Our first Zone Conference--Solo

It has been quite a weekend here in Lubumbashi.

First we were supposed to pick up an Area Authority, who was staying in our guest house, at 11:00am on Fri. He called us at 11:15 and said that his plane, which was going to Lubumbashi, actually went to Mbuji-Mayi, a city not even close to here. Only in Africa!! So, he would get the next plane here which arrived at about 3:00. We had worked on a nice meal for us and had the meat and sauce ready when at 4:00 the power went off and I was unable to finish cooking the meal. It was off for the next 8 hours. We ended up eating bread, fruit and cheese with Elder Kola by candlelight. I was just praying that the power would come on in time to print up my talk, since last week it didn't and I had to hand copy it from the computer. We got power back at about 11:00pm. At least, Elder Kola will put in a good word for us to get a generator. We hope!

FRIDAY we held the first zone conference that we've done on our own. We invited the elders from Likasi (65 miles away) to join us. They are in our zone but rarely come here. That made 30 missionaries, including us. It's an extremely large number of missionaries to have in a zone. Brent never had more than about 12 in any zone on his mission. But we have 26 elders and one African couple who are in the Lubumbashi zone. This time, we decided to get them all together.

The Lubumbashi Zone with Elder Kola

The elders from Likasi got on a transport by 6:30 am so they could be here by 9:30.A transport is not a comfortable way to travel. It has about 19 people crammed in a minivan on hard benches and one guy hanging out the sliding door and jumping in and out taking money. But our missionaries were just happy to be able to come to a Zone Conference in Lubumbashi.

This is a picture that gives a feel for what a transport is like.

They are the major source of transportation, if you don't walk.

While they were traveling, we went and picked up elder Mpoyi, the elder who had hernia surgery 6 days ago. He wanted to be at zone conference and made it through the whole thing. We took Elder Kola, our visiting African Area Authority, with us as we headed for the Bel Air apartment. On the way, we saw four of our elders walking from Ruashi, which is about 10 km away. When we picked up the four elders at the apartment it meant that we had four of us in the truck and the other three elders and all the supplies in the back of the truck. It makes me very nervous to put people in the back of the truck, but in the Congo, as our Zone Leader Elder Kirongozi explained, "You take all the people you can when you can in the Congo."

When we got to the church, about 8:00, most of the elders from Lubumbashi were already there and setting up. By 8:30 they were in the chapel and they were singing hymns until the elders from Likasi arrived at 9:20.

Meanwhile, Elder Kola had an emergency. He had forgotten to send some documents to Johannesburg before he came to Lubumbashi. So, while the elders and I sang in the chapel, Brent took Elder Kola back home and took care of his business for him. I had forgotten my hymn book and sweet Elder Kirongozi gave me his so that I could sing with them. It's very strange not to know the words to the songs. I know almost every song in English, but have to really work to sing them in French, even with a hymnbook.

Brent and Elder Kola arrived back just as the Likasi group arrived. After 2 1/2 hours in a transport they were dropped off at the church. When they arrived it was a scene never to be forgetten. Most of these elders know each other since all but two are from the Congo. They come from the same towns, or have worked as missionaries together, or they were ward/branch missionaries working with full-time elders or were in the MTC in Ghana together. When the Likasi elders arrived they just about ran into the chapel and began hugging, back slapping, head bonking (a way to show affection here), cheek kissing, hand slapping and showing general joy at seeing each other. It was like nothing we have ever seen before. They went down the rows expressing joy at seeing each elder. I could not hold back the tears as we watched these wonderful elders demonstrating such love for each other. Then we had to try and help them remember that they were in the chapel. It was hard to discourage such demonstrations of deep affection and joy.

Our conference went very well, considering we are a couple of novices and had no idea what we were doing. The elders were very attentive and generally awesome and we felt good about it.

As soon as the meetings were over, Elder Kola realized that he had another problem. So he and Brent went back to our house while I got lunch for the Elders. Fortunately, we had decided on KFC (that's Katanga Fried Chiken--note the African spelling here) box dinners.

We had discussed a cheaper, but more labor intensive, plan to make hoggies, etc, but the zone leaders were so enthusiastic about the chicken that we decided to treat them to KFC, pop and home made cookies. It was a good idea. They loved the greasy chicken & french fries, coleslaw and rolls. When they were finished there was not a thing left in any of the boxes but the bones and napkins.

After much picture taking and many more hugs, all the elders set off for home on foot and in the transport. We took home a very tired Elder Mpoyi. It was a great day for us all!

We got home to see that we had power and water and all seemed right with the world. We even talked to the Webb family on Skype. Then suddenly the internet went off. It's hard to describe how horrible this was for us. We can do without water and power, but the internet is our tie to our family and the outside world, so it was pretty upsetting when it didn't work. Actually, by morning, when it still didn't work we were pretty discouraged and frantic. At breakfast we said a prayer for the internet. Not sure that qualifies for prayers, but we know that the Lord can help us with anything. About five minutes later, Brent began to think that he had to do something (or I might just jump on the next plane) and the thought came into his mind that at home Scott just unplugged our router and then plugged it in again when things stopped working. So, he decided to try it. For us, the technologically challenged, this was a big leap of faith. BUT IT WORKED! Brent had talked to the Elders at conference about the section on prayers in the Bible dictionary. (If you haven't read it, do!! It's awesome!) It says that we should not hesitate to ask the Lord for blessings, no matter what they are. If we ask, he will give us those things that He's already willing to give us and knows are for our good. But we must ask. So we did. I think it was OK to pray for the internet and I think that the Lord answered that prayer in a very immediate and merciful way. The Lord is taking good care of us. We're back in business!!