Dear all,

The very unpredictable weather is now around -10C, after giving us a wonderful couple of days Friday and Saturday with at least +8C one of those days. It was great to see Kenneth out in the football field nearby, rolling huge balls of snow with his friends. Now there is a lot of ice; hope it warms up again so the ice-water can drain away.

Just 1/2 hour ago, I was skyping (voice) with Mike! It was really good to talk with him, after about a week of very scanty communication (due to schedules, poor solar power batteries, etc.); he said in some ways he wished he could hop on the plane with the other team members, but he's there for another week. The other vision team members are all gone from Cameroon, several still "in flight" on the way back to North America.

Mike was able to get both positive and constructively critical comments about the vision trip, and he has been asked by the Cameroon field to lead the follow-up of the trip.

The team's time in Bekondo didn't involve a lot of "sight-seeing", as both Lisa Friesen and Michelle (tutor) weren't feeling well - probably malaria for Lisa (she's better now, Mike reported); and Mike and Bob Lokker had to be gone part of one day to take a team member to the bus for an early flight out. But the vision team members were able to get a glimpse of the translation procedures, talk with Cameroonian members of the translation team, and talk with a teacher and student from a nearby Bible School which runs mainly on weekends to accommodate working men.

Their last "stop" was the port city of Douala, where they experienced the radical difference between village life (Bekondo) and some city life (a quite ritzy - for 3rd world - restaurant/gourmet ice cream shop) before they left the country. It will be interesting to see what the team members think after they've had some time to process all they have been through. As far as people from here, Angeline has a lot of good ideas, and Tim really relates to MKs - which is a very positive thing to say about the MKs he met on the trip - good job, Colemans, Lokkers, and Friesens (and whoever else he might have met around his age) :)

It's a "happening" day! I just got off the phone with someone from Immigration Canada; of course Mike is out of the country right now (!), but I made sure they knew it was for business for World Team Canada, etc. I was able to verify that he did indeed reside at the given address, etc. The man was very nice, and at least we know his application is being processed. It could still take many months, but....

Continue to pray for Jenny. Her difficult week continued - so many positives, and yet she's struggling more with her repetition - in talking, in some movements, etc. It's hard to be patient with her at times, even though you know she can't really help it! I'm hoping this is the "difficult week #4" that some people with Lyme talk about - it's only week #3 on this set of antibiotics, but she had 2 weeks of antibiotics a couple of weeks before this one started, so how do you count it? We still haven't heard back about the tests, although the bill came through so we know it was processed. Anyway, I'm ready to see some of these repetitions disappear again!!! And yet she's doing so well in some areas. She and Christy actually walked downtown last Wednesday and went shopping!!! (then she had her play practice that evening). A week ago she mixed up a batch of cookies by herself.

Friday night she enjoyed playing "cops and robbers" in the snow (well bundled) for several hours with the youth group. And yesterday she sorted through all her crafts/writing/toys drawers and bags (still in bags from her time in the hospital in January) - well, she started but then begged help from Christy and me. But just the fact that she would take interest in doing it is good. So pray for patience for us, and endurance for her - quite a few tears on her part this week. Just to give you an example: Jenny is, Jenny is, Jenny is, Jenny is, Jenny is, Jenny is, Jenny is, Jenny is struggling with, with, with, repetition, Jenny is struggling with repetition, Jenny is struggling with repetition, Jenny is struggling with repetition, Jenny is struggling with repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition. :(

In general news, I finally got a "date" with Karen, and we had a really good talk; she flies back to South America tomorrow. Friday there was no school, so our 3-day weekend was full of kids - not only our 4, but often up to 4 of the neighbor kids as well. It is such a blessing that the kids have such good friends; it's something Kenneth especially will miss when (assuming we do) return to Bekondo. He has good friends there, but in a totally different sense. Kenneth also attended a birthday party of one of these friends Sunday afternoon/evening. I helped with open session Sunday School on Sunday morning, but otherwise just kept the peace at home, enjoying supper here with my parents.

Ok, I think that's about it. This week there isn't too much going on, but the week after that is pretty full. I've gotten a fair amount of dictionary hours put in, but I'm not sure how I'm going to get the huge file to Dan yet :) I'll keep plugging away at it until I hear differently. Mike arrives back next Tuesday evening.