At the top of the Mountain

At the top of the mountain is the half way point of your journey and today, May 31, 2010, we celebrate the top of our mission mountain. We have been out exactly nine months today. Brent likes to tease me that our release date is Feb. 31 and since there isn't one of those, we'll just end up here forever. Right! We celebrated our mid-way point in a most memorable way.

We spent the weekend with Sister Julie Beck, Relief Society General President and her husband, Ramon, Elder Dale Renlund of the First Quorum of the 70 and his wife, Ruth and Elder and Sister Erickson, a security senior couple from S. Africa. It was a great "high point" in our mission mountain and an incredible experience.

Jamesons, Becks, Ericksons and Renlunds

We are all dressed up in our Congolese dresses, given to us by the Relief Society sisters of Lubumbashi and Likasi. We wore them to our Sunday afternoon meeting. The members seemed to enjoy it and we had great fun doing it. Our elders told me that now I was "truly Congolese!"

On the way home from the airport with our guests, we made a short stop to check the progress on the new mission home. It's coming along, but we are a bit concerned about the office being ready for the big day.

After a quick lunch at our house we headed off to the first training session in Lubumbashi. This was a rare treat for the saints in the two stakes. We feel like it happened because Elder Renlund made the recommendation that she come here and that was a great lift to our members.

We had to take two cars with us everywhere went because we only have 5 passanger vehicles here. Desire and Brent drove to each destination. I had planned to drive the short distances and free up Desire to live is own life, but the battery (brand new last week) in our other car was dead when we went to go to the airport. Desire was so kind to help us the whole weekend.

There were more than 200 priesthood and Relief Society leaders from Katuba and Lububmashi stakes who met for the three-hour training session. Sister Beck was amazing in her training. She seemed to know just the things that the stakes needed to hear and the leaders were totally attentive to her and Elder Renlund. He spoke entirely in French. He has been working on his French and was amazing. I think that I need to start studying more!

After the meeting the women had a wonderful display of crafts and some traditional foods.

The visitors were so kind and interested in everything that was presented. They took a great deal of time looking at and appreciating the displays, even though they'd had a long day

of travel and meetings.

Here we are with our dear friend, Bishop Justin Mukuna and his wife at the party after the meeting. We just love this guy!

Gifts were present & hundereds of pictures taken

This one is Renlunds, Becks and Stake Presidents Mukubu and Mutshail

After a busy day we had a quiet soup and salad dinner at our house and then ended the day because our Saturday started early and would be very full. Visiting in casual moments was one of the best things about our weekend. There was both church and personal talk and it was all delightful. We could see the wheels turning in both Sister Beck's and Elder Renlund's heads as we talked about things in Lubumbashi, Kolwezi and Likasi. You could almost see the spirit registering things that they wanted to remember and Sister Beck took notes constantly.

Saturday we made the trip to Likasi through the bush. It took us longer than expected when each of our two cars was stopped by the police at different points along the road. Desire was stopped for having five passengers in his "five-passenger car" and we were stopped for ??? The final "serious infraction" was that Brent's driver's license was only a paper licence, since the driver's license bureau has been closed since we got here and they are only issuing temporary permits. Go figure! It took plenty of talk and time and a little cash to get us moving again. It was a real privilege and a great experience to have just us and the Becks in the car for much of the weekend and on this long trip to Likasi. It was wonderful to get to visit with them and talk about both important and not so important things.

We arrived safe and sound in Likasi and had a wonderful time with another group of more than 200 Sisters and priesthood leaders from Likasi and Kolwezi.

Many sisters lined up outside the doors of the District Center to greet the Becks. Our elders were thrilled to be there and we took advantage of a lot of photo opertuntities for them.

Brent did all the translating for Sister Beck when she spoke and when others spoke in French.

I actually translated for the Ericksons, poor things. Much to my surprise, it went pretty well! My French must be improving.

We had a very successful four hours of meetings. We had wondered how Sister Beck would speak to the needs and concerns that we knew existed in each area. It was amazing how she addressed just what they needed in terms to which they could relate. She told stories of her childhood in Brazil that was much like life here and she encouraged them to move, no matter how slowly, in the direction of their vision for the future. It was a real testimony to the spiritual direction that she was given to bless our sweet Congolese sisters.

Aren't these precious faces!

Because of our delays by the police we didn't have time to eat before the meetings, as planned. We also needed to get on the road to make it home before dark. So, we feed them a meal that they might not forget as we ate banana bread, apples, drinks and cookies that we passed out on the side of the road as we headed out of town. Not too classy, but if you're hungry enough, you'll be glad for anything. Then we headed back down the crazy road to Likasi. This time we didn't have a single incident to mar the trip. We finished off the evening with a quiet dinner at a really nice hotel that has just opened in Lubumbashi.

Sunday we attended a block of meetings in Lubumbashi 1st Ward and mingled with the great people of Lububmashi again. Just look at these faces.

As I walked down the hall after church, I turned the corner, and was surprised to discover that the District Relief Society Presidency from Likasi was there. We think that they felt badly that they had given a dress only to Sister Beck and not all four of the women visitors, so they made dresses and came to bring them to us. It's a 2-hour trip on a mini-van crammed with peoople to get from Likasi to Lubumbashi. We couldn't believe that they had made that trip to do that for us. Their kindness will be a sweet memory.

Brent and I dropped in on a baptism for seven people right after the block of meetings. The elders often invite us to baptismal services and always seem pleased when we come. Sister Beck met with the district and stake R. S. Presidencies. The others had a little snack that we had prepared for them in a room in the church. No time to go home or to sit down for a nice meal. They keep a very full schedule everywhere they go.

From there it was right on to the dedication of the new CES building. It was a great blessing to be able to be at this historic event. I feel every day like we are watching church history unfold.

Elder Renlund did the dedication in French. It was so exciting to have him speaking in their language. He has made such a great effort to learn French and to be a real leader to the people of the French-speaking countries of Africa. The whole meeting was just wonderful, despite a little problem of no lights and mikes that only worked off and on. They had checked everything out on Friday and it worked perfectly, but this is how things are here. It didn't matter. The technical problems didn't dampen the spirit or slow things down a bit. Everybody went on, undaunted.

A young adult choir sang their heart out. Nobody sings like the Congolese. Sister Beck was most delighted with the music everywhere we went. They sing with such conviction and they know all the words to every song. Much of the audience sings quietly along with the choir or prelude music.

The building was filled with over 800 faithful leaders, young adults, their parents and priesthood leaders and in the back, there was a whole row of wonderful elders and sisters.

It was just an amazing sight. The future of the Congo is bright, despite the hardships and enormous challenges. The light of the gospel is burning brightly and will continue to increase as services and supplies come to add to their faith and dedication.

Sister Beck expressed her belief that Lubumbashi is going to be a center of strength, not just for the DR Congo, but for all of Africa and is a special little secret center of the church on this continent. She and Elder Renlund have a vision of what this will be someday that is thrilling. We're so lucky to be a part of this time here when things are beginning to happen and the hand of the Lord is unfolding His plan for this nation and continent. It was just a powerful experience to see that vision with them.

Monga translated for the visitors so Brent was able to relax and enjoy the meeting, even though we were on the stand. Translating is very tiring, especially when you do it for somebody who has such important things to say and it needs to be right in every subtlety. He spent almost all weekend doing it.

After the services there were many pictures again. The General Authorities are so patient and kind with everybody, but it must be exhausting for them. We finally pushed through the crowd and got them to the vehicles and went to our house for dinner. This was the first time Sunday that they were able to just sit and relax and a nice quiet dinner together was the perfect finish to the day. (I made Cafe Rio pork salad-African style. There was not a single part of the recipe for which I had all of the ingredients except the flour tortillas, which I made from scratch. Rule #1! I just threw in this and that and they turned out fine. I picked green tomatoes from our garden to go in the dressing and that even worked.)

Monday morning we picked our company up at the hotel and took them into town to buy some Congolese souvenirs. There are five church-like tables on a corner in the center of town. Then it was on to the airport, where we stayed with them and chatted for two hours until their plane left for South Africa. They were all so gracious and appreciative.

We felt like we renewed our friendship with Elder and Sister Renlund and forged new ones with the Becks and the Ericksons.

It was great to get acquainted with the Ericksons and interesting to see them fulfill their assignment as they constantly kept Sister Beck in their sight, watched over her and magnified their missionary call. They are great people. We are always inspired by the senior couples with whom we have contact. It's a blessing to see the way they serve the Lord in so many different ways. Each is using their experience, skills and talents to build the Lord's kingdom. We are honored to know them.

During those occasions when we had some time to talk with our visitors, they were always asking how they could help us and the saints here. Sister Beck said she was going home to report to the Brethren that she had discovered “a place in Africa that would be key to real progress in the Church.” She said that in her week’s travel in Africa, Lubumbashi and Likasi held the greatest potential for success and change that she had seen. She spoke to us often of her vision for people who live in difficult circumstances and how they will one day rise above it all through their belief and trust in Christ and their own efforts to make things better.

Elder Renlund continues to share his vision for this area, signaling his strong local leadership and commitment to these faithful saints. He has been a voice of support for the Congo and other French-speaking countries. This has been needed and we feel like the Lord has really prepared him for this assignment at this time. Perhaps because of the adverse living conditions and language difficulties it has been hard to accomplish things here, despite the strength of the members, or maybe the Lord has reserved this time for the work to really move forward here. But Elder Renlund has a passion to bring these countries the attention and opportunities they need and deserve. Brent said, "In all my years of rubbing shoulders with the General Authorities, I have never been so inspired and lifted by anyone as I am by Elder Renlund." We are in total agreement in our admiration for the Renlunds, personally, and in the great work that they are doing here in Africa.

Just as with the Taysoms a few days before, we hated to see our friends leave. What a fabulous weekend we had at the top of our mission mountain!