an African Thanksgiving...{ *and the REAL bushbuck! a bonus sidenote for the Molitors* }

In Gamboula, we celebrated Thanksgiving on Saturday with a huge crowd of missionaries. For various reasons, it worked out that a whole bunch of people were either in town or were passing through for different reasons, and we loved having the weekend of celebrating together--making food, eating, playing sports, singing and sharing the things we are all most thankful for.

Look how many of us there were!

See the huge bowl of stuffing John and I made? Stuffing is my favorite Thanksgiving food (except, maybe, pie), so I always like to ensure that there will be enough of it.

It just so happened that some of the people at the Gamboula center bought live turkeys just the week before Thanksgiving. They are pretty crazy to look at up close!

Sam enjoyed seeing his friend Charlie (Charlotte), who recently moved to Gamboula with her parents Josh and Lori. Sam likes her so much, in fact, that he told me, "I want to give Charlie my blanket." That, believe me, is quite an offer coming from Sam who dearly loves his blankie!

Here's Kim cutting the turkey, which a couple of guys drove a great distance to buy in Cameroon:

Carl, Sam, Adam, Kim and Luke enjoying the feast:

A nice Thanksgiving picture of one of the people I am most thankful for!

And now, the bonus for all Molitors. Do you remember the hours we spent playing "Bushbuck" as kids? Of course you do, I know. What fond memories. But until now, I didn't even realize the bushbuck was an animal! We got to see and hold one that our young friend Timote has been taking care of. The little one's mother was killed by a hunter, so he needs some special care until he old enough to look out for himself:

John is 4 now!

Early in the morning of his fourth birthday, John came racing into our bedroom ready to start his special day, which he had been looking forward to for so long. We are so thankful to God for giving us four years with our loving, active little boy! We started off the day with a special breakfast, then we got in the car to head to Gamboula where we would celebrate John's birthday and, the following day, Thanksgiving.

Once in Gamboula, the boys had fun biking with Louisa in the garden of Eden, and searching for ripe fruit (we found bananas, but they weren't ripe yet...and starfruit, which is tasty even when it is green!)

John got plenty of presents from missionaries who work at the Gamboula hospital and center; here he is with Jan and the frisbee she gave him:

John does love helping in the kitchen, so he didn't mind helping me cut up bread for stuffing for our Thanksgiving celebration that would be the next day.

 And he and Louisa enjoyed helping make the birthday cake  brownies!

In the evening, we ate a spaghetti dinner in the kitchen of the guest house where we and Zubots were staying.

Then John blew out his candles and we enjoyed brownies and pumpkin ice cream (being that it was the Thanksgiving holiday, after all)

 Happy fourth birthday John! We love you so much!

a wonderful week with friends

We had a great week-long visit from our friends Jessica, Anya and Peter. Ken (Jessica's husband) had to stay in Bangui to work with translation teams, but we had so much fun with the rest of the Olson family.

Jessica and Ken were our friends back in Dallas, and we have known each other since all of us were single. To spend time with them in our African home was very special. We're thankful they came all the way from their home in France to spend a week of their lives with us in Berberati!

John and Anya on one of our roadtrip adventures 

Reading with Peter and Sam

Good friends, happy to be together again...

Waiting at the Berberati airstrip for the airplane that will fly the Olsons back to Bangui 

making friends...and the friend who brings milk

Little by little I am making friends in my new home (if I can still call it a "new home" after nearly a year of living here). Friendship-building doesn't happen quickly, and I am finding that I also have to be flexible in my definition of what a friend is.

But gradually, as I spend more time with people around me, the events of life (the planned and the inevitable) happen, and we are together in them. And I find myself beginning to think of this person or that person as "my friend" instead of just "someone I know." It might be washing clothes together, singing and playing music, or crying together at a funeral. But there will be moments where I realize, I'm actually becoming friends with this person.

It's nice. At the same time, I already feel a pang of sadness when I think, "Now, I will be sad to leave this place, too. Because I'll be sad to leave my friends here." That's always the hard part...

But not to turn a good thing (friends) into a melancholy thought (leaving them).

Instead, I'll introduce you to one lady I'm becoming friends with. She is a cheerful and beautiful Fulani lady. Our relationship began when someone told her I was longing to find REAL milk for us to drink, instead of powdered milk. She started coming by our house to sell me bottles of milk from her family's herd of cows. Once we managed to communicate about me wanting fresh milk, as in "milked this morning," rather than the fermented milk they prefer to drink, we had a great business relationship going.

Now, when she comes over, we usually visit for a bit, sometimes over a cup of coffee (with milk in it, of course!) She is teaching me a few phrases in her language, Fulfulde. She smiles all the time, but in general gets this despondent, side-glancing look on her face for photos. It's a cultural thing here, but I really try to overcome it because I like seeing people's natural selves in pictures. I finally got her to smile for a picture...you wouldn't believe how many somber shots there were before I finally got her to show her lovely smile:

before...

after...

See? Doesn't the second photo give you a much better impression of the sweet, fun lady that she is? I know. I have told her I really want to go see her, her family and her cows out where they live. She's told me it is a long way out...apparently wayyyyyy off the beaten path. But she is someone I hope to get to know better, and hopefully continue to have a relationship that grows ever more meaningful as we become part of one another's lives.

Meanwhile, we enjoy the milk. The boys ask me, "Mama, can we have real milk from the cow today?" They too, prefer the real thing. And sometimes we make yogurt...and then yogurt cheese...and then yogurt cheesecake from it...Very nice.

The Latest Bible Translation Stats

·         Scripture exists in 2,804 of the world’s 6,874 languages (last year: 2,696 of 6,837).

·         Wycliffe organizations have assisted in the translation of 826 New Testaments and 35 complete Bibles in 795 languages (last year: 781 NT, 27 B, 749 languages).

·         239 million people, speaking 2,026 languages, still have no Scripture at all (last year: 350 million people speaking 2,040 languages)

·         1,495 active language programs with Wycliffe involvement; 512 further known projects.