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!