Update from Gamboula

Hi all!

Well, here we are - in the bush in the Central African Republic! Wow, what a whirlwind of a trip this has been thus far.  Let's see if I can take you through some highlights.

Paris
- Got my french baguette (that was on the checklist)
- 3 hour delay on the flight (they figured they didn't want to send us up in a plane that wasn't working so had to prep a new one), but we eventually made it to Cameroon and had a man there waiting for us

Cameroon
- Stayed in a lovely compound up on a hill that overlooks part of a city of several million people
- Went for a walk down Yaounde's main road, and I think both Josh and I understand a little bit better what the term "culture shock" is.  More on that some other time.
- Went on a 2 hour taxi tour of the city, and got a better picture of what it was like.  Highlights included the memorial representing the unification of Northern and Southern Cameroon, and the view from a hilltop monastery over the whole city
- Marshal and Hannah arrived safely, and we were able to get to know them a little bit before continuing on to Gamboula

Gamboula
- Took a sweet 5-seater single prop plane over miles of true rainforest to land on a dirt, weed-covered runway in on the western border of CAR (Gamboula).  Needless to say, landed in one piece
- Met the doctors and other missionaries here, who are all lovely couples, and have been wholeheartedly welcomed and are being fed just like at home (except for some weird stuff, like peanut butter and jam fruit, which actually tastes like that)
- Have been welcomed by the community and into the hospital life as well.  We have enjoyed our past few days doing our various rotations in emergency (Matthew), surgery/internal medicine (Joshua), maternity (Hannah), and pediatrics (Marshal).  Infectious diseases and malnutrition dominate the emergency room, and there are deliveries every day.  We look forward to settling in a bit more and learning more about medicine here.
- We have toured a local agricultural school and a garden, which were absolutely amazing . . . hundreds of kinds of fruit and nut trees that are being tested for compatibility in this climate.  Ate some aforementioned peanut butter and jelly fruit, and the others were brave enough to try a couple other not-so-tastely named fruits.

I could go on, but I think I'll leave the update there for now.  We are off soon to a pizza night with the missionaries, and barring stepping on any snakes or falling into termite mounds, it should be a wonderful evening.  God bless you all, and thank you so much for your prayers.

Matt & Josh