Non-news is Good News!

I took this photo at our Easter sunrise service. It's always a special service, not only because we are celebrating the resurrection of Christ but also because we meet by the Congo River. It's just beautiful. These guys, and several other fishermen, were already out on the water when we arrived at six a.m. I wonder what it is like to paddle one of those little hand-made wooden boats out onto the giant Congo River, especially in the quiet mystery of early morning. I wonder if they know about some other fishermen long ago who walked with Jesus and learned to fish for men.

I wanted to post Easter photos and an update much sooner, but we had internet issues. I also didn't know quite how to go about writing what is on my mind and heart right now, and still don't, so I'll just spill it out.

I love the diversity of attending an international church. We have people in our church from all over the world who come together each week all having one thing in common - our faith in Jesus - to worship Him. 

We also had a baptism service, and one of the baptizees was Daniel's friend Nicholas. Celebrating the new life of each of the three who were baptized was even more special because we were doing it on the day we celebrate the fact that Jesus is alive!

Just since Easter, a lot of dark and tragic things have happened here in Congo. Here are some recent events, in case you haven't seen it in the news. 

A horrible train wreck killed many people. The exact number is up for debate and you can read more about it HERE. One thing that we do know is that there were people on that train who should not have been there. They had paid to ride illegally so other people could line their pockets and the train was overloaded. Corruption is rampant here, and it always hurts the poorest people the most.

Yellow fever outbreaks have been reported. Yellow fever is transmitted by mosquitoes. Maybe the most tragic thing about a yellow fever outbreak is that it shouldn't happen. There is a vaccine. 

A power outage at a stadium incited a stampede, and several people were killed. The infrastructure here is still poor.

And in case you have seen the news, good things have happened as well, even though they did not make headlines in big papers or television. In a new twist on the saying "no news is good news," here is some non-news worth knowing.

The Congolese Baptists and the Mitendi Center finally received a court decision in their favor, against the people who were stealing their land and selling it off piecemeal! This is a vital ministry and it is a miraculous victory!

Our MAF team here does regular vaccine flights. Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders also work in DRC to make vaccines accessible to as many as possible. In April alone our pilots have flown thousands of miles for medical flights and thousands more for relief and development.

I honestly don't know how long ago this happened, but the ministry is ongoing and I just found the article. It is one of the reasons MAF is here and one of the reasons we love being part of MAF. People are finding new life in Christ through the Jesus Film ministry!

In the midst of all the death and pain that is happening here, lives and souls are being saved! Please pray for Congo and rejoice in the good that God is doing here!

When You Know Where To Look

They say an elephant never forgets. Not being an elephant, I forget things all the time. I would blame my age or my health but I have always been forgetful AND unorganized - a deadly combination. My poor husband has not gone a day without hearing "where's my?" or "have you seen?" since he married me. 

My mom used to encourage me to be more organized and to put things away before I moved on to the next distraction. She would tell me: "It's easy to find when you know where to look." If I put things in sensible places, it would be easy to find them when I needed them. 

This past week has been a stellar memory week total memory fail. I spent at least an hour looking for this so I could work on some quilt block ideas for the Mitendi Center. Just about the time I told myself that if the girls at the center can cut fabric without a rotary cutter then I jolly well can too, I finally found them.

I also spent an hour (or two) looking for the receipts from last month's water and electric bills. Now utility receipts are one thing I never lose because it is a humongo hassle here if for some random reason the utility company decides to claim you never pay your bills and threatens to cut you off and you can't produce your receipts. But I couldn't find them anywhere. Later as I was going through a shelf I saw a folder I didn't remember the purpose of and opened it to find our utility receipts. Then I remembered selecting that folder specifically for keeping the receipts in so that they would be easy to find if I ever needed them. Aaagh! 

My family and close friends, if you are reading this, I know you are shaking your heads at me but are not at all surprised. 

Not being able to find things isn't always my fault. We went downtown on Saturday to shop for a phone for my birthday. At the first store we tried, an employee told us that the phone I wanted but wasn't willing to pay their price for could be purchased at a significant savings if we bought it at a different store. He even called ahead to make sure the phone was in stock and to guarantee the price. Then he told us where to go. 

We thought we understood his directions but we ended up in a part of the city where there were lots of police (not a good thing in Congo) and after going down several ONE WAY streets the wrong way (in our defense, they were not labeled) and having no success finding the store, we decided to just head home. As we turned a corner to get back out on the main road, lo and behold, there was our store! It's easy to find when you know where to look, which we didn't.

After we got home I wanted to finish what I had begun with my sewing, so once I concluded my search for the iron, I managed to do these. Both are a type of crazy quilt square. I am not sure yet how I will use them.

I am so glad I DO know where to look when I need peace, direction, comfort, strength, or forgiveness. I don't have to search frantically for Jesus because He is always with me and He never loses his own. I just have to call out his name. 

Team Spicy

Photo credit: Debbie Martinez, joyinthecongo.blogspot.com

The last day of Family Conference is always the most emotional for me. By that point, I am tired, which always makes me emotional anyway, but there are other factors. Knowing the conference is nearly over and friends whom I see once a year or less are about to return home. After days of worshiping together and asking God to have his way in our hearts, in our team, and in Congo, we are all more united, more focused, and more cohesive - and it is challenging sometimes to figure out how to let the conference end but still hold on to that. The fun and fellowship are ending and we are all going back to life-as-normal-as-it-gets-here. Unity, staying focused on what we should, and loving so well that others can tell we belong to Jesus just by observing us can over time come under pressure from fatigue, stress, and circumstances. It is a constant battle, so pray for all of us that we remember the lessons we learned about finding joy when we go through the "furnace", the trials of life.

Our last day included more worship, study, and prayer. We also had some time for communication as an organization, sharing information and ideas and making sure we are all on the same page not just as ambassadors for Christ but also as representatives of MAF. 

We also had an impromptu softball rematch. MAF won. 



Our evening began with devotions and then ended with a "variety show." If variety is the spice of life, our West DRC team is really spicy! We are such a melange of talents, interests, and passions that it will be very interesting to see how God puts that all together for his work here. Next year, the dynamics will be different. Some of us will have followed different paths and will be deeply missed. But God gave us the gift of our time together in Kinshasa, learning, letting go, loving, and laughing with each other. A little joy in the furnace. 

A Day at the Farm - the SNAKE Farm

Friday, after our worship time, we went to a "snake park." Kinshasa is home to the only center where venom is collected from snakes native to Congo for the purpose of making anti-venom. 

Our guide showed us the venomous snakes first, proudly proclaiming that in his fifteen years working with the snakes he has only been bitten seven times. Sounds like a fun job. 

Five of his seven bites came from this little guy. 









This is as close as I ever wish to be to a cobra. 








These snakes were beautiful but deadly. They make an ominous warning noise when they want to be left alone.

Next, we saw the non-venomous snakes. Those of us who were willing were allowed to handle these snakes. Our guide had a little fun with that, walking about in search of victims volunteers. 

One of the first things Brad (our conference speaker) said to us is that rejection does not equal failure. Sometimes it seems like MAF and other mission groups have been here for a long time and done all God has asked of us to the best of our ability but we've seen little fruit. But Christ said that when we are rejected we should remember that the world rejected Him first. Brad also pointed out that it is an honor just to be able to serve and represent the One who has saved us, regardless of the outcome this side of heaven. Important truths to remember.

We had a softball game between the Lubumbashi team and the Kinshasa team. 

Everyone was invited to play and we had lots of men, some children, and one girl - me. Everyone had a good time, and while there was NO rejection on our ball field, team Kinshasa did feel the sting of defeat. 



We ended our day with dinner out for the adults and a pizza/movie night for the kids.

Feet in the Furnace

We are literally in the middle of our annual Family Conference, and last night the ladies on our team enjoyed fellowship, devotions, and a little pampering. 

Our theme this year is Joy In The Furnace. Debbie Martinez, one of our team speakers/teachers, has written a Bible Study with the same title. If her teachings this week are based on the book, I would highly recommend it. 

Without giving away the contents of Debbie's book, I can share that one of the things which really stood out to me yesterday is that God was making Himself famous through Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednigo and He is still making Himself famous through willing servants today. It occured to me that I have never seen this happen without someone "going through the furnace." God become famous when He does something that ONLY GOD CAN DO. No one earns fame by doing something ordinary  that anyone else can also do.

Am I willing to let God do something out of the ordinary in me and through me? Am I willing to jump into the furnace and trust Him with the results?

Another thing that has stood out to me is that this team of volunteers that we have, all six of them, came to serve us and minister to us, not to make a name for themselves. They answered God's call to come to a place that many would compare to a "furnace experience" and made sacrifices to do it and others made sacrifices to help them get here, and God orchestrated all of it in his great love for us. Amazing! 

Combining Cultures in the Kitchen

I see salted fish, (as in fish that has had a ton of salt rubbed into it and been dried for preservation) in the stores here all the time. It is sold in bags by the kilo. In a country where only a minority have refrigeration or freezers, dried fish keeps for months and by cooking it in stews, greens, and sauces, a little bit can be made to go a long way toward feeding a family. I have had it on occasion and liked it but avoided purchasing it because I didn't know how to prepare it. 

Last week I bit the bullet, or the fish, and bought some. Then I asked about a dozen friends how to cook it and got almost as many answers. All agreed on one thing: soak the fish, soak the fish, soak the fish. Then soak it some more. This is how you remove enough of the salt to make the fish edible. 

Out of the package, it looks like this.

It doesn't look like it came from a Gorton's box, that's for certain.

Not very appetizing if you have anything against skin, gills, fins, tails, bones, or...

...teeth.

Just to really get into the spirit of cooking with an African flair and dressing the part, I had to put on my zebra print apron. Sorry for the quality. I don't take a lot of selfies. Other folks are much more interesting. And yes, I meant to cut my head off.

I soaked the fish all day, changing the water a couple of times. 

Then I considered all my options and decided that the easiest choice would be to simply remove as many bones as possible, season it, and saute it, so that is what I did. It is common here to just cook it into your greens, but I knew if I did that I would be eating by myself.

We had b'teku teku, fried plantain, rice, and avocado to go with our fish. (My b'teku teku explanation and recipe are HERE.) Was it tasty? Yes, but it did not need salt.

Then on Saturday I made  good 'ole American cinnamon bread so we would have it for breakfast on Sunday. I am glad I did and that we had some left over because when we arrived home from church, our guard had a surprise for us: three of his kids were here for a visit! We gave them cinnamon bread and Fantas to go with the lunch Leopold had prepared for them and Daniel played soccer with the boys for a while.   

They were here because the youngest had been born just six weeks after we first arrived in Congo and had been named after David, so Leopold wanted them to meet each other. It is common here to name a baby after a life-changing person or event that happens near the same time as the birth, and getting a new job is a big deal in Congo. Both of our guards have sons named after David now.