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

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

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 !!!

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

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

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.....)

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

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.