One step forward...

September 16-23, 2012

 

This has been a week of tremendous hard work, but oh, how it’s been worth it! We were given the challenge to give a list of our PEF students with their loan numbers and bank account numbers to the bank by Monday. We thought someone magically had all this information. Little did we know we would have to pray, dig and then just roll up our sleeves and search and by Friday, we were able to get the requested list to the bank.

After finding out on Monday that our finance department, part of Temporal Affairs, could only give us a list for 3 months, I found myself in prayer wondering just how this could be done. On Tuesday in the wee hours of the morning, many impressions came as to how we could accomplish this task. Upon arriving at the office, I did another search of my computer and it’s like Sister Stagg was speaking from Oregon. She and Elder Stagg had prepared a list hidden deep within a folder or two that was fairly current up to June. But with another impression I knew where to look to find the rest (in individual student files). It’s been so satisfying to complete this task, but I know we’re nowhere close to the end of this situation. The bank here in Kinshasa has not been making the automatic transfers allowing PEF to record payments made by the students. Therefore when students go online to look at the status of their file, they can only see that they have not been given credit for money that’s very hard for them to come by. Many of them have lost confidence and quit paying. We’ve got to regain that confidence and go through every student file and record every payment we have record of. But most important of all we’re praying the bank, with this needed information, can do a better job in making the transfers and making it easier for us to record the transfers to the proper student so we can recognize who has been repaying their loans. This has been a problem preventing us, our area PEF in South Africa and even SLC from knowing if and how well our DR Congo students are performing on their loans. It has been going on for over a year.

We’ll keep you posted on our success.

But needless to say our week has not been without adventure. Hal adds: I must emphasize just how hard Laraine has worked on this project and how bull nosed she is until she gets something done. I tried to pursue an easier approach asking South Africa to provide information we could use in spreadsheet format but they couldn’t give us something that was transferable to the bank without all the work and effort that Laraine put in. I am grateful for her.

We had invited all the couples and our mission president and his wife to dinner on Friday. I fixed lasagna and Laberta Call’s famous filled cupcakes. The other couples filled in with salads, garlic bread and a drink and we had a wonderful time just catching up and enjoying each other’s company. (By the way Sister Jameson is thinking of preparing these same cupcakes for Elder Holland and all those traveling with him to Kinshasa in October. I’m much complimented and Laberta, you should be too!) Many stayed quite late (late for us is 9:00 p.m.) and we still had dishes to do and water to fill in buckets and any other container we could find because our water was going to be turned off all day Saturday.

All was well; we even got up early enough on Saturday to wash hair and wash one load of clothes just in the nick of time before all closed down. But what surprised us is not only did our water shut off, so did our clothes dryer. We must have a short because it blew a fuse. Oh, well, we weren’t expecting to have all these conveniences anyway! We hope to have it fixed this next week.

Saturday Elder and Sister Billings invited us to go to the cloth marché. If I were to describe it, it’s located on the beach of the Congo River. It’s about a block long and probably no more than 10 or 12 feet wide with vendors on both sides selling cloth (6 yards long and about 42 inches wide for between $10 to $20 a piece). It was beautiful, but I was so overwhelmed with so many choices and Elder Robinson only had a $50 bill. We were told not to show big bills because it destroys your bargaining power and may also give others ideas. We were cautioned not to take a purse or backpack into this very crowded, very long Marché (many pickpockets). We came out empty handed, but didn’t lose any money either. We did buy some soft baguettes just outside and were happy for our purchase.

We continued on our adventure with the Billings and went to the site of a new church that Elder Billings’ construction students will be building. We had about 5 or 6 of his students meet us there and they were so happy and excited to show us the work they had been doing. They had been digging a trench to put in a new block wall that will surround the complex. It was so hot and we found out many of these young men work without shoes. When we got there they had changed their clothes, looked very nice and gave us a wonderful tour. One of the students, Sister Billings told us about, I believe his name is Constantine. During graduation from the Construction Class last year, Elder and Sister Billings took a lot of pictures. Constantine brought his wife and his new little baby son and they took a picture of this cute little family. A week or two later Elder Billings was asked if he would go to the hospital to administer to Constantine’s little son. He was very sick. Elder Billings said he would after he finished teaching class. A half hour later, they received word that the baby had died of dysentery and Elder Billings was not needed. Sister Billings realized they had a picture of that little baby with his parents and printed it and framed it and gave Constantine the picture. He received it with many tears. They, of course, had nothing to remember him by.

 

Thiss is the building site where we met the construction students.

 

 

Sister Billings talked with our bishop, Aimé, and asked what would be appropriate. They wanted to go to the funeral. He replied that first, people in this tribe do not have funerals for their first born sons, only for their other children. Second, many people with their superstitions believe that being friends with white people could bring on death in their families, so it would not be appropriate for them to go to the grave side services. They were also told that many times the mother had to pay the father’s family for the loss of this child.

There are many customs here we still do not understand.

As we met with this construction crew, it was 2-3:00 p.m. and none of them had eaten. Sister Billings and I went back to the truck and picked up the baguettes we had purchased at the cloth marché and Elder Billings gave them each 500 francs which equals about 50 cents. They were so hungry and so happy, you would have thought he had given them $50. The students looked at us and said, “You are like our parents, and we your children.” They were so gracious and loving! What a great afternoon!

Hal adds: The supervisor/engineer of the group, a church member but not one in Elder Billing’s class, kept emphasizing to me just what a morale booster is was to have us come to the worksite of these young people. He was amazed at how much our visit inflated them both spiritually and physically. They all expressed their appreciation and loved talking with us and showing what they are doing. It will be another three weeks before they start the chapel and it will take two years to build. We talked about the great opportunity it is for them to work on the church building, and they expressed hope that some of them might be given the opportunity to work on the new temple when it is started. It really was a great experience to see what a little effort on our part meant to them. Elder and Sister Billings really are doing an amazing work in the construction program.

 

 

After we left the construction site, the Billings took us back by the Congo River and what they call the rapids.  Because of the rapids, large ships cannot come up to the ports of Kinshasa and Brazzaville.  Here are a couple of photos that really don't do justice.

 

As we get away from the main boulevard, we do see some of the poverty that exists here.  Here is a photo of a cemetery close to the construction site.

Also, we crossed a small stream.  This photo shows just how filthy it was...and to think that the children play in and around it.  We don't know how the water is used.

Here are some pictures of homes along the Congo river.  It is amazing what some of the people live in.

 

We talked about funerals and we passed a funeral caravan but have been told not to take pictures.  But we also passed a big open area with about four big tents with groups of people under the open tents.  They were separated by quite a distance.  We don't know if they were by a church or who provided the arrangements, but in each tent was a wedding party.  I got a photo of just the last tent.

 

When we got home, I was finally able to get a picture of one of our beautiful friends.

 

 

Hal adds: It seems much easier to write and tell everyone about things as we experience them for the first time, probably because we have so much apprehension until we become more comfortable with them. Well this week it seems that there haven’t been as many firsts, but we won’t say that we are comfortable either. We continue to learn much.

Here is a random photo of a pousse pousse that we took early this week.  We continue to be amazed at just how much they can pile on such a small cart.

 

Three things of significance to us have to do with three people we work side by side with in our building. The first had to do with Didier Mutombo who is executive secretary to Elder Alfred Kyungu who is Area Director (ASE-West) for CES and an Area Seventy. Didier is so fun to work around and is one we ask to help us if we don’t something about logistics, shopping, or just about anything. He is always so happy. One time he came into our office and said, “I am here. I am King of the Congo.” Another time he said, “I am the star.” So now, we sometimes greet him, “Bonjour, King of the Congo or Bonjour Star.” Anyway, we were talking to him about being the “Star” and he asked if he had shared a link in the Liahona about him. We said he had not and he explained that when the General Primary President was in Kinshasa, she asked the priesthood leaders if any of them had an experience they would share about the impact primary had on them. Didier was the first to respond. He said he didn’t know at the time that what he said would end up in the Liahona. He was surprised when he was reading it and found that he was a “star” in a church magazine. He brought us a link which was to the Church News, but he said it was in both. We want to share what happened. This comes from the Church News published May 21, 2011 entitled “Primary: Good teachers are vital” by Sister Rosemary M. Wixom, Sister Jean A. Stevens and Sister Cheryl A. Esplin, primary general presidency. It says, “During a recent auxiliary training meeting in Kinshasa, DR Congo, leaders were asked to share an experience they had in Primary that had a great influence on their lives. Didier Mutombo, a 31-year-old priesthood leader who joined the Church in 1987, was quick to respond. ‘Primary lessons changed my life,’ he said. He spoke of one particular lesson that helped him learn a simple gospel principle. During that lesson, the Primary president talked about the 2,000 stripling warriors and then they sang the song about the‘Army of Helaman.’ As Bother Mutombo sang the song as a child, he was filled with a desire to serve a mission. From 1999 to 2001, Brother Mutombo was called as a full-time missionary in West Africa. When he returned, he married a woman who had attended the same Primary class. He has never forgotten that wonderful day in Primary where he was taught to study, pray and be ready to serve the Lord. ‘I have continued to nourish that firm willingness to go on the Lord’s errand since that day,’ he said. In essence, an experience Brother Mutombo had as a child in Primary set him on a path that led him to make covenants in the temple.” What a great experience it was for us to hear him tell his story and then read it in the Church News.

The second happened as we arrived at the S&I building another morning this week. President Jean-Pierre Haboko, S&I coordinator for the Ngaleama and Mont Ngafula stakes and also stake president of the Ngaleama stake spoke up stopping us as we passed his office which is the first office inside the door. He said, you must say “Bonjour au chef de village.” At first we didn’t know what he meant because chef de village is mayor of the town. Well, he went on to explain that his office is the first office in the building therefore he is mayor of the building. We apologized for not greeting him and now we will joke with him calling him “chef.” Anyway, he came out and we were talking to him. I have an agreement with him that when he comes in our office he speaks French but when I come in his office we speak English. In the hall this day, he was speaking English to both of us. As we were ready to leave, I made comment that we would love to talk another time and hear about how he came to know the Church. He said he would love to, but then said to be brief he would tell us a little. Well, it was a little longer than brief, but an amazing and spiritual experience for us. We had been at the door of his office and Laraine asked if a photo on the wall was his wife. He said yes and got his iPad to show us photos of his wife and large family. He and his wife have ten children. As he told his story as best I remember it, he said that he was raised Catholic as was his wife. They would go to church but he asked himself if there wasn’t something more. They were living in Lubumbashi where he was attending the university studying to become a lawyer or magistrate. He said he had actually stopped going to the Catholic Church even though his wife took the children. He hadn’t gone for a year and a half and had actually attended several churches looking for more. It was at that time that he came in contact with the missionaries. They immediately started talking about Lehi and the Book of Mormon. They opened the book and read from promise from Moroni but his mind was still trying to remember where he knew the name Lehi from. He related that he had been given the Book of Mormon years before and that he had actually read First Nephi but didn’t get much out of it and had let the book go. But Voila 1^st Nephi is about Lehi. Thus he remembered the name. He said that he had a dream during this time. He was in a big crowd of people. A man named Moroni was in the middle handing out letters. And he heard him say, “I have a letter for Jean-Pierre Haboko.” President Haboko asked himself why this man would have a letter for him, but he kept yelling “I have this letter for Jean-Pierre Haboko.” He woke up and didn’t understand the dream. That week with the missionaries, they challenged him with Moroni’s promise, and he said it hit him exactly what the dream meant. It was not a letter as we think of letters, but it was the Book of Mormon. Moroni had the Book of Mormon for him. They had the missionaries complete the lessons and they were baptized in a very short time, it almost seems like he said after a week. That in itself is an amazing story but he went on. He said they had two children and they were expecting their third in what I remember as couple of weeks. Anyway, when his wife gave birth, the baby was still born. He said many could say that this was a sign that they had made a mistake. That bad things happen when you make mistakes is a big part of African culture. Anyway he bore testimony that they didn’t ever feel that way and now they have been blessed with a big family. Again we must say that we were blessed with a spiritual experience as we talked with another one of the great people here. He completed his degree in law but chose not to become a lawyer or magistrate but to work for the Church in CES and is very happy.

While we are talking about those we work with in the S&I program, we need to tell you about Christian Mavinga, Institute coordinator for the Masima and Kinshasa stakes and bishop of the Limité ward. He is from DR Congo and wanted to be a heart surgeon. The universities are not good here in Kinshasa for medicine so he went to Moscow Russia to study at the university there. He had so learn Russian and was completing his studies when he met the missionaries there. He too recognized that what he was being taught was right and he was baptized there. He finished his studies and came back to Kinshasa but found that hospitals here are just not equipped properly and not up to the standards that would allow him to do what he wanted to do. He was at church when they made the announcement that the church had a CES opening in Seminaries and Institutes. He prayed about it and felt he should make application which he did. Obviously, he was accepted and we love him. As you can see, we have some pretty amazing and powerful people in leadership positions here.

 

Here is a photo of President Haboko, Bishop Mavinga  Elder Kyungu, and Didier.

 

One of the most important events of this week is the birthday of our youngest grandson, Nixson! Nixson, we’re so proud of you and love you so much!

We express our love and thanks to all,