted to be active in getting to know the female students better. We are having pizza for supper and dessert pizza for dessert. It should be a fun time.
My roommate, Liz, is gone for the weekend. She left today with a drama evangelism group from school. They are traveling to a village where they will perform their dramas, which present the gospel message to music, and minister to the people living there. They can use prayer for safe travels and for God’s protection on them. They will be out on the front lines fighting for God’s kingdom and Satan never likes that. They need protection from sickness and discouragement. We have two teams at school and Liz leads both of them. They have performed several times at churches and neighborhoods in the area. Each time people have come to know the saving grace of Jesus Christ. People here seem to be ready to listen and eager to respond. I pray the response in the village this weekend is the same.
I have been feeling well this whole week. I am so thankful for that.
I just started a new Bible study called Becoming a Women of Excellence. It is with a group of 7 women from the missions community ranging from age 25 to over 60. I am really looking forward to the fellowship, accountability and personal growth with Christ.
Well this sums up thing for today. I hope you are all well, but I know that is probably not so. If you are stressed, exhausted, sick or worse I pray you can truly feel God’s grace and mercy surrounding you today.
Blessings to you all,
AMY

Living in Massive heat

2008-02-18T05:24:00.001-07:00

Greetings on this very HOT Monday. I am sorry I forgot to post on Friday, I have excuses, but won’t use them. So here I am on Monday, putting off planning lessons for this week. I am good at that.
I had fun this last week. I was able to go to one of the hostels two nights to hang out with kids. It was a lot of fun to keep building relationships with them outside of school. Saturday we had our Valentine’s Dance community event. Every class puts on a few community events each year to raise money for them as a class. Part of the money goes toward tithing, part towards their class ‘bank’. It is traditions for the juniors to put on a banquet for the seniors each year so they have to save money for that. Also, the seniors get to go on a class trip each year. I am an advisor for the 10th grade class and they were helping the seniors run the dance, so that meant I was cooking rice and chicken for hours on Saturday. But it was good to be serving with students and getting to know them better. It was also a good patient tester and cultural teacher. The work ethic between Cameroonians and missionaries is very different and can be frustrating to deal with.
Sunday I had a wonderful day of rest.
I had another doctor appointment Friday, hopefully my last one. I was given some more medicine and she thinks all my ulcers and symptoms should be gone in two more weeks at the most. I pray this is so. I am definitely feeling better already.
Well, that is all for now, I finished my newsletter, so you should be getting it soon. Once again, if you do not get it and would like to, please let me know.
Enjoy your week.
AMY

Praise God I thrived!

2008-02-11T05:23:00.000-07:00

Well, after getting over 25 hours of sleep in 2 days this weekend I think I am fully recovered from the retreat. I had a blast on retreat though! I felt I was truly in my element. I was able to be goofy and myself as I sought to connect with the kids. I led a small group with 4 girls as well as led 2 of our worship sessions. Both of those went really well and I feel that God truly used me to bring the group into an interaction with Him. Also I set up 8 different prayer stations for the hr. long optional worship time. That went really well and about 1/3 of the students came. But of course, I would have been content had just 1 person come and truly met God. I didn’t get much sleep (we had 3 hr night guarding shifts, mine was from 2:30-5:30am), and spent a lot of energy, but God kept me going strong. I was hoping for some conformation that working with youth in a spiritual/small group/connection level is what I like and am gifted at. I got that confirmation! Praise God. I feel I started building trust and relationships with so many more students this last week on retreat. I am so thankful.
Now we have about 6 weeks left until semester break. Which seems like a lot, but I know the last 5 went really fast, so I am expecting the same. My days coaching Jr. girls soccer are over. Sad, but true. However, my days assistant coaching Sr. girls volleyball will start this week. It is feels good to add on some new things and not be completely overwhelmed like I found myself at the start of the school year.
Well, please look for my winter newsletter. It should be coming out in the next week, I am almost finished with it. If you didn’t get my fall one and would like to receive my next few, please send me an email or respond on the blog and let me know.
At the beginning of the year, I found God everyday in the struggles and challenges and He was what sustained me and kept me going. Today I can say I find him in the joys of each day and in the satisfaction of serving Him. In both cases I am blessed and rejoice in Him. But today it is nicer to breath more easily.
If you are in the hard times now I pray for supernatural strength for you and a capability to praise Him still. If you are in the joys of life, I pray you will not forget who brought you to this point. God deserves our praise in every circumstance.
I thank the Lord every time I think of you and the support and encouragement you give me. I would not be here loving these kids and growing in Christ without so many of you. Thank you.
Because of Him,
AMY

God's Awesomeness!

2008-02-04T16:55:00.001-07:00

I am alive! I realized I didn’t write after my climb. So if you are a person who comes to dramatic conclusions, you could conclude that I didn’t make it. Ahh, but it is quite the opposite. I made it all the way the summit! What a great experience it was. Thank you for you prayers for me and my team. All but 1 made it to the top and we all made it back down in one way or another. It was so great to get to know the kids better and to see God work in their lives. I could feel your prayers around me and I truly believe that God sent and angel to protect me and get me up the mountain. I had some knee and feet problems on the way down, so I rode the last bit down on my porter’s (bag carrier) back. Quite an experience. He ran and jumped down, wearing socks and flip flops, a span that would have taken me over 2 hours and took him only 25 min. We had a beautiful view up top! God is Awesome!
More new….I have some small stomach ulcers. I had been having reoccurring stomach problems, so went to a French specialist to get tested. I got an endoscopy done last Friday and was put under, which is why I forgot to write. I have meds for my small ulcers and a follow up appointment to try to prevent any further problems. I would appreciate prayers for this.
If you pay attention to international news you will know that both Kenya and Chad are very unsettled right now. We feel no effects of that, except for the evacuation of missionaries, some parents of our students. Kenya is having tribal wars as a result of the recent election and Chad has rebel soldiers rising up to the govt. and trying to take over. I encourage you to read up on the issues and pray for the situations. Choose to not be ignorant and even take action if you can.
It is very last right now (but by request of my sister, I am writing). Tomorrow we leave for our school retreat. I procrastinated on some last minute details and just finished them. But now I have to pack. If you know me well, this is now surprise. I am in charge of worship for the retreat and am very excited. Please pray with me seeking God’s provision and intervention during this week (5-8). I feel this is more in my element than teaching is and I am very excited to get involved. I am praying also for some sense of God’s leading for my future through this.
Well, this is detailed but shorter. I will post a picture of Mt. Cam if I can. But I am tired and hoping for bed soon.
I love getting letters from you. I have just received numerous Christmas ones and it brings me the joy of Christ’s birth all over again! What a blessing.
God be with each of you this week.
AMY

A new adventure to experience and a Mt. to conquer!

2008-01-25T02:18:00.000-07:00

Hello. I don’t have much time right now. The group of 14 of us leave for our Mt. Cam. Trip in about 3 min. But I wanted to say hello and ask again for your prayers. Today we have a 6 hr. drive and will stay in a hotel tonight. Tomorrow, Saturday, we will start the climb and camp in a hut on the mt. that night. We will then get up at 3am and climb to the summit then descend all the way. We will stay in another hotel that night and return to Yaounde on Monday, arriving in the evening. There are 10 students and 4 staff. Pray for safety and endurance. But also for good fellowship and conversation. That lasting relationships can be built and that we will see God’s glory around us and feel his presence among us each step of the way. Thank you. I look forward to writing you with the result of our climb. God Bless!
Amy

A Faithful God

2008-01-18T06:30:00.000-07:00

Greetings on this somewhat cool day in Cameroon. I will start with the news that I completed my 10k run last weekend and as long as I stay healthy, will be going up Mt. Cameroon next Sat. and Sun. Thank you for your prayers.

I love the way God wakes me up and reminds me of his faithfulness is small personal ways. In chapel worship yesterday I momentarily got distracted from the songs and started praying about where I will go next year and what I will do. I confessed that I want to do what is familiar but I new I couldn’t serve myself and had to follow Him. Then the next song was on how life without Jesus would be nothing and that anything but serving him with my life would be useless. In that moment I was reminded that in following Christ here I have been so blessed. Life this year is not easy, but it is so full of blessed moments with God. Silent tears fell down my face as I praised God for his faithfulness.
I hope you can experience God in little moments like that.
If you have any brilliant ideas for what I should do next in life I would be willing to hear them.
But for now I am still here teaching in Cameroon. I started to do a New Year’s evaluation of where I have come from in the last year and what I have gone through. I got overwhelmed. I changed jobs, homes, countries, cultures, languages, fellowship and gone through many personal battles with God. God has sustained me and been my strength. I can credit it to no one or nothing else. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Well this entry will be short today. Someone eat a yellow bell pepper for me please. I miss them, the red and orange ones too.
As always, I love to hear from any and all of you.

May you know God’s blessings today,
AMY

2008-01-11T02:21:00.001-07:00

Hello again! Sorry I have not posted for the last 2 Fridays. I was off traveling with my family. We had such a great time together. They arrived 2 days after Christmas safely and with all their luggage. We stayed the first 2 nights at an apartment on a missions training center by my school. Then we flew north and traveled around there with a van and guides and stayed in 4 different places and saw many beautiful parts of this country. The landscape and way of life up in the far north is very different than here in the south and city. Here it is rainforest and there it is dry and hot and brown, but it still carries it’s own beauty. We went on a safari and saw African animals in their real habitat. It was lots of fun. Then after a brief stop back in Yaoundé, we headed west to the beach. There we stayed in a nice hotel and spent our days swimming, reading and relaxing. We also had a very interesting bush taxi experience on the way back. A bush taxi is a big bus or van that you buy a ticket for, but they sell way more tickets than actual seats, and every ticket owned gets on. On our 30 person small bus we counted about 40 people plus the back row full of luggage! This is the Cameroonian way of doing things. It was crazy, but we made it. Praise God that he kept us safe the whole time with no major illnesses or injuries. A few colds and stomach problems, but we all pushed through. It was a short time with a lot of traveling, but it was such a blessing. I am so glad they could come and see where I work and live and meet some of my friends, both missionaries and Cameroonians. I will send out my next newsletter with more stories and pictures at the end of January.
Now it is back to school. This semester seems so much less intimidating to me! I now know people, the culture, some of the language, my students, how to teach, what to teach and other things that I didn’t know starting off last semester. I need to remember to still seek God’s strength in all I do and not my own. It is a lot easier to depend on him when I can’t depend on myself. But when I gain self confidence it is easier to try to do things in my own strength. I do still feel stretched and challenged in what I am doing. I am not a pro at living here or teaching yet. You can still pray for wisdom and discipline to learn and be organized as I teach.
Today I have a big challenge in front of me. I wrote a while back about the running club I am in. We run together twice a week to train for climbing the tallest mountain in western Africa, Mt. Cameroon. While the climb is on the 25th and 26th of January, so it is coming up. As a test of endurance we are supposed to successfully complete at 10k run round our dirt driveway/circle/track here on campus. They have a whole event to cheer us (10 students, 4 adults) on. They play music, make a slip-n-slide and provide food for those who come to watch and cheer us on. This event is tonight at 5:30, which is 11:30 east coast time. I have to run 23 laps around, which makes 10k. I am a little nervous and anxious. So if you read this in time you can pray for safety and endurance for me and the other runners. With God I can do all things! Right?

Well, I hope this finds you all well and refreshed and blessed after your Christmas and New Years. Seek God and be blessed!
Peace,
AMY

Christmas Cookie Extravaganza!

2007-12-22T06:21:00.000-07:00

So, I with school being on break I forgot yesterday was Friday. So here I am on Saturday instead. Sorry. Today Liz and I baked dozens of cookies to put in packages to give to our Cameroonian friends. We put on the Christmas music and pulled out both new and old recipes to try out. Our house smelled great! So you see even here in Africa we have Christmas baking sprees. As one of the singles in the community I have been invited to a Christmas Eve dinner and evening of games at a young families house. Then Christmas morning the singles were invited to a brunch at another families home. Christmas dinner a bunch of the singles will feast together in our apartment building and fellowship and play games. It is different here because the churches don't have Christmas Eve services. Se we will do our own thing to remember and celebrate. Tonight I see a friend off to the airport to go home for Christmas. She will return in Jan. but it makes me wish I could go home. But then I know returning here would be even harder. So instead of going home, home is coming to me in the form of 5 of my family members! I am so excited to see them just 5 days from today! You can be praying with us for safety as they travel out here and as we travel about the country. We will go up north to a safari park and then west to the beach as well as spend a few nights in my part of town. I can hardly contain my excitement.

Well, I made it through my first semester of teaching! It was hard and challenging. I fell many times and didn't want to get up, but my savior picked me up each time and taught me to lean and depend on him more and more each day. These last 4.5 months have not been easy at all. But I am soooo blessed because of the challenges I faced and the trust and dependancy on God I gained. I can't explain or properly put into words how I have grown and matured in just over 4 months. God is truly good. I love celebrating this time of year, knowing and remembering how Christ came into this world so we could be free to love him and choose him and live forever with him. This year, more than ever, I realize how truly thankful for that I am. For without Christ, my sins, my loneliness, my fear, my pain would overtake me. But with him, joy, love, peace and hope rule my life.
I pray that each of you will meet Jesus in your own personal way this Christmas!
Blessings and Christmas wishes to you and your families!
Merry Christmas!
Amy

You know something is wrong when it is raining inside and not outside....

2007-12-14T02:17:00.000-07:00

So today I have an adventure to report! I didn’t even have to leave my apartment to experience it. Lately in the mornings we’ve been having problems with our water going off. This happens some time because something happens to the town water and we are then put on reserve tanks. I just thought it was something like this. But then we heard water running somewhere around us, sounding like it was coming from above. Our apartment is on the top floor so there is no one living up there. The only thing above us is the reserve water tanks. Then we saw it, water flowing down our kitchen window above our sink. Then it started dripping from the ceiling directly above the sink. We frantically tried to get help. Liz went to the main building to look for Wilfred, our maintenance guy. Meanwhile the drips moved deeper into our kitchen and I was getting buckets so we wouldn’t have puddles on our floor. Then it started dripping over our stove so I quickly put a large bowl there. I have 5 large buckets and containers out catching water when Liz came back with Wilfred. We were afraid one of the containers had broken and our whole ceiling was going to collapse. He turned off all the water, then climbed up into our ceiling to have a look. He found it wasn’t good, but not as bad as we feared. Something happened when the town water came back on. It automatically fills up the reserves, but for some reason it didn’t stop this time and the bucket that is there for that reason overflowed as well. He cleaned it up and soon the dripping stopped. He will come back later with a part to fix that and several other problems we are having. Our hot water heater is broken again and I have big leaks over my window that leave puddles of water on my floor when it rains. So hopefully our apartment will be fixed later today. But something will go wrong again, this is Africa! Liz had to go teach, but I stayed to squeegee our floor and dump out the buckets of water. Quite an adventure!

School is almost out. Today is an abbreviate schedule and then we have some Christmas party/program. I am not sure what all happens. I just know food is provided! Then we have class through Wednesday of next week. That is unless Wednesday is declared a Muslim holiday, which is a possibility, then it will be taken off because it would be a national holiday. I only have 4 of my regular class periods left to teach in this semester. I sub 3 periods for the geometry teacher who is going home over Christmas to visit his mother. Hopefully he will have a good visit and nothing will delay his return.

11 days till Christmas (on this side of the world at least) and 13 days until my family arrives! We had our choir concert last night, which I was singing in, and it I felt such joy singing songs about my savior who has come and will come again to save me, to save us all if we let him.
AMY

Oh the anticipation!

2007-12-08T03:29:00.000-07:00

I realized as I was falling asleep last night that I forgot to post a blog. So here I am on Saturday morning writing to you instead. It is a hazy morning, which will most likely burn off by late morning to early afternoon leaving the sun very hot with little cloud cover. How’s that sound to those of you who are surrounded by cold weather and snow? I’ll trade ya.
This week went by slowly and fast all at the same time. It always seems when you are awaiting something time goes by more slowly. I am awaiting the arrival of my Savior’s birth and of my family! Christmas is in 17 days and my family comes in 19. I joke with my students and say I can now count it on my fingers and toes. We have a week and a half of school until break. Just think, I am only 8 school days away from finishing my first semester of teaching. I figure if God and I got through one semester we can make it through the other.
There is not much new and exciting going on in my world. Tonight we say goodbye to and celebrate the service of one of the Covenant missionaries who has been a school counselor for the last 4 years. Mary, is leaving next week to return to CA. Also there is a student teacher and our art teacher leaving at the end of the semester as well. There are a lot of hellos and goodbyes that go on over here. Actually at the end of this year we have a lot of teachers leaving either for good or on furlough. If you are a teacher or know someone or a family who is, and teaching in Africa at a missionary kids school would be a good match for you or them, then pass the word along and let me know because our school is looking for teachers.
My church here didn’t really do much to celebrate advent last Sunday. But at our Covenant prayer meeting last Sunday we did sing some carols and light the first advent candle. That felt like home. I don’t have much as far as Christmas decorations go. The only thing really is a tiny foot tall decorated tree that the Covenant has for short termers like me. The school has a weeklong ‘Secret Angels’ gift exchange that I am participating in starting next week. That should be fun. But I do miss my family Christmas tree and the stockings on the fireplace and sitting and drinking a cup of cocoa by the fire as the Christmas music is floating about the room. Oh well, when I have that again I will just be appreciative all the more.
I did just finish and send out my first newsletter this week. If you have not received it and would like to, please email me (amyoxendale@gmail.com) or post on my blog and let me know. I would be happy to send one to you!
Enjoy the decorations around you, find delight in the laughter of the season and don’t take for granted the special moments and treasures of each day. Enjoy a fire and cocoa for me!
With much love and joy,
AMY

Where does time go?

2007-11-30T05:58:00.000-07:00

So, the Christmas season is now upon us. Well, it’s been upon me for a while, but others are just now catching up with me. Today is the last day of November (I don’t know where this month went). This Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent. I am not sure what the churches do here to celebrate, but I am focusing on the advent season this year and anticipating Christ’s birth. With it being so warm, it doesn’t feel like Christmas is coming, so I make sure I include it in each day.
I had my first soccer practice yesterday. It went well, especially with the help of 2 senior girls coaching the kids in skills. I know I still have a lot to learn, but my camp experience is coming in handy. I need one of those books on “Coaching Soccer for Dummies”. I wonder if they make those. I am really enjoying building relationships with more students though. God knows what I need to be encouraged and to keep going. I am seeking to follow him and he is blessing me.
I feel like Christmas came early. It’s amazing the way the little things that are so easy to get in the US become such a luxury here. My roommate, Liz, got a large shipment from her church yesterday of a mixture of things, but primarily a large amount of decaf. Coffee, hot cocoa, nuts, dried fruit and Mexican spices. Now I get excited easily, but this was very exciting to smell really good coffee again and drink quality hot chocolate. Now we don’t have to drink coffee sparsely but can enjoy it when we want. Not that life is all about enjoying luxuries, but it makes it easier to face the challenges when you have something to look forward to after you make it through.
I am beginning to see life here as what it is: my life, struggles and joys included, in Africa. It is no longer some foreign world in which I live out a game of life. This is my life right now. I have challenges, joys, loneliness, fellowship, tears, laughter, sickness, health—but above it all I have my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who is in control and each moment and day.
That is who I am celebrating this season. It is his coming and birth I am remembering and his final return I am anticipating. I am far from home, but not alone, I may be knocked down, but never destroyed. I am a daughter of the living God. What a privilege to serve him here in Cameroon.
Be Blessed,
Amy

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T07:42:00.000-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving!
So I know it is not Friday, but I wanted to post today and wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving. My day is going well so far. It is 3pm my time and I am currently waiting for my pumpkin pie to finish baking (as I listen to Christmas music) then I will clean up and head over to a fellow Covenant Missionaries house for our 5pm supper. There will be about 15 of us there, including a few small kids which will make it seem like a true holiday. My first blessing today was my neighbor delivering fresh (boxed) blueberry muffins to Liz and I. What a treat. Liz is sick today and struggling through the day. You can lift her up in prayer and me as well, that I won’t get what she has. My pumpkin pie was from canned pumpkin brought over from the US. That was my assignment to bring today as well as fresh veggies and dip. I made the dip from yogurt, mayonnaise, milk and spices (garlic, dill, basil, salt, pepper, oregano). We will see how it is. It seems kind of tangy, but oh well—we will dip our veggies and we will enjoy it! The pie is done, at least I think it is done.
I don’t think I shared this last week. But tomorrow I get to go to some of my students house for the weekend! There parents are leaving Friday and returning Monday so they wanted someone to stay with the kids. There are all 9-11 grade and there are 5 of them (3 of the kids are just living there and have parents who live several hours away). I am very excited about the time I will get to spend with these kids outside of class! I spent a night there last weekend to get the flow of things and it just felt so natural to be working with the kids like that. I was way more comfortable there than I am teaching. Although I will say that teaching is becoming easier for me every week. Well, I was going to leave this short, plus I don’t know how many of you will actually read this today.
But I wanted to let you know I am thinking about you. One of the key things I am learning while being here is the value of good family and friends. I am truly thankful for each one of you. I am so blessed for I have great friends, a very supportive family (in all I do), a healthy body (oh, I just agreed today to be the junior girls soccer coach! No, I’ve never played before), and more things around me then I could need. But I find myself even more blessed because I have a God who goes before me to guide me, is always watching over me, is my strength and full support, is my joy and life, gives me second chances day after day with his immense grace, protects me with his might and loves me with his intimate, all consuming love. Yes, I am truly blessed.
I pray you can say the same.
Enjoy this holiday and time with family. Enjoy the feast set before you today. Have fun watching the games and playing your own. But most of all take the time to be thankful for all you have and you will find how truly blessed you are.
In the tender hands of God,
AMY

Abby Kati and myself (2 of the girls I will stay with this weekend)

An entire country without internet.......

2007-11-16T09:28:00.000-07:00

Life in Cameroon is still and adventure each day. I haven’t posted the last 2 weeks because the Internet has been down. Not just here for us, but for ALL of Cameroon. Apparently there is a big Internet cable chord that runs around the western coast of Africa and brings us Internet. Well from what I understand, the chord got severed in the ocean somehow. A ship from South Africa had to come up to fix it. If you are indeed reading this, as I hope, it means it is fixed! Imagine your life without email or going online for 2 weeks. It was odd, but very good. It caused me to slow down as well as go to God with problems/stories/questions instead of friends and family back home. So I can honestly say I am thankful it went down. But I am also very thankful it is back up because I miss you all very much.
Thanksgiving is coming up! It seems odd to be away from the familiar for Thanksgiving, but I still have many, many things to be thankful for. One of those being that I get to spend the holiday with the Covenant Missionaries here. There are several families in the Covenant, both with kids and without, that will be gathering together Thursday afternoon for Dinner, games and fellowship. I will be blessed to be among them. I am even bringing the pumpkin pie. I have never made one on my own before but someone has a can of pumpkin here that I will use. Mmmmmm. I hope all of you have someplace to go and people to be with on Thanksgiving. One thing I am learning here is the true value of family and friends. I pray the lesson will never leave me.
I can’t think of much else to update you on. Life goes on here. Teaching is coming along. I feel more settled without having to teach geometry. There is less stress in my life because of it. After today I have 3.5 days of teaching next week then get a long weekend. Not much time off for the holiday, but enough to enjoy it.
You can pray for health for me. Nothing major has happened, but have been having headaches and some stomach problems this last week. I got tested for malaria and it was negative. It seems to be improving but prayers will always help.
As cold comes in for you, heat comes in for me. It is growing to be the start of the dry season. Which, I understand, is very dusty and hot. Just another adventure to experience here in Cameroon.
I know it is slightly pre-mature, but Happy Thanksgiving! I am thankful for each one of you!
Blessings and Peace,
AMY

P.s. I just learned from my mom that it is snowing in Pittsburgh right now. And today is the opening day of ski season at Keystone resort in CO. I miss the snow. I just went running in hot sun and at least 80 degree heat. Want to trade?

An entire country without internet.......

2007-11-16T09:10:00.000-07:00

A Painted World

2007-10-30T02:52:00.000-06:00

This week has gone by fast for me, which I think is a good thing. By the time I post this I will be all finished teaching geometry! I still have to finish writing their test that their teacher will give them next week upon his return. But God has gotten me through this time. I am excited to be able to focus on my other classes more now.
I have moments in my days where I still can’t believe I am actually here. I like the days where I look around me and see so many new trees, stores, people, flowers, etc. It’s like my eyes are slow to adjust to my surroundings. I am seeing new depths to things I have seen everyday.
I have a fairly clear view of the sunset from my apartment on the top floor of my building. Liz and I like to go up onto the roof (which is safe, there is a very wide ramp to get up there and it is wide up top as well) which gives us a view of the whole sky, not only to the west, but to the east, north and south as well. The other day we sat and watched one of the most beautiful sunsets I have seen since being here. It was like I stepped into a painting. The clouds were perfectly still. They were puffy and thin each taking on a color of their own. The full moon was behind us already up in the purple blue sky. Shining around it were rays of pink sun clouds. It was truly spectacular.
Another day I was out running in the late afternoon as the shadows were getting longer. I was running on a red dirt road next to a soccer field with a team of Cameroonians playing and cheering. I passed two women whom I smiled and greeted, they did the same in return. I was taking in the sounds around me when I looked up and realized what an incredible blue the sky was against the small white clouds and the green palm trees. Then all of a sudden it was like I was removed from my body. It was like I was above the clouds looking down on this white woman running on the red dirt road surrounded by the beauty of African people and trees. I couldn’t believe that was me and that I am really here and truly blessed because of it.
A few nights ago I was awoken at 2 a.m. by a lightening/rain storm. I first closed all the windows, but I was wide awake so I sat there for almost an hour and listened to the rain and watched the lightening. I lit a candle and sat and journaled for a little while. While I was praising God for the power of his storm and the glory it brought to him, another thought came to me. I see God so clearly through creation and it flows from me naturally to praise him in the ways he reveals himself through sunsets, sunrises, blossoming flowers, growing trees, cool breezes, sunshine on a cold day, cloud formations, ocean waves, horses running, I could go on and on. But on this night I realized that as my creator God was making a storm over Cameroon, he was also creating a peaceful breeze on some beach, horses were running in some unknown field, there was a beautiful sunrise somewhere, possibly on the shores of Indonesia, and there was an incredible sunset on the western coast of Alaska. God was displaying his glory all over the world and I was blessed to be a small part of giving him praise for it.
Those are my thoughts for this week. God is forever faithful and constantly revealing himself to us. We just need to open our eyes to see it.
So I pray this week, that you may realize, through creation, how blessed and loved you truly are by the Living God.
May God’s grace and peace be with you,
AMY

This is not the sunset I was refering to, but still it is beautiful.

Blessings in Disguise

2007-10-19T05:31:00.000-06:00

Hello friends and strangers who may read this. I realize that outside of my family, I don’t know who reads what I post each week. Sometimes I wonder why I post my personal thoughts and joys and struggles. I guess I post them because I am seeking to live in honesty and truth. I can’t always just share fun stories and say life is wonderful over here because it isn’t. I have great days and I have very challenging days just like each of you does. Serving God in the mission field doesn’t mean I know what I am doing with my life or have it all together. It just means that I desire to serve God with all that I am and follow him wherever he takes me. And it so happens that he has taken me to Cameroon Africa for this year. So here I go, sharing personal things again….Lately there have been more hard days than easy days. But last night I came to a sweet realization. Yesterday I was not thankful for the personal struggles and challenges I am facing right now. But last night in bible study a friend was talking about how easy it was (even though it shouldn’t be) for her to go through her whole teaching day without really thinking about or talking to God. I laughed inside because if I went through a day right now without talking to God, I wouldn’t make it through. That is when I saw the sweet blessing of my struggles. They draw me to fully rely and depend on God each day in so many moments of the day. My need for God is what is drawing me closer to him and that is what is giving me strength, hope, joy, laughter and peace right now. So you see, without the struggles, my joy would cease to exist as fully as it does right now. Tears came to my eyes last night, and even now, as I realized the sweet and beautiful blessing of my pain.
My pain isn’t life and death. Don’t worry about me, I am in God’s hands and will be more than ok. My struggles are in seeking God and his truth in my life and his reasons for me being here and teaching, when teaching is not what I want to be doing. But I am making it. I have only 4 more periods of geometry to teach before the teacher returns. I am very ready to be done teaching that.
Lately I have been craving pumpkin bread and hot apple cider. Mmmmm. It just sounds so good! I haven’t tried looking for pumpkin here, they might have it. I think I have seen some pumpkins growing on the side of the road by my apartment. There is this ‘juice’ called fuleray (I am certain that is not how you spell it, but that is how is sounds), made from flower petals and boiling water. It is bright red and kind of tart, but if you add lots of sugar it is good. Most times it is served cold, but I have heard it tastes excellent if you heat it with cloves and cinnamon. So you see, I might yet get to have cider and pumpkin bread, the African way! I would appreciate prayers to more fully see God’s blessings and understand his wisdom and purpose in me being here.
Thanks for reading this and praying for me and supporting me.
I pray for you, that you too may see the blessings God has placed in your path.
Peace,
AMY

Broken rooster, rapid streets and other thoughts.

2007-10-17T03:04:00.000-06:00

Sorry about the delay! I was blessed with a long weekend this last weekend! Islam is one of the religions of Cameroon, so any holiday they have is declared a national holiday. Even though RFIS is a Christian school we take off any National holidays. Friday was declared the end of Ramadan for the Muslims and a national holiday; therefore I didn’t have to work! It was fabulous. We were waiting Thursday evening to hear on the news if it was going to be declared a holiday or not. I felt like I was waiting and hoping for a snow day! It was kind of fun and I definitely appreciated the day off.
I have joined the running club at school. This means that I train from September to January with a group of students and staff. Our goal is to get in shape to climb Mt. Cameroon in February. It is, I think, the tallest Mt. in West Africa. So far I am surviving the training. Right now we have to run 10k a week thru Oct. and Nov. I have never been a huge runner, but I want to enjoy running, so this will hopefully get me there. Yesterday (Tuesday) I went for my longest run yet, 6k! My knees and joints are very sore today. There are lots of hills to run around here. It was not only my first for running 6k, but also for running thru small rivers on the sides of the road. It was pouring rain during our run yesterday! The small ditches on the side of the roads were flowing with water and even had some strong ‘rapids’ in them. It was fun and made the long distance a lot cooler and seem easier. The air is so think here with water that when it is hot and you sweat it just pours off your body, so I preferred the rain to sweat! There was red water oozing out of my running shoes. Just another small adventure.
When you are little and learning animals and the sounds they make, you learn that a rooster crows. You also learn and see in movies, that is crows in the morning with the sunrise, like an alarm clock. I have come to determine that the roosters here are of a different breed. Last night as I was falling asleep around 10:15 a rooster in the yard next door decided to crow. I moaned and said out loud, to myself, “You have got to be kidding me!” Then it crowed a second time and I laughed at the ridiculousness of the very confused rooster. Then when it crowed the third time I was beginning to be annoyed. But thankfully it stopped. It started crowing again this morning to wake us all up. Which is what it is supposed to do right? But NOT at 3:30 in the morning!!! I have come to the conclusion that the roosters in Cameroon are either very confused, were taught wrong, or are simply broken.
I wrote a few weeks ago about my decision to continue subbing for geometry. I did say no. But my boss was unable to find a sub other than herself. She came to me apologizing and asking me to show her where I left off and how she should teach the class. Well, I still didn’t want to teach it, but knew I couldn’t let her take on more when her plate is already so full. So I am once again teaching Geometry. The teacher is now planning on returning on Oct. 27th. I am praying he doesn’t get delayed again. You can pray with me in that and also that I will be able to keep up with all my classes and teach them well, as well as keep a balance in the rest of my life. I have started my journey into learning to speak French. I am borrowing a computer program and have worked on it each day since I got it. You can pray for my understanding of the language as well.
I am in the stage of cultural transition where I am more homesick then I have been before. There are so many emotions I find myself going through and I am learning more and more about myself and about God and dependency on Him. I would love to hear from each of you. Your words bring such encouragement to me.
God bless you! AMY

Kribi!

2007-10-06T08:39:00.001-06:00

Here are some pictures with the post so you can enjoy the beauty that I did each day! Enjoy!

I love it when God knows exactly what we need and gives it too us as well! That is what I feel like this time off has been. My beach trip to Kribi was wonderful. There were great times of fellowship with others and time to myself reading and walking. The beach is beautiful, unpopulated and natural. Not touristy at all. My favorite time was each morning when I woke up with the waves and sun around 7 and made some strong coffee, toasted banana bread in a skillet and took it for a stroll on the beach. Those are the times where God met me and refreshed my soul. I didn’t have too many big adventures there. I did get stung be a jelly fish and I did get to each fresh shrimp found by the only waterfall in the world that is fresh water falling into the ocean.
I didn’t sleep the best at Kribi so now I still have until Tuesday off. So I am using these days to relax, sleep, read, watch movies and do puzzles. I did 500-piece puzzle this morning. My roommate, Liz, took off for 2 days to travel to a friend’s village. Even though he lives in the city with his family, his grandparents still live in their village and speak their tribal language. He goes to visit periodically. This is true for most Cameroonians, they live in Yaounde, but still have a village they call home. Hopefully sometime I will get to go to one. But in the meantime, I have the apartment to myself. We went to the nicest restaurant in town yesterday for Liz’s birthday and I got pizza, that tasted so much like American pizza and so wonderful. Today I enjoyed the leftovers, what a treat! Also, a woman who I trained with to come hear arrived at the end of August and brought with her a 3 lb bag of peanut M&M’s for me. They are such a luxury and taste so wonderful!!!! So today I had a feast! I think I should eat a salad tonight. I need to head over to school and get my Business Math book so I can work on planning. I am not looking forward to it, but know I should start now and not leave it all until Monday. I now have 11 weeks of teaching until Christmas break, which seems like a lot to me, but I know with God’s strength I can make it. Then I only have a week after that until I see my whole family. I am so excited they are coming. Mom, Dad, Mary, Kristin, and my brother in law, Jon, are all coming out for 2 weeks right after Christmas! It will be my first Christmas away from home, but they are bringing home to me.

I miss the seasons here. Fall and cooler weather sounds wonderful right now, and I wish I could have a little snow over Christmas. But I guess I shouldn’t complain about the constant warmth. At least it is still the rainy season where it still gets cool at night and the sun still has clouds to hide behind.
Well, that will be all for now. I am not in a story telling mood. Perhaps next time. I hope this finds you all well and healthy. Enjoy the convenience around you. Enjoy the pizza and M&M’s you get to eat. But way more importantly, enjoy the company of those you know and love and take advantage of the convenience of calling them to let them know how much they mean to you. I miss that luxury. I am realizing how important you, my family and my friends are to me. What is the saying? You don’t know what you had until it is gone? Something like that. Well I know you are not gone from my life, but I am also missing what I had and realizing that I have never let people know enough how much I need them and appreciate them. You are all amazing and precious to me, but even more so to God.
Be blessed with His peace this week!
Love,
AMY

Atlantic Ocean, here I come!

2007-09-28T10:22:00.001-06:00

So I realized just a few days ago that I never posted the post I wrote for last Friday. The internet was down all weekend and then this week was a very busy week. I apologize, but I did just post it below.
An update on my geometry class. I did say I could not take it anymore and feel a great peace about that and a great burden lifted off of me. However, I have not heard yet if they have found someone else in my place until the teacher returns. So you can still be praying for a replacement.
Right now it is 5:08 PM on Friday and I am leaving campus when I am done posting this. I will then not have to teach for 10 DAYS!!!!! Wahoo! I am so excited. It is fall break, even though it doesn’t feel like fall, and we have a whole week of school off plus the following Monday. I am heading west with 20 of my closest new friends to a place called Kribi. It is on the ocean and a beach! I am so excited. There are indeed 21 of us missionaries either single or young married who are going from Sunday through Wednesday. I have checked 5 books out of our library for my personal reading over break! Those of you who know me well are either laughing or rolling your eyes. But I am so excited to sit on the beach and get lost in another world. I am also really ready for some quiet time with just me and my savior in a beautiful place.
I received several more things in the mail lately. Some birthday cards that I got about a month late, but it felt like my birthday all over again. Thank you so much for the letters and emails that you have sent. It really does brighten my day to hear from each of you.
I am making this post short because I am ready to get out of here and start my rest.
I hope you are well. I don’t know if it feels like fall there yet, but when it comes, enjoy the leaves for me and the apple cider. Each fall I miss the Pennsylvanian autumns. That itself seems proof enough to me that God exists. Well, you enjoy the fall and I will enjoy the beach. Different parts of the world, same creator, same God.
May God’s peace be with you this next week.

Blessings,
AMY

Look forward to a beach update and pictures next week!

Completion of Week 7 and two months

2007-09-28T10:05:00.000-06:00

It is by God’s grace that I have finished week 7 of teaching. No great stories to tell. This week, I would say, was my second most stressful week of teaching. Coming in line after my very first week of survival teaching. The stress was due to geometry. Teaching in the classroom went ok. They have their test on Tuesday and I hope they all do well. (For my sake and theirs). The stressful part was planning for it and for my other classes. In teaching 4/5 more periods a week, that takes away from planning for my other classes which caused a lot more stress in my life. I don’t like stress. Right now on my mind is a decision I have to make. The geometry teacher is going to be delayed in returning, at least 4 more weeks, and possibly the rest of the semester or year. I have a choice as to whether I will keep teaching the class or not. I would choose not to. But it is not quite that simple. There are limited other people who have time and can teach it. I feel like I am the only person who can do it. But how conceited of me is that, when I know I am not the best person to do it and I know God is bigger than all this and will bring someone else if it is not me. I am really praying about the right choice. I have made a pro/con list (like my favorite TV character, Rory Gilmore) and the cons have come out on top. But I am still seeking God’s wisdom and would truly appreciate your prayers as I make this decision. For some it may not seem a big deal, but for me facing a new job, a new home and new culture, it is a lot to take on. So I ask, what does God ask of me?
I am doing an Ephesians bible study with some ladies and I want to share something from it that really sunk in this week. Ephesians 3:20 tells us that God is “able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us…” As a believer in Christ I have the power of the Holy Spirit living in me. That power is the very same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead. I so often forget that the power of the Spirit lives and works in me, in all who know Christ. A quote from the study says, “His power enables you to live a supernatural life as a man or woman of God. It is a life beyond your own wisdom or abilities.” This week, I feel I have lived beyond my own wisdom or abilities and the only reason is because of the power of the living God. That is something I hope to never forget. If God brought me all the way to Cameroon to learn that lesson alone, than it was well worth it.
I pray you too can see the power of God at work in your life this week. Thank you for your prayers, thank you for your support and encouragement!

“To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.”

Amy

Random thoughts on random things......

2007-09-14T11:24:00.000-06:00

Well, on Sunday I didn’t even remember that Theorems or Postulates existed let alone what all geometry included, now I could tell you all about the ones that have to do with parallel and perpendicular lines or triangles. I learned them one day at a time and I taught them either the following day or the very same day. Geometry 101 for the high school non-licensed teacher. I think I am qualified to teach that class. Things have gone well in regards to teaching this week. Now I have two more weeks till quarter break. Crazy, that is almost here, yet I am so excited and ready for it.
I came down with a cold and fever this week but was able to teach all my classes. Kleenexes are rare here and toilet paper is so scratchy, so I carried around a bandana hanky with me all day. I felt like you, Dad. My worst day was Tuesday and today, I am feeling so much better, I even went for a run! Praise God that it was nothing major and I was able to keep going.
Tonight the 11th grade class is having a fundraiser community event. It is a hamburger supper and a movie, A Night at the Museum. I am going over for the supper, but I am not sure if I want to sit on hard metal chairs with lots of kids and watch a movie I have already seen. Yes, it was funny, but that is not my ideal Friday night. I think I will return to play games with some friends instead. We will try girls night again this tomorrow. Last weekend it didn’t work out. But I did make a chocolate cream pie from scratch and it was so very tasty. I am enjoying the learning process of food here. I try Cameroonian food when I get the chance. Some of it I enjoy, some I can eat, some I am finished after one bite. But I still enjoy the process. You can get lots of fresh fruit and veggies here, which is very nice. My roommate, Liz, and I make lots of fresh carrot pineapple juice in our juicer. Mmmm, so good and good for you. If any of you have some great family recipes with veggies, beef, potatoes, rice, peanuts, fruit, milk powder, whether it be cooking or baking with any of the above, it would be fun to try new recipes. You could post them or email them at amyoxendale@gmail.com.
Well, my water for my shower is hot now, so I need to go (we have to turn the heater on and wait for it to heat up, but at least it is hot). This entry may seem scatter brained, well that is because I am right now.

A thought I enjoyed this morning: God is constant. My routine changes, my attitude changes, my dedication to time with him comes and goes, I fail, I win, I mess up, I succeed, I am stubborn, I am flexible, I am so inconsistent! But God, he never waivers in his love for you and me, he never changes in his dedication to us. God is constant.

May God’s peace be with you as you seek to live out each day in its problems and blessings.
Blessed by God,
AMY

Life Goes On....

2007-09-07T09:42:00.000-06:00

This week flew by for me! I cannot believe it is the weekend already. (And I didn’t even have Labor Day like you folks!) I am now done with classes for the day and off to home then to a wine tasting with some other ladies. It will be interesting. The only other wine tasting I’ve done was in Homer, Alaska. I KNOW this will be different. Saturday night we have a ‘girls’ night planned, movie, chocolate, sweats. A great time to be had, I am sure. Life here is different, but you can see it is similar to what I know and treasure at home.
More and more I am settling into and enjoying life here. Two things I have deciphered from my subconscious thoughts about myself. I brought a year worth supply of toiletries, which I think will last me most of a year. I have been slowly watching those supplies diminish. I realized at first I wanted them to diminish, because that meant the year was passing and I could return to all I know and still say that I followed God to Africa. Now I see those supplies slowly diminish and I feel slightly disappointed that time is passing me by in this great land and am reminded that I need to fully experience life here and what God has brought me here to experience. That is the first thought. The second is this. In realizing I am over 1/8 of the way through the school year I get excited and wish it were passing faster. This has not changed from when my first week passed to my fifth. I still get excited another week has passed. I have come to this conclusion about myself: I am enjoying life in Cameroon and growing to enjoy it more each day, even amidst the days of missing home that I go through. I will say I am getting more comfortable with teaching, but my thoughts tell me that it is not something that I have yet relaxed into like life here. I wish it would pass because it causes me more stress than joy right now. With that said, I am improving, I just don’t see it as my ideal job nor a job I am ideally suited for. I have come a long way, but that is something I could always use prayer for.
I got my first piece of mail just this Monday. I was bummed because it wasn’t personal but a check statement from my mission organization. It was still very exciting to receive mail though. It was sent on Aug. 8th and arrived on Sept. 3rd, just short of a month. Then when I really looked at it I got very excited because it listed numerous deductions that I just tested my students on in Business Math. I was able to use it as a current visual tool to show them how what they learned can apply to real life. That day I felt like teacher!

I continue to say, and pray that I always will say, that God is good. He is constant and will never change. The sun rises and sets, school days pass by, toiletries disappear, but my God still remains and ever will remain right by my side.

Summer is now over. Fall is beginning. Enjoy the beauty around you. Praise God for the blessing of life lived in each day. Praise God for his faithfulness and his love. I pray for each of you who read this, that you may encounter God in his true form. What a blessing.

Enjoy your weekend!
In God’s care,
AMY

1 Month Teaching Celebration!

2007-08-31T07:54:00.001-06:00

Well, it is now Friday and I have officially made it through a whole month of teaching!!! (That deserves a big piece of chocolate cake! Or forget the piece and I’ll just have the whole thing.) I feel I have actually taught the students in my care. My science 10-core class has 2 students in it. They are both so sweet. There are 18 10th graders, but these 2 needed to be put in a class where they can get more one-on-one help. This is one of my favorite things about teaching this class; I can take time to help one understand acceleration better while the other one works on something and vise versa. It is fun to build more in-depth relationships with them because of the small class size. I have learned a lot so far about turning forces, velocity, acceleration, ticker-tape timers, among other things. It is a challenge, but it’s turning into a fun one. They have a test next Thursday, so that will be a test of my teaching as well. My Business Math class has 4 students in it and I may be gaining a 5th. Math is easier for me to teach. I don’t have to learn as many things. We just finished 2 sections on gross and net income, dealing with taxes and withholdings. They have a test on Monday. Once again, this will be my test as well. I hope I pass. I am also teaching 5 voice students. So far it is going well. I have no piano students, but 1 beginner guitar student that I am hoping doesn’t out grow me in skills. Coming up in September a fellow teacher has to return to the States to visit his ill mother for about a month and I will be taking over his Geometry 1 class while he is gone. The class size is larger than I am used to and a subject I haven’t studied in a while, I would appreciate prayers as I prepare for that class. I got the chance to sub for a middle school music class yesterday, which was surprisingly fun for me.
Wednesday was the senior girls soccer team first game against the RFIS women, so my colleagues and me. The girls won 10-3. But having only 2 experienced soccer players on our team of 10 we were proud to have gotten 3 goals. I played forward, which meant I ran all over the field and got muddy and got really excited when I even go my foot on the ball. I took a few goal shots, but never made it. After watching me though people were surprised to find I had not played since gym class in High School. I took that as the compliment that is was!
I am finding a routine here that involves teaching, prepping, socializing, cooking, reading, watching the occasional movie or TV episode on DVD, exercising, experiencing culture, worship team practice, correspondence, getting to know students, dance lessons once a week, time for me to enjoy peace and quiet, Sunday evening worship, Thursday bible study, and time for just God and I. Time balance has never been my gift, a shocker, I know. But I am trying to balance and not over commit to things. There are so many needs to be filled and only so many people to fill them. I would appreciate your prayers as I continue to find a pattern and routine in my life here.
So thank you for supporting me, praying for me, encouraging me and even reading this blog. Feel free to post a comment; I opened up so that anyone can.
I will try to post some more pictures soon.
I pray you have a blessed weekend!
Love from Cameroon,
AMY

Crash course in Taxi riding.

2007-08-28T10:12:00.000-06:00

So, my plan is to write on my blog every Friday. However, it is Tuesday and somehow I missed Friday. So this week I will write Tuesday and again on Friday. Today I feel like sharing some stories.
Yaounde Taxis
In my 0.1 km walk to school there are, I would venture to say, 2 dozen taxis that pass me going either way, every morning. The taxis here are mostly yellow cars that can, in American standards hold 4 passengers. When a taxi driver is driving along, his horn is his very best friend, his money maker really. They honk their horns to pick up passengers. So if the driver sees some passengers on the side of the road he will slow down and honk, the person waiting for a cab will say their neighborhood’s destination and the price they are willing to pay. If no price is stated then it will be 200 cfa (500 cfa=$1 US). If the driver is willing to go that place for that price they will honk again and the passenger gets in. If he is not willing, then he will just keep driving. See the thing is there is no rule saying the cab driver can only have 1 set of passengers at a time. He could have 4 different passengers going to 4 different places at one time. More money for him, more work for the horn. My roommate Liz and I were going to this tasty bakery this past Saturday. We thought it would be a fast trip in and out with no traffic. This was my 2nd experience riding in a cab. Liz, fluent in french, hailed the cab and said the neighborhood the bakery was in. The driver honked so we climbed in and were on our way to the bakery for 200cfa. We were soon joined be a mother and her baby girl of amount 2 months, so cute. They weren’t going far. But the driver still was not done, there was still the front seat to fill. So we keep honking and pulling over and moving on. Until we see these two women and slow down, he honks because apparently he approves of their offer. I didn’t even hear a voice, yet he could hear the specifics of what they said. These drivers have the best hearing in the world. I am thinking to myself, hmm, there is one seat and two of them, maybe only one is coming. I am not adjusted to Africa yet with that mindset. I need to switch to thinking, there is never NOT enough space to take someone else. Both these women sit on the small front seat in a very uncomfortable looking position. Finally the car is full so we move at a ‘steady’ pace, then we hit traffic. A huge tree had fallen across the road and on some power lines. When we passed very slowly I noticed about 8 guys hovered around the 1 chainsaw with several wrenches trying to fix it. I had to laugh, 1 chainsaw for 1 HUGE tree that was almost entirely stopping traffic and 8 men for that 1 tool. Finally we got to the bakery, got our goods and some avocados from the lady across the street and we headed back into another taxi and went home. (The taxi that stopped already had 3 passengers, Liz squished in the front with another passenger while I fit in the back.) A 45 minute roundtrip taxi ride for a fee of 400cfa, under $1. Quite the experience!
I have now been here just over 1 month. I still learn new things everyday and have to depend on God everyday. But these are good things I think.
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. Until Friday……
AMY

I'm surving and I think beginning to thrive.

2007-08-17T10:13:00.000-06:00

Hello friends,
Well another week has passed. I have now successfully, I do believe, completed my second week of teaching and my third week of living in Africa!
There are parts of life here that I really enjoy: the fellowship around me, the new relationships I am building with staff and students alike, the African children who shyly want to shake my hand (hand shaking is a big cultural thing here—it is polite to shake hands with every person upon entering and leaving a home), the new lessons I am learning about making food from scratch (I made chocolate pudding from scratch this week), and right now I am enjoying the sound of the rain pouring down outside. It has not rained too much here yet; especially considering it is rainy season. However today, I am stuck at work until someone offers a ride or until the rain lets up. This is a pouring rain that is turning the red dirt into a red stream.
There are parts of life here too that are hard to adjust to or things I really miss from home. I miss real milk, not powdered. I miss deep comfy couches, instead of shallow hard ones. I miss real chocolate. I miss having boxed meals to throw in the pot or microwave when I am lazy. I enjoy my new fellowship, but I miss the fellowship with you who know me already and so well.
Yes, there are changes and things to adjust to. But I try not to dwell on those, but rather dwell on God. He never changes. If the saying, “Home is where the heart is” is true, then my home over the last few years has changed so often. My heart has turned toward the people I am with so my homes have been in Wexford, PA, Lakewood, CO, Dewittville, NY, Strathmore, AB and now my home is in Yaounde, Cameroon, West Africa. But ultimately my home travels with me because my true home is in Christ. He is where my heart is. Changes may come, life will happen, God will give and take away, but ‘I will yet praise him, my savior and my God’. God seems bigger in Africa somehow. I experienced this in Kenya too. Perhaps my experiences in Africa are so big and God fills every part of my experiences. I want to share with you a few verses I have been dwelling on these last few weeks. It is found in Psalm 94, verses 18, 19 and 22, “When I said, ‘My foot is slipping,’ your love, O Lord, Supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul….But the Lord has become my fortress, and my God the rock in whom I take refuge.” If there is one thing I can say for certain about being here. It is that the Lord my God has me here and he is teaching me to depend on him and him alone as my rock.
I pray God blesses you this weekend and next week. Rest in him, he will revive your soul.
Be Blessed,
Amy

I am not sure if I shared my address here, but it is: Amy Oxendale Rain Forest International School, BP 1299, Yaounde, Cameroon West Africa. I would love any hand written letters you can send and I promise to write back as soon as I get the chance.

First days in Cameroon

2007-08-08T11:29:00.000-06:00

Dear Friends and Family,
So hopefully this will be my first update from Cameroon. I say hopefully because I have been here for just over a week now and have not been able to access my blog page. The server has been blocking it, but I think I got it fixed today. I have wireless internet here, but it is VERY slow and takes a long while to upload things or even get a new page. And my personal account gets charged for the amount of minutes I use on the internet. So I am typing to you in Word and hoping I can soon copy and paste. It is almost 6pm here and I am exhausted from a long day of work, but it is only 11am-1pm for most of you. I am almost done with the day, but you are still going. I hope yours is not as exhausting as mine was. One thing about myself that I have confirmed being out here, is that I do not do well having to sit behind a desk and get things done all day. It exhausts me! Tomorrow is the first day of classes, Aug. 7th. So today I sat and tried to configure lesson plans. I feel good about my math class, but science literally gave me a headache today. I was re-learning torque and moment in the Machines and Movement section. I don’t remember ever learning that, but I am sure it is there somewhere, so I sat and wracked my brain with the students book as my aid to remember that the force (F) times the distance from the pivot = the turning force, known as the torque. So there you have it, my first science lesson. I hope it will get easier as time goes on and as my science mind gets back in shape. I am excited to meet my students tomorrow. I have heard great things about some of them specifically.
I am excited as well to help with the student worship team. I just agreed to do that yesterday. There is another woman who will be leading them in spiritual direction and focus, which I can help with, but primarily I will be helping them work on things musically. I am looking forward to working with them and having a small group to focus on within the larger student body. (When I say ‘larger’, I mean about 100)
I have been meeting lots of new people, which is very exciting, but can also be very draining for me.
I live in an apartment complex called CABTAL that is a gated property with an office/conference building and a 4 story apartment complex. I live on the top floor with my roommate Liz who has been here for several years and can show me how things work. We are getting along great and she is very helpful to answer my many questions. I can walk to school in about 10 min. I live in the capitol city, but we are on the outskirts of it and there are no tall buildings just very small businesses. I feel safe, but I wouldn’t walk alone at night. The climate here is more tropical, just without the forests. They have been cut away for the buildings, but are in the surrounding areas. It is humid here and the laundry and my hair take a long while to dry. It hasn’t rained much so far, only 3 or 4 times. But this month is the dryer part of the rainy season (March-Nov.).
I have a lot of the familiarities of home, but there are also a lot of things to adjust to. I did just get a cell phone and the way the service works here is that I pay only for calls I make, NOT for calls I receive. So I don’t know how much it would cost to call a Cameroonian cell phone from the U.S. but I can give you the number so if you want to call me you can and I will not be charged. The U.S. can give better long distance rates than I can get here. I don’t want to post it here for the whole world to see, but I will send it out in an email update and if you would like it you can email me and ask for it: amyoxendale@gmail.com
Well, I have many more stories and things to say, but I know I can be long winded and I already have taken up a whole page on Word. so I will go for now. but please pray for my first week of school. This week pray that I will remember my sciences from High School and can effectively teach it to these students. I would love to get emails from you. Just typing this makes me feel more connected to all of you back home. I hope this finds all of you well.
I remain here in Jesus' love,
AMY

8 Days to go!

2007-07-19T14:44:00.000-06:00

Hello Friends! I am sitting in the mountains in Breckenridge, Colorado enjoying the view. I am up here for a few days with my immediate family and some close friends. It is good to spend this quality time with them before I leave. I need to enjoy the peace now because starting monday I will be traveling for 6 days with one days rest. I leave Denver on monday the 23rd to drive 3 days to Pennsylvania where I will leave my belongings with my parents. I will rest thursday and I fly out of Pittsburgh on the 27th. I have a layover in Atlanta and then Paris and will reach Yaounde, Cameroon about 6pm on July 28th. I will then have 1 week of staff training and orientation before the students come the following week.
Right now I am praying my visa gets processed in time. I sent it overnight to Washington DC where it takes 5-7 days to be processed and will be overnighted to catch up with me in Pittsburgh. At least that is the plan. You can lift that up in prayer. Also, right now my focus is on getting there, but I know once I get there I will have a whole new batch of things to adjust to and prepare for. I know God will go before me and that even now he is preparing me, but I would appreciate your prayers for that as well.
I hope this finds you and you families well and enjoying the beautiful summer, wherever you are. I challenge you to find God in every day, not just in the big things but in the little blessings he provides as well.
Untill next time, AMY

My Offical Support Card (for those who have not seen it)

2007-07-07T20:30:00.000-06:00

Name: ___________________________

Address: _________________________

City: ____________________________

State/Zip: ________________________

Phone: __________________________

Email: __________________________

I/We would like to partner with Amy Oxendale in her ministry by:

( ) Praying for her and her ministry in Cameroon.
( ) Pledging $_________ per month.
( ) Enclosing a one-time gift of $_________.
( ) I/We would like to receive her newsletters and prefer receiving
them by (please indicate)
__regular mail __email

All financial gifts are tax deductible. Please make checks payable to “Evangelical Covenant Church” and include my full name in the memo.

Mail this card to:
Attn: STM Support
Department of World Missions
The Evangelical Covenant Church
5101 North Francisco Ave.
Chicago, IL 60625
----------------------------------------------------
(Tear off for Amy’s email and website)
Email: amyoxendale@gmail.com
amysrealadventures.blogspot.com

My Official Support Letter (for those of you who have not seen it)

2007-07-07T20:25:00.000-06:00

June 18, 2007

Dear Friend,

In Psalm 119 verse 32 I have found a theme verse for my life. “I run in the path of
your commands, for you have set my heart free.” Running in God’s commands has
taken me to many different places so far in my 24 years of life. This time it takes me to Cameroon, Africa.

How Has God Brought Me Here?
At Colorado Christian University I majored in Youth Ministry with the intent of loving on the youth of today in whatever way God has set before me. This last year I worked at Covenant Bible College in Strathmore, Alberta mentoring young college women. I loved serving God in that way, I was challenged and changed. I have wanted to be a short-term missionary since my first year of college and have been afraid I would live my life and at the end realize I never did it. Well, now I have been given a chance to live in Africa for a year and work with teenagers. It’s a dream come alive!

What Will I Be Doing?
I will be a one-year short-term missionary serving with Covenant World Mission working at Rain Forest International School in Yaoundé, Cameroon. RFIS is a school of about 100 students grades 7-12, primarily from missionary homes in Cameroon and its surrounding countries (www.rfis.org). The national languages of Cameroon are English and French. My tasks are not 100% defined yet and may be changing, but as best as I know I will be:
-Teaching 3 smaller classes: basic 10th grade Science, Business Math, and Foods
-Leading/mentoring a small group of students in studying and discussing the Bible and how it applies to their personal lives.
-Possibly using my music background to teach a few basic voice and/or piano lessons.
-Possibly sponsoring a worship team and helping speak in chapel, which the student body has once a week.

How Am I Inviting You to Help?
I need your prayers. Please pray for: strong friendships with those I meet and those I leave behind, courage and wisdom to step into things I don’t know, energy to serve daily, cultural differences, safety and health, and for financial support to be provided.

I have a budget for the year of roughly $28,000, all of which I need to raise. The budget covers all my training/traveling expenses, housing/in-country living, small salary, health insurance/ vaccinations, and administration fees. School starts at the beginning of August and ideally I would like to be in Cameron by then, however I can’t leave until 80% ($22,400) of my support is raised. In short, I need your help with raising a lot of money very quickly.

If you desire to support me in any way, prayer, a one time financial gift, or a monthly pledge, please fill out and send in the enclosed card. If you would like to receive my update emails please indicate that on the card as well. I will be updating a blog/website so that you can join in my adventures with me. That site is: amysrealadventures.blogspot.com. Please take a look.

Thank you for who you are to me and my family. I am blessed to have you to write this letter to. It is my prayer that God blesses you as you have blessed me. Thank you!

Dry and 99 degrees

2007-07-03T13:20:00.000-06:00

That is the weather where I am in sunny Denver, Colorado. I am still in the process of raising funds but am feeling encouraged by those of you who have given much support, either financially or simply in prayers and positive words. Thank you so much. I do still need more money though, so any gifts or prayers in that direction would be greatly appreciated. I keep gettin more information from RFIS as the start draws near. It gets me excited, but also escalates the fear slightly, realizing that I will be leaving all I know and love in about a month to go serve in the unknown. I am encouraged in the fact that I have possibly found a roommate for this year who also works at the school and I may actually get to meet her if timing works out right. So things are moving along in the right direction. This isn't too much of an update, but the most I have for now. Peace,AMY

2007-06-21T09:20:00.000-06:00

I have some exciting news to share with you! For those of you who have given or pledged money for me or are considering it, know now that your dollar will become two. I have someone who wants to match every dollar I raise! So if you give $25 it becomes $50 or if you give $100 it becomes $200 and so one. I think you understand. Please help me acheive my goal of raising $28,000 so I can go serve in Cameroon this year. Thank you so much!

2007-06-10T19:22:00.000-06:00

I am creating this blog with the intentions of keeping friends, family and supporters updated on my life and adventures in Cameroon, Africa this next year. I am going as a short term missionary with Covenant World Mission to serve at Rain Forest International School in Yaounde, Cameroon. Details are a little uncertain right now, but I believe I will be teaching three courses to small groups of students. I will share more when I know more details. But for now I am excited to be starting this process and to be dreaming of returning to Africa!