The Jameson Hotel

Sometimes, we get to know people well and they become a major part of our lives. But sometimes, we just pass through each other's lives for a moment. Even in passing, there are things to be learned and to remember. Most of the time we are pretty much on our own in Lubumbashi. It's just the two of us. We have had some visitors and it appears that the word is getting out on the African grape vine that we have a guest house. So, we are having more church people stay with us. It's good! It gives us a chance to have some really interesting people pass through our lives.

Our little guest house is made of brick that is NOT plastered. We think that it's quite attractive.

The outside and the inside look much the same. It's small, but quite comfortable, except for the kitchen, which I can hardly stand in due to a little case of claustrophobia. The Wassums, the last couple here before us, lived in this house for their full mission.

Visitors

Frere Chamberlain from auditing in Kinshasa was our first visitor.

Elder Kola, an area authority from Kinshasa, was our second guest.

President and Sister Headlee stayed in Dec. when they came to see the missionaries.

After realizing that we were starting to have quite a few visitors, we decided fix it up a little and give it a good cleaning. We hired two sweet ladies from the ward to work on it.

Sister Elaine is a very nice widow in the ward and Sister Delphine is the Stake Relief Society President. They worked all day and scrubbed every inch of the place. They worked very hard and were so pleasant. They made a big difference.

This week we had Howard and Lorrayne Ward from South Africa with us for five days. They're from Idaho, where they ran a big ranch before their mission days.

They're serving their third mission. The first was to Thailand where they were humanitarian missionaries. The second was based in Zimbabwe and travelling to do training. This time they are based in South Africa and are doing financial training and auditing. Their calling seems like a very difficult one because they are looking under every rock in the financial affairs of the church. They are the watchdogs of the Lord's money and it seems like it would be a very depressing job. However, they were happy and optimistic and delightful. Using the guest house as home base they went to Kolwezi, Likasi and the two stakes in Lubumbashi. Then they flew on to Mbuji Mayi, Kananga and Kinshasa. They have traveled by plane and car all over Africa on their missions. Before we met them, we worried that this would be a hard trip for them. Nothing is easy in the Congo and they also speak no French. But, they were amazing troopers. They are so resilient and flexible. We were very inspired by their service and spunk. When their plane was canceled in Kolwezi and they were stranded overnight, they took it all in stride. When we took them on the bumpy dirt road to Likasi, they thought it was like four wheeling. They didn't complain when we were without power twice during their visit and they even brought us chocolate chips. We totally enjoyed their visit. It was a great blessing to have them pass through Lubumbashi.

Sidenote: They also brought me a sewing machine that Sister Headlee left in South Africa. She said that I could use it if we could get it here. African quilt tops-here I come!! I'll have to piece them now and quilt them when I get home because we haven't found batting. (The African sisters I asked about quilting thought it was crazy to take a big piece of fabric, cut it into little pieces, and then sew it back together to make a big piece again. Does sound a bit silly when you put it that way. Doesn't it?) But I'm excited!