Thanksgiving in Cameroon

We had a relatively quiet Thanksgiving this year. Since most of the American LDS missionaries have left Yaounde, we had invited only Elder and Sister Hanks, the new couple missionaries in Yaounde, to join our Thanksgiving feast. It was great to have surrogate grandparents for the holidays. Thinking the group would be too small, we decided to also invite our household staff and their families. This turned out to be a great idea and a good way to show our thanks to them.

Nellie is the first housekeeper we hired last year. She was in our branch (before the branch split) and brings a sweet spirit into our home. Her English is improving faster than our French, but communicating can still be a challenge. She is married and has a two-year old and the whole family came over for Thanksgiving dinner. Once Stacey returned with Ivy, Nellie became the morning nanny for Ivy and Elijah while Stacey teaches the big boys at home. Elijah adores her, and I think she has fun jumping on the trampoline, playing with toys, and even trying out the Nintendo! Nellie is expecting a second baby in January, and we'll miss her while she's out for a few months.

Solomon is our gardener. Solomon is single, (and looking!) and came to our dinner alone. He's also in our branch, and we hired him more out of pity than anything else. He has had a very rough life, most recently by being the victim of a vicious attack with a machete, splitting his head, shoulder and hand very seriously. But Solomon has earned his keep, helping Jeff keep up the vegetable garden, keeping our yard clean and trim, and keeping an extra set of eyes on the boys, who tend to sneak outside every chance they get. A few months ago, Solomon announced that he got his driver's license. We were skeptical, because getting a driver's license rarely has anything to do with drving ability. But Jeff took him on a test drive and was impressed. Solomon clearly had experience driving a standard transmission in the crazy traffic of Yaounde. So now Solomon takes our 25-year old Toyota Tercel out on errands and helps keep it running. We've increased his hours and pay to full time, and now wonder how we could live here without him.

Odelia is our new hire. She was working for another Embassy family who left about the time we returned to Yaounde. We decided that if Stacey was going to have the time to continue teaching Noah and Caleb at home, we would need someone to help with the small ones, and someone else to do the cleaning. So we hired Odelia. She is a middle-aged widow with grown children, and like a mother hen she has quickly taken over the leadership of the house. She is from the Anglophone part of Cameroon, so she speaks great English. She helps us communicate with Nellie and Solomon and has helped us to avoid some potentially embarrassing misunderstandings. She's been doing housekeeping for American families for a long time, and she is VERY good. She also enjoys the kids (which is really good since they are the cause of all her work). We had a hard time convincing her that she should just sit and enjoy the meal (instead of helping serve, clear dishes, etc.) But she did say that she loves turkey!

Elder and Sister Hanks are a retired couple from Las Vegas, now serving as missionaries in Yaounde. They arrived in August and we've already had a lot of good times with them. They inspire us as they work hard to learn French and have already surpassed us. The boys love playing games with them, and Jeff has enjoyed working with Sister Hanks in Primary and in the choir. We're so glad that there are people willing to give up so much to serve so far away and in such challenging circumstances. If they had the time, we'd invite them over for dinner every night!

The feast was a great meal with turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, jello and cranberry sauce. Sister Hanks brought wonderful potatoes, a delicious salad, and helped save the gravy. Stacey baked enough pumpkin, pecan, and banana crean pies for a 2:1 person to pie ratio, which is perfect for Thanksgiving. There were few leftovers. We hope that our guests felt how grateful we are for them and the way they've blessed our lives here.

We missed our families, and felt grateful for all of them, too. Hope you all had a great holiday!