How do you feel about poo?

Every culture has its sayings and proverbs. Sometimes they are wry or silly, which makes them easier to remember, but they often convey a deeper truth. My newest post, "Just a Little Poo," is a reflection on a Congolese proverb and just went up on the MAF blog. Check it out!

Prayers Needed

 


*My article for the MAF blog has been posted. You can find it by clicking HERE.

And now I want to talk about something that has become more urgent since both the newsletter and the blog article were written. You may recall my post a couple weeks ago about the Mitendi Center. 

The Mitendi Center and the Congolese Baptist Community that operates it have been under a land grab attack for some time. I mentioned before that the center is trying to build a wall around the property, which they legally own, because there are people sectioning off the property, selling it, and building houses on it. Here in Congo, possession is 9/10 of the law, in the sense that once building starts, it becomes much more difficult to defend your property in court. 


The center is in danger of literally losing it's property, one piece at a time, and even after courts and officials have been involved, no one is stopping it. No one is doing right. The workers in the photo above have been attacked while building the foundation for the center's wall, physically beaten and have had their tools destroyed and/or stolen. 




The ministry in Mitendi reaches young people for Christ and helps them build their lives on the solid foundation of Jesus, but people have intentionally broken the foundation that the workers had built for the wall at the center so that it is no longer structurally sound.








Many of the children and young women that benefit from this ministry are orphans. God expressly commands us not to mistreat orphans or widows (Ex 22:22). He warns us of the consequences of causing one of his little ones to stumble. 

Please pray earnestly for the center, the students, the workers and the teachers. Pray for Jill and for those who are representing the center and defending it. Pray for truth to prevail. And pray for those who have made themselves enemies of the children and women and are shaking their fists in the face of God. 

Stopping to Smell the Ginger

Hawaiian ginger growing in my yard

Some highlights and events I experienced since my last post:

My Hawaiian ginger bloomed in the yard. They smell amazing! I know my guards think I am crazy, for lots of reasons, one being that when the ginger blooms every couple of months, I go around the yard smelling all the blossoms and taking pictures like I've never seen it before. I pretty well cemented that notion when I picked some one day and told my guard to smell it. Ha, ha, ha, you should have seen his expression! But he did smell it, and he did admit it smelled nice. 

I went back to the Mitendi Center and the Bandal Center with Jill. This young lady is making a table cloth to fill a customer order - mine! I can't wait to get my new table cloth and contrasting napkins. 

I am praying and giving thought to how God might want to involve me with the centers and these young women.



David and I both had birthdays, so our family went out for dinner one evening. Our conversation over dinner turned to Daniel's schooling and Daniel told his dad we were studying the Great Migration. Being a humble home educator, I decided to show off Daniel's knowledge and asked him to tell his dad the difference between migration and immigration. He replied that migration is when you move some where and immigration is when you water your crops. I am a great teacher.  

David had to go to Europe for a week for training on one of our engines. While he was gone, I visited with some friends, though not as many as I had planned to. I also wrote a post for the MAF blog (coming soon), worked on our newsletter (also coming soon), and cleaned out my email boxes. In one box, I am ashamed to say, I had mail dating back to 2008. I didn't completely finish the job because I kept finding good stuff to read in there. Kind of like when you start cleaning a closet and you find old photos you forgot you had and you are compelled to stop everything and look through them. I am glad I did. I found letters from dear friends who have been praying for us since we first signed on with MAF, before we even knew where we were going to end up serving. They are still praying for us! It was very encouraging to come across that reminder and it meant so much to me that I had to write to them and tell them.

My friend Christine has a little apartment and invited Daniel and me to stay there and be part of their family while David was gone. It was nice to have air-conditioning almost the entire time and to get to spend some time with her. We had been missing each other since I don't have a car and no longer live close enough to walk to her house.

When I arrived home, we found this little guy (or gal?) hiding in our electric box.

Our electric box is not exactly the safest playground for a kitten, so we shooed him out and blocked the door to keep him out. I asked our guard where he came from since we have eight foot walls around our house. He said the mother cat carried five kittens over the wall, one at a time, so that they could all eat my cat's food, which was on the porch during my absence. She had taken four of them back and left this little one. She came back for him a few hours later. Glad I could help out that tired momma for a few days.

Behind Enemy Lines

BEhind Enemy Lines (Photo credit: 182 mier)

Our Sunday School lesson this week was a study of Romans 7:14-8:2, and opened with the question “If your life were a war movie, which one would it be?”

While the focus of the lesson was on our personal struggle with our own sinful nature, my mind kept wandering to the spiritual war declared by Satan against Christ and all who represent Him. Jesus referred to Satan as the ruler of this world, so I guess the movie title I would choose is “Behind Enemy Lines.”

Some have asked me how last week’s coup attempt and shootings in Kinshasa will affect our plans to return to Africa. 

(If you are not sure what I'm talking about, you can read a news article about it HERE. A friend of ours in Kinshasa shared her first-hand experience HERE. Cindy's post is long but worth the read.)

Thankfully, things quieted down quickly and our plans have not been altered. The physical battle was a very tangible reminder though, of the spiritual battle being waged in the Congo and elsewhere. 

As Christians this side of heaven, we are behind enemy lines whether we are in the heart of Africa or the heartland of America. Will we hunker down and lay low while lost souls are dying, or will we put on our armor and stand firm?

 “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. (Eph 6:11-13)”

We can stand, and be the avenue through which someone sees the light of the gospel. And in the end, we win!

     _____________________________________________

David's surgery went well and he is recuperating nicely. The surgeon says we can return to Congo as scheduled as long as David lets me lift all the luggage. Thank you for praying for him!

The MAF Blog published the Top Ten Blog Posts For 2013 . One of my posts made the list, which I think is kinda cool beans and a very nice surprise. There are at least nine great articles in the list so you should check it out.

Promised Pics, Preparing to Leave, and a Post by One of Our Pilots

As promised, here are pics from Emily’s graduation.  Sorry about the low quantity/quality.  A new camera is very high on my wish list for furlough. I think I may have even found the one I want. 

I love, love, love this photo of Emily and David!













We leave in a week! We’ve been going through all our stuff, getting rid of everything that doesn’t fit or doesn’t bless us or that we do not use. FLYlady would be so proud of me for finally doing this. I only read her book like ten years ago. In an act of ultimate irony I gave it away. Not because it didn’t bless me though. I was moving to Africa and got rid of hundreds of books. We could only bring so much with us. It was either the books or the kids. 

At least when we come back and unpack all this stuff, there will be less of it to deal with and it will all be useful, right? Of course, it will. We never really finished finding proper  places for it all after the last move because we still haven’t finished repairing and painting the house. There were always more pressing issues like burning wires and graduations and car repairs. High on my wish list for AFTER furlough is a more reliable car.

I’m almost afraid to say it, but we have had good electricity the last few days, which makes cleaning and packing a lot easier. We’ve had our other issues. Emily got sick. Now I am sick. The dryer broke, again, and will have to be replaced when we come back after furlough. You would THINK that during DRY season, laundry would dry quickly on the line because the humidity is lower, but it is just not working that way. At least no one has gotten any mango fly worms from our clothes. Yet. (more about mango fly larva, also known as tumbo flies, HERE .) That post about the tumbo flies goes all the way back to 2010 and as I read it I thought "It's no wonder we are tired and ready for a break after two and a half years of that craziness!" 

While we are preparing to leave, our friend and teammate Nick Frey is in Canada for a couple weeks and has written a great post for the MAF Blog (click HERE to read Nick's post) contrasting Kinshasa and Congo with life in a first world nation. His post is a great reminder the heart of MAF and why we are here. He's a pilot so he gets to see the physical isolation of people in Congo on a regular basis. Not so much for our family since we are always in Kinshasa, but we see first hand every day that even in this city of millions, people live in self-imposed isolation, whether intentional or not, behind their concrete walls, their emotional walls, their social status, and their fears and superstitions. Pray for Congo, for our pilots, mechanics, IT folks and national staff, and for our travels next week!

I've updated our Media Page with some new items!

Out-zoning

zero gravity (Photo credit: Tattooed JJ)

I worked in social services for three years in Missouri and had to do the occasional home visit, so I thought I knew what poverty looked like. Until I came to Kinshasa and visited people here. I saw families living in tiny two room, window-less homes with tattered curtains for doors, dirt or concrete floors, no electricity, no indoor bathroom, and no water. This was not in a village in the interior, this was in a city of 10-12 million people. 

Sometimes, we let God lead us out of our self-defined bubble of safety and security and then we think "phew! Made it!" and we praise God. We see that He used it to change us, to bring glory to Him, and we are glad we surrendered our fears, took His hand and let Him lead us.  But that's not the end. Every time we step out of our comfort zone, it creates a new boundary. The zone may grow larger but we still have to keep being willing to let God take us to new levels so that we are humbled, stretched, and usable and He is glorified. It's scary. It's hard. But when we are part of something that is impossible apart from God, and people see it and praise Him, and it's not just us who are changed but also those around us, how awesome is that?!

Fellow MAF'er Liz Schandorff shared her experience in her post "Going Outside My Comfort Zone" on the MAF blog. Liz's experience mirrors some of mine and I hope you will read her post and see why she is willing to step out of her comfort zone again and again - why we all should be.

Good read, folks!

Processing

shadows and reflections (Photo credit: Pedro Moura Pinheiro)

We leave for our first furlough in exactly three weeks! We have our airplane tickets! We have a TON of stuff to do to prepare and we are in the midst of a flurry of our daughter's end of senior year activities. We have made the mental switch from "if we ever make it to furlough" and now find ourselves thinking about "when we are on furlough."

I'm sure I won't be able to stop myself from writing about furlough and reflecting on our experiences here. I feel like a computer that doesn't have enough memory to run smoothly, so instead of being productive, I'm a perpetual Windows hour glass or a conversation window that says "processing" with a progress bar that is frozen in time. I have managed to collect a few thoughts for the MAF blog, and if you are interested you can read our "First Term Reflections" post HERE.

Our latest newsletter has gone out and features an explanation of what furlough is for, what our plans are, etc. If you aren't on our mailing list, you can read our Spring 2013 newsletter by following the link on our Newsletters Page. One important furlough activity for us (besides hot showers) will be reconnecting with our ministry partners and seeking new ones to help us get our ministry support back up to 100%. The bottom line is if our ministry here is not fully funded, we cannot come back, so please pray with us that God will connect us with the folks He has chosen to be on our team.

Home Alone and New Linkies

David (bottom) at work here in Kinshasa. Photo by David Francis

David has been in Lubumbashi for the last few days, doing a mini-inspection on a plane there. Even though we have been here two and a half years, this was my first time doing the single mom thing in Congo. He will be coming home late tonight and I will be very glad to see him. Power has been terrible, about two hours a day. Internet has been terrible. Someone left a toilet running over night so for part of the time water was an issue. And the cat has been sick. In fact I thought for a couple of days that Elliot was going to die.

The vet came and without examining my cat or taking any samples announced that it was worms. Elliot was lethargic, refusing to eat or drink, and couldn't even meow. I told him I didn't think it was worms because in the past when he had worms he ate an insane amount and his belly swelled and this time he was not eating at all. I also told him that we suspected he had eaten something poisonous or that he had gotten a kidney infection since he was also incontinent. The vet put him on antibiotics.

That was Monday. Yesterday Elliot got his meow back, although it sounds pathetic. And he is a little more active, meaning he will follow me out of the room now or jump up on my lap. He is drinking water and eating again but can't keep anything down so he is still losing weight. I am not sure what else to do for him.

Bug Freakout (Photo credit: betsystreeter)

Furlough is rapidly approaching and the reality of how much we still have to do in preparation is starting to make me feel a little panicky.








I have written a few times in the past about the plight of women in this country and about ministries here that are specifically for women. This week, Save the Children published a report of the world's best and worst places to be mothers, and Congo made the list. Click HERE to see what position DRC has in the list of 176 countries. Pray for the women and girls of Congo.

I added a few updates to our Media page. There are new articles, blog posts and videos for you to check out, including one about the importance and the cost of aircraft maintenance, which is what David does here.

**UPDATE Elliot is improving! He's super skinny but now that he is eating and holding his food down he should plump back up soon.

Conference Time!

photo credit: Tim Dyk

This week we are having our annual Family Conference. I'll try to take photos for ya and post them. Meanwhile, here's a cool photo or two of our guys working on the planes. In both photos, my hubby is the one on the ground at the nose of the plane.

I don't get a lot of comments on the blog but I do get some emails. I hope you'll check out my latest post on the MAF Blog - Better Than Bitter. This post started as a response to an email from a blog reader/friend. 

A plane, a wrench, a pen, and a spatula ---

What do these have in common? All of these and more can be tools for ministry! Check out my latest post on the MAF Blog .

Speaking of ministry tools, I have found a really cool tool that is ministering to me! Cool beans! Last year about this time I was already falling behind in my New Year's resolution to memorize more scripture. I never lost my conviction that I needed to be more consistent in my efforts to hide God's Word in my heart, but I needed a little accountability and a little bit of affirmation. Nothing material, just the pleasure of having a way to visualize my progress so that I felt encouraged instead of discouraged. Sort of like when our kids are little and we make a chart with their learning and behavior goals or their chores and we give them little star stickers to put on the chart each time they make progress. Silly? Yes. Effective? Yes.

Memverse is a web site for folks who want to memorize Bible verses but it has a lot of other features as well. You can read a daily devotional from Spurgeon, keep track of verses you've already learned and periodically review them so that you retain them, practice your new verses, see what the most popular verses are that others are learning, read the Memverse blog, and see your progress! I am not receiving anything for recommending Memverse and they have not asked me to. They do not even know I am writing about them. I'm just so excited about this tool that is a perfect fit for me that I wanted to tell others about it. If like me, you made yet another resolution to memorize more scripture, Memverse is free and does not require any downloads, so give it a try!

Firsties

Here are ten of my most recent "firsties," things I did for the first time:

* met Rita Chapman, a missionary serving in Kikongo whom I've been hearing about since 2008. Very Cool Beans!
* washed myself with gasoline. Peeyou.
* "jumped" electrical phases in our breaker box. Needed to learn and now I have.
* went through a Congolese military checkpoint. Ok.
* led a group of high school girls in a Bible study. These girls are fantastic!
* made pickles that actually stayed crunchy. Too salty, but at least they stayed crunchy. (whisper: They taste like Claussens.)
* drove more than three miles one way from my house, and back. Survived. Barely.
* went to the consulate for the U.S. embassy to renew our kids' passports. Not fun.
* went to a parent/teacher conference for my daughter, a senior. Somehow when we were home schooling her it seemed way too odd, even for us, to have parent/teacher conferences. hee hee.
* took my new friend Hannah to the orphanage with me to play with the kids. This is Hannah.

There is just nothing like hearing a little kid giggle!

Obviously, God is not letting me stay in a rut or get too set in my ways. Living a Christian life takes "muscle," which brings me to the subject of my new post, "Move That Muscle" on the MAF blog. I hope you'll check it out.

Wait Til It's Painted!

Slow internet, plus no electricity, plus a very low battery equals:  a very short blog post! I took this photo while we were in Kenya. There were construction projects everywhere, each surrounded by these corrugated tin fences and I thought it was hilarious! I couldn't capture the entire thing from a moving taxi with my camera, but it says "It doesn't look like much now, but wait til it's painted!" 

That's how we feel about our new home. There is not one square corner. Emily's room is a full foot shorter on one end than the other. We are working on plumbing and wiring and window latches and light fixtures. Every single room was yellow, and most had water damage on the walls. 

But, I am very please to have my bedroom almost completely finished! We've painted, and hung curtains. I just need to scrub the door and scrape up my paint splatters. This room is bigger than our old one so I think I will try to find a pot and get a plant.

The color is supposed to be grey with a hint of blue, but over the yellow paint it dried kind of a green-grey but I like it. 

I love my crooked house!

I'm getting the yellow warning that my battery is about to die. Yikes, I still have so much to talk about!  It will have to wait. I did write an article for the MAF blog that will be posted next week so I'll let y'all know when that's up. 

When life hands you weeds and lemons, make lunch!

Lemonade Picture (Photo credit: JenWaller)

You've heard the expression, "when life hands you lemons, make lemonade." Here's a new twist on that old adage in my latest post on the MAF Blog.

A nasty GI bug has come to our house. Everyone except David has succumbed to it. We've had the usual internet and power issues and all the rumors that go with them. My car broke down again on the way to the orphanage last week, which always makes me leery of going the next time. We still haven't found a new place to live and the clock is ticking.

Things aren't all weeds and lemons here. God has been very gracious in meeting our needs to communicate with others, do our tasks that require electricity, and get places. We know He has a house for us to rent and will lead us to it in his timing. We know our illness will pass and in fact the worst part is over. In spite of having already missed a day due to sickness, Emily and Daniel are both off to a good start with school. It is a huge blessing that David has not become ill because he is in the middle of a caravan inspection.

For those of you who, like me, don't understand all that is involved in an inspection, just know that the plane cannot be flown until the inspection is completed. All ministry with that particular plane is on hold, so everyone pitches in to get the plane back on the job asap. Some of our other team members have also been ill this week, so please keep the entire team in your prayers.

"Ho Hum" or "How Cool?"

Yoghurt granola (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When I write posts for this blog, I have a lot of freedom because it is mine. I don't have deadlines. I can think of it as a journal and literally just write whatever is on my mind. I can focus on anything that matters to me whether it's current events, ministry, struggles, bragging about my kids (They are awesome!), or even food. If I don't feel like writing or don't feel "inspired," I have the option of waiting.

I really enjoy the blogs of others, including the MAF blog. I am honored to be included as one of their writers! Sometimes when it is my turn to write though, I see that deadline approaching and I begin to feel panicky. I want to give my best, but I can't think of anything interesting to say. Then because I am one of those dramatic people that other people roll their eyes at, I make a mental leap to "what if I never have anything else cool to write about?" My family rolls their eyes at me and I come back to reality.

Suzanne Lincon's post on the MAF blog yesterday really encouraged me. One reason is because it was a bit of a relief to know that I'm not the only one who sometimes has a writing deadline looming with no clear direction on what to write about. But another reason, the really important one, is because I can totally relate to her thoughts about most of her life being "mundane" and not  "blog-worthy." Even if you don't blog, I bet you can relate. Some days our most exciting event is throwing caution to the wind and adding both fruit and nuts to the granola.

Suzanne's wise conclusion is that even if our life is mostly spent doing "the mundane," if we are living it in grace and faithfulness, it is noteworthy to God. Check out Suzanne's post "The Mundane" and feel free to leave her an encouraging comment!

Life can seem mundane at times, but God never is! I want to practice seeing life through the eyes of my loving and creative Father so my heart will say "how cool!" instead of "ho hum."

A God-given Connection

"Women in this country are so downtrodden. I wanted to leave them with something meaningful, but what would encourage these lovely women who face so much difficulty on a daily basis and still readily smile and laugh with me?"


Remember in my post about the school for women in Nkara (Destination Nkara: part 4) that I said I would post more later? The rest of the story is now up on the MAF BLOG. I don't know if God used me to encourage them or not, but He certainly used them to encourage me! Please check it out and read about these precious ladies that stole my heart!

Secret, Secret, I've Got a Secret

Bert and Ernie: Let me tell you a secret / 20090917.10D.53994.P1 / SML (Photo credit: See-ming Lee 李思明 SML)

I am supposed to write a "teaser" to capture your interest and make you want to go read my article that was posted today on the MAF BLOG. The problem is, even when I am writing, I talk too much. Every time I try to write a teaser about an article, I end up writing a whole new article about the article. So! Please consider yourself teased and click on the link above to read what secret God has been teaching me lately.

A Sad Goodbye and a Lesson in Congolese Culture

My grandmother with my grandfather, Josh and Emily (top rt) and Daniel

Here is sort of a wrap up of the last several days.

Daniel got his stitches out!  We are grateful he had no infection or complications.  Being a ten year old boy, he's not the least bit upset about having a new scar - he thinks it's cool.  He is however, disappointed that he gets to take baths again.

Emily made 1st semester honor roll!  This was for her first semester outside of a home school environment, so we are very proud of her for doing well in her studies while she was also dealing with the adjustment to a new school, friends being gone on furlough, her brother leaving home, and starting the school year with her mom out of country having surgery.  She's a real trooper!

Josh is playing his guitar now in worship time at the Baptist Student Union on campus, sharing his faith with others, playing rugby, and hopefully studying.

David has been trying to accomplish the impossible task of having no toilets or faucets leaking anywhere in the house for a whole day.  The plumbing supplies here are of very inferior quality and break almost as quickly as they are installed.

I am working on our next newsletter.  Well, ok, I'm thinking about working on our next newsletter.

MAF featured one of my articles on their BLOG.

Recently, I wrote about having friends whose father was near death and my grandmother being in hospice.  Both of them passed away just days ago.  I am heartbroken over the loss of my grandmother and the fact that I cannot be there with my relatives right now.  She was a very special lady, strong, faithful, and compassionate.  We'll all miss her terribly.  I do find it comforting to know she is now in heaven with her Savior and we will have a reunion one day.

We attended our first funeral here in Congo on Sunday.  I can well imagine what my grandmother's funeral might be like, at least in general.  Most funerals in America have certain similarities because of our common culture, plus I know my family.  It is the same here, except that the culture is vastly different.  Here are just some of the differences that I noticed:

* The funeral was outdoors in a concrete gymnasium in 90 degree weather.
* Instead of padded church pews we sat under awnings on plastic lawn chairs.
* There was another funeral in progress on one side of us, and a church service on another side, both of which had live bands and PA systems competing with our service.
* Men in rolled up jeans, flip flops, and ragged t-shirts were walking around selling soft drinks and water, which they carried on their heads in bags of ice.
* There was a rooster crowing every few minutes.
* There were at least four languages spoken: English, French, Kikongo and Lingala.
* The family was expected to feed everyone.  In Congo no one brings food to the family or offers assistance.  They do bring money.
* The services lasted several hours.  We were there for four and missed the burial service.
* There was a man wearing a sandwich board walking around selling Polaroid-style photos of the service, during, not after, the service.
* None of the flowers were real and all of them were wrapped in plastic.  Instead of being displayed in advance of people's arrivals, they were presented to the deceased in a processional by the donors near the end of the service.  It is the family's responsibility to ensure that there will be some flowers at the funeral, but anyone can give flowers.  They are gifts to the deceased, not the family, and they are buried with the deceased, but first they are torn off their frames to prevent them from being dug up and sold by thieves. (A note: Grave robbing is so common here that often the casket is smashed to make it unsellable and less likely to be stolen.  Grave markers are also intentionally damaged to ensure that they aren't stolen, painted over and resold.)

I'm sure there are other differences I didn't notice because there was a lot to take in.  It was indeed very different from my own culture.

Shady Business Dealings

Did you know MAF has a blog? They feature stories from missionaries on the field, news, interviews, and information about MAF. I have been privileged to have a couple of my stories printed. Learn about all the "shady business dealings" that go on in my neighborhood HERE .

Birthdays, Babies and Bubbles

This week has been busy. A few days ago a friend invited us to spend the day with her. We went to the "thieves market", to the old downtown cemetery, and to a place called "tin tin" by the riverfront. I hope to get some photos later of our outing. Yesterday was Joshua's 18th birthday. I will be taking Josh back to the U.S. for college soon. We are leaving early so that I can also take care of my feet. I've had bunionettes, or tailors bunions, on the pinky sides of my feet for over 15 years. In fact I can't really remember NOT having them. They never bothered me until we moved to the Congo. Here I am on my feet a lot. The floors are all cement or ceramic tile. There are few sidewalks so we walk on rocky, uneven dirt roads. My feet started hurting a few months after we got here, and have gotten steadily worse. I'm not sure why someone decided to name them "bunionettes". That name sounds way too cute, and having painful swollen feet is not cute. Daniel will have his birthday while we are gone, so he and Josh decided they wanted to have a joint birthday party while the whole family was still together. Yesterday was also our three year anniversary with Mission Aviation Fellowship. MAF has their own blog and they just honored me by posting something that I wrote. If you haven't checked out the MAF blog, you really should. You can see my post here. We also went to the orphanage again today. I bought some bubbles from a departing missionary and we took them with us today. The little kids loved it. We will have to make some more for the next trip. I finally remembered how to link to other sites, so here are links to our photos from the orphanage and a short video, about a minute, of the kids with the bubbles.