Fever Tree

A few days ago, David brought this stick home. It had travelled to Kinshasa via MAF plane from an interior village and was accidentally left at the hangar. The passenger who misplaced it is a friend and he had called David and asked him to look for the stick. He had brought it from the village for someone else and they really wanted it.

It's really not much to look at. Why would they want that stick so badly? Why would a stick be so important (unless you are a dog)?

Cinchona pubescens (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This isn't an ordinary stick. It was cut from a "fever tree," also called "cinchona," "quina," and "Jesuit bark." The bark of this tree contains quinine, and is chewed or steeped into a tea to treat malaria. I have sampled a tiny, tiny piece of fever tree bark. It was very bitter and the taste lingered for a long time after I spit it out, even though I didn't even chew it. It amazes me that anyone ever even discovered that something that nasty could cure malaria, since that would require tasting it more than once. Quinine is also used to treat malaria worldwide in other forms, like pills. That ugly piece of tree branch has the potential to save lives.

Malaria is a serious threat in DRC. It is one of the leading causes of death here. Over 400 children die in Congo every day, and nearly half of these deaths are caused by malaria (World Health Organization). Please pray for those who are working on better preventions like vaccines, for those who work in the health care sector, and for the people of DRC. 

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.

Thank yous

I have a friend here who is about to leave for a vacation in the U.S. That means I have an opportunity to send mail back, so I have been busy writing letters. Serving as a missionary with MAF means we raise our own ministry support. We literally could not be here without the help of our partners who pray for us and give financially. A lot of the letters I write are thank you notes. 

When I was a kid and someone gave me a gift, my mom would make me write a thank you note and I would whine about it. It was a chore. Now when I look over at a stack of thank you letters that I have written, each one represents a relationship. Whether it be an individual, a business, a church or a family - all of them have invested in us not just financially but also in friendship. We are a team working together to advance God's kingdom. 

I took that photo of the church above a few years ago when we had the opportunity to visit the village of Nkara. This photo is one I took a couple weeks ago of the church in Kikongo village. They represent people in Congo who are part of the Body of Christ. 

There are more churches that have been planted and established here. There are also hospitals, seminaries, schools, ministries to lepers, and other evangelistic missions - even a Christian radio station! We are deeply grateful to be part of MAF and to be a tiny part of all that. 

I get really excited when I consider that one day, believers in Congo and believers who helped send all the Christian workers, including me, to Congo will meet one another in heaven and adore Christ together! 

I always used to think as a kid that we wrote thank you notes to show that we are grateful. As I grew up I learned that expressing thanks actually makes you more grateful. In fact I am not certain that sending a thank you isn't equally as beneficial for the sender as it is for the recipient, if not more so.

Writing thank you notes is a privilege! Each one is a reminder of God's power and provision, of a common vision He has given to us to see others come to know Him, and the incredible gift of a relationship rooted in the love of Christ. 

How cool beans is that?!?

Thank you for reading my blog, for praying, for giving and sending! 

Imagine Kikongo

Last weekend we went to the village of Kikongo with another MAF family, the Pedersons. Yes, it was very "cool beans!"

Rita Chapman

Kikongo is about 100 miles southeast of Kinshasa, but 100 miles in Congo is not like 100 miles in the states. You cannot simply drive to Kikongo. There are no passable roads. The mission station is staffed full-time by missionaries Glen and Rita Chapman. They have a three year program for training national pastors AND their wives for ministering to their villages, a hospital, a nursing school, elementary and secondary schools, and probably more that I can't remember. 

We toured the mission station and learned about the ministries, which rely on MAF to function there. 

Imagine if this is where you or your wife or sister had to go to deliver a baby, and you felt privileged to have this option. We met two women who had delivered their babies recently by cesarean section!

Imagine if this was the pharmacy and supply cupboard. You can see that there is not a lot there, but all this nurse asked for was some better baby aspirators for removing amniotic fluid from the babies' nasal passages. They only have one and it does not work well.

Imagine if this was your house...

...and this was how you and all your neighbors got water.

Imagine if these were your neighborhood strip mall, grocery store, etc...

...and this was where your kids went to school...

...and this was the neighborhood playground equipment...

...and you were grateful. 

We saw lots of cool things! Kikongo is situated by the Wamba River, so we spent some time at the river and even crossed it and went on a hike to some small waterfalls. We saw cool flowers and animals. The Chapmans had baby crocodiles, mongoose, and duikers that were orphans and they were raising until they were ready to be released to make it on their own. We learned about local food options and tried a few. 

Glen had a wooden "skim board" and showed us how to use it. Yes, I tried it. NO, you don't get to see a photo. You can see a photo of me by the falls, where I am standing up nice and straight and graceful looking.

We tried smoked corn on the cob, but we passed on the smoked viper. We did buy some smoked fish and mantete (squash seeds). 

This is the mantete after it is prepared with the smoked fish. We ate it served over mashed potatoes.  We also tried mantete rolls - which looked a little like sausage and had a bit of hot pili pepper in them. I liked the mantete prepared both ways but not everyone did.

One of the coolest things we saw is Glen's powered parachute thingymabob. He uses it to take vaccines and medications to other villages. This is an important time saver over tromping through the forest, especially since vaccines are temperature sensitive and the climate is so hot here. He also uses it to take all the equipment to show the Jesus film in other villages and do evangelism. We did not get to take a ride because it is in need of some minor repair, but we did get to see Glen take it for a test run.

Before putting the chute away, it must be inspected for grasshoppers because if they get in, they chew holes in the chute.

Glen asked David to take a look at the engine. No matter what the type of aviation device is, an aircraft mechanic is always interested.

Our time in Kikongo was an interesting mix of leisure and ministry. We loved getting to know the Chapmans a little better, spending time with the Pedersons and relaxing a bit. We also know more about some of the people and ministries that we serve as part of the MAF team here in west DRC. It really changes your perspective and renews your vision when you see all this in person and also gives you a much deeper insight as to how to pray for the missionaries, the ministries, and the people. If we ever get to go again, you bet we will.

A Historic Event!

Kikongo landing strip and MAF pilot David Francis. Photo by Jocelyn Frey.

Our friend and pastor, Mike Lowery, rides an MAF plane from here in Kinshasa to the village of Kikongo once a month. He stays a few days, ministering and teaching in a school for pastors, then takes another MAF plane back to Kinshasa.

These men of God are getting training that would otherwise be inaccessible because of the ministry of MAF and the dedication of missionaries Glen Chapman and Mike Lowery. There is no way to measure the impact that can have as these men take what they learn back to their own churches and villages.

Another facet of MAF's ministry besides the airplane is our IT service. MAF was involved in bringing internet to Kikongo for the missionaries there. Because of this, a truly historic event took place at the Bible school recently, and you can read Pastor Mike's really cool story about it by clicking HERE.

It is an incredible privilege to be part of MAF and the missions community here! We could not be here serving alongside these folks without the prayers and ministry support of many others, so we are truly part of a huge team and are very grateful! By supporting our ministry with MAF, you are also supporting the work God is doing in Kikongo.

Widows and Orphans

Nancy and Nancy, heh heh heh

My friends Jim and Nancy Smith returned from their mission station in Nkara and will soon be on their way back to the U.S. for a few months. I had sent a sack of yarn with Nancy to see if any of the ladies in the Literacy Center would be interested in making baby blankets for the orphanage (more about the literacy center HERE) (more about the blanket project HERE).

One lady, a widow named Ibo, crocheted these blankets. That's her front row left. She is a graduate of the literacy center and now teaches the other students to knit and crochet. She told Nancy Smith that when her husband died, she became very angry. Then she went to the literacy school and met Jesus and He changed her life. Ibo has no children to help care for her. Culturally and economically, life here is very difficult for widows and for people who have no children; I was very pleased to be able to give her an opportunity to earn a little extra money. Now I have soft, new blankets to take to the orphanage before the chilly dry season arrives. Mama Ibo lives a long way from the children at the orphanage in Kimbondo and neither of them has any knowledge of the other. We are admonished in James that pure religion is to look after orphans and widows in their distress. By paying Mama Ibo for her labors and donating the blankets to the orphanage, one project is helping both! I think that is so cool beans!

Tuesday was my birthday. My family spoiled me and did all the dishes all that day and all the following day. Of course it had NOTHING to do with the face that my thumb is still messed up. It is improving. An adopting family came through last week and I was able to buy a splint for my thumb for them to bring. That has enabled me to give it both protection and support, so now I have a lot less pain.






We are all looking forward to furlough this summer. Already our family is praying for a place to live and transportation and doing our best to search for both from here. We have lots to do during our time in the states: doctor and dentist visits, settle Emily into college and teach her how to drive, visit family, friends and ministry partners, raise ministry support, additional training, shopping for supplies for the next term, home schooling Daniel, etc, etc, etc. Somewhere in there we are supposed to take some R&R. We would love for you to pray with us.

Picture This 2

My friend and co-laborer in Christ, Nancy Smith has returned to Congo for a time. In addition to attending to their ministries here, teaching in the women's literacy center and the Bible school, seeing to repairs of their radio tower, evangelism, etc, Nancy found time to spend an afternoon with me. It is always a blessing to get time with a friend whom you don't see often. I am extra blessed this time because she and I have a little project we are working on now. I have a bunch of baby soft yarn for knitting and crocheting baby blankets. I never could figure out how to knit or crochet on my own (instructions are always right handed, ugh) and couldn't find anyone with time to teach me. The women in Nkara at the women's literacy center are trained to do both so that they can make things to help support their families. Nancy is going to leave Tuesday for Nkara - in an MAF plane that my amazing husband does maintenance on! She will take my yarn with her and have the ladies in the school make baby blankets for me to donate to the orphanage when Nancy brings them back with her. I will pay them a fair price for their labor and they will have contributed to an important ministry here in Kinshasa. I am very excited to finally see this desire coming to fruition. They should have the blankets in time for the cooler dry season. Don't look too closely at that photo. We both had been in my hot car with no a/c for a while and were both pretty tired.

We had a stressful January, lots going on back home and here, and I thought a light-hearted post of some random photos would do us all good. Here are some of our most recent odd photos.

In the "Things we eat in Congo" category:

Plop - These are actually cookies and aren't too bad if you like store bought cookies.

We also occasionally eat Smoked Russians. Wonder if the Russians eat Smoked Americans?

In the "Oxymoron" category: This made me laugh. It's a bug spray called SafeTox. Seems to me it is either safe, or it is toxic. I am not sure how it can be both.

In the "What is that and why did they put it here?" category:

Gripe Water. Shelved between the yeast and the pudding mixes in the baking section. If you don't have enough to gripe about, try some gripe water.

In the "TIA: This is Africa" category:

If you go shopping in Nairobi, Kenya, be sure to drop your toddlers and preschoolers off at the Kids Corner so they can play with all the nice breakables and power cords while you shop.

Lastly, in the "Things A Mom Just Doesn't Want to Know" category, along with why I found a straw in the litter box: What makes a child want to take a photo of himself doing this?