Wow, what a week!!

October 22-28, 2012

 

Wow, what a week it’s been.  We have watched so many things get done in preparation for Elder Holland’s visit.  We have watched as the grounds around the church and soon to be temple site have been manicured and landscaped.  They really are beautiful.  We have watched as so many people hurry to make sure everything is in place and ready.  We probably thought that preparing for this weekend would be the primary focus of our week.  But that wasn’t the case.

We finally visited with our account manager at the bank on Monday.  We see a little progress and that is good, but we see lots to do as we reconcile bank records, PEF records, and student records.  However the major part of what we do is to help the young people trying to us PEF as a means to help them improve thier lives, and what a joy that is.  We have been busy all week, but on Friday many of the students who had just completed the "Planning for Success" workshop cane in to start their applications.  I wanted to take a picture of just how many people we had in the PEF Center, but we were too occupied with the students when the biggest crowd was there.  We had people waiting for computers and even let them use ours. We love being busy. 

Elder Holland, Elder Clayton and his wife, Elder Relund and his wife, and Brother George Bonnet arrived on Friday just in time to attend the graduation ceremony for the third construction class taught by Elder Billings.  We just happened to be outside as they got out of their bus and were able to shake each of their hands.  We appreciated their kindness as they expressed gatitude for our willingness to serve here.  Brother Bonnet took them aside to show them the the new temple site and to explain how everything might fit together.

 

As you hopefully remember, Elder Billings taught construction as a college professor back home.  Therefore, those completing his class receive a diploma in French on one side and in English on the other.  The coursework has been certified through LDS Business College because of Elder Billings’ credentials.  Therefore, these students actually get a diploma from LDS Business College.  Elder Holland, Elder Clayton, and Elder Renlund, Area President, were all speakers in the ceremonies along with George Bonnet who is Area Director of Temporal Affairs over all of Africa.  You will remember that he came before and took us to the new chapel that is being build.   Here is Elder and Sister Billings (on the left) with Eric who heads the church construction program here.

 

We attended some of the graduation programs for Head of Households and Interweave before, but we think this was extra special because we are getting acquainted with many of the students.  As Laraine said, we feel just like proud parents as we watch the accomplishments of these young men.  Even last week when the students received their grades on the final exam, we felt an excitement and a sense of accomplishment from these great young people.  Jeff came into us and had to show his test results because he got 100% on the exam.  He was so happy and wanted to share.  We can just feel that this is something they probably didn’t think was possible for them, but as we look at them, they are such talented and capable young men who just needed a chance.  They are so good looking, friendly, and happy we just can’t help loving them.  This is Jeff.

 

 

Elder Holland told these graduates that in his professional life before being called as an apostle, he served as Commissioner of Education for the Church and President of BYU.  As such he has attended many graduation ceremonies, probably hundreds of them and all of there were much bigger with some even having 5,000 graduates.  But he said that even though this is the smallest, it is probably the most exciting that he has attended.  Oh what that meant to these young men.  He told them that before his professional life, he worked in construction as a newly married young man while he went to school but he was only a day laborer.  He also said that there are many life lessons learned in construction.  He said all construction managers know the importance of plumb, square, and level.  He went on to relate those to each of our lives and challenged us all to remain plumb with the Lord, square in all we do, and level with others.  

A choir of young men sang a prelude to the meeting and also sang a number during the program.  One song they sang was “Brightly Beams Our Father’s Mercy.”  Their music was wonderful. This is the choir after they finished when I could take a picture.

 

 KALONJI, who is a volunteer at the PEF center, accompanied the choir.  We are proud of him too. 

 

 Elder Holland said he didn’t understand the French words, but he knows the English words.  He held up a headset that he had been using for translation and asked what it was.  A member told him it was a headset.  He said yes, but right now it is a plumb bob as he was holding the headset high and let the transmission piece hang below.  He went on to explain about the hymn and that the upper light is the lighthouse and that the lower light is on the shore.  He explained that a ship captain had to line the lower light exactly below the upper light in order to find the safe passage to the harbor.  In life, the Savior is the upper light and we are the lower lights along the shore.  He challenged us to stay plumb with the Lord and to let our lights shine so that “some poor fainting, struggling seaman, you may rescue, you may save.” 

The other volunteer working with us in the PEF Center, KABEYA, was the translator from French to English for those wearing headsets during the graduation.  We are so proud of him too.  Laraine got a headset so I didn’t have to translate.  Brother Bonnet translated for Elder Clayton and Elder Holland.

 

Every graduate got to receive their diploma from Elder Renlund, and shake hands with Elder Clayton and have a picture with Elder Holland.  What a great opportunity for them.

 

We could see how happy and proud they were of their accomplishments.

 

We were so honored that so many of the students wanted to have a photo with us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Wednesday, Sister Smith, our mission president’s secretary, called to let us know that a man, Brother Coleman, had come in the office.  He is a former French East missionary and thought that maybe President Jameson or I had served when he was there so they were arranging to meet at a new Patisserie called Patachoux so we could meet him.  We found that he is a retired Navy officer now working for the State Department to help monitor training of the Congolese military.   He explained that they are trying to teach that the military should be respected and trusted by the people.  He said this really goes along with teaching the gospel because he tries to teach them to be righteous men.  However, he said this is a difficult process because the military here has not always been treated fairly, many times going without pay and having to resort to stealing just to live.  Being in the military and working for the government, he said has been great to live in and experience so many different countries.  Laraine and I listened and were just thinking to ourselves that we love having roots with family and friends,  and we are content with this grand adventure we are on.

Saturday, we had a Women’s Conference with Sister Kathy Clayton and Sister Ruth Renland.  Sister Smith and I walked in a door that entered at the front of the chapel and were met with a sea of beautiful black faces that just glowed.  The whole chapel was full and the cultural hall almost and it was 45 minutes before the Conference was to start.  We wended our way back shaking hands with all the beautiful women and took a seat in the cultural hall.  Shortly after sitting down, some of the women started taking pictures and before long, they asked if we would be in their pictures.  We were honored!!!  I don’t think they see many white faces.  I asked to hold a beautiful little baby on our row and the cameras came out again taking many pictures.  We were feeling like we were making friends and very comfortable when a sister from Temporal Affairs Department came to us and asked if we would follow her.  She wanted us to sit on the front row.  I was much more comfortable where I was, but we were seated front and center in the chapel that was already full.  I had to keep looking behind me to see the beautiful women sitting behind me.  They were dressed in their very best and their very best is gorgeous, with long flowing dresses made with some of the most beautiful fabric to be found in the world (and very colorful).  Many of them had headdresses and scarves.  Many of them have an extra piece of material to wrap their babies in on their backs.  Their headdresses, I assume, serve as a cushion or a foundation when they carry things on their heads.  Some of them had casual t-shirts and slacks because that’s all they had, but they came and they were beautiful.  I was awed by our General Authorities wives and their talks, but I was even more awed by the sisters sitting behind me. 

After this meeting was over a beautiful sister sitting just behind me started talking and I came to find out this was Philemon, the sister who runs the orphanage that the missionaries have come to know and love and visit.  She showed us a picture of a little boy, so thin his ribs were showing; he had a withered hand and leg.  Then she told us he’s doing fine now and has been baptized a member of the Church.  Once again I was so honored to meet this wonderful woman who does so much for so many with so little of her own. 

Sister Smith and I went outside (it was burning hot!) and waited for Elder Smith and Elder Robinson to arrive for our Missionary Conference at 2:00 that afternoon.  Once again we were asked by so many sisters that we didn’t even know if we would stand in a picture with them.  I didn’t have a camera and felt so bad.  But I guess they wanted a picture taken with someone with white skin and white hair.  Here is a photo of everyone outside after the Women's Conference and before the missionary conference.

 

At our Missionary Conference we were again honored to have Elder Holland, Elder Renland and his wife with us as well as George Bonnet and our Mission President and his wife. 

 

I sat down with one seat left at my side and was joined by a very humble older gentleman, Elder Kola.  As the meeting continued I found out he had just been released as an Area Authority 4 months before and was serving as a counselor to Pres. Jameson in the Mission Presidency.  Elder Holland reminded us of the importance of the first principle of the gospel - Obedience and how everything else relies upon this principle.  The second principle of the gospel was submerging yourself in the scriptures.  Once again we were spiritually filled.  But my favorite part of that meeting was at the end.  Sister Fan (I can’t pronounce the rest of her name) from Madagascar was playing the keyboard and as Elder Holland stood up and left the meeting with all the missionaries so reverent you could hear a pin drop, she started playing softly, “God Be With You ‘Til We Meet Again.”  The missionaries started singing softly and then louder.  The spirit was so strong. 

 

Sunday morning we traveled over to Mont Ngafula Stake Center which isn’t easy to get to.  We arrived at 8:00 a.m. for a 10:00 Conference, 2 hours early.  The chapel was completely full and 3/4 of the cultural hall was filled.  Those sitting just behind us arrived at 7:30 a.m.  and they said there were some that had to leave at 5:00 a.m. to get them.  This photo was actually taken after the meeting.

 

The choir sang prelude music from 9:00 a.m. and postlude music. As we say every week, the music here is so beautiful.

 

We were not disappointed.  The Stake President started out reminding us how his life is different from before he became a member of the church.  He asked what makes us different from other churches.  And then he answered very simply and reverently - We have the gift of the Holy Ghost.  What a beautiful message in those simple and powerful words. 

Elder Holland concluded and we were getting tired and little hot, but not when he stood up.  I want to share some of the highlights about the growth of the Church.  He said in 3 weeks they will be creating the 3000^th stake in the Church.  When he was a young man there were only 300.  There will be 30-40 new missions created next year to accommodate the growth.  He said there are 58,000 missionaries serving now and by next year there could be as many as 70 to 80,000.  He talked about only having 1 temple in the ancient world in Jerusalem, 3 temples in the new world, Book of Mormon times and this era covered 5,000 years.  He asked how many people got to go to the temple in those times?  Today we have 139 temples and more coming.  He said this is the Dispensation of Temples.  There was a time when we counted temples one by one.  Now we’ll count temples by the 100's and then by the 1,000's.  The work is hastening.  We are the most fortunate people in the history of the world.  We have the fullness of the gospel, more than any other dispensation in the world.  He told the parable of the sower from the New Testament and brought it to life, but the last thing that he said before he closed was so powerful as he declared, “This Church WILL change the world!” 

 

After the meeting, members hang around to visit and enjoy each other.  The love to have pictures taken by the missionaries.  Most have to take the transports to get home.  This transport came into the parking lot to pick  up some of the members.  I ask if I could take a picture just to show how many they try to fit into these transports.  I hope you can see how cramped everybody is.

 

We have been blessed to be here to hear a prophet and apostle of the Lord and feel His spirit so powerfully this weekend.  We hope you’ve had a good week too. 

Happy, happy birthday yesterday, Megan!  We love you so much!!!! 

And Dallin, we’re looking forward to your birthday on Wednesday.  Happy, happy birthday to you as well.  We couldn’t be prouder of you and love you so much!!!! 

We don’t want to forget Kay’s birthday on Wednesday either.  We hope you have a very happy birthday too! 

Our love to you all!

Getting warmer and more humid!

October 15-21, 2012

            We are feeling warmer weather and can tell that it is more humid.  Elder Smith who lives just below us said that one day it showed 101 degrees on his thermometer.  He said it was in the sun which to me means that it registers hotter than it really is, but it was still plenty warm.  We have had more rain.  We are glad that it rains more during the night than during the day.  We hope that continues but we will see.  We find it interesting that we are actually starting to see people carry umbrellas to shade them from the sun.  I took this picture from our balcony just to show two people with umbrellas sitting on benches in the Place.

            We are fortunate to have air conditioning in our apartment, our truck, and at our office.  At church, the have air conditioning in some of the rooms but many times they just open the windows to allow some air movement.  Normally, we fair pretty well.

             This week has settled down from last week's big Summit Conference, but we still see lots of police and military, probably more than we noticed before.  We  got stopped by a long light and there were three policemen there.  Two walked up to us and tapped on our window.  We waved and then I immediately showed my drivers license, but that didn't seem to be what they wanted.  We played dumb and they let us go when the light changed.  Maybe they were just wanting something to drink because it was so hot outside.  We are told that the motorcycle policemen are the worse to get stopped by.  It usually means that you have done something to merit it, and they are higher up the chain of importance so we are told that they have a more demanding attitude.  When we see one, we just hope they turn or go on ahead of us.

              Traffic is again back to the normal with lots of cars on the road.  I had to take this picture of two cars in front of our apartment.  Traffic is supposed to make a circular pattern around the Place, but certain drivers will take whatever they want.  If you look close you can see the arrows painted on the road telling the cars to go up and left around the square, but they continue to shortcut across to head right.

                With the Summit Conference over, they are again letting vendors back on the street.  I took a previous picture of this area across the street.  It was actually cleaned up for the conference, and they put up the fencing that they painted blue.  Most of the vendors now have umbellas.  We assume because of warmer weather and possible rain.

               We have had another good week.  It seems that our time has been occupied by not only trying to learn and understand the big picture of PEF and its many procedures, but also being forced to delve into the detail of present students, their folders and records.  Then there are the new applicants and their needs as we work with S&I coordinators and priesthood leaders.  However, we must say that getting into the individual records and the problems with reconciling them with the financial side has actually been very insightful and helpful in our learning process.    Before we arrived in the Congo, we had been in touch with Elder and Sister Stagg who let us know that there were issues in reconciling PEF records with student receipts and bank records.  As they explained a little bit about the problem, they indicated that they were working towards resolution and hoped it would be finished before we came.  As we were told of certain bank issues, we hoped that what they said was correct and that they would be resolved before we got here because it seemed that if they weren’t, it would necessitate getting us involved into the nitti gritty details of every file.  Well, our concerns were right and we have had to get into each and every file.  We have been preparing PEF records and information so that we can soon reconcile each one with bank records.  For that we have been waiting on the bank to make certain corrections and give us the detail to verify that they have things right. 

               We keep telling you that we have meetings with the bank to get this done and that done but we are learning that here in the Congo, nothing is easy.  C’est compliqué!    Even this week, we were supposed to meet with EcoBank but our account manager has been in Goma, a political hotspot for DR Congo and he didn’t make it back.  We asked to meet with his supervisor but they had something come up and postponed our meeting until tomorrow.  We hope we have prepared well, but we feel that we will raise some questions that will force us and the bank to go back and work on things to resolve them.  We will keep you posted.

               When we first got here, we were leaving the apartment most every morning at 7:30 AM.  We stayed very busy and would return home between 4:30 and 5:00 PM.  When Thembinkosi was here from South Africa, he preferred to leave at 8:30 to get to the PEF Center just before our scheduled opening hour of 9:00 AM.  We realized that leaving at 7:30 just wasn’t giving us time in the mornings.  However, now that he is gone, we seem to have worked into a compromise and we leave at 8:00.  That gives us a little more time, but our study time in the morning is still lacking.  Laraine gets her reading in even with all she does preparing our lunch and getting us ready.  I hope to get better.  She usually does baking of cookies, cupcakes, or something else for our lunches during the week in the evenings. 

 

              We still feel pressure with so much to do that we squeeze in a 15-20 minute lunch or as on a number of days the last couple of weeks, we have just pulled out our sandwiches and continued working while we eat.  We guess that is what they call a working lunch.  We just hope it doesn’t cause a problem with us eating while we have PEF students in the Center.

               We often use the term Mormon standard time, but we are learning that there is a Congolese time too.  We had a little hole in the pipe between faucets in our shower that needs to be fixed.  We thought we had things arranged to have a plumber come Friday morning to fix it.  We had been told not to expect him to arrive on time so we waited 40 minutes and then called Pascal who had arranged for the plumber and who works in the mission office over missionary apartments.  He made a phone call and called us back saying they were on their way and would be here in about 20 minutes.  We waited another hour and no one arrived.  We again called Pascal.  He told us to wait because they should be there.  Well, they arrived a little more than 2 hours late.  They apologized and went in to look at our problem.  Immediately, they said they did not have the part, they would have to buy it and come back another day.  They talked about coming Tuesday but that is not for sure.  Anyway, we find that all too often we need to be prepared to wait.

               We had a special PEF video conference Friday afternoon.  This was intended for Africa Southeast, Africa West, and Europe.  It was from SLC starting 8:00 AM mountain time but was at 3:00 PM our time.  We have new leadership of the PEF Committee with Elder Carmack and Elder Cook leaving.  The new leadership is Elder Robert C. Gay, Elder Anthony D. Perkins, and Elder Enrique Falabella.  They were presenting a new direction from the First Presidency for the PEF program.  We had been told that we would not be able to stream the video conference because DR Congo does not have fiber optic internet.  We hoped that we could get a power point via internet on the computer and listen to the audio over the phone.  As it turned out, we only saw very few pieces of the power point (most of the time we had the message that the internet connection was too slow to project properly), but we were able to listen on the phone.  We are still trying to digest the new direction of PEF and hope to receive further guidance from our area manager in the next while.  It entails some pretty significant changes in direction.  We will keep you informed as we learn more.

               This weekend has been general conference weekend in our mission.  I assume it is something like this in other areas where there is such a great difference in time zones and with different languages.  With slow internet, they wait for the arrival of DVDs of all conference sessions in French.  They then schedule showing all conference sessions in the different ward and stake houses.  On Saturday they start at 1:00 PM and show two sessions.  On Sunday, they start at 10:00 AM and show 3 sessions.  Conference is shown in each of the buildings so members don’t have to travel so far.  Transportation is always a problem.  After talking to the other senior missionaries who said it just isn’t worth attending when you don’t understand anything, we decided that we too would stay home and re-listen to conference here at the apartment.  We listened to two sessions yesterday, but actually listened to the Women’s meeting since we had not listened to that before.  And today, we again listened to conference and enjoyed hearing again the inspired messages given.  Laraine and I talked last week and I mentioned that it would be good for me to hear the sessions in French, but she didn’t think it fair to force her to sit through all the meetings not understanding anything.  Therefore, it worked out very well.  We had to download and listen to one talk at a time because we can’t download the full session at a time.  That way we only get talks and not the music which we missed.  But Laraine listened in English on the iPad and I used ear buds and listened in French on the iTouch.  It really went very smoothly and we enjoyed it very much.

             We have mentioned before about Elder Billings who teaches a construction class.  He teaches construction to meet the church's standards and comments on the poor quality of construction here.  We have always remarked about how evident the poorer standards are as we have passed this building on our way to the office.  We finally took a picture but the picture really doesn't do justice to what it really looks like.

              I just had to put this picture in because there is a bench in the park that doesn't have legs.  We have always seen people sitting on the back of the bench with their feet on the sitting part.  Well this week, I finally saw a couple of people actually sitting on the seat with feet stretched out in front of them.

 

               We enjoy talking to family each week via Skype and using FaceTime.  We talked to Ryan and his family just after he was set apart as Bishop of his ward.  We are proud of him and his family, and know that this week will be much busier.  We hope we can find a time to visit.  We also learned that our grandson, Trevor, was involved in a collision playing soccer which resulted in a broken collar bone.  Trevor, we wish you well and hope it heals quickly.  We know our family stays busy as do each of you.  We appreciate your prayers as we definitely feel your prayers in our behalf.  We wish you all a great week.

Francophonie and Preparing for Elder Holland's Visit

Week of October 8-14, 2012

 

            It’s been a wonderful week, much better than I anticipated.  The Francophone Summit (all French speaking Africa countries) has been going on here in Kinshasa and we were told there would be heightened security.  We’ve noticed a lot more police presence on the streets and a lot of military with big guns.  Even this picture from our apartment window of the Place shows police (in blue uniforms with florescent green vests) in the upper left, two upper right, one in front of monument and one below.

 

 We’ve also been warned that the party that didn’t win the elections last December would be demonstrating.  Their candidate has been under house arrest since the elections.  (What a nice way to treat a political candidate!)  The man who is in office now is the son of the past president who mysteriously died when our present leader became president.  Well, enough about politics.  Although we are trying to keep track of all that’s happening in the U.S. election process.  (I hope they don’t put our defeated candidate under house arrest.)  It’s getting closer and closer to November and we’re excited to see the results.

 

            On Tuesday we met with another bank, called BCDC Bank to see if they could to a better job tracking our students’ accounts.  After seeing the problems that continue to exist with our present bank, I’m about ready to put my vote in for the new bank.  We went with Tommy and Eduardo, our two who head the Finance Department for the Church in Kinshasa.  Tommy’s a very distinguished, quite young Congolese who serves as a councilor in our stake presidency.  Eduardo has just been transferred here from England.  He’s from Spain.  I think I told you about him in an earlier email.  His wife is from Portugal and they have 2 daughters who are going to an international school here.  (It’s off the subject, but I’m happy to report they love their school and have many friends from the Congo and from India.)  Anyway back to the bank, we walked in and it almost felt like a bank in a big city back in the states.  It even had an escalator and a conference room and most importantly they seemed to have the services we are looking for.  I’m afraid we’re a little scarred wondering if what they tell us is really what they will do.  This is BCDC bank in downtown Kinshasa.

 

 

            Wednesday, at the request of our mission president’s wife, Sister Jameson, I spent a few hours at their home showing her how to navigate a little better through new.familysearch and how to do a little research.  It was fun!

 

            As we drive to work each day I haven’t been able to take as many pictures (because of the police and military presence), so maybe I can make a few observations:

 

1.                           There is no negative connotation when you see 2 men or 2 women holding hands.  It’s a sign of friendship and quite common.

2.                           All the services we find we can’t live without at home are brought to you at your car window at stop lights that can last as long as 2 minutes.  No need for a Maverick, we have young men coming to us to sell cold pop, cold water, many have whole cardboard candy stands on their heads.  More commonly we see vendors selling pocket packages of tissue and Congolese flags.  There’s also no need for an ATM, we have other young men swerving between cars with bundles of francs.  Our PEF volunteer said that it is primarily for taxi and transport drivers who run out of change and still need to make change for passengers, or other vendors who need to make change.  These money changers charge a commission to give change so it is their business.  They will sell change to anyone but for most of us, the commission is more that we pay to exchange money somewhere so we don’t use it.  It seems that we go to the mission office to change dollars into Congolese francs because if you go to the market, hair salon, bank, etc., there will always be someone appear to carry your shopping sacks to the car, to help you park, watch over your car and then help you back out.  If you don’t pay them 500 fr. (50 cents) we’ve been told they will remember and next time you park in the vicinity, something could happen to your car.  Fun thought, isn’t it!

3.                           As we drive through the city we see a lot of crippled people (people missing an arm or a leg or people with withered limbs).  We wonder if it is from birth defects, civil wars, or something else.

4.                           We still marvel at the beauty of the people, their beautiful smiles and their straight backs (probably from carrying heavy burdens on their heads.  This week we saw a man with about 6 to 8 flats of eggs with 30 in each flat, balancing and turning his head as he walked confidently down the street.)

5.                           If the Congolese were asked to go to war (and they commonly are) and they fight like they drive, I’d hate to be their enemy.

6.                           Eloping is unheard of in the Congo.  One of our volunteers, Kabeya, has just gotten engaged and he just beams.  Kalonji, our other volunteer has just had a brother and sister get married in the last month.  Their ceremonies are very important to them.  The food they honor their guests with should be some type of meat.  Meat is a greater treat than sweet desserts.  When Kalonji was asked if anyone ever elopes.  He said, “No, they think too highly of their families to ever do that.

           

            On Friday we got an e-mail from our mission president to stay home.  We called our PEF volunteers and told them not to come in and we stayed at the apartment and worked emails from home.  It gave us a chance to get some things done that keep getting pushed aside when we are in the office.  Friday and Saturday were the days that were most worrisome for demonstrations, and we were told we didn’t want to be caught in one.  But Friday night we were invited to come to the mission home to have dinner and pick up Brother Robert Milne from So. Africa, who is Manager International  Security Africa Southeast Area.  He and another man from church security, Ron Rumble from Tooele, Utah are here to prepare for Elder Holland’s visit in 2 weeks.  We’ve had the honor of housing Brother Milne during his visit.  Rob is on the rightand Ron is on the left.

 

 

We live in U.S.A.I.D. housing and it’s very secure as we drive in the gate, our truck has to be inspected underneath and under the hood for something suspicious (I assume it’s bombs).  A lot of people don’t like all the security, but we do.  Across the street is a big square and Friday night they were setting up loud speakers, etc.  I became a little worried and asked if we could return from the mission home a little early to insure we could get into our apartment.  We got home at 6:00 and everything was just fine.  In fact with all the police presence we’ve never had such an easy time getting through town.  We went to the roof (11th floor of our building) and took this picture today.  The actually installed a big television screed that is broadcasting happenings around the Francophonie Summit.  You can see the truck that brought everything in and some of the people standing in front watching.

 

            Saturday we hosted dinner at our apartment for Rob, our church security guest, President and Sister Jameson with Ron the church security guest they were housing, and Elder and Sister Smith from downstairs came up to dinner.  This shows everyone visiting before sitting down to eat.

 

The picture shows President and Sister Jameson and our two guests.

 

Laraine made chicken pot pies which were a big hit.  President Jameson said that they were better than those he always ordered at Cracker Barrell back home.

 

It was lots of fun and the Jameson’s weren’t as intimidated as I was so they stayed until about 8:30.  It was interesting to hear about the security concerns of each of the countries here in Africa and Rob was able to explain about the DR Congo history and culture in comparison to other African countries, but it was more fun to just hear about their families and share a little about our family as well.

            Speaking of our family, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CASEY!!  We love you and are so proud of you!!

            And I hope we’re not speaking too soon, but we know Ryan will be sustained today as the new Bishop of the Stevens Creek Ward in Evans, Georgia.  We love you and are very proud of you, too, son!!

            For Val and Laberta, we ran into a very handsome young man, Elder Ndonzo, who served in Uganda while you were there and even while you served as temporary president.  He glowed when we mentioned your names and said to tell you that the advice you gave him to go home and honor his Priesthood has been very valuable to him.  He thanks you for it.

 We said that we went up on the roof and took some pictures.  For us it shows the big changes made in cleaning things up, in planting grass in the Place, and in making preparations for this big Summit this weekend.  The grass did not exist when we first came.  It will be interesting to see if they keep it up.

This shows the fountain but also the central railway station across the street.

This pictures shows just how close we are to the Congo River.  It is one of the four largest rivers of the world.  One place we looked shows that it is second behind the Amazon River for flow at the mouth.  Because it is always raining somewhere along the river, it does not have the fluctuations of some of the other big rivers.  This looks across the river to Brazzaville, capital of Republic of the Congo.

This shows the many logs at the dock.  Forrestry is one of the large industries in DR Congo, but everyone indicates that it is not done with conservation and planning for the future in mind.

Some say that this is the most beautiful building in Kinshasa.  It is the government building.

This is Laraine on the roof as we look across the Congo River.

 





Things continue to go well for us.  We hope we can continue to move forward.  We just had 13 loans approved for funding so we stay busy.

C'est compliqué!!

October 1-7, 2012

We have had a very good week.  We feel that we are little by little able to identify some of the issues in the PEF files and records and get resolution.  There is a phrase we keep hearing here in the Congo.  That phrase is “c’est compliqué.”  It means “it is complicated” It seems we can ask a question or ask why and how, and they always start their response by “c’est compliqué” followed by a long explanation.  It has the connotation that nothing here is easy.  We have come to that same conclusion. Nothing in the Congo is easy.  We find ourselves documenting all our research by dates, reference numbers, and verification by more than one source.  It still has to go through the various people and departments, but we hope it speeds things up by our work.  We are getting some things resolved, and we continue to work with finance, South Africa, and the bank to get our PEF records corrected and up to date.  We have meetings with two banks this coming week to see what can be done.  At the same time, we have many new students that we help get funding on their approved loans so they can start their education, and we only see this growing.  We are becoming more convinced that the busyness of our days is not just because we are learning but will continue our whole mission. 

               Our Saturday was another full day.  We went to City Market to do some needed shopping, dropped off our groceries and immediately headed to attend “Planning for Success” workshop for those getting started after attending the PEF fireside last Saturday.  Brother Mbiya, S&I coordinator, conducted this workshop.  As we said last week, this workshop continues for four weeks.  We really enjoyed being there.  We can definitely see why it is important for the coordinators to conduct the workshops because they know and understand the local culture, economy, schools, and jobs to individualize the workshop to the needs of the young people here.  There is no way we will ever know enough to teach the material making it relevant to the Congolese in the way Brother Mbiya did.  There were probably 10 people at the workshop.

 

               Immediately following the workshop, we returned home to prepare a meal to start our fast, do our laundry, and be ready at 5:00 pm to listen to general conference.  Because of the time difference and the time needed to get conferences on DVDs in French, we have our regular church (fast Sunday) meetings this weekend.  Our general conference weekend with be October 20-21.  However, we are grateful for technology and the internet which allowed us to listen to conference.  We were able to use our iPad and the KSL.com app to listen rather well.  The 10:00 am session started at 5:00 pm and the 2:00 pm session started at 9:00 pm. 

 

                 The Priesthood session is not broadcast, and I don’t think I would have stayed up till 1:00 am anyway.  I stayed up through the whole afternoon session.  Laraine fell to sleep so we have been re-listening today.  As I mention the KSL app for iPad, I must say that I woke up yesterday morning about 4:00 am and was curious about the BYU/USU football game.  I turned on KSL.com just as BYU scored before halftime to go ahead 6-3.  By then I was awake so I stayed awake and listened to the rest of the game.  I should have been too tired to stay awake for the second conference session till 11:00 but I did, so it was a long day.  Then our church block starts at 8:00 am this morning, but we enjoy the meetings and especially to hear the strength of the members as they bear their testimonies.  It has been a great day.

               Last week, Kalonji, one of our volunteers at the PEF Center, asked me if I would talk to the English club about finance.  I eagerly accepted because I enjoy things like this and thought it would be fun talking from a perspective of finance back home but asking and learning about circumstances here in the Congo.  Therefore, on Thursday I had the opportunity to talk banking and finance to the English club.  Kalonji said they like to play a game before going into their planned activity and wondered if I had a game.  I thought I could come up with something so again I volunteered.  As I was preparing, I started to worry that maybe I needed a game more appropriate to young adults so I quickly fired an email to Kara who didn’t have much time to get me something but tried.  She emailed a Jeopardy template that used math questions.  I appreciated her effort but immediately could see that it was too much math for our English club and that I didn’t have time to change it.  Thank you anyway Kara, but I used something that I had used with boy scouts, and it seemed to go over okay.  After the game, I used a power point to help me talk about money, banking, budgeting, and responsibility.  It was very eye opening as I would explain something very common back home but totally foreign to them.  It really gave me some insight into how difficult it is for families just to have enough in order to subsist.  Young people here don’t get money from parents and even at very young ages (I got the impression at barely school age) have to find some means to meet their own needs even food and clothing.  Families of those in our group don’t take vacations.  Buying a home or a car is out of the normal.  I told them that $100,000 would probably hardly buy a very modest home in the US.  $100,000 was something they could not imagine.  And savings is almost a foreign concept to them.  Some had a vague idea what plastic money is.  None knew what a debit card is.  I enjoyed my time with them and took longer than I should have.  Laraine stayed in the PEF office and worked.  She said she got a lot done but was tired and very ready to get home.

                We got home just in time to join the other senior couples to go to a Town Meeting sponsored by the US Embassy.  It was held at the home of the US Ambassador to DR Congo.  

 

Laraine was tired enough that she would have loved to stay home.  However, we thought this would be a good experience especially since they were going to address how to vote absentee in the elections back home.  We had registered with the County Clerk before we left and had received our ballots via email, but in Wyoming we have to return the physical ballots with our signed statement.  They said that if we already had our ballots in an envelope with the proper US postage, they would take the envelopes and put them in the embassy pouch which goes back to Washington DC.  There they would put them in the mail for us.  We must say that US postage was not something we thought about bringing with us.  We called other senior couples and found that Elder and Sister Smith brought stamps thinking they would try to use the mission pouch system for a single page Christmas letter.  Anyway, they were good enough to give us a couple of stamps so we were able to turn our ballots in.

               We are proud to be Americans and have the right to exercise our vote even if we are out of the country.  We feel proud just to see the flag, even if we are not the most popular in some areas of the world.

 

               It was a fun experience to go and see the home of the ambassador.  He also talked a little about the security and safety issues right now.  This is not a good photo.  It is of the Ambassador taken with my iPod.

 

We signed up on-line to receive any travel/safety bulletins while we are here.  The mission president also forwards those he receives from the embassy or from the Church.  It seems that we have been receiving two or three bulletins a week right now because of the Francophonie Summit Conference being held here this weekend.  The opposition party has given notice of protests and we have been told not to be out after dark and to avoid any places with large crowds.  We have remarked the increased presence of military with bigger guns, and more local police throughout the city.  We are not sure if it makes us feel safer or more nervous.  We would love to take some pictures, but we were told from the beginning that we don’t take pictures of police, military, or public buildings.  We have alluded to the fact that the DR Congo is trying to make a good impression on all the Summit leaders coming for this conference.  They have been cleaning up the streets and fixing things up to look nice.  We just hope it continues after the Summit.

 

              This photo shows across the street and how they put up some tin fencing that they painted blue and the next photo is taken today when it is raining (yes the rainy season is starting and we are told will get worse) and no people but shows they painted the Congo flag on it just to make things look better.

 

 

             Laraine wanted to get this photo showing all the people as they leave the gare (central railway station) early in the morning to come to town.

 

               We haven't carried our camera this week and used my iPod to take most of these photos.  The quality isn't very good and we apologize, but we wanted to document some of our activities.  We are doing well and are happy.  We hope everyone there is also.  We appreciate your love, support, and prayers.