We are not in Kansas anymore

They are ever "building" but never getting finished. There are hundreds of unfinished buildings in this city, Kinshasa. Some look like they were built in the "stone" age because of all the mold and dirt, not really a way of knowing. There has been one completion, the Hotel Bernice next to our compound. Some activity is seen in about ten buildings we pass every day but most are empty hulks. Some have one closed-in room with a laundry line strung from one corner to the other, we assume that a guard lives there but just a guess.

After a building is finished, the exterior is a perfect place to hang a billboard, some of them are massive. We have seen billboards taken down along Justice (an alternate way to the office), we were hoping that they had passed an ordinance to limit them but no, they replaced the old ones with bigger ones, I guess the views are not that great so why not make a buck.

  

The longer we are here the Place de la Gare looks better, no nothing has changed but we are seeing it as normal. At least the area has paved streets, sidewalks, street sweepers and police which do not exist in this sprawling city except police and they are everywhere.

  

We are officially participating in the implementation of the new PEF Self Reliance Program. The major change is that the stakes and wards have greater responsibility for the "management" of the program. The program uses computers and databases extensively making it challenging because so few have had any experience with computers, uploading, downloading, scanning, etc. as well as language barriers. Most of the population speak a dialect like Lingala or Swahili, and French is used in schools and offices. Women who work at home have limited experience with French making it difficult for them to understand what they need to do. So far progress is slow but Mark and Frere Mutombo are making progress on online registration. The Self-Reliance Center where we work is responsible for training the priesthood leaders and each stake is responsible for a Self Reliance Center in their own stake. We have been to three training sessions, one was called a Jobs Fair; the other two were meetings with the Priesthood leaders in six of the stakes instructing them how the new program works. I was the only female in two of the meetings for Priesthood, but where my companion goes there go I.

Self-Reliance Center Manager Russel addresses job fair crowd.

Our office is in the Seminary and Institute building and a larger building next to S&I is the chapel, the stake center for the Kinshasa Stake and the GB Ward where we attend. One day last week, Wednesday I think, we had all these missionary-looking youth coming into our building. I didn't see badges so no, they were not missionaries, but what a large group. The gathered in a room across the hall and started singing, typically what missionaries do, and they sang and sang for several hours. I asked an English-speaking person what was this gathering? They said that all the newly called missionaries from the Congo gathered to Kinshasa to get transport to Ghana for their two-week Missionary Training Center experience. Most of them are assigned to the Congo, either Kinshasa or Lubumbashi, and most of our missionaries come from Congo.

We have received help on our planting beds around the apartment. We asked that the soil be removed so no water buildup during the wet season. That was finished yesterday and hopefully we will be dry this year.

Mark joins Elder Gates and President Cook at basketball on Saturday morning with a lot of local kids. It is good for the kid in these three.

 We arrived a year ago August 6th, we just thought that we were fresh meat for the mosquitoes and had serious problems with them than but it improved somewhat during the wet season. Now we are having the same mosquito attack so it must be the dry season - these little "bugs" proves my theory that God had to create something that proves there must be opposition in ALL things, mosquitoes are at least one obstinate creature.

Chantal and Eric are French citizens that are in Kinshasa working for the church. They are great. We were invited to their house for Roclette a unique dinner using a tabletop barbecue. It is hard to describe but hopefully Mark has a picture. Included in this meal; cheese, small potatoes, cold cuts, spices, I forget what else. You assemble your choices in a little ceramic tray, insert into the Roclette and wait until the cheese bubbles.

We had a Sunday fireside with President and Sister Cook. With the changes occurring with the split in the Mission, the Kinshasa mission got part of the Lubumbashi mission. These areas are on the edge of civilization, one on the coast call Matadi, quite remote. In the other direction, to the Northeast to an area called Kisangani, a large city of 1.5 million people. President with his assistants, Sister Cook and Bishop Ngoy went and in four days, baptized 31 people out of 50 that wanted baptism. Some had some problems to resolve before they could be baptized. The pictures were amazing. They had three performing the baptisms, one in French, one in Lingala and one in Swahili. They did the same with the confirmation. They filled the Sabbath with this baptism service. They want to send missionaries and possibly with a couple but it will take a bit of time to get it all organized mainly because it is hard to find apartments that meet the requirements for missionary housing.

We try to encourage students to faithfully make their monthly payment which is usually only $5. Some of the recipients want to pay off the loan so they pay $100. When that happens, we treat them to a cake. Celestin is the recipient of one.