Help from Heaven

So much has happened this week that we need to record. Not all mission weeks are like this. Some are very quiet and we are trying to figure out what we can do that will be of value. But we need to remember the times when things go right and we are blessed.

We made another trip to Likasi. This week we enjoyed having the Wards with us on the drive. We took them to do their training in Likasi. They have been all over Africa and so the road was not a shock to them, like it was to us our first time. It seems to have gotten worse this rainy season. At a place where a huge truck has been abandoned in the middle of the road since before we got here, there is now a small lake on the other side of side of the road. That's the only place you can drive. You have to go through the lake. Brent just put the truck in four wheel drive and went for it. He's getting to be quite the Congolese driver!

So, we sailed along with some degree of confidence. We still always worry a little that the villagers will be upset and do something frightening or that we will have trouble out there on the road in the mud far from any help. But we have been very blessed to have had no problems that weren't manageable. When we arrived at the church we helped the Wards into the building. We hadn't been in there for more than five minutes when one of the members came to tell us that we had a flat tire. It was not just low, but totally flat. We felt so grateful that we were protected from that tire going flat on the crazy, bumpy road where we hit many potholes and wildly serpentined around the road to miss the worst ones. It seems like a bit of a miracle that it didn't blow on us. It would be really bad to be stranded in the bush with a flat tire. We recognize that we were definitely watched over and blessed with a safe journey.

I attended the Ward's meetings on finance while Brent had some meetings with District leaders on a very difficult problem. It was a stressful day for him and he was anxious to get to the hotel and rest. We had dinner with the Wards at the only restaurant where we know we can safely eat and then they headed back to our house with the other auditor. We went to look for a new hotel that we wanted to try. We drove all over Likasi and never could find it or get them to answer their phone. So, we went back to the hotel where we stayed last time. It had been OK except that we had no hot water. This time it wasn't nearly as nice. Our room had no light in the bathroom. The small fridge didn't work, which we discovered was because the end of the cord had been cut off. (It did serve as a nice stand for the TV, which had three stations.) In the morning we went to get ready and there was NO water. Brent couldn't even get enough water to shave, so we just used a little hand sanitizer and went on our way to Zone Conference.

We always consider very carefully the subject that we will have for our conferences. This time Brent felt very strongly that we should talk about charity. We planned our talks and continued to feel like this was the subject on which we should speak. The impression was quite strong. We always have all the elders prepare a talk for each conference on a subject of their choice. Then we call on two of them to give the talk they have prepared.

Elder Mukenge, a really sweet young elder who started his mission when we did, was the first to talk. He began by reading from Moroni 7:47-48 and then he proceeded to talk about charity-the pure love of Christ.

When Elder Konde got up to give his talk, he too had prepared a talk on charity. We were so amazed. Then we knew that we had chosen the subject that the Lord wanted discussed. Not only had He influenced us to speak on this subject, but these two elders had been listening to the Spirit tell them to speak on that subject too. It is a sweet experience when we knew that you have done the Lord's will. We shared this special experience with our elders so that they too would know that Heavenly Father was watching over all of us and telling us the same thing. They needed to know that the Lord knew them and knew just what they needed to hear.

This is the kind of experience that makes it worth staying in hotel with NO water.