Destination: Nkara, part 1

We set off on Friday to visit our dear friends Jim and Nancy Smith. The Smiths have served in the Nkara area of the Bandundu province for many years and still spend a good part of each year here in the Congo.  When they are here, they live in the home that Jim's father built, and oversee a Bible school and a literacy center for women.  They also work in evangelism and operate a Christian radio station.

Friday was a day of firsts for us. For the first time since arriving here in October 2010, our family was leaving Kinshasa together.  A sad first for me was realizing that this was our first big family event without Josh there to enjoy it with us.  Emily, Daniel, and I were taking our first ride in an MAF plane. We got to experience what it is like for an MAF passenger to go through the airport - including getting weighed.  You can't lie about your weight because the scale is right there in the office!  An overweight plane is a huge safety risk. So we all had our first public weigh-in. (insert smiley emoticon here)

Before we even got on the plane, I was blessed to get to meet Miriam Noyes.  Miriam and her husband Ed are missionaries who live and work a few miles outside of Vanga.  Miriam was taking the MAF plane home, so while we waited we got to talk and get to know each other a little bit.

Here are a few photos from day one of our trip.

The Cessna 206 we flew out in, "Mike Romeo." After hearing David talk about repairs and inspections he has done on each of the planes, it was pretty cool to get to ride in one, even for a person who is not fond of flying in small planes.

I wasn't the only one who was excited to be on our way to Nkara!

The trees grow where the water collects, in the low places.  Being a quilter, this view made me think of stippling, as if the land were a giant quilt.

This house was built by Jim's dad. Jim met us at the runway and drove us to the house, where a big breakfast was waiting for us.  Nkara is a MYOE place (make your own electricity).  The Smith's have a generator for their well, another for the house, and a battery powered water pump so that they can have water inside the house even when the generator is not on.  They run the generator for a few hours each evening to charge batteries and have lights.  The refrigerator and stove run on propane, and they have a ringer washer.  Nancy Smith told us that she thinks it is easier in some ways to live in the interior because the electricity in Kinshasa is so random and at her house it is very predictable since there is none except for the generator.

After breakfast we looked around a bit and spent some time just relaxing and visiting with the Smiths.  In the evenings while the generator was on, we watched a video.  It is not as hot in Nkara as it is in Kinshasa so we slept pretty comfortably even without power, but we had battery powered fans if we needed them.

To be continued....

part 2

part 3

part 4