This was our first view of Yaoundé, the capital city of Cameroon. Though short a few letters, the sign reads “Yaoundé Nsimalen International Aéroport”. Becuase it was dark, we got our first ride into the city at night —though that didn’t mean no traffic. :-)
We have been very sleepy and short on internet, but we wanted to share a bit of African color. I love that Mangoes just fall from the sky here (though they are not quite in season right now), so mango trees this huge give me joy (compare with baby swing in foreground and Kimberly by the trunk).
James and Joel are at their second youth event right now (a boys’ sleepover). We’re reaquianting ourselves with getting around and buying stuff, working ourselves into the right times to be awake, and fighting Kim’s cold.
I will be traveling on Monday. Please pray for health, safe travels and flexibility for me, and for health, safety and good acclimation for Kim and the children while I am up country. For all of us, please pray that we would be wise and have favor in each of our interactions, both with other expatriates and with Cameroonians.
Thank you for your prayers! All five of us arrived in Yaounde, Cameroon with all our bags in good condition after a 28 hour trip on four flights!
These are some basic points to pray for our trip to Cameroon this March, according to the different stages of the trip:
Beyond every expectation we had just yesterday morning, we now have visas to enter Cameroon for the whole family! They are multiple entry, and good through August, so we will use these same visas for the move this summer.
Some of the backstory is necessary to fully appreciate the arrival of these visas. You can read the details of the Cameroon Application 1 getting denied in previous post (Visas – Episode III).
Initially there was no reason given, but Kent was able to get them on the phone before they closed. Apparently the background of our photos was not white enough? We scrambled that Friday night to gather the prepaid envelopes & new pictures for Application 2. Our first attempt took 12 days total. We now only had 9 days left before departure.
I should add that our zip code has the most unreliable postal service I’ve ever heard of in the United States. We have had items delivered two streets over, next door or not at all. We’ve had several items damaged by being mishandled. And if we put an envelope out to send, it may wait 5-6 days before they take it.
We discussed the possibility of changing airline tickets, but our kids’ Spring Breaks could not move. We had purchased these tickets specifically for their comparatively lower cost. If we moved our flights back even one day it would potentially cost us $1100/person! We cried out to God for a miracle & for favor. We Emailed an urgent request to pray these visas would return by Monday March 4.
We saw the tracking numbers hand-deliver Application 2 last Monday morning (2/25), as we hoped, but we needed them processed and back in the mail Friday to get them on time in Texas. The week crawled by with our whole family wavering between faith & doubt. Friday afternoon came & went without movement.
We discussed the possibility of flying to WA DC to retrieve them in person, or the wildest idea – to leave the airport and try to get them during our two-hour layover at Dulles! We are carrying a few bags for other people, and we began to feel the weight of missionary kids not getting the books or gifts they needed. This was not only affecting our family.
Friday I left for a weekend Women’s Retreat, where time in worship and teaching bolstered my faith. Many sisters stopped to pray over me. I believed God would take care of us with or without this trip. Still it didn’t seem likely to happen since our passports had not been mailed back yet. No Embassy is likely to work the weekend. I posted the stagnant news on social media.
Within minutes, a sweet friend with experience in embassies in WA DC offered to go Monday morning in person on our behalf. We held out hope they would let her in without an appointment and she could overnight our passports back to us Tuesday for our Wednesday morning departure! We called it our ‘hail Mary’ pass because there were still so many possible obstacles.
BUT GOD heard so many prayers lifted up on our behalf!
Against all the odds and circumstances, on Sunday evening at 6:15pm Kent’s phone beeped with notification that our envelope of passports had arrived in Fort Worth. ?!? There were no records of it ever leaving DC, nor passing through anywhere in between. On a Sunday evening – it just appeared. We were baffled. Was it an error? Kent felt that if they were indeed our passports, it would pop up again soon on the move. Sure enough, at 8:30pm they were leaving the distribution center for the Post Office!
We continued to pack our bags, still hoping it was true, they would be correctly delivered, and they would all have the right visas stamped inside.
So much hope.
Then at 1:00pm, our mysterious envelope full of passports arrived at our house! We tore it open to find 5 perfect visas! And guess what day it was?? Monday March 4. Exactly when we had prayed for them to arrive. We’re not sure how or why, but they are here and our trip is on!
We serve a God for whom nothing is impossible! Thanks to everyone who has been praying for this! God’s faithfulness to hear us and continually guide and provide for us is astounding. Join us in praise and thanksgiving for this miracle! We’re looking forward to a productive trip, and good preparation for our move this summer.
One of the purposes of going to Cameroon this march is to attend the second “National Symposium on Cameroonian Languages”, at the University of Dschang, in Dschang, Cameroon. I assume it may not be obvious to you why this is a good thing, so I’ll lay out some of my thoughts on linguistics conferences here.
First of all, recall that I am a missionary linguist. That is, I am a missionary and a linguist, something like a missionary pilot is a missionary and a pilot, or like a missionary doctor is a missionary and a doctor. And I challenge people to see that I am not less of a missionary because I am a linguist, and I am not less a linguist because I am a missionary. One might even argue that these two vocations encourage and better each other —that I am a better linguist because I am a missionary, and that I am a better missionary (at least in some ways) because I am a linguist. I love that I get to analyze languages, serve minority (and therefore disadvantaged) peoples, and glorify God, all in one job. The work I do today helps people to read better, which helps their lives today. But it also gives them more powerful access to the scriptures, which provides “value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” (1Tim 4:8b ESV)
So how does my work as a missionary linguist apply at linguistic conferences? I have been tempted in the past to look at conferences as a massive information dump, and I think some people do look at them that way. But one obvious (yet astounding) observation I’ve made about conferences is that they are full of people. And they’re run by people. People presenting, people listening, people asking and answering questions. So whatever else is true of linguistics conferences (local, national, or international), they are an occasion for lots of people with similar interests to get together.
Which doesn’t mean that I man a booth at the side of the food court reading “come to know Jesus through linguistics”. Rather, I get to practice what Jesus teaches me about getting along with people, among perhaps the most secular crowd of people I ever interact with. There are people who are ornry and disagreeable. There are people that don’t know yet how little they know about something. There are people who know more than I ever will about something, and who have no interest in relating to mere mortals as myself —though most people I meet at these conferences could be described as “people”, without stretching the imagination much. :-)
I was at a conference a few years ago, where I had a particular opportunity to show compassion to another person there. It was an international conference, but hosted at a particular university in an African country, so lots of people from that area were able to come. This means that there were people who came from other African countries (like me), people who came from America or Europe, and people who came to the conference without using a passport, all at the same event. At one talk, the speaker used some words in a way that was initially at least confusing, if not just plain wrong (about a fairly basic concept that most people at the conference would be expected to know). I was not alone in this opinion; others asked questions afterward, trying to get the guy to clarify what he meant. They went around a couple times, but eventually they gave up on him, with a response that might be translated “he’s nuts.” Time for questions was up, and we were on to the next speaker, and people cut their losses.
But other missionary linguists and I caught up with him later, and asked him to explain himself more privately. It turned out that he was using a particular theory of a particular linguist that had been published, but that almost no one had heard of. And apparently he was using those words correctly within that theory, but that wasn’t enough to help us understand him without this much longer conversation. In the end, we were able to explain to him that the theory he was using wasn’t known or used many others, so he should either use more standard terminology, or else explain very clearly that he was using these words differently.
But the more important message, to me, was that we cared enough about him as a person (and as a linguist) to follow up with him, and help him get his thinking straight. It cost more time and energy than writing him off when his presentation didn’t make sense (even after questions), but it was worth better understanding him, and helping him be better understood. This idea is part of a core goal of my work: mentorship. That is, I want to have alphabets and writing systems done, so people can read (see above!), but if I can do that, and at the same time train up others to do this work, then I multiply myself, and the work gets on better and faster.
So while an introvert like me is certainly tempted to take every 15 minute brake I get for myself, those breaks are often taken up by processing things with people I know, and getting to know others that I don’t. And often all that rubbing shoulders yields unexpected results.
At the last conference I went to (in the US), there was a team of linguists from Ghana (IIRC), who were trying to analyze a tonal language (what I do), but without any particular training or orientation. I was able to point out Tone Analysis for Field Linguists, by Keith L Snider (full disclosure: he was on my committee), probably the most helpful and practical approach to doing tone analysis. And I was able to sit and do some actual acoustic analysis with them. That is, they got out their computers, and showed how they were looking at the speech stream in their recordings (as I described for consonants here). Because all those lines and differently shaded areas require interpretation, and because good interpretation requires experience, I was able to give them some pointers to help them see their data in a more helpful way. It took maybe an hour altogether, but it was time well spent to help someone get along better in this work, and to show friendship and solidarity as well, and that in Jesus’ name.
Anyway, because of the prejudice against Christian missionaries common in most linguistic circles I’ve been in, any time I can show people compassion, care, and honest friendship is a win, even if just a PR win (people know who I work for; it’s on my name tag). But it isn’t just people thinking better of Christian missionaries, or of the church generally. I also get to mix friendliness and compassion with excellent academics (well, I try anyway :-)). So every chance I have to help someone think more clearly, or present his ideas more clearly, or understand someone else’s ideas more clearly, is a chance for people at the conference to see that Christians worship the Truth (John 14:6). Not that everyone receives this, of course: “But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.” (1Peter 4:15-16 ESV)
So regarding this upcoming conference, there are two kids of relationship to build. One is with my expatriate colleagues, other missionary linguists like myself. I know some of them a bit, but most not at all. So it will be good to interact with them through the conference, to enable better collaboration down the road. The other kind of relationship to build is with national linguists, whether they are involved in Bible translation movement or not. I anticipate my work in Cameroon including relationship with government and university entities; this work can only be helped by knowing and being known by Cameroonian linguists. And for those that are still in training, there is a great opportunity to come alongside them, and encourage them in ways that will facilitate more mentorship down the road.
Anyway, I look forward to this opportunity to glorify God by seeking truth and loving people in a way that I am particularly enabled to do, and in a way that will amplify our effectiveness in facilitating local Bible Translation movements throughout the central African basin.
We haven’t really had many visa troubles before about five years ago. Maybe I was asking for trouble when using the need to buy a visa while preaching on Ephesians 2. There are these verses which speak to the importance of citizenship:
12remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world….19So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
And the need to buy a visa (official permission to enter or remain in a country) is strictly attached to non-citizens. Which is us, wherever in Africa we go. So while we have the promise of citizenship in the kingdom of God, we remain foreigners in most places we work, and we have to buy permission to do so.
And in the last five years, this process has proved difficult on a number of occasions. In 2014, the Embassy of the DRCongo signed my visa on April 22, but due to a bad return envelope barcode, my passport bounced around between Washington, DC and Texas, until finally arriving at our house almost three weeks later on May 11 (I flew out the afternoon of May 14). I spent most of the week before on the phone with postal service workers trying to figure out what went wrong, then how to fix it. I was so excited when it arrived, I took a picture:
Then in 2016, for some reason internal to the DRCongo Embassy, they held onto our passports (Joel’s and mine) for two full months. I got my passport back with one voided visa, dated May 19, and the good one dated July 18. This time, since our (nonrefundable) itinerary had us leaving the country on June 27, we had a lot of gymnastics to make the trip work, as described here.
Now this year, for our trip to Cameroon in March, we had another kind of issue. We mailed our passports and completed applications on Saturday, February 9, and tracking tells us they arrived at the Embassy on Tuesday the 12th, after only a brief hiccough. The Embassy says they have a seven day turnaround, but however they normally count days, it wasn’t back in the mail to us until Wednesday the 20th, arriving here two days later (today, Friday Feb 22).
None of which would be a problem, except that when they arrived, our Cameroonian visas had not been granted. Apparently they didn’t like our photos, and sent us a nice cover letter with boxes checked and the exact wording from their website, without any indication of why what we submitted didn’t work for them. So I called and wrote an Email to ask for clarification, and asked our prayer warriors to get on this, asking God for communication, clarity, and a speedy turnaround for our resubmission.
I eventually got that the pictures we sent weren’t white enough in their backgrounds. They were taken with clearly white stuff (a fridge and a wall) behind them, but apparently the lighting didn’t leave the photo backgrounds white enough. So I removed the staples attaching those photos to the applications, took new photos, and edited and sent them off to Walgreen’s for printing. I eventually picked them up, cut them into 2″x2″ photos, stapled them into the applications, and got the applications back in the mail. With all other post office locations closed, I used a contract location in the corner of a convenience store (never heard of this before), but it worked, and it got done this evening:
But that mailing was not before doing the math; even with one-day turnaround on our
part, it will still be something of a long shot to get them back before our flight on March 6. This is because our passports and visa applications are set to arrive in Washington, DC Monday Feb 25, two days from now (Not including Sunday). If the Embassy keeps to its seven day timeline, then they might not mail them back until Monday March 4 (but remember, last time they had our applications eight calendar days, which would be Tuesday, March 5). And if the USPS keeps to a second day delivery (like last time), it would arrive March 6 (or March 7, if mailed on March 5). Given that the mail normally arrives after we will need to be at the airport for our flight on that day, even a March 6 delivery will be too late to keep our current itinerary.
So I see two outcomes which are both plausible and positive. If the Embassy keeps a straight 7 day turnaround by the embassy (returning it May 4th), and if the USPS provides a true next day priority mail delivery, then our passports would arrive less than 24 hrs before we fly.
Alternatively, if the Embassy has our applications on some kind of priority (e.g., because they’ve seen them already?), they might return them in less than a full week’s time. I honestly don’t know how likely this is (I was somewhat surprised that it took them a full week to tell us that they didn’t like our photos…), but they know our travel dates (that’s part of the application), so they might be motivated to make this work for us. If they mail it by March 1 (a week from today), then we should have it by Monday even with a full two day USPS shipping, in plenty of time to not cancel our trip.
Anyway, we have our prayer warriors already praying for a speedy and correct return, and I trust that God is not limited by outcomes I consider plausible. So please join us in praying that God would be glorified in this situation, either by the means I’ve described above, or by something else more wonderful. As we look at our plans moving forward, we have become more and more persuaded that this trip would be an essential part of helping us all move in June in a sane manner, so we would really, really not like to have to cancel it (especially not on account of the mail).
If you would like to be praying for specific and timely requests like this, but didn’t get the updates I mentioned above, please click on the “update subscription preferences” link on the bottom of one of your mailchimp Emails from us. That should take to a web form; be sure the box is checked next to “Email prayer and praise (text)”.
The following is a security update on Cameroon, from our colleagues there:
The situation in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon remains tense and unpredictable. We continue to pray for our staff serving in these areas, those with family members there, and for staff that have had to relocate to other areas of the country.
Please pray for:
We continue to pray for peace and justice to reign in Cameroon.
“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer.” (Romans 12:12)
One of our most frequently asked questions is what are our plans, so I’d like to give an update since we last wrote about our timeline (here). We did not make our goal of near 100% by Christmas, and in the process of doing so (and in celebrating Christmas) the deadline to submit an abstract for the linguistics conference in Cameroon passed. We also spent a good deal of time re-evaluating our agenda for the March trip, as what we had originally intended didn’t seem like it would work out. As we were getting solid dates we wanted to be gone, we checked on airfare, and the prices we saw seemed to be the final nail in the coffin of this trip.
Fortunately, God didn’t let us stop there. With firm dates in hand, we looked for better (i.e., cheaper) tickets, and ultimately found some for half the price we had been quoted. So we now have tickets to leave the first week in March, and return the third week.
Then last week, I wrote the conference organizers, and asked if there was any way they would still accept a submission from me. Just yesterday, they responded and invited me to apply despite my tardiness. So yesterday I submitted that material, and started work on other logistics necessary to attend the conference.
Tickets are purchased, passport applications are sent off, and the linguistics conference is a go! While it feels a bit last-minute to us, God seems to be working out our main goals for this spring.
But in the mean time, we have two passports currently getting renewed, and very little time left after that to get our visas to Cameroon, so please pray that we would have wisdom and favor in navigating these bureaucracies.
So, when are we leaving for Cameroon? This is the top question we get right now; the short answer is “spring and summer 2019, God willing”.
First, recall that we’ve accepted an assignment with the Linguistics Services Team (LST), based in Yaoundé, Cameroon, but serving the Central African Basin in Francophone Africa. We will continue to use participatory research methods to develop writing systems in language communities that need them, so Bible translations will be read with fluency and power. #FluentReadingMakesPowerfulBibles
So when will we begin that assignment? While there is lots to do to make that happen, there are two main issues we are working on right now. The question of James’ schooling I address in another blog entry; the other is our financial readiness. Recall that Wycliffe has a policy that we must be receiving 100% monthly financial support to start a new assignment (which is a good thing). Since we are currently at 74%, that represents a non-trivial difference.
In the mean time, we have plenty of work to do. We are praying and talking to people about our work, individually and in small and large group meetings. But each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver (2Cor 9:7 ESV). We are also making plans and preparations for the move to Cameroon, trusting that God will provide us the right ministry partners at the right time. If you’d like to hear more about our work, either individually or in a small or larger group, please just let us know. If you have decided to join our Wycliffe ministry in financial partnership, you can do so here.
We currently hope to visit Cameroon in March. There is a linguistics conference one week, and a branch conference the next. In addition to these conferences, a March visit would help us plan and prepare for a move as a family, hopefully in June or July (between the end of school here, and the start of school there). Our kids could meet some of their classmates for the following year, which could really help them transition. And we could see housing and transportation options first hand, as well as the kinds of things that are locally available (and thus unnecessary to ship).
A March trip is something of a bold plan, though. Logistically, in order to buy affordable airfare, we need to buy them in advance. This means we would need to have enough support to justify the trip by about Christmas, or perhaps January at the latest. But such a trip would be worth it; a family move (over the summer) would go much better, as each of us would have more realistic expectations of where we will be moving to.
Whatever comes of this March trip, I (Kent) should be ready to start on my LST work as we have our full budget coming in and get released to our assignment. Some of that work can be done at a distance (I attended a meeting virtually last week!), in addition to the work of selling/storing/packing up our house and preparing for the move.
As we plan this next transition, it feels like we have more questions than answers. How will the presidential election in Cameroon affect stability for this next year? What should we do with the stuff we left in DRC (is any of it worth trying to transport across Africa?) What will we need to make the move to Cameroon (e.g., a vehicle, household setup), and what will that cost? We hope most of these will be settled by the end of a trip to Cameroon in March.
Please join us in prayer that God would provide monthly financial partners for our Wycliffe ministry, such that we would have 100% of our monthly budget by Christmas, so we can make plans for March and June, and get back to serving the Bibleless peoples of central Africa, one alphabet at a time.