Dear Melissa,

One of the most amazing things about this mission is the amount of collaboration and cooperation we have with the local Christians, pastors, government officials, and even those of differing religions. Today we went to pay a courtesy visit of respect to the local Lamado or Muslim leader & chief keeper of the Gizega customs. We entered his courtyard and we all piled out of the van towards a large outdoor hut that was partially open to the air – honestly, it looked like a hut you would find at a Caribbean resort selling frozen drinks. In the hut, the floor was covered with sand, and a few rugs were on top of that, there were a giant puffy velour sofa & 2 matching green puffy armchairs. The Lamado was seated in one & his court of other men was on the ground. They were all wearing the special Muslim skullcap. Our leaders were led to the sofas & the rest of us removed our shoes & sat on the ground. The women had to cover up their feet so that no skin showed at all. Our leader John got up & made a big speech about how we had come to help the spiritual development of the people & that we had a movie about Isa (the Arabic name for Jesus – they actually have respect for Jesus).This was all translated by our Jesus Film leader here in Cameroon, in to the Gizega language. John complimented him on his country & people & told him that we both had similar goals in the spiritual development of the people & to preserve his tribal language. He also told him that we were people who respected all religions & glad for the work he was doing. We gave him his own copy of the film & the Injil (what they call the New Testament) & requested the honor of his presence at a showing. Then John asked to introduce our team. He asked use each to stand & say our name, occupation, & where we were from. In English, John reminded us to not look the Lamado chief directly in the eye, but to look off to the side as we spoke.

Finally, the Chief Lamado spoke. Through the translator he gave us an official welcome to his home & province. He said that he knew the work we were doing was good & was especially happy that his language would now be preserved & that we would all carry the knowledge of it & his people back – all across Europe & American where we had come from. He then gave us an invitation to a feast at his home, a great honor & John accepted on our behalf. We are going on Monday. Now that will be something. We are all trying to practice to make sure we don’t make any huge cultural faux pas.