Do I see.... in that picture?

Some of you have done double-takes and then emailed me regarding the photo above. It's true. It's us! You can kind of make me out on the side (holding a picture of the youngest member of the church in Cameroon who headed to the temple - Young Ndongo - son of the Yaounde Branch President) and Marc in the back row. We are here with our friends, many of the ward members and missionaries, in Yaounde, Cameroon. The picture was taken right before these members took off on a loooooong journey to get to the temple.

This is from the summer of 2005. Right after Marc and I got married (6 days after, to be exact) we ended up in Yaounde, Cameroon on the West Coast of Africa. I was there to collect data for my Masters' Thesis which was on Faith-based Organizations' (FBO) HIV/AIDS Prevention Efforts. Marc was started off his days as a devoted husband by following me there, learning French, and chillin'.

We had a awesome (okay, depends on when you asked me) 3 months there and although I was there for educational purposes, Marc and I typically feel like our days there were like a mission. Why? Because we spent so much time with the members there! We automatically had friends, a place to stay, and things to do. We lived about a 7 minute walk from the chapel and so Marc and I spent quite a bit of our spare time there. Too many stories to tell, of course, but since so many have sent us this link, asking us about our random appearance in a photo, I thought I'd finally address all preliminary questions!
No, this isn't so recent; it was the summer of 2005.
Yes, we knew all the members from Yaounde who went to the Aba, Nigeria temple.
No, we did NOT get to accompany them (we went to the coast of Cameroon for our few days of vacation while there at the same time that they were at the temple).
Yes, we did get to help them prepare for the temple by giving talks and chatting with members super-excitedly about what the temple is and how we got sealed there, and... everything! We were so excited for them!
Yes, we are totally enamored with the missionary couple who TRIED to accompany them to the temple (and prepared them much more than Marc and I did) but who got stopped at the border - the Badgers.
Yes, I think you should click on the link and read their story about accompanying the members on their first temple trip - it used to open up playing the hymn "Come, Come Ye Saints" but I don't think that works anymore -but it was very touching.
Yes, we got to see MAJOR missionary work going on there; baptisms practically every week of amazingly strong, happy people.
Yes, we feel so blessed to be living so much closer to temples here in the U.S. Although what faith-building experiences they had, plus great stories to tell!
Yes, we do miss all them SO much, and we can't wait to see them all again someday - whenever and where ever that may be.