CONGO RULE NUMBER ONE

We have determined that Rule Number One is a powerful rule in the Congo. Simple, but true!

RULE NUMBER ONE

NOTHING IS EVER EASY IN THE CONGO!

NO PROBLEM! (Don't let things get you down!)

If you just remember that rule, you can be happy here.

Last week Katuba stake borrowed our generator for conference. NO PROBLEM! We had hardly used it since the power had been on most of the time since we got it. NO PROBLEM! They brought it back and hooked it up. NO PROBLEM! Yesterday the power went out. So, we cranked up the generator. NO PROBLEM!

It worked for 30 seconds and then black smoke came pouring out. NO PROBLEM? Two guys spent 6 hours taking it apart, putting it back together, trying it without success, taking it apart, putting it back together, etc. NO PROBLEM? They declared it fixed at 6:00PM, just about three hours after the power had returned. Then, the power went out about 7:00. NO PROBLEM! We ran to turn on the "repaired" generator. It lasted 20 seconds. There was more black smoke filling the air and no power. NO PROBLEM? Today the power is out again.

SOLUTION to all of the above:

Consult RULE NUMBER ONE

Our Very Own Brasier

Brent was asked to do a District financial audit in Likasi. We laughed right out loud when they asked him, until we realized that they were serious. He has never done an audit in his life. He doesn't even enjoy balancing the check book. But he studied and stressed like crazy and we headed for Likasi. The audit went fine, except that the receipts looked like a "pile of confetti."

While we were there Brent did missionary interviews with our ten elders, met with a branch president, looked at some apartments for more elders, interviewed a prospective full-time missionary and we spent some time with our wonderful African couple training him on finances. They are the first full-time Congolese missionary couple EVER.

The Motshikanas.

They're the Mama and Papa to the elders in Likasi and are essential to the success there. They have also had many baptisms. We love them dearly. They have become great friends.

I was talking to her about Congolese cooking and told her that I would like to have a brazier. This is a metal cooker in which you build a charcoal fire. This is how you cook everything in the Congo. She thought it was hilarious that I wanted one, but said that she would take us shopping.

About that time a young returned missionary came to the church. He's just one of my favorite people in Likasi. In the Congo people come to the church all day, every day. I'm not sure just why, but the church is always open and they come all the time. Sister Motshikana asked him where he thought we should go to get a small brazier. Immediately, he said that he would go with us to buy one. So, we all loaded in the truck and headed out for Kikula.

Kikula is a "suburb" of Likasi. It's a most interesting place that is packed full of small brick homes and has no paved roads. Sometimes we aren't sure that our truck will make it through on the roads of Kikula, but the church is growing there by leaps and bounds.

He directed us to the home of his sister. This is the street where she lives. Notice the little people walking down the middle of the street carrying water and siblings. His sister came out of her house with two braisers, which were apparently being used by her family.

We tried to pay them for it and they all said that this was a gift and would not take our money.

Here are her daughter and son Frere Musango, his sister, Sr. Motshikana and me

He also said that he wants to make a very small brazier for us, so that we could take it home and show our American friends and family how the Congolese cook. We were most honored to have such a generous gift from this great young man and his sister.

Just another trip to Likasi. Here is a little part of our drive home. We don't want to forget the Likasi road, as if we could! We call this part the earthquake road. It's always an adventure.

The Fisherman

No pictures, but there's a story worth recording, even without pictures. Brent interviewed a couple yesterday about baptism. They have an amazing story. They live in a village 300 miles from Lubumbashi. His only way of earning a living is fishing. He catches fish, which they dry, and then take to market in Lubumbashi. They transport them on bicycles. Their trip here, 300 miles, takes them a week in the dry season, and two in the rainy season. They sleep at night in villages, if the chief of the village will allow them to stay there. If not, then they move on until they find a chief willing to allow them to stay overnight. They found out about the church while in Lubumbashi and want to be baptized. Sadly, people who live too far from a center of strength where members can be supported, are often given more challenges by becoming members than blessings. Without the support of the church near them, they have difficulty living their covenants fully and continuing to grow and progress. So, being baptized is not always a blessing. They told Brent that they will try to find a way to move to the city and then they will be baptized. This reminds me of the pioneer days when our ancestors left their homes and resettled in Kirtland, Far West, Navuoo, and Utah to gather with the saints of those days. Today is the time for gathering in Africa. There are many cultural and physical hardships here to challenge those who want to join the church. But they are also strong and faithful people and want to live the gospel the best they can. They are truly the pioneers of Africa. We pray for this couple that they will be able to do what they desire and be baptized one day soon.

While We're on the Road

When recording travels on the roads in Lubumbashi we wanted to show the things we see every day as we drive through the city. There are many ways to get from one place to another here. The most common is by foot.

This picture is taken in front of Jambo Market, our favorite store. We get better prices at supermarkets than in the marche. Prices are the same for everybody in the supremarket. If we go to markets, the price goes up the minute our white faces appear.

A common form of travel is the bicycle. It is less a way of personal transportation and more a way to transport things. Today Brent talked to a couple who live in the bush and make a living by fishing, drying the fish, and then riding bicycles 460km (half way from Phoenix to Salt Lake) to take their fish to market in Lubumbashi. It takes them a week or two to make the trip, depending on whether it's the rainy or the dry seasons.

The charcoal sellers travel back and forth from the bush with charcoal on their bikes. People carry lumber, animals, even furniture. You name it, we've seen it carried on a bike. Animals are not used to transport things. Can't figure out why!

Then there is the transport. They're the big people transporter, 22 people crammed in a mini-van. There are hundreds on the road at all times and they have no intention of following the rules, except one-- the faster you get there the more money you make.

There are many trucks on the roads. They certainly can fill a truck beyond capacity.

They carry products in them and people on top of the products. Sometimes they just fill them full of people.

The most amazing thing of all is the chariot. They use them to move everything. I used to marvel that my ancestor pulled a handcart across the US for three months. These people will pull and push a chariot for a lifetime.

Garbage day at our house with Robert and the garbage man.

For a city of 2 million there are not huge numbers of cars, and driving is most interesting. Brent has learned to drive just like them. The other day he said,"Driving is a just a game in the Congo, and I must admit that I LOVE PLAYING IT!" Frightening! I drove for the first time this week. I only drove about a mile. I did just fine. I didn't disappear into any potholes and I got to my destination. That's all I was hoping for. And I didn't get stopped by the police, who are on every corner. They don't like their pictures taken and they do like to get money from you. Brent has made it his specail challenge to make friends with them. He waves and salutes and drives right on. That's just a part of the traffic game and traveling in the Congo

On the Road in Lubumbashi

Once a month on Thursday morning we visit the missionaries' apartments.

We deliver supplies and support money. We check their apartments for cleanliness, find out their needs and just give them our love and support.

We travel around the city from about 7am-12pm. This is p-day for the elders,

so we can find them at home. It's always an interesting day

The roads in Lubumbashi are very unique and often a challenge,

especially when it has rained.

The main streets are two lanes (where people drive like there are four lanes) and everywhere there are people walking, riding and transporting things on bikes or pulling and pushing chariots. Animals are not used to transport things, people do the jobs themselves.

Most people travel by foot or, if they have the money, by transport (minivans which have the interior stripped and benches welded into them). They put up to 22 people in them. They are packed and they are everywhere.

Carrying a lot of people is a fine art in the Congo. You put as many in your vehicle as you can. If you carry things, then people ride on top of the things in your truck.

We are often surprised at what we see coming down the roads.

You would not guess from looking at these streets that Lubumbashi is a city of 2 million people.

The streets are mostly lined with tiny shops, open markets, and vendors by the side of the road.

They are selling gas in gallon jugs, baskets, food, animals, and charcoal.

There's furniture, and clothing and about anything they can find to sell.

After you leave the major streets and get into the neighborhood, the streets are almost all either very broken, pothole filled asphalt or dirt. These are streets in the city.

It's different there than in the US. Here the closer you live to town the better the neighborhood.

and the more services and roads you have.

As you go further out from town, you have all dirt streets.

Until finally there are only foot paths.

Then there are no streets at all.

It's always an adventure on our Thursday drives. We are really glad that we have a four wheel drive vehicle and a guardian who washes our car whenever we come home.

The African Sky

The rainy season began in October and goes through April. We have rain almost every day. Mostly it just rains in little cloud bursts for a few minutes a few times a day, but it can also rain hard, Arizona-like rain all day long. It makes for a muddy mess, and life is so much harder for the people when it rains.

But it also brings the most beautiful skies that we have ever seen.

Every day, everywhere we go, we want to take pictures of the sky.

Whether they are white and fluffy or dark and threating, they are amazing

When we drive out in the bush, the sky looks like it fills the world and only leaves a little room for the people who live there.

It makes me think of Moses, who said,"Now for this cause I know that man is nothing, which thing I never had supposed."

When we drive in the city the sky is a stark contrast to the brown of the roads and walkways.

It makes the drabness of the world here look brighter and more beautiful.

Just driving up our street can be magnificent. This picture was taken when we were just going home, which is on the left just beyond the maze of pot holes.

Living in Arizona, with its endless blue sky, has made me appreciate the beauty of clouds.

When I was a little girl, I used to like to lie on the grass and find things in the clouds. Now I just look at them with wonder.

On the way home from Likasi yesterday there were rainbows all over the sky. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

The skies of the Congo are something we will always remember.