Mbuji Mayi

This week Brent, President Packer and, Elder Frogley have gone to Burundi to investigate that part of the mission. There is no official Church organization in Burundi at this time.

We wives are all staying together at our house to keep each other company. It's not fun to have Brent gone, but I'm determined to catch up on a few things that I've wanted to write. First stop....

Mbuji-Mayi

Two weeks ago we spent 5 days in Mbuji Mayi, which is about an hour flight from Lubumbashi. Located part way between Kinshasa and Lubumbashi, it is very isolated. There are no roads into it and because planes only fly in on Tuesday or Friday and we needed to be there on Sunday, we went on Friday and came back on Tues. We wondered what we'd do for all that time, but every minute was filled. There are three branches in Mbuji-Mayi and all have over 150 in attendance on Sundays. The mission branches are grateful for a visit and eager for training and attention.

Mbuji-Mayi is about the size of Lubumbashi, but has an entirely different feel. It's much more primitive and feels more crowded. There are almost no paved roads, nothing that we could tell was as a center of town, and no supermarkets or stores of any size. It had only small shops and two open-air markets.

We were met at the airport by all three of the branch presidents, some of their counselors and one of the branch president's wives. It was quite a welcoming committee and we were glad to have them. They took care of the very cumbersome process of getting through the airport and getting our luggage, while we waited in a taxi (4 wheel drive style.) So kind of them!!

Branch leaders (top) drivers (bottom)

Our first stop was a store where we bought enough water to last us for the duration of our trip.

Water there is not drinkable. Here's where we bought our water.

We stayed in the nicest hotel in town-The Hotel Ka-Be Deluxe. We had power for four of the five days and the staff was very helpful and pleasant.

We had running water from 7-8 am daily and two days it was hot. The rest of the time you could get a large bucket of water for any of your water needs, if you asked for it.

We stayed in Room 4 which turned out to be a "two-room suite," which was a great blessing since Brent spent a great deal of time in interviews and training. We didn't know he would have any of these interviews when we arrived, but each Branch President had a group of people to be interviewed and the new branch presidency needed training. Brent did 21 interviews with prospective elders who were men ranging in age from 19-75 and two prospective missionary interviews. I stayed in the bedroom a good part of the weekend, but that allowed him to have people come to him. That helped a great deal since we had to rely on members to arrange transportation and pay drivers.

Presidents' training-Pres. Kadima, Bobo, Tshizanga and Kolanji

Neither food nor water are entirely trustworthy in Mbuji-Mayi, so we brought along peanut butter and jelly, fruit, drinks, camping meals, paper products, utensils, table clothes, etc. and ate our meals in our hotel room. We did have a room service breakfast of bread, butter, jam and hot water for tea in a big, pink, grade-school type thermos. We made hot chocolate every day with instant cocoa packets we brought from Tempe. This trip takes some pretty creative packing.

Camping dinners in our room, the restaurant and room service

The transportation in Mbuji-Mayi was interesting--people were mostly on foot, in a few cars and packed into large trucks carrying people and supplies.

But the local mass transit vehicle of choice is the motorcycle. There were hundreds of motorcycles with 2-6 people on them. The Governor of the province where Lubumbashi is located outlawed these "motos" because of the safety concerns and we sure are glad. Considering how many people need to be transported, it takes a lot of motorcycles to move them all.

On hearing about "motos" Barry Anderson pointed out that the Congolese had nothing over the Japanese and sent us this picture. The Japanese win. The most we ever saw was 6 on a "moto."

Our purpose for going to Mbuji-Mayi was to represent the mission president as his counselor and to make three branches into four. It was a very frightening experience to go into a city where you don't know anybody and select new branch leaders. Brent had prayed for a clear message so that he would know for sure who the Lord wanted for the new branch President. He asked each branch President to chose a few men to interview. When one brother walked into the room he immediately felt the strong impression that this was the man who the Lord wanted. He was grateful for that impression. He interviewed him at length and was convinced that this was the right man. When he told the other branch presidents they all agreed that he would be a great choice, but there was a problem. He didn't live in the new branch boundaries. Brent was told that the man had a home in the boundaries but had been living in a better house on the church property. When Brent called the man and his wife back in, he told them his feelings and asked how they would feel about moving. The man's answer was immediate. He said, "It's the Lord's will, isn't it? We will move immediately." This is the faith we see among the Congolese members.

President Kalonji and his family and the new Dibindi Branch presidency

The next day we met in two different sacrament meetings to announce the changes. In both meetings the rooms were filled beyond capacity and in one there were about 50 people who couldn't fit into the chapel and sat on the porch . These are wonderful, faithful saints.

Diulu and Muya Branches

Young men, children and Young women of Muya Branch

While Brent set apart the 16 new leaders called in the branch changes, I got to play with the children. This is my favorite part of visits. These children from Diulu sang Primary songs for me in French. I sang to them in English. I talked to them about reading the Book of Mormon every day to prepare to be a wonderful army of Helaman as future missionaries. I told them I had 20 grandchildren and they asked me what games American children played and if my grandchildren could sing "Book of Mormon Stories." We got to be special friends in just a few minutes together. These are the times I will always remember. Despite the hardships of this land, the future of the Church in the Congo is bright!