Oops!

Here in the Congo it's not unusual to see vehicles broken down on the streets. They don't usually tow them to a garage. They just stop right where they are, repair them and move on. We've seen them dismantle and change the brakes on the side of the road.
The streets are mostly dirt or, in the central parts of town, some main roads are asphalt, but are often full of pot holes. It's pretty hard on the suspension, tires, and just about every part of a car ( and the people in them!)

Obstacles in the road are common. Branches, stones & sticks are used as warning signals.

So, it's not out of the ordinary to see things like this....

and this...

and this...

It's not uncommon to see people jump to the aid of a driver whose car has suddenly stopped and give him a needed push.

But this was one to remember. What a load! Even the policemen on the corner joined in the effort! They got the truck running again and off he went!

The Office

Life has really changed around here. We are now spending much of our time in the mission office.

We spend a little less time than the others because we are still working with the missionaries and looking for apartments, but we do spend a big part of each day there. It feels very different.

The Frogleys and President Packer are spending almost all their time there too.

Justin and the two assistants spend at least half-days in the office. It's a full house.

I can see clearly that the mission office is the backbone of a mission and much needed. There is a real need for couples who can staff the mission offices all over the world and keep things running.

We have been trying to get the office organized before the new "real" official office couple comes.

They were supposed to come on Monday, but as they were leaving the MTC the doctor contacted them and said that Elder Giles needed to have some more tests to check out an illness that he'd had a few weeks earlier. The tests showed that he is going to need surgery and will be delayed for at least three months. It is such a blessing that they didn't get here and then realize these serious health concerns were still there. There wouldn't have been adequate medical care for him here. It seems that the adversary is very intent on slowing the progress of this mission. But we are all determined to move forward.

Then by some strange "coincidence" we got surprising word that another couple will be coming the end of Aug. They have years of office experience, including another mission served as an office couple.

We also found out that our missionary force will be increasing sharply in the Sept. and Oct. transfers, so we are spending a lot of time looking at potential apartments. It's not easy to find them. The standard we have is that they must have water on the property (most don't have it in the house, but they at least have an outside tap) and power most of the time. You wouldn't think that would be hard to find, but it is. We have been to five apartments in the last three days. This is always an interesting experience.

So, this is how house hunting at two places went this time. We took Justin and went to the first house. On the way, we first had to stop and pick up a lady who was sitting on the side of the street selling homemade donuts. She left her wares in the care of a money changer who was sitting in his plastic chair next to her table and got in the car with us. Then we went to the house. Nobody was there and all the gates were locked. Justin and the donut lady talked in Swahili for a few minutes, made a call or two and then we went off to another place to pick up the man with the key. When we arrived at this place, the person she was looking for wasn't around. We waited about five minutes and he walked past our truck and over to a shop across the street. We waited another five minutes as Justin and the donut lady talked a lot more and a lot louder in Swahili. Then the young man came to the truck. He told us that the person who knew where the key was had a test to take and he wouldn't be finished for about 15-30 minutes. If we could wait there he would come and tell us where the key was. We decided not to wait and headed out to another house. We found nobody there either. So, the woman suggested that we try again tomorrow. We took her back to her donut stand and gave up the efforts for the day. The next day we started the process all over. No luck. So the third day, we told the donut lady that we needed for her to get the key before we came to the house (novel idea, isn't it?). After three days of trying we finally got into the houses. Both were really, really unacceptable. One of them had only a cement room for a kitchen, not even a sink. Nothing! The house did have running water and it was running inside the house. It was running in one bathroom,overflowing the bathtub and flowing out into the bedroom. Good thing it only had cement floors. So, the search goes on. It's not easy to find an apartment here in the Congo.

We were glad this day to headed back to the office. It's one of the nicest places in town.

Welcome Dinner

We hosted a dinner party at our home on Friday to welcome President and Sister Packer. We invited the Frogleys and the stake presidents from the Lubumbashi stakes and their wives. It was nice to share a little personal time with them. It's most interesting that these two men have "grown up" in the church together since becoming members. Now they serve as stake presidents together. The ties between the Congolese pioneers in the church are strong and all of their histories are very intertwined. Pres. Mutshail was given the Aaronic priesthood by Pres. Mukubu. Pres. Makubu was ordained a high priest by Pres. Mutshail. Monga taught Pres. Mukubu in seminary and now is his counselor. Justin served with Pres. Mukubu as a missionary and is not a Bishop in his stake. The connections go on and on between these early members.

It makes me think of Joseph, Heber, Hyrum, Brigham and also of our ancestors who would have had these kinds of relationships in the early days of the Church. The leaders who serve here today in Lubumbashi will be the remembered and revered pioneers in the Church history of the Congo.

Both Presidents are great, humble leaders and examples for the members. It has been a real blessing to know them. They have often invited Brent to do training in their stakes and are so eager to learn and to do things just right. There are now 9 units in each stake and it feels like it won't be long before the stakes in Lubumbashi will need to be divided again to make a third stake.

On an unrelated subject-One cute little grey mouse is no longer living in our house. Actually, he's no longer living. He got hungry enough to eat the "mouse-be-gone" that we left out for him. Sad, but it's also nice to be able to walk into the kitchen without fear of encounters with furry creatures.

It's hard to imagine that it's Independence Day at home. Corinne sent us this picture of a flag flying in the breeze. It made us a bit nostalgic. How we love that flag! We thought of all the times we raised it on the front porch and never gave it a second thought. We miss being with family and friends, but hardly had time to remember what day it was with all there was to do to startup the mission. We did manage to make a red, white and blue dessert to mark the day. But other than that, it was business as usual.

Church employees from South Africa, Steve Wrench, and Kathryn Diab, Marius Mollendorff came to help move into the mission home and set up the mission office. Kathryn, Steven and Marius stayed in a hotel, but spent the days with us and had many meals here. We were able to talk about some important things that we hope will happen here in Lubumbashi. It was good to have some discussions with people from South Africa who can help the new mission. They are very supportive and we felt like they listened to our concerns. . They are delightful people and we had some very fun evenings visiting with them over dinner. It was good stress relief as we tried to get the furnishing out of customs and solve other problems. But the furniture never arrived before Steve and Marius had to leave for Kinshasa for meetings. Kathryn stayed on for four more days to be here when the trucks were unloaded.

Unfortunately, the truck was held up here in town at customs for 9 days while they haggled over money. There was something new every day, and not until Saturday did we finally get the truck, and only after paying heavy additional “fees.” It was very frustrating.

But with or without furnishings, July 1, 2010 came and with it the official opening of the

Democratic Republic of Congo Lubumbashi Mission.

It's a day that we have looked forward to and prayed for. It was not without some growing pains that we said good-bye to the Kinshasa mission and started moving forward. President and Sister Packer, along with the Frogleys, arrived right on time. They were, of course, exhausted from the trip, and it was all quite overwhelming to arrive in a place so different from the world we know at home. We remember what that was like ten months ago. We were also the only Americans here and felt very alone. We hope that we helped them to make the adjustments needed and feel that they have friends here.

Upon their arrival the mission home was "mostly ready." The furnishing were still stuck in customs and the office was not completed and there were a few things that didn't work in the house. Rule #1 was in full force. But we moved on.

We went to plan B . The Frogleys moved into our guest house and we invited the Packers to stay with us. We asked CES for the use of three rooms in their new building to serve as the office until the one on the mission home property is finished in a month or two.

So, we had a 6 day slumber party at 450 Gambela in the Jameson Bed and Breakfast (and lunch and dinner.)

Finally the truck from S. Africa cleared customs and arrived at the mission home.

We were all waiting and went to work putting everything in the office and home in place.

We were a tired bunch, but with lots of help things started to take shape.

Brent is still fielding most calls from the missionaries concerning the daily running of the mission because Pres. Packer is so preoccupied with getting settled in the home and office and getting a feel for his new assignment. He asked Brent to continue to handle most matters that come up for the time being as his counselor. Monday we went on our usual rounds to deliver things to the missionaries and took the Frogleys with us. It felt good to be with the missionaries again. We are glad that hasn't changed yet.

It's been 10 days since we hoped our little hotel and restaurant and today the Jameson B and B has just closed. Things are starting to move toward some kind of "normal" and in the Congo, that's as good as it gets.

PS. When the guests moved out a new family (of MICE) moved into our and the Frogleys' home. The fun never stops!