So much has happened since I last wrote. We are in our house in Lubumbashi & we have been totally cut off from the world for FOUR days, since we got here. The wonderful people have been so kind to us & helped us, but it's been hard not to be able to contact anybody. No phone or internet yet. It's a little strange and frightening, but we are locked in our house with giants steel door & windows & gate is shut tight, so I'm trying not to be too nervous. It will be good to have Mon. come & be able to get phones & internet set up.
So, I'm writing about our time since we left Kinshasa. We had our first trip on an African airline & it was quite the adventure. It's two hour plane trip from Kinshasa to Lubumbashi. We left the mission office at 6:30 along with ten wonderful young missionaries & Jule, an IT man from the church. Eustash, who is a wonderful young man who works for the church, drove us & lead the way. He was so helpful the whole time we were in Kinshasa. He does a little of everything to make things work for the mission. Without him & the office couple, Brother & Sister Moon, the mission would shut down. They were amazing & dedicated workers.
We drove the half hour trip to the airport through Kinshasa that we had driven at night on the way into town. I couldn't believe my eyes & cannot describe to you the sight we saw. The entire route was filled with tiny little shacks, which were filled with small businesses, on the side of the two-lane highway. People were everywhere. They were already filling their baskets with bread & wood & other things that they carry on their heads. Fires were set on the sides of the road, which were cleared back about 20 feet. The people were burning trash & sitting by fires (I guess to keep warm & to burn garbage since there is no infrastructure) although it was about 80 degrees. From the street to the little shacks that serve as stores there was only dirt. I wish I could have taken a picture because it's impossible to help you imagine what it looked like, but my camera was in the back with our eight bags & one bag for each of the 10 missionaries.
We began our trip at 6:30. The plane was supposed to leave @ 9:45. It took us every minute of that time to get us & our 8 bags & the elders & their 10 bags through the procedure of getting on. The people who looked through every carry on couldn't believe the things we had in our bags. They asked us why we needed all the medicine & Brent said, "because we're old". They they looked at our tags, read the words on them, asked me what that meant & let us through. In the end, a cute security worker came up & introduced himself as a member of the church & helped move us through the process of foreigners getting through security. He just walked us right of to the place we needed to go and was so helpful. But all that was OK because the plane didn't leave for another 90 mins! The cute elders watched us as we struggled with our 2 very heavy carry-on bags & after a few minutes elders took them from us & carried & pulled them all the rest of the way to Lubumbashi. They were so dear & so kind to us.
When we got on the plane & arrived at our assigned seat somebody else was in it. So, a stewardest kindly showed us to another pair of seats. In the end there weren't enough seats for everybody & one of our elders ended up standing. I was sure that they were going to make him get off & he was on of the elders returning home after his 2 year mission. I was so worried for him. Then one of the other elders got out of his seat & went to help this missionary. They warned him that he would lose his own seat, but he went right ahead. Finally, he found a seat for the returning elder when some one got up and then that person had to sit in the jump seat. From that point on things went well. They served us a little piece of hard candy, then a drink and then a hard roll with some cheese on it. They said all the things that they normally say on any other plane, but they did it in between 2 & 4 languages.
We landed at last in Lubumbashi & had the same kind of process to get our luggage. We were met by a church employee, Brother Monga, who had to stand outside the airport until we identified him & then they let him in. They told us to just sit down & they would take care of everything & we were glad to do so. Again the elders hauled our bags for us. What wonderful, sweet young men they are. I feel so grateful to get to work with them. We saw the family of the returning missionary and they embraced him for a long time & then they came & shook our hands & we told them what a fine missionary he had been. His Dad just beamed from ear to ear & kept sort of bowing toward us & saying thank you. What a tender time to share. I hope we see them again here in Lubumbashi.
Lubumbashi is a lot different than Kinshasa. It's hard to explain, but it's just slower pace & the businesses, though small, are better kept up & there are many old homes from the Belgium era here. There are street lights & even some new construction. there is still poverty & it makes me so sad, but it's a much happier & friendlier place. we are the envy of all the mission couples to get to live here.
We stopped at a grocery store that is new & a very pleasant surprise. Sister Monga kept saying that we could get anything in Lubumbashi & I think she's right. The place is called Jambon Market (Jambon is the word for Hello in Swahili.) One of the missionaries tried all week to teach me some Swahili & this is what I have from that. Jambon means hello & Mosori means I'm well. I'm kind of a slow learner, but we had fun doing it. I love these missionaries!!!
We have been in our house three days now & because we can't drive (the driver's license offices in Kinshasa have been closed for three weeks) we have pretty much been putting things in order & it's starting to feel like home. We are locked in behind big iron gates & our guard/gardener/worker bee has to open them to let people in. Everybody will call before they come when we have a phone. For now we go out & ask who it is & identify them to Robert, the guard. He's a really sweet man who works hard & is very nice. He puts his hands together near his chin & bows when he talks to me. So, respectful & makes me feel so old! I'd guess he's about 10 years younger than we are. He has 10 children & has not had enough money to send any of them to school. He makes $250 a month to support his family of 12 people. So sad! But at least he has work. He is very hard working. Every day he washes down the whole yard, and washes the cars. Everything is very dusty & dirty so it's nice that he washes things down. The rainy season will start soon & I think it will be good to hive this place a good washing.
Today the washing machine didn't work when I went out to do laundry in the "wash house" so I left the laundry there. When I looked out next he was hanging it on the clothes line. He had washed it all by hand & hung it out. Then tonight we found it all folded nicely in the laundry house. I am not comfortable with him doing my laundry & will tell him he doesn't have to do it anymore. We hope to get a new washer when Pres. & Sis. Headlee come on Wed. This one is on its last leg, or maybe past that.
What an amazing life we have here. If we can get the internet and phones and driver's license, all will be well. We wish that we could really show you what this world is like. It's impossible to explain, but it is wonderful in its own way.
I'm out of time & I'm sure you're tired of reading. I want to tell you about church yesterday just briefly. Church yesterday was one of the most amazing experiences of our lives. Desiree & his whole family came by to lead us to church. People were so friendly & kind. We could just feel their wonderful spirits. I was so excited that I got the main idea of most of what was said. They did ask me to pray in RS and to give my testimony in Sacrament meeting, which about made me faint. But the gift of tongues is real and I made it through. Brent said prayers in every meeting and gave his testimony in Sacrament Meeting. We met Bishop Lulu, who was awesome and the Stake Pres, who was very kind to us. Since Brent will be acting as the mission pres. in this area, they were eager to get to know us and so open to our help & advice. I think we will learn more from the than they do from us. These people are amazing. I wish that the people in our home ward back home would make newcomers so welcome. We sat on the stand with one of the cute new elders, Elder Mobugi (still can't get those names right). He is Elder Kapele's new companion. Elder Kapele is the brother to one of the missionaries that was in the group of missionaries who came with us from Kinshasa. He sure looks just like his brother. I thought they must be twins. We loved Elder K. so much. The new Elder Kapele carried my heavy suitcase all the way to Lubumbashi. What a kind, dear, young man. This was a ward and they filled the chapel. They sat in families just like we do & they were attentive & the singing was amazing. There were very few hymnals, so people just sang. They knew every word of all the verses & everybody sang. I watched one little boy of about eight & he never missed a word on any of the hymns. The mic. didn't work, the organ stopped on one song & the Bishop had to help his counselor a couple of times, but the meeting went right on & the spirit was strong & wonderful. I could just feel them pulling for me when I got up to speak & accepting me when I spoke in my horrible French. It was just a joyous experience. I told them in my testimony that my heart had been turned to the people of Lubumbashi & Africa immediately when we got our call. Sunday it was even more so. I am so grateful to be here. This is so much more wonderful than anything I could have imagined for a mission. Life is good!!!!
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