This is the third message sent from a Student Missionary currently in Koza Cameroon. I would always encourage any travelers overseas to have appropriate visa’s before travel. I hope you enjoy it.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Finally home… for 9 months
I have finally made it.. After long hours in a plane, car, and all of the above. I don’t even know where to start. I had four transfers, plus a long car ride to get to Koza. I am finally here! When i was in the plane, i was witnessing to a man from Africa. He said he was Muslim. I showed him John 1:1 and John 3:16. After a little bit, he asked, in broken English, “this is your job?” I said… NO its just exciting to share the good news!” I got out of the plane from Washington DC not knowing what to do with myself because i no longer had ANY electronic devices or communication with America. I slept on the bench… The plane in Ethiopia broke down while we were about to leave…scary. They took us to another plane that was fine. I met other missionaries in that plane that, surprisingly, MBA played football against one guys school. It was amazing. They were from OREGON! haha. Well, we arrived in Chad, and i approached the bench with my passport…no visa. They told me I couldn’t come into the country. One of the people from the group that was going to Cameroon tried to bring me in as one of their daughters… that didn’t work. In my mind i was thinking, i’m all alone and i have no where to stay. God showed up at that time, and my driver came to talk to them. I got into the country. It was about 2 am and so He took me to a Catholic mission where i stayed the night… or napped for 1 1/2 hours. We woke up at 7, ate breakfast, and left for a 5 hour journey, or so i thought. On the way the Adema, the man that was driving me said… “Welcome to Africa, this is your home now”. It hit me, i was now apart of Africa, and all that it brought. I wrote in my journal almost every 10 minutes with interesting insights that i found. I saw a giraffe!!!! 🙂 It was in a nearby wildlife preserve, but you could see it from the road. My driver thought i was crazy when i said “PULL OVER!”. It was a great ride…but when i needed to go to the bathroom, it took me many tries to get that across to him. “bano, latrine, john, pot, pee pee, toilet!” oh.. toilet. So he stopped the car, and i went to the bathroom on the side of the road:) When we arrived in Maura, not Koza, I waited for Yves (administrator of the hospital) to pick me up. We stayed there for 6 hours!!! I met the president of the Adventist of northern cameroon… the one in the magazine (for my family’s knowledge) We then drove, after visiting the market, and talking to the pastors there, to Koza. I got here, and Yves told me we were home.. welcoming me over and over. I stepped out of the car and saw some people that were at the church right next door. I waved, and they freaked out!!! Yves turned around and said “what happened”… i said “i waved!” the children are SO EXCITED i’m here:) that night… i slept 17 hours… wow. thats how much sleep i haven’t gotten. Tomorrow i meet the hospital staff and Yves’ wife is going to take me to the market. God is faithful, God is good, and God is in control! Praise Him.
Posted by Elissa
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