We count our blessings!

Nov 26-Dec 2, 2012

This week has been a very full week but again we count our blessings to be here.  We appreciate that we stay busy and would have it no other way, but we hate to feel that we leave so many things undone as we leave the PEF Center each day.  

The big event of this week was our first regional correlation council meeting with Elder Mabaya.  Our invitation said the meeting would be starting at 9:30 am but asked us to come at 11:30 and take 8 minutes to report on PEF.  We also had been asked to help with another Family History training session at 10:00 so we just figured that we would leave early.  Eight minutes is not a long time so we knew we needed to be to the point and maybe even have a handout to leave.  We don’t have a printer at the apartment so my first thought was to prepare at the office.  I should have known better.  I tried one morning but found quickly it was easier just to do it from home.   It shouldn’t take that much time to prepare, but when you are presenting before a general authority, stake presidents, and our mission president in French, you want it to be right both written and verbally especially since I am still pretty new getting back into the French.  Therefore most of my evenings were taken in getting a two page handout ready and making some notes to help me stay within the time limit.  I spent quite a bit of time just talking to myself out loud to be comfortable in what I might say.  I let one of our volunteers read the handout, and I’m glad I did.  He suggested changes that let me know that too often I use direct translations which may be understood but not proper.

We arrived at 10:00 am only to find that the Family History training meeting had been rescheduled for next Saturday.  There were some young adults at the church to play basketball.  I left my suit coat inside, and went outside to watch for a minute.  Bad idea! There were only 3 there so I asked if I could shoot a couple.  We didn’t ever play any type of game but just shooting around in high humidity and temperature in the high 80s, I was sweating profusely when I decided it was time to quit.  I’m glad there were a few minutes before we were invited into the council meeting.

The way Elder Mabaya introduced us and invited our report seemed to change my approach.  I tried to make a little joke about how we come from a much colder climate, that it is hot here but that I seemed to even find it hotter in the meeting.  It didn’t go over too well and didn’t help me relax.  We were able to report that there are now 284 approved applicants in the DR Congo with around 240 loans outstanding.  I hope we were able to explain what is happening and express our needs and concerns.  I know I made lots of mistakes in my French which discourages me sometimes, but I appreciate the opportunities we have here.  I left analyzing our presentation.  It was only today at church when our mission president said I did a “great” job was I able to leave it alone.

Being in a country that does not celebrate Thanksgiving and does not have the same commercial emphasis on Christmas gives us opportunity to reflect on what is important and how it will change our holiday season.  Thanksgiving arrived without the normal anticipation and was gone after a simple get together with other couple missionaries, and the season of Christmas doesn’t arrive the day following Thanksgiving like it does back home.  However, the season allows us to realize just how blessed we are being around people who don’t have much.  They are teaching us so much about what is really important and what really counts.

We recognize that the Christmas season is a time we fill our homes with decorations, food, presents, friends, and family.  However, decorations, food, presents, and family won’t take their normal place in our home this year.  We will celebrate with a whole new batch of friends in a very different way, and we are excited for it.  We know we will miss family and friends back home, but we are appreciating our many blessings.

We have been called to serve in a part of the world that we would have never imagined.  We are seeing the church grow as we would never have understood.  We are in and around children of our Father in Heaven who accept their circumstances and push forward in great faith knowing that He is in charge and that His plan of happiness makes us all better.  We are starting to understand that we are so accustomed to and can’t seem to be without so many conveniences that are unavailable to people in other parts of the world.

We take for granted electricity, air conditioning, clean water, high speed internet, and one or more cars in the garage ready to get us quickly between appointments.  We take for granted a free country where we have a voice in government, where laws protect us, and where we have opportunities to be and do whatever we can dream.  We have been placed in circumstances to see people who don’t have electricity that they can count on let alone a backup generator to provide electricity when the power is out.  We see so many that cook outside on charcoal.   Sister Jameson told us of a time when President Thierry, a stake president, brought his son to the mission office.  She was trying to entertain this little boy in their apartment by letting him color a picture while waiting.  He was coloring in such a hurry that he wasn’t staying within the lines.  She told him to slow down so he could do a better job.  He said he had to hurry before the electricity went off.  He lives where the power is not consistent.  We count our blessings and appreciate living where we do.

This week has shown us what we can expect during the hot rainy season.  We are starting to see severe storms much more often, and we are told that they will get worse during this month.  We had one storm this week during the night that I was awakened and then couldn’t get back to sleep as I could even see the lightning flashes through my closed eyelids, and the thunder was so loud that I just had to lay there for quite a while.  In some ways it is really quite beautiful to watch the storms come in.  

I have wondered if the Congolese have some way to project exactly when the rain will commence. Friday night was one of those times when we beat the storm home, and I decided to watch everything though our window.  I was amazed at how many people were on the street even when the lightning seemed so close.  They didn’t seem panicked so I figured that they had some internal radar telling just how much time they had.  But then it started to rain and quickly turned into a gusher. I wish you could see the lightning but it didn't show in the picture.  It is difficult to see across the Congo River because of the heavy rain falling.

 People were still on the street.  Many were running to whatever shelter they could find.  It became obvious that most all of these people don’t have their own cars.  They are dependent on transports.  The transports have a stop just outside our building but it seems that during storms there are fewer transports since drivers don’t like to drive in the gushers, maybe like us not wanting to drive in the snow.  When a transport would pull up twenty people would run towards it just hoping to get a seat or even a space.  They would try to cram into an already full transport so the driver would pull off with people hanging on and running after it, all the while getting soaked.  I can’t imagine how many people were crammed into each of those transports.

It is amazing just how fast things go back to normal after a storm.  It is hard to see the person on the grass cutting with a scythe not a lawn mower.

Storms bring mud which dries quickly causing dirt and dust on the roads.  We are still amazed that there are so many sweepers using brooms and wheelbarrows to clean the roads.

Yesterday, I was sweeping our little balcony and thought I would show Casey that there are weights and a bench so he wouldn't miss his workouts by serving a mission.

 It is pretty hot and humid so I'm sure you can work up a sweat.

As we count our blessings, I thought I would show the grill that was left for us.  We haven't used it yet.

We really do count our blessings.  We have a great apartment.  We not only have a vehicle but one with air conditioning.  We have internet although very slow.  We have all we need, and we have each other.

We send our love to each of you.  We feel your prayers.