A Different Part of Brazzaville

We went directly from the "beach" to our first set of interviews held in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. We have 6 sisters and 18 elders there.
 Because it had rained several times during the week, it was impossible to get by car to the stake center. It's on a dirt road that  is under construction and is impassable after a rain. There is a stake in Brazzaville but no buildings constructed by the church. More than a dozen wards meet in rented buildings. This time we met in one  that we had not been to before but was more accessible. We started out on a good road, but as we traveled farther the road deteriorated until we were on one that was not even what you'd call a "good dirt road."  The building was located  on an even smaller dirt road farther still into the residential neighborhood. The building is nothing fancy but was well kept and adequate. I thought that it was, by far, the nicest building in the neighborhood. 

 

 

 

 

I met with, taught and visited with the missionaries in the chapel while they waited for their interviews. Brent was set up for the interviews  in the room next door. It took about 4 hours to interview all the missionaries and is an intense and exhausting experience for Brent. I taught the principle of "returning and reporting" and had a good time with the missionaries.

   

We had a productive visit with them and then they headed off, back to their areas to go to work and we headed for the hotel, very ready to end this long day of travel, teaching and interviews.

 

 

Minutes after we got to our hotel a huge black cloud spread across the sky and it began to pour.  Congo rain is like Arizona rain. It comes in buckets full. We had planned to walk down the street a block or two to the restaurant owned by the hotel, but within minutes the street in front of the hotel, which is at the convergence of two other sloping streets, was a river.  Luckily, the owner of the hotel and restaurant sent someone to the restaurant to bring us two paper plates full of spaghetti covered with tin foil. We were grateful to have a warm meal and a dry place to stay, when so many others out there in Brazzaville would have neither that night. 

  

Here We Go Again

The day after Leadership Training we headed out to the Republic of Congo and Cameroon to visit and interview the missionaries there.  The first leg of this trip is the Congo River crossing. I just keep talking about it because it never ceases to amaze me.  We sit in the truck for about an hour while our assistants do the "formalities."The woman in the pictures is the person who navigates the governmental maze, the man on the left  is the porter, who hauls all of bags around,  and then there's Thierry (in the center). He's our office manager, travel arranger, missionary support person, friend to all and a most wonderful and amazing young man.   We couldn't do this without their help.

  

It's impossible to explain what this hour of waiting is like, as we watch the daily life of people at the "beach." But we sit in awe as we watch what transpires. 

One of the things that is overwhelming is the work of the handicapped at the beach. Because a person with a handicap can cross on the barges at a reduced price, as can those who are with them. They are partnering with people who are going across the river to buy and sell their wares.  The seller pays the handicapped person a little money and they go together. The blind person walks with their hand on the shoulder of the sighted person as maneuver through the throngs of people and cross the river on the  barges. 

  This man is carrying his helper who doesn't have the ability to walk or access to a wheelchair.

Others make their living at the beach by carrying or pulling enormous loads, by shining shoes, exchanging money, selling snacks, washing cars, cutting hair and a host of other things.

  

The things we see there are beyond imagination and we have great respect for these people who are blind or unable to walk, or have no education to do other jobs. They just don't give up. They make a living in a hard way, but they just keep going. Would I be that courageous? Would I continue to make an effort if life was so hard?  These people continue to inspire and amaze me. 

Leadership Training

  

After returning from South Africa, we jumped right back into life.  Transfers were the next day and then we held a special training for the young leaders of the mission to share important things that we'd learned at the Mission President's Seminar. The Assistants, Zone Leaders and  District leaders gathered  for a meeting. It was a good experience as we discussed new policies and taught them.

One of the things that we discussed was a new policy on marriage that will go into effect on  June 1, 2012.  Things are pretty simple in the US, either you're married or you're not.

Here things are not so simple. Each of our 6 countries has different laws. The church attorney in South Africa researched for some time to discover the laws in all 30+ countries in our mission  before the policy could be made. There are at least two to three different kinds of marriage in each country. Generally, there is traditional marriage, civil marriage and religious marriage.  Sadly, most depend on the payment of the dowry (bride price.)  It begins when the two families meet together to discuss the marriage. This include parents and aunts and uncles from both families.  An agreement on the dowry is made and both sides agree to the marriage. After this meeting, a traditional marriage, the couple can live together as man and wife, but it's not an acceptable marriage in the eyes of the law until it's registered. This takes the signature of a representative from both sides of the family. Often the family requires the full payment of the bride price before they will sign. This sometimes takes years to pay, thus the marriage is not recognized by the government, although it is by the people.  Now a marriage must be registered to be recognized by the church or the couple must have a civil marriage, which always requires payment of the full dowry. Only after registration of the traditional marriage or a civil marriage can people be baptized.   It's all very complicated and took a 3-page document just to outline the policy.  The missionaries seemed to understand it and were very receptive to our teachings. All the elders want to marry an American girl since we have no dowry in the US.  Th other pressing marriage question is, "How many wives do you currently have?" There is still the whole issue of polygamy. Questions about marriage open a whole can of worms here in Africa.

For the missionaries lunches we got chicken dinner from our new grocery store, ShopRite (yeah!.)
It was easy for the cook and the elders love chicken dinners. 

It was good to be with the leadership of the mission and to see them even having a little fun!

  Then, we sent them on their way to share with the rest of the missionaries the things we discussed .  

Mission President's Seminar- April 2012

Twice a year we have the pleasure of attending the Mission Presidents' Seminar in Johannesburg. All eleven mission presidents in our area and their wives are invited.  The Johannesburg MTC President and his wife also attend.  We look forward to this great experience and it never disappoints.

 It all begins as we fly into Johannesburg's first world airport and environment. What a welcome site for us.

  

This trip we stayed in a lovely hotel called the Sunnyside Park Hotel.  It was built in 1897 and is a national  historical site.  I really like it since I love antiques and old places.  It has gorgeous wood paneling and a nice Victorian feel to it. There are also beautiful gardens, fountains and paths on the property. It was fall in JoBurg and the leaves were fallling. The chestnut trees dropped piles of leaves every day. I loved it because it reminded me of my childhood days walking to school, crunching leaves under our feet as we walked through gutters piled inches deep with autumn leaves.

 

  

The conference itself was also held in the hotel. Along with the 11 mission presidents and wives, we had with us the MTC President and four members of the First Quorum of the 70.  Elders Renlund, Soares, Cook and Evans and their wives. What a wonderful experience it was to be with these people and learn from them. It was a time of great instruction and camaraderie.

  

We had one session of the conference where sisters and presidents met separately. We have come to respect and  enjoy these people immensely.
We also met Pres. and Sister Reber, the new MTC President in Johannesburg. He served as a mission president in Austria, where he followed Farrell Smith as president.

  

During one session the church attorney, Jeff Clayton, who works in South Africa, came to speak to us. This was a fun occasion for me since he and his wife, Marge, Julie Pingree Broadbent, the wife of the Kenya mission president, and I graduated  together from Highland High School. We had a little mini-reunion and it was fun to have this connection.  There are at least 8 people who graduated from Highland who are currently serving in the South East Africa Area. All but one of them even graduated in the same graduating class.  Amazing! Little did we know all those years ago in Utah that we would all end up in Africa!

  

We were also able to attend the Johannesburg temple. We've come to appreciate the ability to attend the temple having lived in the Congo where going to the temple is often a once-in-a-lifetime event or even a distant dream. It's a blessing to be able to attend when we go to Mission Presidents' seminar. 

We went a few days before the conference for some appointments and  then we had plans to do a little shopping to get things we can't get in Kinshasa.  However, it was a holiday weekend and most of the stores were not open or only open for a few hours. So, we decided to make a little day trip to Pilanesberg, an animal park a couple of hours from Johannesburg. Since the area office staff had been kind enough to loan us a car during our visit we had means to have this little P-day activity. The best thing about the trip was that we took Elder and Sister Evanson with us. They were Public Affairs missionaries who moved into our apartment in Burundi after we left our first mission. He has served as a mission president in Ivory Coast, after which he served as a counselor in a Canadian temple presidency. Then he served as a temple president.  After that they told us that they felt like the Lord had called them before, but now they needed to volunteer. So, they put in papers and were sent to the Lubumbashi mission.  After some time in Burundi they were transferred to Lubumbashi. It's unusual to be transferred as a senior couple, but after spending a few months in Lubumbashi they are being transferred to our mission. They will go to Yaoundé in May to continue as PA missionaries and also support our missionaries and our new district until the end of their mission in Sept. They stayed with us in Kinshasa and, knowing them, we are thrilled to have them transferred to our mission and so grateful that they are so flexible and willing.  We had a great time with them in Pilanesberg.

  

We saw a good variety of animals, but after seeing the Masi Mara, nothing seems spectacular.

Giraffes 

Kingfisher birds 

Monkeys 

Wildabeasts and Rhinoceros  

 

Warthogs
And Zebra, Zebras and more Zebras  

 

  

And then there was this guy. We have NO IDEA what he is.  Any guesses?

Bill,  who'd served in S. Africa knew that  he's a young Male Kudu.  Their horn are long and twisted when they mature. 

 

It was a good day, spent with new friends.  Missions have so many great moments filled with wonderful people. But then it was time to head for Kinshasa. Inspired and refreshed by our visit, we were ready to go back to work.  Those days in Johannesburg will always be remembered, but we're nearing the half-way mark on our mission and we have many things still to do.