The Joy of Discovery

As I sit here, I can hear the high school band on the field across the road from our apartment practicing for tonight's graduation ceremony. For many this is an exciting time of year. I got to attend another graduation a couple weeks ago, thanks to the kind invitation extended to me by two friends: Justine (whom I met when I hired her to help me learn Lingala) and Emily. Emily and Justine work with a ministry called the Tabitha Center. There are many similarities between the Mitendi Center I often write about and the Tabitha Center. Both reach out to at-risk women and offer discipleship and job training. Here are a few photos from our day.

I have been to a few major celebrations here, and music is an essential part. Sometimes a sound system and DJ are hired and sometimes, as in this instance, a local band is hired. Personally, I prefer the bands. 

Dressing up is also a key part of any celebration here. I have no idea who this fellow is, but I thought his tie modeled after the DRC flag was cool. 

My lovely friend, Justine. I am really grateful to have met her this year. She is passionate about her faith and about helping women in Kinshasa. 

Emily is also one of my newer friends here. She received a gift in appreciation for her service to the Tabitha Center. She blows me away with her talent and her compassion. 

There is no joyous celebration quite like a Congolese joyous celebration, so here is a little sample of the excitement of the day. When the graduates paraded in, I started crying. Their joy is just so contagious and I was really happy for them. Sorry about the quality. It was the only way I could get it small enough to upload for you.

A.A. Milne, the author of the Winnie The Pooh books, once wrote: "One of the advantages of being disorderly is the JOY of discovery." It's true, too. I am surrounded these days by a great deal of disorderliness. Mostly of my own doing, but some can't be helped as we are packing and preparing for furlough and because we live in a place that often lacks order. I've been going through papers and folders and scanning back ups of things that are important. The other day I was going through some old genealogy papers I had printed twelve or thirteen years ago and found this on the backside of one:

All these years I never knew that was in my files, so it was a joyous discovery. I know without a doubt which child did the drawing, and I am sure at that tender age she didn't know what she was drawing on, or that way in the future it would bring a smile to her mama across the ocean who misses her so much. We love what we do here, but we can't wait to see our grown kids and the rest of our families again. Maybe I can even get them to draw me a picture.

Please pray for the people who live here in the midst of disorder, that they will have the joy of discovering new life in Christ and peace that passes understanding. 

"For God is not a God of disorder, but of peace..." I Cor 14:33a

Un Moment Chocolat - A Chocolate Moment

During family conference a few weeks ago I was blessed with an incredible gift: a bag of Dove Caramel Chocolates. This week when I opened the last precious piece the little message on the wrapper said "Share a chocolate moment with a friend." Well, none of my friends were around at the time. And it WAS the LAST piece.

So, I ate it.

Last weekend, I was in a store with my friend Christine (one of the unfortunate friends I did not share a chocolate moment with when I ate the LAST piece of Dove) and we saw these gigantic bars of chocolate.

 A single bar was eleven pounds! Eleven pounds of Belgian chocolate! (voice squeaking loudly here). Imagine the chocolate moment I could have with THAT! I'm pretty sure if word got out that I had eleven pounds of Belgian chocolate I would have about 200 girlfriends ready to join me in a Guiness Word Record "moment chocolat."  Sadly, to quote a favorite VeggieTale movie, the price was "out of range."

Another favorite VeggieTales quote is from Madame Blueberry. Bob asks Larry "How much stuff do you need to make you happy?" Larry's answer is "I dunno. How much stuff is there?" Just the other day David asked me what I was doing and I said I was downloading a free quilt pattern. He asked me how many quilt patterns one person can need. I, of course, gave him the same answer I give him when he asks me how many books I need or how much fabric I need - "I dunno. How many are there?"

Have you ever tried to memorize anything from the book of Lamentations? I never have until now. Lamentations is a book that I under-appreciated for a long time. I think it's because of the title. When you think about laments, lamenting, lamentations,..it just doesn't sound as good as it really is. So, I am going to share a Lamentations moment with you. I just added Lamentation 3:22-23 to my memory verses. Here are the verses:

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

If any one ever asks me how much of God's grace, love, and mercies I need, I will smile and say, "I dunno. How much is there?" Thankfully, they are unending, and never "out of range."

Mistaken for a Tomato

Tomatoes (Photo credit: burgundavia)

Saturday I was invited to a "spa night." Every few months a group of us expat ladies will grab our plastic tubs and favorite nail polish and gather for a little pampering at my friend Christine's house. Christine always lights candles, makes a pretty display of all her scrubbies, soaps, lotions, etc, and heats tubs of water. We soak our feet, chit chat, polish our nails, and just enjoy some time to relax and unwind. Feet take a real beating here, and so can your sanity, so we sort of help both areas at the same time. We always have such a good time that we all agree to have "spa nights" more frequently, but everyone has different family dynamics, ministries, and obligations so it is hard to find time when we are all available.

A couple of days later I was talking to our guard, Leopold, when I felt something hit my toe. I looked down and the chicken was going to town trying to eat my toes. I shooed her away. She came back, pecking determinedly. Leopold shooed her away. Again she returned. As I shuffled from foot to foot while trying to finish our conversation, he finally grinned and said "She thinks your toes are tomatoes." I can honestly say I had never before been mistaken for a tomato, and it struck me funny.

We say and hear a lot of things here that we don't think anything about, but in a "first-world" setting, would sound bizarre. Here are a few more examples:

"Turn off the hot water heater BEFORE you turn on the a/c or you'll overload the voltage regulator."

"Don't turn your car lights on before it gets really dark or you'll get pulled over for impersonating a celebrity." (This really did happen to a friend of mine.)

Lily in hiding!

"Don't let your kitten out of the yard. If you do someone will eat it."

"We don't have school Friday because there's supposed to be a riot."

"I'm pretty sure I have worms."

"I got electrocuted today." "Again?" "Yeah."

"How did you get that bruise on your shoulder?" "I walked into a door knob." (Houses here have ridiculously high door knobs.)


More quotes from Congo: Give Me Back My Ziplock Bag

Give Me Back My Ziplock Bag (and other things people say in Congo)

The above photo is of our pet chicken.  She literally was washed into our yard by a thunderstorm one night and we couldn't find the owners so we feed her and she stays.  She follows us around like a puppy.  I asked our guard the other day if she ever lays any eggs and he said no.  He said chickens only lay eggs if you feed them "people food." We already were feeding her people food: vegetables and grains.  Unless he meant "people food," as in food made of people.

I often hear people say something funny or absurd and think I’d better write that down or I’ll forget it. That led to a small collection of quotes. These are all statements I have overheard here in Congo. Some were spoken by missionaries and some by nationals. Names of original speakers have been withheld to protect the guilty and/or clueless.

Most of these are just funny, especially if you don’t know the context from which they were spoken and just overhear them from another room:

“I have to speak slowly when I talk to myself.” (my favorite)

“Don’t lick those wires.”

“I wet myself every time I do dishes.”

“Do you want your trash bag back?” (used, that is)

Other statements were made in the context of Congo and the life and climate here:

“Wow! That gift is wrapped in REAL wrapping paper.”

“He painted it a couple months ago. We don’t know why it’s sticky.”

“You can have these cinnamon rolls if you give me back my ziplock bag.” (ziplock bags are like gold here)

“Hey, does this smell bad to you, or just nasty?”

Some, though, are serious and reflective rather than funny. Often life here is challenging and exhausting on all levels: physical, spiritual, mental and emotional. We try to make our home a safe place to “vent” and be honest about how we all feel and at the same time hold each other accountable for bad attitudes and encourage each other to press on. These next two quotes came from some of those types of conversations and pretty well sum up why our family is here right now.

“We live in a dung heap!”   “I know we do, that’s why we moved here.”

 “Of course, if you aren’t going to heaven, Kinshasa is a beautiful place to live.  Consider the alternative.”

Steve Camp has a song called “Run to the Battle” that goes like this: “Some people want to live within the sound of chapel bells, but I want to run a mission a yard from the gates of hell.”  The first time I heard that song I knew nothing about Kinshasa or the Democratic Republic of Congo.  This city, the entire country, is definitely a battleground.  I can't say I always wanted to run a mission a yard from hell's gates, but I sure can relate to another line from the same song: "We may not be many, but we serve a mighty Lord!" And I can't even put into words the way this line affects me "look around you as you hesitate, for another soul just fell."  How could I listen to that song and then tell God that I would not suffer a few inconveniences for the sake of those souls? Pray for all of  God's workers here, that we may not hesitate but be always ready to give an answer to everyone who asks us the reason for the hope that we have (I Peter 3:15).