Congo III

July 24, 2007

Mbote` (Lingala “hello”)

It’s been a few days since I’ve had time to write and there are a number of things that have occurred. So I will try to catch up a little.

On our flight north to Gemena we landed at the Equator in the old “milk-run” fashion. While there we had to disembark while the plane was fueled. So they dropped the stairs in the tail of the plane and we walked onto the tarmac and waited. We were greeted by vendors selling different fruits and the team leaders bought some for all of us to share. One reminded me of a sea anemone with bright colors and soft spikes. Under the skin was a grape like fruit whose seed reminded someone of a pistachio nut. What struck me as somewhat incongruous was that we were ½ mile from the equator, essentially in the jungle, with a D.C. 9 and someone’s cell phone ringing. Technology is ubiquitous it seems.

On arrival in Gemena we received a very warm welcome and program put on for our behalf. Then it was dark and dinner time. I must admit it is a little odd for it to be dark at 6:00 p.m. in July, but this is the equator.

The next day we went to “The Temple” (what they call the church building) for the 10:00 a.m. service. We arrived at 9:15 and it was already ½ full with the choir singing as a prelude (and boy can they sing!). It was a standing room only crowd somewhere around 1,200 people and by the time they finished with church and the opening of the pastors conference it was after 1:00 p.m. My tush does not have enough cush for that amount of sitting, but I survived. That afternoon several of us met with the president of the Congo Free Church, the new head of the French speaking seminary (for all Africa) and some bible institute leaders. It was good to hear their hearts and vision.

On Monday several of us spoke at the conference. In the afternoon I was on again with Kevin so I did not get to go visit a couple of kids the mission is working with who have lost their parents to AIDS. I was sorry to miss that but think I will get an opportunity later.

This afternoon I did get to visit the site were they are putting up buildings for housing widows and teenaged orphan girls. They have been able to purchase 120 acres and will build homes that will house two widows with several teen girls. They will also have gardens (a major source of food and income) and a skills center. Because the girls have no parents to teach them basic life skills (such as gardening or sewing) this will be important. The church has also realized the need to provide something for unwed teen mothers and so have decided to include them in this project. Across the road from the site is a large parcel that Habitat for Humanity was developing. But they are closing down the project, so Tom is talking with them about letting the church/mission put more homes on that property as well. They can build a home for about $3,000. In talking about how we might partner in something like this in the future one idea came up of having skilled people come to teach life skills (sewing, carpentry, gardening, etc…). An interesting thought.

The weather so far has been pretty decent. In Kinshasa it is the dry season and was fairly hot. The city was very dusty and dirty and could use a little rain to clean things up. Here in Gemena it is now the rainy season and so far it’s not been bad. I got caught last night when I needed to move from one building to another, but it has only rained at night so far. Today the temperatures must be mid-70’s and is very pleasant.

The food is very tasty, but if you are on the Adkins diet you might have trouble. In an illustration of the hospitality of the people, I had been concerned about the portions I take. In talking with Rachel Martin (who oversees the Orphans ministry) I found out that by asking for seconds you are not seen as greedy, but as honoring the cooks. Apparently there has been a sense that when Americans visit they have conveyed that the Congolese food is not very good and so don’t take much. It is so nice to have someone who understands the culture explain things to me. The people have so little, and in my concern for them, I could have offended them unknowingly. Speaking of food, can you imagine feeding lunch to 1,000 people at a conference for four days without even an oven? I have no idea how they do it with just open charcoal fires but they do.

We leave Thursday for the Tandala mission station and I don’t think there is any internet availability there. But when we return next Thursday to Gemena I will try to get another post out. The internet connection here is limited by an 11 Mb router and is dependent upon when the generator is running, not to mention how many people want on. So the next post may not be until I’m stateside again.

Regardless, please keep praying for us.

In His Grip.