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.