Planet Hotel Douala

... once again, and I was sure it was lunches that were causing the problems. The ladies do their best, I don't fault them at all, but there seems to be something around here that is causing internal discomfort more frequently than it used to. It happens to the local people too; they just have to live with it. It's not often that we would pray for someone with Typhoid Fever in the West, but I've had to do it here ...

... s in my honor), greens sauce and hot sauce, and a glass of wine. Alcohol of any kind is a luxury most people can't afford here. So where there is a chance, which is rare, many people love to have a glass of beer or wine with a meal. (In fact, folks who don't share our beliefs love to have many glasses of wine or beer...) I told Mr. Mabout to only serve one glass of wine per person, so people wouldn't get any more sleepy than usual in the ...

... scheduled to begin. I chatted with several members and got my laptop and projector set up and ready. Moïse gave a sermonette and trusting God: "Seek the Lord While He May be Found", and then I gave some announcements. There was to have been special music but the singer had fallen ill. We moved right into the sermon. I again spoke on the chronology of the crucifixion week and used the PowerPoint presentation ...

... know how one celebrates those occasions, right?" he hinted. I knew where he was heading, but I didn't want to go there. -The right way to celebrate religious holidays is with prayer" I told him with a straight face. -Yes, yes, of course, but after you pray... He made the motion of tipping a bottle up straight. -I'm convinced God doesn't want us to celebrate religious holidays by drinking a lot... He didn't like this line of conversation and got ...

... to get to have a look at the way people live here; it's hard to imagine for those of us who've grown up in the West. Before heading out Daniel and Cindy brought their luggage to my room, since we'd only keep the one room until evening (there is a supplement to be paid to keep a room until 7:00 pm), and we weren't sure they'd be back by the 12:00 checkout time. I worked on my laptop all morning, taking care of office work, and Bernard rested in preparation ...

... of the Bible, asking lots of questions as we went. Bernard spoke on understanding parables in the Bible. Later in the afternoon one of our longtime members came to me and said with a smile "do you think you're only helping the young people with your presentations? No, we adults are learning things we didn't know either! This is very good to have several days of classes like this." It's true that most of the Douala congregation that ...

... this trip, but it was worse this time. Still Cindy decided she preferred to come to the hall rather than rest at the hotel. Mr. Mabout met us at the hotel at 7:00 and we drove to the hall. We had our Christian Living class from 8:00 to 9:00, and then we distributed the camp T-shirts and took our camp photos. Next campers and staff walked down the dirt road (that leads to the hall from the blacktopped road) for about 5 minutes, to a level area of dirt where ...

... with an interested person, while I showed PowerPoint slides of the Youth Corps project in Jordan and Israel that ended earlier this month. They were able to see many of the historical sights we visited in the holyland, and I explained what happened at each site. After that I showed a video update of church activity in the francophone world during 2007. It included scenes of the congregation in Douala and the Feast of ...

... at the airport and back in the security area at 7:15. We waited. I left my three traveling companions at the hotel, since there was no need for them to come and sweat this out. To kill time I started reading the notices posted on the walls. There was the code of justice written in "français facile" (simple French). It took several posters. There were memorandums and instructional documents from various ministers. One I found interesting was from the ...

... we would all sit in the business class lounge and have a coffee. Actually Daniel and Cindy had to share. I offered to pay for an extra coffee, but the waiter said we couldn't pay - we could only use the voucher I had been given for two drinks only.... The 737 left on time and the flight to Douala lasted about 2 ½ hours. About 20 people disembarked in Douala, the rest were going on to Nairobi. I had been told and had called to verify before leaving that entry visas were now ...