Dear Friends and Family,
The title above just about summarizes the past 10 days of life here in West Africa. Let me explain. Today we resumed classes which means the mid-semester break is officially over. It was a nice break, busy and productive, but it did provide the opportunity for some much needed sleep. I spent most of the break seated at my kitchen table grading a mountain of exams, all of which consisted of numerous essay questions, and preparing lectures for the second half of the semester. I was extremely pleased with the overall outcome of midterm grades. All my classes did well. Praise God! Concerning "White Death" a new phenomenon has hit Cameroon. Dust particles from the Sudan have moved South causing the sky to turn white. This dust is no joke--inhabitants of Cameroon have never seen anything like it. Also, it is somehow affecting the rain, or the lack there of, which could be devastating for the farmers here in Ndu. Pray for rain. I must mention the baptism service I attended two Sundays back. A student of mine, Paul, the blind man who I am currently mentoring, invited me to a baptism service at his church where he would be preaching. To get to this church we had to take bush-taxis, small motorcycles driven by ex-cowboys (lol). It was an adventure to say the least. When I arrived at the church that Sunday morning, covered in dust and fulll after having swallowed a few West African june bugs, we began a procession of a few hundred people, singing and clapping for close to a mile to get to the small stream where baptisms would take place. I was able to capture much of this on my camera. It was amesome. My student preached a wonderful sermon on Acts 2 and then the baptisms began. The choir encircled the pastor and those being baptised and would erupt in singing as the young man or woman came up out of the water. It was seriously the best baptism service I have ever attended. This lasted about 2-3 hours. I thought we were done for the day. Boy, was I wrong. When we arrived back at the church a whole other service was begun--all in all the service(s) lasted nearly 6 hours. Intense, I know! In other news, youth meetings have been going well. We finished Mark 3 this past Saturday and have since watched National Treasure and Pink Panther. The kids usually vote on movies that I have already approved. This past Saturday one of the missionary family's kids came home for break. He is attending a missionary kid school in Yaounde, the capital city of Cameroon. He is an incredible guitar player and was able to lead the students in a few worship songs around the camp fire this past Saturday--it was a sweet time. It's hard to believe that we are halfway through the semester. Pray that the Lord would continue to strengthen me--trust me, I'm going to need it. Oh yeah, the goat. Yesterday after church I was invited to have lunch with another missionary family. Goat was on the menu. Kiddingly I said, "Save the tail for me." They took me literally, and therefore I had to dominate it--it wasn't too bad. Again, thank you so much for your prayers and support.
For His glory,
Chris Taylor
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i'm suppressing a laugh right at your goat tail comment, cause' riki's sick on the couch; fever/throwing up. she seems to be doing better. kicked me out of the living room until i finish my raisin bran cereal. too smelly for her tummy. wish i could play phone tag back with you. i did try calling you back but naturally it didn't work. i think we may actually finish those apps this weekend. thank god. i need those suckers off of my mind. been going back and forth on grad school. i wanna go, but find myself struggling with doubts as to whether that's really what "I" want for myself. i think so, but we'll see. i remember being in colorado once visiting family and ash from northern cali settled onto everything. hope the farmers aren't too affected by the nastiness floating up above. i still run into friends that attended the wedding who remember you and say they liked you. miss you buddy. you're always on the list, of prayers that is. speaking of lists. you're missing out on lost this season. i'm assuming that is. you're lucky though. you'll be able to watch it straight through on dvd. love you bro. - t-stop
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