Congo Chatter

WHY WE LOVE THIS WORK SO MUCH !!

2009-04-08T21:59:00.010+01:00

Meet eight of the sweetest and most wonderful of God's children here on earth. The seven sisters of the Kasavubu apartment, and their mission mom. This is what this work is all about.

These seven sisters all have individual stories, and to tell them would take inches and inches of column. All of them are wonderfully faithful, hard working, happy daughters of Heavenly Father. And when they teach, they teach with power and authority of the Holy Spirit.

On the back row, from left to right, you have Sister Douane, Sister Nutemba, Sister Shongo, Sister Kayembe (more about her in a minute) and Sister Livingstone. In the front, you have Sister Lengelo, Sister Kakonde and Sister Kakudji.

Sister Douane is from Ivory Coast. She is from a family of five children. Their parents were baptized in 1996, and currently three of their five children are serving full-time missions. An older brother is in the Ivory Coast Abidjian Mission; he started his mission in June 2007 when he and his younger brother, Elder Clay Douane who serves in our mission, entered the MTC together. Sister Douane arrived here in December 2008. She is so mature and great -- she will be a senior companion next month after having served only 5 months of her mission.

Sister Ntumba and Sister Kakonde arrived here together at the end of October 2008. We are now just able to get passports for them to go to the temple in Johannesburg, South Africa so they can receive the blessings of the temple. They have served 6 plus months now, only having gone to our mini-MTC here in Kinshasa instead of being able to go to the three week MTC in Ghana which they could have, if they had had their passports. Even without the full MTC training, they have wonderful testimonies.

Sister Shongo has a 1,000 watt smile, and lights up the room when she enters. She is a great teacher of the Gospel, always smiling, and has such a cute sense of humor. She speaks very, very little English compared to her companion, Sister Lengelo, who received a university degree in Chemistry and was teaching high school before she came on her mission. Last month we were driving all these sisters home in our SUV, singing church hymns for many minutes. Finally Sister Lengelo busted out her companionship cell phone and made about 5 calls to investigators, confirming appointments, etc. After the last of the calls, she gave instructions to Sister Shongo in machine gun fire order to list each appointment in her planner. After the last instruction, "Soeur Shongo, notez que nous avons un rendezvous a 17h00 avec Frere Felix" (Sister Shongo, write down that we have an appointment with Felix at 5 pm), Sister Shongo very innocently and sweetly said, in her limited English, "Yes, my sister." We all burst out laughing -- even Sister Lengelo.

Here in Kinshasa, water is sporadic and electricity worse. It's not common for apartments to be without water for a day or two, and electricity is 50 - 50 at any time. Each apartment has a big 800 litre plastic tank which they fill up whenever the water runs. Each missionary receives two big plastic pails when they arrive -- one to wash their clothes in, and the other to rinse their clothes in. Each morning or second morning, they do a batch of their laundry and hang it out to dry. No washing maches in their apartments, and no laundromats to use -- just good old fashionned scrubbing and rinsing. But no complaints!!

In Kinshasa, we do not have "LG natural gas tank stoves" and electricity is problematic, so each meal is cooked in a brazier, over charcoal. It takes two or three braziers to do a meal, just like we would use two or three burners on a stove. When the charcoal has been used for cooking, a lot of it is put into irons, which heats the iron so they can iron their clothes. But they always look sharp and clean!!

Well, this is not a shoe store -- just outside the front door. Because 95% of the streets here are sand/dirt, you would track a lot of it inside. So line up the shoes outside. When I see all the dirt outside, I shudder to think how much dirt we must track into our carpeted American homes, even though we think we don't bring that much inside.

No article on sisters would be complete without a picture of somebody's hair. They all wear wigs or "extensions", as their hair is naturally very tightly curly and very short. In the picture below, you can see some of the sisters with their natural hair, before they put on wigs. If you have extensions woven into your hair, like above, you keep them there for about two weeks.

Here are the sisters of the PetroCongo apartment, on the other side of Kinshasa, together with Sister Kayembe. We were out collecting the two sister who would be released this day, and so drove around to the two apartments -- about 45 minutes from each other.

The two sisters at the left and right side of the back row were being released this day after 18 months of wonderful service. The sisters are as follows:

Back row -- Sister Kayembe (being released), Sister Ngoyi, Sister Livingstone, Sister Banza and Sister Besolo (also being released).

Front row -- Sister Mbessi-Iloki and Siser Gah.

It would hard to find two more marvelous sister missionaries than Sisters Kayembe and Besolo.

Each of them was engaged before their mission (not an uncommon thing here). Sister Kayembe's fiance had started serving a mission in Zimbabwe 6 months before she started her mission, and Sister Besolo's fiance was baptized a member of the church in 2006. He is a student at a university in Lubumbashi, and every time we go there for a zone conference, Frere Ruffin always comes to the Stake Center to give us a 15 pound package of some kind of food (often a little smelly) to bring back to Sister Besolo. There were so many times I was tempted to say we couldn't do it, but when you saw the love in his eyes for both the Gospel and his finance, we melted and gave in.

Sister Kayembe's family have been members for many years. There are 11 children. We haven't met all of them, but she has a little brother called Kennedy who has taught himself to play the piano and organ, and is the organist for the stake conferences in Lubumbashi. When we were there in March, he accompanied the great choir, as well as playing for the congregation. Between the 2nd and 3rd verses of the songs, he would rip off some great interlude, like an organist on the organ in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City.

The day of her release, when I asked her to share some memories of her mission and people that she taught, Sister Kayembe pulled out her mission journal. She humbly noted that she and her companions had taught 54 people who joined the church. She said that 53 of them were very active in the church. I asked her how did she know this. She said, "President, I write them letters, or I call them from a phone cabine (not using her missionary cell phone) to encourage them, talk to them, see what they are learning in church. I want them so much to be active, strong members of the church."

Sister Besolo is the only member of her family who is a member of the church. In fact, she was not able to live with her parents -- I think one or both of them have passed away. She did live with her uncle, Pres. Iyomi, who is the president of the Kinshasa Stake. She served so well in every area that she served, and is the petite-est person you have every met. But in that little package, there is a great big heart that loves the Lord and teaches about Him wherever she will go.

We will miss the two of them so much. Like our other African missionaries, our contact with them will be pretty limited. Nobody has home computers, and there is no widely available internet. We hope to be able to come back to see them every so often, but will miss them terribly. And we will always be grateful for what we learned from them.

Love to all - Don and Marsha

WHAT $ 20 BUYS FOR PRODUCE -- OR WHAT I WON'T GIVE FOR A GOOD SALAD

2009-04-08T21:41:00.006+01:00

What I wouldn't give for a good salad. Some fruits and vegetables are dirt cheap, and very delicious. If you're a lover of avocados, mangos, papayas and pineapples, this is the place!! The other day I bought 17 large avocados for 3,000 francs -- about $ 3.75. Guacamole heaven !!

But if it has to be imported, watch out. You're looking at $ 12 of lettuce, and worth every penny of it if you are dying for a salad. Carrots have to be brought in from South Africa -- for some reason carrots here don't do very well. We love to serve a dish with a bed of rice, steamed carrots, cauliflower and broccoli, with melted cheese on top. Carrots run about $ 4 a pound, so here's $ 10 of carrots. You don't care about the price -- you're just happy that they have them.

When we get home, watch out, Costco. We'll clean out the vegetable section first trip. Remember those packages of 6 heads of romaine lettuce for less than $ 3 a bag -- I'll take 10, please!! No questions asked. And we won't have to wash them in bleach water when we get home!! Hooray.

HOUSE RULES !!

2009-04-08T21:27:00.004+01:00

One of the hotels we stay in during our trips of the HOTEL KA-BE-DELUXE in Mbuji-Mayi. By the time we get there, usually we have been on the road for 5 days to Luputa and have stayed in the monastery at Luputa for three days.

So in actuality, the KA-BE-DELUXE feels pretty good because there is a 50% chance of power, the water is in your bathroom (in pails) and a few other amenities (including a small casino, which always power even if the hotel rooms don't -- priorities, you know).

But some of the posted rules are pretty interesting.

Look at # 10 -- "The Hotel firmly prohibits breeding pets in Hotel rooms." Thank heavens -- although we have seen goats in some pretty interesting places, including getting checked in as luggage on some of the flights we take. I don't mind them being checked in as luggage, but last trip in Brazzaville, one of them decided to pee on the concrete floor right next to where we were standing. I didn't realize goats' bladders were that gigantic.

Gotta love # 15 -- "If the guest doesn't know to swim in the swimming pool, the hotel is not responsible when an accident happens to him." Based upon our experiences in baptisms, most Africans don't want to go under the water. They stiffen up like boards and if the person doesn't the baptism is not careful, it will take 2 or 3 times to get the person fully immersed.

Happy lodging at the Hotel KA-BE-DELUXE.

Don and Marsha

BOYS AND THEIR TOYS

2009-03-29T22:15:00.003+01:00

Look at the smiles on these guys!! That's because they've got a hot new toy that they've made -- a street racing car. Make your car, get a pushing stick, and set up races with your best friends that have made their own cars.

So -- gather up a bunch of sardine cans (the yellow and red "cockpit"), get some sticks and somewhat to attach all the body together, add some wheels that you've made, and bingo, you've created an Indy 500 racer. Get a pushing stick and you can have races with your friends. Isn't it great the imagination that kids have, all other the world??

GOODBYE, DEAR FRIEND !!

2009-03-29T22:00:00.002+01:00

An old friend has passed on!! And we are so sad!! You get attached to someone that you spend over 100 hours with. And it's hard to just toss it aside. We thought about cremating it, but that didn't seem right. So good-bye old friend, and thanks for all the pleasant memories you gave while waiting for late airplanes, for a mental health break every so often. Rest in Peace, and know that your "Fiendish" puzzles were exactly that.

SO, WHAT IS FOR DINNER TONIGHT ???

2009-03-17T13:06:00.003+01:00

This cute boy chased my car when I left the compound and when I returned to try to encourge me to buy this Green salamander for my dinner tonight. The guards assured me that they had eaten salamander before and that it was delicious and that I really ought to purchase this guy for dinner. Even though he was green and it IS Saint Patrick's day, I chose not to do it.

LUPUTA TOUR IV--THE THRILL CONTINUES

2009-02-21T17:39:00.006+01:00

When we arrive in Luputa, all the neighborhood kids show up--there is a primary school in the building next door and I'm not sure what kind of discipline they have, because the kids just burst out of the school and come to "play" with us! ! We do all sorts of song and action plays. We did the Hokey-Pokey and they loved it! ! Head-shoulders-knees and toes, going on a bear hunt, etc. etc. It was tons of fun, but we were sweating up a storm when we finished! ! !

If President Livingstone were posting this, he would be showing you the roads with all the small lakes that we went through, etc. and all the crazy detours we had to take and how rough the road wasl. I choose to show you what the countryside looks like. Lots of little villages with huts and lush foilage. This is truly what you think of when you think of Africa.

Elder and Sister Moon go with us to Luputa to check to see how the water project is doing.

Sr. Moon, “I just love this ride—to bump along and see the country side and the people, etc.” I don’t think it’s Elder's Moon favorite thing, but she loves it. He spent much of the time doing calculations of water flow and water pressure, etc. He is one brilliant guy! ! !

OUR NEW MISSIONARIES AND ZONE CONFERENCE

2009-01-31T13:22:00.006+01:00

Here are a couple of our sister missionaries. Sometimes they can be a little pouty, but they seem to get the work done! !

Here are the assistants to the President! ! Aren't they cute???

Here we are at the last zone conference. We have just tried to embrace all of the customs here and help the missionaries remember their culture! ! !

JUST KIDDING! ! ! They are opening a new hotel across the street and these dancers were there to entertain and draw attention to the new facility. I went to take a photo of them dancing and they wanted me to pay them for the privilege of taking their photo, but I finally got to talk to the "head honcho" and bargained with him . He agreed that for the price of a copy of the photo, I could take a "group shot"! ! I gave him a 8x10, then gave little wallet sized for all of the dancers. They are a great group. I wish they would have let me take some photos of their individual costumes--they were amazing with animal skins and body paint and interesting things on their legs and around their middles. Maybe next time.

Enjoy this little taste of Africa! ! !

MORE HEROS OF OUR MISSION

2009-01-26T22:55:00.005+01:00

Like said in an earlier blog, we're not given to "hero worship". But if we were, here are two couples that would be high on the list -- Bill and Annette Moon, and Farrell and Marilyn Barlow.Here are Brother and Sister Moon -- Bill and Annette. We have had some interesting intersections in our lives with them. Marsha taught Sister Moon as a Laurel many years ago when her family and we moved into Ygnacio Valley Ward in Walnut Creek in 1968. Thereafter Annette married a young man from YV Ward, and had a little boy. Unfortunately he was killed in an accident in December 1973, leaving her as a young widow.

She went back to BYU, and eventually met a handsome man named William Moon. They fell in love and were married, and eventually had a family of 8 children -- his, hers and ours. They lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for years, where Bill was an extremely successful pioneer in Silicon Valley. In the 1990's, we both moved into houses in the Riverbottom in Provo in the same ward. They have blessed lives of people wherever they have lived, and our ward in Provo was no exception. Eventually Bill was a councilor in the bishopric and Annette was Stake Relief Society President (for you non LDS church members, this means that she and two other women were responsible for overseeing a church organization for roughly 1,000 ladies that lived in 13 congregations in our neighborhood).

Eventually Bill got tired of commuting to Silicon Valley weekly and retired. He has the most amazing mechanical aptitude, and can literally fix anything. Annette specializes in fixing people's souls with her never ending attitude of service and happiness. They sold their large home several years ago and moved into a condo to get ready for a post-career lifetime of service to others. Within three weeks, Bill was called into the bishopric of his new ward -- a great testament to his ability to serve others spiritually.

Meanwhile, here we were in the Congo with a pressing need to find a new couple to work with us in the office of the mission, to replace the wonderful office couple, Bro. and Sister Thomas who were to be released at the end of March 2008. We were getting desparate and praying for guidance on whom to recruit, since the Church Missionary Department was having trouble finding anyone who would volunteer to come here.

Marsha felt inspired to call the Moons in mid December 2007 and ask them, "How'd you like to spend 18 months in the Congo as missionaries?" Annette's response was, "Gee, we'd love to do that but Bill has some business complications right now that really preclude us from doing that." We felt that the Moon's would be the perfect replacements for the Thomas's, and were really sad that apparently they couldn't come.

One day Marsha was reading emails and screamed a shout of joy and yelled, "Come read this!!!" It was an email from Annette saying,"I can't believe that we are doing this, but we are now able to come and would love to serve a mission." Heavenly Father had opened doors in a miraculous way, and closed others similarly, to where they could now come. Even so, there were more obstacles that seemed to get tossed in their path, but with their faith and prayers and Heavenly Father's help, each problem was resolved and in early March they entered the Missionary Training Center in Provo, and arrived here March 13th.

Because Bill can fix anything, I told him to go down and buy out Home Depot -- bring two of everything. So he arrived with 12 bags of luggage -- many of them portable power tools -- 4 drills, saws, sawzalls, etc. and 8 batteries (something no one in the Congo has ever seen), clamps, fasteners, screws, bits, wrenches, hammers, screwdrivers -- you name it. (A big thanks to Karl Smith, a non-member of the church in Provo, who bought the Moon's large home and gave a substantial gift to defray the cost of all the tools.)

What have they done -- maybe more like -- what haven't they done since they arrived. When they had been here 9 months, I sent an email about them to one of their children in the U.S. Here are some condensed thoughts from that email:

1 They run one of the most efficient and effective mission offices in the church. Other missions have 3 or 4 couples to do what they do. The secret -- they're very organized, and they often stay and work until 10 or 11 at night.

2. They teach an English class to 30 to 40 people for 2 hours every Wednesday night, and they make it fun with songs, Gospel teachings and dancing the Hokey-Pokey. You haven't seen "moves" until you see them "shake it all about".

3. Bill can, and has fixed everything, from $ 150,000 lasik surgery microscopes to 50 year old devices in hospitals. If the hospitals had their way, he would just spend 40 hours a week helping them to get their equipment to run correctly. Anything that breaks in the office, he's on it, and fixes it.

4. They have obtained many referrals and done a wonderful job teaching the lessons to some people in English.

5. Helping in their ward -- Annette is the ward music director and Bill does everything -- even offering prayers in French on 2 minutes' notice. See the post about the Kasavubu Ward Christmas party to see one of the many ways they have helped.

6. Putting up with the archaic banking system and fledgling Church Temporal Affairs operations here. You have to have the patience of Job, or of Bill and Annette, to do that.

7. Smiling and influencing everyone for good.

8. Being great friends to the other senior couples and Eustache and Pascal in our office.

The list could go on and on, but you get the idea.

These other heros were here when we arrived and unfortunately (for us) finished their mission in October 2008. More correctly, they finished their mission in September 2008, but willingly stayed on an extra 3 - 4 weeks so they could help orientate their replacement couple as Humanitarian Directors for the Church in the DR Congo.

Meet Farrell and Marilyn Barlow from Salt Lake City. In December 2006 when we were called, the Program Director at the BYU Center for Entrepreneurship, Linda Rich, said, "I've got a cousin going to the DR Congo Kinshasa Mission -- my cousin, Marilyn." Knowing anyone with genes like Linda's would be terrific, we were excited to meet the Barlows and work with them.

What a great couple. They took their little Isuzu pickup truck all over Kinshasa, into places where few would venture, to scout out and then provide Humanitarian Aid projects for the Congolese people. In Humanitarian Aid, the church deliberately stays away from projects that would appear to help members of the church. Humanitarian projects are chosen to benefit the people of the country, without regard to age, gender, religion or any other factor.

What helped the Barlows to be the fabulous success that they were is the unique combination of their skills and talents. Sister Barlow never met a project that could help people that she didn't like. Many times she would start investigating and then campaigning for a project over Bro. Barlow's reservations. With persistence and vision, she would win him over. Then he would use his unique ability to gain the confidence of complete strangers to initiate, plan, perform and evaluate the projects. Sister Barlow's many years of skills as first a nurse and then a training program supervisor for a large group of hospitals and a healthcare HMO were invaluable in working as a team with Bro. Barlow.

The list of their projects goes on and on. Water projects -- wells, and the largest water project undertaken by the church (to bring clean water from a set of springs in the hills over 30 miles to communities of roughly 175,000 people); wheelchairs for the handicapped; health and sanitation informaton and training programs for communities; mattresses and other materials for a community of 10,000 or so homeless people; aid to orphanages; neo-natal training for doctors and nurses; vision care projects; materials for hospitals; and many more that we've forgotten.

They have a terrific blog which modestly lists their accomplishments and their 18 months in the Congo. Go to barlowsinthedrcongo.blogspot.com, and enjoy.

Although they are now back in Utah, their influence is still felt here. They were wonderful people who exhibited the best of caring for others with no thought of themselves. And a great inspiration and example to all of us.

There are so many people like these two couples in the world. We need all of them. We need more of them. Look into your heart as you get to position where you might be able to serve. It won't be convenient or easy. With the current economic climate, you may think that you can't do it. In reality, you can't afford not to do it. Instead of seeing all the reasons "why not", just think about "why - yes". You can do it. And like these two great couples, you will leave the world a much better place, and you will grow so much yourself.

Don and Marsha

GREAT MISSIONARIES

2009-01-25T21:10:00.010+01:00

What a joy to be with missionaries. They are so wonderful in so many ways. There are times when you'd like to grab a couple of them around the neck and either squeeze very hard or shake them violently -- but these are the 2 or 3 % that haven't glimpsed yet how great they truly can be.

And when they get that vision, they are tremendous. For the first four months of 2009, we are reading the Book of Mormon together as a mission. We prepared a schedule for them which if they will follow and read between 5 and 7 pages a day, they will finish the Book of Mormon at the end of April. In our zone conferences, we are asking each of them to share a scripture that has touched them in some way from the pages they are reading.

Here's the Lubumbashi zone. Last Friday, we just had a marvelous experience for two hours as each of them shared their scripture and why they love it. These missionaries are great because they are serving about 1,000 miles away from the mission headquarters, and I can only get to see them every six weeks. They serve faithfully and are going great. The Sunday before, they had baptized 16 people -- a great harvest of souls for the Lord.

Now a story about two missionaries that brought tears to my eyes. In early January we went across the Congo River to Brazzaville for a Zone Conference there with the 14 missionaries. When it rains here, it really comes down -- in just sheets of water. The result is what you see here -- the road on the way to the building in Brazzaville where we hold our Zone Conferences. As you can tell, it isn't raining today -- this is just the accumulation of the last couple of days of rain. The road has disappeared. There are no sidewalks. Pedestrians are reduced to walking alongside the wall on the left.

The day I did interviews in the afternoon, it started to rain like crazy halfway through the interviews. I had scheduled the missionaries to arrive on 30 minute intervals, giving me 15 - 20 minutes with each missionary to discuss their mission, how they are doing, what I might do to help them, etc. When it started to rain like crazy, I thought that now I would have a time with no interviews, since who would go out in a rainstorm like this.

I was wrong -- as it started to let up ever so slightly, I ventured out of the building and onto the road. There, about 50 meters away, I spotted two missionaries -- Elder Mukamb and Bro. Moselle (a ward missionary who is helping out while we are uneven numbers at the moment), walking towards the building. In their bare feet, with their pant legs rolled up, carrying their shoes so they wouldn't get wet. When they arrived their clothing was soaked, but their shoes and socks were dry. They quickly rubbed their feet with the standing water on the paved stones in front of the building to get rid of the mud, put on their socks and shoes, and came for their interviews.

I just sat by the side of each of them with my arm around their shoulder as we had our interviews. My clothing got soaked as well, but how could you not love them!!! I wish that I had had a camera and had been able to catch the picture of these two elders, resolutely walking in their bare feet, pant legs rolled up, coming for their interview.

In the last picture in this posting, Elder Mukamb and Elder Moselle are on either side of Sister Livingstone. (Somehow I have misposted the Brazzaville picture so it is the last picture and I don't know how to change its position.)

OK -- here are the six noble missionaries who went to Likasi to open that city for missionary work in December 2008. In front kneeling down are Elders Tshibangu and Kalulambi. The four young missionaries on the back row are from left to right, Elders Okiery, Kisala, Poutance and Mbambu. Elders Okiery and Poutance are the two Asistants -- you can read about them in another posting today. The senior couple are Bro. and Sister Motshikana. We wrote about them in an earlier blog -- they are a wonderful African senior couple that some of you are helping to support (if others would like to also help support them, send me an email at deadrok@gmail.com and we'll tell you how to do it).

So once again, here's the Brazzaville Zone. Elders Mukamb and Moselle, the "walk in the rain and carry your shoes missionaries", are on either side of Sister Livingstone. Sadly, we are missing one set of missionaries from this picture. Elder Mavambu, the leader of the missionaries serving in Brazzaville, had been seriously ill for several weeks, and the doctors had been desparately trying to diagnose his problem. On the day of the conference we found out that he has tuberculosis, so we brought him back across the Congo River with us at the end of the day and had him admitted to the hospital, where he has been for the last 10 days. I visit him often and he is doing much better. Tuberculosis is one of those things that you don't think exists in the world anymore, but nearly everyone here carries the TB virus in some form, and if their health gets run down, the virus becomes active. I saw him today at the hospital and he is doing much much better (and I hope that I haven't caught the virus).

Love to all - Don and Marsha

ON THE ROAD TO LIKASI -- OR MANDALAY -- OR WHEREVER

2009-01-25T20:09:00.011+01:00

OK - OK -- so it's a bad title for a blog. "On the Road to Mandalay" was an old Bob Hope - Bing Crosby movie-- seems like it was pretty decent in its day. I was searching for a title and this is the best my tired old brain could do.

One thing they didn't have in any of the Hope - Crosby movies was a statue like this, which is in the main roundabout in Likasi. It honors Congolese women. And well they should be honored. The women here are incredible -- they do almost all of the work, all of the nurturing of their families. One of the hardest things to teach men here is that they can't hide behind the traditional responsibility of "protecting their family" anymore. They need to get out and be bread winners and providers, and not just sit under a tree and play checkers or talk and drink beer all day, waiting to "protect their family". Fortunately, the "Proclamation to the World on the Family" issued by the leaders of the church in 1995 clearly defines the God-inspired roles of husbands and wives as equal partners in their families, and the goals to be eternal families as well.

And fortunately, nearly all Congolese women are now completely dressed and not like the woman so gracefully reposing in the statue.

For the rest of this blog, we're going to take you along the road from Lubumbashi to Likasi, which is the best road in all of Congo. Except for about 15 tooth-rattling miles, it is a hard-surfaced two lane road of 100 miles, smooth and capable of high speed travel.

Except that high speed travel can be dangerous. The roads are littered with the wrecks of accidents, and mechanical failures. Nothing here is really maintained -- it is just used and abused until it doesn't work anymore. The end result are some really interesting pictures. We could have shown you the car pictures, but the pictures of trucks are far more graphic and fun to see. So here goes.

With all the potholes and unsurfaced stretches of roads, if you don't maintain your truck (car), sooner or later your suspension is going to fail, or a wheel rolls off. Several weeks ago I was driving east of Kinshasa when I noticed a car about 100 meters in front of me coming in my direction, vere (spelling?) across my lane and into the ditch. Meanwhile, half the front axle, still connected to the left front tire, came bouncing down the road towards me. I slammed on the brakes and waited to see which direction I should try to use as an escape route. Fortunately the tire/axle careened into the ditch about 30 meters short of my SUV.

Don't know what happened when this truck lost its left front tire or had a suspension failure, but the resulting swerve across the road and into the ditch in our lane must have been pretty interesting.
Most trucks are used/abused until they die. This veteran has seen a lot of wear and tear on its bed. Notice the rear axle. It's supposed to have dual tires, but when the tires wear out or whatever, they just take that tire off and run with a single tire instead of dual tires on the rear axle. And then they overload the truck terribly, so that blowouts and flat tires are very common. When the tire blows, the BANG! is deafining, and the resultant lurching to a stop is always interesting. You just hope you are not next to or close to the truck.

When someone breaks down, they don't carry "warning reflective triangles", but rather just put several clumps of grass on the road that warn you there is trouble ahead. Often the clumps of grass are hard to see. This poor truck here actually didn't see the clump of grass for another truck on the road, with the resulting accident that disabled this truck. But at least he now has put out a clump of grass to indicate that he is broken down in some fashion.

OUCH -- this is the front of the truck in the prior picture. When we were going to Likasi early in the morning, we actually saw the truck that had been stalled on the road and which this truck had rear-ended. The cab of the "rear-ender" was just demolished. We hope that no one was too badly hurt.

Because the trucks generally are so old, they usually aren't worthy of repairing. So they are just pulled off the road, and the parts scavengers arrive and only leave the frame and metal cabs, like this accident victim here.

So driving is always an adventure, and you hope that there are no serious problems that would interrupt your trip and force you to stay overnight along the way. As far as we can tell, this is the only hotel on the road between Lubumbashi and Likasi, and in all honesty, we would prefer not to have to stay here.

So there you have another little slice of life in the Congo. We don't post these for sympathy -- just for your information, and want you to know that we love these people with all our hearts. Their life here is so challenging in relation to what our life is, and yet for the most part they are very honest and God-fearing people. And when the Gospel comes into their lives, they are incredible.

Don and Marsha

OUR WONDERFUL ASSISTANTS

2009-01-25T19:43:00.005+01:00

No mission president could ever come close to fulfilling his responsibilities without two wonderful young "Assistants to the President." These are two young missionaries who, by their dedication and service, and most importantly their willingness to be spiritually led, have proven that they can be entrusted with significant responsibilities to supervise and work with the other young missionaries. I generally have our Assistants serve for a period of six months, and often call them after they have served the first 12 - 14 months of their mission. This means that they will be released from this responsibility and have the opportunity to serve for the last 4 - 6 months of their mission again as "ordinary missionaries", if there truly is such a thing. We think virtually all of our missionaries are truly "extraordinary missionaries", and they really are. So let us introduce you to our two Assistants who are presently serving.

Both of them come from Brazzaville, across the river. And we didn't know it until after Elder Okiery was called in November (Elder Poutance had been called in October 2008) that they are cousins.

Elder Okiery on the left, arrived in July 2007, just 4 days after we arrived. He has been a wonderful missionary, very humble, obedient and hard working. He arrived when he was 19 years old, which is very unusual for our mission. Although most male missionaries in the church start to serve when they are 19, our usual pattern here is that they start when they are 22 - 23 - 24. So to many missionaries, Elder Okiery was just a kid, and they tended to give him a hard time about his age.

But no one has served better than Elder Okiery. He became a senior companion when he had been out 5 months, charged with training a new missionary. His parents are not members of the church. When he had been out 10 months, his father sent him a letter asking him to ask to be released after one year, so he could re-enter university. I called his dad, told him what a great missionary his son was, and promised the father that if he would allow his son the privilege to serve a second year, he would grow as a man and a person in ways that he could never do, attending university. The father quickly relented, much to the relief of Elder Okiery and myself.

On the right is Elder Poutance, who arrived in September 2007, three months after Elder Okiery. He is older, having arrived in the mission at the age of 24. For several years he had worked in an office position for the Brazzaville police force, and had to quit his position to come on a mission. Whether he will be able to regain it when he returns home after his mission is problematic. We hope that he can, but experience has proven to us that most missionaries are not able to go back to their old jobs. A good job is very hard to find, and there aren't many openings. His parents are not members of the church, either.

Both of these elders became members of the church in 2001-02, and served in many church callings while they were saving the money for their mission. Their families don't understand all about a mission, and both of them can hardly wait to get home to teach their families again the restored Gospel.

The Assistants really work hard. They travel throughout the mission, working with the various teams of missionaries, helping to train them, evaluate their progress, etc. Each week when they are in town, we have a meeting for 2 hours or so on Tuesday morning in which we discuss what is happening, what problems are arising and how we might resolve them. Each six weeks, we have a "transfer day" in which up to 25 - 30% of the missionaries in the mission switch companionships or areas to being working with another companion, perhaps in a new area. Their input is vital to the final decisions that I make, although the final decisions only come after long hours of prayer and contemplation.

This picture was taken on Saturday on the way back from Lubumbashi to Kinshasa. They had gone down the previous Saturday morning, and worked for half to a full day with each of the seven missionary companionships in Lubumashi. Additionally they had traveled with Sister Livingstone and I when we went to Likasi to have a meeting with the missionaries there. (See a separate blog for that.) Each morning they were up at 5 or 5:30, and for the most part they slept on the tiled floors of the various missionary apartments where they stayed. It's a hard tough calling to fulfill, but they do their best.

Saturday morning, we were up at 5:30 to catch a plane flight back to Kinshasa. As luck would have it, the plane was late (as always), and they were dog tired. We looked across the aisle at them, and Marsha gave me a nudge. "Take a picture quick!", I urged her.

Don't they look darling -- tired as can be, but great young men. We love them with all our heart.

Our love to all of you -- Don and Marsha

COME ALONG TO BANGUI !!!

2009-01-16T08:43:00.019+01:00

Get out your atlas and look up the Central African Republic for this post. It's a landlocked country in the middle of central Africa (ingenious how they named their country). It's capital city, Bangui, has been in the news quite a bit lately associated with a trial in the World Court in The Hague. In 2002, a general in the DR Congo army, Jean Pierre Bemba, sent his troops across the river to Bangui to rape, pillage, loot and kill indiscriminately.

Bemba fled Congo in 2007 when his troops lost out in a power struggle with the existing President and the regular army. When he ventured out of Portugal where he had asylum and into Belgium, he was arrested and tried this past week for the atrocities. The court will render its verdict in 60 days. Everyone in Bangui is hoping for a "Guilty" verdict, as they said that the atrocities were incredible.

The church came to Bangui in the early 1990's through a senior missionary couple. Two branches were organized in the mid 1990's, but when a civil war broke out, the couple left and there has been no work there since then. The two branches eventually dwindled down into one. They have not been visited regularly by any church leaders.

I tried to rationalize not going to Bangui for several reasons. Everytime, the Lord gently reminded me of Jonah and Ninevah. I tried to find a companion to go on the trip, but all the church employees here and several other candidates all quickly said, "Thanks, but no thanks." Reading the U.S. State Department travel warning is good evidence of their reasons. But Sister Livingstone, that brave and incredible companion, declared, "Well, I'm not going to let you go there by yourself." So we packed our "camping out" gear, and off it was to Bangui.

The city is relatively gentle, and there are sections of downtown with office buildings that are pretty decent by comparison to other places we go. In reflection after visiting Bangui, it's certainly no worse than some of the cities where we have districts or branches in the Central Congo.

The above street scene is on the street where the church's chapel is located. A lot of dirt, dust, people walking, ancient vehicles (many of which don't work) and typical dwellings in Africa.

We stayed at the Hotel Central. Tripadvisor.com had a visitor's comments "#1 in Bangui -- only because there are no other options".

From this picture, you see that at one time this was a modern facility. The courtyard had palm trees and other landscaping. Even had a swimming pool. Darn -- we forgot our swimsuits. (But we wouldn't have ventured in, in any event.) There was lots of young people who used the pool in the afternoon. Note the gardener up in the palm tree, whacking down fronds with his machete.

Unfortunately, all was not modern in Hotel Central. Electricity is optional. It was operating when we checked in during the middle of the day. But we came back from our meetings to find the lobby area quite dark. The power needs of the city overpower the supply system in the evening, so there are extended blackouts for 4 - 5 hours.

Trying to find our room in the hallway, lit by only one candle, was an experience in braille reading. One candle for a hallway of about 140 feet.

Once inside our room, Marsha rummaged around and found her trusty headlamp. The next step was to find some food. Hooray -- here's some beef jerky that we brought over when we came. At least we won't starve.

More rummaging produced a loaf of bread we had carried with us, a jar of peanut butter and a jar of jam. So it was gourmet dining of PBJ's for dinner. Here Marsha is eating by the illumation of my flashlight shining over towards her.

After a meal of PBJ's, jerky and some dried fruits and nuts, it was time to read by the trusty headlight for a couple of hours. The power usually came back on just as we were going to bed.

One thing about Africa is that we have BIGGG mosquitos. Before you fall asleep you hear them buzzing around you, trying to figure out where the veins and arteries are, before they strike. This one ventured into the bathroom the next morning as I was dressing. I smushed him against the mirror and "got him". But not before he had gotten one of us. Look at the blood on the mirror!!

The chapel in Bangui is an old home. A wall between the living room and another room was knocked out, so we can hold about 60 or 70 in a large room for sacrament service. There aren't too many rooms to teach classes in, however. This building is getting very old and we will have to invest some money to either upgrade/repair it, or move to another location.

Sunday morning, and here come the members for the beginning of church services. Three cute, cute young children. You'll see them in the next picture.

Here they are, all ready for Primary. Because there aren't enough rooms for classes, Primary is held outside under a tree.

I received an application for a man to serve a mission from the Bangui branch about a year ago. Because of difficulties in getting there, he has been waiting patiently for his interview, and for some additional medical things to be done. Here is the future missionary -- Bro. Ferdinand LaGuerre -- he is 26 and will be the first missionary from this country in many, many years.

The faith of these people is amazing. And the stories of their life are even more so. The sister on the left is the Primary president. She was from Bangui originally, but had moved to Kinshasa where she married a man and had 4 children. He was killed in an accident at the airport, and her in-laws immediately evicted her and the 4 children from where they were living and took over the house. (This is a very common thing -- a widow has no rights.) She was forced to come back to Bangui to live with her family. She became a member of the church several years ago and now is trying to make a living by sewing and selling dresses. She would love to get a new peddle sewing machine, which would help her ability to support her family.

The sister on the right is the first counselor in the Relief Society (women's) organization. The president has been on a trip for a number of months. This sister is doing the work of about 5 people in administering and making sure that Relief Society is working well to sustain and support the women in the branch. Many times she has to conduct, teach the lesson, etc. But fortunately for her, Sister Livingstone came, so she turned the whole lesson period over to Marsha. This great companion who could hardly speak French when she arrived took all 40 minutes and taught them about the family.

The church has sent the members the DVD's of General Conference, etc., but they have nothing to show them on. At one time, they had a TV set and a VCR player, but thieves broke into the chapel and stole them. We had brought a computer projector with us, and the branch president said he had a portable generator that he could bring to the chapel. So on Monday afternoon (the only planes in and out are on Saturday and Tuesday, so we were available), we showed them several talks from April 2008 General Conference. They were fascinated with the images and sounds of the conference from the Conference Center. Can you imagine how hard it is for them to relate to that beautiful building which seats 21,000 people, with its massive organ (they don't even have an electronic keyboard), and the Tabernacle Choir? They were transfixed as they watched the talk of Pres. Monson and several others.

The talks were great, but there were two wonderful spiritual experiences with them. The first was that after a talk by Pres. Monson, I let the DVD continue to run and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang one of the church's hymns. The members opened up their hymnbooks, found the song, and sang along with the Tabernacle Choir. After that song, they wanted to sing more with the Choir. So we played three or four more hymns that the Choir sang, and they sang along with great joy. Even followed all the key changes that Mack Wilberg builds into all of his magnificent arrangements of the hymns.

The other experience was the "Solemn Assembly" proceedings. For you non LDS friends, the President of our church is sustained as a prophet, as we believe that he receives revelations from God for our day. The previous prophet of the church, Gordon B. Hinckley, had passed away in January 2008, and in the April 2008 Conference, we had the privilege of individually standing and raising our hand to indicate our support / sustaining of the new President and Prophet, Thomas S. Monson. So I showed them this portion of Conference, and as each group of individuals, based on our age, gender and church callings was asked to stand and indicate our support, the members of the Bangui branch stood two or three at a time, and raised their arm to the square and sustained Pres. Monson, all with big smiles on their faces. Afterwards, those who remained gathered for a picture.

Here is another "tender mercy" that we learned during our trip -- the wonderful branch president, Roger Langue.

Pres. Langue was born and raised in Bangui, but went to university in the early 1980's in Strausborg, France to attend law school. While there, he met the missionaries and he and his family became members of the church. After receiving his degree he moved to Washington D.C. and practiced there for several years, but eventually knew that he had to return to Bangui.

He serves in the Cabinet of the country as a Special Advisor to the President. His vehicle (the only one among the members) is a 15 year old SUV that shows its age, but he has "PR" license plates indicating he is associated with the President and gets deferrance from the police (always an important thing to receive in Africa).

In doing the annual audit of the church financial records (we are "full service" visitors when we travel to distant locations), I noted his faithfulness in paying his tithing. A tithe to a member of the church is 10% of our gross income. I asked him if he paid a full and honest tithing, and he happily answered that he did.

Here's the real part of the story. I noted that when he paid his tithing each month, he also gave other amounts equal to roughly another 20% of his income to other possible areas of the church, such as Temple Construction, Humanitarian Aid, the General Missionary program of the church, and his local branch missionary fund, and other causes, including the Fast Offering Fund -- a fund where we fast from two meals each month and contribute the money we would have used for these meals to provide food, clothing and other needs for members of our church units.

I marveled at the faith of this man. Here he is in the middle of Africa. He attended the Swiss Temple when he was in France, and the Washington D.C. temple while there, but has not had the privilege to go to a temple for many years. There will probably never ever be a temple close to him in Africa, although we hope to have one in Kinshasa in the near future. But he is giving money to support the building of temples in other lands.

His country is one of the poorest in the world, and yet he is giving money to support Humanitarian Aid that the church provides when there are natural disasters or other needs elsewhere in the world. How great his faith is -- how great his willingness to share what he has with others.

When we go to places like Bangui, we hope and pray that we can bring the Spirit of the Lord with us and teach them things. And how often we are taught things far beyond what we were able to bless them with.

Our love to all of you - Don and Marsha

New and released missionaries from October - December

2009-01-08T11:14:00.007+01:00

Here are Bro. Brent and Sister Lynda Willis from Great Falls, Montana. They hardly know any French but are studying like crazy to be ready to teach. We are so grateful for their desire and attitude to be put in a foreign country. Their entry to Cameroon wasn't the smoothest -- the baggage handlers in the airport embargoed their luggage and wouldn't release it until the Willis's had paid a bribe. They didn't know French -- the young elders were outside but couldn't come in, and so they finally capitulated and paid something they never should have had to do. But this is the way it is sometimes here.

Brother Willis served as a patriarch for many years, and has received special dispensation to serve as a patriarch for the country of Cameroon. He won't be able to give blessings in French until he is sufficiently fluent, but there are a number of members who understand English sufficiently well to receive their blessing in English. Without Bro. Willis's coming, they might never receive this great blessing in their lives. So we are extra thankful for the Willis's desire to come and serve the people of Cameroon.

Elders Lee and Price arrived at the end of November. They will add to the missionaries in Cameroon and Pointe Noire. They are smiling now, but just wait!! Because all of the experienced senior companions in Cameroon will be released by the end of March, they will have to be ready to be senior companions and speak sufficiently fluent French in just 4 months. But they will be ready and will have the same great smiles.

I have procrastinated this a whole bunch, and need to show you all of the wonderful new missionaries that we have received and the ones that have gone on to the next step in their lives. Let's start with the new missionaries that we have received. These four missionaries came to Cameroon in October. Left to right is Elder Tierneden, Elder Thompson (who is actually a distant cousin), Elder Chirwa from Zambia and Elder Landress. They are great new missionaries.

THE KASAVUBU WARD CHRISTMAS PAGEANT

2009-01-04T20:10:00.014+01:00

The Moon's and our apartments are located in the Kasavubu Ward, so this is where they go to church. When I saw they, I mean the Moons, the Humanitarian Services couple (presently the Baileys from South Ogden, UT), and Sister Livingstone, who often attends with them if I am traveling around Kinshasa on Sunday doing interviews or having meetings with various church leaders.
We're here today for the Kasavubu Ward (congregation) Christmas party. Note the only two vehicles in the parking lot are the Moon's truck and our Toyota SUV. There are maybe two or three other cars in the whole ward. Everyone else either rides the beat-up combies or walks to church. Their faith is amazing!!

Looking back across the parking lot (probably big enough for 20 cars and it will be years before it gets filled up), you can see a row of the most modern condo's (and the only condo's) in Kinshasa. These are all occupied by expatriates who work for the companies who have operations here in the Congo, or by employees of the various embassies. But the real story of this site is that it is about 4 acres of so being reserved as a "special site" -- most likely the site of a temple when one is approved for Kinshasa. What a great blessing this will be for the members, and for the country. It is situated along a relatively busy street, and is up on a hill so it will be very visible to many people who will drive by and admire its beauty and majesty.

One big difference between a church site here and in North America. The church doesn't sit in the middle of a huge parking lot surrounded by landscaping. The land surrounding the chapel is cultivated into beds so the members can grow crops for the food they will need.

What is all this chaos?? It's the start of the Kasavubu ward's first ever Christmas pageant -- part of the ward (congregation's) Christmas celebration. Sister Moon decided that the Primary should do something really significant for the ward's party, and so it was off to the races with the Nativity pageant. Come along and enjoy!!

Well, this is the cast of the wisemen and the shepherds with a few angels thrown in. I think this was the first time that these youth had ever done a Nativity play. They were a little unsure to begin with, but quickly caught on. No real practising -- about 15 minutes of a trial run and it was time for the program to begin. They did a great job!!

This is a sweet Mary -- who played the role with a quiet confidence and reserve that was perfect.

Here's all the angels and Mary. Fortunately all of Bro. Moon's white shirts were clean and pressed into duty as part of the costuming. Don't you love those smiley faces??

Costumes by -- who else -- Brother and Sister Moon. They are the most amazing couple -- with an imaginative touch and a great willing attitude for everything they do!! Here's some fabric before the hole gets cut in it so it can become a shepherds' shawl. Sister Moon is wearing a typical Congolese woman's Sunday dress. Aren't they colorful and pretty good looking??

Obviously, this angel get one of Bill's long sleeve shirts -- maybe a little too big!!

Here Mary and Joseph are sitting in the stable awaiting the birth of the Christ child. The doll is hidden under the blanket next to Joseph's leg. When it was time for the birth, he reached under the blanket and Voila!! -- there was the blessed baby!!

The angel is announcing the birth of the Savior to the shepherds -- no props, but none needed.

I should have lightened this picture up a little so you can see the expression on the caroling angel's faces -- but note the big smile on the littlest angel on the right in the front row!!

Another part of the program was a duet by the two young sister missionaries who serve in the ward -- Sister Lengelo on the left and Sister Shongo on the right. They are a dynamic duo -- Marsha loves the maturity of Sister Lengelo and her ability to teach and answer questions. Prior to coming on her mission she had received a degree in Chemistry and was teaching this in high school. Sister Shongo -- well, she just lights up a room when she enters with her smile and the radiance of Christ that shows on her face. And I love the accompanist in the background!!

Here's a real live angel -- Sister Shongo. She is a great missionary, a wonderful happy person and just as bubbly as her picture shows. She will be a great leader in the church in the future when her mission is finished.

So, wasn't the Christmas party fun? Not nearly as professionally done as some others, but with pure happiness and joy that they could perform the story of the Savior's birth.

And how grateful we are for His birth, His life, and His great gift to all of us, of overcoming death and undergoing such great pain so He could offer redemption and eternal life to us, as we follow His teachings. Merry Christmas to all!!

Love - Don and Marsha

WHILE DRIVING DOWN THE STREET (OR OTHERWISE.....)

2009-01-04T19:54:00.006+01:00

We're upgrading the combies gradually, from Volkwagon busses to Mercedes vans. And they are supposed to be painted in blue and yellow, the colors of the Congolese flag. But some things never change -- the broken suspension so that the van lists either to the left or the right, the conductor(s) hanging out the open side door as the combie lurches along at 20 or 25 mph, and the people crowded in, sitting on tiny wooden benches. This one held about 30 people. Can't remember where this road is, but next P-Day I'm going to go drive on it again because there's no pot-holes!!!

I used to joke when we lived in San Francisco and Los Angeles that sewer rats and California commuters can find their way around or through anything. That may be true here as well. Here's a shortcut we can take on the way to the chapel -- along a stream of really yucky water, the banks lined by garbage, bumping along a dirt road. I can't wait to get back and blast along at 75 mph on an Interstate highway!!

There's no such thing as mortgages here in the Congo. So buildings are built, or added onto, as cash flow permits. Here's a one story building in the process of getting its second story added. I would imagine that the first story was built a number of years ago. And judging by the height of the rebar, it looks like maybe the third story will go on as well. Virtually all the construction here is cinder block. There are a couple of modern buildings going up we have seen done with concrete -- cement mixer trucks, pumpers, etc. But mostly it is a "by hand" construction -- make the cinder blocks by hand, haul them up on a manual pulley system, lay them by hand, etc. Reminds us of Mexico 20 or 30 years ago.

Well, what else can we say. It's Congolese driving -- four lanes on a two lane street. Note that the car in front of us and we are half-on, half-off the road onto the sandy shoulder. The space between all the "lanes" is about 12 inches -- really quite generous by Congolese standards. You just learn to deal with it.

NOVEMBER 19TH -- A SPECIAL DAY AT THE MTC

2009-01-02T00:08:00.007+01:00

When we came to the Congo for our mission, there was one "heavy heart" item. Our last child, Drew, would hopefully have the privilege to serve a mission and would leave for his two year assignment during our two years here. For a mom not to see our son for that long would break her heart. We thrilled in September when Drew received his mission call to serve in the Chile Santiago East Mission, starting November 19th. He is the sixth of our children to serve -- Kevin and Tyler in Spain, Kirk in Mexico, Amy in Paraguay, Heidi in Portugal and now Drew in Chile.

We were even more thrilled to hear that all our children were coming to Provo to see and support their little brother off on his mission. This is no small task -- Kevin from San Antonio, Amy from Philadelphia, Shannon from Los Angeles, Tyler from Ruby Valley, Nevada and Kendra from New York. Fortunately, Kirk (Heber City) and Heidi (Springville) live relatively close, but the others had long trips at significant expense to come. Marsha couldn't bear the thought of all the 8 children being together for several days, and her not being there. Well, we were even more thrilled when the church leaders gave her permission to make a short, quick, and quiet trip back to Provo to be with the eight and see Drew into the MTC.

Here's Mom putting the missionary badge on Drew.

Now we're equal -- Mom's badge is in French and Drew's in Spanish -- but don't these two missionaries look great together? Mom's a little bleary from her 24 hour flight from the Congo back to Provo, and maybe a little teary about this great blessing for our family. The next day she was on the plane back to the Congo: she had a 24 hour layover in Paris and had some time to catch up on her sleep, and was I ever glad to see her walk out of the terminal?? here in Kinshasa.

Fortunately while we were gone, Drew had some wonderful support. Our bishop, Brian Snelson was marvelous to work with Drew and their family welcomed Drew to stay with them for the last three weeks before he entered the MTC.

Another great "mom" to Drew while we were gone is Debbie Christensen. While she and her husband, Elder Craig Christensen served in Mexico City four years for the church, we had the privilege of having their son Ben live with us for two years. Ben is now just finishing his mission in the Chile Santiago North Mission, so Drew and Ben will be in the same city (but different missions) for several months before Ben comes home. Debbie and Craig have been marvelous in their support and love for Drew and we thank them so much.

Part of the MTC entering experience is being there with family. We don't have space for all the pictures, but here's Drew with his niece, Mae Edwards. Mae's dad, Jay, has been a special friend for Drew, often playing golf together, and Drew worked in Jay's very successful business, J-Dawgs, for many months. (See j-dawgs.com for the best dawg in Provo and some interesting articles about J-Dawgs.) Well, why not get some pub for J-Dawgs while we can -- I may be working there myself, slinging dawgs if this crazy economic decline keeps on happening!!

Another special set of friends are Kirk and Tricia's children -- here's Sarah Kiley and Jake. Jake is a little emotional to see his uncle head off for two years. It's OK Jake, I've shed many tears in the MTC as we've said Goodbye to our children for their missions.

For years we lived across the back fence from great neighbors, Dee and Gayle Bailey. They had the cutest girl, Josee, who was just a little older than Drew. Josee loved to jump on their trampoline, and we would see her flying in the air like a "jack in the box", disappearing behind the fence and then reappearing. She grew up to be a beautiful young lady, and to Marsha's great joy, Josee and her parents were there as Josee was entering the MTC the same day as Drew to start serving her mission in Hawaii. Here's Gayle doing the "badge honors" for Josee.

Missions are wonderful blessings for many. Those who serve learn so much about themselves and are blessed as they serve others. Missions are not easy -- in fact they are very challenging. But that is how we grow. The missionary's family receives great blessings for the sacrifices of giving up their loved ones and the financial sacrifice of supporting their missionary. But the greatest blessings are for those whom receive the message of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and enter into the Church. How grateful we are that Drew will have this wonderful privilege.

HEROES

2008-12-30T21:46:00.004+01:00

We shouldn't be given to "hero worship" -- and so we won't be. But if we were, here are 4 of them....

On the left are Elder Charles and Sister Anna Wassum, our senior couple missionaries in Lubumbashi. The Wassums met in France many years ago while at summer school. Anna was from Sweden, Charles from Virginia. Their courtship took several years to develop, but eventually Anna moved to the U.S. and they were married.

Shortly after finishing medical school, they met the missionaries in central California, and after taking the lessons received their testimonies and were baptized in 1969. His career as a doctor and other interests eventually took them to Marion, VA -- a small community in the southwest corner of Virginia.

We found out about the Wassums in Feb. 2007, shortly after our call to serve here. Acutally we found out through two sources. One was the CEO of a microchip manufacturer in Silicon Valley, whose board I served on. The other was through Jim Engebretsen, an associate at the Marriott School of Business at BYU, who had been a partner at Goldman Sachs in Philadelphia, but retired to serve as a mission president in Oklahoma and then came to BYU to do a great job in placement for the MBA's who graduate from the business school. (Jim has organized an annual event where 30 or so MBA's are privilege to fly back to Omaha, spend a day with Warren Buffett including a steak dinner at a steakhouse Warren owns, and have even larger servings of his wit and wisdom. How's that for connections.)

The Wassums were very interested in coming to our mission, but Sister Wassum found out that she had breast cancer. After some treatment and a relatively miraculous cure, she was pronounced "ready to serve" and they came in October 2007, assigned to labor in Lubumbashi.

Lubumbashi is the 2nd largest city in the DRC, located about 1,000 miles from Kinshasa.

Originally they served there with another couple, but for various reasons, including the challenges of serving in Lubumbashi and continual harassment from the police, the other couple was reassigned to Johannesburg. The Wassums said, "we can handle this" and have been in Lubumbashi for 8 months now by themselves.

But that's not the half of it. Throughout the spring, Sister Wassum had a slowly but ever enlarging open sore on her tongue, and was continually losing weight. Not a good sign. After a trip to Johannesburg, it was diagnosed as malignant cancer. They stayed in Johannesburg for several weeks while a skilled surgeon operated and took out part of her tongue. As soon as they were cleared to come back to Lubumbashi, that they did, where they have served diligently and opened many doors for the church. They have a continual positive attitude and help watch over our 14 young missionaries in L'shi. It is always a joy to visit them and share their great attitude.

They went back down to Johannesburg in November to check up on her tongue, and everything is doing fine. We are so grateful for their friendship, their faith and their diligence!!!

The couple on the right are Elder Paul and Sister Ann Koelliker. I wrote a little about Elder Koelliker in another post (see Touring Churches in Kinshasa), and his work for the church in overseeing the building and dedication of so many temples prior to his call to be a General Authority of the church. His work took him to many different countries throughout the world during a time when President Hinckley more than doubled the number of temples operating throughout the world from 50 in 1996 to well into the 120's by the time Elder Koelliker was called to his present calling.

He has worked his entire adult life for the church, in a number of challenging callings. His work experience and travels make him a very well-educated in the ways of a modern dynamic world. Sister Koelliker was a great mom to 7 children, supporting her husband in his career working for the church, and in the calls he received to serve as a leader in his ward (bishop in his late 20's), stake president, etc.

The interesting thing about Sister Koelliker is that for her entire life up to July 2007, which took her into her mid 60's, she lived in the same zip code in Salt Lake City. Raised in it, lived there while attending school, bought a home and raised their children there. Never lived anywhere else -- just in 84109, or whatever the zip code was. And the first time that she lives outside of it, it is in Africa. Although their "home" is in Johannesburg, they travel throughout Africa, including some of the crazy places like the Congo. And she does it with a smile and a grace that silently tells others of what a daughter of Heavenly Father should be like.

Great people. A wonderful privilege to know them, learn from them, and admire them.

CHECKING OUT CHURCH BUILDINGS WITH ELDER KOELLIKER

2008-12-30T20:31:00.008+01:00

One day during the mission tour with Elder Paul Koelliker, a General Authority of the Church who is one of the three leaders of the overall church in Southeast Africa, he wanted to see some of the buildings that the Church has erected here in Kinshasa. The new buildings are magnificient -- the nicest structures for miles around, and they really identify the church in the minds of the Congolese. We visited about 10 buildings during a 5 hour trip. So come along.

As you can see above, the weather was rather wet. When it rains in Congo, it pours -- with no apologies to Mortons' Salt and their slogan. We started off going to the west end of Kinshasa and then working south and east.

This is the road to Kinsuka and Malueka (just pronounce these like Hawaiian -- sound every syllable and you'll do great!!). There's no pavement here -- just dirt roads with 12 - 18 inch undulations in them that turn pretty muddy and yucky quite quickly.

Good thing that our Toyota SUV is part vehicle and part boat!! This was only about 12 - 15 inches deep. Elder Koelliker just said, "President, I trust you." So it was a trial of my faith, as well as his. Fortunately we navigated the waterhole and around the trucks pretty well. Note the licence plate -- KN3563 BH -- just painted on the back of the truck.

The Congo is estimated to only have about 700 miles of paved road in a country with over 60 million people and about the size of the eastern half of United States. Believe it or not, this is one of them -- it just has some rather significant potholes and riverbeds running through it.

But eventually the paved road runs out and we were slithering up a slippery path. Thank heavens for 4 wheel drive!!

Most of the older chapels were homes that were purchased, converted and added onto. Here is the Kinsuka chapel -- typical of those older chapels. You can squeeze about 130 people into the large room used as the chapel, and it has 6 classrooms. The rain was pelting down, but we opened the doors, opened our umbrellas, shouted "Geronimo" and dashed into and around the building. Elder Koelliker was pleased to see the care that the Saints take into their facilities.

Here we are approaching the Malueka / Kimbwala building. It is a modern new stake center-sized building, at the end of a dirt road as you can see. The trees are hiding a beautiful white steeple and much of the building is hidden by the block wall on the perimeter, but you can see the right hand side of the building with a beautiful green wrought-iron fence.

The important thing is the Gospel that is taught and practiced -- not the buildings. The buildings are the hardware -- the Gospel is the software that changes peoples' lives. Could we operate in Africa without these buildings? Yes. But they are a wonderful gathering point for the members and the pride of their communities. The Church has built 8 of these buildings in the last 6 or 7 years, and three more are under construction right now, to go along with the approximately 10 older buildings that we have. And we hope and pray that one day soon, the Prophet will announce a House of the Lord -- a holy temple for this city, country and the great people.

Elder Koelliker was a good sport about traversing through the rain and mud. The leaders of the church are such great people. Always up to facing a challenge, smiling, laughing and then respectfully thinking about how to support the church and its members. The last stop of our trip was at a 10 acre site that the church owns in a commune (section of the city) called Kasavubu. We have a beautiful full-sized chapel, are building a large building for the Seminary and Institute program where teenaged and college students go to attend one hour classes in religious instruction and also to "hang out", and the site has a large corner adjoining a busy road that is a "special site" -- the place where the temple could be built.

When we arrived, Elder Koelliker noted the existing building and the one under construction. But his interest was clearly in the "special site" -- with good reason. For 10 years from 1996 to 2006, Elder Koelliker was in charge of the construction of all the temples the church built during that period. I think he said that he oversaw the construction of 67 temples during that time, from the initial site selection through the construction and the dedication. So he has a very special feeling for temples. He walked out onto the special site, stood and just meditated for a period of time, slogging through the wet dirt in his suit and penny loafer shoes. When he returned, there was a contented smile on his face and a knowing look that didn't have to be explained. It was a joy to be there just to see the expression on his face. One day, soon we hope.......

AuRevoir

2008-10-07T23:26:00.002+01:00

The problem with working with and loving missionaries is that

they have the audacity to think they should go home to their

real parents and/or family after two years! This was a great group

and they are returning to their homes with honor. We are

grateful to have had the opportunity to have served with

Front row: Elders Kazadi, Lubangakene, Ibombo, Kufuana

Back row:me, Elders Tshimbombo, Mampouya, Yengo, President L.

They took a little bit of our hearts with them when they left today!

MNI-MTC

2008-10-05T23:03:00.002+01:00

front row: Elders Mulunda, Kalabela and Sabue

Back row: Elder Kisase, Ilunga, Lukasa, Don, Sr. Ngindu, Elder Mulaji, Elder Kisala, Me, Elder Tshibandu (Andre), Elder Nkishama, Tshibandu (Tito)

Since last February, the Democratic Republic of Congo quit issuing new passports.

They said that there were no passport booklets available. There were many missionaries

who had their papers ready to submit, but who had to postpone sending them in

because they didn't have passports. We were receiving other missionaries who

had their passports previously, but these 10 missionaries kept hoping to be able to come. We finally decided to give them a short MTC experience here in Kinshasa and then let them begin to serve. When passports become available, we will send them to Ghana where they will

have a "real" MTC experience and, more importantly, be able to go to the temple there.

I had the fun experience of being the cook for the MTC and we had some of our

wondeful seasoned missionaries be the teachers and trainers. It was a wonderful and exhausting experience for all! !

NEW CAMEROON MISSIONARIES

2008-10-05T22:27:00.004+01:00

Welcome to Elder Ritchie--from Florida.

When he arrived, his french was already great. He is laboring in a new area in

Douala that is just opened and with his trainer, Elder Neilson, they are doing a great job of

introducing the gospel in that area.

Elder Hunter comes to us from north of Salt Lake.

He is excited to be in Africa with

his trainer, Elder Archibald, who will help him

adapt to Africa and all of it's exciting

new things.

Welcome to Elder and Sister Baker from Bountiful. They had been home for a year from a mission to Romania (where they didn't know the language) and have just come to Cameroon where they are not fluent in the French language--she has had some french in school when she was a young woman. They are enjoying working in the two branches in Yaounde and with the young missionaries there. She is a gifted music teacher and is helping many in the branches to play the piano/keyboard.

HISTORY IN THE MAKING! !

2008-10-05T22:16:00.002+01:00

PPPlease meet Elder and Sister Motshikana. I don't know about other countries in Africa,

but this wonderful couple is the first African couple missionaries to serve here in

the Democratic of Congo. He has been a bishop and they are just so wonderful

and anxious to be about our Father's business--and go to Likasi to preach

the gospel to the people there. We are excited to begin a new

era here in Congo with seasoned couple missionaries serving and blessing

the members, preaching the gospel, aiding the leadership and serving

diligently. History in the making! !

SISTER'S CONFERENCE--OCTOBER 4TH, 2008

2008-10-05T21:39:00.002+01:00

Girls and women are the same all over the world. When they haven't seen each other

for awhile, and they meet again, they squeel and smile and hug each other with big hugs.

These wonderful 14 sisters are our young sister missionaries, plus 4 adult sister missionaries, plus two Congolese women who were my helpers and planners for this conference

had a wonderful day together.

We started with a yummy breakfast of Christmas quiche and fruit and muffins.

After introducing the theme, "...who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom

for such a time as this..." the story of courageous Queen Esther,

we made cute Congolese greeting cards.

Sister Barlow introduced the family health guide that the church has produced to

help African women to understand better ways to keep themselves and their

families healthy and free from disease. We are hoping that these lovely

young women will implement the principles from the book and then teach

them to their families, to their wards and neighborhoods when they

return after their missions.

After lunch, Sister Moon, President Livingstone and I spoke

about the theme of this conference.

We challenged them to be courageous like Esther in obeying the

Lord's commandments and be the pioneers that they are

in raising up a righteous generation here in Congo. I'm sure that they will.

They are amazing young women.

front row--Sisters Besolo, Nlombi, Ngandu, Mukaz, Buekazebi, Mujinga, Lukonga

Back row--Sisters Evelyn Muadi, Lengelo, Barlow, Moon, Mbessie, Mycadeau,

Kayembe, me, Gweth, Motshikana, Kakudji, Tshipamba, Ngoie.

This is Mycadeau, me and Evelyn--we planned this day together.

Mycadeau is a wonderful seamstress and she made us matching dresses! !

They are wonderful and fun and we are the three muskateers! !

We love each other and giggled a lot as we were planning this day! !

2008-09-23T18:12:00.002+01:00

We gratefully announce the recent call of our son, Andrew Jon Livingstone to serve as a full time missionary to the Chile, Santiago East mission. We are proud of him and the steps he has taken to be able to serve. We know that he will labor diligently under the able leadership of President Sofocles E. Moran. He is praying for a South American trainer so that he can quickly immerse himself in the Spanish language. He enters the Missionary Training Center in Provo on November 19th. All of his siblings are trying to get there to send him off. I am trying to be brave. So many of our missionaries here don't have any support from home, so I know that it can be done. He has MANY people in Provo and Utah, plus his family that are there to help him get off on the right foot! ! If you want to see him open his call, check out the blogsite of his sister, Heidi www.dawgeatdawgworld.blogspot.com.

Weddings are such happy occasions! ! !

2008-09-04T14:14:00.004+01:00

Ok, lame blogger that I am, my friend told me that when you load the photos you load what you want last to be first, etc. but it didn't work that way, so this is backwards, but you don't care, do you?? This beautiful bride is our recently released missionary, Sister Nancy Mpemba. She was an incredible missionary (do you remember I posted about her with her release photo?) and this is her handsome husband, Willy. Just weeks after she was released, they were married at the Ngaliema Stake center. This is what I wrote about the wedding in my journal.

We met in the chapel and waited. There was a choir of young people who were singing hymns while we waited. The girls all had red shirts and black skirts on and the boys had white shirts, black pants and ties. They looked really great (a bit better than they sounded, but what they lacked in harmony, they more than made up with enthusiasm and joy! ! !) Then the back curtains opened and on one side Willy came up in a black suit with a lavender shirt—very stylish looking. On the other side was Soeur Mpemba in a beautiful white wedding gown with her face fully veiled. It was rather low in the back, but she had her garments on and so it was great! ! They walked slowly and sedately up the two aisles—there were several “attendants” for both of them—four girls in matching dresses---two were long and the other two shorter skirts—a man with Willy and a lady with Soeur Mpemba—I’m not sure what their relationship was. They came up the aisle, and at the front they met and the attendants took their seats on the front row and Willy and Soeur Mpemba went to the front and turned and sat facing the audience. Oh, yeah---Soeur Mpemba’s veil was very long or the dress had a train, I’m not sure which, that was carried by this darling little sister of Willy. She was also dressed all in white and she also had a veil over her face. I’m not sure when her veil was changed, but after the ceremony her veil was also pushed back over the back of her hair.

This is the photo of the attendants leading them into the cultural hall after the ceremony! ! This is when it got really fun! ! !

This is the quote from my journal about this adorable couple--he is the Patriarch of the Ngaliema Stake:
Several of the priesthood in their wards and stakes spoke about marriage and family—all wonderful talks and very sweet. The final speaker was the patriarch from the Ngaliema stake. Just a side light about him—several months ago Don asked him how he was getting along with giving some of our missionaries their patriarchal blessings. He said that he had given all the blessings, but the stake didn’t have sufficient money for batteries for his recorder, nor paper for him to print the blessings out on. Don immediately got some batteries and paper for him and he was extremely grateful! ! ! So back to his talk. He is this darling man—greying hair with huge glasses! ! He told the story of how he and his wife were first “culturally” married---50 years ago this December. Then he told us how many months, weeks and days that they had been married. Then he told that they had been “civilly” married several years after that—then told us how many years, months, weeks and days they had been married civilly. Then he said that they joined the Catholic church and were married again! ! and repeated how many years, months, weeks and days they had been married. Finally he told of their marriage in the temple! ! ! and repeated the same about length of marriage. Then he called his wife up to stand before everyone and expressed his love and admiration for her. (something very unusual for Africans to do in public! ! ). She has born him 14 children—2 have died, but 12 are living---6 of them are married and they have a goodly number of grandchildren. They were so darling and cute together.
And here is the wonderful photo of the beautiful couple! ! They are saving their money so that they can go to the temple soon. We hope that it is very soon. He is a counselor in the Bishopric in his ward and she will be an asset wherever she serves. This is why the church is growing so magnificently here in Congo--dedicated and wonderful young people like this who love the Lord and want to serve Him all of their days! !

More new missionaries! ! ! and one release! !

2008-09-04T13:33:00.002+01:00

Back row: Elder Ilunga, Don, Elder Mulaji, Me, Elder Tshibanda (Andre), Elder Nkashama, Elder Tshibanda (Tito). Middle row: Elder Kisase, Elder Lukusa, Sister Ngindu, Elder Kisala. Front: Elder Mulunda, Elder Kalabela, Elder Sabue.

Just 5 days after we arrived last year, we received 12 new missionaries! ! We were thrilled and overwhelmed! ! That brought our numbers up to 66. We had 5 sisters at the time and 5 couples. We have had a little "problem" lately because the country of DRC does not have any passport books--you know those little books with your picture and you get a stamp every time you come or go somewhere. They have been without passport books since last February. We have MANY prospective missionaries who have been waiting and waiting to come, but if they can't get a passport, they can't go to Ghana for their MTC experience and go through the temple. So last week we had 10 of these missionaries who have been waiting patiently for the opportunity to serve come here to Kinshasa and we had our own MTC for them and they have started to serve as full time missionaries. Two in the photo had passports and were able to go to Ghana. When the country finally gets some passport books and begins issueing passports again, we hope to be able to send these missionaries to Ghana for a real MTC and especially for the opportunity to be endowed in the temple! ! They were well taught by our experienced missionaries and had a really wonderful experience. They will be awesome missionaries! !
And by the way, that brings our numbers up to 90 young missionaries--14 are sisters.
We have also received permission from Salt Lake to send senior African couples into some of our areas where we can't yet send American couples, and the first couple have received their call and will begin their service later this month in Likasi. As soon as they are established, we will add young missionaries there to help with the teaching in Liksasi. Likasi has a beautiful new building and we believe that this will help the church to really grow there in that beautiful little city.

This is Elder Kayumba. He was released last Friday. He returns to Lubumbashi where he is a carpenter and cabinetmaker. He will take over the care of his elderly mother so that his younger brother, who has been caring for her, will be able to serve a mission.

We welcome Elder Kashama. He was teaching institute in Munama (in Lubumbashi) before he came. His parents are not members of the church. He was in the Young Men's Presidency of the Stake. And now he is serving as a full time missionary! !

OUR DAILY BREAD

2008-09-04T10:01:00.002+01:00

One thing about the Congo. They have GREAT bread!! You can find almost any type of bread here, very well done and at a reasonable price.

We buy a bread called "Pain au Cereal" -- a reasonable translation would be 9 Grain Bread at one market and often take it on extended trips. It stays fresh and moist even for 5 days.

But a favorite, if you want to lather it with butter, (and who doesn't??), is Pain Victoire. It's just a white bagette, baked at a huge bakery, with 8 or 9 bakings a day. It's very reasonable -- about 18 cents a bagette, and since you can always buy it fresh, it's great when loaded with saturated fat (a.k.a. butter). The missionaries can down several of these every meal -- in the morning, they dunk them into hot chocolate.

How is Pain Victoire distributed throughout the vast city? Well, for faroff places, they have a very efficient truck distribution system. But in the main part of Kinshasa, it is distributed by mammas, who come to the bakery with huge baskets on their head that they load up and then walk back to their neighborhood. The picture above is one of the smaller baskets, that a mamma will carry on her head.

You see them gracefully striding along the street, basket on top of their head. Some mammas buy a homemade peanut butter -- fresh ground on the street right outside of the entrance of the bakery, and you can have protein with your carbohydrates. I've tried to estimate how many bagettes they might have in a big basket. With the pieces of cardboard to create a taller sidewall, this mamma has two rows of bagettes around the circumference, with lots more stuffed in the middle.

Bon appetite! And now you know how Kinshasa gets its daily bread.

Love - Don and Marsha

THE MORNING COMMUTE -- CONGO STYLE !!

2008-09-02T23:17:00.004+01:00

So here I was driving down a street next to the train track (there is only one train track leading into Kinshasa) about 10 to 7, and I ran across the daily commute train (there is only one commute train). In an earlier post I had a couple of pictures of the train going home at night, but these possible pictures were too good to pass up. As you can tell, since there is only one train, everybody possible is going to be on that train. And when you say "on it", we really mean that. They are on top, on the engine, in the windows and the doors. Everywhere. The train was stopped here to let more people crowd onto it. I can't imagine that there is ever any accounting for revenue -- how would one possible push through the crowd to collect fares or tickets. You might try to set up a "toll booth" at the station downtown in Kinshasa, but they jump off the train before you get to the station, as it only ever moves about 10 - 15 miles an hour.
No space goes unwasted -- even the engine is a place for riding, or standing. Note the people standing on the front of the engine.

So here's the morning commute -- Kinshasa style!! For years I rode BART in the San Francisco Area -- sitting in a comfortable seat, going 80 mph between stations. And to think that we used to grumble a little about BART. Now in our home in Utah, we have two systems -- TRAX, which is a light rail system in the Salt Lake Valley; and FrontRunner, a heavy rail system that does now, or will cover a distance about 35 miles north and 45 miles south of Salt Lake. The name comes from the Wasatch Front -- as our mountains are called.

FrontRunner takes on a whole new name when you're riding on the front of the locomotive for the morning commute!!

And they combine commuting with their morning exercise. A lot of those surfing on top of the train dance as the train rumbles along the tracks. Makes even the morning subway train that our New Yorkers (Seth and Kendra) ride, seem tame by comparison!!

Bienvenu and Bon Voyage! ! !

2008-08-19T22:05:00.006+01:00

I realized that I have not posted photos of the new missionaries when they arrive,

or the missionaries who are being released. I will try to remedy that with the missionaries

who have come and gone since the first of July.

Above is the picture of Stephen and JoAnn Hanks

They served for 23 months in Yaounde, Cameroon.

When they arrived, they didn't speak any French at all,

but took classes for most of the time that they were in Cameroon

and were both fluent by the time that they left.

They add such wonderful things to the branches in Yaounde.

Elder Hanks was a wonderful priesthood mentor for the leadership in

Bastos I and Bastos II branches.

He helped them create a wonderful meeting place of a rented

space that was pretty bad the first time we saw it.

Elder Hanks saw the vision of what it could become and worked very hard

to make it a reality--a lovely building for the church to have their meetings in

and to be proud of.

Sr. Hanks added much to the lives of the members with her musical

talents. She taught several to play the keyborad and helped both

branches with their Primary music.

And the young American missionaries will forever remember the Hanks

for the fun meals they shared, the laundry done, the great lessons learned

from the Hanks and the fun and laughter that they shared.

We love and miss the Hanks! !

Because I am a lame blogger, I can't figure out how to get rid of this

extra picture of Elder Lubumta! ! Sorry! !

Elder Lutumba just returned to his home in Mbuji-Mayi. He is the youngest of 10 children

and has I think 2 brothers who are members.

He will always have a special place in our hearts, because we almost lost this

young man. He kept complaining of chest pain and a couple of other symptoms (starting in the MTC in Ghana), and went to 3 or 4 doctors while on his mission. Finally one day

after a series of tender mercies with a new hospital and doctors, we got some

real answers and discovered that he had an extreme case of Tuberculosis and Aspergulosis.

The day he was finally admitted into the Biamba Marie Mutombo hospital, he could hardly walk and had serious problems breathing. They started with some serious medications and got him healthy enough so that we could send him to South Africa where he had one of his lungs removed. We are so thankful that he was able to get the treatment that he needed

and that he returned and finished his mission.

This sister is Sister Mpemba. Sister Mpemba was asked by Brother Willy Lumala Mulambo to be his wife. She said Yes!, but I want to serve a mission first. They agreed that it would be a good thing, as it would give him some time to prepare financially for their life together. He worked at the distribution center for the church near our office. Each time I would go into the center, Willy would smile and say, "Sr. Livingstone, how are ALL of the missionaries in the mission doing??" I would always assure him that they were doing very well! !

Then I would promise that I would give a special greeting to Sr. Mpemba the next time I saw her. 4 week after her release, we attended their wedding! !

That is the subject for another post soon! !

This is Elder Freddy Mol. Elder Mol came to serve in Cameroon from Vanuatu--a series of very small islands in the South Pacific. Elder Mol's father died just shortly before he came on his mission, and after he had been serving for about 8 months, his mother passed away, also. What faith for him to continue his mission and serve with honor. His voyage home took about 48 hours with 4 -5 plane changes. I'm sure he was one tired guy when he got home.

We welcome Elder Wigginton. He just arrived from Southern California. Elder Wigginton has greaduated from UC Irvine and worked and was accepted to law school, but felt the tug of the Lord that he should serve a mission. When he arrived, his French was incredible! ! We are sure he will be a fabulous missionary.

SUMMER PLAY DAY WITH THE MISSIONARIES IN KINSHAS

2008-08-19T21:49:00.004+01:00

It's summer and we decided that we needed a little summer fun--actually, here is the "dry season" which is their equivilent of "winter", but we aren't letting them kid us that it's "cold"! ! It's just a little less hot than usual! !

In any case--it is time for a play day for the missionaries! !

This one was held on August 2nd at the Kasavubu chapel for all of the zones in Kinshasa.

We had one in Brazzaville the week before, and will have the one in Lubumbashi next week.

Cameroon will be soon after that! !

Here is a photo of all the missionaries after lunch.

They are full of delicious Hawaiian Haystacks and Pain Victoire.

Do these look like happy campers or what??

We divided them into three groups played lots of games in the morning--

We had some relay races, did the human knot, played fruit salad mix and the animal game.

This missionary is doing the noise and action for the monkey! !

Here are our two Assistants, Elder Kenakuta and Elder Yengo.

They thought the play day was a huge success ! !

This missionary is also playing the animal game, and I'm not sure what animal he is

making the noise and action for, but they sure had fun! !

NO MORE PITY PARTIES FOR ME

2008-07-08T15:04:00.011+01:00

notice where this man's shoes are?? He's been walking like this for a long time, I think!

This cute "mama" was all smiles when she got her chair! She had such a sweet attitude

Ok, so I admit it, I was having a bit of a pity party the last few days. I'm ashamed of myself, but I was doing it. This morning I have snapped out of it and I will show you why! !

See the man and woman above. they have great smiles, right?? Well the photo doesn't show the bottom half of their bodies which are deformed and shrunken. This morning the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints donated another 21 wheel-chairs to 21 handicapped persons here in Kinshasa. This is the second such morning that I have attended to watch people receive the life-giving gift of mobility. One of the things that has touched my heart very much is how many. many people here are physically impaired. Apparently some of them have withered or mishapen legs because well-meaning nurses have given injections improperly when they were babies. Many have incured injuries from the war. Some have been injured from accidents. It is heart-breaking to see so many who have difficulties. But most of them have found ways to continue with their lives and most have a great attitude and smile.

Below (or wherever it happens to pop up--I'm still a novice at this blogging thing) will be a few photos of some of the people as they made their way to receive their wheelchair. The routine that they have to go through to receive a wheelchair is that they come and request one from this

"Centre de handicappe". Their social service people interview them, then visit their homes to make sure that they can use a wheelchair in their homes and also to make sure that they won't just take the chair and sell it for profit, etc. After they pass that test, then the center chooses those to coordinate with the number of chairs that will be donated that time. The church is able to have a nice plaque on the back of each chair that it gives which says, "Gift of the Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints". So the church is widely recognized as a charitable and giving church.

Ok, so the pictures are loading in ascending order, so you'll see the ones I wanted you to see last, first--but as the scriptures say, the first shall be last and the last shall be first....so you'll just have to figure it all out, because I'm not smart enough to figure out how to move them.

HOW THINGS ARE SOLD -- MORE THINGS TO COME

2008-03-30T22:19:00.006+01:00

This is an "incomplete post" -- there are many more things to add to it. But here's what we have for right now.

Wanna buy a used car? There aren't more than 4 or 5 car dealerships in Kinshasa, and not one of these has a used car department of any consequence. Most used cars are sold off of "used car lots" along the side of the road. Here's a used car dealership alongside Mulumba Blvd. -- each morning about 50 or 60 cars appear alongside the road -- there are occasional lookers and buyers, and then at night all the cars get driven somewhere to be stored overnight. Almost all the used cars here come from Europe, and still have their identifying European country sticker on them -- "B" for Belgium; "F" for France; "CH" for Switzerland; "D" for Denmark, etc. Someone buys them in Europe and ships them down here. The process of licensing, registering, reporting sales to the government, sales tax -- no clue what happens. But the inventory always changes and cars are being sold from under the trees.

There are gas stations, although probably not more than 100 for the 8 plus million people in Kinshasa. All the petroleum products are distributed by a government entity called "SEP" -- you see their big tank trucks. I guess the major oil companies have their additives blended in at the SEP tank farms. Diesel is by far the prevelent fuel -- at about $ 6.50 - 7.00 a gallon, government price controlled. Our SUV takes about 200 litres, or about $ 250 a fill-up.

Far more interesting are the street-side vendors who sell diesel by far smaller quantities, as people can't afford a $ 250 fillup. They fill containers and put them on these racks by the side of the road. Here you see everything from 4 litre containers -- the large blue containers in the top right, to litre sized plastic containers, to used Coke bottles, which hold about .3 litres. A guy with a moto may wheel in for a Coke bottle (about 50 cents) or a plastic one litre bottle (about $ 1.30). The bigger 4 litre fillup ($ 5) would be took big for his tank -- those are reserved for cars or combies that need to go another 20 miles. There are similar sized containers of oil -- very handy since most vehicles here belch enormous quantities of blue smoke. For some of them, I think the consumption of oil equals or exceeds the consumption of diesel fuel.
Here's your "one stop" shop for athletic equipment -- soccer balls, an exercise bike, etc. But if you injure yourself by exercising too vigorously, we have crutches, canes, etc. If you really overdo it, we can sell you a wheelchair. All out in the open, under a tree. Each night the inventory disappears to somewhere, to be carefully restocked in the morning when the store opens for business.

If you get thirsty during the day, particularly as you ride in a non-air conditionned combie, there is the "O - P" man ready to slake your thirst. On top of this vendor's head is a plastic sack about 3 feet tall (when it is full) and 1 1/2 feet in diameter. Filled to the brim with plastic bags of "eau pure" -- French for pure water. (Except that most eau pure comes from taps and non-filtered sources -- we would never dare drip out of an eau pure sack.) It's a lot easier to just shout "O - P", or as they do it, "O-P, O-P, O-P". A bag of about 300 mililitres costs 50 francs or 10 cents.

They run along the street next to the combies, shouting "O-P, O-P". A hand thrusts a 50 franc note out the window and the transaction is consummated. Unfortunately about 1 minute later, the empty bag will fly out of the window to settle on the roadside somewhere. Trash is a major problem here, particularly the millions of O-P bags that will never decompose. So they get burned, leaving an oily black plume of smoke boiling up into the air.
A very large bakery called "Pain Victoire" sells bagettes to mamas, who carry these large plastic basins of bread on the their head as they walk down the side of the road to where they will set up and vend them. Right next to Pain Victoire, the vendors sell plastic sacks of 5 or 10 bagettes at a price of 100 francs per bagette (about 18 cents for a bagette about 18 inches long). They are baked continuously during the day so they are fresh and warm, and very tasty (particularly if you slather them with butter). These ladies are selling bread (in the two large plastic basins) and hard boiled eggs -- sitting on the black plastic milk milk crate.
I'm not sure which furniture store "by the side of the road" sold this gorgeous sofa and chair set, but you can see the "pouse-pouse" delivery truck that is delivering it. Off to the side of the road, you can see some bunk beds which are being sold.
Here's something else that sadly is being sold. In the interior of the Congo, there are huge trees being harvested for their gorgeous mahogany and other hardwoods, and sent to places like China where it will be made into furniture. The logs are floated down the Congo River to Kinshasa, and loaded onto these big trucks for the 110 mile truck to the coast. Unfortunately the rapids in the river just downstream from Kinshasa prohibit floating them the rest of the way to the coast. Each log is about 50 feet long, and three of them make a truckload.

And that's how things are sold -- with the exception that we will add some more in a couple of days.

Love to all - Don and Marsha

THESE MARVELOUS MISSIONARIES AND THEIR STORIES

2008-03-29T22:30:00.007+01:00

Every missionary and every new member of the church have their story, and a lot of love between them.

Here are Elders Nsiala and Malumba (left and right sides) flanking two young men with whom I had a baptismal interview at the new Ngaba chapel. The chapels which the Church is building are close to what the church builds in other countries, except that the construction is all masonary inside and out, and the floors are all tile. They are landmark buildings in their neighborhood. If I shot pictures of the neighborhood, and particularly "rond point Ngaba" -- which is a big traffic roundabout about 100 yards away, you wouldn't believe the difference.

These two great young men who were baptized several days later, are typical of the men who join the church. Frere Christoff on the left, is 19 or 20 years old. When I asked him to share his testimony about the teachings of the church, it was like a young man who had been a member all his life. Frere Rolland on the right, is a 27 year old, third year constitutional law student at University of Kinshasa, married with two young children. When he came up out of the waters of baptism on Sunday, he was all smiles and so grateful for this great privilege. He will be a real asset to the church.

Here are the four sisters who live together in the Binza "apartment". It really isn't an apartment, but a three bedroom house behind an 8 foot high masonry wall. All of our missionaries live in these homes -- they are very expensive, but there are no conventional apartments in Kinshasa. So to balance out the high cost, we have to but missionaries together 4 to 6 in a home. Sisters Besolo, Kakuji, Gweth and Tshimpamba are together with the wife of a member, who was baptized several days later. Here in Africa, usually the man joins the church first, and then his wife will follow, sometimes many months later.

Sister Besolo is engaged, as are about 3 other of our 13 sister missionaries. She joined the church two years ago, and decided that she should serve a mission before she gets married. We met her finance about a week later down in Lubumbashi, where he is going to university. He joined the church about the same time, and is anxiously waiting for February 2009 when she will finish her mission.

We've recently found out also about an elder who is engaged, who will finish his mission in June 2008. In the U.S., this just wouldn't happen, and as I interview prospective missionaries, I'm going to make sure that none of them are engaged, or "about to be". That's a problem I hope not to have with other elders in the mission. The sisters I can deal with, but a young man who is engaged is "trouble with a capital 'T' ". Here are three wonderful new members of the church, along with the sister missionaries, Sister Buekazebi (on the left) and Sister Nkulu (second from the right). These three new members were baptized on Sunday, February 17th. I interviewed the man in the middle, Roger, who is a medical doctor at the General Hospital of Kinshasa. He is an OB/GYN, who had performed abortions earlier in his career, but quit doing them 5 years ago (at some career risk) because he felt that this was wrong. In our interview, I sensed a wonderful spirit, and it was a joy to attend his baptism.
When cameras open up, the first picture may be of a small group, but everyone wants to get in on the action, so the picture of the 5 above soon turned into a group photo. But there is a story -- the man standing just to the right in the second row is the 1st counselor in the mission presidency -- Dr. Jacques Muliele. He is a wonderful seasoned member of the church who joined in France in the early 1980's but returned to the Congo (although he didn't have to) because he wanted to help establish the church here. That he has, serving as a stake president (a position where he is responsible to help direct about 12 congregations), and in other positions.

Dr. Muliele also practices as an OB/GYN, with his own clinic, as well as practicing at the General Hospital of Kinshasa. So I asked him to come to Roger's baptism. They recognized each other immediately, and now our new church member, Roger, has a friend at the hospital as well as the members in his local congregation.

Here are the 11 wonderful elders in Brazzaville, along with the two Assistants. Three of these elders come from Ivory Coast, and they are magnificent missionaries. All of these young men are so beloved by us. Missing from this picture is Elder Nguenga, who was down in South Africa to hopefully find medical answers to some problems he was having. He returned last week, but still has pains and problems, in spite of being checked out head to toe in South Africa and receiving a clean bill of health.

Tonight (Saturday, March 29th), all the missionaries in the Brazzaville Zone are fasting for Elder Nguenga and for his health. Brazzaville is just across the river, but it is an all-day trip to get there and back for me. So I called the two missionary leaders (called Zone Leaders for those who aren't familiar with missionary terms), and asked them to join together with Sister Livingstone and I in a fast for Elder Nguenga. They called me about 6:30 and reported that they had all gotten together to pray at the start of their fast, and tomorrow night, at my request, all 12 of them will get together again and use their priesthood to give Elder Nguenga a blessing. What magnificent young men. Here are six elders who live in the an apartment in Masina, in east Kinshasa. They have gone up to 5 days without electricity, as it is very sporadic in this sector of Kinshasa. But they use candles to read, cook and eat at night and in the early morning, and never miss a beat.

I had a "tender mercy of the Lord" moment with Elder Mbayo-Ngoy, third from the left, on March 19th. We received a call from Lubumbashi that his step-mother with whom he lived for a number of years after his real mother died, had passed away. His older brother lives here in Kinshasa, and we went together to talk to Elder Mbayo-Ngoy. It was a tender touching moment to discuss the blessings of knowing that we will live again, thanks to the resurrection of Christ. I was fearful of a totally distressed and depressed elder, but he was so brave in bearing testimony that he knew he would see both of his mothers again in the eternities. That is the message of hope that we teach to others, and his testimony of it was so tender and so real. It was a great lesson for me.

The young sister missionaries are truly amazing. In reality, they "set the bar" for the young elders. Here are five great sister missionaries who live in the Kasavubu apartment, and serve with honor and distinction. From left to right -- Sister Lengelo, her companion Sister Lukonga, Sister Kanyeba who was released after 19 months of great service on March 13th, Sister Mukaz and Sister Mbessi-Iloki.

They live on a street with dirt roads, with piles of garbage off to the side, and they serve with all their hearts. I think when the door to their yard swings open, and they step out with their clothes so clean and their smiles so bright, the whole neighborhood knows who they are, and respects them and loves them for their examples of what young Congolese ladies can be. In most African societies, women are not particularly respected and aren't fairly treated -- but these great sister missionaries show women whom they can become.

Well, here's a missionary -- or rather a prospective missionary -- that we hope will be a great elder. Our youngest son, Drew came for 10 days in early March to visit us. He attended three half-day meetings with groups of missionaries, in a language that he didn't understand, but bore his testimony and visited with the elders and sisters. We hope that he will be able to leave this fall and serve his mission.
Here are three new missionaries that arrived on March 13. From left to right -- Elder Yengo, one of the Assistants to the president; Elder Olinga from Yaounde, Cameroon; Sister Ilombi from Kinshasa; Elder Mutenda from Kananga; and Elder Oubassissa, the other missionary serving as an Assistant. Elders Yengo and Oubassissa are experiences and wonderful leaders. I would trust them with almost any task, and they work extremely well with the missionaries. Today they left to fly to Lubumbashi, 1,000 miles to the southeast, where they will work for at least a half day with each of the five teams of elders. Wednesday, Sister Livingstone and I will fly to Lubumbashi for interviews with the 10 elders serving there, and then a half day meeting to share inspiration and teaching with and from them on Thursday. The Assistants are invaluable in being able to help train and inspire the missionaries.

Each of these new missionaries has a great story of their conversion and faith. Sister Ilombi joined the church two years ago, at the age of 24. Her parents are not yet members of the church; her dad is a professor at University of Kinshasa. She asked them for their blessings for her to serve a mission and they agreed. She had a companion for three weeks in the MTC who only spoke English, but she perservered and learned a little English.

I'm glad that Elder Mutenda is here. He called me every week asking, "President, where is my mission call?" For elders and sisters here, it is not uncommon for them to have to wait 4 - 6 months from our interviews to the time that they receive their call. Samuel really wanted to go, as he turns 26 next month -- the cutoff age at which the young men generally cannot serve. We are glad he is here.

Elder Olinga comes from Cameroon. I interviewed him last July and his call came in November. He was baptized about 5 years ago, and for a long time was the only member of his family. But the last Saturday before he left Cameroon to come on his mission, February 15th, he had the wonderful privilege to baptise his mother. So one of his most memorable baptismal services came just before he started his mission. He has a really sweet spirit and will be a great elder.

Here are our stalwart North American elders and Elder Mol, who serve in Cameroon. In the following post, you'll read about their harrowing experiences during a 4 day period of civil unrest in Cameroon at the end of February. We had a great zone conference with them two weeks later and their faith and trust in the Lord was amazing.
Here are the Hanks and 8 missionaries striding down the street. Count 'em -- you'll find 10 people, ifyou can see Sister Hanks hidden by Elder Shaw on the extreme right of the picture, and Elder Nielsen just barely shown between Elder Anderson (shiny forehead) and Elder Archibald to his right.
All 10 of them traveled to the place for our meal in the Hanks' little Izuzu pickup truck. Pretty amazing, huh? Actually 5 were in the king cab while the other 5 rode in the back, with the plastic cover zipped down so the police wouldn't stop the truck and demand a bribe. No problem if there were 15 Cameroonians in a truck like this, but 5 "blancs" -- that could be an occasion for a little demand by the gendarmes. Look comfy, don't they!!

We are so grateful for these wonderful sons and daughters of great earthly parents, and our Father in Heaven. They are teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, loving these people and serving them. What a privilege it is for us to be with them and serve the missionaries.

So if you see a missionary, or a prospective missionary, give 'em a hug, or feed them, or those of you who aren't members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- listen to their message with your heart, mind and eyes and ears. It will bless your lives here, and in the eternites.

Love to all -- Don and Marsha

WAR, VIOLENCE AND HOW SAD IT IS

2008-03-29T21:58:00.006+01:00

The last week of February, Cameroon had some major civil unrest. The present president, who has been in power for many years, would like to change the constitution so he can continue to seek additional terms. Additionally the cost of important essentials like gas and food had increased sufficiently that it was difficult for the common people to afford them. The result were four days of protests and civil disturbance in Douala, where we have 4 missionaries and a senior couple, and some lesser tensions in the capital city of Yaounde, where there are 6 missionaries and another wonderful senior couple. Heavenly Father was very gracious and protective of all our missionaries during this time, and we are so very grateful.

We were scheduled to fly to Douala on Monday, Feb. 25th, but our flight arrives right around midnight. Usually the Coles come and pick up us, but for their safety, it wouldn't have been wise for them to be out on the streets at that hour in a time of tension. The airport is only about 5 kilometers from their apartment, but it had been cut off during the day and there was no knowing what the situation would have been. We could have stayed at the airport and slept on a bench overnight, and hoped for better conditions on Tuesday so someone could come pick us up, but the Spirit guided us not to go. As it turned out that was the inspired decision, as there were several days of significant unrest before things settled down.

Thanks to the Coles and their great relationship with the American consular general in Douala, the embassy sent an armored Suburban to pick up the missionaries on Tuesday morning. They had ventured out on Monday morning but immediately sensed the difficulties, and had been hunkered down in their apartment for the rest of Monday, listening to some small arms fire on their street. Sister Coles was magnificent to take in the 4 elders, feed them, etc. until things settled down and they went back to their apartment on Friday. The Hanks did a wonderfully similar job up in Yaounde, where although there wasn't as much physical damage, the concerns over the missionaries was the same. We counseled daily with Church Security in Salt Lake, the two couples in Cameroon, and the Area Presidency in Johannesburg.

A modern car dealership near the airport was totally ransacked and destroyed. Across the street, a gas distribution center had six big tank trucks all burned out. Nearly all the gas stations in the area immediately east of Douala were destroyed. On the west side, the damage was less, but here is a Texaco station where everything was broken, looted and the pumps pushed over.

As we drove through the streets of Douala, you could see the melted pavement where either cars or piles of tires were set on fire. Thanks to the missionaries and the Coles and Hanks for their faith, courage and to all the parents for their prayers.

The damage from this disturbance in Cameroon was relatively minor, compared to the damage that you see in the Republic of Congo and the DRC from the civil wars in these countries. The major conflict in the DRC has taken place on the eastern side of the country, and the toll is not in physical damage, but in roughly 4 - 5 million lives that have been lost through either the conflict or its terrible consequences on the civilian population.

Brazzaville and the Republic of Congo, across the river from the DRC, had several terrible civil wars 10 - 12 years ago. The remnants and reminders of this conflict are everywhere. Here in a residential neighborhood of very humble circumstances sits a rusty veteran. We looked at a prospective missionary apartment for sister missionaries about two blocks from here.

Here is what is left of a very modern office building after the civil war in Brazzaville. Totally destroyed, either by the war or the subsequent looting, etc.

There is a very large 30 story highrise office building right along the river in Kinshasa, where we walk at night. The street is where the embassies or ambassadorial residences of most major nations are located. The building has some windows shot out, and we have never seen an occupant in it. The garage space on the main level is occupied by some tanks and armored personnel carriers -- every so often, they fire up one and run it down the street and back. There are sandbagged machine gun posts and APC's standing guard at locations along the street.

We hope there is peace here in these countries. In II Chronicles 7:14, it states, "If my people, who are called by my name, shall numlbe themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." We pray each night that the people will turn from their sins, seek the Lord and humble themselves, and we know that He will heal their lands.On the main street in Brazzaville, here's what remains of a relatively modern supermarket, after their civil wars. Although it has been years since the war, there is no effort to rebuild -- no insurance money, and perhaps a lack of faith that it wouldn't happen again. The general public are the losers. Obviously this building took a lot of abuse.

In North America, we have never seen the physical consequences of conflict for 145 years, since the Civil War. Truly Heavenly Father has blessed our land in so many ways. Our hope and prayer is that people will remember God, so He will continue to bless our lands with peace. What a wonderful blessing that has been. And how we ought to thank those who had the courage and loyalty to serve in the great armed conflicts, and in the armed services even up to today. They help preserve the peace, not only for America, but for the world. We see UN soldiers here from many nations, at great personal sacrifice, helping to preserve the peace here. Our hope is that they will succeed, and the people will learn that only through peace and co-operation with each other can their country progress. When it does, there will be hundreds of congregations, tens of stakes, and a temple of the Lord. What a great blessing that will be!!

Love to all -- Don and Marsha

TO GIVE YOU A LITTLE STRUCTURE TO THE NEXT FOUR POSTS

2008-03-26T01:09:00.002+01:00

On February 8 - 14, we took our semi-annual trip to a city called Luputa, about 600 miles southeast of Kinshasa. The trip itself is quite a journey -- a flight to a city of 4 million called Mbuji-Mayi, where we rent four wheeled vehicles from Catholic Charities (which whom we partner very frequently on humanitarian projects) and then drive 120 - 130 kilometers over about 9 hours to Luputa.

In Luputa, we have 6 congregations and about 1,200 members. It's a city of 125,000 with no power, no real dependable water, and very rural. But it is a city with the sweetest spirit to it. No one who goes to Luputa ever comes away the same.

It's an adventure. The road for the last 45 miles is dirt, with ruts, bumps, etc. When we get there we stay in an old Catholic monastery. The rooms are $ 10 a night (about fully priced) and we take freeze-dried foods, peanut butter and jam, and camp out.

And we love it -- because the people there are so pure, so good, so simple. When they are converted to Jesus, they love Him with all their heart. Of the 1,200 members in the district, over 900 attended the conference, even though 650 - 700 of them had to sit outside the small building we presently use. The church rented a portable generator, a small video camera, and a 17 inch TV to show conference to those outside the building.

There are four posts about our trip.

1. Scenes from the Countryside on the Luputa Trip
2. and 3. The People and Sights of Luputa
4. The Trip Itself with the Roads and Challenges of the Travel

We love these people. Although it took two weeks for the bruises on my legs and ankles to heal from bouncing around the back of the truck while on the roads, we can't wait to go back next August.

Hope you enjoy seeing these people and what their world is like.

Love to all -- Don and Marsha

SCENES FROM THE COUNTRYSIDE ON THE LUPUTA TRIP

2008-03-26T00:31:00.013+01:00

Rainy season in Africa. The roads become mudholes (see the posting "The Trip to Luputa"). Little creeks that were trickles of water in August become roaring torrents that jump their banks and almost come up to the deck of the bridge, in February. I remember this bridge when we crossed it in August -- why was it about 20 feet above the little creek? Now we know. And every creek, every river in a country that is 1,500 miles by 1,500 miles eventually drains into the Congo River. By the time the Congo River reaches Kinshasa (still 110 miles from the ocean), it is several miles wide, and the flow of water is exceeded only by the Amazon River.

An "not uncommon" sight in Africa are missions that the Catholic Church built to serve people and also to bring them into their faith. Here is a large church -- the anchor of a mission that was built over 100 years ago. We received a pamphlet on its history when we were warmly welcomed by the prelate now in charge of it. The names of the leaders up through the early 1960's were all Belgian or French -- when independence came to the Congo in 1960, these people unfortunately were not well treated by the Congolese and so they left. Their structures - both buildings and infrastructure have been sadly neglected -- but there is still a majesty to what they left behind.

This mission had a compound of about 6 or 7 large brick structures that the Belgians had built. It was probably about 20 kilometers in either direction from Mwene-Ditu or Luputa -- out in the middle of Africa where the fathers and nuns served the people because of their love for them. There must have been a very large collection of people here, as you can tell that this is a good sized structure.

Now this is a colorful dress!! The collection of fabrics was a little more kalideoscopic in this dress than others, but you can see that they love their colors. Our wardrobe when we return might be a little noticeable in Provo!!

We pulled off the road (see the segment of "The Trip..." for one of the vehicles getting stuck), and after our lunch talked to and visited with the several families that lived in this little 2 - 3 house group, about 5 miles away from anything else on the road. They were most willing and happy to help us see where they lived and what they did.

We walked up the path to their little collection of several living places. Note the gardens on the left and right -- they were growing manioc (which gives them a white floury substance that they mix with dried ground corn to produce a carbohydrate goo that they eat with every meal), and corn. Behind the structures were the fruit gardens, the kitchen, bathroom (no pictures of that0 and the family room -- all outdoors.

Here is the kitchen -- notice how neatly the dirt floor has been swept with their straw brooms. The black container holds water that is caught from rain run-off; there are several cooking stations which use charcoal that they produce to heat their food.

The view from the family room (outdoors of course) shows the backyard, about 20 or 30 miles of open vista, with not another human or structure in sight. It is a big wide open continent, with lots of open space!! America, China, Russia, India and many other countries would fit in the confines of Africa, with room left over for Europe. It is huge. Our mission along covers the western half of the United States.

We might focus on what they don't have -- a TV, Internet, garage with a couple of cars, etc. Their live is very simple, but it has its own beauty and bounties as well. In back of the house is their little garden -- lots of pineapple plants all if a row. You can see next week's fruit sitting all ready to be harvested, and there were probably about 50 plants in their garden in various stages of bearing fruit.

Their life has a simple beauty to it -- the sun comes up, you get up, you work, you produce your food, you do whatever else kind of work you can, you eat, the sun goes down (same time every day all year around), you sit around a fire with your family and then you go to bed to get ready for the next day. For those who are members, you throw in the daily scripture reading and teaching of your children, and church work as necessary during the week and Sunday services.

Sometimes, less might be more....

Love to all - Don and Marsha

THE PEOPLE AND SIGHTS OF LUPUTA

2008-03-25T23:31:00.015+01:00

As we get up on Saturday morning, we find that someone else has been up and busy before us. This is the largest spider and web I have ever seen, just outside our door. For reference purposes, the rafter at the very top of the picture directly above the spider is about 3" wide, so you can tell that if this one sat down by Little Miss Muffet, it would definitely frighten Miss Muffet away!!

The Barlows and their contingent will go to the water source on Saturday. They meet with the members of the water committee -- the local people to whom we will turn over the project when it is complete. They all want to go -- so it's 11 of them into the LandRover. More wanted to come but there wasn't room. They bumped over about 40 kilometers to get there -- all the time bumping into each other. But the Barlows said it was a great trip. If you want to read more about their experience and especially all the fabulous projects that they are involved with, please visit http://www.barlowsinthedrcongo.blogspot.com/

While the Barlows and others are off to see the water spring that will serve the 175,000 people in the villages and the city of Luputa, I am off to the chapel to interview 9 young men who wish to serve as fulltime missionaries for two years for the Church. On the way, we see a man pushing his velo (bike) loaded with about 180 - 200 pounds of dry corn that he is transporting somewhere to sell. More about this in a minute.

Here's one of the 9 young men that I interviewed. As we chat, I interview them about their worthiness and why they want to serve a mission. We ask them to save $ 130 for their passport and additional for what they will need for clothes. In almost all other areas of the world, the young man or his family pays the $ 400 or so monthly cost for a mission. In Africa, the young people and their families cannot possible save that. So the church will pay most of the monthly cost, after they have earned the money for their passport, scriptures and clothes and shoes.

I asked all of these young men what they had done to earn their money. One worked as a nurse in the local hospital, another raised pigs or goats, but at least 6 of them told me that they earned their money by selling corn. This means they ride their bike 45 - 50 kilometers (30 - 35 miles) into the "interieur" as it is spelled here. They buy 180 - 200 pounds of corn, load it on their bike, and then push their bike back to Luputa. (See two pictures earlier.) They rest here for part of a day, and then push their bike to Mwene-Ditu, a larger city about 45 kilometers away, where they can sell it for a higher price. They then ride their bikes back to Luputa and complete the four day journey.

Between Luputa and Mwene-Ditu, there is a very large valley cut by a stream with good sized hills. The people pushing their velos will travel in groups of three. When they reach the bottom of the valley, two will leave their bikes there, and help push the first person and his bike up to the top of the hill. Then all three return and push the next bike up, and then repeat the process for the third bike. An amazing sight.

When asked how much they earn as profit on each trip, they said "between $ 10 and $ 12". So it takes them 20 trips, or at least 5 - 6 months to earn the money to pay their tithing, and save the rest for their passport, clothing, scriptures, etc. Is it any wonder that we have a special feeling about these great young missionaries from Luputa who serve in our mission??

When we arrive it is mass bedlam -- not from the members who are reverently sitting in their places 30 minutes before the session begins, but from all the neighborhood kids who have followed our truck down the road. (You can only drive about 5 mph due to the bumps and holes, so they can run faster than you can drive.) You can only escape this chaos by shaking every hand and satisfying their curiosity that our skin is no different from theirs, except for the color.

One of the treats of the Luputa Conference is always the youth choir -- about 50 kids smushed up in the corner of the building (they bend around to the left of the director in an "L" shape). They sing "a capella" -- perfectly in tune, and tackle amazingly hard pieces of music that are sung by the Tabernacle Choir. They listen to the music and figure out the parts. The conductor will leave to be a fulltime missionary later this year, but there will be someone equally as talented to take over when he leaves.

After church, everyone loves to visit -- and take pictures, and pose for pictures. But when the youth choir sang so magnificently, they deserve a picture. About half of them had left, but the others stayed -- all clean in their white shirts and blouses. The building in the background is the District Chapel -- it held about 250 inside and another 700 viewed from outside the building.

After the church meeting we announced the $ 2.5 million water project which will bring clear pure water from the hills 45 kilometers away to the 125,000 people of Luputa. All the members stayed for 30 minutes to hear speeches of gratitude given by the territory administrator (front row far left) and the mayor (front row, third from the right). These people are so grateful for the gift of good health that the water will give to their city.

Wherever the government officials are, the police aren't far away. Skip to the next blog (sorry that this one is full) to see their friendly guardian and the rest of the Sunday in Luputa.

THE TRIP TO LUPUTA -- THE PEOPLE AND SIGHTS (continued)

2008-03-25T23:01:00.007+01:00

Where you have the government officials, you always have their bodyguards. Most of them don't seem to be too friendly, but we had a good chat and I asked if I could take his picture. He almost seems too baby-faced and friendly to ever use that.

This wonderful man is Willie Binene, the leader of our six congregations in Luputa. He is called the District President. Here he is with his six year old son, and four year old daughter. Their youngest child is six months old. Note how beautiful Gracie's hair is -- and see the detailed braiding in the next picture.

Pres. Binene is a "cultivateur"-- a farmer. He has about 20 acres of corn under cultivation, and raises other crops. He is a wonderful, kind, loving church leader -- and his dedication to the calling is incredible. There are no banks in Luputa, and no Internet cafes, because at this time, there is no power system. The only power comes from portable generators, and the "mazook" to run them is very expensive. One day each week, Pres. Binene rides a bus or rides his bike 45 kilometers to a larger city called Mwene-Ditu, where there is power and Internet. He takes all the tithing and other offerings collected by the six congregations and deposits them in the bank in Mwene-Ditu, then goes to an Internet cafe and checks all the emails for the church. Then he rides back to Luputa. In good weather, he can make the trip all in one day. In bad weather, it is a 1 1/2 day trip. What faith and dedication to do this every week -- not being paid (in the church, it is a totally lay clergy). I marvel at his love for the Lord. And the sermon he gave on the Plan of Salvation -- where we came from, why we are here and where we go after this life, was as masterful presentation as I have heard on this topic.

Can you imagine the time it took Sister Binene to braid the hair of Gracie, their four year old daughter? Their love for their children, and particularly for their children to be specially dressed for the Sabbath Day, is always amazing!!

After the conference in the afternoon, we decided to go for a walk in the village just east of the monastery where we stayed for three nights. Needless to say, the three couples and Bro. Hokansen visiting for the conference are quite a curiosity among the villagers, most of whom have never seen a "mutoka" (white skinned person). You start off walking down the road and soon there are tens, then hundreds following you, as you greet them. You try to shake hands with them all but soon Marsha disappears in the midst of about 50 kids. It is quite an event, but so much fun to try to communicate with them, shake their hands, etc.

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2008-02-29T16:13:00.003+01:00

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BACK TO LUPUTA -- THE TRIP ITSELF

2008-02-27T06:28:00.013+01:00

One of the four member districts that we travel to is in Luputa -- a community of about 125,000 people in the middle of Africa. Last August, we used just one vehicle for 5 of us.

This trip, we are coming with a second vehicle. The Church has agreed to contribute $ 2.5 million to build a water system for Luputa. The source is a great spring about 40 kilometers from Luputa. The water will be captured in a large reservoir, and then brought by a "gravity feed" pipeline to several villages along the way and then to Luputa. The Barlows (missionaries who are the Humanitarian Directors for the Congo), David and Anna-Lena Frandsen (church volunteer missionaries who travel the world for the church reviewing large water projects), and Robert Hokanson (a church employee in charge of the world-wide water initiatives for the Church's Humanitarian Services) are here to review the water project, meet with the tribal chiefs, and select a project manager.

We're traveling in two Toyota Land Cruisers rented from Catholic Charities. After paying $ 12.50 a gallon to fill up the two vehicles, we put our trust in our two drivers -- Omer in the trusty green truck we used last time, and Alphonse, in the white Cruiser. You'll see pictures of the white truck because I sat in the back of the lead vehicle and took pictures of the following vehicle throughout the trip.

The first 80 kilometers from Mbuji-Mayi to Mwene-Ditu is paved with potholes. The remaining 40 kilometers to Luputa is dirt in the dry season and like this in the rainy season.

The distance we traveled was probably a lot more than the straight line distance, due to zig-zags and detours. Here's the zig-zag -- the first picture in the blog with the palm tree is on a detour.

The Land Cruisers, and our drivers, are amazing. We were in the lead vehicle, and didn't have the perspective of what our truck looked like as we drove through mud holes, water, etc. The people in the following truck said they just looked and held their breath. But thanks to Omer's skills, we never got stuck. Then, from the back of our truck, I would take pictures of the second vehicle, and we were always amazed to see them make it through. Half Land Cruiser -- half boat!!

On the way back, it was time for lunch and we pulled off the road. Omer chose wisely, but unfortunately, Alphonse didn't. Despite his best efforts, he was stuck. Bro. Barlow is not too happy!!

Fortunately, a passing truck has a steel cable, and with a help from Omer and our trusty Land Cruiser, Alphonse and the white Cruiser are soon out of the ditch.

You share the road with people pushing load on bikes, other vehicles, and this herd of goats. Goats are a very real measure of wealth. A male goat is worth $ 40, a female is $ 80. So here is a lot of money, and you give them a wide berth.

Well -- just had to throw this one in -- as always, you are amazed when you see trucks overloaded with stuff and the always-present people riding on top and on the back, at 35 miles per hour.

At the end of the trip, everyone is exhausted and bumped and bruised. Except you know who -- what a great companion. I love her!!

Anybody who smiles like that all the time is the best!!!!

A RIDE DOWN "RUE POIDS LOURDS" FOR 15 MINUTES

2008-02-26T21:57:00.013+01:00

Let's go for a ride down a street called "Poids Lourds" -- essentially French for "very heavy" loads. This used to be the only street into downtown Kinshasa from the east side of town, until they built Lumumba Blvd, which is a divided two lanes in each direction road. Sometimes when you are approaching the junction where Poids Lourds takes off from Lumumba, you can see the backup on Lumumba, so you take Poids Lourds and hope for the best.

Here's what 15 minutes driving down the road is like. I will probably have my driving privileges revoked when someone from the church's safety division sees that I'm driving and talking on the cell phone or taking pictures at the same time. But this will give you an idea of what driving is like. I generally drive at least 15 hours a week, going to meetings or interviewing the missionaries and their investigators who need interviews for "special situations" before they are baptized.

Taking pictures is a tricky business. If someone sees you taking their picture, they either want money, or are mad at you. So you learn to take pictures very carefully and not too openly.
Here's a guy that is intent on passing someone -- so I better swerve to the right. Note the silver Mercedes ahead of us, and the red and white bus coming in the opposite direction. Hidden behind the yellow VW bus is a "pousse-pousse" cart. These carts occupy the right hand lane and are given right of way. Which means that the red and white bus will have to get around the "pousse-pousse" somehow. Usually that means they will be in the center of the road and into your lane.

You can see the dust where the Mercedes wagon has driven on the shoulder to give the oncoming bus much of our lane.

This isn't the same white VW van -- just one of the many. This is typical Congolese style driving -- because traffic is pretty slow in the lane coming our direction, this guy has lurched across the road and is now traveling on the shoulder in the opposite direction. The real fun comes when someone going in our direction is traveling on the same shoulder, and the loser in the game of "chicken" has to figure out where they are going to go. Usually it is somewhere into your lane.

A common sight -- someone swerving to miss a pothole. Driving here is like a video game -- you hope your reflexes are fast enough to miss the holes on your side and the guy who maybe coming over to join you!!

There are no such things as "lanes" -- just lines of traffic that snake down the street, searching for ways around the potholes and watching for the cars coming in the opposite direction to make sure they're not in your path.

These are "people movers" that the government uses to transport the workers to their government office (you can guess that the colors in the DRC flag are blue, yellow and red). About 60 plus people will be crowded into one of these -- the lucky ones get to sit, while most stand for the hour or so commute. And the people who ride really are the lucky ones -- each night from 5 to 8 pm, people stream out of downtown headed for their homes. Many ride in the combies, but tens of thousands walk home. Driving on the roads gets very hairy because the walkers just ooze through traffic. You inch forward a little at a time and hope you don't hit someone.

Not all the interesting things are happening on the road. Here some shoppers are checking out a "marche" on the right side of the road. I don't know what the lumber is -- maybe scrap just left out for people to take home, either to add onto their house or to burn for their fire that night.

Meanwhile, on the left hand side of the road, behind a concrete fence, are the train tracks. Once a day a commuter train serves a suburb. The Thomas's, who can see the train station from their apartment, say that as the train starts to leave the station, it is relatively uncrowded. But in about 30 seconds, as it starts to inch out of the station, hundreds of people emerge from who knows where and crush into the train. The freeloaders ride up on top of the train, because they know the conductor won't come up there to check if they have a ticket. The smart ones sit down on top for the ride. But the intrepid ones -- check out the next picture.

I wish that I could get a picture that does justice to the train. If the fence didn't block the view, you would see people are hanging out the windows and the doors and crowded beyond belief. That's why maybe the best place is up on top of the train, in the 25 mph or so breeze as it rumbles down the tracks. The tracks at best are uneven and pretty scary. So the roof riders get to practise their surfing as they ride home.

And that's 15 minutes on "Rue Poids Lourds". Every trip is like this. That's what makes it fun!!

Hope you can get a little flavor of what life here is like. And yet the people are relatively happy and content with what they have. One of our bishops rides the VW transports for 1 1/2 to 2 hours to get to his position with the "Department des Affaires Etrangers" -- the Foreign Affairs Department in English -- in his three piece suit. I can't imagine how much I would sweat. And he is grateful for his job, for the church and for his family.

Count our blessings -- Love -- Don and Marsha

MEET SOME OF THE MISSIONARIES

2008-02-02T22:39:00.000+01:00

One of the great blessings of serving as we do is to work with wonderful young missionaries. Most of our missionaries here in the DR Congo and the Republic of Congo are native Congolese, while in Cameroon, we have 9 missionaries from the U.S. and one from Vanuatu.

For all of these missionaries, we hope that besides helping them find and teach people that become members of the church, they can learn principles that will help them for the rest of their lives. We hope that they will learn Gospel principles and doctrine that will strengthen their testimonies; principles of leadership that will prepare them to be the future leaders of the Church in their countries; and principles of working and learning that can help them find good jobs and careers so they can provide for their families. Thanks for praying for all the missionaries in the world that they can receive similar blessings.

Time to meet some of the wonderful young missionaries that we serve with. The missionary second from the right -- you already know. She has been on her mission for seven months and her French is improving daily. She really did well in our last zone conference, when we took all the missionaries out on the street, meeting people and asking if we could come teach them in their homes. She is loved by her companion (me).

On the left is Sister Rita Lukonga from the west side of Kinshasa. She has served for about 9 months and is a wonderful hard working missionary. For a month, she was really sick -- and the blood tests showed that she had both malaria and typhoid fever. But after a week of medication, she was back up on her feet and serving with such dedication.

Next to Sister Lukonga is Sister Lengelo, a new missionary who arrived last week. You can read more about her in a couple of paragraphs.

On Sister Livingstone's right is Sister Mukaz, who is 23 and comes from Lubumbashi in the southern end of the Congo. She comes from a family of 15 children, 8 of whom are members of the church. She is the first person in her family to serve a fulltime mission. She was baptized in 2000. Her parents are not members of the church and unfortunately there is no mail system here, so she doesn't hear from her family that often. She served as a volunteer missionary in her home ward and learned much about the book we use, "Preach My Gospel" before she came. Next week, I am going to send her and another wonderful young sister missionary from Lubumbashi, Sister Kayembe, across the river to open a new apartment in Brazzaville. It will be a little difficult for them -- Brazzaville is isolated from Kinshasa by the Congo River, and we will only be able to visit them once every four to six weeks. They will need to be strong -- and they will be.

One of the great joys is to welcome new missionaries, with their enthusiasm and desire to serve. On January 30th we welcomed four new missionaries. The two on the left are the Assistants that work with me -- Elder Mputu and Elder Oubassissa, and make wonderful presentations in our new missionary orientation meeting. The new missionaries are Elder Ngandu (3rd from the left), Sisters Lengelo and Mujinga and Elder Kalulambi. Elder Ngandu and Sister Mujinga come from Kananga -- a city about 500 miles southeast of Kinshasa. Each of these new missionaries has an interesting story.

Elder Ngandu is about 22 and has all the earmarks of a great leader. He is humble and yet confident, and studied English for the last 6 months, about 3 to 4 hours a day. He read from the Book of Mormon with Sister Livingstone for an hour or so on Friday, and he did very well. When I interviewed him in Kananga last fall, Marsha said, "That young man has all that he needs to be a real leader in the mission before he is through." She's right.

Sister Lengelo is 24 and received her university degree in Chemistry and taught in high school for a couple of years before she felt the desire to become a missionary. She is a quiet but confident young lady. The next day after this picture, she was helping us at the Center for the Handicapped ceremony and she and her companion sang hymns quietly, in a beautiful harmony.

Sister Mujinga is 23 and from Kananga. She worked hard as a secretary to earn the money for her passport. She has a wonderful smile, a joy for life, and when she bore her testimony in our orientation meeting, she just radiated the spirit of the Gospel.

Elder Kalulambi is from Masina, a suburb on the east side of Kinshasa. Marsha met him at the stake center about three weeks ago, just before he left for his missionary training at the Center in Ghana. When missionaries send in their application, they could be assigned to anyone of the 360 missions in the world, but he prayed that he would be assigned here to the mission in the DR Congo, so he could teach people in his own country and help strengthen the church here. He is a humble but powerful missionary.

One of the most important things we do is to select the companions for these new missionaries. I felt a wonderful powerful spiritual confirmation of where all four of these new missionaries should serve. What a "tender mercy of the Lord" to deliver them to their apartments and see the joys and welcome that they received from the missionaries who will be their trainers.

Here are most of the leaders of the mission, at a Zone Leader Council meeting at the end of January. From the left -- Elder Mputu, Elder Nsuka, Elder Oubassissa, Elder Kamba, Elder Kayumba, Elder Tshimbundu, Elder Lubangakene, Elder Mampouya and Elder Mukamba. (We've gotten to where we can pronounce these names with relative ease -- Smith, Jones, Collins, etc. will seem pretty staid once we get home.)

One thing that I didn't realize when I got here -- while French may be the colonial language and the official language of the country and the Church, there are many tribal dialects that the missionaries must learn. Here in Kinshasa, the dominant tribal language is Lingala. In Lubumbashi at the southern end of the mission, they speak Swahili. And in the middle of the country, they speak Tshiluba.

So when elders are transferred, sometimes they have to learn a new language that can be radically different from the tribal language they know. While we hope that the next generation of the church will be much more fluent in French, often I have to conduct interviews with someone who can only speak the tribal language, and have to rely on one of these young men to be a translator. You rely a lot on the spirit that you feel in interviews such as these.

I am amazed at their resiliency. In other missions, elders have cars or bicycles. Here they ride the VW combi transports, 20 to 25 packed into a VW bus. We finally got each companionship a cell phone with tightly controlled usage, so they can call their investigators and confirm appointments, etc. I am grateful for their diligence. What great young men and women.

After our zone conference in Cameroon, we treated the elders to a meal at a local Chinese restaurant. Elder Snow from Springville, UT is at the far left. He came out last spring, but got quite sick and had to go to Johannesburg to get healthy again. Since coming back, he has been a wonderful missionary. In the middle is a future elder, Michel Olinga, from Yaounde, Cameroon who has received his call and will begin his missionary service at the end of February. We were glad to have him join us -- he is a wonderful young man about 24 who has finished his schooling and worked for several years to earn the money for his passport. As a minimum, we ask potential missionaries to earn the $ 150 or so for their passport. That doesn't sound like much, but in the African nations, a young person probably has to work for 1 to 1 1/2 years to earn this much money.

In an earlier blog, you met Elder Freddie Mol from the South Pacific island of Vanuatu. He's been serving for about 18 months, and I am trying to figure out what I can do to help him in the rest of his life when he is released in August 2008. He is always such a happy person -- big smile and a joy for life. Two weeks ago, he and his companion, Elder Ngenga (a native Cameroonian) had 14 visitors attend Church services on Sunday. That's how hard and well they are working.

Happy Birthday, Elder Nielson!! Birthdays are always fun -- after the Zone Conference we sing "Bonne Anniversaire" in French and then "Happy Birthday" in English, and they get a bag with a loaf of banana bread from Sister Livingstone, a pair of "Gold Toe" black socks (we brought 100 pair with us -- thanks for the sales price, Costco), a picture of the Savior, a pen and red/blue scripture marking pencil, and whatever else we can find. Elder Nielson is such a great young man. He's from Salt Lake, played football for a small college in Indiana his freshman year while he studied engineering, and then came on his mission. I asked him if he missed playing football (he was a receiver) and he said, "A little. I sent an email to the coach and the team and wished them a good season." And here he is in Cameroon, working his heart out for the Lord.

Counting the couples, there are 95 missionaries in the mission, and 95 stories that you would enjoy. It is such a blessing to love them, teach them, celebrate their successes and help them on those rare days when they need a little lift. How we love them and are grateful for them.

Thanks to those of you who have sent sons and daughters into the mission field, or for those of you who aren't members, have helped brighten their day when you've seen them. They are the best of the young people in this world today. And thanks for praying for them each day.

Love - Don and Marsha

Love to you -- Don and Marsha Livingstone

WHEELCHAIR DAY AT THE HANDICAPPED CENTER

2008-02-02T21:32:00.000+01:00

This posting is about a ceremony/celebration at the Center for the Handicapped, on February 1st. This was a celebration of the ability to bring joy into the life of others, and we hope that it will bring joy into yours as well.
Here's 25 wheelchairs for the handicapped which will be awarded to people -- you'll meet some of them in a minute. The Church has provided funding for 50 of these chairs. While a few of them will be awarded to Church members who are handicapped, the rest will be given to people who have been qualified by the Center for the Handicapped, a Catholic church sponsored project. Last July, the Barlows, who direct the Church's Humanitarian efforts in the country, had prayed very specifically that Heavenly Father would help them find a project to help the handicapped. Later that day, Pres. Muliele of the Mission Presidency came into the office, and talked with the Barlows. He told them of this center and Brother Jean Baptiste of the Catholic Brothers of Charity, who sponsor the Center. The Barlows made contact with the Center and found an answer to their prayers.

Here's a good look at the brand new wheelchair for the handicapped. They sit in a nicely cushioned seat, and by using their hands and arms to turn the crank, they can propel the front wheel and the chair as a whole. The chairs are made in the shop at the handicapped center. The church contributes $ 300 for each chair, which probably allows them to make a reasonable profit to support the other activities at the center. The frame is solidly made, and the wheels come from China and look to be of good quality. The wood is solid hardwood which should stand up to years of wear.

Sister Lengelo, one of our new missionaries who just arrived this week, shows one of the better wheelchairs that these people have been using. Just a white PVC chair mounted to a metal frame. You can imagine how difficult it is to try to propel the chair when the wheels are well behind your shoulders, and your hands are under the arms of the chair.

The wheelchairs have been paid for by the Church, through its Humanitarian outreach project. (This plaque on the back of the chair says "Gift of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints", in French.) This year, under the leadership of Bro. and Sister Barlow who head the Humanitarian Services here in the Congo, the Church will provide funds for many projects -- more wheelchairs, healthcare education, food production projects, etc. The biggest project for this year is the start of a water project that will bring water to a city of 100,000 plus several other smaller villages. The project will tap a spring about 35 miles from the city of Luputa, store water in a large reservoir, and bring it to Luputa which now can only get untreated dirty water from several other sources. It will take 3 years, and the Church will provide well over $ 2 million of funding for the project. This was the first recipient among the 20 or so who would receive their wheelchairs in this ceremony. As his name was called, he struggled out of his chair, and wrenched his body into position to move forward. After a moment of steadying from this helper, he demonstrated his desire for dignity by walking the last 20 feet on his own.

He's approaching the table to sign for his wheelchair and then to begin a completely new life in his new wheelchair. It was painful and yet inspiring to see them be able to twist their bodies with a determination that few of us can match.

He really got his new chair rolling -- and knew how to use it, leaving the helper in his dust. What a wonderful thing freedom is. And can you imagine how he will love the day of the resurrection, when he will come forth from the grave with a perfect and glorified immortal body.

Surely, he was grateful and offered his thanks. But how we ought to thank him for our limited ability to help another of Heavenly Father's children. You should see his smile, although his left eye was so occluded that I wondered if he could clearly see us.

This lady's feet were so deformed -- you can see how misshapped they are.

One of the last people to receive their wheelchair was this man. We have seen many of these -- so crippled that they scoot along on their feet in flipflops, using another pair of flipflops to protect their hands. Can you imagine what the gift of a wheelchair will be to this man?

Here he is approaching his freedom to move in the world. Brother Barlow, who organized this project along with his wife Marilyn, watches this with somewhat damp eyes.

There were many more similar recipients -- all so moving. If we enjoy good health, how grateful we should be for this marvelous gift, and how willing to share our good fortune and resources with those who are not so fortunate. "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me..." Matthew 25:40.

Love to all of you -- Don and Marsha

CHRISTMAS SEASON SERVICE PROJECT

2007-12-26T23:22:00.000+01:00

OK -- this post is going to be a little unfair to you, emotionally. It's a heart rending story, but there are some good elements of joy to it.

We challenged each set of missionaries to do an act of charitable service for someone else to enjoy the real spirit of Christmas. The couples in the office chose to do our service for the Center for Polio Victims in Kinshasa. This center at any one time has between 60 and 110 young people, virtually all orphans, who have deformities usually associated with polio. As there is little vaccine here, a disease that we don't give much of a thought to in the more civilized world can strike young people with terrible effects.

The Center's goal is to bring the young people in, arrange for surgeons to do the best possible corrective action that can maximize the young person's mobility, and then try to use physical therapy to help them re-enter the world. What world they will go back to will be very challenging, given the lack of employment and their capacity to compete. We see hundreds of handicapped people on the streets of Kinshasa each day. Society generally is very tolerant of them, and they are able to beg without any hassle from others. We wish we could give meaningful things to them, but given all the demands on our time, the best we can do is to hand out tubes of crackers that we can buy here for about 40 cents. Marsha tries to keep 8 to 10 in the car whenever we go somewhere, and we hand them out with the hope that at least they won't go hungry for 12 hours.

The Center has an annual grant from external sources (in this case, US AID is a major donor), but last week, the Barlows came here and discovered that there was almost no food in the entire center. So our service project was relatively simple -- help these young people eat for a week or so, until the 2008 grant is received.

The Center is run by some wonderful people. A young English woman from London arrived about two weeks ago to take the place of another volunteer. She is planning to be here for two years, and she will be stretched and challenged in every way. The plumbing is down most of the time -- there are only about two flush toilets for the 60 to 100 young people, and there are always things to be done from a physical facilities standpoint. Stretching the grants and aid received from external sources will be a challenge. Somebody has to work with the doctors who provide corrective surgery on an as available basis, at very low cost. You are so grateful for people like this who are truly making a difference in the world.

Here the Barlows are with the African mama who "really runs" the place -- the children all respect and obey her, and she deals with preparing the food, etc.

As the three couples in Kinshasa (the Barlows -- Humanitarian Directors; the Thomas's -- who serve in the office and keep the mission running; the Livingstone's), we decided to ante up and buy 100 kilos of rice and 60 kilos of beans. It won't be fancy, but it will be a good complete protein and filling for the children here, and will keep them fed for another week until their 2008 grant kicks in. Along with the rice and beans, we also prepared about 100 little sacks with a sleeve of crackers or cookies, a few candies and some other things for Christmas which we distributed to the youth who are here.

While we were there, another gift arrived -- a car with the back stuffed with bagettes. Most of the bagettes were stuffed into big white plastic sacks and carried into the kitchen -- both not all. Most kids received a bagette and started gnawing on it with gusto, a pretty good sign that they had not eaten all that well for some period of time. The bandage indicates that this young man has received his corrective surgery, and hopefully in the near future will be able to start walking, although it seems that his left leg will be very much shorter than his right leg. Even so, look at the diameter of his right leg -- so small!!

Each person at the center has to have braces and crutches which are made pretty specifically for them. Right now, this is done by hand and is a laboriously slow process. One of the things we hope to do as a Humanitarian project is to secure funding for about $ 10,000 which will buy a very effective metal bending, cutting and drilling machine that will allow the center to make the braces and crutches much more quickly, and also provide them with a way to make things for other purposes and bring a source of sustainable income for the center so that it won't have to totally depend on grants and aid.

This young man sat pensively almost the first 20 minutes we were there, watching us with eyes that at times were questioning, at times suspicious, but finally he accepted us and opened the small bag of cookies, etc. that he is holding in his hands. He ate the cookies -- more like devoured them, and we moved on. But the next picture will break your heart. I hope and think that he is one of the children waiting for the corrective surgery.

If your heart wasn't aching by now, then look at how this young man has to get around. Physical therapists come here on a volunteer basis, unfortunately not often enough, to help these young people rehabilitate themselves as best they can.

We wish we could show you the short video clip we took of these young kids swaying back and forth, dancing to a boom box in the background. That young man in the center next to the one in the yellow shirt had ALLLL the moves, even if his legs are terribly deformed.

At the end of the day, everyone is dancing -- even Elder Thomas, our laid-back terrific financial genius in the office. What a day!!

Africa is full of stories like this. A good friend told me that once a year, he tries to do something really good and meaningful in a secret fashion for someone else, and doesn't tell a soul. Then that way, the deepest secret in his heart isn't something dark and ugly, but a good memory of what he has done to bless the lives of someone else. Thanks for all of you that are out there, doing good things for others. That's the real spirit of this Holiday Season, and something that we should be doing everyday for Heavenly Father's other children.

This afternoon we visited a brand new hospital on the east side of Kinshasa, that has been funded and built by the Dikembe Mutumbo Foundation. Dikenbe Mutumbo is an NBA basketball player who played for years in the league. Several years ago, his mother became very seriously ill and died before she could receive appropriate medical care. Adequate care has two challenges here -- to find those who can provide proper care, and for the people to be able to afford care, as there is no system of insurance and no government sponsored medical program.

Mr. Mutumbo contributed somewhere around $ 15 million of his own resources, and obtained roughly the same amount from various donors, and has built a sparkling new medical facility on the east side of Kinshasa in a section known as Masina. We toured the hospital with the director today, for two reasons -- one to make arrangements for the young missionaries to be able to be treated there, and another to see if there is a way that we might be able to work with them on a Humanitarian basis. The hospital is sparkling new and has, in a very simple way, most of the services that you would want to have in a hospital. We hope that it can be maintained over the years.

As we left and went out the main gate, there was a crowd of 30 - 40 people pushed up against the locked gate. We wondered if these were people that wanted health care and were trying to cajole their way into the facility, or if they were people that could afford to pay and just couldn't get in for treatment because the facility can't begin to meet the needs of the total community. How blessed we are with our healthcare system in the U.S. and Canada and other developed nations. It may not be perfect, but be grateful for it.

Love to all - Don and Marsha

DISTRICT CONFERENCE IN KOLWEZI

2007-12-23T21:18:00.001+01:00

As a mission president, we have two main responsibilities. The foremost is to work with our young missionaries and senior couples, and serve and help them. We particularly want to build the young missionaries and help prepare them for the life they will face after their missions -- to build and strengthen their testimonies, and help them learn how to gain an education and work hard -- two very vital skills and talents to have. To the extent they are willing to try, we also help them learn some rudimentary English, as this will be a great advantage for them in the job market.

The other responsibility is to work with the local Congolese leaders. In the major cities, we have very mature and large groups of congregations, with superb local leaders. In the outlying cities, we have smaller congregations, which we hope will grow and match the strength of the large city groups. In 11 different cities in the two Congos and Cameroon, we make visits at least twice a year and often more frequently to help serve and strengthen the local members.

In mid-November, we visited 3 congregations in the city of Kolwezi, which is located about 900 miles southeast of Kinshasa. Kolwezi is a mining city with large copper and cobalt mines. It was founded in 1937, and in 1978 was taken over by rebels supported by neighboring Angola. Elite units of the French Foreign Legion brilliantly outwitted the rebels and liberated the city (thanks, Wikipedia).

So come along for a District Conference visit.

The journey to Kolwezi starts with a 1,000 mile flight to Lubumbashi, where we have a zone conference with the elders and inspect the new facilities rented by the two senior missionary couples. The former apartment didn't have water for 4 weeks -- they trucked it in, in 55 gallon barrels, and the electricity was sporadic. The new home -- a large former Belgian home which has a separate guest house in the back, will be a great place for these two couples -- one from Salt Lake City (the Park's) and one from Marion, VA (the Wassum's).

After the conference, we catch a little 16 seat plane for the one hour ride to Kolwezi. This is such a wonderful improvement -- prior to 2005, the presidents had to drive here -- a trip of about 10 hours over 150 miles of very rough roads. During one trip, the truck overturned, but fortunately no one was injured. The plane makes the trip far better.

Kolwezi is a city of about 500,000 on the rolling green hills of southeastern Africa. We circle once and let down for a smooth landing. We are met by the District Presidency, who are here in a rented car -- about a 1990 Toyota which has seen far better days, but not one person in the District owns a car. Fortunately a young wonderful member, Nicolas Monga, knows how to drive, and he chauffers us into town about 5 miles away and to where we will stay. The roads are typically African, but we are used to it and enjoy riding and talking with these great leaders.

As a three-time loser with back surgeries, a nice firm bed is always welcome. Unfortunately this one isn't -- looks like Marsha and I will have a lot of togetherness in the middle of this one for the three nights we're here. Still, this hotel has its own generator to provide electric power at night, so we will be able to read, heat water for our freeze-dried food, etc. It's very much a 5 star compared to the others in town, so we are grateful to be able to stay here.

A quick peek into the bathroom quickly signals that this will be a "catwash" visit -- no hot or running water for three days. But you carry lots of soap and deodorant, and you get used to sweaty clothes. Everyone else does, so why now us? So we are off to visit the new building that the Church is constructing for these saints -- it will be a Godsend to them after you see the present buildings that they are using.

This is the new District Center building under construction in Kolwezi. All the chapels here have a distinctive white steeple -- it will be on the other end. Everything is built out of cement and masonry as a wood building would give way to the termites in about 3 years. The buildings are by far the nicest building in the city and are a real landmark that everyone knows about, once they are completed. We have to fight the image of a "rich church", but teach them that tithing and sharing of resources by all of Heavenly Father's children is His way. This building has been under construction for about one year and will take another 8 months to finish. Speed is not a virtue to these people.

This is the chapel for the new building under construction. Along with the chapel there will be an adjoining cultural hall so that 600 - 700 people can be seated for a large meeting, and plenty of teaching rooms, offices for the local leaders, etc. Because everything has be brought in either by truck or railroad, the chapels are very expensive to build -- this one will be about $ 2 million. Thanks to wonderful members in other countries who faithfully pay their tithing, we can build buildings such as this for this first generation of African Saints -- and the day will come when their tithing will pay the cost of their own buildings.

SATURDAY CONFERENCE EVENTS -- Saturdays, we meet with the local leadership for two hours to evaluate how they and the branches and district are doing, then have a 1 1/2 hour meeting for the leadership. I take the men while Marsha will train the sisters. How she does it in her limited French is a miracle -- and everything has to be translated into Swahili. Her French is coming so magnificently, and the power of love speaks more than anything she can say. After the leadership meetings, we have another 1 1/2 hour session for all the adults, where we share the time with local members who have been selected to give talks. Their "discours" are always powerful and inspiring.

But before the meetings, we always tour the physical facilities.

This chapel -- a temporary location for the new Diur II Branch -- doesn't pass inspection. In the garage (where the Young Women meet on Sundays), there is an exposed junction box with bare wires for the 220 volt current. A little child could reach up and touch these and a tragedy would result. We'll ask the people in Lubumbashi in charge of physical facilities to work on this, as well as the toilet (only one in the whole building) that doesn't flush, and the electrical fixtures that need flouresecent bulbs. Always a list of things to do.

This is a typical first generation chapel that we have in Africa -- an older home that was purchased and renovated into a small but servicable chapel, that has a chapel for maybe 100 - 125 members and 6 to 8 classrooms. Our Saturday afternoon meeting was held in a chapel like this. About 2:30 it started to rain, and the water cannonaded off the metal roof for two hours. You had to shout to be heard over the roar of the storm, punctuated by thunder and lightning. But they paid rapt attention to all the speakers. In the first meeting, I spoke to the brethren about the blessings of going to the temple, and they felt the spirit urge them that this is something they should work towards. In this district of over 500 members, not one has been able to save the money so they can go to the temple in South Africa. But we will change all that -- see an earlier post on the blog about the Temple Patrons Assistance Fund and how it will help defray the almost impossible cost of these members to go to the temple.

The joy of these people in their lives after they become members of the church is incredible. The teachings of who we are, where we came from and where we will go after this life give them purpose and meaning for their lives. It's hard to get them to smile for a photo, but when they do, their smiles light up the room.

After the meeting, everyone visited for a while as it their custom. We were out in the street with the neighborhood kids who were fascinated by the "muzungu's" (white skinned people). They love to shake your hand and give you a big "Bonjour" or "Jambo" (Swahili for "Goodday"). For the first picture they were pretty reserved, but once they see their picture on the digital camera, they soon turn into world class hams.

SUNDAY MORNING CONFERENCE

The Sunday session of conference was held in an auditorium at a recreational complex originally built by the Belgians for their mining company called Gecamines. The complex was incredible in its day -- there were 4 tennis courts, a soccer stadium, a large outdoor pool with high diving boards (now empty) and several large social halls. The church rented one for the Sunday session of conference -- the priesthood had to come at 6 am to clean up the beer bottles and other garbage from the Saturday evening social event, and then deploy the white PVC chairs for the 350 or 400 who attended. Lighting was pretty minimal and a rented PA system tried vainly to carry the words of the speakers to all. This great couple arrived at 9 am for the 10 am start of the meeting. I asked him to speak for 3 or 4 minutes as part of my time, and he gave a wonderful extemporaneous testimony and story of his conversion.

This is the youth choir that sang. For some reason that we hope to change, they all like to have the same dress or blouse. In the church we don't want people to be precluded from participating because they don't have the money for the "uniform" that someone has selected. We try to gently tell them how lovely they look, but at the same time, perhaps they can use their scarce funds for other worthwhile purposes and not have a "uniform" for the district conference choir.

Finally, everyone heads for home. Because the auditorium where the conference was held is a long ways from the center of town, the members pool their hard earned money and rent a combi van to transport them. They get their money's worth -- about 25 crammed into this van.

As for us, it was interviews and then back to the hotel for one last evening meal of REI freeze dried food, another couple of hours in and out of darkness when the generator failed, and then back on the plane to Lubumbashi on Monday morning. There we interviewed missionaries for three hours, then caught the plane back to Kinshasa. One major airline recently failed, so the other two have more business than they can accommodate. Neither runs on time -- if you leave the day scheduled for the flight, it is a major victory. We joke that the name of one airline we use more frequently, Hewa Bora Airlines, translates into English as "Three Hours Late Airlines". But we made it back home after another successful and wonderful meeting with these great people in Africa.

When I think of the blessings that we enjoy in the United States, all I can say is that the next time you grumble a little bit because of some inconvenience, just think that nearly everyone hear would trade places with you in a second. And based on our experiences, you might want to trade to come here for a while, to see these great people.

Love to all -- Don and Marsha

IT ISN'T ALL ROUGH THIRD WORLD COUNTRY STUFF!!!

2007-12-22T23:05:00.000+01:00

We've kind of grown used to being in the Congo. Surely there are physical challenges, and the mental grind of always being in a difficult place to live can wear you down. But it is home and we have grown very quickly to love this privilege. But it isn't always Third World Country tough on a mission.

MISSION PRESIDENTS' SEMINAR IN JOHANNESBURG -- Every six months, the Church gathers all the mission presidents and wives in one area of the world for a three or four day seminar. Our seminar in November was in Johannesburg. Because airlines only fly between Kinshasa and Johannesburg four times a week, and we had to stay and get medical and dental checkups, etc., our stay lasted for a little longer. We also went shopping for essentials like baking powder, cocoa powder (for Marsha's now legendary homemade chocolate ice cream), new hinges for the kitchen cabinet door, etc.

Also we got to meet our great friends from Salt Lake City, Eric and Kaye Jackson, who are serving as the volunteer missionaries in charge of Public Affairs for this area of the world. They were wonderful hosts for us the first two days, and it was great to spend time and share several meals with them. They are doing a great job in bringing the church more into public visibility in southern Africa.

The seminar was held in the Westcliffe Hotel, a very lovely facility, although the Area Presidency made certain to tell us (and you) that the church negotiated a sensational discount for a mid-week, off-season block of rooms, so we weren't being extravagant with the Lord's funds.

The highlight of the seminar with the other presidents (Capetown, Durban and Johannesburg South Africa and the Johannesburg Missionary Training Center; Madagascar; Zimbabwe; Mozambique; Uganda; and Kenya) was training and instruction by Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for three days, assisted by the Area Presidency. Elder Scott was truly inspirational in what he taught. You would sense and feel the Spirit enter the room as he led us through the scriptures, and taught from what he learned many years ago when he served as a young mission president in Argentina.

At the same time, he took 15 - 20 minutes to interview each mission president and wife in a very sensitive and loving manner. In our interview he asked about our family, how we met and fell in love, what we admired most about our companion, and taught us by his example of humility and love for others. It was an experience that each of us has tried to capture on paper -- our notes of these three days are a most valued possession. Fortunately we will have another three seminars with him or other members of the Twelve Apostles, to learn and be taught by them.

The Westcliffe Hotel is perched on a hillside across the valley from the Johannesburg Temple and offices of the Church in South Africa. We walked 132 steps up from our room each morning to get to the breakfast facility -- great exercise. Here's a photo of the Westcliffe taken by Dr. Thomas, the doctor serving as a missionary for two years as the Medical Advisor for all the missions. The hotel is every bit as enchanted as it appears in the pictures, surrounded by beautiful landscaping and people that took care of your every need. We felt guilty being pampered, but loved it!!
The pool overlooks a hillside of colorful jacaranda trees and bouganvilla. We loved staying here for a week, but after five days were itching to get back to Kinshasa, afraid that we would get used to the lifestyle of South Africa.

Johannesburg is one of the world's more beautiful cities. Although it is at an elevation of roughly 6,000 feet, the climate is very temperate, and flowering trees and shrubs are everywhere. In their spring (October and November), the streets are a mass of violet from the jacaranda trees. Aren't they beautiful? We first saw jacaranda trees in Pasadena, when we lived in Southern California, but the trees in Johannesburg are incredibly more flowering. When we lived in Southern California, we used to say, "There's no summer like winter in Southern California." But truly, there is no summer like spring in Johannesburg.

Unfortunately there is a real brain drain as people flee South Africa for other countries, but the hope is that the rise of a solid class of middle class African citizens will stabilize this beautiful country. We couldn't get used to the smooth roads in South Africa, and missed our potholed, bumpy Kinshasa specials after several days.

THANKSGIVING DAY

Thursday, November 22nd was Thanksgiving Day here, as well. We worked in the morning, visiting some investigators with the missionaries and teaching a discussion. Then it was time to get down to some Thanksgiving Day cooking, but without the TV showing some football games, sadly.

Somehow, our friend at the U.S. Embassy, Mike Tweety (see picture below) managed to get his hands on two turkeys. Well, maybe "turkeyettes" is the more appropriate term, as they were raised in Brazil and only weighed in at 10 pounds (and cost $ 33 apiece). But they were good turkeys, and Mike did a spectacular job on his, smoking it to perfection. We made homemade rolls for the first time in the Congo -- the flour came from India and the rolls turned out to be brown instead of white, but they still tasted great. Here's the table all set for 12 of us.

Thanksgiving Day dinner and our guests -- from left to right -- Steve and Lynn Thomas; Marsha; the two children and Robert Workman and his wife; Deborah and Mike Tweety; and Marilyn and Farrell Barlow. A brief word about each of these good people:

The Thomas's are from Minneapolis -- he retired from a very successful career at Honeywell and they volunteered to be senior missionaries anywhere in the world, and do anything. They are the world's greatest office couple -- don't speak French, but they do incredible work. Sadly, they will finish next March, and we DESPERATELY need a replacement couple. Any of you out there who want to have the greatest experience in your life -- please volunteer.

The family to the right of Marsha are the Robert Workman family, who lived in Mapleton just down from road from Provo, but are just moving to Morgan, UT. What an inspiring story. Robert was a very successful entrepreneur who built a large crafts company, Roberts Crafts, supplying craft materials to all the major companies in the U.S. like Michaels, etc. He started going to China in the early 1980's and found some good honest people who would make craft supplies for him to import to the U.S. They and he became very successful and highly profitable.

Robert sold his company to a private equity firm for a very large sum of money several years ago. He went to his Chinese partners and said in essence, "Look -- I invested money in and helped you when you have very little, and now you are rich. Would you now do the same thing with me that I did with you? Let's find a country where we can invest in the people and help them become successful." For some unknown reason, God led him to the Congo, and he has invested with his partners in a number of businesses -- both "for profit" and "nonprofit". Theyare now importing crafts to the U.S., but more importantly have brought over farm equipment to help people grow corn, etc.

On this trip, he was incredibly excited about a new photovoltaic system that they tested, It can be built in China for about $ 200. Installed on the roof of a hut in the interior of the country where there is no electricity, this system will power about 10 - 12 light bulbs, either in a home, or shared between a number of homes in a village. He is truly making the world a better place to live.

Next to the Workmans are Deborah and Mike Tweety. They work in the U.S. Embassy here, and have lived all over the world doing interesting things. They will be returning to the U.S. to live in Yakima, WA next spring. Mike and Deborah are incredible cooks, and we often have dinner together with them, the Thomas's, and the Barlow's on Friday nights, whenever we are in Kinshasa.

The couple on the far right are Farrell and Marilyn Barlow. They came as Humanitarian missionaries for the church in March 2007 to serve for 18 months, and are doing an incredible work in creating humanitarian projects that the Church funds, that benefit all people in a community, not just church members. They take their little four wheel truck in places where normal people would fear to tread, and with their smiles and willingness to serve others, win over the hearts and souls of people. They have managed projects such as drilling wells to provide clean water for tens of thousands of people in suburbs of Kinshasa, doing a neo-natal recussitation project that taught doctors here in the Congo how to save the lives of newly born infants, and a campaign partnering with the World Health Organization and others that vaccinated tens or hundreds of thousands of young children against the measles and other diseases. This past week, they received approval that the church will fund a water project in the interior of the Congo for over $ 2 million that will bring clean water to a city of 100,000.

All of these people are making such great sacrifices to be here, and doing such a great work. It is a privilege to serve with them, and have Thanksgiving dinner together. Thye are such good friends -- the dinner was late and even before it finished, we had to run immediately to the airport to catch a late night plane to Cameroon to start a visit to the members and missionaries. We promised them that if they did the dishes, they could take home all the leftovers -- the turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing and whole nine yards. They did, and they did, and when we got home the following Monday evening, there weren't any leftovers. I was dying for a cold turkey sandwich. No such luck. As Marsha would say, "Wah, wah, wah!!"

Hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful, and that you have many, many reasons to give thanks to our Heavenly Father.

Love - Don and Marsha

THE WONDERFUL AFRICAN SAINTS

2007-12-22T21:45:00.001+01:00

In this post, we want to introduce you to some of the most greatest people we know -- the members of the church here in Africa. All of them are first generation members of the church -- the church has only been established here for 15 to 20 years. Their faith and their stories are wonderful, and make us humbly reflect on the great blessings that we have taken for granted throughout our lives.

These two are members of the Dajeu family. Their dad was the branch president in Douala, Cameroon until the end of November. He applied for "the lottery", in which the U.S.A. allows a certain number of people from each country to apply for green card status each year. If you win the lottery, you can emigrate to the U.S. within a three month period. The family sold every possession they have to buy tickets for the 8 of them, and they moved to Richmond, VA. We get emails from them now -- they have so very little, but a wonderful family is helping them find a place to live and they walk 8 miles to and from the school. They are so happy and thrilled that their children will be able to attend school in the United States, even if it will be an inner city school. Some wonderful friends, Chris and Erlynn Lansing, are helping them get established, and hopefully soon they can go to the Washington D.C. temple and be sealed as a family. These two kids are amazing -- they "self taught" themselves the keyboard by "ear", but play church hymns pretty well.

I met this handsome couple in Douala, Cameroon on October 12th. Sister Marthe was baptized in January 2007, followed by her husband in May 2007. They are saving their money now to go to the temple in May 2008 and be sealed together as a family for all eternity to their three young children.

Here is a group of sisters with Sister Young, after the Saturday session for the adults at the Brazzaville Stake Conference. The sisters come from very humble backgrounds, but don't you love their smiles.

A typical scene in a Congoelse church -- this is the Stake Center in Brazzaville, after the Saturday afternoon meetings for all the adults in the stake. The meeting has been over for 30 minutes, but the members love to visit with each other and won't go home until it is dark. We love to see the affection and love they have for each other.

This lovely young woman with Marsha at the Brazzaville Stake Conference is Sister Rahaman. In early October, I worked with the missionaries in Brazzaville for two days, and one set of elders asked me to visit with a person they were teaching. She wanted to be baptized, but her husband was "deadset" against her doing this. The person was Sister Rahaman, and I counseled with her for 30 minutes -- we talked about the power of prayer, and I promised her that if she and the elders would pray and fast with me, she would be blessed. She was baptized one week later, and we met at the Stake Conference two weeks after that.

I had an interview with Elder Matshumba who helped teach her, on December 18th in Brazzaville. I asked how she was doing. He said, "President, last Sunday was one of the happiest days of my life. A man that we taught and baptized passed the sacrament to me, and Sister Rahaman was sustained as the first counselor in the Relief Society (the organization for the women in that congregation)." These are the blessings of the Gospel in these African saints -- both the new members and the missionaries who teach them.

At the Brazzaville Stake Conference -- a standard staple of any conference in Africa is that everyone, and I mean everyone, wants to shake the hands of the visiting Church leaders. This is Elder Allen Young, a member of the Africa Southeast Area Presidency, who reorganized a stake presidency in Brazzaville. We shook hands afterwards for about 30 minutes. But that pales in comparison with Elder Richard G. Scott, who spoke to a fireside of about 1,000 young adults in Johannesburg in early November. Elder Scott is 80, and his schedule is incredible. He flew from Salt Lake to Johannesburg, a 24 hour trip which started on Friday and ended Saturday night. Sunday, he met with the area church leaders for 8 hours from 9 to 5, then spoke to the young adults and afterwards shook hands with as many as wanted to (nearly all of them) for 90 minutes. Then on Monday to Wednesday, he led a three day seminar for Mission Presidents. To be taught by him, and have the blessing of a 20 minute interview with him was one of the highlights of our lives.

The youth choir at the Brazzaville Stake Conference -- about 60 youth strong, and boy, can they sing. We met in a large rented auditorium in the "Palais de Peuple" -- the Palace of the People where the national assembly meets. The youth sang wonderful arrangements of church hymns -- for 10 minutes before and 15 minutes afterwards, along with their special numbers during the conference itself. We've heard youth choirs at every conference, and they match up along with any choir we're heard elsewhere.

Meet "Frere Mike" and his family -- Mike is the man in the middle of the pictured, sandwiched between Elders Mbambu and Mampouya. I first met Mike when I interviewed him for baptism in the middle of September. Mike fought in the civil war that occured in the 1990's, and is a highly ranked officer in the Intelligence Division of the DR Congo government. He has a wonderful faith and rejoices in the truths of the Gospel. He and his family live in a protected compound for higher ranked police and intelligence personnel -- yet, note that the door to the apartment on the right hand side is only a curtain, and the whole area is quite humble. Mike is typical -- the men join the church first, and then their wives follow. We have visited Mike, his wife and family twice in their rather humble apartment, teaching her and bearing testimony. We hope the day will soon come when she joins the church.

The church has three temples in Africa -- in Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa. To get to the temple is a huge sacrifice for most Saints here -- an airplane ticket to Johannesburg costs about $ 800, or several years salary. Fortunately, if the members will save and make a "sacrificial donation", the Church's Temple Patrons Assistance Fund will help pay the rest of the trip. During the week in early November when we were in Johannesburg, we met three young families from Kinshasa and Kananga who were there at the temple to visit it and receive their temple blessings. We met three young fathers out front with their young children that we knew. When we asked them where their wives were, they replied, "Oh, we're tending the children so our wives can attend a session in the temple." What great young fathers and husbands they are.

At the Johannesburg airport on Sunday morning, Nov. 11th, we met the rest of the Congolese saints who had journeyed to South Africa that week to receive the blessings of the temple for the first time. In all, 12 members from the Congo went that week. These two couples are both bishops or branch presidents in wards or branches here in Kinshasa -- and don't they look wonderful. We went as a group of mission presidents to a session in the temple on Tuesday with Elder Richard G. Scott, one of the Twelve Apostles of the church. After the session was concluded, he visited with many of them and expressed his love and appreciation for them. It was a tender moment to watch the mutual love and admiration between them and him.

This is the family of Pres. Ilale of the Kolwezi District. They became members about 10 years ago, and he has served for three years as the District President. In this district of 600 members, there isn't a single person who has been able to save the necessary money to go to the temple. The Temple Patrons Assistance Fund will help pay part of the cost of the trip, but we generally ask them to save the money for their passport, which for Pres. Ilale would be about $ 260 or about a year's salary for him. When I told him that I would accept the $ 200 he had saved over the last three years as a sufficient sacrifice and help him get to the temple in the next three months, he and his wife sobbed in tears. What a blessing it will be for them to go. Three other member families will go at the same time, thanks to the reduced level of what they will pay. Thanks to the wonderful American and other saints who contribute to this Fund and help wonderfully deserving members in Africa and other places to be able to go. (The man in the back is the second counselor in the mission presidency -- Pres. Kazadi -- more about him in another post.)

December 2 -- at the Stake Conference in the Masina Stake. For some reason of which we're not quite sure, all the Primary children were seated in two lobbies in the Stake Center. They were incredibly reverent the entire two hours -- we didn't hear a peep from them as they watched the conference on closed circuit TV. I would guess that this is the only time that most of them see a TV. Note their fascination with the "mundeile" -- the word in the local dialect (Lingala) for white person. In Lingala we are "mundeile's"; in Tschiluba in the middle of the mission we are called "mutoka's" and in the southern section, in Swahili we are "muzungu's", and always a curiousity because we are the only white people in the entire congregation.

SIGHTS AND SCENES FROM THE AFRICA WE LOVE

2007-12-22T20:42:00.000+01:00

The two Congos. Kinshasa (on the other side of the Congo River) and Brazzaville are the only two capital cities in the world directly across from each other. The Congo River (about 2 1/2 miles wide in this picture) disgorges more water into an ocean than any river other than the Amazon. We frequently cross the Congo River to visit missionaries and members in Brazzaville -- using a 24 foot skiboat as a water taxi (and holding our breath because sometimes the outboard motors stall and you drift towards the rapids downstream about three miles).

Brazzaville is the capital city of the Republic of Congo, which is a country that seems to be a little more progressive than its neighbor, the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Kinshasa is the capital. Maybe it's because it has been longer since devasting wars in Brazzaville. In the 1990's there were two terrible wars fought in Brazzaville, and there are many buildings that still stand in their ravaged state. Here is what used to be a very modern hotel -- all the windows are gone, the rooms completely cleaned out of anything of value. A 12 story Sheraton is being rebuilt now -- only the shell like this stands, but they hope to rehabilitate it. You can see the Sheraton and the construction crane in the middle of the first picture.

A favorite sight in Brazzaville is this statue of an elephant. I walked over to check it out, and all the tusks in the base are the real deal -- real ivory, which is amazing that someone hasn't come along and tried to bust them off and sell them. But the level of honesty among the average person in the Congo is very high. The base is about 10 - 12 feet high, so the elephant adds another 10 - 12 feet as well. Very impressive.

WHEN IT RAINS -- IT POURS -- AND IT DOESN'T DRAIN!! October marks the beginning of a six to seven month rainy season in the Congo. We were in Brazzaville for a stake reorganization on October 26th, and it rained. And rained. This is going down the street that the stake center is on -- a stretch of about 500 feet of water up to 16 inches deep. How the members came was a good question -- but they got there and we had wonderful meetings. After a stretch of this and more water ahead, our driver decided that he knew a better route.

So, we tried another route going to the chapel, where the driver thought that there would be less water. Driving down the back alley, in about 12 inches of water, we ran into a man with his "pouse-pouse" wagon, pulling a heavy load of something through the water. You just never know the sights and scenes you will meet, of people whom you just have to admire for their determination and grit!!

One thing about Kinshasa -- the weather is always very interesting. It can rain here like you've never seen in your life -- a driving sheet of water for maybe four to six hours. Floods are a constant threat to the houses because of very poor drainage -- but it doesn't get much "press" outside of Kinshasa because the Congo generally isn't news. But you do get some incredible sunsets -- this is out of our back porch. The sun just sinks into the horizon every night at 6:15 like a rock, but when there are clouds, the sunsets are beautiful.

Driving in Africa is always an adventure. The road between Lubumbashi and Likasi is about 70 miles, and you're pushing it to try to make it in less than 3 hours. Once we've had to do it two hours, and the last 40 miles are a potholed "tooth rattler" stretch. Even when the pavement is good, you can't go too fast because vehicles don't have the right-of-way -- you never know what you'll meet.

This is on the "road" between Lubumbashi and Likasi, where we were going for a conference with 1,000 members of the Church. To build a bridge, the ingenious Congolese just sank about 8 40-foot containers in a river, and then laid a one lane bridge across the top. Needless to say, you don't go very fast. Unfortunately, we just read that some people charged with disposing of some radioactive waste just dumped it into this river (the Lufira River) and the radiation levels will be elevated far above safe levels for decades. We hope that by the time the water reaches Kinshasa, about 2,000 miles downstream, the levels will be highly diluted.

One of our good friends, Larry Linton, from
Portland, Oregon, is a great entrepreneur. Several years ago he told me that there was a terrific future in "water", and he bought a company that made a great filter system for dirty water and has built it tremendously. His filter system is used throughout the world, and also in missionary apartments in third world countries. It takes water like here in Kinshasa (here's a sample in my bathroom sink) and turns it into sparkling pure water that saves countless days of sick missionaries. This picture really doesn't quite do the water justice -- it's much browner than this!! But as Marsha's mom used to say, "Dirty water washes clean." And it does.

THESE INCREDIBLE MISSIONARIES WE ARE PRIVILEGED TO SERVE WITH

2007-10-06T22:01:00.000+01:00

THESE INCREDIBLE NON-AFRICAN MISSIONARIES IN CAMEROON -- Our mission covers five countries, about the size of North Dakota down to Texas and west to the Pacific Ocean. One of these countries is Cameroon -- about 700 miles north of Kinshasa. Cameroon has more of a history of stability, and thus has been judged to be safe to send missionaries from countries other than the African nations to serve there. We have 9, soon to be 10 great elders there, with more on the way.

We visit them each six weeks and hold a conference with them, work with them, and do interviews of the missionaries and members in the three branches. These elders serve a mission like none other. They labor in two cities -- Douala and Yaounde -- which are 150 miles apart. Except for Elder Mol (the handsome Polynesian in the front row), they all came out within three months of each other. So their entire mission will be laboring with the same companions several times, in the same cities, 700 miles away from their mission president. They are truly "Eagle Scout" missionaries -- the best. We love them and trade emails each week.

Fortunately in each city, we have a senior missionary couple. The couple in this picture are Steven and JoAnn Hanks from Las Vegas. He was a very successful orthodontist and brilliant inventor, who also taught in the UCLA dental school, but was willing to accept a call for 23 months to come to a country where he didn't know the language (his mission as a young man was in Germany). Sister Hanks is a great mom to the elders in Yaounde and gave one of the best talks we've ever heard at our last conference. In Douala, we have another couple, Bill and Janine Coles. The Coles were absent for this picture -- a doctor had diagnosed Elder Coles with a partially detached retina and they had been released to return home to the U.S. to have the needed work done. Fortunately, a miracle occurred and his eye healed very quickly without surgery, so they immediately returned to finish their last 12 months. How great are people like that!!

One thing about missionaries -- they love to eat. After our 4 hour meeting together of training and sharing our testimonies and love for each other, it was off to a restaurant for lunch of pizza, french fries and all kinds of other good stuff. And a soft drink that all the elders in Cameroon love, and each can drink a 1 1/2 litre bottle during lunch. From front to back, Elder Kay, Sister Hanks, Elder Landes, Elder Hanks, Muir and Shaw on the left. Elder Wilde, Marsha, Elders Mol, Archibald, Nielson and Ward on the right.

After devouring their meal, it was time for the elders to get back to work (or for the ones from Yaounde to walk back to the bus station for the three hour bus ride back). As we drove past them, here were our 9 heros, striding down the street, ready to go teach and testify. What a thrill to see them. Elder Mol, the third from the left, comes from Vanuata, a tiny island in the South Pacific. The airlines lost all his luggage and one year later, we're still fighting to get some reimbursement. So other elders and people have volunteered to help him get the minimums of what he needs. Another turned in his football scholarship at a school in Indiana to serve. They are such great, great young men, and we love them.

THE JOYS OF NEW MISSIONARIES COMING TO START THEIR MISSION
I just obliterated the picture of the new missionaries, so it will be at the top of this posting. If anyone knows how to move pictures around inside of a blog, PLEASE send me the instructions.

Almost all our missionaries in counties other than Cameroon come from the DR Congo, with a few mixed in from Ivory Coast. They go to a Missionary Training Center in Tema, Ghana for three weeks to be learn how to be good missionaries. All of them know their scriptures extremely well. Here are nine great young people who arrived Friday, Sept. 28 to start with us -- Elders Makumb, Sisters Kinkeba and Mukaz, Elder Djiewo and Mulamba in the front row, and Elders Musoka, Kone, Nkinda and Poutance. I had a 15 minute interview with each of them, and would be thrilled to call them our own sons and daughters, which they will "kind of" be for the next 24 months (18 for the sisters).

THE SADNESS OF SAYING "GOODBYE" TO WONDERFUL MISSIONARIES GOING HOME

As wonderful as it is to get the new missionaries, it's so hard to say "Goodbye" to those who have faithfully served for two years. But it's a joy to know they will return home with a strong testimony, good work habits, and ready to continue their schooling or work. The same day we welcomed the new missionaries, we enjoyed interviews and a nice meal with Elder Pikazio, Sister Mbanza, Elders Kuteka and Mukuna (front row) and Tufwila and Kabangu (second and third from right in the back row). The other two are my Assistants -- Elders Kanundeyi and Kalala. And that beautiful blonde is MY COMPANION -- and I love her. Fifteen minutes after she finished the goodbye lunch for this group, she served a completely different meal to the 11 new missionaries -- with different dishes, tablecloth, etc. What a wonder woman!!!

OFF TO BRAZZAVILLE TO WORK WITH THE MISSIONARIES

One of the things a mission president is supposed to do is work with the missionaries periodically, to see how they are doing and try to help them. I find that they usually are doing terrific and know much more than me, certainly in French. To celebrate my 65th birthday last week (Social Security, here I come!!), another great senior missionary (Elder Barlow) and I went across the Congo River to Brazzaville to spend two days working with the 5 sets of missionaries there. Here is my first companionship for most of the day -- Elder Matshumpa on the left and Elder Kayumba. What a great team of young men!!

Here we are walking to an appointment, down a typical path in a metropolitan area. The green shrubs farther down are actually manioc -- the plant that people grow and then harvest the root and pound it into flour. It's kind of like poi to the Hawaiians. And the leaves, when cooked, have a faint resemblance to spinach. A little gritty, but they are a green vegetable.

Here are my two companions as we are off on another 30 minute walk to teach another lesson. I've gotten used to not paying attention to where we walk -- there is a lot of litter along side the trail. But you get used to it and don't give it a second thought -- most of the time.

The last lesson of the day was taught in a humble home in a very poor section of Brazzaville. To get there, we had to climb down a 10 foot high wall of garbage. I'm shooting this picture from the top of the hill, before carefully navigating down the hill. These elders didn't even give it a second thought -- just scrambled down it and almost left me behind.

And we have 70 more just like this. Next time we will profile some of the sister missionaries. They are absolutely wonderful and even more dedicated. One of our best sister missionaries is engaged to a man who works for the church in the Center which distributes all the materials to the various congregations here in the Congos. She earned money for her mission by operating a cell phone booth, and then , even though they were engaged, told him to wait for her for 18 months while she served Heavenly Father first.

There are many more stories like that about these wonderful missionaries, but now you know a little about what a great privilege it is to work with them and be their surrogate mom and dad and their leaders for these two years. How grateful we are for this opportunity which is teaching us so much, as well.

Love to all -- Don and Marsha

DISTRICT CONFERENCE IN KANANGA

2007-10-06T21:24:00.000+01:00

Welcome to Kananga -- a city of over a million people in the middle of the Congo. We are here for a District Conference of our 4 congregations in Kananga. There is an "ebola" outbreak about 60 miles to the northwest of Kananga, and the U.S. Embassy issued an "Extreme Travel Advisory". (Ebola is not a nice disease to contract and 150 have died from it in the outbreak.) But after prayers and a confirmation feeling that we should go, and knowing the great efforts that the members had made for the Conference, we felt that the Lord would bless and protect us.

There's only one place to stay in Kananga -- in a brewery. (It's the only place in town with reliable electricity, because it has its own generator.) The sign on top of the guard shack says "Brasserie de Kasai" (Kasai Brewery), and there is a 10 feet high "Skol" beer bottle on top of the shack. The rooms are very spartan, and it's another city in Africa where we buy bottled water, and bring our REI freeze-dried backpacking food as the primary food source. The water in the bathroom is in a 30 gallon plastic barrel and you pour water into the sink or toilet as needed. So between staying in the Catholic monastery last month is our trip to Luputa, and the brewery in Kananga, we are truly "ecumenical stayers". One night, I looked at Marsha and asked, "Can you remember six months ago when we stayed at the Grand Wailea in Maui in such great room overlooking the blue Pacific?" Her response was, "That was then and this is now -- aren't we lucky?" And she really meant it.

This is one of our chapels in Kananga -- an old Belgian colonial home, that the Church purchased and remodeled into a chapel. The main chapel only holds about 200 members, and there are only six classrooms, so classes meet out on the lawn, on the patio outside, etc. I stood here (in the back yard) and envisioned how we could build an addition, coming out towards these palm trees, that could have a cultural hall and then a chapel, so that 600 people could be here for District Conference. We could divide the existing chapel into more classrooms. But, in the meetings we had here, there was no electricity. How we take things for granted.

This young couple is a great example of the future of the Church in Africa. He is a returned missionary, although he served before we had temples in Nigeria and Africa. They hope to be able to save some money, get a passport and go to the temple to receive the blessings we obtain there, and to be sealed together as a "forever family". Don't they look great??

Here is the District Presidency of the Kananga District -- Pres. Kapanga is third from the left and his counselors are on the left and second from the right. Elder Kola, the member of the Seventy is third from the right and Pres. Muliele, my first counselor in the Mission Presidency is on the right. He is a distinguished medical doctor, but gave up three days of his practice to come speak and serve in the Conference.

District Conference on Sunday was held in this building -- an old Belgian movie theatre. Very limited lighting -- the church has a diesel generator that it uses to power a few light fixtures and the sound system. About 2% of the chairs had backs on them, and it was very hot. But it was filled with 650 people of the 900 in the District for our conference. A little different from our chapels in North America.

The District Conference was a wonderful experience. Members of the district furthest from the buildings walked two hours each direction to attend. What great faith. And the reverence of the 100 of so children down in the front was truly amazing. The talks given by the African Saints are marvelous stories of faith, dedication and encouragement to do our best in this life. In the Bible, there is a parable about a master who gives three servants differing amounts of money, with the expectation that the servants will work hard to multiple their talents while the Master is gone. These African saints may not have received five talents, but I am sure that the Master will be pleased with how they developed and lived their lives while on this earth, and they will receive a wonderful and the highest reward in the life after this. What an example to ponder!!

Love to all - Don and Marsha

MORE WONDERFUL THINGS ABOUT AFRICA......AND OTHER STUFF

2007-10-06T18:43:00.001+01:00

THE AFRICAN COMMERCE DELIVERY SYSTEM

You never cease to be amazed by how things move in Africa. They are the most amazing and creative people in how their country operates. No space on a moving vehicle gets wasted. Here a truck coming from the provinces into Kinshasa is loaded with big sacks of charcoal, which nearly everyone uses to cook with. Electricity is very unreliable, and most homes don't have the wiring to be able to use a stove. (Most rooms have one light bulb in it, and no outlets.) So they burn wood in the provinces and create these huge bags of charcoal to sell in Kinshasa. But there's always room for passengers to ride along with the cargo.
But you'll see that trucks are just the start of the delivery process in the Congo.

THE NOBLE "POUSE-POUSE"

Meet the Kinshasa "delivery van" for lots and lots of stuff. It's the noble "pouse-pouse" -- French for "push-push". It's a car axle with car-sized tires, with a metal cargo box about 3 1/2 feet wide and 5 feet long, and a foot high. Usually the axles have been "sprung" from carrying enormous weighty loads, so the tires wobble as they roll down the road. We've seen them with all types of imaginable loads -- sand and cement, barrels or foam mattresses stacked up 10 feet high. Although we're seeing more and more pickup type trucks, there are still thousands of "pouse-pouses" that ply their trade everyday.

"Pouse-pouses" roll right along with all the traffic in Kinshasa. At least they don't go in the far left lane, which is supposedly for the faster traffic -- which means you might get up to 30 mph on a good day. This "pouse-pouse" is rolling along Patrice Lumumba Boulevard, the main artery in Kinshasa. It's loaded with all kinds of metal that has been salvaged from abandoned cars -- on its way to somewhere. Some "pouse-pouses" are used as delivery vans for materials -- others are just for entrepreneurial type people that are using them to pick up something somewhere and sell it somewhere else.

I guessed that this pouse-pouse must have had about 900 - 1,000 pounds of corn on it. Maybe this is a husband-wife business -- he was really straining, pulling the pouse-pouse and the lady on the back was working just as hard. Note the "combie" just pulling into the road. Many combies don't have windows in the sides -- and must have been used as delivery vans in Europe before they arrived in the Congo. So they cut a hole in the side of the van and presto -- you've got a passenger vehicle!!

MORE FUN PICTURES

Why go to a fun park like Lagoon or Six Flags, when you can have a thrill ride on the highway??

We never cease to be amazed about the transportation system in the Congo. This truck was rumbling along the road to Kinshasa, loaded with bags of charcoal, at 30 - 35 mph. There were about 5 young men in the back of the truck, and another three riding on the bumper, hanging onto doors or the roof rack. We implore our children to "be sure to buckle your seat belt" as we start on a trip. Over here, it's "be sure to securely hang onto the door or the roof rack"!!

How about these for electric smiles? These two young men are 12 and 10. When you're around these people and see how happy they can be without so many of the material things of life, it makes you wonder about what we really need to be truly happy in life. You should have seen the joy and smiles on their faces when they saw their picture on the display screen of the camera.

And how can you not love these wonderful kids. Their faces are so pure and sweet. How I wish that their adulthood is going to be as untroubled and happy as their childhood. But the Gospel of Jesus Christ gives them hope. Here Marsha and Sister Kola (wife of one of the church's leaders here in the Congo -- he is a member of the Seventy) smile with some of the 100 children or so who sat down front and were so reverent during the District Conference in Kananga.

ONE LAST THOUGHT FOR TODAY

2007-09-11T23:09:00.001+01:00

Today was a special day for me. Just another busy day doing missionary work, meeting with our two wonderful young missionaries who are my assistants, having our Tuesday morning devotional with the two couples who serve in the office and who head our humantarian project work here.

What made it special was remembering about six years ago today. For sure, there will be lots of news stories etc. in America to remind you of six years ago. Here in Congo, in our cocoon, there were no special stories or reminders. But thinking about this day made it very special.

Where were you six years ago today? Remember what you were doing? It's one of those questions now that goes along with, "Where were you when JFK was assassinated?" (if you happen to be 50 plus years old).

Steve Gibson, a great associate for many years in the BYU Entrepreneurship Program, and I had taken a late plane on September 10th to Honolulu, where we were going to work with the BYU-Hawaii Entrepreneurship program people for several days. We'd gotten to bed about 11 pm Hawaii time (about 3 am Utah time). At 3:45 Honolulu time in the morning, the phone roused me from a deep slumber. It was Steve, with a tone of urgency in his voice -- "Meet me in the lobby in 20 minutes!!" "Why?", I mumbled. "Turn on your TV and see what's happening!!", was his terse reply.

The images were too incredible to imagine. As soon as the picture flickered to life, I saw the first of the two World Trade Towers collapse. Having spent many days in those buildings, and eaten dinner several times in the Top of the World Restaurant on the 107th floor, it was too incredible to think that the first tower had collapsed in a gigantic cloud of dust, and the other was blazing in the last minutes of its agony. I watched spellbound and shocked, to see the destruction and then the second tower collapse in slow motion, like a planned demolition. Only it wasn't, and there were thousands of people trapped in those buildings. Our rooms were at the top of a tall Waikiki hotel, and Steve correctly felt that we should get out of there as soon as possible.

Eventually we headed up to BYU-Hawaii, where President Shumway led a very silent and somber studentbody assembly, to give them a message of assurance, that our Heavenly Father's plan for his children was a one of happiness. Steve and I called Bette and Marsha, and wondered how we would get home, as we heard of the shutdown of the commercial aviation system.

In those days following 9-11, there was an incredible outpouring of patriotism for this land that all of us love, deep down in our hearts. We felt righteous indignation at terrorists who would turn our greatest asset, our freedom, into our greatest liability. I remember driving by Deer Creek Reservoir, close to Provo, and thinking how easy it would be for a terrorist to put some awful toxin in our water.

For a time, we all had an intense, and visible love for America. Remember all the flags, the memorial moments at public events like sporting events, singing "God Bless America" in the 7th inning stretch of the World Series, the stickers on everything that proclaimed our love for America? And there was a strong feeling of association with God. The phrase on the coin of "In God We Trust" was suddenly a feeling, a passion, and not just a target of the ACLU.

As someone born elsewhere who became an American citizen, I felt a particular love for a country who would be willing to welcome so many people from other lands to partake in its freedom, its opportunities, and its promise to "give me your tired, your poor, your heavy laden....".

Fast forward six years to today. I hope you have a special feeling for this land. It's not perfect, but it sure beats anything else. How long did it take us to set aside or loosen our grip on the intense patriotism that we felt? Viewing America from afar on this day, I love her with all my heart. I am proud to be an American (and also a Canadian). I'm grateful for a country that will give so much of its resources and its people to defend freedom on foreign soil. It's been almost 200 years since Americans fought on their own soil to defend their own country. How many times since then has this great country been willing to fight on someone else's soil for the rights of peoples of that country? And then to extend fortunes of reconstruction funds to help rebuild those whom we fought? And name one country that has given a 10th, or a 40th, of the aid that America has given freely to other countries.

We see a lot of countries here, trying to do good and help the people of Africa. The other day, someone asked, "How many foreign countries give aid to the United States?" We were hard pressed to think of an answer.

When missionaries return from other countries, one of their most intense feelings is that initial re-entry into the United States. I look at my passport now, and think about the stamps of all the other countries where we have been, and wish there was a stamp somewhere of the times when we re-entered the U.S., so I could remember that moment of "coming home". Entering the U.S. is so easy for us -- the agent swipes your passport, looks at your picture and the monitor, and says, "Welcome home." You should see what we go through to leave or enter countries over here.

Appreciate her. Love her. Work on making her better. Be a righteous people, so our Heavenly Father will keep His promise that, as long as there are righteous people in this land, He will preserve it. Take good care of her until we can come home.

Love to all -- Don and Marsha

TRANSPORTATION IN THE CONGO

2007-09-11T21:22:00.000+01:00

We have been fascinated by the various means of transportation in Africa, and thought you would be interested in a blog on what we have seen so far. It's all very basic, but it works, and people seem to be very content with their system.

The most basic means of transportation is "the head". You see the most amazing loads being carried on people's heads. Here a graceful African "maman" strides down the road with three baskets stacked on her head. Because there are three, she's using a hand to steady them. With only one container, she wouldn't need a hand. And often there will be a cloth tied around her back and shoulders, with a little baby bouncing along behind her. Yet, they will give you the biggest smile and wave if you wave at them. And most of them wear only flip-flops or very elementary feet covering as they walk for miles. On our last trip up to Cameroon, we had four stuff bags loaded with 50 pounds each of materials for the church. No problem -- the porter carries one in his hand, and one on his head. As a veteran of three back surgeries, I could only wince.

The next step up from walking and people power is the lowly bicycle, but not as we use them.
Bicycles are sometimes used for riding, but mostly as a two-wheeled means of transporting large loads by foot. Here, probably 15 miles away from any meaningful inhabitation, a man pushes his bike, loaded with sacks of maize (corn) probably totaling 300 - 400 pounds.

Once you get past the bicycle, there is one other two-wheeled conveyance. It's a cart called a "pousse-pousse", meaning "push-push" in English. We see them all over Kinshasa, delivering all types of stuff, and will do a special on the "pousse-pousse" in one of our next posts. So let's explore four-wheeled transportation.

I couldn't begin to estimate how many people were on this small truck, with its cargo as well. But I suspect that somehow they are all glad that they are riding instead of walking. When we first saw something like this, it boggled our mind. Now it's an everyday occurrence and we don't even pay attention. Think something like this would draw interest driving down the main street in your home town??

A rural scene, with a small station wagon like vehicle with about 8 people and lots of cargo inside, and another 5 - 6 people perched precariously outside, hanging onto whatever they can. Plus note all the people walking down the side of the road ahead of the car.

A great scene typical of close to large urban cities -- a road with almost no pavement, and a big truck coming from the provinces, loaded with bags of cargo and lots of people on top. During our trip to Luputa, we saw a truck like this, lying on its side, about 50 feet off the roadbed and 15 feet down a hill. We cringed, and wondered how many people were riding on top of it when it careened off the road.

Big giant diesel trucks are the lifeline of rural Africa, carrying cargo and people between towns. In this one, there must be 25 people up on top of the bags of "manioc" -- the root crop that is the staple of the African diet. The leaves are boiled and eaten somewhat like spinach. The root is pounded into a whitish/brown powder and then cooked and shaped into balls about 5 - 6 inches in diameter. The balls are then cut into slices and served with various sauces and little pieces of meat. Our first introduction to "fufu" -- the cooked manioc flour, came with a topping of tomato sauce with dried fish and goat.

More about the minivan "combies" in Kinshasa in a minute. This one is in Mbuji-Mayi. No space goes unused, including open doorways. Our good friends have a picture of a combie with a passenger standing on the back bumper hitch, hanging onto the rain drip rail as the combie speeds down the road. You pray that there are no accidents.

In a city of more than 8 million people with a very rudimentary bus system, and not too many private vehicles, how do you move people? The answer is the "combie". Every VW bus on the planet that is more than 15 years old, is here in Kinshasa. They take out the seats, and put in a structure of wooden benches so they can crowd in 5 or 6 rows of 4 to 5 people each. In this bus, there were 4 on the front row, and 5 rows (you can't see the last one) of 4 - 5 people each, making close to 30 people. The combies are in deplorable shape -- belching oily smoke and usually lurching to one side. The bodywork has all kinds of dents, and the other day, our friends saw one with the tailights painted on. No wonder you couldn't tell it was stopping!! Each has a sign indicating its destination, and riders use an elaborate set of hand signals to flag a combie over (if there is room). Whenever one that is relatively empty loads up, the scramble of people for seats is something to behold.

This is another "commuter special" headed from a suburb into Kinshasa. For the people who can't afford either a "combie" or a bus, which is usually loaded with three times what we would see in America, there is always the big empty dump truck. At about 15 people deep, and 5 or 6 rows across, this gets 75 to 90 people downtown. One wonders what they will do when the rainy season starts!!

Anyways, hope that gives you an idea about transportation in the Congo. We'd show you pictures of the railroad, except it only runs about one train a week between Kinshasa and the coastal port. When we cross the Congo River to Brazzaville to visit members and missionaries there, we take a "canoe rapide", which is a 30 year old 24 foot waterskiing boat. These usually are loaded with about 15 people, as well as assorted luggage, etc. Taking pictures is prohibited. On our last trip there, the boat stalled out about 150 feet from the other shore. The river was starting to take us at a pretty good speed towards the rapids about 3 miles downstream. But the operator called another boat on his cellphone and we were safely towed to shore. Our visitors from South Africa on this trip were a little wide-eyed, and more than a little leary about the return trip. But all went safely.

Taking pictures at the airport is forbidden for national security reasons, but suffice it to say that there are no jetways, you walk out to your planes, and there is only one "luggage carousel" in each of the national and international buildings. Whenever a large Air France or SN Brussels plane comes in (we use SN Brussels between Kinshasa and Cameroon) with 250 people and about 3 - 4 bags per person, we can wait almost two hours to get our luggage. Lesson learned -- from now on, it's "carryon only" when we're coming into Kinshasa. We haul huge athletic bags full of materials and manuals out to the districts and branches, and then stuff the bags inside of our little carryon cases on the flight back. So we're learning to transport stuff like our wonderful friends. Someone told us that we are at least "50% Congolaise" now.

The local airline prides itself on a fleet of 7 DC9-32 planes. (Production on these halted sometime in the 1970's.) But I trust them a lot more than the fleet of ancient Ilyushyn turboprops from Russia that are used on many flights. On our last flight back from Lubumbashi, I noted that one of the tires on the main landing gear was showing a "lot of cord" instead of a "lot of rubber". So we cross our fingers, arms, legs and eyes. It's so cute -- when the plane lands, all the passengers break out into loud handclapping, whistles and cheers. Wonder if they know something we don't?? Timetables are at best an approximation -- if the plane operates on the day it is listed, it's considered ontime. So we get lots of delays sitting in terminals -- non-airconditioned waiting rooms with white plastic lawn chairs, waiting and reading and remembering when we silently cursed an airline because the plane was going to be an hour late. Oh, how spoiled we were.

So this gives you a basic idea about how Africans get around. Hope you learned something, and you are grateful for everything you have.

Love to all -- Don and Marsha

But, all the smart aleck comments aside for a minute, we love this work and this land, and count it a great blessing to be here for these two years. We feel God's hand trying to urge this country to put the wars and corruption behind it, and move into an era of peace and less-poverty.

OUR TRIP TO LUPUTA -- Part I

2007-09-09T02:30:00.000+01:00

Part of our responsibilities here are to supervise congregations of the church in the smaller cities of the Congo. Four of these congregations are located in a city called Luputa, smack dab in the middle of the country, where we will go every six months for a conference of the church members i the Luputa District. To get there, you fly 600 miles, then rent a jungle vehicle from Catholic Charities and drive about 100 miles down very primitive roads. There's no water or electricity once you get to Luputa, so we will rely on freeze dried foods, buying about 20 large bottles of water for the six day trip. Two days to get there, two for the conference, and then two to get back. Here's the start of the packing -- hot water pot (white pot at top), freeze dried foods, toilet paper, some peanut butter and granola bars, etc. We can buy fresh fruits, as long as we wash them in the bottled water. As it turned out, we were treated to several native African meals along the way -- large steamed planteen bananas with goat in a tomato sauce and a meal of fufu -- kind of like poi, with goat and dried fish. We just went on faith that it was sufficiently well prepared to kill any germs.

Luputa isn't easy to get to, but the trip is so worthwhile. The people there are so pure and humble -- it is a city literally 50 miles away from anywhere else, and hasn't been overly spoiled by the advance of modern civilization. When the Belgians left the Congo in 1960, they had several stores and facilities in Luputa, but as in most of the Congo, the country has gone backwards in the last 45 years due to many factors. Roads that used to be decent have deteriorated, electrical distribution systems have been looted for the copper wiring, etc. The people in Luputa are less worldly, but far more spiritual and receptive to the teachings of Jesus Christ. So come along for the trip......

We are going to travel with Elder K. Tusey Kola, a leader in our church from Kinshasa who was appointed to a position of worldwide leadership last April in the General Conference of the church in Salt Lake. He is the first such leader from the Congo, and a man of great faith. He and his wife and their 12 children live in a very humble home on the east side of Kinshasa, most of the time without electricity. Like nearly all people in the Congo, he has no car, so to receive his emails from church leaders in Salt Lake City or Johannesburg, he takes "combies" -- old VW busses crowded with 25 people in them for 90 minutes to get to our office. So, to read his emails is a 5 or 6 hour journey, and very expensive as well. Here he is with Pres. Binene, the president of the district who leads our four congregations in Luputa. Both of these men are wonderful humble, but very accomplished leaders. I would match their leadership capabilities against anybody in the church in the United States. Both of them are first generation members of the church, new converts within the last 18 years, who have grown in the church as it has expanded in the Congo.

Here's a part of the chapel complex in Mbuji-Mayi. It is a jewel in its neighborhood -- white and clean within its gated walls, compared to the dirt and filth of the surrounding nighborhood. Many classrooms are in a separate building at the right, and the baptismal font is outside. The members have worked hard to plan a nice lawn that will grow together.

After buying diesel fuel for our rented truck ($ 12.50 a gallon or just under $ 400 for the fillup) and buying some bread from a local bakery, we were off!! We navigated 70 miles through little villages and homes along the roadside to a city called Mwene-Ditu, where we would stay the night. There are 50 members who moved here last year. They meet each week but haven't been organized as a branch yet, and so are only a group and haven't had the sacrament for over a year (I called the leaders in Johannesburg and immediately received approval for that). Our plan was to meet with them at 5 pm on Thursday night for a one hour meeting, but our plane to Mbuji-Mayi was very late and we didn't get there until 8 pm -- three hours late. I felt very badly as we had really wanted to meet with them, and I feared they would have walked home in the dark to put their children to bed. When we pulled into the enclosed courtyard of where we would stay, about 35 of them were there, sitting in the dark and quietly waiting. We immediately took most of the bread we brought and gave it to them for their children, and asked the hotel proprietor to turn on a light. We had a meeting with them with Elder Kola and I both talking, and then gathered in a circle under the little light to sing several hymns together. Then they quietly walked home in the dark to their little homes.
Saturday and Sunday, about 15 of them took public transportation the 35 miles to Luputa to attend District Conference there. How humbled we were to think of their faith, to wait three hours in the dark for us. How many North Americans would wait in the dark for three hours, not knowing how late their guest speakers might be?

Our room in Mwene-Ditu had the basics, but not much more. In the bathroom, two buckets of water -- one for flush with, and one to wash with. We ordered electricity long enough to heat some water for the REI freeze-dried meals, and the Kolas and Omer dined with us in our room. With a little bread, and dried fruit for dessert, it wasn't gourmet, but it satisfied.

We are traveling in a rented Toyota jungle truck together with the Kolas and our great driver, Omer. There is a bench seat in front, with two rows of benches down the side. Because we are carrying about 100 pounds of supplies for the church congregations at Luputa (which will save about $ 750 in shipping costs), we just had the bench on the left hand side. We bounced around like pinballs in the back as we careened down the road (see the following picture for some of the sections of the road).

Last post we showcased the potholes in the roads in Kinshasa -- out in central Congo, in the dirt roads, the holes are a little larger. These were two - three feet deep. On a dry road, not too much of a problem, but when we come back in February or March of next year in the rainy season, this promises to be a very interesting and challenging trip.

The lifeline in Africa are huge diesel trucks. They carry food between communities, and serve as the busses, as people ride on the top of the load. Unfortunately there are no methods to monitor the weight of the trucks, and they load everything on that they can, as it creates more revenue. The overloaded trucks create huge ruts when the roads are wet. And sometimes they're too heavy for the bridges. No problem here -- just lay planks over the broken steel decking -- and hope that it hopes. So you hold your breath, and creep across the broken section. But we met huge trucks that will cross here -- and were glad we were in our smaller vehicle.

In Luputa we stay in a Catholic monastery, as the only hotel in town has only 4 rooms and no water or electricity. Here's our luxurious room. Truly the necessities -- bed, concrete floor, one light bulb and two chairs. Those mosquito nets come in handy, but a couple of mosquitoes still got inside the nets and we had big red welts in the morning. We paid more for the diesel generator for electricity ($ 15 a night for two hours) than we did for the room -- a bargain at only $ 10 a night. For a bath, we ordered a plastic bucket of hot water one night. Surprising how good you can feel after a cat wash in your room, on the bare concrete floor.

Luputa has sent some wonderful young men on missions. Friday afternoon, Pres. Binene told me that on Saturday morning, I would be interviewing 7 young men who wish to serve church missions. When I started on Saturday, he said that there were now 10. By the time I had finished on Saturday morning, I had interviewed 17, all of whom had great desires to serve and were really prepared. Here's Marsha with four young missionaries from Luputa who have returned from serving in Kinshasa during the last year.

We will start building a new building in Luputa next year, but for now, the biggest chapel here is a former store from Belgian colonial days. It only holds about 250 people inside, so the brethren built a shade structure out of bamboo poles and those great blue tarps. Sunday morning there were 250 inside and 650 outside - 900 people out of the District's 1,080 members attended. We moved the podium and the portable generator powered microphone into the doorway so those both inside and outside could see those who spoke. A great meeting, and there was a wonderful spirit present.

One of the things you always do is to meet the officials of the city or territory. The man in the middle of the group is the territorial governor whom we met on Friday, who came to our church meeting on Sunday. The guy behind Marsha and him is his guard, complete with his AK-47. Thank heavens it wasn't necessary.

See Part II for the rest of the trip's story.

OUR TRIP TO LUPUTA -- Part II

2007-09-08T19:51:00.000+01:00

Well, this picture is "out of order" -- it should be on Monday, but it shows how you eat lunch in the middle of Africa. Pull over to the side of the road, have Marsha open the suitecase commissary and it's time for sandwiches. Here are Elder and Sister Kola, along with Omer. The big sack is 30 kilos of corn which Omer purchased to take back to his family. Later this afternoon, he stopped to look at the biggest catfish I have ever seen -- about 3 feet long, and bargained whether he could purchase it. Fortunately no deal was struck -- we weren't keen about sharing the back of the truck with a smelly dead catfish!!

So back to the District Conference in Luputa on Saturday and Sunday. We had three meetings on Saturday -- Marsha and Sister Kola taught the female leaders for the church organizations for the children, young women and the ladies, while Elder Kola and I taught the men in leadership positions. Then we had a meeting for all the adults. Sunday, there was a two hour meeting for all members and their families.

During the Sunday meeting, there were about 250 children in attendance. They were amazingly reverent. After the meeting -- it was another story. Mass chaos!! Everyone wanted to shake hands about 3 times with a hearty "Bonjour", or reach out and hug us. Here's Marsha in the middle of a mob. I think that some of them enjoyed shaking hands to see if our skin felt different than theirs. Most crowded around, but a couple of little babies shrieked in fear whenever they came close to us.

Monday morning, it was up early for a two hour trip from Luputa to Ngandajika. It had rained during the night for 2 to 3 hours, so the roads turned to mud and we slithered down the trail. Not tropical here -- high African highlands with vistas where you can see for 20 miles in many directions. An amazing country.

Here's a typical African village -- abode brick houses about 12 by 12 or 16 by 16, with thatched roofs. The women cook outside using charcoal to cook their meals. Everyone has a great smile and a big wave as we drive by.

In Ngandajika, we met with 50 incredibly faithful members who have moved here during the last couple of years. About 30 of them rode their bikes 35 miles to Luputa for the Sunday morning meeting, then rode back in the afternoon. We gave them approval to have the Sacrament in their weekly meetings here (as in Mwene-Ditu), while we apply for approval of a branch in each of these cities. The fellow in the green in the front row is the territorial governor. We met with him when we first arrived, and several minutes before the meeting began at 10 am, he showed up. Several members gave great talks, and Elder Kola and I both talked about the Book of Mormon and its truthfulness, and how it can guide our lives in today's world as a second testimony of Jesus Christ, together with the Bible.

After the meeting, the territorial governor came up and we shared a nice chat. Then he asked, "Where could I get a copy of the Book of Mormon?" Darn -- we had left about 25 copies with the district in Luputa, but didn't have any with us now. But I had my leatherbound edition -- so now the territorial governor has a Triple Combination with the name of Donald Livingstone on the cover. He said he will be a friend of the church and help us do anything we need -- will come in handy when we build a chapel in a couple of years.

Once a Grandma, always a Grandma. Marsha will hold any baby, anywhere, anytime. Here she is getting a love from a little six month old son of a sister in Mbuji-Mayi on Tuesday morning (this picture is a little out of order as well, but I can't seem to correct its placment, so pardon my technical ineptitude). Since our plane back to Kinshasa turned out to be five hours late (not an uncommon experience), she got in a lot of baby holding. What a great companion -- it's easy for me to say "I LOVE my companion!!" She always smiles, does whatever is needed, and when we get lemons (like late planes) , she's great at making lemonade.

Here Marsha is with some of the ladies who came to a Monday afternoon meeting for all the members in the Mbuyi-Mayi branch. 200 came on a Monday afternoon at 4:30 -- great dedication of these wonderful African Saints.

We were so amazed and grateful for the faithful example of these wonderful church members. They have such a great spirit about them, and are so greatful for anything and everything that you do for them. While they may be "young in the Gospel" as far as their years of membership are concerned (many of them have just been members for two to five years), they have so loving hearts. And they are happy with their circumstances in life, even though they have so little in comparison with us. When we take a picture with the digital camera, and then immediately show them what the picture looks like, they clap their hands with joy and crowd around to see what they look like. And then immediately want to pose for another picture.

Where else would people be willing to wait for three hours or more in the dark for someone to show up? Where else would people ride bikes for 35 miles each way -- taking three or four hours in each direction, to attend a meeting? Surely there are other places in the world where people make sacrifices. But in North America, we are so privileged and spoiled to have what we have. And we take it for granted.

Over the next two months, we will visit three other "districts" of the church here, along with smaller congregations scattered over the Congo, Republic of Congo and Cameroon. What a joy to serve these people.

Love to all -- Don and Marsha

P.S. It's 4 am on Sunday morning and I just finished listening to the BYU-UCLA football game on the internet. Rats -- we lost, but the game was a good game. You gotta have time for a few diversions in life, don't you?? Off to bed -- bye for now.