We had the elders over to our apartment for a spaghetti dinner on their preparation day. We were sad to hear that Elder Brown will be leaving to go back to Douala on Monday, Aug. 7th. Elder Mol, an elder from Congo, will come to Yaounde in his place. Around the table we have Elder Ndonde, Elder Badger, Soeur Badger, Elder Aviles, Elder Brown and Elder Wiberg.

This is the mobile candy store. The young man with the wheelbarrow is selling goodies to Fabrice at the end of our driveway. 

On August 5, 2006, the elders held a talent show as a missionary activity. They participated by doing a skit that had everyone doubled over with laughter. Elder Wiberg is behind Elder Aviles and is using his hands to feed, wash, and shave poor little Elder Aviles.

Mary Mukankusi sang a beautiful song with the audience joining in. Mary is from Ruwanda. She was baptized a year ago. 

Olivier, the Young Men's President, did a very funny impression of Elder Badger and his "Mauvais" French. 

Nadine Kemle sang and played the piano. She was given a rousing ovation afterward. She has a a beautiful voice. 

The Young Women of the branch performed some of their traditional dances. What a lot of fantastic talent! 

This is Desiree weaving the top to a stool with plastic fibers in the colors of Cameroun. Desiree was baptized a few weeks ago. Rowan is watching him work. By the way, Desiree is blind. 

After the talent show, the Badgers were presented with a beautiful stool that Sister Badger is sitting on and the shelving unit with a picture of the Badgers painted by the brother of Dersiree. Desiree did the weaving on top of the unit. His weaving is in the colors of the Cameroun flag. What a marvelous surprise!

Soeur Martine, an old friend, surprised us by giving us matching African outfits that she had made. We only put on the tops for the picture. From the left we have Elder Badger, a friend of Martine's, Soeur Martine and Soeur Badger. Martine left that afternoon for Ngaoundere in the extreme north of Cameroun.

A friend we met in Koutaba last January came to visit and brought the Badgers wonderful produce. Ya-Ya had tomatoes, green peppers, avocados, green beans, watermelon, and carrots. We were able to share the gift with others.

Hopefully, this is the site for the chapel that will be built in Yaounde. It is up by the Omnisport, which can be seen in the background. It is a beautiful location.  

Around the city of Yaounde, we see these push carts used to carry just about everything. 

This is the newborn baby of Ekam Paul Ndongo's sister. Elder Badger was asked to give mother and child a blessing. 

The young women of the Bastos Branch are the greatest. Starting from the left is Cecile, Valvina, Soeur Badger and Coquine. Coquine gave a wonderful talk in church about proper dress standards. 

This is Claudine, a new member of the church, with Soeur Badger. Claudine is the sister of Josette and aunt of Lambert. 

An important man in our neighborhood died. These are members of his family preparing food for the funeral. Women were cooking in every space available across the street from the family home. 

These women are preparing goat meat, plantains, pineapple and other food for the funeral. Notice the goat head the woman was showing us.

The women worked together to prepare the food for the many family and friends who had come from miles around for the funeral. 

Lambert, on the right,one of Elder Badger's English students and a new member of the church, invited us to his home to buy some fish from his mother, Josette. Little did we realize what a wonderful meal we would have.  

Josette is a master at cleaning and preparing the fish. She also cooked plantains on the little gas stove in the background. 

Josette and her sister are cooking the fish on the brazier. She put condiments of onion, garlic and other African herbs in and on the fish.  

We are enjoying the delicious fish prepared by Josette. Around the table we have Elder Badger, Soeur Badger, Leticia, Josette holding a neighbor child, Josette's sister, Elder Ndonde and Lambert. We ate the meal with our hands. We washed our hands with soap and water and then dug in to the fabulous food.

The U.S. Embassy celebrated the Fourth of July this year with an open house at the new embassy building. Many dignitaries and diplomats from other embassies were invited as well as the Americans in Cameroun. There were booths with different kinds of American food for everyone to try. We ate hamburgers, hot dogs, cotton candy, ice cream, cookies, fruit and much more. The elders got their fill.

There was a short program with the presentation of the flag. The Star Spangled Banner was sung by the two young people in the picture and Ambassador Marquardt said a few words.

Elder Anderson, seated on the far right, had been in Yaounde for a year. He left for home on June 23rd. We had a breakfast before it was time to take him to the bus to Douala where he would catch his plane to the United States. From the far left we have Elder Brown from Oregon, Elder Wiburg from Utah, the Badgers and Elder Aviles from Maryland. Elder Anderson is from Fairview, Utah. 

Mentally ill people in Cameroun have no services to help them. This young man sits at the same corner every day. People give him food, but his clothes are in rags. He gazes out at the world and talks to himself.

June 18th is Fathers Day in Cameroun also. Sister Celine, the Relief Society President, wore her beautiful African dress on this special day. The Relief Society and Young Women handed out little packets of candy to the men.

On June 18th, seven fine men received the Melchizedek Priesthood. From the left are Ebah, Benjamin, Ignace, Pierre Toutou, Faustin, Immanuel Odoumba and Francois. These men will be a real strength to the branch and will also be future leaders when the branch is divided soon.

This is Corine with her new baby boy that was blessed on June 11th.  

On Saturday, June 17th, four wonderful women were baptized. On the front row starting from the left, we have two daughters of Antoinette, then the daughter of Odile and finally the mother of Patick, Thierry and Nathalie. It is thrilling to see family members join the church! On the back row from the left are Salomon, Antoinette's husband, who baptized his daughters, Elder Anderson, Elder Wiberg, Thierry, Patrick, Nathalie and Sister Celine, the Relief Society President.

Elder Badger has taught an English class for the past year. This is a picture of the teacher and some of his students. 

Elizabeth Essoka is an energetic woman who has lived in the USA and is trying to organize 4H in Cameroun. She invited us to her facility to show us what she has accomplished and to ask for our help. She fed us a delicious African breakfast. Elizabeth is on the left, then Victor Kumba, who retired from Habitat for Humanity, Reverend Bartholomey, a pastor for the Seventh Day Adventist church and Sister Badger. Elizabeth is setting up a summer day camp and is looking for people to assist her.

One of the projects for 4H is raising pigs and rabbits. This is a litter of pigs at the facility.  

Elizabeth is amazing! Not only is she trying to set up a 4H facility on this land, she even dug her own well. Elder Badger is pulling up the bucket from 14 feet down below. 

The Douala elders came to Yaounde for zone conference. They rode the bus from Douala on Thursday morning so they could take part in a preparation day football game with the Yaounde elders and the Bastos Branch members. The field is by this beautiful building in Bastos. 

Our first branch conference since we arrived in Cameroun was held on Sunday June 11, 2006. In preparation for the conference and the arrival of President Maycock, members of the branch turned out to really clean the building and yard. President and Sister Ndongo are hard at work cleaning the drainway. 

A zone conference was held on Saturday, June 10th. In the picture are the Badgers, President and Sister Maycock, our eight missionaries in Cameroun and the Bastos Branch Presidency. 

The Mauclairs, the French senior missionary couple in Douala, invited us to accompany them on a mini-vacation on our preparation day. We met them in Edea and drove to Kribi on the Cameroun coast. When we arrived at the beach, the fishermen were just pulling in their nets. Notice how everyone helps, including the women.

Once the net is on the beach, the people divide up the catch among themselves. The women and children came with pots and bowls to collect the fish.

These are the dug-out canoes called pirogues that the people use for fishing. They are made from one log.

Elder Mauclair is interested in different kinds of shells. He asked many of the local people what shells were found in these waters. 

After checking into our hotel, we went exploring around Kribi. Just past the town, we found the Falls of Lobe. Some young men there offered to give us a boat ride to get a better look at the falls, but their boats were dug-out canoes, so we respectfully declined.

After a day of exploring the country around Kribi, we returned to our hotel for a fabulous seafood dinner. The food and service were exceptional. You can see the ocean behind us.

This picture shows the restaurant part of the hotel. You can see how close it is to the water. It was wonderful to sit and watch the waves as we ate. 

This is the beautiful, empty beach by our hotel. This is paradise! 

We drove down a steep, rutted road to reach the fishing village of Londji. Here the people fish for their living. They use dug-out canoes, some with sails, to travel far out from shore to catch the larger fish. We are walking down the beach to the main part of the village.

This is the street that runs through the village of Londji. Notice the thatched roof on the house. The people were rather surprised to see four white missionaries walking around their village. We were asked why our church was not in Kribi or Edea. We told them that one day the church would be throughout Cameroun.

While in the village, Elder Mauclair bought two large fish called Dorade. Together the fish weighed almost 5 pounds. A woman cooked the fish over hot coals along with some plantains. Here the sunburned couples enjoy the meal. There were no plates, napkins, etc. We had to ask for forks. Thank goodness we had our own water and glasses. The people searched to find four chairs for us to sit on. The fish was tender and delicious.

Meligui Serge received his mission call to the Ghana Accra Mission, English speaking. He is the first missionary to leave from the Bastos Branch for more than ten years. We are so thrilled for him.

Saturday May 27th was a very special day. Brother Odoumba baptized his wife. When he was baptized a few months ago, his wife was going to leave him. When the missionaries came to their home, she often looked sullen and disinterested. On the day of her baptism, she looked radiant and happy. The missionaries behind the Odoumbas are, from left to right, Elder Brown, Elder Aviles, Elder Anderson and Elder Wiberg.

Each Saturday the young men of the branch help clean the chapel, the porch, and the grounds so they will be ready for Sunday Services. They do a really good job under the direction of President Ndongo.

Teme Simplice, one of our very faithful members, was able to baptize his wife on May 13th. To celebrate Salome's baptism, the family invited the Badgers and the four elders to their home for a wonderful African meal. They even killed their big rooster and served him. The meal was delicious and was served on a beautiful white table cloth with china, glassware and napkins. Sister Badger says it was one of the best meals she has eaten since arriving in Africa.

This is Jean-Jacques, one of our guards, and his new bride that he brought back from the village. She is only 15 and does not speak French or English. They communicate by Patois (their own dialect from their village). This is our garage and the steps going up to our apartment.