While the Cats Were Away

Now, for "the rest of the story." While the men were in Burundi, the ladies spent some time at the office daily, but there wasn't much work to do, so we played. It's amazing that people who were total strangers a month ago could be such good friends. We enjoyed each other's company.

All of us stayed at our house for security. Robert stayed 24 hours a day while the men were gone. Since Sister Frogley and I could stay in our own houses on our property, Sister Packer was a good sport and moved over here.

We went to the mission home every day to check things and we must admit that we spent several hours watching Jane Austen movies. It was a favor to the men who we knew would appreciate us watching them while they were gone.

I was the designated driver. We had planned only to go to the office and back home, but one day we decided to go shopping. We asked one of our office workers, Serge, to drive us to the store. By the time we got to the first grocery store, I was a nervous wreck. Serge knew how to drive, but really hadn't ever driven. I was not interested in teaching him to drive in Lubumbashi traffic, so I took over the wheel from them on. Serge is now signed up for driving school.

It's not easy to see the terrified look on the guards face, but every time I backed out of this long driveway he was very nervous. Women don't drive a lot here and a musumgu (white) woman driving. Yikes!

Beads are very interesting and important to crafts in Africa . The sisters who serve in JoBurg are very involved in making jewelry. So, while we were home alone Sister Packer shared her beads with us. Each type of bead comes from a different place, has a different history and brings African culture into jewelry, as well as just being beautiful. We made some nice necklaces.

We really had a good time "while the cats were away," but it shows how much we still like these old guys that we were even happier for the vacation to be over and to have them back again. Two is much better than one!

Mission Chapter 2

For several months we have been working on a plan for our new assignment after the Lubumbashi Mission got up and running. It was not something that we could discuss, but it has been our project for some time. We have been working on plans for bringing the gospel to BURUNDI.

On Aug. 12th, 2010 Pres. Gary Packer, Brent, and Craig Frogley went to Burundi to evaluate conditions & determine if the country was ready to be opened to the preaching of the gospel.

They flew to Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi, which is about 600 miles from Lubumbashi. That normally would be about a one and a half-hour flight. The trip took them 16 hours since you "can't get there from here." It was a pretty difficult trip from Lubumbashi to Ndola, Zambia; then to Nairobi, Kenya; and then to Bujumbura, Burundi. On their 8-hour layover in Kenya they were joined by, Eustache Ilunga, a stake President from Kinshasa. The flights in and out of Burundi happen between midnight and 3 am. I'm not sure who thought that was a good idea, but flights are only available then. So, it's not an easy trip.

The first day they met with people at the American embassy, including embassy security personnel. They made arrangements at the hotel for events of the week and explored the city.

Their taxi in front of the American Embassy, Hotel du Nil and a Bujumbura street

They were impressed with the city. It's streets were generally asphalted or cobblestone and without many pot holes. It was clean and seemed to be moving forward. People were helpful & interested in their missionary message. They spent the week investigating things in Bujumbura and had a wonderful experience.

They went into the hillsides overlooking the city, which they said reminded them of the Salt Lake Valley with its east bench mountains...

to the enormous open air market...

and to see stores, houses and apartment buildings in town.

It appears that Bujumbura is a progressive and growing city with many things to recommend it.

On day two, they held an exploratory conference. We have been in touch with a few members in Burundi and some pastors who use the Book of Mormon in their churches and have been asking us for some time to come to there. In planning the conference they decided to make the meeting by invitation only to keep the size manageable. They could have had many more people, but felt it best to just have a small group. They tried to include some members of each congregation and all of the actual members of the church that they could contact.

All those who attended the Conference

Informal discussions were enjoyed at lunch

One couple, the Malabis, wrote to us just before the men left for Burundi. We had seen their name in paperwork from earlier visits by leaders, but thought they had moved from Burundi. They are members and had just heard about the conference. They have been waiting five years for the day when the church would come to Bujumbura and they wanted to be at the conference.

As the people at the meeting introduced themselves, Brother Malabi, said that he and his wife and four children where all members, but some of them were just not baptized yet .

They had moved to Burundi from Tanzania and had found no official church unit in Bujumbura, so their younger children were not able to be baptized when they reached the age of 8. They had no permission to do the sacrament either, so they obediently and faithfully held only Sunday School each week for five years. Each month they took a portion of their money and used it to help somebody in need, since they couldn't pay fast offerings. They put their tithing in a special bank account and have saved it for five years, waiting for the time when somebody from the church would come to Burundi & accept it. What an amazing example they are of how devoted and self-motivated we should all be.

Several of the "pastors" introduced themselves by saying that they had been "in the church" since 2001 or some other time, but had not yet had the opportunity to be baptized. It was quite a remarkable experience.

The Malabis, missionaries and Pastors who attended.

On Sunday they held a Sacrament meeting in the hotel for the members only. There were 15 in attendance. In this meeting these wonderful members were able to have the experience of blessing, passing and taking the sacrament for the first time in five years. It was a very special experience for all who attended.

The rest of the week was spent looking for possible church sites, apartments and at the general living conditions in Bujumbura. There are many factors to consider when looking at this country.

We are excited to see the future of Burundi.

Head ware

We have observed that head ware is one of the very favorite things of the Congolese. Women wear something on their heads a good share of the time. We have been told that for women,wearing a head covering is a sign of honor. It means that she's born children or in some other way distinguished herself as a person deserving of the honor.
Your scarf can match your outfit...

Or it can NOT match your outfit. It doesn't seem to matter.

Women don't just wear scarfs. They also wear hats at all inds of occasions-church, school, shopping, at home or work. It expresses their personality and a hat is always in style here.

This is a "filet." It seems to be the head ware of choice for working, but can be worn anyplace. It's a "hair net" crocheted with heavy black cotton thread. They come in all sizes and are worn by women and girls all ages.

Another thing that is very popular among African women is wigs. They're not blessed with a lot of hair and so they often wear wigs. Most are rather common looking, but some make a real fashion statement.

They start early to get into the head ware. Even little girls have fancy hair.

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Hats are not just a favorite for women either. Men love hats too. Naturally, the baseball hat is the first choice of many. We see them with team logos and lettering that we recognize from home, but I'm not sure that they have no idea what the symbols and letters mean. Sometimes I'm sure they don't or they wouldn't be wearing them, like the boy at church who wore one saying "Party girl." Obviously the meaning escaped him.

But there are many other kinds of hats that we see as we drive around town.

East African(muslim) hats and hats with ear muffs are popular.

Then there are the police hats.

This young man works in the yard at the church and wears this hat and coat every day.

I especially love to see the Congolese in Cowboy hats, which is a favorite!

Almost every transport money collector seems to wear a hat of some kind. They hang out the door of their mini-van and it's fun seeing what they're wearing. This guy had a bright red cowboy hat and we loved it!

When we went to Kenya Brent bought a BIG safari hat since he was warned about sunburn in the open jeeps. He showed it to the elders and out came their hats for a photo on HAT DAY.

It's very Congolese to have head ware.