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.

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.

Why this post has no pictures

It takes several times longer to post to the blog from here than it would from say...almost anywhere else, and I need time to work on our newsletter this weekend, so I'm changing things up a bit. There will be no photos and less writing.  (All the articles I've seen about being a good blogger say that not having photos means death for a blog. Hope not.)

 Here is a little bit more of the good and bad about Congo. I hope you will take a look at these. But first, a story that didn't make international news, or news anywhere, even though it affects thousands of people.

When we came back from our weekend trip to Nkara, things here in Kinshasa had changed. The commercial center was barren. All the "shade tree vendors" were gone. Driving home one evening, we passed a group of at least a hundred police officers who were moving on foot in the opposite direction. In their wake were up-turned metal "buildings", broken plastic chairs and tables, and fires. Lots of fires. The wooden kiosks that the sidewalk vendors had been using were ablaze. The officials had decided it was time to "clean up" the city. Instead of doing something about sanitation or crime, they went after the vendors. Admittedly the vendors cause congestion and make it difficult to walk about. They also provide produce and bread to a huge population of people who don't have transportation or cab fare to get to the stores. But now these people have had their inventories burned or destroyed and have no means to support their families. I wanted to jump out of the car and yell at the police "These are your people!" To better understand the corruption here, you should know that the vendors in the military housing neighborhoods were left alone to continue business as usual.

I don't pretend to fully understand the conflicts that occur here.  Often their origins go way back and are complex.  I do know that a general named Bosco Ntaganda is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes.  Soldiers in the DRC army who are loyal to Ntaganda have deserted and now there is conflict between this rebel group and the military.  The UN has evidence that Rwanda is sending troops and supplies across the border in support of the rebels. Doctors Without Borders, whom MAF partners with here in DRC, has posted this article about the impact on the region. Read more HERE from the BBC if you want to understand Rwanda's role in this better and HERE for more about the history behind the present conflict.

Now for the good part I promised you. The climate here is tropical, a nice word for hot and humid.  The equator runs right through this immense country.  But did you know that the Democratic Republic of Congo also has glaciers? They are in a mountain range that borders the DRC and Uganda. Project Pressure has information and some amazing photos HERE .  I did have a good chuckle at the quote referring to the Congolese porters under the third photo: "Their experience on ice is limited." Of course it is.


Please keep this amazing, troubled country in your prayers.

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.