Merry Christmas from Lassin, Cameroon!

What a privilege to celebrate again how God gave us His Son! Amazing love!
It will be so good to be re-united with our heavenly family someday soon!
In the meantime we are looking forward to seeing our earthly families again soon-less than five months.

We had a very interesting day today. Since school is out for the holidays, I enjoyed sleeping in a bit. We ate a leisurely breakfast of Steve's three-grain cereal (ground corn, soy, and whole rice). OK, ok, so I don't have to tell everything! Vivian, one of our teachers, came by to say goodbye. She is from a nearby town, and she and her son were planning to travel home today. She is such a sweetheart; always thinking about others and has a very positive outlook. Anyway, as she was leaving she mentioned that she was going to condole a friend across the street from our house. We had heard that the family's 5-year-old girl had died about a week ago, but I had not visited them yet. Because I had not gone over yet, I decided to go with Vivian to visit the family. Only the mother and a small child were home, and we enjoyed talking with them in pidgin. The mother does not speak the local dialect because she is from another town called Ncambe. We gave the mother "Steps to Jesus" and a Glow tract "Does God Care When I Am Hurting." The mother said she had seen that very book in a neighbor's house and had started reading it. She was thinking about that book that very morning and was very grateful to have her own copy. She told Vivian the circumstances of her daughter's death. She herself left town to visit her village. The next day the girl complained of stomach pain, but was playing around. That night the child had diarrhea and complained of stomach pain. The father carried the child to the local Health Center, and the child died there. Life is too fragile.

Next on the day's agenda--marketing. Today is the last market day before Christmas, and the market was bustling even at 9:30 am. I went to the market to check for unusual items that might disappear quickly. I saw a couple large pineapples and tried to buy them but was told they were not for sale. I also looked for a student's mother to see if she had some corn that she had promised me (to trade for tuition). I bought 3.5 meters of school uniform fabric for one more girls' uniform shirt and two more shirts for two boys. The fabric man gave me 50 francs off since we didn't have the change. He said we are his good customers now; he doesn't mind being a bit generous. It's true, we have purchased a lot of fabric from him. Then I visited Juliana at her sales booth. She always has onions, ginger, magi seasoning, garlic, and nice fowl baskets made by Naphtali. It's funny that more people don't buy those nice baskets. Most of the time, we see women carrying a chicken tucked into their side with their hand firmly on the chicken's tied legs. I bought a bunch of bananas and some avocados from her sister-in-law beside her. As I was heading home, I spied one thing I had been looking for--green bell peppers! I know, it's not first on your list of exciting food, but these are the first we have seen this year. I'm trying to grow some, but it'll be a good while for those to come. The bell peppers made a great salad dressing later on. Steve went with me to the market later and we actually found three nice pineapples. Chances are good that we will get to eat pineapple on Christmas Day!

Later Naphtali came when Steve was burning trash. He told us that the Bofa
(subchief) who gave us the land where the school is located wanted to see us. God blessed our visit. The man was very kind and very upright. We were happy to meet him. He is very supportive of our school. He will be coming back in January with Charles to "pin" the school boundary. That will be a monumental day, a day we have been waiting for.

Somewhere in the day, I made flat bread. Instead of baking it, I fried it in the frying pan with just a little oil. It came in handy for the next day's adventures. (Steve to Kumbo for cement and me to Juliana's farm in Mbinon.)

Tonight as I write, Naphtali and Juliana just came. Naph will translate the next New Beginnings with Steve, and Juliana will practice on the keyboard here.

Love you all,
Carol (& Steve)