Last days of the mission

Post Smith Congo Adventure

We arrived home two weeks ago from Kinshasa, DR Congo. We have been making the rounds to car dealers and doctors and dentists and are pleasantly surprised. So far there are no surgeries in our futures but we have received treatments, Mark for skin spots, a dental crown and he has yet get a physical, but my post-mission physical was very positive especially when the doctor said that I returned smaller than when I left.

The car issue is still unresolved but hopefully Janine, my sister-in-law, will get her car back soon (She has loaned her car to us to get around).

A short recap of the last four weeks in Kinshasa, there had been so many interruptions in our work at the Self-Reliance Center because of the holidays but more so because the “tradition” of going on holiday from middle of December to middle January. Most Kinshasans don’t go on holiday but many take their leave-days at the end of the year. There was also a South East Africa Area Training that took all of the Seminary and Institute personnel and the Self Reliance Directors (unfortunately the Missionary Couple was not invited) to South Africa the second week of January. We were left to “keep things going” but not able to pass on the procedures that had been used. Mark was able to train the office assistants to do some of the phone contacts with PEF students as well to get new loans through the application phase. Another wrinkle, the last day was a National Holiday celebrating the assassination of the previous “President” of the Congo something to be celebrated because the current regime resembles the previous one. The current President Kabila is an adopted son of the previous dictator. Most of the people don’t have a great love for either of them but not “honoring the dead” could be cause for government backlash. Officially the holiday was Friday but the employees had to be compensated for a workday, so they took Thursday afternoon, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday off. That did give us some time to pack suitcases, trying to be sure that none of them weighed over 50 pounds each. We had less to bring home than we took and some things that we were advised to bring were packed back up and returned untouched. There were phones and keys and a truck that had to be handed over to someone but who was available? Because there were so many employees still on leave, Thierry, the Human Resources Director also acting as transportation Supervisor was assigned the task. He got back from a trip to Cameroon at 1:00AM Friday morning and he was responsible to get the Smiths on the plane at 12:00 PM. We were scheduled to leave on a 12:00 PM flight so Mark arranged a meeting place in Thierry’s part of town, Masina, near the airport. He said to drive on the “new Japanese Road” by one “robot” (the French rhymes with "rowboat") and stop at the second “robot” and he would meet us there and take us to the airport, receive the items that belonged to the Church and get us through the “check-in” process in Kinshasa. We were unable to find any “robot” traffic regulator. After we passed three traffic lights, Thierry called and said that we had gone too far and had left him behind at the second robot. (He did not have a car, so he has to hop on a transport to get where we were waiting.) Not a good time to learn that the Kinshasans called traffic light “robos”. This was confusing because there are actual robots used as traffic lights in Kinshasa - see the picture. We pulled over and waited for Thierry to get some transportation to where we were stopped. 

We had made one trip to South Africa early in the mission so we had some experience and knew what to expect. Mark took charge and was able to get all flights connected and got the luggage check from Kinshasa to Salt Lake City. He received a great deal of help from an officer of the airport who happens to be an older brother of Christian Mavinga, an S&I employee that we interacted with daily because our office was in the S&I building.  He is not a member of the Church but he was most helpful. He shepherded Mark through the bag check-in, through customs and whatever else they required and the “Soeur” sitting “over there” until “we” are finished. I gladly sat and let the process proceed. Mark has a lot of fun talking to anyone in French and a little Lingala as well as English so he was entertained while he waited. The brother arranged to us to go to the VIP lounge, not one like in Western airports but it was air-conditioned and free drinks like water and sodas.

As they loaded the plane with the non-VIP passengers we were still sitting in the VIP lounge. “Don’t worry, we will get you to the plane before it leaves. “To get to the plane, you take a bus for some distance to the plane and I “knew” that there would not be any places for our carry-on bags because Congolese tend to “exceed” the one-only-carry-on policy. Great surprise, there was ample bin space and plenty of empty seats which made the flight from Kinshasa to Johannesburg the best of the five.

We made our way to the International terminal in South Africa and waited maybe 30 minutes to board the 777 Boeing Delta flight to Atlanta, Georgia, a seventeen-hour flight. The flight was “full” with a few empty but not in the economy class. We were able to “nap” some but with seats next to the toilet, rest was “catch as catch can. They do know how to make such a long flight bearable with a schedule that did allow a good eight hours uninterrupted “lights out” time. The only problem with the flight, the “East” winds were forcing the craft to go farther north and east before landing in Atlanta. Because of the “wind” delay, we were not able to retrieve the checked bags to go through customs and get them on the next flight, we watched the flight pull back from the gate. Our bags missed the flight as well but made it to the next nonstop to Salt Lake City at 10:30 am but there were no seats for the two stranded passengers. After an hour and a half phone call to Delta we were re-scheduled to fly to Minneapolis to get a flight from Minneapolis to Salt Lake. Delta commonly overbooks flights so with the explanation that “everybody wants to go West” it being a “holiday” weekend (Martin Luther Day).  Basically they were saying if you want to get to Salt Lake City today this is your choice, we were fortunate to have an option. We arrived in Salt Lake City with beautiful blue skies and snow-capped mountains. Most of the trip had been nothing to see except Midwest farms or clouds. What a beautiful welcome home. I know what you may be thinking, there was a terrible inversion going on in Utah, but not that day and we had been in “serious” inversion for 18 months. Our two-day and forty-hour plane trip was over.

We exited the plane, took our carry-on with us and headed to the exit. There at the bottom of the escalators was a group of loved ones welcoming us home, Ralph, Janine, Juli, Jen, Kim, Mike, Donavan, Kastli, Blake, Stephanie, Coy, Keeley, and Julie Hardinger. It was so good to be home. Our luggage made the 10:30 am flight so it had all been gathered from the baggage area waiting for the “road-weary” travelers. Julie provided the chariot for our final leg of the trip, from the airport to home.

During the drive down I-15, Julie was able to share some of the tender mercies that she and her family had received with the life-altering experience of the diagnosis and death of Wayne from colon cancer.

As we arrived at our house, signs on the front door and in the lawn welcomed us home. All had been readied for our return by many of the family that met us as the airport, cleaning, washing, and providing food and meals. It is good to be home.

Only one uninvited guest came with us, a virus, could have been one of the flights had some bad air or it could have been a final gift from the Congo.

Would we do it again? Sure but not today.

44 days and counting

Oh, to be 44 again.

The magic number changes every day. Today it stands at 44 days, but unlike years accumulating this number will diminish until zero. Then one phase of life ends and hopefully a new phase begins immédiatement somewhere between Africa and The United States. The only thing we know about the U.S. is that gas is cheaper than last summer and it is winter.

Thanksgiving was celebrated by a great group of missionaries and expats from various points of the compass, Papa Norman, our local celeb, Larry Stuver, Granas Family, (Nilza, Edouardo, Martha, Anna) Eric and Chantal (can't even remember their last name let alone spell it), the Delisle Family, (John, Manon, Anne Sophie), Smiths, Sneddons, Johnsons, Cooks, and Hamiltons, and Ted Neilson (here today, gone tomorrow Church employee).

The food was as American as you can get here with many ingredients hand carried from the States by many caring people like Ryan who spent his Thanksgiving with family in Provo. Turkey was close to real but a local "product" from Turkey (seriously) and baked in ovens that resembled stoves from the early 1950s. Sister Sneddon loves Thanksgiving so gave it her all with mashed potatoes, stuffing, canned cranberry sauce, homemade rolls, butter, sweet potatoes, salads and pumpkin pies made with the real Libby's. I made them, and they looked good but the crust didn't stick to the filling or vice versa.

There was enough whipped cream to cover any of the flaws. Other desserts were presented because pumpkin pie is really a "local" (American) dessert.

 

We did the "What I am thankful for over the past year in three minutes or less". Elder Hamilton and his wife spent more than a week with the Saints here in Kinshasa visiting every stake, exhausting.

We are now into December, the 4th already and the tasks seem to be accelerating as time grows short.

I got a puzzle from Janine & Ralph, a good hard one. I don't know when to cry "uncle". I don't want it to be the conditional reason that I have to stay until it is finished, just don't know how long I can see it on the table half finished. I hoped I could finish before Christmas but don't know how it will get done.

Mark is remarkable with all he does in the office and trying to "counsel" with cops who stop us whenever they perceive an infraction of the "law". We usually "relax" as we drive to church because the police don't show up for work on Sunday until well after 9:00 AM but Sunday Mark failed to turn on his blinker to turn left, so who should appear from behind the billboard and park his "bike" in front of the truck and wag his finger - the local enforcer. He demanded the driver's license, then said, "This is a copy, I want the original".

"No, we have been advised not to hand over the original because you take it and won't give it back until you extract money from my wallet." John Delisle passed us and smiled because we witnessed John getting the very same treatment at the same intersection the day before. Our "Only in the Congo" list grows, experience doesn't make you smarter or more savvy that you "learn" how to avoid these stops - I guess white skin is just too tempting, talk about profiling.

Friday Sister Sneddon invited all to Thanksgiving leftover soup, very good.

It was inevitable I guess, something went amiss with some food ingested or some germ from a dark place. Oh, what a night and a day and a night. If I had the means I would have chartered a plane and returned home to avoid dying in Kinshasa. Bad stuff. It hasn't completely stopped and now it appears that Mark may be afflicted with the same "problem".  Remember 44 is the magic number.

Any ideas how to use a lot of cocoa in the next 44 days? I'm out of ideas. Or for that matter, how to use a lot of dry beans?

Hope Christmas has real meaning to all.

Thanksgiving Week

Monday started early, 5 a.m., and the rain was light and gentle. When it rains here, the reactions vary from panic to hysteria among the pedestrians and especially drivers. Traffic is bad normally but on a rainy day locals drive their cars like pedestrians, rushing to and fro to avoid the rain, speeding, ignoring traffic cops and frenetic honking as if they don’t want their vehicles to get wet. They don’t stop for pedestrians caught out in the middle of the rain. Two hours later the rains are getting really serious and now I’m worried that our “pond” is full and spilling into our living space. My favorite rainy activity is to mop up flood waters.

Yesterday we attended Stake Conference. All the stakes in the South East Africa Area met in their own buildings to participate in a South-East Africa Area Conference. The message was a digital conference with the messages being produced in Salt Lake City and transmitted on disk to each stake for a one-time only showing. Elder Gay, Sister Jean A. Simmons, Elder Bednar and President Uchtdorf were the speakers. It was very specific to the needs of the members and leaders in this area discussing cultural issues that have hampered the spiritual growth of the members such as “bride price”, entitlement mentality, “we are poor”, you, the Church, are rich so the tithing should be coming from the church to us. If needs be we will take a job with the Church so the money can flow to us. Each talk reminded the members that they are responsible - not the Church and President Uchtdorf stated plainly, “the bride price” must end. There were other specific charges for the members that were so plainly stated that it will be interesting to learn what the members’ reactions were.

The expats were able to listen to the “Stake Conference” in English so afterward, Sister Johnson wanted a picture of her with the other expat sisters because it was her birthday.

The rainy season can be really hot but the rain acts as a great swamp cooler. One morning through the partly cloudy sky the sun came up with great color, even clear enough to see the blue sky also. Worth a picture or two.

We have two Fast Sundays left, time is flying by (mostly.)

As part of the Kinshasa Stake Conference, President Eustache Ilunga asked me to conduct a three-hour session on Saturday with the stake and ward auxiliary leaders. Well three hours sounded like a long time for someone that doesn’t speak French well. I thought that it would be all right because if I prepared for an hour, it would take another hour for the interpreter to translate it. We decided to have three groups discuss what each auxiliary could do to help the children, young women, and mature women to understand what they need to learn and do to be able to enjoy the blessings of the temple; that would take another 45 minutes, so I held out hope that they would cancel my part, but to no avail. With Mark’s help I tried to read some of it in French but what you really want to happen is to create interaction, so Missah Tarr, a graduate of the University of Utah and a Liberian, was my translator. Good experience but a relief to have over. I refrained from taking pictures because I thought it inappropriate, so I will treasure the mental pictures.

Sister Sneddon’s favorite holiday is Thanksgiving so we are having a full scale dinner late evening. I get to do the pies. I don’t know when we will have the time to do it all and still show up to the office because it is not a holiday in Kinshasa - but we will give it a go. An eight-pound turkey costs about $45 and I hear they are doing four of them. I will return and report the outcome.

Counting our Blessings

The past few months have been similar to the previous 14 months so how many stories can one write about the "police", the unfinished buildings, the bad roads, the torrential rains yada yada. Well things are changing at least for us. the couple-count is down to three (in order of "longevity") Smiths, Sneddons and Johnsons. President and Sister Cook have a different length but will be leaving July 1. There is only one couple scheduled to come in March

When we arrived the Smiths ("one") were the "senior" senior couple and had 6 months left. Now we are the senior Seniors finishing in 10 weeks with much left to do.

I have been asked to organize the Auxiliary training for the Kinshasa Stake in conjunction with the Stake Conference November 22 and 23. The task didn't seem overwhelming at the time, but I'm getting a little nervous about trying to meet the needs of eighty French/Lingala speaking sisters when I having a hard time saying bonjour.

Mission trivia:

The massive unfinished building across the plaza from this apartment has a new corrugated metal fence. It was shiny aluminum; good, I thought, something different. But when we got back from the office, the fence was painted Kinshasa blue. Now remember this fence is rather long. I would estimate its length to be 10 good Provo blocks long and it was put up and painted in 3 or 4 days. Something is happening here. Rumors attribute the "action" to rich "East Indians" that live in East Africa. They were purported to have started the project 8 years ago and some "partners" sold space but left the country with the money, not unusual. Now they are going to "finish" the building.

Because two apartments were closed we now have a clothes washer that works, a stove that doesn't smoke, an extra fridge (each is smaller by half than our one at home) and plants from the Bybees, three are orchids. Hope one blooms before we go.

We finally got to the "bottom" of our flooding flower beds. We had the soil removed during the dry season hoping that would solve our problem with water coming inside the apartment. A torrential rain proved that something else was causing the problem. When I saw river rock under the soil, I said that the ingenious drain system was plugged with a "rock". "No, we have to drill a hole in the concrete," they said. The removed the rocks and voilà a drain with something blocking the water flow. Only problem was the rock was stuck and could not be moved. Hope the rains stay down in Africa.

Three of office assistants have been released and three new ones have started. Because of the policy of limited contracts (three months) there is a lot of training going on. They are getting it just about the time they leave.

We miss the Gates who are now doing Grandparent duty helping with their grandson AJ at the Proton Medical Institute in Jacksonville, FL.

Mark has discovered portable modems for our internet and for our local WiFi - an inexpensive alternative to hard wire.

We are blessed to get to know so many great people that call Kinshasa their home. Not an easy place for them. One brother is building a home for his family of 11. We had lost power and were waiting around for the generator to be turned on. I asked him if he was installing a generator at his new house. "No," he said, "...too expensive and the fuel costs would be impossible to afford." They have power two to three hours a day or every other day depending. They try to take what they are given and do the best they can. Some just do a better job because they trust in the Lord and do all that they can to help themselves.

Mark is usually able to handle most of the vagaries of life here but on our way home we were in front of a Mercedes Bus that has a fog-horn horn that was used to let us know that he was there even though the traffic was at a stand-still and nowhere to go. He says, "Would they understand the gesture if I raised one finger, the way they do it in New York?" It was enough to break the tension that always exists when one is on the road in Kinshasa.

We made pizza for the office staff because it was Alex's last day. We made three large pizzas thinking that would feed 7 of us. But oops, someone forgot to tell the Smiths that the other call center for ldsjobs.org would be joining us, so we fed an additional 6 people. This is something that most of them had not eaten at least the way we make them. I guess it was good because there wasn't any left over.

We have had frequent visits from area and general authorities the last while. Bishop Stevenson, the Church Presiding Bishop came and met with the missionaries as well as with Church employees. Today Elder Hamilton of the SE Africa Area was in town and he will be returning around Thanksgiving for a special broadcast to all the stakes in Kinshasa. We all wonder what it might be about.

We still try to entertain ourselves with some cooking adventures. Today it was a pie. Recently we tried making Zucchini cake, cracked wheat bread, and a berry pie.

We went through the de-worming routine hoping that our stomachs would feel better, not sure yet.

And Ebola, maybe it is good that we will be traveling to South Africa to get a flight back home because there is little air traffic from "the Horn" of Africa where the epidemic is raging to South Africa. Hope so, don't want to spend 21 days in quarantine unless we are confined to our house, wonderful thought.

Ever changing

I think that this subject has been explored before, but it is a period of change again.

The changes taking place presently are the same as previous changes just different faces. The Gates were called to serve as Construction Missionaries to work with the Church's program to train members to develop skills to help build the numerous buildings contracted as well as future plans because membership is growing about a ward a month in this mission, most of the growth is in and around Kinshasa. Elder Gates taught two groups of students and was planning on a third group before their release but with the changes to their program becoming part of the Self Reliance program, there wasn't a third group. The Gates have taken temporary assignments like three weeks in Cameroon, Mission office, possibility of Kisangani which didn't happen, and other tasks like nets for the basketball court (concrete) near the chapel. They have dedicated hours and hours as well as thousands of dollars to improve conditions in an orphanage out on the edge of the city. This is the orphanage that was flooded last Christmas. The Gates along with Westland Construction (contractors for Kinshasa Temple) have rebuilt the housing area, a wall that will protect the property from flooding, new toilets, excavated the courtyard so the water will not get trapped and flood it again. To make the neighbors happy, they constructed a path along the new wall for them to get to their property. They have dedicated a lot of time and love to make their lives a little better. They received some information about departure and it looks like they may be leaving soon, October 7, 2014. Well we have mixed feelings, happy that they can return to loved ones in North Carolina and California but they will be missed.

This comes shortly after the departure of Bybees and before that the Moons - each leaves a void socially and spiritually.

The "body" count is likely to diminish further also. We know of no new couples assigned to our mission. It looks like the mission may have to close two couple apartments - a lot of work for the mission office. That is the bad news, the good news is that some of the furnishings from the Bybee's apartment is going elsewhere, we got two large plants and a painting from the Bybee Apartment, they are beautiful and remind us of them. The other good part is that American helpers are training their coworkers who eventually replace them.

There is ongoing construction everywhere. We wish to report that one project close to our apartment has been completed and is open for business - A hotel called the Beatrice Hotel. We haven't been inside yet but they are still in the "shake-down" (or is it shake-out period, not sure which is right. Shake-down maybe is the method of business in Kinshasa). They have had some events but most of the time it is quiet, a unique building.

Another change is to the PEF data base. The administrative side of PEF was shut down and replaced with CRM. It has been challenging because the technology used to develop the program is light years ahead of the available technology in our office and available in the Congo, just loading one page can take minutes and it may take ten screens to navigate to the page you need. I haven't been cleared to "add" information to a student file (hard to understand why) so Frère Didier as Loan Service Specialist is stuck with all the paperwork (or is it data-work) not only for Kinshasa but for Lubumbashi, Kananga, and Madagascar. I have been able to help some students with their on-line application for PEF loans which is also time-consuming. One day last week, we had three young men making application that finished the task in one day, they each took around three to four hours to complete them and that was a red-letter day because there were no power outages nor loss of connectivity. Elder Smith has been stuck by many little "gotchas" trying to complete his tasks. An added requirement for the student is to identify a person that can act as their mentor. First problem, they don't use the word mentor in French and they do not have a clue what a mentor is. The idea has merit but trying to get the leaders as well as the students to understand has been a challenge, then you get a student who doesn't speak English or French, only Lingala or Swahili - well "Katie bar the door".

We got "new" desks for our call center, a little odd but they will work. Because the computers are old and have been "personalized" by the volunteers using them, so it is loaded with stuff that doesn't have anything to do with PEF. When the desks were installed, they just pushed the computers with screens and keyboards, mouses etc. onto the floor. It took three successive "technicians" to put together four desks (we heard that they cost $4,000 US) and they didn't get it right but that is another long story. 

 

The volunteers just sat around and then claimed "their" machine and got them going somewhat but wires were tangled messes. The other two were not their concern. So I had some time and a little knowledge how to get the wires in the right places so I did it myself with the volunteers fuming a bit because it required that I disconnect "their" computer and interfere in their "studies", one comes to the office and practices English for his class at CALI and the other is taking an on-line English class through University of California and uses "his" computer. The other two "don't work" according to them, "no use trying, Sister Smith." I was able to get all four working. Now I turn them on when I get to the office and set the log-in page for the students that want to make application. We have also had people that want to register to ldsjobs.org another program for the Self Reliance Program. We are now officially called the Self Reliance Center of Kinshasa. Elder Smith's title is Mentoring Center Supervisor and I am "back office" support secretary ("no more 'missionaries' will be the 'face of PEF'" a phrase used by an operative in South Africa). So we labor without proper equipment but Mark is succeeding because he has his MacBook Pro and a wireless wifi device. Frère Didier also has his own laptop and wifi device or we would sit around and wait for screens to resolve. One day we are promised new computers, new networks, and phones then the next day we are told by another operative that they are not needed. So we just lurch along hoping it will get better so we can get back to contacting recipients to encourage them to fulfill their contracts.

I was asked to help with the choir one week and now I am the de facto ward organist. Today I was playing the prelude and Dieumerci Kalonji a former assistant in our office and the Stake Music Chairman came up to me and said the choir would sing two numbers, "can you play page 59 and page 5 and we will sing 5 right now?" We got through it but not my favorite thing to do. We went to the chapel Saturday for practice and stayed for an hour because one other brother (a white guy) came but no one else. What a surprise. They sustained a young man to be the music chairman for the ward and he has a nice voice but doesn't know anything else. He is handsome and wants to do his best, I like his attitude but he said, "Sister Smith will you help?" I hope he needs a tutor not someone to do it for him, I think not, but. . .

We have expanded our "known" shopping stops to around six regulars. Extra, Shoprite, City Market, Regal, and Boucherie - Charcuterie (a meat market très beau). Yesterday we went to Extra and spent $30 on vegetables and a little cheese, not complaining because most of it is local and not quite like an $8 head of lettuce from South Africa.

It looks like Elder Smith will have to endure one or two more amateur haircuts then he will be back to his professional barber, hope he is still in business.

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.

Fourth of July and More

The embassy celebration

We learned on Wednesday that the American ambassador had invited all expats to celebrate the 4th at the ambassador's residence. He isn't into community building and wasn't interested but with some "encouragement" from staff, he relented. They provided some meat for barbecue; not steak-like meat, but good. They had ground meat for hamburgers, a bit coarse - but beef, not a mystery meat. Great pulled pork, tender not soupy or over-cooked, just great. All attendees were invited to bring something as a side dish or dessert. There were some great sides, one was a great potato salad and a tomato and mozzarella cheese. Some of the other missionaries said you dare eat things like that? I did and no problems. One senior sister didn't fare so well but she was the only one I know of who had a problem. There was an apple pie, a pumpkin pie and the best cinnamon rolls I have tasted. Fun late afternoon. By 6:00 pm it was mosquito-bewitching hour so we left.

Elder Smith saw a tall man arrive and he said, "Is that Dikembe Mutombo? Everyone in our group said "Who" or "No way". Mark was determined to "test" the possibility, so he walked over and wagged his index finger and the man burst into a laugh and smile, yes it was Dikembe Mutombo. He was born in Kinshasa out in a village near the airport. He has funded a first-class hospital in that little village and visits often. His wife and two sons were with him and he was asked to make a few remarks.

Dikembe tells Mark he was Defensive Player of the Year in the NBA four times.

Also attending was the wife of Joe Biden who was in Kinshasa to accompany the Ambassador-at-large for Women's and gender Issues around the world. They have "projects" they want to promote - issues such as gender equality and alternate lifestyles.

       

They had an activity for the children. The Marine detachment assigned to the embassy challenged the children to a tug-of-war. The Marines were tough competition but the children prevailed.

We are still "out-of-the-loop" about where the PEF Self Reliance Center office will be. Yesterday the comment made by Frere Didier is that we will stay here in the S&I building. We were looking forward to be within walking distance to Kayser and Nice Cream. To compensate for this, Mark has documented the pastries available at Kayser as a reminder of what could have been.

Mark loved the pastry called "Religieuse" (chubby nun) when he was in Paris as a young man.

The inside is essentially a super-rich truffle fudge. $4 for an outrageous treat for two.

We had a meeting in the Employment Center, now we pray that they don't make us move there. It's a mosquito haven, shabby shabby, and the occupants do not "see" things (like dirt, disorder, and noise) the same way I do.

Traffic has been a little lighter in volume but is unchanged in execution, cars nose to nose, side to side and all honking at someone else but nothing happens. You just wait as the "deck" gets shuffled but as with a deck of cards, the shuffling is not always one card at a time.

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.

Our nephew Wayne Hardinger

The month of May will be remembered because our beloved Wayne Alva Hardinger died Saturday 24 of May 2014. Wayne was the first grandchild of both families, the Hardingers and the Gales. He was born July 2, 1960. I remember driving with Mom to visit Virginia and the new baby at the Roosevelt Hospital. He has grown into a giant of a man in many ways, tall and handsome, hard worker, a dedicated father who loved his wife and children and grandchildren. The Lord has welcomed him home.

Grandma Cleo lived close to the major railroad through Provo. On one visit Wayne, Donald and David wanted to get a close-up look at the train that was passing. I was outside and granted them permission to go. That train was southbound. I checked down the street and saw them watching the train. Because of the noise of the first train I didn't hear a second train going the opposite way. I ran to the street yelling their names but when I looked down the street - no boys. I thought, 'Virginia will kill me.' I got halfway down the block, certain they were dead, when the first train passed and shortly thereafter the second train passed. Standing in the middle of the road between the two rail lines was Wayne with one younger brother under each arm, all excited about the up-close and personal encounter with two trains. Wayne survived many experiences that were close encounters and made choices that helped him become great in our eyes as well as in the Lord's eyes.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell said to Elder Bednar, “I have learned that not shrinking is more important than surviving." referring to his lengthy chemotherapy.   "We too can plead with the Father, just as Jesus did, that we ‘might not ... shrink’—meaning to retreat or to recoil (D&C 19:18). Not shrinking is much more important than surviving! Moreover, partaking of a bitter cup without becoming bitter is likewise part of the emulation of Jesus”

Elder Orson F. Whitney said, “No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God ... and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire”

Elder Bednar said, "strong faith in the Savior is submissively accepting of His will and timing in our lives—even if the outcome is not what we hoped for or wanted."

Elder Bednar was referring to a couple facing similar trials as Wayne and said of them,"[they] desire, yearn, and plead for healing with all of their might, mind, and strength. But more importantly, they would be “willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon [them], even as a child doth submit to his father” (Mosiah 3:19). Indeed, they would be willing to “offer [their] whole souls as an offering unto him” (Omni 1:26) and humbly pray, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42).: strong faith in the Savior is submissively accepting of His will and timing in our lives."

The last conversation I had with Wayne was just after his cancer diagnosis and he said, "I don't want to die." He also added that he would do everything he could to survive, he wanted to live. As the disease progressed he too accepted the will of the Father and his timing.

Elder Bednar's talk was a CES fireside last year. The URL is attached.

https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/article/print/ces-devotionals/2013/01/that-we-might-not-shrink-d-c-19-18?lang=eng&clang=eng

Kinshasa Stake Conference/Mother's Day

Today we attended the Kinshasa Stake Conference. The chapel where we attend church is also the stake center so conference was held there. Yesterday was the adult session. As always, no one seems to know what time meetings begin. I was told it started at 2:00 pm so I trusted the source and I insisted that we go early because it might be full way before the start - I should have known. We arrived before 2:00 pm. Oh yes there was a meeting that started sometime around 2:00, but the men were meeting in the chapel and the sisters were in the Relief Society Room. "Please go to the Women's meeting, Sister Cook is in there." Sister Gates and I declined; we are not in leadership callings in the stake. We asked again and again and finally there was a consensus that the general session for all adult members started at 3:30 pm. Sitting in the hot foyer the Elder Smith and Elder Gates decided to go across the road to the supermarket ShopRite and buy some bottles of water. As they returned, the doors opened into the chapel and the crowd gathered for the meeting.

We do enjoy meeting with the saints here, there is always a choir big or small, and they can produce a great deal of volume.

We have been blessed to work with many of the leaders because they are employees of the Church. The President is an area Temporal Affairs representative, his first counselor is an employee in the finance department and the second counselor is in the military and is in our ward.

They spoke in French unlike Didier's Stake when they spoke a mix of Lingala and French. Their messages were exhortations to be more faithful in their personal lives - not any different from talks that we hear in Utah. They have some unique challenges not seen in the U.S. like a dowry called a dot (pronounced "dote") which requires the man to comply with the demands of the woman's family to pay a certain amount in goods and cash as a "payment" for the daughter - the old idea that the more the man pays the more cherished the bride will be. The families of the couple arrange a meeting where demands of the bride's family are presented. President Eustache Ilunga told of some families that include in their demands the make and model and size of the HDTV and even the brand name of the shoes, bag and the designer dress they want for the bride's mother. He had them laughing, but this "tradition" has many of the young single adults wanting to marry but unable to do so because they cannot meet the demands. This is not a new concept, but it doesn't seem to be changing among the members of the Church. One leader, also a stake president, in a joking mood, compared the dot to the demands made of Isaac from the parents of Rachel. Abraham had sent many gifts to the family of Rachel as a token of their sincerity and their respect. Some also interpret the marriage laws in the DRC as requiring a "dot" because one of the official acts of a marriage is to meet in front of a magistrate and sign documents that they accept the offer made by the groom's family.

There are some parallels with "Society Weddings" when money is spent that forces the families, mostly the bride's family, to pay for a huge wedding sometimes causing financial problems for that family for a long time.

He also mentioned behaviors that are not acceptable among members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There was a report that a man had some money stolen from his pants while he was dressed in white clothing to be baptized, cell phones disappearing from bags while attending church, food being taken from a church event before the event started and taken away for personal consumption, projectors disappearing from a table in the RS room, and more. He mentioned leaders who 'cooked the books" so they could get more funds for the ward, even if the funds are used to "build the Kingdom"; the rationale that it is all right to 'fudge" the numbers for a good cause. President Ilunga said, "Think again".

Sweet Ryan Dain brought roses for each of the Senior Sisters serving here and wished each of us a happy Mother's Day. He has a challenging assignment to build chapels and hopefully a temple here. Each day reveals a new challenge.

The wet season

One sleepless night with a thunderstorm raging outside, I went to the living room window to watch the lightning. I got halfway to the window and realized that I was walking or slipping in water. I turned on a light and saw a stream of water coming out of an electrical outlet on the wall. I hated to wake Mark, but when one suffers we all must suffer right? We mopped from midnight to 4:00 a.m.

This was the second "flood" we have had. The first time was when an AC unit clogged up and drained into the house. This flood was caused when rainwater overwhelmed the draining system in the flower boxes around our apartment. The rain came again the next day, and another flood to clean up. The third day it started again, so I got out the little shovel Mark bought and started digging into the beds that surround the apartment and started bailing water over the edge of the planter box down to a "patio" below. We were able to slow the flow and rest our backs from the bending. The building where we live is part apartments, level three to ten, and the first three floors are occupied by USAID. The building was constructed thirty years ago or more and the system of draining these flowerbeds worked, but as the roots have grown and clogged the holes they don't work as planned. Well I created holes deep enough to act as catch basins. So far so good.

Catch basin in flower bed just outside living room window

Bailing out the catch basin

A few days later, we had plumbing problems, so workers came in and "fixed" it so it does not work at all and the promised fix has yet to be completed. We do have a second toilet so we still have facilities. Then the tub faucet sprung a leak, so we called the mission office (they have jurisdiction over apartments) and scheduled someone to come and check it out. Didn't come when they said, so we went to the office. Some water was then leaking but it went into the tub, not to worry. Wrong assumption. When we returned at 4:30 pm the whole apartment was flooded with at least an inch of water from the front door to the back corner. We started the task of cleaning this up after trying to turn off the water into the apartment, finally finding the right valve. Elder and Sister Bybee stopped by to get drinking water and ended up spending an hour helping us mop up. Elder Bybee found the best tool was a dustpan. Thank heaven for good people like the Bybees. The Super, a local, got involved when a man that lives just below our apartment complained about water covering his living room floor. Next day repairs were made and all is dry.

The church General Conference was another great time; we were able to use a wireless modem, a projector, and a wireless speaker to host the couples for conference sessions. We were able to watch four sessions live streaming and the priesthood at 6:00 am Sunday, thus Sunday started at 6:00 am and ended at 11:00 pm, well worth it. We also attended three hours of church between Priesthood Session and Sunday Morning broadcast. Great day.

iPad and nano projector with conference image on the wall

Sister Cook asked the senior sisters to help her with a Sister Missionary Conference. Each sister gave a talk; my topic was getting along with your companion. Sister Cook instructed the sisters about the use of sacred funds among other things and gave each sister an apron she had made. The sisters wanted their picture with the aprons and they wanted to pose with Elder Smith and Elder Bybee who were wearing their wives’ aprons to emphasize that men do household work alongside their spouse and children.

Presenters Sis. Sneddon, Sis. Bybee, Missionary Training Ldr., Sis. Smith, Sis. Johnson, Sis. Cook