Personal Blog

Final Thoughts

2012-01-30T17:48:00.003-05:00

Well, after two and a half weeks we are heading home and I have some time to think about our trip. First of all, we didn’t really have the best India experience. For one, we never were just tourists in Delhi and I never was one for just sightseeing. I much prefer to live with someone, experience life together, eat their food, ride their bikes, ride their buses and just experience their culture. India drove us crazy with all the pass port checks. I think it is the only place in the world where you can’t get into an airport without a ticket in your hand. When we arrived today at the airport in Siliguri (Bagdogra) the army guy wouldn’t let us in without seeing our itinerary. Then we get in and 5 ft later there is another army guy who wants to see our passport and itinerary. Then when we go upstairs to go through security, there is a guy who wants again to see our boarding pass etc. Then literally, 5 seconds later another guy comes up to us and we show it again. Then 1 minute later, after we snake through the empty isle ropes, there is yet another army person who wants to see our documents. Then we show it two more times through the security check where they stamp them. I won’t bore you with the rest of the checks but you get the point.

This drives us all crazy so on the way to Siliguri, Nathan Rieger has a direct flight to Bagdogra. The plane finally lands and Nathan is ignoring all the loud speaker rhetoric like a parent tunes out their noisy children. Nathan places his boarding pass in his seat pocket and gets off the plane and once more, they want to see his boarding pass. At this point, Nathan is totally fed up with all the document checks and basically tells them that they don’t need to see it “one more time” and that he left in on the plane and walked passed them.

He collects his luggage and proceeds to hail a taxi and asks the driver if he knows were “the Marina Hotel” is. The taxi driver nodes “Yes” and Nathan climbs in. Finally, after driving in circles, Nathan realises that this guy really has no clue. He looks directly into the eyes of the drivers and states emphatically, “YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE THE MARINA HOTEL IS...DO YOU!?” of which he hangs his head low and sheepishly mutters “No.” “But for 50 rupees, I take you back to airport!” he pronounces. Nathan told him that he is not getting one more rupee from him (he already paid him 240rs), left the taxi, slammed the door shut and started walking.

He has a GPS on his phone and heads towards the direction the GSP is pointing him too. As he looks closer at the phone, he notices it says “600 kms” of which he mutters under his breath “stupid electronics...600 kms.” He then sees a sign pointing to Calcutta of which he thinks, “Wow, there must be some kind of super highway to Calcutta to Siliguri for there to be sign pointing to it. Then he started to get an inkling and asks a guy where Calcutta is and the guy pointed towards town. Getting a little more worried he asked another person where Calcutta is and the man said, “Calcutta...2 kms...that way.” Nathan then said, “Oh No! I am in Cal-Friggin’-Cutta!” (I think that might be the more sanctified version). “I am in friggin’ Calcutta!”

Well over the next 24 hours, in Calcutta, he shared some stories over a roadside fire with a homeless guy, had a pint with another group of people, hung out with some Russians, and challenged an American woman who sold Nuclear reactors to China. So while he made good use of his time he was out about $150 and one day late. So the moral of the story is, pay attention to the rhetoric, and show your boarding pass when asked.

While I am writing this, I have passed all the security checks and am sitting at my gate. Now they announce that we all have to leave this area and line up outside the gate area. Yep, they once again, before they let me back in, check my documents, make me take my shoes off, scan them and scan my “carry on.” Another wasted 20 minutes. I think this last one pushed me over the edge for India. It has left me with a bit of a bad impression. Also, I tried to get onto the internet. I try for a half an hour, and to make a long rant short, after they get me to add my credit card, the “Verify by Visa” page times out and there is just no way to get on. The problem - yep, all that extra security layer. The charge is 60rs or $1.20 and they have a couple extra layers of security for a $1.20 transaction.

My advice to those wishing to fly to Nepal is to go through Hong Kong and Bangladesh and avoid India. There is a saying the India is an acronym for “I Never Do India Again!” After the Visa hassles and the crazy security checks and the airport, hotels and even obtaining a phone SIM card, it is definitely good to say I did India once.

I loved Nepal and its people. The acronym for Nepal is “Never Ending Peace and Love” and that has been my experience. While they also seem to have multiple roadside checks, they seemed to be very quick and non-intrusive. Over the last 13 years, the number of churches has grown from 1 to around 24 in the Himalayan region with more plants ready to spring up. There is a genuine work of the Holy Spirit at work here and most seem to be started by miracles and power encounters.

The main purpose for me was to go to Kathmandu, Nessing and Gatlang, as that is where I have always been drawn to. It was a good experience and we needed to see how the relationship will develop. Communication with Kathmandu will be the easiest as pastor Raju speaks English fluently and is good with email. The Nessing and Gatlang first language is Tamang and their second language is Nepalese. They have very little grasp of the English language. Raju is in regular contact with them so what we are going to attempt is for me to write those two in English and Raju will read it to them. Then they will email me their response. They want to know what our needs are so they can pray for us. They also want to share their needs and would like us to pray for them. River City Vineyard has been supporting the Himalayan Vineyards for over 10 years now for $200/month.

At the conference, I met another man named Shem who was a pastor at Kathmandu and is going to do more work up in the Nessing and Gatlang area amoung the Tamang people. I feel that there are a least 4 more churches that need to be planted in that area and I feel he is instrumental in that endeavour. So we will have contact with him too and work on building a relationship with him.

Sometimes is seems like a lot of money is spent and maybe it is not worth it but I have been assured by the people, who have been visiting here for a while, that our face to face visits and our relationships are very important to the people and the work God is doing here. My flight cost me $1,700 and I spent another $900 on travel, paying for the Nepalese people who travelled with us to Gatlang, and for food and shelter. Raju asked me to think about bringing a team of people to Nessing to bring hygiene, teaching and friendship to these people. So those reading this blog, pray about that if it might be you.

So we have entered the next phase of a journey with Nepal and the Himalayan Vineyard Region. I ask that God blesses the work there and blesses our work at River City Vineyard and all the Canadian Vineyard Churches. Thanks for reading my blogs and being part of this journey with me.

The Conference

2012-01-30T17:46:00.010-05:00

The facilities were really nice (for India/Nepal) and Aaron and I each got our own room. While it was warmer in Siliguri on the whole, the rooms are made from concrete and tile and are just plain cold to sleep in so I still slept in my clothes and in my down sleeping bag.. Also, it was very humid here and so the cold hit you more and it even took a few days to dry your clothes. After a shower, my hair was still damp 4 hours later. It was a Christian conference centre and was well suited to our group.

The conference included meals and we had more Bhat (rice with "lentil soup" and/or "Chicken soup" poured over it) every night and for lunch. For breakfast we had 4 slices of white bread. The first and third morning, the top slice had a dollop of jam on it and sported a boiled egg beside it. The egg was a welcomed treat. The second day breakfast was just 4 slices of bread with some cooked lentils beside it. (The lentil breakfast didn’t go over real well with many of the Westerners after 2 meals of Bhat). I don’t mind Bhat as long as I don’t get it twice a day. I did eat it twice a day but many of the westerns skipped a few Bhat meals as their stomachs seemed to rebel at the thought of more Bhat. Over all the meals seemed to really be enjoyed by the Nepalese and Indian folks.

The conference had 1 pm session on the first day and 2 sessions each of the other two days; 9am-1pm and 4pm-7pm. Meals were at 7-8am, 1:30pm and 7:30pm. The conference had worship each session. David Ruis did part of the worship on the first and third night. The Kathmandu Vineyard played the second night. There was also another modern style band and then a more traditional style of worship of their former more ethnic music. The crowd really got into that traditional music with much participation including dancing. There were several western teachers (interpreted by Noel) and there were testimonies, sharing and an ordination of 9 pastors (5 men and 4 women.) The whole conference’s main purpose was to get everyone to be one big family and meet face to face. I believe that objective was met. There also seemed to be a lot of ministry and healing going on.

This is a picture of (left to right) Asher Isaac, Noel Isaac, David Ruis and George Esser. At night, we hung around with the Western folks. It is kind of silly but in order for Western people to get together, we need to go to India to hang out. I really connected well with David Ruis again but didn’t finish all of our conversations so we agreed that David should come to Sarnia and we can finish where we left off. His kids are both in Toronto and he is looking for an excuse to come to Ontario. We also would put together some event that we could invite the whole congregation to; either some kind of conference or a Worship session. David was very instrumental in the church planting of the Kathmandu Vineyard and had also travelled to Nessing and Gatlang, like Aaron and I did, 10 years ago. I wanted to get the history of that all but there was not enough time to do that plus to catch up what is going on in our lives.

Picture of (left to right) John Rademaker, George Esser and Nathan Rieger. I also really connected well with Stewart Singer from Calgary and John Rademaker and Nathan Rieger both from Winnipeg. We also connected somewhat with Navi Navindra Persaud and Jessie Penner from Winnipeg, SuHale (sounds like Soo-Hail sorry but don’t know how to spell your name :( and Psalm from US/India /Hong Kong/Israel. We also met and had a good connection with Danny Mullins and Mark Morgan, both pastors from a Vineyard near Phoenix AZ. Relationship is a high value in the Vineyard, yet in reality we seem to really suck at it because there are so many people to connect with and so little time.

The conference ended officially on Thursday night January 26, 2012. We left the next day by flying from the airport near Siliguri to Delhi. I am sitting in the Delhi Airport as I write this. More in the next post.

Siliguri India

2012-01-30T17:17:00.013-05:00

We were scheduled to leave for Siliguri India on Monday at 3pm. The purpose of the trip was to go to a Vineyard conference for the Himalayan region. There are between 22 and 24 (depends who you ask) churches in this region with about 8 from Nepal and 16 from India. The 16 churches from India are mostly Nepalese in culture and language. Near as I can figure, India, at some point in history, took over part of Nepal so the region is primarily Nepalese in culture and mostly from the Himalayan mountain region that borders India and Nepal.

The conference had around 435-500 (counting plates of food) in attendance and one larger church (35 people scheduled to go) couldn’t be there due to a funeral. Some prominent member of their church had their vehicle go off the edge of a mountain and fell 2,000 feet to his death,which of course had a huge effect on them. There were 113 people from Kathmandu, Nessing and Gatlang that left from Kathmandu in 3 buses. We were on the last bus that left at 4pm. The bus was much nicer than the buses we were on to Gatlang.

After an hour we stop at a road side cafe for a bio break and some food. I opted for some noodle dish and Aaron opted for some kind of deep fried potato filled wrap. Mine was pretty good but Aaron couldn’t finish his as he started to feel sick. For the next 12 hours he was feeling crappy. He couldn’t throw up, until after several attempts and finally filled a small plastic bag.

We stop again in the morning at about 5am and many people got out and ate breakfast. Aaron didn’t seem interested. When we were ready to go, the bus wouldn’t start; not enough battery juice to turn the motor over. I just prayed and thought, "Oh well, all part of the adventure." I am not sure how they did it but they somehow pushed the bus in neutral and then dumped the clutch which was enough to get the engine to start (and to cause the whole bus to lunge backwards.) They ended up doing this twice to get the bus started. Another interesting thing about the bus was that I was convinced that they removed the shock absorbers and welded the frame to the axle. Well not really, but that is how the bus ride felt. It was very, very rough and you felt every bump...a lot.

We eventually arrived at the border and so we stopped again for a break and there were money changers and the people on the bus told me that I could go out and exchange money. I asked Uddav how long the break was for and he said 20 minutes. I got out and saw a shoe shine guy that was looking rather unemployed so I took off my boots and put on a pair of sandals that were about 4 sizes too small. He removed my laces and started to go to work. After about 10 minutes were done and he has the laces back in one boot. I notice the bus moving slowly and I figure that he is just moving ahead a bit. The other lace was now going in the boot but the bus it still moving. I put the boot on and notice the bus slowly keep moving. I gave him the 20rs (that is what the English speaking shoe shine guy beside him said) but he said, “No, 30 rupees” so I found a 50, tossed it to him and started going after my bus.

Next I noticed it go around the corner so I opted to start running after it. I finally caught up to it at the next corner and the bus driver said, “Going to Kathmandu.” I noticed it was empty and now I was very confused. Aaron ended up running after me (still sick) and said that all of a sudden there was some confusion and they said, “Get you your stuff off of the bus. You have a pack in the back don’t you?” So he hurried and removed my coat, my pack and his. He then had seen me booting it and went after me. It ended up that this bus only went to the border and we had to catch another one. All we needed was a little communication to help keep the stress level in check.

We ended up waiting 2.5 hours at the border for our bus. They had 3 scheduled, but because we were late, they filled it up with cash customers and left. Because we had some time, I decided to call Janet on my Nepal cell phone with my last 100rs card. We spoke for 11 minutes and it only cost me 46r (~$0.55). Half of the conversation was about Aaron being sick. Before I left, Janet spoke to Al Remley, a pastor friend who has gone to India numerous times and he suggested that if we get the runs in India to pick up some Ciprofloxacin. I had done that and Janet suggested I give that to Aaron (It had been packed away in the boot so I couldn’t until now). So, under the advice from Dr. Janet, I gave Aaron one. That, and a few grapes later, he was as good as new.

But now there is another problem, besides waiting for the new set of buses. The border is closed due to demonstrators. There seems to be some civil unrest and some dissatisfaction with the government so there is a tire burning in the middle of the road and a line of people sitting underneath that 40ft bamboo pole across the road at the border.

So we wait around for a few hours and no one is in a hurry and then all of a sudden, we have to move...now. So all 113 of us need to cross the border on foot and off we go, single file, just to the left of the bamboo pole, past the army dude with guns, past all the official looking stuff and on a very long bridge over a very dry river. We cross without a hitch. Aaron wonders if we need to stop and I tell him I am going to keep walking slowly, make eye contact and keep walking. So we enter India, past some guards, keep walking and it seems like there will be no border crossing.

After about a half of a kilometer, a man spots us and directs us down a long driveway to a building that sports a sign “Immigration.” We fill out all the forms and then see the official. He keeps looking over our passport and mumbles something about a Nepal exit stamp. I just shrug my shoulders and look perplexed. (Later on we found out that when you exit the country they want to stamp your passport.) He then shrugged his and soon we were on our way.

We eventually caught up with the rest and eventually got on a bus that resembled the ones to Gatlang. This bus was an even rougher ride than the last one. At least the last one you were still in your seat, this one would throw us up about 8 inches (20cm). We eventually arrived in Siliguri about 18 hours later (~12:30pm) after our departure. I had managed to sleep in the bus but it was not a very restful sleep.

The River Bed

2012-01-22T13:21:00.022-05:00

The pastors here take the month of January off as far as ministry goes. They still do the basics like Sunday morning but they don’t go and visit, evangelise or minister to the poor. The goal is to regenerate and spend more time with their families. It is a type of Sabbatical. Usually, every Friday, they go to the river bed and minister to people. Because I wanted to experience what they do, they took me out to the river bed. There is a major river running though Nepal and there is a bridge going over that river.Here in the picture you can see the two public toilets.

By that bridge, many squatters have built lean-tos, and make shift living quarters. The place is evolving and there are now even brick houses and a really nice brand new church there. Ironically, there is even a disparity between the rich and poor in one of the poorest sections of town.

Sarita,Urmila and Nobin took Aaron and I to the river bed. Our plan was to take the bus when it came by but it was more than full. We ended up taking a taxi which took about 15 minutes. At our destination, we saw two wild monkeys; one on a building and one walking along the electrical wires. There is a small shop at the river bed and we purchased enough rice, onions, potatoes, and sundry items to make three care packages. Here in this picture they wanted me to sit down so that there was not such a disparity in height.

The girls have a heart for 3 specific families and those were the ones we specifically went to visit. The first family, the father and mother are blind and they have at least one child. She looked very pregnant but I have learned throughout the years not to ask. The father was not present so we prayed for the mother, for her sight and overall well being.

Next we prayed for an old woman who has no family. The third targeted person was out protesting. From my understanding, the government is planning to bulldoze down the riverbed and displace all the people and this is what she was protesting against. If I understood correctly, this is supposed to happen as early as tomorrow.

The river bed has its own temple which I think it is a Hindu.

I can see that the Kathmandu Vineyard has a real heart for the poor and is worthy of our support.

Back to Dhunche and Kathmandu

2012-01-22T03:34:00.021-05:00

We left Nessing in the morning, after we did a house visit and prayed for some people. A man gave each of us a silk scarf as a “thank you” for coming. While it was time to go, it was hard to leave these people as we developed a bond with them over the short 1.5 days. Our next destination was Sano Hakku. There are 3 Hakkus, Little Hakku, Big Hakku and “I forget the other name” Hakku. We are visiting the little Hakku called Sano. If you look at this picture, it is one I took from Dhunche and it is a picture of Sano Hakku (Circle is Sano Hakku and square is Nessing on the other side of the mountain). While it is hard to gage by a picture, it can give you some kind of perspective of our trek.

We have two actual churches in this area; Gatlang and Nessing. We also have 4 villages that have a small group of believers who meet in a home; Sano Hakku is one of these villages. We begin our assent down from Nessing to Sano Hakku and it takes about ½ an hour. We end up at a home of one of the villagers, encourage them and pray a blessing for them. After that we are homeward bound. Our goal for the day is to hike to Dhunche.

As we begin our descent I am reminded how hard it is to go down the mountain, especially on the feet. Feeling some potential blisters coming from yesterday’s climb, I take small calculated steps and seem to be lagging the other 3. I really don’t know how far we are descending but my guess is about 3,000 feet to the gorge and then 3,000 feet up again on the other mountain. We take a few small breaks and after 2 hours, or so, we are at the bottom of the gorge.

At the bottom is a bridge which is a bonus as I had visions of trying to cross the river rock to rock. We take a break and eat a boiled potato. In North America, we would make sure that we had granola bars and other such similar items. Here, they boiled a pot of potatoes and we now take a few out and gnaw away. There were lots of children who followed us down, laughing, racing and having fun. It is always nice to see children laugh and play.

After our break we started the ascent up. This time I am now leading the pack as my long legs are my advantage. Aaron is mostly behind me and sometimes ahead of me. We stop every 20 minutes or so and let the short legged guys catch up. In this picture, Sano Hakku is on the far side of the mountain we came down from. Because it is the dry season, there is no water at any of the taps along the way. This proves to be a bit of a problem because we run out of water about one third of the way up. This path is a well worn path and used by many people. Over the last 400 years, people have been careful to lay out stones to help create a great path and staircase up. They have also built cement water stations, at strategic places and use plastic pipes to divert water from the streams to the stations. At one point, near the top, we finally find an active stream and we fill up our water bottles.

This path is not only used by people but by animals too as evidenced by the droppings along the way. While ascending, you tend to only look down, at your feet from stone to stone and while your main goal is to go up, your secondary goal is not to step in any brown piles. The closer you get to the top, the more tired you become and the less you care about what you step in. At one point, we step aside and allow 4 mules, loaded with about 200 lbs of sacks, pass by us. They are reluctant to pass at our sight, but their owner, along with a stick, has a way of convincing them.

We also pass by some villagers who are carrying roofing supplies. Most roofs are made from corrugated steel and they are each carrying a sheet rolled up. To build a house in the village, all the supplies have to be carried by people. In Nessing, they carry the supplies from Gatlang; a 3 hour journey. In Sano Hakku, they have to carry it from Dhunche using the route we are on. There are people here who do this for a fee. One 50kg of cement (one bag) can be ferried by a porter for 800 rupees. Their body weight is about 50 Kgs,

The other problem with mountain climbing is you always think you see the top, but when you get there, you discover that there is at least one more top. We do eventually get to the top and I recognise the gates of the village from our trip to Gatlang. As we walk the streets we are befriended by hotel owners hoping to we will stay with them. Raju’s first goal is to find out if there are any buses running back to Kathmandu, if not, we had previously agreed to walk 2 more hours to the next town. Fortunate for us, there is one leaving at 7:30am and so we go to our hotel and take a break from a good workout.

Our motel room is nice, and fairly warm due to the sun shining through the window. But soon the sun disappears and the warmth with it. The room is just large enough for two single beds and a little table 1’x3’. We have the extra bonus of having one extra blanket, much to Aaron’s delight. It is now 3:30pm and not much to do. I ask Hari to find me an internet cafe and after a few minutes he informs me that he found one for 40 rupees for 4 hours.

We go to the shop only to discover that it is the same place I tried to change money earlier. I sported a $20 bill and he said he was not interested in changing $20, it was either $100 or nothing. I opted for nothing. Exchanging money is weird here. My first hotel, I asked where I could change money and he whips his wallet open and asks how much I want to exchange, I said, “$100” of which he stated, after much calculating on his ancient calculator, “8,100 rupees”. I pull out 5 - $20 bills and he says he is not interested in that, he wants a $100 bill. I tell him I only have $20s. His fingers do some flying over the calculator; he looks up and says that he can only give me 8,000 rupees. I wasn’t going to argue over 100 rupees. Now this guy wanted a $100 bill. I later learn that there are lots of counterfeit US $20 bills that are worn looking so $100s and brand new $20s are more valuable.

We ask the guy about the internet and he says, “2 rupees per minute for me (foreigner).” “What about the 40rs we were quoted?” I declared. Apparently that is for locals. I feel a little violated and decided it was “nothing” again and went back to my room. After ½ hour I decided to just pay the fee, use the internet and give a quick post. Hari also used the internet. Eleven minutes later, I have my face book post. I could have done it in five minutes but I had a crappy keyboard and had to bang certain keys to make them yield to my commands. Also, the speed was of dialup quality. So my bill was 22 rupees for me and 10rs for Hari. He didn’t have change smaller than a 10rs so I ended up paying 30rs for Hari and I.

We ate in the restaurant with our parka and gloves on. We opted for something that didn’t contain rice or noodles seeing how we had rice for breakfast. I ordered fried chicken with French fries. We had to order it a few hours earlier and let them know when we wanted it. We stated that we would be back at 6pm. We eventually ate at 6:45 and the temperature of my fries indicated that they were done at 6pm. My chicken was warm and tasted okay but it was hard and chewy and I was convinced that another scrawny chicken bit the big one for these few nuggets. But hey, it was a treat and I did enjoy the non-rice, North American attempted meal.

We went to bed by 8pm as we were tired and there was nothing else to do. At 6:30am the next day, we were down waiting for our previously ordered “simple breakfast” which advertised being eggs any style, hash browns and toast. Here is a picture of our breakfast. The toast was more like a giant soft cracker and the hash browns were fried potatoes, and the “over easy” wasn’t so easy. While enjoying it we asked for a second egg. Our total bill for this hotel, food and lodging was 1,700rs ($21)and almost half of the charge of the Chauhottar guest house.

We mosey on down to our bus which is nicer than our previous bus. It was at one time a luxurious bus with air directors and reading lights like you find on an airplane. But that is now just a reminder of once was.

The last trip we found two other westerners who ended up being Canadians. On this trip, there were three more Canadians besides Aaron and I; all three from Quebec. We only spoke to one of them who had a stereo typical French accent; the kind late night comedians on TV make fun of. Maybe only Canadians come to Nepal in January and everyone else waits until it is warmer out.

At one point we stop for a break. As I am eating a meal, I can’t help but notice another bus passing by. The unusual thing to me was the goats on top of the bus. While it is not real easy to see on this picture, you can see them. Here is a zoom of the goats.

After an 8 hour ride from Dhunche, we arrive back home via a small taxi.

Nessing Nepal

2012-01-21T10:24:00.043-05:00

We head out to Nessing which is straight up the mountain. Once we reach the top, we are required to go down the other side, up another peak and down the side of that peak and then up again to reach our destination. This takes us about 3 hours. It is starting to get dark around 5:30pm. We meet pastor Kunni who brings us a load of fire wood and we don’t see him again until morning. We are going to stay in the church for 2 nights and we have to cook our own food.
Having a wood stove sounds great and it does keep you warm while the fire is raging inside the stove but there is no heat to be had in the building because it is drafty and the fairly open at the top.The building is constructed of stones piled one upon the other and you can see daylight through the walls and where the tin roof meets the walls. The woodstove has two holes in the top and the Nepalese people leave the lids off so the fire comes up along with the smoke. We actually need a drafty building so we can have some kind of air quality.

For supper we are going to have chicken soup with rice. Chicken soup is not what you are thinking if you are from Canada. First of all, we have a local chicken which we buy from a local. He brings the chicken live and outside I hear the pitiful cry of the chicken as his head is getting severed. Next the chicken is getting gutted and de-feathered and eventually they bring in a scrawny local chicken of which the hold in the fire to burn off the pin feathers. The last day we buy one more chicken and they actually drop it in the fire for about 30 seconds. The first chicken, Raju takes half for tonight’s supper and just chops it up into little pieces; bones and all. All we really have left is several pieces you can fit in one hand. Putting that aside, you get a pot, add some oil, onions, garlic and ginger. Once that is sautéd you add the chicken and eventually some water. After a while we have about 16ozs of soup.

While this is being prepared they have previously boiled a huge pot of rice. They also take local lentils and make lentil soup. Again, it is about 16oz. Once supper is declared ready, you take a plate and add a pile of rice. Next you take a small bowl of chicken soup and you use it like as gravy on the rice. You do the same with the lentil soup. So we eat rice with chicken soup gravy and lentil soup gravy. Every piece of chicken is more bone than meat and I surmise that it is more for the flavour than the food value. The other half of the chicken is left hanging over the fire to dry out. Raju prefers it dry. Sometimes he just lays it on the stove, and sometimes he hangs it over the open flame. Once he dropped it in the fire and it took about 40 seconds to retrieve it. He was proud of how tomorrow night’s dinner was shaping up.

Here is a picture with Pastor Kuni and I.

Raju and Hari both state that they cannot live without rice. They are never satisfied until they have a good fill of rice. Every restaurant meal we ended up having they ordered the exact same dish. They call it by two different names; Bhat and Khana. There were a few variations; mutton or pork substituted for the chicken and some vegetables added. But they love that dish. In fact, at Nessing we had it for both evening meals and for breakfast the day we left. It actually is not a traditional Nepalese meal but an Indian meal.
Almost every home in the village has an open fire in their one room living space with very few having some kind of a chimney. As we visited from home to home, we were assaulted by smoke. The inside ceiling of the house had a thick layer of creosol (black tar/soot deposit). They used it to cook on. They have very few possessions. Below the house they seemed to house the animals. Mostly cattle, chickens, sheep and goats. We saw them let the goats from this one house and there must have been 40 goats come out. Aaron and I could not believe how they just kept coming out.

The first night it is 8 o’clock, cold and dark and nothing to do so we might as jump into our sleeping bag. I have a thin self-inflating mattress and my -6C down filled sleeping bag. I jump in with my long johns, pants, 2 undershirts, shirt, soft shell and my -20C parka. I am fairly toasty. I don’t have a pillow so I take a stuff sack and fill it with spare cloths and puff it up, while I think I really invented something great, the actual use proves to be useless. Through the night, I am a little too warm so I take empty my stuff sack and stuff it with my parka. Now I have a feather pillow that is about 20% as nice as my nice home feathered pillow. I wake up every time I have to toss and turn. I look at the clock 12am, 1:30am, 2:30am. I am used to 6 hours of sleep. At home, I might get up for a half an hour and make a tea or something but here...all you can do is lay there and make yourself fall asleep again. And it is very cold. I actually wake up around 7am so I got 11 hours minus the time it took to get back to sleep.

Aaron didn’t fare so well. He went to bed at 8pm and slept till about 12:15. He woke up freezing, and got up feeling sick and was stumbling around in the dark looking for matches to light a candle. As he is tripping over things and knocking over the chairs, Hari wakes up and gives him his cell phone to use as a light. Aaron now discovers the matches and lights a candle. He can feel he has to take a dump and to take it quickly or else there might be a problem. He now takes the candle and goes outside to go to the outhouse squatty only to discover the door is locked. He then walks away from the outhouse, looking for an alternative but walked over the septic tank cover which was made of logs with a few logs missing. All of a sudden, one leg disappears in the night, and with the candle now flying in the air, he spreads eagle and stops himself so only one leg actually goes in the hole. His boot now sports some excrement and Aaron has not figured out at this point what has happened. So back to the building he goes. He wakes me up and asks me for my flashlight, he then quickly disappears to the newly discovered hole, hangs his butt over the side and feels much better 15 minutes later.

He is still freezing so he gets the woodstove going and manages to get a few hours sleep on and off between feeding the ferocious appetite of the stove. At about 3:30am, he runs out of wood and crawls back into his 0C sleeping bag and curls up into a ball. He slept for about 2 hours and woke up “so cold” to put it in his own words.

The next night I had the bright idea of filling our two steel water bottles with boiling hot water and putting some socks around and use it like a hot water bottle. Hari, who also froze with his thin sleeping bag, manages to score a thick blanket from Kuni and is able to put it over himself and Aaron. Aaron puts one bottle by his feet and the other by his torso. He slept very warm and had a great sleep other than he got sick again. At midnight he got up , went outside to the now unlocked squatty and purged from both ends. After 15 minutes, he felt okay again and continued his nice warm sleep.

The first morning we were awakened by the awesome sight of Lang Tang. We also had lots of curious children hanging around. After we had noodles for breakfast, we went out and took pictures of the children. They wanted to see the pictures and so Aaron gave them their own personal slide show from the back of his camera. They just loved it and couldn’t get enough of it. Aaron found it a very special time with the kids and it was one of his many highlights. He also had brought a bag of suckers and they were a hit amongst the children. Here are some photos of the kids.

Aaron and I had a break from 11am till 1pm lunch so we decided to climb up the mountain. It was quite a hike and the mountain top we were aiming for we ended up ditching for a higher peak behind it. Along the way we passed sheep and ruins of an old village long since abandoned. Reaching the top was awesome. On the way down, I went a little to fast and hard and started to form blisters. I realised how out of shape my feet were for downward decent. Going down a mountain is actually much harder and dangerous as going up. 80% of mountain climbing accidents happen on the way down. This little excursion was really worth it to me. I also realised my foolishness in not bringing my Tilley hat, sun screen, lip sun screen and water. In fairness, we were only heading for the little peek. This whole adventure is wising me up for Kilimanjaro.

The last group that came here was a medical team from Hawaii. So the people here associate us with doctors. It was cute; Aaron had a sick day in Kathmandu and one of the little girls said to Raju, “the little doctor is sick. (Aaron is the little doctor and I am the big doctor)” Thinking we are doctors, a man brings me his daughter with a major infection in her wrist. They said she fell in the snow. Her wrist is oozing puss and her hand is really swollen.

Before I left, there were two things I felt like I was to bring; a spare set of glasses and antibiotics. My glasses broke at the nose so I was glad I took some reading glasses. I went to the periodontist the day before I left for my trip and I had a bump on my gum. After he found out I was going to Nepal he gave me a prescription for antibiotics, just in case. I knew I had to fill that prescription.

After I prayed the little girl with the infection, I knew that I had to give her one of my antibiotic pills. So I got some water, gave her a pill and motioned her to swallow it. I instructed the father to make a poultice and put it on the wound to draw out the poison. I also asked him to bring her back that night. They never showed up that night so I asked Kunni about her. He told me that she went with her family, up in the mountains, that night, with the sheep and were not in the village. I was disappointed and I prayed for her. I asked Kunni if there was any way I could see her in the morning. He said he would send word to her father. When we were ready the next day, she did show up, by herself and I looked at her wrist. Her oozing stopped and her wound had closed. Her hand was still red but I could see that we gave the infection a major setback. I prayed for her again and gave her one more antibiotic pill. It felt good to be obedient to a prompting and I really believe that I made a major difference in her life.

We ended up going from house to house visiting and praying for them. Every house offers you “tea.” There version of tea is mostly milk with lots of sugar. I did notice one person breaking off a piece from a black substance that resembled anthracite coal. It tasted really nice as it was something warm. Every house had an open fire going and the smoke always blew Aaron’s way.

One place asked us to come and pray for their daughter City-mia (no clue how to spell it but that is what is sounded like.) Ctiy-mia was married and had four children and lived in another village but was so sick, that her father got her to nurse her back to health. When we got there, she was lying beside the fire and had been there for 15 days. She looked pretty sick and we prayed for her. At the end of the visit you could tell that she was much better. When we left the next day, we visited her once more on our way out and this time she was well enough to come and meet us outside. She sat down and we prayed for her once more.

We left Nessing and started our long hike to Dhunche. More about that in the next post.

Gatlang

2012-01-21T10:08:00.015-05:00

We walk from Chauhottar to Gatlang in about 1 hour and arrive at Pastor Prem’s house. In the photo is me on top, then (from left to right) Raju, Prem, and Hari. We end up praying for a man who is dumb and has just come from a hernia operation. We then go to see the church and Prem tells me of his vision to add a Sunday school room to the back of the church. The children currently meet outside which doesn’t work in the rainy season.

One of the places we visited in Gatling I noticed some meat hanging from the rafters. Later on, I noticed this in several places. But being the first time I saw it, I enquired as to what it was. I was told it was beef. Then they asked me if I wanted to try some Barbeque. I gave a reluctant “Sure” and down came two pieces from the rafters and on to a stick over the open flame. After a few minutes, they removed the sticks and just put the strips into the fire. Then they took the stick and kept moving the beef from coal to coal in a fashion that looked like they were stirring the beef into the ashes. For a guy who likes his meat rare, this whole process was taking way too long. Mean while, to take our minds off of the Barbie, they offer us some bread which resembled a cross between a mini pizza shell and oil fried bread. It was tasty and I took my second helping and used it to wrap my Barbie. It was taste but very chewy. We only stay a few hours as we need to get to Nessing before dark.

Chillin' at Chauhatter

2012-01-20T11:00:00.010-05:00

The family at Gyalbo Guest House in Chauhatter was very happy to see us. We ended up here on a recommendation from a friend of Raju’s. We occupied two rooms with 2 single beds in each room. The walls were wood and the paint job looked like it was white washed. The sign out front boast of internet, hot showers and STD/ISTD. The only thing I could think of was Sexually Transmitted Disease and an International version of STD. Upon investigation it was some kind of telephone service. We did pass by a room and spotted a computer with someone surfing the net. So I asked if I could use it and was informed that it was available for 60 rupees per hour. I knelt down behind the keyboard and was guided through the dial up process. I forgot how slow dial up was. I decided that all I would do is a quick face book post and that took about 10 minutes. I also decided that dial up was not a good use of time even though there really wasn’t much to do till morning.

We ordered supper and waited and waited and waited. I ordered chow mien as my rice quota had long been surpassed. As I waited, I noticed an open door to what looked like a utility shed. I stuck my head in and noticed a fire inside with two girls cooking something. We exchanged “Nameste” and were invited to site is a small plank close to the fire. I didn’t hesitate and was soon nestled between two cooks. Apparently there was some sort of festival going on and they were making a festival treat called selroti that looked like a fat pretzel only in a circle and not in a figure 8. The treat was made from rice flour and sugar and they offered me one. I was starving so I snapped up their offering and consumed while I enjoyed the fire and watching them. The whole process seemed so surreal. On an open fire, in a shed, one girl was scooping up batter and skillfully placing it in the hot oil, in the pan, over the open fire. When done, the other girl was fishing them out with a stick. What struck me as really odd was the girl with the batter in her right hand, was sporting a cell phone with a built in flash light in the end, and using it to see what her other hand was doing. It seemed like no matter what your economical situation was dishing out to you, a cell phone was still in the budget.

I eventually got my slightly warm chow mien and my mistake was to think of my wife’s chow mien when I was ordering it. Instead of bean sprouts, they used noodles and my desire for noodles was on par with my desire for more rice. You have to order breakfast ahead of time so I ordered a double cheese omelette and so did Aaron. We were blessed with some extra blankets and when we did our daily teeth ritual we noticed that there was no sink to spit out your tooth paste so we just spewed it into the toilet. The “Hot shower” as advertised was a modern device that you plugged in for hot water on demand. It was in a very awkward place and it didn’t seem worth it. It was very cold that night but the extra blanket help stave off Jack Frost.

When I finally went to see what was taking so long, in the kitchen, with my breakfast, I noticed an omelette sitting out in the open, on a steel plate in a room that was about 2C. The other was still in the frying pan. They motion to us that breakfast is ready and Aaron and I sit down. I end up with the first omelette and Aaron ends up with the steamy one. Mine was cold and I have a disdain for cold food that is supposed to be hot. At home when you order an omelette you usually get toast and some kind of potato with it. Here you just get an omelette. After about 4 bites, we ask for another set of omelettes. Just then the Nepalese guys sit down and they have some kind of meal presented to them that also blesses them with some kind of bread that resemble a mini pizza looking for some toppings. After they notice we are staring and salivating, they offer us some and we snatch it up to each with our now hot omelette.

They have a stable out back with cows in it.

It is time to go and it starts to snow. Raju thinks that we can’t go because of the “Sheila.” I finally convince him to go and as we are leaving, it stops snowing but the ground has a pretty white blanket covering it. Our total bill was over 3,000 rupees ($38) for shelter and food. The shelter portion was 400 rupees ($5) for each westerner and 250 for the Nepalese. We found that other places have higher prices for westerners as well. At one internet cafe, 40 rupees for 4 hours for Nepalese but 2 rupees per minute for foreigners like me.

Getting to Gatlang

2012-01-20T08:41:00.033-05:00

Raju, Hari, Aaron and I are headed for the villages of Nessing and Gatlang and to get there we opt to take the bus for 400 rupees ($5) vs. our own personal rented jeep for $500 USD. We wake up at 4:30am to get ready for a 5am taxi. Fortunately we wake up with electricity and it is scheduled to run till 5am but at 4:40am it turns off so we finish packing via candle and flash light. We opt for breakfast on the road due to time constraints.

The taxi arrives on schedule and we manage to fit 4 guys, 4 packs, and the taxi driver (with the help of a shoe horn) into the small cab and off we go. We arrive at the bus depot which is really just a place on the street where several buses converge. Street vendors are lined up hoping to peddle their wares and some have fires going to fight of the sub-zero temperatures. We finally embark on a 40 seat bus with about 50 others. Luggage just gets tossed on the top rack.

Aaron and I are in the front seat in front of the door and I am thankful because about 20 minutes into the trip I start to have a potential heaving feeling in my gut. Sure enough, about 15 minutes later, I push the door guard aside, stick my head out as best I could and start to hurl. The door guard quickly opens my window, and I stick my head out and purge what little is left. Did I tell you that I was thankful that I did not have breakfast that morning else I might have been a bad steward of the food granted to me.

To stop the bus, the door operator smacks the side of the bus once, and sure enough, one smack and we grind to a halt. Several men exit the bus and line the ditch to have a late morning pee. Soon, everyone is back on and 2 smacks later, we are on the road again. Soon, the bus stops again and this time, 6 guys come down from the roof into an already packed bus. Just past the corner, there is a police check and apparently roof top travellers are a sure way for the driver to obtain a fine. Once past the check point, the roof guys exit the bus, while we are travelling, swinging from the door and scurry up a latter on the side of the bus.

A roadside traveller motions the bus and we stop while the traveller embarks. Smack, smack...and off we go again. This happens every 5-15 minutes until we have a jam packed bus. Once again the roofees come down and squeeze into the bus which now resembles a sideways can of sardines. At one point, a mother put her baby on Aaron’s lap, but after a 10 second observation of Aaron’s questioning look, she retakes her responsibility into her own hands. Passengers often will embark with baskets, sacks of food, and even 2 jerry cans of a liquid that resembled gasoline. At one point we stopped and 10 people got off. When we continued it was still so jammed packed that it seemed like no one got off.

The road quickly turns from a 1 ½ lane road to a narrow 1 lane. Most of the vehicles are buses, trucks or motor cycles with very few cars on the road we are on. Honk, honk, we are approaching a corner around the mountain and when you can’t see what is coming, that is what you are supposed to do. Every time a vehicle approaches, both vehicles slow down to a crawl with one vehicle just squeezing by the other. That is only possible on certain segments of the road. Sometimes one vehicle has to backup till they get to a place that will allow the other to sneak by. Honk, honk comes from behind, so the bus moves over at an appropriate spot and a motor cycle passes us. Sometimes our bus is behind a truck honking and eventually we over take the obstacle impeding our progress. Once the door operator sees that we have a few millimeters of clearance he smacks the side of the bus signalling the driver, once again, to obey his command.

The road is pretty good in spots and we get to go 40-50km/hr. Honk, honk, we slow down to 30 as we once again careen a curve. Soon the road gets really rough and we are down to 5km and the old rickety bus is creaking and groaning as the pot holes flex the worn out frame from one side to another. In some places the road is so narrow that as we inch around a rough patch I am convinced that only one of the two dual wheels is on the road and the other it looking 500ft down the side of the mountain. Once again, we are off to the races and enjoying 40 km/hr on the short brief straight away. On the way home, around one of those corners, we meet a motor cycle who jams his brakes only to his horror finds himself sliding into the side of the bus. Screech...the bus stops in 2 seconds. Thud, the bike smacks the side. The driver of the bus looks out of his window to watch the cyclist shake it off and just continue on like it was some kind of daily occurrence. There also were a few words spoken that sounded like they might be unsanctified.

Our travels are taking us up the side of a mountain range only to go down the other side and then repeat the process as we traverse only through mountains. (Nepal is 90% Mountains.) The North side of the mountain gets very little sun and so at one point we are on the north side of a mountain that had snow the night before. We are at an area called Ramsey and the bus stops and informed us that he is turning around and we all have to get off. As we look ahead, we see an army truck stuck with around 15 soldiers trying to push it onwards. As we all disembark, we noticed two other westerners on the bus. I ask one of them where she is from and find out that she is from Edmonton Alberta Canada and her friend is from Vancouver Island. Her name is Jody Robinson and her friend Sharlena Judith Wade. Sharlena moved to Kathmandu permanently and is operating a bed and breakfast there called The Sparkling Turtle. Jody and Charlene are going to visit another friend’s hotel. Raju informs me that we have a 2 day walk to our destination so I inform him that the sooner we start the sooner we will get there.

Behind the bus is a yellow dump truck that is waiting in the queue to attempt the icy road. We ask if it is possible to hitch a ride and he informs us that if he can get past the impasse, he would be willing. So we walk past the army truck and observe inexperience to snowy/icy conditions. Sharlena and Jody take it upon themselves to give the army driver some winter driving tips and sure enough, the truck starts to move in its intended direction. At one point, the truck passes the army vehicle and stops ½ a km down the road and waits for us to catch up to it. We are all in the truck but Jody is waiting for Charlene who eventually saunters up to the truck, climbs up the side and joins the gang. We slowly spin past some more treacherous road as we past more army personal with shovels and picks. They appear to be de-icing the road. We even pass a huge caldron of hot water over an open fire which was also being used to achieve their goal. We eventually get past the bad patch and we are now enjoying some fine scenery from a very strategic lookout point.

There are many police and army checks along the way. I have no idea what the purpose of it is. Every checkpoint has a small hut with a chair behind a stack of cement bags. The blue uniforms are police and the green are army. Sometimes we get stopped by one, than then go a 50 ft to get stopped by the other. Many of these stations had a small station made of cement bags on three walls and sport a few army dudes with guns. Sometimes, at a check point, the official will walk in the bus and then walk out (of course about 12 people standing in the aisle have to get out first to let him in.) Sometime, they want to scamper up the side of the bus to have a look on top. But each time is seems like just a routine. As we are moving along in our truck, he stops at one of these check points that seems to have several of these gun stations and reams of barb wire hanging around.
Apparently we are at the Lang Tang park entrance and they want to extract a park fee of $40 USD from each westerner. I guess all the extra army personal, guns and wire means they mean business. So $40 poorer we leave the post and stop at Dhunche for a short break and some exchange of passengers.

Our next stop was at Serprobasi where we dropped off our Canadian friends. We then slithered down the side of a mountain of a crazy set of hair pin turns only go find ourselves snaking up the next mouth up an equally convoluted road system. The only difference was this road obviously seen very little traffic and the road department’s budget reflected that. We eventually ended up at Baundhara as that was the truck’s final destination. It only cost us $50 rupees each. We then walked the last stretch and ended up at our intended destination; a hotel at Chauhattar 1 km from Gatlang. These last few pictures, if you look close, you can see how the road snakes back and forth. That is all for now.

Church Service in Kathmandu Vineyard Church

2012-01-14T13:56:00.007-05:00

The Kathmandu Vineyard church is more than a Sunday church, it helps the poor throughout the week and all the Sunday offerings are designated to help the poor that week. The make up of their congregation is mostly very poor people. They are so poor that they cannot afford to come to church as a family so only one person will go. To help the situation, the have created two other satellite churches and all three churches meet together once a month for a big celebration. This video shows the Vineyard complex from the court yard perspective.

Church services are on Saturday in Kathmandu and we attended the service here. It is very similar to style and feel as our church River City Vineyard here back home. So with the poor, their weekly outreach and their service style, it seems like they are so much a part of us and I have posted 2 worship songs that I recorded. The first one sounds like a worship song I would like our band to learn. The second song, I take a shot around the room.

We leave tomorrow for the mountains. I think I have a little bit more information now and can let you know what we are doing. We are leaving at 5:30am to catch a 6am bus. The bus ride will be 8 hours and then we will get a hotel for the night. The following day, we will arrive at Gatlang and spend some time there. After that we will climb over a 12,000ft peak to get to the other side to visit the Nessing church. We will sleep in the Nessing church and prepare our own meals. Gatlang has about 300 houses and is on a road, Nessing is remote and only accessible by a 2-3hr hike, and has about 47 homes and is 100% believers. We are expecting a lot of snow up there.

I am trying to upload pictures and videos but the internet is spotty right now and I am currently hoping I can publish what I here right now.

It is 1:23am and I need to go to bed. There will be no further posts for 5 days or so.

Nepal Arrival

2012-01-13T11:32:00.017-05:00

After an hour and a half flight from Delhi to Kathmandu, we arrived safely. We had to purchase a visa at the customs and I had get a local to take a visa photo of me. After a $5 picture, $25 for the visa, and about half hour of immigration inefficiencies we arrived in Nepal. It was now around 11pm and there was no one there to pick us up. Soon we surrounded by people "taxi", "taxi." It was incessant. "No, I have someone picking me up." "Okay!" But they keep hanging around like flies to a turd. When I don't find my limousine service, they ask me, "Do you have a phone number?" I do and pull out my piece of paper with many numbers on it. The Nepal number for Noel, that Nathan gave me, ended up being Noel's old number and I ended up disturbing some poor fellows sleep. So eventually, after a number of passes of people holding up signs, I concede to a taxi ride to a hotel. I eventually see the sign that was on display earlier for me, it said, "George Asker Vineyard."

We shoe horn in our two backpacks into the back of the taxi and off we go, only to quickly stop after the driver had a brief cell phone chat. "Sir, do you mind? I have my brother's helmet here."After a few minutes, the helmet gets passed through the window and off to the hotel we are." The taxi driver asked, "How much you want to spend sir?" "$10", I replied. "$10!...sir, you don't want a nice hotel?", stated a concerned voice, "Yes", I reassured him, "A $10 hotel please." "How about internet sir?" "Yes, I need internet." "That will cost $20." I agreed to the $20 hotel idea and soon, after a few interesting short cuts, ("we only take these at night sir") we are at our destination.

Our hotel is nicer than the last one (it should be for $20 vs. $13.) This one has luke warm water and a towel. Both places you don`t get toilet paper either. When we arrive, our window is wide open, the temperature outside is 5C and there is no heater either. The walls are all concrete and the placed is not going to warm up. It is colder here and the temperature goes down closer to zero. I ask if they have a power adaptor for my computer, after a puzzled look, they open a drawer and I follow them upstairs to where he shoves 2 wires into the socket from a power bar. That works for me so now I am working on my blog and email...till everything goes black.

In the morning I am putting on my long-johns, my down jacket and another extra layer. The I jump in my down filled -6C sleeping bag. I now kind of wished I would have brought my -20 bag instead. The electricity is off from 3am till 9am so I am sitting in the dark, watching my breath, with all my layers, and in my sleeping bag writing this blog. The trick is to breath in a way so my glasses don`t fog up.

Now the problem is figure out how we are going to connect with the Kathmandu Vineyard. I wrote an email to Nathan Rieger and Noel before the electricity went out but in the morning, I discovered that it never sent. I finally was able to send it and then I look on line for the church's address. The closest address I can come up with was "Lalitpu Sub-Metropolitan City."

We eventually pack up and mosey on downstairs to pay our $20 hotel bill. I ask the owner where I can exchange money and he asks how much I want to exchange. I tell him $100 and he pulls out a calculator and tells me he will give me 8,100 Nepalese rupees for $20. I hand him over 5 bills. He looks at them and asks me to give him something larger like a $100 bill. I tell him I only have $20s and he tells me the rate has gone down. He can only give me rs 8,000. So I say, "Fine" and we make the exchange. Upon inspecting the 5 bills, one is a wee bit tattered so he asks me to exchange it, which I do. Then the front desk worker hands me the $20 bill, I gave earlier, for a "nicer" looking bill, so I exchange that one too.

I asked the owner where Lalitpur was and he said about 7km away. So I asked him to find me a taxi, which he did for rs 500 ($6). We jumped in and started driving through a crazy maze of steets about 10ft wide between the buildings. Most of the streets were just dirt. People, bikes, animals were all being dodged. I am not sure if they use their horn to get thier money's worth or if they think it actually helps but every one participates. We eventually fly out of the maze to a resemblance of a normal road and then battle lots of "cut you off" rush hour. We then escape the throngs of cars and head up a steep hill, careening around the corner. Oh yeah, when you go around the corner of which you can't see what's coming...you honk the horn. Several cars approach us on this one lane ally and somehow everyone seems to squeeze by and keep the paint on their fenders.

We eventually see a sign "Assumption Catholic Church" and he assumed since we were looking for the "Kathmandu Vineyard Church" that this must be the place. He parks the car in the middle of the street, knocks on the door and enters in. After 5 minutes, I follow and they are busy with the phone directory and cell phones trying to locate the place. They ask me for a number. I get the bright idea that maybe I copied it down wrong from an email (my wife has accused me of that but it has never been proven in a court of law). So I open my computer, find Nathan's email and voila... I did copy it correctly. I think, "I wonder if there is wireless here?" Sure enough, I find an unsecure wireless connection and download my email. There is one from Noel.
Noel wrote: "Hey wher r u . Raju waited sux hours at the aiport for u n way call me at 9840052359 or raju at 9841469958 noel". So now I have a phone number, sitting in the receiving area of Assumption Catholic church. We call the number and Noel tells the taxi man to drop us off at the basket ball court. Within 10 minutes, Raju arrives at the court and 4 minutes later we arrive at our long awaited destination.

Raju Rana is the senior pastor of the Kathmandu Vineyard and we are warmly greeted by several people. The church owns a compound which houses the church and several other people. We are then escorted to our room. The rooms are very nice and sport 2 single beds that afford me the luxury to be able to stretch out and not have my feet hang over the end. We also have a coffee table.

Our room contains no en-suite bathroom but does possess a squatty down the hall. In case you are not familiar with a squatty potti, it is a basically a hole in the floor. What ever bathroom business that commands you to sit and take care of at home, here you squat and take aim. There is no toilet paper at most Asian bathrooms. In its place is the bucket. You use it to splash yourself off and to rinse your hand after you finish. In North America, no job is complete until the paper work is done. In most Asian countries, they don't worry about the paperwork. The bucket also serves as a flushing device. It is better to moisten the edges of the hole so that your business has less chance of sticking. The proper way is to hold the bucket with your right hand and use you left hand to cleanse. (This is why in some countries, people don't shake hands or eat with their left hands.) By the way, this is a nice squatty. I have seen a few that is only a hole in the floor with two foot prints painted on the floor straddling the hole.

We do have a shower with hot water. You can see the hot water heater in this picture. I find it interesting how the plug is just in the open where the water flows. In North America, the voltage is only 120V (vs. 200V in most parts of the world) and they demand ground fault protectors where any electrical device is within 1 meter of water.

Our room has no heater in it and I think that is the way it is going to be until we hit Siliguru India. Where we are headed for next, is between 2,000-3,000 meters (7-10,000 feet) and had 4' of snow last week. I do think that with the door shut, our room temperature is rising from body heat and computer heat.

We had our first Nepal meal of Noodles, and it was very tasty. We also had noodle soup with pieces of fried egg and Nepal rice with mutton.

Church is on tomorrow (Saturday) at 11am and so it is 1am now and time to go to bed.

Discovering Dehli

2012-01-12T21:56:00.021-05:00

Our internal clocks are mixed up with the time. Keeping my phone on Sarnia time doesn't help either as calculating the time can be difficult when it is actually 3:30am instead of the calculated 5:30am. It is not till we are out on the street, looking to satiate a famished belly that we realise something is wrong with no restaurants open. We eventually spy out a café with some life and join a man from France. After some good coffee, conversation, and an Indian version of a Spanish Omelette, we are back to our hotel to check out and put our main packs in storage for the day.

We venture out looking for some kind of Canaught centre, a supposedly happening place for tourists when we are accosted by a auto-rickshaw taxi driver who's morning mission was to be the recipient of our cash. Upon reflecting on the word auto-rickshaw, the associate words rickety, sh-t and ahhhhhh comes to mind. After failing his mission, he points us to the way of the tourist.

We eventually come to the place and it is more of a crazy driving place then something for tourists. A friendly Indian points us to a 3 story bazaar that is holding our treasures and we walk into a Alla Bubbas flying carpets. "Welcome my friend, you are our first guest and we want to sit you down as our honoured guest." We obliged them and sure enough, out flies the carpets, one by one; silk, wool, and Yak wool versions...all from Kashmir. They also had a weaving machine and they demonstrated the fine art of weaving and creating carpets. Aaron really enjoyed it...for about 15 minutes and I really enjoyed the whole show. They also brought us tea while we were being wooed into a purchase. Alla Bubbas' assistant keeps the carpets flying as he unrolls them with a flick of the wrists and the thud on the floor. Large ones, medium ones, baby ones in all kinds of natural vegetable colours.

I am thinking that our carpet in the great room needs replacing so our call up my beautiful wife, at about 12:30am her time. She is very surprised to hear my voice and when I propose a prized possession 5'x7' for $750 she thinks I am kidding. Would I kid about such as serious matter as a Kashmir silk rug from India? When I convince her that I am serious, she tells me, in her very blue sweet way, "No." So I disappoint Alla Babba with the bad news. However, in the end, I do purchase a baby flying carpet (I assume only babies can actually make this baby fly) because I am the first customer and they threw in free shipping to Canada and because I really did like it and want one for a memory of the trip.

After getting a feel of what the rest of the bazaar would be like, we decided to go on a pilgrimage to a temple. After consulting a local, he pointed us to the biggest temple in the area. On our trek there, we were again asked by a local if we needed a taxi because we seemed lost. We informed him of our pilgrimage of which he informed us that the intended destination was closed for the day. He suggested the "monkey temple" and accompanied us on the pilgrimage. We arrived at the said destination and were instructed to take off our shoes. As we approached the temple, our newly discovered guide did some kind of chest pointing gesture that reminded me of Catholics doing the cross routine. The temple really was a three sided room with a roof and had shrines of fat grotesque figurines. The temple was a Hindu temple and we met a monk who put a touch of orange paint on our forehead (a tika) for good luck. Our guru guide ask me if I ever heard of so-and-so and kept naming different names that seemed to excite him. I kept shaking my head and he must of thought I was a real ignorant pagan. We eventurally got our shoes back on and headed for the DTTCT for a map of the city. They convinced us to take a taxi tour of Delhi and see as many sites as we could in the next 4 hours; cost rs 1,800.

We informed them that we would do the taxi trek after we found some lunch. An Indian from the DTTCT said lunch was right next door and jumped up to show us the way. After we informed them that we wanted Indian food, we took us quite a distance to arrive at a bonafide Indian cuisine. I really didn't expect it would take that long to find India food in India. We suddenly realized that we were now accompanied by a Guru and now our own personal tour guide. These guys turned out to be students and wanted to practice their English.

Eventually we booked a tour at the official Tourist place which was supposedly better for us because they gave us a coloured map. They talked us into a tour but now the tour is either rs 4,600 or rs6,5000. What is the difference? the $6,500 has a bit nicer car adn also includes the entrance fees to the sites we are visiting. Why did the other guy quote me 1,800? Well that is for the locals and you are not allowed to take that option. With the higher price I get a professional driver who speaks fluent English. I take the 4,600 as we are running out of time and I don't want to go back to the other place only to find out that the price changed.

Our Driver was Mosin and his car was okay, his English was very poor. His driving was probably professional but in that environment, you have to drive crazy, not professional, if you want to actually get any where. We did see several sites and I am glad I did even though that is my least favourite thing to do when travelling. My favourite thing to do is to live with the people, eat their food, travel they way they travel and just experience the culture.

So we finally are at the airport and are hungry. We find a food court and decide to try McDonalds. While I generally only eat ethnic food on a trip like this, I also like to experience the local version of McDonalds. In Nova Scotia I remembered eating a McLobster. At this Indian McDonalds there were no Big Macs or 1/4 pounders. In fact, there were no beef products, only chicken. I decided to order a Chicken Maharaja Mac. It was interestingly tasty with a curry dialect. The fries were exactly the same as the North American version. Cost for a combo (Mac, fries, Coke) rs 185 (less than $2).

Stay tuned for our arrival in Nepal.

New Delhi India

2012-01-11T19:04:00.020-05:00

After a 14 hour flight, 4 movies and 4 TV shows later, we arrived in New Delhi India at 5:30pm India time. The time difference is +10.5 hours and Nepal is +10.45. Going through immigration is easy and so it getting our luggage.

The first thing we do is exchange $100 USD for 4,700 rupees. This takes about 20 minutes. They required our passports and photo copied them.

We get out of the airport and I see a phone kiosk so I decide to purchase a SIM card for my phone. This takes about 25 minuets. They want to know your business. To obtain the ability to phone, I had to give them my passport and itinerary of which they photocopied the visa, passport and itinerary and made me sign each photocopy. Then I had to fill out an application including things like my father's name. The cost was 300r (~$6) for the SIM card and some air time. I ended up with a little over 150r air time and my first call to Noel cost me 1.5r.

Next is to find our hotel. I booked it on line before I left. My foreign travel experience has taught me to always book your first hotel, on line, before you arrive. It is way more cost effective and you know that you have a room after a long, jet lagged, "little sleep" flight. The other reason I booked one, was because it was very important to the Indian consulate that our visa application had a "where we are staying" address on it. This also proved to be very important to the phone people. There are lots of options from $10-$750USD per night. I thought I didn't want the bottom of the barrel so I took a $12 room instead. It was recommend by "Lonely Planet" and I only had to put $2 down on my credit card. The hotel is in the middle of New Delhi, about 25 minutes from the airport.

So from the airport, we found an express train to New Delhi for 80 rupees each. In order to get on the train, we pass through security, much like airport security. This all took another 20 minutes. Finally, after a 15 minute train ride we are in New Delhi.

We are greeting by potential taxi drivers and I negotiate a deal; 200 rupees to get to our hotel. He starts telling me that there is some festival going on and we need to go the DTTDC and call the hotel manager from there. He draws us some map and I mostly understand him.

So off we go in our auto rickshaw. We are weaving in and out of traffic, nearly running over people, cutting off a huge bus and passing several cows that seemed to be just roaming with no restraints. The driver takes us to the DTTDC which looks more like a travel agency with two agents. We go to the one desk and the man asks us our business and finds out we are only in New Delhi for one day. He insists that we have to see the Taj mahal. He is believing that we will take some mode of transportation for another 4 hours and get our hotel near the Taj, do a tour and then get us time for our flight to Nepal. All for $250USD. We tell him several times no and finally we get to call our hotel.

The hotel manager finds my confirmation, and everything is in order but he informs me there is some festival going on and I will not be able to stay there for some kind of security reasons. So I repeat what he said to make sure I understood and then he reiterated the facts. The hotel manager told me that the DTTDC would help me find another hotel. The DTTDC operator told me that there was not much around and so we might as well go to the Taj Mahal. I told him we were not going to do that and we would leave and find another hotel with the help of our taxi.

The taxi driver asked me what I wanted to spend. I told him 500 rupees. He looked a little shocked and suggested a middle class hotel for $50-80USD. I told him, "No, I want a 500 rupee hotel. At that point, the DTTDC agent came out and informed us that the hotel manager called back and said we could now have a room after all. So off we went dodging more cows and people till we got to our hotel.

The hotel manager was trying to talk to me about rooms. I showed him my itinerary and that the booking fee stated I owed 585r on arrival. He suggested a 1,200r room complete with hot water. They ended up showing me the original room and I said I would take that. When I came back, to the desk, I seemed to now be speaking to the owner of the joint. He was questioning the 585r charge and I showed him the paper (they all really seem to love paper and documents). He asked me who I booked through and I told him, "Lonely Planet" and that changed everything. He said, "No problem, we will also upgrade you to a room on the first floor with hot water." After 15 minutes more of photocopying our passports and intinerary and filling in forms we ended up with the original room I looked at. I did end up paying 200r more for wireless internet.

They were helpful though, I asked them for a 220V plug adaptor and someone escorted me out to the market and showed me where I could purchase one for 25r.
We then ate our first Indian meal in a restaurant across the road. During the meal, I was able to connect with Noel Isaac on my cell phone and let him know we arrived. We went to bed at 10pm local time. We had missed a whole night of sleep on the plane as they are 10.5 hours ahead of us. We did manage to sneak in a 2 hour snooze on the plane but they are not that restful.

To sit down on the toilet, I have to sit sideways as there is no room for my knees. As I am writing this blog entry at 5:45am, a loud knock comes at our door. It is some hotel person with a problem and they seemed to have misplaced the photocopy of visas and passports. I tell him I gave it all to them and that the person at the desk put it in the drawer below the photocopier. He said, "Please sir, come down with your passports." I told him, "Aaron is still sleeping and we will come later."

Showering is always interesting in Asia. The shower is part of the bathroom and your shower head is on the wall of your bathroom and the drain in the floor. Aaron had his "wake up" shower and said, "while cold, it was not too bad." I wonder how much it extra it would have cost to get a room with heat as it is about 15C in this room.

So we are off for breakfast and going to Explore New Delhi today.

More On Our Trip To Nepal

2012-01-10T16:01:00.007-05:00

We are travelling from 10-Jan-2012 till 28-Jan-2012. We are flying from Detroit-Chicago to New Delhi India and staying there for one day. Seeing how we are travelling through New Delhi, I figured we might as well stay 1 day in there. We have a full day the first day in New Delhi on the first and last day of the trip.

After New Delhi, we will travel to Kathmandu Nepal which is the capital of Nepal and has a population of around 2 million people. The Kathmandu Vineyard is expecting us and will have a jeep ready for us to travel to our intended destination; Nessing and Gatlang Vineyards. As far as I can figure out, it is a 8 hour jeep ride and a 2 hour hike to Nessing. They are the two churches on the top left. (Click on picture for a larger image)

These two churches have always been on my heart and are almost on the Tibet border and involve a people group that is rural and cut off from most western influences… The Chief of the Nessing Vineyard was a witch doctor before he came to Christ. Now his son is the pastor of the church and over 2/3 of the village has come to Christ. Gatlang is just over the hill (4 hour hike) and holds the training centre being built by the vineyards for that area. There are two other villages are within 4 hours hiking as well.

One of the goals of this visit is to see if River City Vineyard should partner with this church (see partnerships for more details). They call this a Mitra which is a Nepali word describing friendship and connection. I have no agenda for this trip other than creating friendship and connection. This is just something I have felt lead to do for some time and believe the real purpose will become clear.

We have no agenda other than we are going to Sililguru India around the 22nd of January 2012 to participate in a conference with all the regional churches.

Nepal Bound

2012-01-10T11:21:00.006-05:00

Sitting in the Detroit Airport, with Aaron Esser, we are heading for New Delhi India and then off to Nepal.

The Canadian Vineyard has a number of participants that help support missions in Nepal. Over the years we have seen the number of churches grow to around 24 in the Himalayas region (India and Nepal). That group of churches is now called Vineyard Churches Himalayas

A number of years ago, in 1995, I met Noel Isaac with David Ruis in Winnipeg and felt like it was going to be more than just a brief meeting. When they started planting churches in the region River City Vineyard decided to donate $200USD per month to help foster church growth. I have had several invites to go and felt like this was the time.

We had a challenge to get this far. The biggest challenge was obtaining a Visa from the India Consulate. I went there before Christmas and they would not grant me a visa for multiple entry without having my itinerary. I did not want to purchase tickets till I obtained confirmation from Noel on our trekking dates and until I obtained a visa. That was a wasted 3 hour trip. To go to Nepal, you have to fly to India then Nepal. To get back home, you have to fly back through India which is two entries into their country. They have a rule that you cannot obtain a second visa until 2 months past after the first visa.

After our Nepal trip, we are going to Siliguru India for a conference. It is not practical or economical to get a ticket through the internet for a ticket from Kathmandu Nepal to Siliguru. Noel and his team instructed us to get the ticket when we arrive and they have good connections. However without the ticket in hand, the India consulate doesn't want to grand an extra entry to India. Also, they had several stipulations on visas one being "going to a conference" when I started down that road, they started to ask all kinds of questions like, where, "who's sponsoring it" and it seemed like a bureaucracy night mare so in the end, we obtained a dual entry visa into India.

After we heard back from Noel through Nathan Rieger, we booked the tickets. We were led to believe that we could go to Toronto in person, present our visas application and come home with the visa the same day. This was from a friend's experience and from the web site. Aaron went on Thursday and they told him they would be ready in 3-5 business days and asked him if he was going to pick them up or if he wanted them mailed. Aaron informed them we were leaving Tuesday and that we needed them Monday at the latest. They told him that maybe Monday afternoon they would be ready.

The Indian consulate has recently contracted out the services so the applications and the passports have to be couriered to the actual consulate and then couriered back. Aaron did not realise this.

On Monday, Aaron accompanied by his mother Debbie Esser went to Toronto (3 hr trip) to pick up the visas. Debbie figured that she could have more of an effect with that motherly authority look. They arrived at 10am and found out that the visas and passports were not on site and that they could come back at 6:30pm and hopefully they will be there. At this point, we are looking at a possible $500 each ticket change. We had a number of people praying and sure enough, the visas were amongst the items in the 6pm courier delivery.

So they arrived back in Sarnia at 10pm and Aaron and I left around 10:30 to Detroit (you know, we always like to give lots of time in advance in case something goes wrong :)). We arrived at our "park n fly" hotel at 1am, got up at 8am and off to the airport at 9am. Thank you Lord.

My First Golf Game in Over 5 years.

2010-09-27T21:35:00.010-04:00

Shot a One Over Par!

I played golf for the first time in over 5 years at Chesley Lake at the Vineyard Men's Retreat. I ended up playing with Jacob Hettinga, Jimmy Teeple and Jeremy Guerette. It was fun and I did okay with a one over par.

I had decided to buy a new driver this year and took one lesson from Graham Bell at Oakwood golf course for my birthday. Then I went to the driving range at Hiawatha and hit about 350 balls. My only club was my new driver at this point. A few weeks ago, my friend Chris Sockett gave me his set of clubs and so I was ready to play and this opportunity was timely. The clubs were great and even included a Sand wedge and a pitching wedge. The only problem was when it was time to putt...there was no putter...so I used my new driver.

Did I tell you that the scoring was based on best ball? At least they used my ball twice. :)

What Love Does

2009-10-23T16:26:00.005-04:00

I am at a conference, What Love Does, and David Ruis is leading worship. The first session of worship was lead by David Ruis with Sherry, Jeff and Amanda. There was 5 songs and it was awesome, especially one new song written by Suhail Stephen from Hong Kong. It was sung by Sherry Ansloos.

To the right is a picture of David Ruis, Kenny and myself.

Currently, I am listening to Nathan Rieger; pastor of the Winnipeg Vineyard. He is telling us about a vision that had years ago; the vision of the Musk Ox.

Musk Ox, when in danger, put the weak and vulnerable in the middle and then create a circle around them, facing outward. Then when the wolves come, or other danger, the strong defend the herd.

So often, in our society, the weak and vulnerable are put to the outside. The strong are worried about staying strong. It could be people on welfare, people who can’t work and those who are disabled; they are left on the outside to fend for themselves from the wolves and other dangers. The strong don’t help in fear that they themselves might become poor.

God loves the poor. Where is God? He is where the homeless live, he is where the single mom lives, the drug addict, the alcoholic, the guy robbing a bank right now. He is where the most vulnerable are.

Where are we at? Are we where God is, or are we just trying to survive and worried about becoming vulnerable? If we focus on not becoming poor, we will become poor. If we become the strong on and form the outer circle, we will become strong.

Luke 12:22-34
22Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[b]? 26Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
27"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. 28If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! 29And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
32"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Videos Now Work

2008-02-08T08:07:00.000-05:00

I posted the videos on YouTube and then linked them here. Now they work

Testimony from Michel

2008-02-07T22:30:00.000-05:00

I received this email Jan 31st from Michel.

We are very happy to send you this mail.
We continue saying: many thanks for your visit, your teachings and your exhortations.
According to this specifically point (exhortation), we have a testimony to tell you.
Before you came in our local church on saturday 12 January 2008, we were facing many problems that we don't really know the sources.
Among those problems, we can quote:
- The incomprehesion between brethrens,
- A difficult character of one brother, who always discourage even old believers.
During your predication, we understood that God loves us so much . Because he reveled to you our situation, and the exhortation our God gave you for us came as a specific consolation, encouragement and true.
You know some of us according to what they heard concerning others churches, want us to grow in the same way or speed like them.
When you spoke about building a house, especially how to lay a solid foundation,
When you spoke about the importance of the foundation,
When you spoke about problems as a strengthening way of our faith.
The good news is that, all those who were in that situation , recognize their fault and the whole church agreed that JESUE SEND YOU TO HEAL US, TO ENCOURAGE US AND TO GIVE US POWER AND INSURANCE TO WORK FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE KINGDOM OF OUR GOD.
The church has become understandable, peaceful and joyful again. we would maintain that restoration in the name of JESUS.
Let the favor of the All Mighty be with you .

Michel & Beatrice Ngankam from Cameroon.

In Top of the TV Gospel Africa

2008-02-06T06:36:00.000-05:00

Here is an email Clever wrote me Feb 1st

You are every day in tevision in Cameroun.
Your message is helping all the nation christians.
many people are calling asking about question to know you.
the Gospel TV is just showing all your message.
The secretly came and taped all the conference. Now you are in top of the TV gospel africa.
i will just corporate with them so the can give the tape so i will bring to you.
Ani is unable to work, but i have giving all to some one to do it.
Glory George , God has used you better to help our country.
i am very happy for God plan. Genevieve father is hospitalised since yesterday and we are praying.
Clever

Healing took place later

2008-01-26T05:42:00.000-05:00

So many leaders came yesterday to our friday teaching training.
We just worship and remimber you.
Do you know that when you teach about SOZO, we got alot of healing with take place after.
many home were heal, and some sick people got heal; in Kribi group one man told me about his hernia which disapear, Joy came to all, and personnal reconciliation to bring people together in all our community was one of our goal.
Thank for your determination and courage to come in africa.
God will never forget this day he plan since the fondation of creation.
Greetings to all your children. i am in prayer to prepare my visit there in Mars (March GE) as we discussed here.

The history will never forget that you GEORGE AND JANET are the first white person who visited vineyard cameroun the first time. All s/africa mouvement is happy for what you did here.
This is God plan George. It is not a man plan. We are looking forward to ask for more wisdom and revelation. We all love you George.
We all are very please to welcome you again.
Thank and all those who contributed to this Dream.
Greeting all Rivers city vineyard family.
We love them.
Clever

Home Again Post

2008-01-24T07:43:00.000-05:00

by George

We arrived home after 28 hours of travel. We were blessed because our plane arrived before the weather got bad. Janet and I have known what it is like to circle the airport for 2 hours waiting for weather to clear enough for the plane to land.

We finally got on the road and the weather was getting worse. The traffic stopped on the 401. We were just at a median so we turned around and took another highway. There ended up being a 75 car pile up at Woodstock about 20 miles away from where we had to stop. We were blessed not to be one of those 75 cars.

We made it home to a warm welcome to our children who cooked us a nice Asian meal to give us a break from African.

Final thoughts
Here are some final thoughts about our journey. The Cameroon people are wonderful people. We saw no crime there. Quinton from South Africa was totally blown away by this as he said he as never seen it quite like this in Africa. No one is ripping your watch off your hand, no violence, no drugs, etc. We didn’t even see people smoking. I only remember seeing 2 people smoking and one was at the airport. The people are very friendly loving and hospitable.

There are no white people in Douala. We saw maybe 5 whites at the most.

The Vineyard Church here has a good start and is working on a good foundation.

I asked Clever which of my teachings impacted him the most and he said “Sozo”. That is a teaching where I show that healing, salvation and restoration are all integrated and you can’t separate them. Jesus didn’t come to just heal us (make us physically better), or to just save us (for most that means just get into heaven), etc. he came to “Sozo” us (Greek work which means healing, salvation and restoration, etc.) and totally restore us and let us begin to live and experience the Kingdom of God.

I felt like a major breakthrough came when I talked about poverty. They had a mindset that Clever was receiving money from Vineyard Europe or Vineyard west and that their little bit of money would make no difference. I spoke about the mentality of poverty, how we are rich in God and if they want us to assist them then they have a poverty mentality. I went over a story call “the rich people in our church” and showed them that poverty was a mindset. I really felt a break through in the spirit. We all feel poor because we spend more than we make, we look at what we don’t have, and compare ourselves to those who have more than us.

We didn’t have much ministry time. It seemed like more foundational teaching on the Kingdom of God and other groundwork and less teaching on other important subjects like worship and healing. Also, they start late and the meetings go for 3-4 hours, and it is hot and humid and ministry time does not seem very conducive.

Cameroon is 80% French and 20% English. They have 10 provinces and 2 provinces are English and the other 8 are French. You would think that it would be easy to communicate with the people who speak English. Well it can be quite difficult for 2 reasons; one accent and two, choice of words. For example instead of saying “go quickly” they say “go fast” but is sounds like “go fawstt” so you go “pardon” (they may say for pardon “please”)
Another example is “the fly of Quinton reach” which means “the airplane Quinton is on has arrived”.

Speaking French was interesting. A lot of my high school French came back to me (last class was Grade 9) but if their French is like their English then I was learning Cameroun French. I do want to learn more French so I can eventually preach in French. To learn it, I will need to maybe do some CDs or schooling and then get immersed in it. One of the main problems is I also want to learn Spanish, Dutch, and Russian so we will see. Life is so exciting and so much to look forward as we partner with the Kingdom of God.

The Last Night

2008-01-23T21:04:00.001-05:00

by Jan
Well, here it is on Wednesday morning, exactly two weeks ago since we left for Africa. I crawled into bed last night at 10:30, exactly 44 hours after having gotten up. Of course I caught some wink-eye on the plane, but sleeping sitting up just doesn’t seem to have the same restful effect. It took us 4 and ½ hours to get home from the airport as we had to take all the back roads home. Traffic had come to a complete stop while we on the 401. We decided quite quickly that things didn’t look good. There was no traffic at all going eastbound which meant one of two things – either the highway was closed due to weather conditions or due to an accident. Because we happened to stop just before an overpass, there was a section in which we could do an easy u-turn. In hindsight, it was a good decision because as we listened to the radio, the situation was not good and we could have been stuck in traffic for hours. When you get that close to home, you just want to get home, especially when travelling has gone on for so long.

I am just going to share a few final thoughts about the trip. First of all, George and I thank all of you who prayed for us and for our safety, and for those who supported us financially to make this trip possible. A trip such as this one is very expensive and not something one would do on a regular basis. Your support has been much appreciated. The first few days I had to pinch myself to believe that I was actually in Africa. I did really not know what to expect since George had been the one who had the email contacts and I didn’t really ask him too much. I didn’t want to form anything in my mind and I just wanted to take it as it came, although I had no idea that the place where we were going was as “third world” as it was. The heat could also be overwhelming at times and it is hard for me to imagine that the hot season we were in, is still going to get hotter. Then the wet season begins after that, in which it apparently rains constantly and it doesn’t get a whole lot cooler either. The last afternoon I was there, I was helping in the kitchen, cutting up some cabbages for our party that night and the sweat was literally dripping off of my face. I don’t think that I have ever experienced that before as I am not one that sweats easily. Coming home to winter was a welcoming thought at that moment.

I wondered as we first arrived, how we were going to be able to make an impact on these people and if indeed, all the money that had been spent to make this trip possible, was actually worth it. I mean, what do we have to offer that they can’t accomplish themselves? But now that the trip is over, I do believe that we made a positive impact. I thought that George’s talks went really well and his speaking seemed to get stronger as we went on. Quinton’s (the VBI guy from South Africa)talks were also very good and spending time getting to know him was fun for both of us. Sometimes you really wonder why you get to meet people who live far away, wondering if you will ever see them again. Quinton was very interesting and fun to hang out with. After reading Clever’s email which he sent us this morning, I truly knew that God had used us to impact the people there and to encourage them. As we have stated before, the people are very special and kind and hospitable. I felt as if we made a lot of new friends. Of course, there is an immediate bond knowing that they are Christians and then even more of a bond, when they have our Vineyard values. They don’t come across so religious. Once again, are we ever going to see them again?

The Douala group threw a wonderful party for us which they called their “African Night” on our last night there. We got decked out in true African garb (Quinton asked if we had our pajamas on) which they had specifically made for us. We got lavished with all kinds of gifts from different individuals, most of which was African clothing. (So if any of you need any African dress, you know where to go).The courtyard was all set up with tables and decorations. We were sat at the head table and it actually felt like we were at a wedding.

There was nice music playing in the background and some final words were said. I wish I could have taken more of it in, but many wanted pictures taken with us so it seemed as if the night was done almost before we started. We were going to spend some time doing worship before we left, but Clever decided to call the airport to see if our flight was on time.

They bumped up the time! So all of a sudden we were in a mad rush to get last minute packing done (the gifts and such). Some people wondered why we got out of our African garb so I tried to explain to them that we would freeze once we got to Paris. After some very quick good-byes, we left. Things were closing at the airport when we got there, and we just managed to squeak in, which meant that we could not say good-bye to Quinton, Ann, and Genevieve. I was really bummed about that. I thought that once we got checked in we could go back and say good-bye but it is set up differently there. Genevieve became very special to me. She is only 5 years older than my oldest and a very dear lady. She has a sweet spirit and I felt an extra close bond to her. Eunice came from Nigeria for the conference and she grew very special to me in a few short days as well. I really like the black people and find them very beautiful. I made sure that I kept telling them that as I was told that they often don’t like being black. I also find it amazing what these people accomplish in the midst of difficult circumstances. Once again I was reminded of how much we have here in North America, compared to the rest of the world. This particular country has next to no crime, which was truly amazing to me, so I never had a time when I did not feel safe (except when I was in a car).

We came to a wonderful welcome home. All our kids, (except Denise who was on business), son-in-laws, and Hayden were there to meet us and once again, I felt like a truly blessed woman. Will I ever go back to Cameroon? Absolutely, if the opportunity arises.

Comments by Clever

2008-01-23T06:37:00.000-05:00

All i can say now is let all glory be giving to God.
George can you read this mail to all the church Rivers city vineyard?
Hope you better do it.
Beloved family of the rivers city vineyard canada.
It is nice mailing you from Africa cameroun .
I am Clever, father of 3 children and married to Genevieve.
George and janet just left us with tears. Can you know what separation can cause? Seperation is not divorce.
We passed a nice time here with your pastor and his wife,
During this time i do not know what God was ministering to George,
it was only when he was teaching i realise that he was speaking spiritual fact and was just playing foundation to all french vineyard in africa. Wanderfull time just like he knew all about africa and our spiritual need. I exclamated!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is very important to us today for all what George and janet have done and left behind.
For all of you, africa need true gospel and prayers from you.
Now we are not alone, George and Janet left behind a Big greet family which hope to serve Jesus.
Janet has been very nice when God minister to her to teach about married.
This teaching just lay soild fondation to our community.
I have never teach about married, but i am just busy planting and training leaders.
We are very happy and greatifull to George and Janet.
When George started Laying solid fondation, the evil came with sickness to stop all and george became sick. I then prayed and asked solution to Jesus. We prayed and God told me what to do next, i then bought some drugs very urgent to give to George since all the community was waiting for the next section.
He then took his drugs and all became in order.
Beloved family, We passed a full time of worship with Eunice from Nigeria and Quinton from S/africa VBi teacher.
Since we can (not GE) convince George and Janet to stay here for ever, I just say to God let your will be done.
Some of our leaders are just crying with joy but also missing George and Janet/
Some are asking when next they will come?
Some are still confuse and surprise if really George and Janet have left.
Some are wandering (surprized GE) to see white people very simple,
some are astonishing why George will go back to canada? and let him stay again and prolong his stay;
Some are happy and hoping to see them again one day,
some are planning also to come there and experience you and the community.
All George and Janet did here is hundred percent Good.
He gave me the direction i must follow specialy the purchasing of our property to worship and how to train leaders and encourage them and solve some problem in case problem arise.
He bought us a musical system we wanted to rent;
He supported us by feeding the participants;
Beloved,
I just thank you on behave of the community i am leading here. Now George mailled me that they are back home.
Remain bless
Clever

In a later email Clever wrote this
Here it is like we are orphan since you left us.
Many can not believe that you left, it is like dream.
How is janet?
All her friends are in tears.
But i believe God who put us together will also follow his plan.
I so love you as a father that is why i will alway send you all reprot or weekly or montly.
Genevieve is very worry for the absence of janet, hope she will recover soon the sock of separation.
Thank you so much George may God strengh your heart the more to equip africa french vineyard as you are the first white visiting us with power and determination.
Clever

Kribi Videos

2008-01-23T05:27:00.000-05:00

I now posted the videos on YouTube and put them here.

Kribi Welcome

Janet's African dance.

George's African dance after laying the first stone, with Janet "cutting in".

Last Day

2008-01-21T06:28:00.000-05:00

We are spending the last day recuperating from the conference. It was a good conference but tiring. They go on and on and then finally it is time to speak and they expect 2 hours. Well on Thursday, Quinton preached from 11-12pm (supposed to be 10-12pm) and then said he was done. Then Clever stands up and says, "We will take a short break and come back for Quinton to do another teaching." Basically we ended up doing 2 teachings in the morning, back to back, and 2 more in the evening. I have done something like 16 hours of teaching on this trip in 8 days (out of 11 days). We had 2 cities cancelled so that saved me an additional 4 hours. I still have a closing speech to do tonight. Tonight is African night where we will dress up in traditional African clothing. They will give us gifts (we already received several) and we will give gifts. Then there is 2 hours scheduled for closing speeches. We leave for the airport around 10pm and our flight is scheduled to leave at 11:45pm. Then 7 hours to Paris, 5 hour layover and 7.5 hours to Toronto and 3 hour drive home. Pray for 2 things, one for safety and two, that Air France is overbooked and they pay us to delay our flight in Paris so we can spend a couple of days there.

One really neat bonus was Quinton. He and I clicked really well and it was great to gain a friend in South Africa and to have some Western connection to talk and relate to (besides my wife). He is a PHD theologian and works for Vineyard Bible Institute and has much experience in African culture and helped me to understand certain things.

Well that is all for now as I had no free “local” internet since Friday and I am trying to get my internet stuff done quickly in a travel agent office.

Thanks for all your love and support. It is much easier doing this knowing we have a group at home who love and care for us and are praying for us.

Love George

One really neat bonus was Quinton. He and I clicked really well and it was great to gain a friend in South Africa and to have some Western connection to talk and relate to (besides my wife). He is a PHD theologian and works for Vineyard Bible Institute and has much experience in African culture and helped me to understand certain things.

Conference

2008-01-19T10:58:00.000-05:00

Jan 17th Pre conference (George)
Our camera batteries are dead so no more pictures for now.

We woke up to 2 Hursts in our front yard. Later on there were 3 coffins sitting off to the one side. Apparently they were the parents of the land lord and have been dead for 17 years. I don’t know if they do this every year or what, but there was some wailing going on and a lot of friends visiting. The people are Catholic and in parts of the world like this, there is a lot of ancestral worship going on.

For the conference, they wanted to rent a system and I said we should look at our options as I didn’t want to use money for temporary things. What they really wanted was an amp, to go with their new speakers. They also wanted a keyboard as their keyboard player said he wouldn’t play their Casio because it kept cutting in and out. I said that the keyboard could be fixed. One problem was the proper cable to connect the Casio to the main system; the other was a loose adapter. What they really needed was an amp and mixing board. Clever found a really old one for 150,000 fca and while I didn’t like that, I thought it was better than renting. Then I asked how much to buy the sound board and he said 240,000. So I told Clever “I will buy it for 200,000” ($220) so he sealed the deal. It was really new and had a built in Amplifier, just what we needed. God does provide.

Next I still needed the a cable to go from a 1/8” headphone jack to a ¼” mono plug to plug in the new board. I kept telling Clever for the last 2 days that we needed to buy a cable for the keyboard, he kept saying “yes” but we never went. He told me after lunch, and that lunch was in 10 minutes. I said “bien” (French for good) and went into the kitchen and saw 4 raw fish. I asked him if that was for lunch he said “no the chicken is” and I looked at this huge raw chicken in the sink and thought “Great, I get to see my first miracle here; lunch in 10 minutes”. So after more than an hour, we had chicken. I grabbed the plate as I was hungry at this time, took the piece of meat closest to me and offered it to Quinton. It was a foot, that looked you should tie it to a stick and scratch you back with it. He politely said he could fetch his own piece. The next piece I grabbed was the neck and when I offered it to him; he gave me that “don’t bother” look so I put that on my plate too. Next I grabbed a drumstick. You would need 129 feet and 46 necks to fill you up not including the extra you would need to replace the energy to remove the morsels of meet off those pieces. It’s amazing how these people eat every piece. Clever can even be heard chomping on bones.

So I decided to find a flash card for Eunice as they said “$100 USD for 2 Gig” and I said “Then let’s see about a 256K as she had no flash card for her camera. The guy who told me was Boniface as he went and scouted out the land before and told me about the giant prices. So here we are: Boniface 98% French, and me 2% French which makes 100% French and not much English. So we got out of the gate and each mounted a taxi-motorcycle and off we went adding to the craziness of Douala driving. We weave, swerve, get cut off, honked at and sucked in a lot of fumes from the very poor running motorcycle in front of me. But we arrive, in one piece and gave each driver 100 fcf (~$0.22) and were off to a store to buy a card. Trouble with the card was it was a Sony and 3 times the price of a SD flash card so we didn’t buy it. Now I understood.

I saw some musical instruments. An acoustical guitar, an electric guitar, a bass, couple of speakers and odds and ends. I thought “Great, I can get some cables. Surely if they have electric guitars, they have a cable. I wanted to try the acoustic. So after 3 minutes, I finally made myself understood and they went to get it off the rack. It had a layer of dust on it and still had a protective covering over the pick guard so I knew that it was a new one, trouble is that I am sure that it had been hanging for at least 3 years, if not 5. So they placed this brand new relic into my hands and the thing is so out of tune, that I am sure that even the tone deaf shook their heads. I started to tune in when “Twang”, pop goes the 3rd from the bottom string, which is solid string with another really fine string wound around it. So they try to take the string that was wound around the broken core string and was wondering why it wouldn’t work. So I just gave it back.

Next I asked about a cord. I pointed to the electric guitar ¼” jack and then to an Amp and and said “six meter” (in French but pronounced zes).I didn’t realize it until about 7 puzzled looks and some part French part English that they were asking, “You want to try it out?” I motioned “No” and told them I wanted to buy which then Boniface understood and spoke to them. So they agreed and out came the calculator, and they showed me 7,200 fcfa. They took me to the counter and showed me the parts as they had to make the cable up. I said “Okay, but I only have 2,000 and will have to come back. They said for 2,000 they will make it and I could come back and pay the rest. I said no, I will just come back.

We went back on 2 different taxi motorbikes and, while the adventure was the same, I was looking for the next challenge, as I already seemed accustomed to this driving style. (Now back home my wife does 90% of the driving, so you can draw your own conclusions).

I found an 1/8” jack and a ¼” jack and went back with Clever. First I had to exchange money so we pull up to this corner and have 5 eager faces waiting to exchange money. There are a lot of “nos”, Clever puts it in gear, goes ahead twice and finally the exchange is done. This time I got 87,000 fcfa instead of 84,000. So off to the cable store.

We walk in and you would think they would know what I want, but it is the ceremony all over again. This time I pick up the 1/8” jack, join it with the ¼” jack, pull them apart and say “six meter”. They have this “ah ha” look and pull out a roll of cable and cut off 6 meters. They put the 2 ends and the 6 meters in a bag and hand it to a store clerk who won’t give it to me. I already paid the 7,200 fcfa. So I decided “George, just go with the flow”. I follow Clever, Boniface and the store clerk to our vehicle. Apparently we had to drive the clerk to another store so he could solder on the ends. So after much ado, I finally had my cable.

Conference
Jan 17th
We started our conference at around 6pm. As the conference started, I felt flu like symptoms coming on. I did a teaching on the Kingdom and the people seemed to be receptive to the message. I went home that night, missed supper (you know that I am sick when I turn down food) and slept till morning. They woke me up and I definitely was suffering from either something I ate, or something that was eating me. Dr Clever said he would get me some good drugs and they ended up being a very strong anti-biotic. (Twenty four hours later I am feeling 95% of my normal self.) I just wanted to sleep all day as it was my body’s way of fighting what was ailing me. I fell asleep wherever I could. I slept on 4 chairs at break time and then about an hour later, while we were waiting for lunch, I flaked out on the floor. I had no idea, as I was in such a deep sleep, that everyone had to walk right past me to get their lunch. Genevieve took a picture of me with Janet’s prompting, since her camera’s battery was low. I haven’t seen it yet but Janet tells me it was pretty funny. I was flat on my back with my wrists limp in front of me (kind of like when your dog Josh, lays on his back to sleep, with his paws hanging limp in the air). After I woke up from this nap, I desperately just wanted to go home and sleep but we still had to go to the radio where we sat in a small booth with 7 people and a temperature of 92ºF. We got back to the house at 4:40 and the next session started at 5:30, so I only managed to sleep for 45 minutes. It was hard to get up and drag myself to the evening session, but with a few more drugs, I managed. This was the session in which both Janet and I had to speak, each for an hour or more. Janet did a teaching on the five love languages and had the undivided attention of the crowd. It was her first time speaking with an interpreter, which she found a little more challenging. You’re on a roll, kind of thing, but you have to stop after every few words. But I was really proud of her as she did great.

Finally

2008-01-17T10:42:00.001-05:00

I have been trying to upload this picture about 6 times and finally succeeded. I have 3 good videos but will have to wait till I have a better internet access.

Bafoussam no go - by Jan

2008-01-17T10:38:00.001-05:00

Jan 16th
We left for Bafoussam at 5 o’clock this morning and after a good 1/2 hour into our journey, we experienced a blowout. We felt very fortunate and protected by God, since we were full of passengers and feel that it could have caused an accident. It was still pitch dark. After some searching around for flashlights and tools, someone on a motorbike stopped and helped us. Fortunately there was a small town about 2 km. up the road and he got some tools for us. After we got the spare off the back door, we realized it too was flat. So the motorcyclist strapped the tire onto his little 50 cc and went on his way. By this time it had gotten light, so at least we could see. Clever decided at this point that it was going to take time to remedy the situation and that we may not make it up to the mountains, so a taxi was called for us and by 8 o’clock, we were back home again while Clever, Michael and Annie stayed back till the tire could get fixed. We received a call from them at about 9:30 saying that they were on their way back home when 2 km into their trip, the tire on the other side blew. Needless to say, we did not make it to Bafoussam today. But we have been going almost non-stop, so it was totally ok to have another rest day.
We continue to enjoy the people and new friends we have made. Learning French has also been quite fun and we are surprised at some of the words that have come back to us after not seeing them for 35 years. Yesterday, I (Janet) saw the word etoile on a bill board and I immediately remembered that it meant star even though I have not paid any attention to French words for so many years. It made me realize that our brains are so amazing and what we learned many years ago, is somewhere tucked in our brains. I have become really interested in learning more words and phrases, so when George was in town yesterday, I asked him to pick me up an English-French dictionary. Just going through it and remembering more words is enjoying for me. Though I didn’t have the time before I left, I wish I could have brushed up on some French before I got here.

Everyday again, I am amazed at all the poverty here. Douala is a very dirty city. It is actually hard to believe. There is 55% unemployment, yet everyone seems to have a cell phone. You can get practically anything here, but there are no malls. Just markets on the side of the road. For example, we wanted to get some money changed, so Clever just stops by the side of the road, knowing who are money exchangers, and strikes up a deal with them. It is apparently more costly to get money exchanged at the bank. We were looking for speakers yesterday, as well as a transformer and just stopped on the side of the road where there are huts upon huts of different items that can be bought, all amidst the poverty and garbage. It is hard for me to get my head turned around on some of the stuff I see. Today we were traveling on the street and it was already quite busy, even though it was early in the morning, and our vehicle had to come to a quick stop because a herd of about 15 skinny cows were crossing the street. Although it wasn’t serious, a car lightly hit one of them. Once again I found it comical and amazing. I told George, “Quick, get your camera out and take a picture,” but by the time he was able to do so, they were already across the street.

We have only had to make friends with 2 cockroaches in our room so far. They are very quick and hard to kill, so one might as well befriend them. Actually George did manage to kill them, because they don’t want them around. They could make more cockroaches if we let them hang around too long. Fortunately, I have not seen one spider yet. Now, that would freak me out. I think that God is good and He knows what it would take to chase me out of here in a hurry.

I am so grateful for the experience of being here. I feel that I have experienced so much in a few short days. Montesuma’s (spelling ?)revenge hit yesterday, but fortunately it was not a travel day. I had to chuckle at the combination of our toilet situation and that situation. We take so much for granted at home when so much of the world lives so differently with so very little.

Tomorrow is the first day of the conference, so I don’t know how much we will be able to blog. Please pray that it will go well because that is the reason why we are here. We want our presence to be a real encouragement to the people here. It is quite fascinating what Clever and Genevieve have accomplished here in a year or so. They both came on their own (he quit his job as a medical surgeon in Switzerland) to start Vineyard churches and though they are both from this country, Douala is a new experience for them as well. They so take everything in stride and are so grateful for what they have been able to accomplish so far, and for our willingness to be here to encourage them.

Blown Away

2008-01-16T14:58:00.000-05:00

Added new pictures to this post

I am sitting in the dark outside, stealing some neighbour's wireless at 1 mps and i may have to finish uploading tomorrow (pictures and video) at an internet cafe.

Jan 14th by George
Today blew me away. We went to Kribi to visit the vineyard there. They were the first plant, 2 years ago, and are the largest and are self sustaining. It was a 2 ½ hour drive and we left at 5:50am to beat the rush hour. There are only a few main roads leaving the city so getting out is hairy as all the street vendors like to take advantage of the slow traffic trying to get by. Even at 6am, it was starting to get hairy. In all our busyness, we forgot to deal with our anti-malaria drugs. Janet had been gotten bitten and they highly suggested that we get on some drugs right away. So we started last night and it caused me not to be able to fall asleep till about 3am so I only got about 2 hours of sleep. I asked them what percentage of the mosquitoes carried malaria, thinking like 20 in a thousand. They said it was low - about 40%. That is 400 out of a thousand and seemed pretty high to me. The mosquitoes are different here. They are very small, and you don’t feel them bite and the bites don’t swell up or get itchy. Janet knew she had bites, but didn’t realize they were mosquitoes bites till Genevieve told her and that is what got us on the anti-malaria drug thing. We had to take it last night, this morning, tonight and then once a week. So while it was a great day, I battled sleepiness all day. We arrived in Kribi at 8:30 to about 20 young leaders, all standing in a row with yellow Vineyard T-shirts on. Then we went into the house and saw them cooking breakfast for us. Before we started to eat, we did some worship and they started worshiping the song we know as “Come reign in me” in French. The Spirit of God really hit me with that and it was so awesome to hear a group of young Vineyard leaders worshiping our songs in their native language. Next we ate fish for breakfast. They plopped a whole fish on Janet’s plate; head, body and tail. She is more worried about her upbringing where you have to eat everything on your plate than their generosity. I took part of her fish and added to my own. Instead of coffee, we were presented with a Coca-Cola. We also had fried plantain (a variety of banana but more starchy) and bread. While I am used to more of a “bacon and eggs” type breakfast, it was very good as the fish was caught that morning.

Next, we get into the pastor’s car, for some reason, instead of Clever’s 4 wheel drive. We drive slowly to the church and notice people we recognize that were at the house earlier, taking videos of us as we drive down to the church. Janet said “I feel like Lady Di” as we had a taste of paparazzi; and that was just the beginning. As we arrive, we hear music and then pull up to see 150 African Vineyard folk, singing traditional African music and dancing and all singing at the top of their lungs. All to honour us! I just stood there in shock and wept. I wept for one, because I really felt the Holy Spirit and two, because I felt like they were giving us way more honour than we deserved. They grabbed Janet into the dancers circle and she did the best job she could to mimic the natives. We once took ball room dancing so she could learn to dance in public. Well let’s just say those lessons didn’t help.

They presented us with a small gift of a carving of a small dug-out canoe with a fisherman and there were a few speeches. Next we went into their existing church building and we had a service where I was asked to speak for 1 hour. I spoke mostly encouraging words and on Vineyard values.

The chief (see the picture of the chief and me) then got up and said some words to us to encourage us. He stated how he really liked the Vineyard and everything they stood for. He donated a large piece of property, which he was going to let them use to grow food. He also wanted them to use his wood working shop to teach the younger men skills. I was so tired at this point, in a small church with 100 people inside (150 outside) that I nodded off twice while he was speaking which I felt bad for as I knew what an honour it was that he was speaking to me and to the Vineyard. If he noticed, he didn’t let on that he did.

The land he donated was to build a new church and orphanage and after the service, they wanted me to lay the first stone. I couldn’t believe that they waited to start construction till I could lay the first stone. So I took the stone, took the mortar, and used the trowel to cement it in place. After that, we had another African shindig in which they pulled both Janet and I into the dancing circle. Janet said that my dancing lessons were a waste of money. Needless to say, it must have been pretty bad because the natives were all laughing. Another sermon illustration on judging. I (Janet) am just inserting a little more on the chief story. He had originally rented his building to the Vineyard, so they had a contract that he couldn’t legally renege on. But after renting it to them, he became very annoyed with the Vineyard (he was a nominal Catholic) and he became a real pain in the butt for them to the point where he went to higher officials to try and get them out. Last year he became very ill and was told that he wouldn’t live. He went through 4 surgeries and to make a long story short, through this God changed him and now he is totally for the Vineyard and doing everything he can to help them. Clever and Genevieve did not know about this change of heart and when Genevieve saw him in the service, she was quite taken aback. When he got up and said that he wanted to say something, she was a little nervous, wondering what he was going to say. As George wrote, he donated some land, which is a different piece of land than the one they are building the orphanage on. He is now very excited about what God is doing through the Vineyard and wants to help in any which way he can. Cool, hey?

After this was all over, we went to the sea and saw the Limbé waterfalls, where the river dumps into the sea. We put 10 people in our jeep-like vehicle and traveled for about 25 minutes. It was beautiful to see and it was neat to see all the dug-out canoes and fishermen on the beach bringing in their catch.

The picture above from left to right is me, Annie (the journalist), Clever and Mama Marlise (pastor of the Kribi Vineyard). On our way back, we stopped at a picnic area and had a mademoiselle cook us up some fresh fish (Ber and Rock fish) which we ate with our hands. We also had some semi-fermented Cassava to go with it. Janet got to drink fresh coconut milk from a new coconut.

On the journey home, we almost smoked a motorcycle guy who decided to just cut in front of us as we were going around 90 km/hr. We had to do quite a high speed cut to the left and then back to the right. I wondered for a sec if our vehicle’s four wheels were going to stay flat on the ground. We had been spared within a split second of what would have been a bad accident. I had been sleeping for the past hour in the vehicle and that event was enough to keep me awake for the rest of the trip.

Jan 15th
Today is a rest day. We had a pretty good rest day as I had gone to bed at 10pm and got up at 8am; normally I only need 6 hours of sleep. This is the first day I didn’t have to preach. We are resting up for a 6 hour journey to Bafoussam (be there for 11 o’clock) to do a 2 hour service at a Vineyard church, and then return home. Apparently this place is quite high up into the mountains and Clever keeps saying that it is very cold there. We keep chuckling at him saying that it is very cold. I think that we are going to welcome the cold. (23 degrees-it sounds like heaven as everyday it has been about 36 degrees here-I have not worn my leather coat since I got here. It is unbelievable I know, but true.) I will take my leather coat along though.

Quinton from Johannesburg South Africa came to join us. He is a Theologian that works for VBI (Vineyard Bible Institute) and is here to do some teaching and work with the VBI students they have here. We knew instantly that he was a fun-loving guy when in all seriousness he told one of the pastors that he had just been introduced to, that he had 2 little girls and four wives (in his Afrikanse accent). I had to chuckle as the pastor did not know how to respond. You see, here polygamy is maybe not common, but definitely not uncommon either. Eunice from Lagos, Nigeria will be joining us in Douala tomorrow.

We purchased some sound equipment for them today. At this point, we have purchased 2 speakers. All these places need a lot of help with just basic clear sound. So we will hook up everything they have in the house and see what we still need.

Jan 12th by George

2008-01-14T12:49:00.000-05:00

We now have time to add some pictures. Internet is slow and I had 87 emails to get rid of in one hour. Here is Janet on the radio, I think she looks kind of cute; don’t you?

Denise said she wanted to see mom riding a lion, so here you go. The lion was petrified when she jumped on its back.
Church has been interesting, and they are keeping me busy. Genevieve said that they wanted to squeeze every last thing out of me before I went home. So far I have spoken, for at least one hour, every day, and twice today (Sunday). The churches are all church plants and have around 50 people in attendance. They sing mostly acapella or with a Casio keyboard. The microphones have a distinct distorted sound that seems to be part of church in countries like this. While the worship is not as we know it, it is worship and is culturally current. They like long services and don’t want me to cut it short. The kids are very well behaved and just sit there, side by side for hours. There are very few white people around and they love to stare and stare. One little boy was at first afraid of Janet, but slowly he warmed up to her and kept touching her.

We love the Cameroon people. They are warm and friendly. The country also has very little corruption or crime as the government has zero tolerance for that.

That is all I have ready to post today. Today blew me away and I will try and get that post ready for tomorrow. I fogot my reading glasses and am struggling to just get these two posts up. I always keep a spare set in my leather jacket, bu for some reason I didn't need it as it is a constant 28-30 degrees here. Thanks for all your prayers.

Jan 12th By Janet

2008-01-14T12:46:00.000-05:00

On Saturday morning our day began with a trip to the tailor to get measured up. Apparently, on our last evening here, we are going to have an African night which means that we will eat traditional African food and all dress in traditional African clothing. Since we don’t have any traditional African clothing, Clever decided to get us our own outfits. Everything is a brand new and interesting experience. We now understand first hand what Denise was saying in her blog about Asian traffic. It is fascinating, amazing, frightening and comical all at the same time. It is hard to imagine unless you experience it first hand. There are motorbikes everywhere. They are all small bikes (50-250cc) with rarely less than 2 people on them. We have seen up to 4 people on one small bike and even babies as small as our little Hayden. We have only seen one person wearing a helmet. The bikes and cars and trucks get within cm. from each other. Traffic lights are rare and the occasional stop sign that you see is ignored. As Genevieve said (Clever’s wife), “There are no rules.” I thought that she would be used to the traffic but she still gets frightened sitting in the car. I try to be relaxed and occasionally close my eyes and hope for the best. Now, those of you who know me well, know that I like to have control of the steering wheel and I usually do the driving, but in the case of driving here, I am happy to leave it to those who are experienced in this type of traffic here. It is truly crazy as people cross the streets, dodging the cars and motorbikes. The comical part was when a goat crossed the road in the craziness, and actually made it to the other side with its four feet flat on the ground.

Late morning we left for Limbe (aprox. 1 hr) to see the botanical gardens and hopefully some wild animals. Unfortunately, there were no safari type animals, but it still was a great time. And I finally got to meet a few of George’s relatives (see picture – I won’t mention on which side of the family).

We feel that we have made many great friends in such a short time. The people are wonderful and are very excited for us to experience their country and culture, and excited for us to be here. They are very friendly and hospitable. We have already gone to several different churches in the area and George has already spoken 4 times, always with an interpreter. The food we have eaten is very delicious. We both love trying different foods and have not had anything that we didn’t like. On Saturday, we stopped on the side of the road and had soya, which is beef roasted on an open fire, along with roasted plantain. Ymmm. And the fresh fruit and fruit juice is so incredibly delicious.

First few days

2008-01-12T04:32:00.001-05:00

We don't have regular internet access and we are trying to type on a French keyboard so we will see if we can do this every day.

Jan 9-10th
After 28hrs of travel, we arrived in Cameroon to about 20 eager faces that came to meet us at the airport. Some traveled 1 hour or more to greet us. True to the French, they were more passionate and expressive about us then our reserved Canadian “that’s cool” approach.

We are living upstairs in an apartment where Clever lives. Living here is one step up to Nicaragua. We have our own bathroom, and at this point, we haven’t figured out how to turn on the light in the washroom. The toilet is constantly running, and has no water in the reservoir to flush. Being a farmer from a way back, living with water problems we subscribed to “if it is yellow let it mellow, if it is brown flush it down”. Well, let’s just say that I needed to flush. I finally figured out how to remove the lid of the contraption, and managed to hold the valve down so the bowl could fill. The water made it half way up when there was a knock on the door and an indisposed wife who couldn’t answer it, so I let go and got the door. I stuck my hand in the back of the reservoir again and held the valve down again to let it fill up. The comical thing about this is that there was no lid or seat on the toilet, finally it was full. I let go of the valve, the apparatus flushed slowly, but alas, it didn’t work. I jerry- rigged the valve and put a mug on it for weight and that seemed to close the valve. Then I searched for some kind of bucket. The best I could find was a kettle. So finally it was full again. Quickly removing the mug, while adding a kettle chaser to the mix, the flush was finally accomplished. Janet and I had a good chuckle in the midst of our weariness. We dived into bed at about 11 o’clock Cameroon time, which was 5 pm our time. We feared that our bodies might just take a little nap and be wide awake, but we slept for 9 hours solid. Maybe this time change won’t be too hard to handle after all.

Jan 11th
Today we did a bit of mini touring, visiting some leaders and speaking on the radio. I was proud of Janet as they asked her speak, basically putting her on the spot. She did great as she was well poised, and articulated herself well. We just got started, with introductions and while Janet was in the middle of her riveting talk, the power went out and we had to wait till the generator started up. They started the whole program over and Janet got to do her introductions again. Then they asked her theological questions. She handled herself very well.

We also went to church tonight to give a teaching to the leaders. I was to teach for an hour, but only went 50 minutes. When I said I was finished, the interpreter said “you have 10 minutes left”. It seemed more like they wanted to get their money’s worth than “we love this so much we want more.”
The interpreter is doing a great job even though he has not done a whole lot of interpreting. He speaks English, French and German fluently, and understands some Italian and Spanish. He has had to do interpretations from one language to two different languages.
The people here are very warm and friendly and hospitable. We now understand what our kids mean when they said that they stick out like a bunch of giraffes amongst a herd of gazelles. Though the height difference is not as much as compared to the smaller Asians, we are amongst very few white people in the city. We have seen only two other white people so far.

Immunization Shots

2007-12-25T22:33:00.000-05:00

Traveling requires immunization records to be up to date, plus Yellow Fever immunizations were needed to even get into Cameroon. So that should be easy…. phone up your local Health Unit and book the appointment. Well, no surprise, next available date is in February. Hello, what about last minute people; you know orange types? We only were invited in November. Funny...they don't seem to care. Plus, all you get is an answering machine and they are not very helpful.

You can get immunized at your doctor's office, (if you have a doctor) but they can't do Yellow Fever and give you the proper certificate. London Health unit is booked too. Fortunately there is a clinic that does immunization walk-ins, a few times per month so we find out the only one left before Christmas and before we leave is in London Dec 17th. You have to register between 1 and 2pm or sorry about your luck.

So we head down there and fill out our paperwork and find out we are a little behind on most of our immunizations. 3 needles and $230 each, we now get to moan about our sore arms. Mine wasn't too bad but Janet, well, you would have thought she was going to charge that doctor with abuse except she was too sore to pick up the phone to dial 1-800-doc-abuse. She went to bed and was lying their moaning… refusing to take a painkiller… she figured there was already enough foreign crap in her system and if you know her… (Janet says that I am totally exaggerating, though nine days later, she still feels it… ) It didn’t help that I totally elbowed her in that spot in the middle of the night a few days ago. She woke up hearing herself yelp and I woke up wondering what was going on. She thinks that my arm hurt just as much, but being a man, I just won’t admit it. She now has a new appreciation for babies who get immunized and can’t say what’s wrong.

Tickets

2007-12-25T22:12:00.000-05:00

The responsibility for trips like these usually are the responsibility of the people going on the trip. Countries like Cameroon rarely can pay the speaker enough to cover the ticket price. This is true in our case. The tickets are around $2,000 each. Additional costs are immunization and obtaining visas to enter the country. I prayed about finances for this trip. Originally, Peter Fitch from St Croix Vineyard in St Stephen NB said we should do this trip. He was the origonal person that was asked but couldn't and when they asked him who could take his place, he prayed and felt like we should. He felt like his church should help us with one ticket and that River City should help out with the other. I didn't believe that River City could come up with a ticket but, with his encouragement, I appealed to the congregation for assistance. I felt like to state that we needed $5,000 to put this trip off. In my mind I had thought of going myself to save costs but did feel to bring my wife.

So after I asked River City, we recieved $5 the first week. Then a man on a low income gave me $30 cash. So now we had $35. So now what was I to do? As time marched on I felt like I was to just order my tickets anyway. So I called up and used Visa to make it happen and ordered 2 tickets. After I hung up the phone I recieved a phone call that $5,000 had come in towards this trip. I was pretty elated as I had told my wife that I felt like it was going to come in. The source came indirectly from the appeal I made to the congregation even though the source was not from our congregation. Faith stories are always great after they happen, but suck when you are in the middle of it.

The cost of the tickets, taxes, visas and immunization shots came to $4,995 plus $4.50 for parking.

Cameroon Africa

2007-12-23T22:39:00.000-05:00

We are headed for Cameroon Africa to be the main speakers at their 1st National Vineyard Conference. We are leaving January 9th, arriving in Douala Jan 10th and will fly home Jan 22nd. We have a stop over in Paris and are flying Air France. The conference is Jan 17th till Jan 20th; from Thursday evening, Friday morning, Friday Evening, Saturday morning, Saturday evening, and Sunday final day morning and evening. The first session they expect me to speak 2 1/2 hours

The host is Dr Clever who speaks French as his native language and knows English

This is what he wrote about himself
I have 3 Children, one boy Clever Elvis and 2 girls Sandra and Chara> I am 38 years old and Genevieve my wife is 32 years. I am a Medical Doctor Surgeon practising in France strasbourg > But since one year now i am a missionary for a while. And i brough the vineyard to the francophone countries in Central africa. I have been in the vineyard for now 14 years from france.

This should be fun. I already am entertained by his emails.
Examples: On the date for the conference which he wrote "We will put the date together so it will not disturbe some of your daily plan or occupation."
"All of us will be at the earport."
"It is nice having you in Cameroun. can you tell me the fly name?"
But About the Theme SEEK HIS KINGDOM FIRST.
    christians values and objectives
    full equipment of the kingdom
    answer and rational needs.
    rules, orders, and benefits.
    excellence and humility
    developping a kingdom heart
    multiply new leaders and others you can be inspire

Clever wants us to visit 4 cities; Douala, Yaounde (Capital), Bafoussam (mountain) and Kribi (Coastal). 80% of Cameroon is French and French is their official language. They spell it Cameroun. I pray that my high school French will come back to us.