"You Have Memories"

Ever used Facebook's "On This Day?" At the click of a "You Have Memories" button, you can see everything you ever did on Facebook on that particular day of every year since you joined the web site. It's genius on the part of Facebook. What better way to feed our tendency toward self-absorption and keep us posting and reposting so as to ensure the popularity of their site and attract sponsors and advertisers? And Facebook makes it easy by telling you that "You Have Memories" every day, so you don't forget to look at them. 

It can also be an eye opener. I have looked at mine a number of times and had varying responses ranging from face palms to groans to pleasant trips down memory lane to timely reminders of lessons learned. Sometimes I look at things I posted waaaaay back when Facebook was relatively new and I can't believe I thought anyone would EVER be interested in that. Ever. 

"writing letters today"

"doing homework"

One nice thing about On This Day is that I can delete that garbage. No one wanted to read it once, let alone a second time. I did not join facebook to punish my friends.

Other times I look at posts and see things I wish I didn't: negativity, criticism, anger. I try to evaluate whether I am still the same person who wrote that post and do I still have the same attitude. If not, I thank God. If so, I ask Him to keep working on me and change my heart. 

Sometimes I see posts from people who encouraged me just when I needed it and I am reminded how loved I am and that maybe I should take a moment to let them know I love them too. Or I see posts that remind me of something significant that happened and how God showed Himself in it. That happened today when I saw that "On This Day" four years ago, Emily used my facebook to post a prayer request. I posted our family's little adventure here: Daniel's Bottle Bucket Battle a few days later. It's a story about a night that could have been much, much worse than it was, but turned in to a testimony of God's care for a little boy and his family, and His power to orchestrate even Kinshasa traffic to His will. 

Facebook makes it easy and tempting to live in the past rather than embracing the present and anticipating the future. But it can also remind us that the God who was with us in all those past events is the same God who is with us now and will be with us as we face the future!

A Small Reflection to Mark the Day

Arrived in Congo five years ago today. After our crazy experience in the airport, we rode in a van with Garth Pederson and Brian Writebol to our new home. It was dark and there were little fires everywhere lining both sides of the road because there was no power. The fires gave light, drove away mosquitos, and cast an eery glow on the myriad of half-finished or half-destroyed buildings, roadside kiosks, piles of garbage and people. Combined with our fatigue from 36 hours of travel it all seemed very apocalyptic and we wondered what we had gotten ourselves into and how in the world one family could make even a drop of difference in a place like this. We can't but God can, and He does. Thankful we get to be part of it!

Cool Beans - Five Years in DR Congo!

Kinshasa is a large city with some serious traffic!

In the evening on October 11, 2010, we arrived in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo to begin our assignment here. Five years ago! A lot has happened in just five years, both in Congo and in our family.

When we joined MAF, in July of 2008, our family looked like this. We spent two years raising ministry support and attending language school and other training.

We arrived in Congo looking like this.   After our Canadian winter our Florida tans were long gone. And of course the kids were bigger.

We have experienced one election season in this country and face another in the near future. We've learned to be flexible about things like electricity, water (none today), sanitation, and sleep. We have felt the joy of making new friends and the pain of saying goodbye when they left. We've seen our two oldest graduate and return to the states to further their educations, and felt the pride of their accomplishments mingled with the sorrow of not being able to be there for them to help them along. We've had the pride and happiness of seeing our son get married and getting a new daughter. We have lived the guilt and grief of loved ones dying while we were separated from them by thousands of miles, including my mom, my grandmother, my uncle, my mom's cousin, a great uncle, one of David's cousins, and a dear friend. 

We've also seen God perform miracles and met people whose lives have been transformed by Him. We've had opportunities to be involved in God's work here and meet incredible people He has placed here for such a time as this. We've prayed and worshipped with people from all over the world and been places we never imagined we would see. We've heard the gospel preached in a minimum of four languages here and observed that in each language, amen is still amen! We've worked harder and prayed more than we ever had before. We've faced health issues, including a surgery for David and one also for me. We've had our faith challenged, we've been brought low, and God has lifted us up and strengthened us. 

We are so thankful that God brought us here! We look forward to continuing to serve here as long as God in his generosity and wisdom keeps us here! God has given us a ministry team of incredible, faithful friends that makes it possible for us to be here by praying for us and financially supporting our ministry with MAF.

Now, for a little fun to mark our celebration. The Mitendi Center has been growing food for itself for some time now. They have also acquired a couple new residents:

The female arrived first. She was purchased with the idea to breed her and use the additional pigs as a source of income for feeding and upkeep as well as for food.

Breeding animals is generally much easier to accomplish when you have one of each gender, so a month or so later the male was acquired. They have a bit of growing up to do before they are ready to breed, but the girls at the Mitendi Center are learning to prepare the right kind of food for them, to care for them, and to develop a mindset of investing in their own future.

Last time I looked in on the piggies, I captured this with my phone. I thought it might be fun to ask people to come up with captions for my photo. So, please do comment below! 

Celebrating God's Greatness

I have wanted to share about this for a long time but we got so busy settling into our new  apartment and then helping Daniel transition from home school to the American School here that it is only just now happening. It seemed like whenever I had time to blog, that was also the time that Daniel needed my computer to do homework.

In August, The Women's Ministry arm of CBCO (Congolese Baptists) celebrated 50 years in ministry! I am not an official CBCO missionary or associate, but I do have the priviledge of being a volunteer, and so I was invited to attend the five day celebration. Due to transportation issues, I was only able to attend one day. That was disappointing because I had looked forward to this for a long time, but I still feel grateful that I got to be there for a small part of it and especially that the ladies even thought to invite me.

I am also especially grateful that the day I got to attend was the day of the march (parade). Getting permits to have a march is a big, expensive process in Kinshasa, so there aren't many opportunities to participate in one. This was my first. Jill and I, marching with thousands of Congolese ladies, were not. conspicuous. at. all. I had a blast!

We had a marching band, even!

The worship team. Excuse the bad photos. The lighting was terrible.

There was a special choir of women from several different churches. That's the choir in the background. This choir had many, many participants.

The congregaton. Over 5,000 women attended. Some travelled from the interior, which is no small sacrifice. 

We heard several guest speakers, including my friend Jill, but it was all in Lingala so I can't tell you much about the messages. I can tell you that there was an abundance of joy, gratitude, and enthusiasm. These women face circumstances that are unbelievably difficult on a daily basis, and they were overjoyed just to be there in God's house celebrating and worshipping together. The theme was "God has done great things for us" and the speakers recounted some of those things in their talks. 

When it came time for the offering, that too was a joyous event. There was no solemn, grave-faced passing of the plate. All 5,000 of us got up and while the worship team played music and danced, we marched and/or danced up to the front to place our offerings on the table. Most were singing. All were smiling. I realized that even for those who only had 500 francs (about 45 cents) to give, they saw it as a great privilege to show God their gratitude for his grace and work in their lives by giving to Him. It made me cry and it made me think with shame of times in my life when I have taken the privilege of meeting in God's house with other believers for granted or been ungrateful in my heart even in the very act of giving with my hands and saying thanks with my mouth.  

Parents' Day

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, instead of having a Mothers' Day and a Fathers' Day, there is one public holiday for both called Parents' Day, which is today. There are many similarities between DRC and the U.S. regarding its intent to honor parents and how it is celebrated.

During the week, David had an opportunity to talk about Parents' Day with a Congolese friend and learn more about local observances. There is a strong church presence in Kinshasa, but there is still also a stronghold of animism and belief in witchcraft/magic even among some who believe in Christ. This friend thankfully doesn't struggle with that but he told David of many in his community who do. 

There are some who, if they are unhappy or suffering and their parents are deceased, will blame the parents. They go to the cemetery and visit their parents' graves and yell at them, asking them why they let all the bad in their lives happen and accusing them of not caring or taking action. They believe the parents have the power from beyond the grave to intervene in their lives, so when that doesn't happen, they feel betrayed.

Please pray for the people of Congo, those who know Christ and those who do not, that they will be able to discern what is true, that their trust in God will be stronger than their fears and superstitions, and that they will experience true freedom in Christ. 

Rebooting the Blog

Where have I been you ask? Actually, no one asked, but just in case someone wondered, I'm still here. Several months ago I took a little break from blogging and fully intended it to be just a little break. We were tired and stressed and felt a need to simplify and reduce demands on our time in order to "huddle in" as a family. Then my mom died and for some time after that the blog was the furthest thing from my mind. Losing mom turned my world upside down and it will probably always remain at least slightly off-kilter. It is just a fact that life without her will never be the same.

Through the last several months and all the different stress factors we were experiencing, I progressed from feeling like God was silent and distant, to confusion and devastation, to comfort and hope. God showed in both big, obvious ways and small, quiet ways that His love for me is immense and unwavering, even when my faith is wobbly and frail. 

For as long as I have been a Christian, I have understood God in the context of the relationship between a father and child. That isn't incorrect, but it isn't the whole picture either. God also nurtures and cares for his children in the same way a mother does. I don't know why that would surprise me, since God created mothers and the role of motherhood. But it did change my thinking. In my day to day life here I encounter many who are orphaned or abandoned. It brings to mind, and to my prayers, that God is a father to the fatherless. There are certain things though that fathers seem to do better and certain things that mothers seem to do better. God can do them all. He IS a father to the fatherless, but he also meets the needs that only a mother can fulfill. 

For this is what the Lord says:

“I will extend peace to her like a river,

    and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream;

you will nurse and be carried on her arm

    and dandled on her knees.

As a mother comforts her child,

    so will I comfort you;

    and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.”

When you see this, your heart will rejoice

    and you will flourish like grass;

the hand of the Lord will be made known to his servants,

    but his fury will be shown to his foes.

Isaiah 66:12-14

I am still active in the Mitendi ministry. In some ways, sharing my grief with the women here, even though it was awkward for me, has deepened my relationships with them. They have all experienced loss. They can't relate to my culture or my background but they can relate to my loss. 

We are in the middle of packing and preparing to move, so maybe this isn't the best time to recommence with blogging, but this is when I finally felt prompted to begin again, so bear with me. We'll only be moving a few kilometers, but we will be in a much less stressful situation, which will give us a little breathing room and more energy for focusing on ministry, so we are excited about this.

Slug Devotion

Look at what I almost stepped on today when I opened my front door. Ew. A little while later, he crawled through the crack under my door and came into the living room for a look-see.

Daniel thought it was cool. When you have a boy, you get to learn things you might not have ever thought you needed to know. Or wanted to. This, for example, is what happens when you touch one of these creatures. When they react this way, they form a suction with the floor, so trying to get one out of the house is like trying to scrape tar off your shoe with a cotton ball.

It gave us an interesting disruption to our day and made me think again about how big that crack under the door is. Whether we have holes in the screens or cracks in the doors, they are openings that allow unwelcome guests into our home. When we have holes in our spiritual armor, they allow entry for unwelcome guests of another sort. Things like anger, fear, envy, etc. We have to spend time with God, study his Word, and exercise our faith to keep our armor in good condition.

Otherwise, we might find ourselves facing something ugly in our life that is difficult to get rid of.

"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. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God," Eph 6:13-17

Sew Exciting!

With all its problems and challenges, DRC is also a place where God is present, active and doing exciting things. Thursday just happened to be a real cool beans day, chock full of reminders of God's love for the people of Congo. I have been feeling bad about not posting and sharing about it sooner, but maybe this is good timing. Today, I became once again a stuck-at-home stay-at-home mom. Our car, which is fairly new-to-us still, has a head issue. (It is a Burton, after all.) So, today turned out to be a good day to share all the good stuff God has been doing here and remind myself what is really important. (However, I won't object if y'all pray for our transportation problem.)

Thursday morning I went to the Maison de Couture (Bandal Center) with Jill. I was excited to see some young ladies working there who I first met as students at the Mitendi Center. They had graduated and are now in the internship program at Bandal. While we were there a young girl came to speak with Jill. She had heard about the Mitendi Center and wanted to know more about attending!



My job was to inspect piles of zippered pouches. Those that did not pass inspection were set aside to be corrected. While I studied zippers, Jill was in an impromptu meeting with a woman who had dropped by to see her.

Mama Myala and Jill Lowery

Her name is Mama Myala, and I am so glad I got to meet her! After she left, I learned from Jill that Mama Myala is a literacy expert and trains literacy teachers. She goes anywhere she is invited, and in 2005, she made contact with a tribe of Batwa people (pigmies) who invited her to stay with them in the forest and teach them to read. She goes back, by a combination of truck and canoe, as often as she can to teach and to encourage them in their faith. Mama Mayala had come to talk with Jill about some Batwa girls who want to learn to be seamstresses. She asked if she could get them to Kinshasa, could they live and study at Mitendi Women's Center? Jill was able to tell her that there are people who give money for scholarships so that girls do not get turned away for lack of funds! 

Mama Myala is hands and feet of Jesus to this tribe of Batwa and to others by bringing the message of the gospel and by empowering them to read the Word of God. Please pray for her and for her ministry to these isolated people. If you are interested in helping the Mitendi Center with scholarships, you can let me know and I can connect you with Jill.

Thursday afternoon, our MAF team met at the airport for a dedication ceremony for our "new" PC-12. Our program has been hoping and praying for this plane for several years! It will enable us to reach more people at greater distances with the life changing message of Christ and with medical supplies, etc. 




Having a dedication ceremony did more than just cement our commitment to be servants and to glorify God with the plane. It brought our national staff and our expat staff together and reinforced our shared purpose and unity. It also gave us a unique opportunity to publicly share with others who work at the airport our reason for being here and the Savior whose love compels us. Pray for our pilots, mechanic, office staff, program manager, moms at home, and the people and ministries we serve here.

Ebola and MAF in Congo

Preparing to fly supplies to Boende, photo by Nick Frey

In our last prayer letter, we asked readers to pray for a quick end to the ebola outbreak and for all the medical personnel, patients, and officials affected by this virus. The outbreak began last March in a remote area in Guinea, and spread to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria. Since we wrote that plea just a few weeks ago, the virus has gained momentum instead of slowing. Ebola has spread to Senegal and to a new area in Guinea that was previously unaffected. Last week alone nearly 400 people died, bringing the total deaths to more than 1,900. One hundred twenty health care workers have died.

Ebola was first discovered in 1976 in outbreaks that happened concurrently in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and is named for the river near the afflicted village in Congo. Since then, there have been over 20 known ebola outbreaks in Africa, eleven of them in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

More people have died in the current outbreak than in all of the previously known outbreaks combined. 

Another change since our prayer letter was written is that an unrelated ebola outbreak of a different strain is now here in Congo. To date there have been 53 confirmed cases and 31 deaths in the Boende District. DRC has a lot of experience with ebola and the area was quickly quarantined. Boende is in a remote area, 542 kilometers from Kinshasa, and not easily accessible. That makes it more difficult for the virus to spread, but it also makes it more challenging to get needed medical personnel and supplies in. This is where MAF comes in.

MAF has actively helped in past outbreaks and our team here is already making flights to Boende with medical teams and equipment and flying back with samples for the labs in Kinshasa. One very specific way you can pray is for a portable laboratory so that medical personnel can make a diagnosis within hours instead of waiting for days to confirm if someone has ebola or not.

Please pray. Ask God to burden his people to pray and to give us hearts that are broken over the pain, agony and death that people are suffering.

Pray for all affected.

Pray for an end soon. WHO is projecting that up to 20,000 people may become infected before this outbreak can be brought to an end. I am praying that they are WRONG.

Pray for the suffering economies of the affected countries as commerce has been greatly hindered. 

Pray for the governments and people in authority who have to make decisions about how to contain the virus.

Pray for believers to have strong faith and to be instruments of peace and calm when others are feeling afraid and panicky.

Pray for opportunities for people to hear the gospel and find hope and salvation in Christ.

Click here to read an MAF press release about our connection to the current outbreak.

Click here to learn more about the history of ebola, courtesy of the World Health Organization.

Precious

We all occasionally have a day that causes us before it is finished to think perhaps we should have stayed in bed so as to avoid all the day’s mishaps. Yesterday was my turn. 

I didn’t expect everything to take longer than usual and to feel rushed. I didn’t expect to have a headache all day, or to have an invasion of ants akin to an Alfred Hitchcok movie. Less than an hour after my floors were swept and mopped, ants were all over the floors AND walls of one end of the house. I did not expect that as I was spraying insecticide and sweeping ants off the walls and floors, my son would accidentally spill an entire box of Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder on yet another portion of the freshly mopped floor. It was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. 

Cocoa can be hard to find here and very expensive when it is available. Good cocoa is even more rare and Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa does not exist here at all, ever.  I had brought back a couple of boxes from furlough and they were going to have to last until the next furlough two years later.  It was an accident, and I knew it, but for just a second I wanted to turn into something like Gollum yelling about his Precious. I thank God that as I knelt there sweeping up the mess I looked up and saw my son’s face just before I was about to let my frustration fly out of my mouth like an arrow and hit him right in the heart. It gave me enough pause to be able to stop myself.  I still had to explain that my frustration was with the way our day was going and not with him, but at least I did not have to apologize for hurtful words. 

It is in those "unexpecteds" that our true character shows, and I saw that I had plenty of room for improvement. I also saw that God is even now still working on me. I saw Him give grace in a moment when I needed it. He gently reminded me that cocoa and clean floors are very nice things to have, but they are not precious. We are here in Congo because people are what is precious - so precious that Christ gave his life for them. 



Please be in prayer for us, that we might always be mindful of what is truly precious and that our words and deeds will reflect that. Pray for the precious people of Congo, that they will place their faith in Christ and find their strength in Him.

Two Transformers

Three phase pole mounted transformer in Syria. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Our week went something like this:

- Our daughter needed oral surgery. We carry very high deductibles, and this year she actually met hers. That's not a good thing but it meant if we could get her surgery done this year, it would save a ton of money. The problem was that she is going back to school in a week and has no transportation once she gets there.

- Honey, the toilet is leaking again."

- Honey, the bedroom air-conditioner is not working."

- Honey, the a/c in the car (that just got repaired) is not working."

Everyday it was a new problem and no time to deal with figuring out what is wrong, shopping for tools and parts, and repairing it all. The really fun news came yesterday, when we called the electric company after our power was off for 24 hours:

- The transformer is burnt up. It will be a long time before you have electricity again.

Without a transformer, there is no power. Period.

The very word transformer brings up some unpleasant memories of our first year here. The transformer burned and it was over five weeks before we had electricity. Then just weeks after we finally got one, election season began and a candidate commandeered our transformer and hauled it away to use for a neighborhood that housed some of his constituents. 

I won't lie. That was hard. It would be challenging enough for anyone raised with the convenience of 24/7 electricity. It was our first year, so we were still not accustomed to the different life and the climate. It was hard to sleep at night in the heat, and being exhausted just made things harder to deal with. At the time I was dealing with painful bone spurs in both feet that eventually required surgery. AND, we were all dealing with the emotions that go along with the first child graduating and getting ready to go to live across the ocean. 

But one thing we learned through all of that is that we were not all alone. God never left us, and He showed his love and presence in very tangible ways. We had friends and team members who let us use their washing machines and take showers at their houses. He provided extra funds so we could buy fuel to run the generator to charge batteries and cool down the fridge. He used others to counsel me to make plans to get my feet taken care of instead of trying to stick it out until furlough (another two years away). He gave us people who prayed for us and encouraged us. The fact that without a transformer we had no power source for our home reminded us that God is the source of our strength.

God is no less present or loving this time around either. As challenging as it can be to schedule a medical procedure on short notice, He provided someone with a great reputation who not only fit Emily in right away but also worked with our insurance and handled everything with professionalism and kindness. Emily had her surgery yesterday and is recuperating in the very capable care of my parents. 

Once again we have friends who have already offered to let us come over and use their washing machine.

The toilet still leaks. The a/c in the bedroom and the car are still broken. The power is still off. But I am confident that God knows what we need and will provide it. It will be fun to see how He choose to do it. Do I hope we get it sooner rather than later? Sure, I do. I also know that if we have to wait, good will come of it. The lessons I learned last time have hopefully made my faith stronger and made me more perseverant and more grateful for this go-round. I am hoping and praying that God uses our transformer issue to transform me. 

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. 

Finding Hope in Mitendi

Last week, Daniel and I spent a couple of days with Jill Lowery to learn more about her missionary role here in Kinshasa. I got to know Jill a little better, learn about the heart God has given her for Congo, AND - I got to see first-hand a ministry that is changing lives! God isn't just working in the bush where our MAF pilots fly every day. He is also at work right here in Kinshasa and the surrounding area.

As a missionary with the Congolese Baptist Community, Jill works with two centers. The first is called Mitendi Women's Center, or Marie Mattie Women's Center and is about a 45 minute drive from my home, in a neighborhood that is impoverished even by third world standards. Marie Mattie was the first Congolese woman to graduate from college here and had a vision for helping women. This center is a two-year residential program for girls at high risk of exploitatioin or prostitution. In addition to the women's ministry, they also operate the Marie Mattie Complexe Scolaire, a school for kindergarten through sixth grade for at risk and vulnerable kids. These are kids who otherwise would not be able to attend school. If you want to know more about what the terms "at risk"  and "vulnerable" mean when applied to children and teens, there is an explanation HERE.

When we arrived, our first sight was all the little school kids standing under a shade tree. I got my camera out and immediately a few kids noticed and started "posing."

Then more kids noticed.

And MORE! This took less than ten seconds. They were all smiles and excitement...

...until the teacher blew his whistle. 

He led them in a couple of marching songs to help them get rid of their wiggles before they headed back into their classrooms. Wish you could have been there - they were SO CUTE!

We were allowed to visit the classrooms, and in each one the entire class stood and sang a welcome song for their visitors. This has happened to me in the orphanages and other schools I have visited. It is very much a part of the culture here and even some adult groups have sung welcome songs for me.

In the Women's Center, many of the young ladies have not had much opportunity for education, so they are taught literacy, basic education, and French. They also learn skills which they can use to support themselves such as crochet, knitting, sewing, and restaurant work. It is a two-year, residential program. They also study the Bible and of course the primary goal is for these girls to come to know Christ and learn to trust in Him.

The day we visited, Mama Jackie was teaching sewing class.

The girls learn with hand-cranked sewing machines...

...and hand-drawn lessons, without patterns. 

The way our grandmothers and great-grandmothers did it.

Currently, funds are being raised and efforts are being made to build a protective wall around the center property to stop attempts to steal and sell off the land, to keep animals out of the vegetable gardens, and to increase the safety and security of the girls who live there. 

This gentleman had the task of getting water for mixing cement - a time consuming task when you have to draw the water by hand from a cistern with a homemade bucket and funnel.

The next day we visited the second center, Marie Mattie Maison de Couture. This center is an extension of the first one, sort of an internship program so that when the ladies graduate from the two-year program, they have a chance to refine their skills and earn money while doing it. On the days that Mama Jackie is not at the Women's Center, she is at the Maison de Couture. The "house of sewing" is in the city and has better power and electric sewing machines. Some are hand-crank machines that have been transformed into electric machines!

The ladies sew school uniforms, clothing, surgical drapes and bed coverings for hospitals, baby layettes, and more.

One of Jill's tasks is to inspect each completed item, since the girls are still in the learning process. Each intern then has to correct her mistakes before an item can be sold. This teaches them to take responsibility for and pride in their work and to understand the importance of doing one's best. It also reinforces the core verse for the center: Colossians 3:23-24, which says “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.” 

Jill and Mama Jackie are always on the lookout for new things for the interns to make and sell, increasing their skills and their potential to earn a decent living for themselves. Here they are inspecting a quilted zipper pouch that I had with me so they could see how it was made. 

I am sure I left out something, or several somethings, about this vital ministry, so I have included links below to the Lowerys' web site and to a site with information about the center. I asked Jill if there are any specific ways to pray for the ministry and this is what she shared with me.

First: Pray that the girls will persevere and complete the program. They face many obstacles.                                                     Second: The greatest stress right now is getting the wall built and bringing an end to the problem with the man who is trying to sell off the land that belongs to the center. Pray that God gives favor over corrupt officials.                                                         Third: Pray for Mama Jackie for continued health. She has given her life for the ministry and without her, there would be no center.

Useful links:

Lowerys' Web Site

About The Fence Project