The container has arrived

Ryan, the Church construction manager here in Kinshasa, lives in Provo and offered to bring items from the U.S. in the shipping container that was coming from his company because it would not be full. The items were gathered in December and shipped sometime after with expected delivery in March, 2014.

It never arrived, so trying to find a container bigger than an elephant proved to be difficult. It was tracked to a certain port but was not received there because the dockworkers were on strike so the ship went to another port and dumped it there.

It took weeks and weeks to find that much out and it proved to be a problem because the local that was ready to help it get through the challenging process of having a container cleared had to have it land in the first port. So it has taken almost four months to locate, beg, borrow, and bribe to get the container released. It arrived this week and Ryan delivered two boxes yesterday. We were expecting the plastic tub Janine had prepared but we also received a box from Wayne and Julie and their children. We opened both and were so thankful for the efforts of Janine and Ralph as well as Juli and Jen and others in the Gale family, oatmeal (much needed), floss, and many things like that. Wonderful CD's with great music to listen to and the richest of chocolate. We will be the hit (we hope) around Thanksgiving if the pumpkin pies materialize as well as cranberry sauce for "turkey", more likely a big chicken (not quite ready to pay $45 for a 6 lb. turkey). The chocolate and nuts are always in demand. Thank you Janine & Ralph.

The other box was a surprise and a rather emotional unveiling. It was from Julie and Wayne Hardinger with a document recounting their experiences with life altering realities. It was an expression of emotions across the spectrum. How do you react when you are told that you will die and it will be within a very short period of time? The personal perspective ended in December because the box was delivered to Ryan to be put with the other things. With all the world-altering experiences they were going through they were so thoughtful and loving to gather wonderful items that will make our lives more enjoyable here in Kinshasa.

The sadness comes from the fact that the box took longer to get here than the cancer took to extinguish the mortal probation of Wayne. We didn't have a chance to thank him personally but I'm sure Julie had a lot to do with the wonderful assortment of goodies like chocolate chips and dried whole eggs. We are making many cakes for PEF loan holders when they make a $100 payment to reduce their debt, so dried eggs will come in handy. The family picture is a treasure, thanks to all who helped and shared time and means. Tears were shed. These experiences make me want to be better so I can live eternally with family members that have made a major impact on my life.

Thank you family,

Elaine & Mark

Couples Conference

The couples from the mission gathered to Kinshasa for a conference. Half of the couples will be in another mission come July 1st when they change our boundaries. Two came from Cameroon, one from Pointe Noire in the other Congo, and one from Gabon. Names are Baileys, Colemans, Moodys, and Gates (the same one that is serving here; they were sent to Cameroon to fill in some gaps that exist with couples coming and going.)

Officially, July 1st the Brazzaville, Congo mission will take half our mission, all the countries outside of Kinshasa, DR Congo; leaving only Kinshasa and surrounding areas in the DRC for President and Sister Cook. The Cooks have been and are still on the road almost all the time trying to get things ready for the division. There will be no North Americans in the Kinshasa mission after July 1st except the senior couples.

We hosted the couples for meals that weekend and all three couples used the Bybee's recently vacated apartment as the "hotel". The official agenda started Monday morning, but all the couples were here from Saturday. Sunday we went to church together and then had a family home evening with all the couples.

Monday "the Smiths" were asked to discuss the topic of strengthening companionships. Since it was a rather short outline, we want to share the main bullet points: 1. "It is easier to love someone than to live with them." 2. "Love is a fantasy, living is work." Both of these quotes are from a movie called "Reversal of Fortune". The rest of the time was a discussion of how can one teach or help others to learn to work as part of the gospel. Enough of that.

Great lunch at Mission Home!

In the afternoon we were entertained by the Humanitarian missionary couple showing how to organize a maturation project. That evening was a "Family" meeting. A brother in the Church named Da Tarr shared his story of conversion and his life in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Kinshasa. He is an inspiration of faithfulness and dedication to his beliefs. He went through imprisonment, loss of jobs, family, death threats, etc. and remained faithful. He is suspect here in Kinshasa because he isn't a local and since he won't play the "sharing" mentality so expected here (the sharing mentality is if you have something - I want it - and you are obliged to give it to me).

Tuesday was mostly for the "out-of-towners" because the area support offices are here in Kinshasa and if the couples have concerns about the branches where they live/work they have to deal with a Church employee, so they needed to work things through with a real person not an email.

Tuesday afternoon we went out shopping for fabric, church distribution items, groceries, art at thieves market, and whatever could be fit into a short time. The evening we had movie night in our apartment with popcorn. 

Wednesday morning we went to visit the Bonobos. We left about 8:20 am and arrived after 10:00 am. The trip is one of those experiences that is typical here but not enjoyable in any way, trust me on this. These singes are considered the most "human" of all apes, but they still look like an ape and smell like animals. (The babies were cute, though.)

I never liked going to the zoo because of the smells there, so you might understand that this marathon was not my favorite "field trip." And to add insult to injury we have dozens of mosquito bites to prove the point.

We finished the day at the Mission Home and Thursday we returned to our assignment in the PEF office.

Frère Mutombo, our director, was in South Africa the week before this so we had a lot of catching up to do in the office. Not much was done while we were away so we have to dig in again.

We will be seeing big changes in PEF coming "Soon" - just like the shipping container that has many of our requests, needs and loving gifts from family expected in March is still "coming soon"!!! It is on a truck but they are demanding more money (again) before they will release it.

The ward we attend here in Kinshasa is called the Gombé Ward in the Kinshasa Stake. Missah Tarr was directing the choir and asked me to play the piano, it was a great experience, the choir sounded great, so each Sunday since I have been able to or asked to play the organ for Sacrament meeting. The only problem is that the chorister chooses the songs during Sunday School and lets me know 10 or 20 minutes before the meeting. It can be interesting.