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!

Kinshasa Journal 2: Robocops and Refrigerators

Thanks Nick Frey for the photo!

We’ve been here almost a week! Where did the time go? 

Here is a list of highlights and “lowlights” from our first week back in Kinshasa.
We arrived late on Thursday evening. On the way home from the airport, I got to see the traffic robot, aka robocop. These new aluminum and steel traffic officers were built here in Kinshasa while we were in the states. You can see more photos, some video footage, and read more about the robocops HERE.

Upon arriving at the house, we were pleasantly surprised at the work our team had put into cleaning it and stocking it with enough food to get us started until we could go shopping. David Francis had done some plumbing and wiring repairs so that we could have electricity and showers. There was a welcome banner for Daniel from one of his friends. The beds were made with clean sheets. We were UNpleasantly surprised to see someone else’s refrigerator in our living room when we walked in, because it could only mean one thing. Sure enough, our refrigerator that we bought shortly before we left for furlough was not functional. 

It did not take us long to feel like we were back in Congo again. Friday night the car we are borrowing from MAF broke down on a dead end road and we did not have working phones yet. Not that anyone could have easily come to help us because the reason we turned down the wrong road was because our road is under construction and is completely barricaded and we were trying to find another way to the house. The nice thing is that in Kinshasa if you have some francs in your pocket you can always find a couple of guys willing to help you push your car. All we had was a twenty dollar bill so we really made their day. For a lot of people here twenty dollars is more than a week’s wages. Then on Saturday evening we spent nearly an hour stuck in a traffic jam. The kicker was that we were only about one minute from our destination when we got stuck.

We’ve already had several power outages, including one that lasted about thirty hours. David has already repaired the same light fixture four times. Two voltage regulators have fried. I no longer have a dryer, which means scratchy towels and hoping the mango flies don’t find my clothesline. We haven’t found a vehicle yet. 

David jumped in with both feet and started working in the hangar on Monday, but today he stayed home to try to address some issues here in the house. We discovered the refrigerator had zero refrigerant in it, so there is a leak somewhere. If we can find the leak, we can get it repaired and save a lot of money versus buying a new one. We are grateful for the loaner refrigerator while we sort this out. 

This doesn't look like much but it is a big deal to me. Our 12 volt lights, internet antenna and router are set up to run on battery power. The batteries are charged by solar panels, but they are not holding their charge well anymore so when the power is off or it is too cloudy our internet quickly begins to fail, followed by our back up lights. I was running up and down a ladder several times a day to turn the inverter off and reset the router to get internet back, or to turn it off altogether to try to conserve battery power for running the lights. David lowered the inverter today so that I can reach it without the ladder. That beautiful green light means we have internet! No more ladder in the hallway. Yaay! It’s the little things, folks. 

So, we are definitely not in America anymore. But we are doing well. Since this is our second term and not our first, now that the jet lag has worn off it does seem a lot easier to adjust. I know how to cook here already, how to pay bills, how to shop, how to run a generator, etc., so it doesn’t feel like a mountain of stuff is being thrown at me to learn and navigate. I already have friends and acquaintances here, which is a huge thing. During the last several months leading up to our furlough, David and I both had health issues we did not know about until we got to the states, but which were contributing to our mental and physical fatigue and stress and probably affecting how we (or at least I) related to our team. Thankfully, we have a very understanding  team, and we are both feeling much better now.

We’ve learned some things. Firstly, next time we go on furlough or an extended trip we will label where we store the parts for the water filter. That’s sort of important and at 1:00am after a flight across the ocean one’s memory is not what it should be. 


Secondly, I am learning to take better care of myself and to minimize stress as much as possible here so that I have more energy for my relationships with others and for the things I have to do. For example, we have one room that stays cooler than any other room in the house, so that is where we now have our home school day. It’s amazing the difference that ten degrees can make on a person’s overall well being and temperament after several hours each day! 

Robocops aside, life here is just as difficult for most Congolese as it was when we left last summer - maybe more so. The police are destroying the wares and stands of the roadside vendors in the name of "cleaning up and beautifying the city." There are new laws going into effect regarding what parts of the city the taxi buses are allowed to run in. Taxis are the primary mode of transportation for most people here. The prevailing attitude of those in power seems to be the end justifies the means without regard to who gets hurt in the process. Please continue to keep Congo in your prayers!

First Week of Furlough

MAF Office in Nampa

A week ago today in the wee hours of morning we landed in Boise, Idaho. It does not seem like a week has gone by! Already we have had some memorable moments:

* stepping off the plane in Brussels was like entering a portal to another world - "first world"

* hot water/showers, and actually feeling clean after we rinsed off

* hair that behaves

*people are so friendly and polite!

* driving! Oh my! Smooth roads, orderliness, street signs and street lights

* re-teaching my son to make microwave popcorn

*first time I put on a clean shirt and it smelled clean

* milk in a jug!

* pulling something out of the fridge that is actually COLD

* getting all our groceries, toiletries, etc at one store and finding everything (In reference to my post about what it might be like to go to Wal-mart, not much had changed really. I still had the entire floor plan memorized and had no trouble finding things. The big difference is that it took me twenty minutes to pick a deodorant, and the first time we went to Wal-mart, we came home with only two food items: milk and Oreos. We may have been tired but at least we had our priorities right.)

* While putting away groceries, someone forgot what crescent roll dough was and put it in the freezer. oops.

* one of my kids was the first of us to accidentally speak French to someone instead of English, and yes, the rest of us laughed

* INTERNET!!!

* getting to dry my clothes in a dryer!

* David mentioned the other day "No one in this family except me knows how to turn lights off." That made us realize that in our house in Kinshasa, it rarely mattered if the switches were on or off. It's hard to waste electricity when you don't have any.

We have all been to the doctor for physicals and are attending meetings/debriefings. Next week David has some training in the hangar and I hope to use that time to get a few much needed clothing items for the kids and me.

It has been a real treat to be in Nampa and see again our friends there. These are the people who work behind the scenes to help all of us who are on the field with everything from processing support gifts, writing literature and making our prayer cards, arranging our travel, raising funds to get us planes, helping us with insurance claims, training us, coaching us, processing our mail, and more. They pray for us, advise us, serve us and encourage us. Many of them have served overseas and know all the ins and outs and understand all that we experience. They know how weary we were when we arrived without us having to tell them and they have loved on us since we got here. I have met missionaries who do not have the kind of support that MAF gives to their missionaries and it makes a huge difference! If any of our Nampa friends are reading this, THANK YOU! We love you too!

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.

No More Anonymity

photo credit: Sandy Francis

I don't know why but in the last week my comment box has had a plethora of spam comments, most of them  benign but some are offensive. Since I moderate all comments, this saved my blog from having them posted all over the place but my email box has been flooded with them. So...I am not allowing anonymous comments anymore, since that is the avenue the spammers use. Can you still post comments? Yes. But now you must identify yourself using either your own URL, AIM or OpenID. If you have an ID with Google (think gmail), Yahoo, Blogger, Flickr, MySpace, AOL, or WordPress then you already have an OpenID and you can find out what it is by clicking HERE. I'm sorry for the inconvenience but I really would not look good if I pulled all my hair out and this was the alternative. Many of you already know me and prefer to send me comments via facebook or email, and that's fine too.

The Christmas season is the time of year when I get the most interaction with our national staff, even though David sees many of them several times a week. In addition to the Christmas worship service we do together for people who work at the airport (see photo above of David and some of the other guys singing!), we also have an annual Christmas meal together with Congolese food. I really like the fact that we work with our nationals to do the Christmas outreach event because besides sharing the gospel with others, it reminds all of our MAF staff that we are in ministry together.

Remember this? Last September we paid the local vet to spay our kitten, Lily. She nearly died afterward of complications. I suspected pneumonia.

We are about 95% sure that our SPAYED kittie is pregnant. We just went through this less than a year ago with her mama, Piper, and all the symptoms are the same. I was there for Lily's surgery and SAW the vet remove SOMETHING, but obviously it wasn't what he thought it was...

...anybody want a kitten?

We are having a wonderful time visiting with Josh! We had a nice, relaxing family Christmas with devotions and gifts and homemade treats and a ham dinner. I am working on a new post but might not have it up by tomorrow. I'm still getting used to our new computer (Christmas gift, yaay!) and our internet has been unpredictable. Pray for our water situation. We are out again, so tomorrow morning David will have to drive the truck to haul water for the third time this week. When we moved here the water was great and we never ran low. We have no idea why suddenly it's off most of the time.

What's Happening?

English: Bunia, Ituri, RDC (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We had a crazy rain storm last night. Water was coming down faster than it could drain out of the yard so we soon had water up to the bottom of our jeep, in the laundry room, and in the room our guards use. Our internet was knocked out by lightning and won't be back until at least Monday, so I'm at a friend's house, drinking her tea and enjoying her air-conditioning while I borrow her internet. Woohoo! Let's hear it for friends!

In Make a Difference Today! I wrote about an opportunity to help MAF send vaccines for children in the Democratic Republic of Congo for Giving Tuesday. We surpassed our goal of 100,000 vaccines! If you click HERE you can view a thank you video that features two of our team members from here in Kinshasa.

I wanted to give you an update on what is going on in the east and how it might be affecting MAF staff. If you haven't seen the news about Goma and the rest of east DRC recently, you can check my posts Days of Evil and The Media May Ignore Congo but Christians Cannot. Here is the latest update from the MAF website:

Bunia, Democratic Republic of the Congo — 11-29-2012 — MAF pilots in Bunia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, report that things feel relatively “normal” in this eastern DRC town, despite insecurity in other parts of the region.

Bunia is located some 325 miles north of Goma, the city of one million inhabitants that was taken over by the M23 rebel group last week.

Though many NGOs have evacuated their staff in the region, the three MAF pilots in Bunia are conducting their usual flights for church, mission, and humanitarian organizations. Some of those flights this week included delivery of medicines and medical personnel, transport of a Bible translator and a medical patient, and conveyance of church workers to an area where they are conducting outreach activities. 

Amid riots last week, MAF relocated its families (including children) to Kampala, Uganda, on Tuesday, Nov. 20, leaving three pilots in Bunia to provide flights for those in need.

Last weekend, the people of Bunia celebrated the 100-year anniversary of the CECA 20/Africa Inland Mission church in the DRC. Thousands gathered at the city stadium for a lively time of worship and celebration. Many from outside of Bunia were in town to attend.

Here are some more recent articles:

Britain suspends Rwandan aid on DR Congo rebel support

M23 Rebels delay pullout

Please continue to pray for peace and healing for this volatile region.

Three Things I am Grateful for that Might Surprise You

Like the flowers? Last night Emily played Annelle in her school's performance of Steel Magnolias and the flowers were a gift from the parents of one of the cast members. 

                                                                                                                                        I finished painting Daniel's room. If it looks like I painted it in the dark, that's because I did. The power kept going out. He's happy with it, so that's all that matters. 

I had a lot of blue fabric in my stash, so I made a throw rug for his room. Not only is Daniel happy, but I am very glad to be using my stash. I've told myself I can't buy more fabric until I use what I have, or at least most of it. The next rug will be for Emily's room.






There is a little rebel in me, so I have not participated in all the social media trends to post something you are thankful for every day for thirty days. I'm just not a jump-on-the-band-wagon type of gal. I love Thanksgiving. I believe we should be thankful consciously and intentionally every single day, not just in November. To be honest, doing anything every day for thirty days that involves internet and electricity is just too hard. I don't need one more thing on my list of things I am behind in. You know from my past posts that God has been working in my life in the area of gratitude. We are all grateful for the obvious blessings we have: loved ones, our relationship with Christ, our material blessings, etc. Here are three things that I am very grateful for that probably aren't on everyone's list of blessings this year.

1. People who know a lot about parasites and diseases in the Congo and how to deal with them. We have benefited from the wisdom of missionary doctors, nurses and friends more than once. Just last week we realized that what Daniel thought was a mosquito bite that would not go away was really a worm he had picked up going barefoot after a rain. The worm was making tunnels in his toe and foot and causing pain and itching. We could actually see where the little bugger had been. Gross. The Congolese I talked to use various methods to treat this, most involving razors. Another option is to freeze the worm but that only works if you freeze the right spot, and the worm is always ahead of the tracks you can see on the foot. There are drugs also, and we did manage to find a drug that took care of the problem. It is a huge blessing to be able to ask someone for advice here and to be able to trust their wisdom and experience.

2. The hard things my kids have to deal with. It hurts immensely to see them struggle and deal with pain and hardship, but my kids have more courage, flexibility, insight and compassion than they might have had if they had never gone to the places they have been, seen the things they have seen, or had the experiences and relationships they have had. God has used the hard things in their lives to bring out good things in their character and make them into amazing young people.

3. Randomness. I like predictability. I like knowing the plan and what the rules of the game are before I begin. But I am grateful for the randomness of things here, whether it is electricity, internet, water, transportation, or people. It makes me appreciate what I have when I have it and keeps me from being lazy. You've heard the expression "use it or lose it." At our house we say "Use it before you lose it!"

What are some unusual things you are thankful for? Why?

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.

Toddler Olympics

I used to post at least once a week and sometimes twice, but for the last week or so, whenever I try to do anything on the internet that takes more than a minute, I get this:

“could not load the webpage because ____________.com took too long to respond. The website may be down or you may be experiencing issues with your internet connection.”  

I’ll keep doing my best. Obviously since I got this posted, persistence and patience pay off in the long run but the posts will definitely be less frequent for the time being. 

Here are the latest news and prayer requests. 

Last Monday my little man turned 11. We had a quiet family party and enjoyed an evening together. This coming Monday is the first day of school. Emily is a senior this year. Daniel is in 5th so he is now a middle schooler. Both of them are looking forward to new classes this year. Emily is happy about having both choir and drama. Daniel is happy about having medieval history. 

Sunday we had the privilege of meeting a couple of families who were coming through to adopt children. We picked them up and took them to church and then ate lunch together. 

We are still searching for a new place to live. I had hoped to find a place and be much further along in the packing and moving process before school starts because of the amount of time that home schooling requires. Please pray for us to be able to be flexible but also to be able to do the things that need to be done. 

Electricity has been pretty bad lately. While getting laundry done is a challenge, we are very grateful that the weather has not been too hot and that we have solar powered lights, gravity fed water, and a little gas stove to make life easier. The rumor is that power will continue to be sparse until rainy season arrives.

Friday, Daniel and I went to the orphanage. We arrived quite a bit earlier than usual and caught them eating their morning snack. All of the kids, who range in age from 2 to 6, were walking around with jars of baby food. It was the fruity stuff, not the nasty vegetable stuff, and they were eating it with their fingers and slurping it from the jars. It was also hair cut day. There were two stations set up for this. A worker would grab a kid, lather his/her head, and shave it with a straight razor. This happens once a month in order to prevent parasites and make it easier to treat ringworm, scabies and mango fly larva.

We have heard that our U.S. team is doing very well in the Olympics. These kids have never seen or even heard of the Olympics. But they do have their own Olympic-style competition on a regular basis. 

• Dot & Dash: A child dips his finger into his baby food, puts a dot onto the bald head of a randomly chosen neighbor, and then makes a run for it.

• Grab & Go: What happens when one child spills his food or drops a toy and other children happen to see it.

• Cling & Swing: A child grabs the leg of the nearest adult, usually me, and holds on tight in hopes of getting a free ride around the courtyard.

• Sit & Shove: A child sits on someone’s lap and shoves all other children off.

A Shout Out to My Team

photo credit: Nick Frey

We are back from Kenya! I will write about it. I will! But first I have to beg photos off my teammates because I hardly took any.  I got a little frustrated with my camera. I will give you a little summary now though.  We feasted! We were spiritually and physically fed in abundance. We rested. We played. We met fellow MAF missionaries for the first time even though we all serve in the same country, and came home with lots of new friends and memories. We are incredibly grateful for all the people who made the conference possible. There are lots of missionaries who are now returning to their ministries with their "batteries fully charged." Within a few hours after we returned home we had already encountered a bad leak in the bathroom toilet, a power outage, and someone asking us for money for medical bills. There's just no place like home!

In the meantime, I just want to publicly say that I appreciate my team here in the Congo and the MAF team in the U.S. that makes it possible for us to be here. Many of you know that our internet is sometimes less than fun. Since that is our primary means of communication, bill paying, doing homework, etc; not having it can be stressful. Our IT guys work hard trying to keep everyone on the team in contact with their loved ones and they do a great job amid some challenging circumstances.  Matthew Lind has written a blog post about our most recent project, with lots of photos and explanations for those of us like me who are not engineers or IT people. MAF is known for aviation, so there are lots of great pilot stories out there.  We also have full time mechanics, IT specialists, learning technologies people, base maintenance folks, and countless behind the scenes people who perform tasks that I probably don't even know exist.  Matthew's post is a great story about the IT side of MAF, but it's also a great story about team work, since we had pilots, IT staff, base maintenance staff, and national staff all working together. You can read Matthew's article HERE.