Conference in Masina June 2012-Thierry's Call

The Renlunds arrived on the plane that the Claytons took back to South Africa.  So, it was a quick change of bedding and towels and the party continued.
The Renlunds were with us for eight days and it was a delight to spend time with them.  They are amazing leaders and have become dear friends. It feels like members of the family have come to stay when they visit.
The weekend they were here Elder Renlund presided over Masina Stake Conference. Masina is located in one of the most challenging parts of town. It's crowded and busy and hard to navigate. It's worthy of a picture a second.  

 
                                                              

 

The stake center is located just around the corner from this police signal.  It's a nice stake center that is located in a residential neighborhood.

 It's also one of the stakes where baptisms come the most frequently and where a well-functioning, strong stake is located.
Since a new Stake President was to be called, there were many interviews and this conference weekend was very full of activities.  President Mabaya was released because he had been called as an Area Seventy.  It was no surprise to anybody when his counselor, our own Thierry Mutombo, was called as the new stake president.  He's our office manager and there isn't a finer man in the world than Thierry. He's only 36 years old, but has the wisdom of someone much older.  He'll be a great leader, who really sees the whole picture of the gospel and the church and he will bless the Masina Stake. Someday his goodness and talents will reach far beyond Masina stake to bless many more people.  Knowing Thierry is one of the greatest blessings of our mission. He has three little children and a wonderful supportive wife. He is a second generation member of the church. We had the great pleasure of meeting his parents, some of the first members of the church in Kinshasa. 

  

We were invited to the setting apart and were happy to share this with Thierry and his family.

Below are Elders Kyungu and Mabaya, Area Seventies, the Stake Presidency and Elder Renlund.

The Masina stake center was filled beyond capacity for the stake conference.  Besides the filled chapel, cultural hall and stage, all the halls and several classrooms were filled to capacity. Wires were strung all over inside and outside the building to facilitate the transmission by TV to all the locations in the building.  It's interesting that little children, except for babes in arms, were seated together in the hallways rather than in the chapel with their parents.  I remember when I was a teen and a great emphasis was put on families sitting together in church. Families are still learning this message.in Africa. It's not happening  in this part of the world yet.   Many couples were sitting together in this stake conference. That's progress.  Things keep improving.....little by little! 

 

After the meeting many of our missionaries and RM's were there and as always, picture taking was the top activity for all of them.

 

The sister missionaries in the stake got pictures.   Elders got in a picture with Elder Renlund, who was given a Congolese shirt by the stake leaders and was good-natured enough to wear it after the meetings. Here they are in their great bannana/hotdog fabric.

 

Some of our RM's from Lubumbashi were there.  We also met Elder Nsimba's, a Kinshasa RM, fiancee.
It was a great Stake Conference and the people of the Masina stake are in good hands with Thierry leading them.

Capturing the Springs

Our final outing with our company from South Africa was in the afternoon on Thurs. May 31.  Brent and Jeff both had played all they could and had to go back to work in  the afternoon, but Marge and I went with the Humanitarian couple to see some other water projects. These were different because the project was to capture water from natural springs and make it usable to the people in the area.  So, we headed off again up into the hillsides in an outlying part of Kinshasa.

  

    

When we arrived at our destination the first thing we saw was a little bakery that Elder and Sister B. have raved about for some time.  They say it's the best bread in all Kinshasa and they've been everywhere. It's made in a brick oven behind the little combination house/bakery/store. 

   

 

 

 Elder B. bought  us each a small loaf to sample on our way down the hill. It was crusty, warm and delicious.

Then we all walked down the path, past their gardens, munching on our freshly baked bread and holding it close to our noses so we could smell it and not the aroma of  fertilizer or the latrine that permeated the air. After a short walk we came to the place where they were working to capture the spring. 

 

Someday this big hole will provide clear, pure water for this community. They haven't found a clear opening yet, so they will keep digging. The four men in the picture below are the men in charge of the project., Eric (in the green shirt) is the sight manager, who works for the church.  He's a great young man and his story is a sad one. His wife died in child birth, an event all too common here. He had no means and no one to help care for their twins, so he put them in an orphanage, but stayed in close contact with them.  Recently they were given the chance to be adopted and go to the US.  Eric chose to sacrifice his children in order to give them a better life than he could provide.  Life can be very hard in the Congo. The other three men represent the NGO with which we're partnered on this project.

  

 

Nearby in a little swimming hole on the other side of the block wall some children were having a great time cooling off. I had to leave most out of this picture, since most were skinny dipping.                                                 

One more stop awaited us just beyond the Rail Road tracks that are used by a train from Matdi to Kinshasa. Matadi has a port and many things are shipped by boat to Matadi and then come by rail to Kinshasa. Matadi is a city on on the border of  DRC and Angola where we have a small branch and four missionaries. 

We left the  dirt road  and walked into another small community. Again we saw gardens and homes and people walking the path for about half a mile to the site of the spring. 

 

Although the housing, water and power here are not good, the landscape is much more beautiful than any we see in the closer communities of Kinshasa.  It's really a beautiful place. We enjoy the five minute walk to the spring as we saw homes and the beautiful scenery of this little valley. 

 

We saw people going about their daily work, gather cassava, carrying water, and caring for siblings.  Fires were going where people were preparing their food. People were tending their crops and sweeping their clearings. They even had a cassava grinder where you could grind your cassava flour without having to do it by hand with a mortar and pestle. 

  

Children learn young to do the tasks required to sustain life in this community.

  

  

At the end of this long. narrow path we found the spring. It had been worked on once before by another NGO and is flowing slightly. Our job is to make it flow better and have more convenient access so that getting water isn't  such a back-breaking and slow job.  Right now it's slow, dirty and hard to get to the water.  It will be a great help to them to have the water coming from higher spouts and to have a good drainage system so they don't have to stand in muddy water to get there bidons filled. You can see their pans placed under metal pipes, nearly in the muddy water.  They also use 2 lt. bottles cut in half  to catch the water and pour into their bidons. The bottom half is used as a container because it fits under the pipes, while the top is used as a funnel. They're amazingly resourceful in using what they have to make things easier.

 

 

The Humanitarian services are a great part of the program of the church to bless Heavenly Father's children.  Life giving water is one of the major efforts done by our humanitarian missionaries. It is life changing and life saving for the people here. On the way back down the path to the car, Elder Bingham. stopped and talked, through an interpreter, to some women sitting in front of their home.  He said, "We want you to know that soon, getting clean water will not be so hard for you.  We hope to make life easier for you Mamas.  That's why we're here." That simple promise is what it's all about. 

Humanitarian Adventures

For the last day of Marge and Jeff's visit to Kinshasa we decided to take part of the day off and go with them to see some of our water projects.  These projects are life changing as they bring clean water within the reach of hundreds in Kinshasa's outlying areas.So, we headed out into a different area of the city, which is more needy. 

  

 Our first stop was to visit one of three working wells in a project. The church requires any group for whom they build a well to form a committee that oversees the upkeep of the well. At this site the committee is functioning just as it should.  A technician was even on site this day making sure everything was working. 

   

There were many people from the community filling their bidons with fresh, clean water from the big blue hand pump at this project. They were please to show us the clear water that has improved their lives.       

 With a well in their neighborhood many hours of hauling water and many water-born illnesses are eliminated.  Elder B. just had to check it all out.  The children, who will benefit greatly from this fresh water, enjoyed watching the musungu (white person) fill his cup and drink from their well.
  
Our next stop was at a school where the church is building a latrine. Four hundred and eighty students, who attend in double sessions, have never had any latrine facilities before.

 

 Bricks are handmade at the site. The first batch was set aside because it was incorrectly made and crumbled in your had if you pressed on them.   Two large septic tanks were buried in the ground. This building won't have fancy flush toilets, but it will provide much better sanitation than this school has ever had before. 

 

The children who were not in school were busying themselves with daily chores and with a little home made fun. Children here can make toys out of just about anything.They can use tin cans and bottle caps built car.

   

 They use an old tire rim and a stick to have hours of fun.  They're wonderful and creative even when they have little with which to work. Kids will be kids!
 

Our last stop during the morning was a well that is under construction.  It was still farther out into the city, where there are few walls for security, only hand dug latrines and little power or water, but there are many families who live in these areas and hundreds of adorable, curious kids.
  
Projects are submitted to the church for consideration. Generally the well is located on the property of a family, organization, school, etc.  It will be made available to anybody in the community when it's completed.
They start by hand digging a hole enough to reach the water table.  This one is going very deep. But Elder B. said that the sand they were bringing up was wet and that would mean they will soon reach the correct depth. The most amazing thing about the picture below of the hole they've made  is that there's a man down there beyond where you can see who is still digging. A few minutes later he appeared from inside the hole.

 

I still shudder with claustrophobia when I see these pictures. As the hole is dug they drop cement cylinders, which are poured right at the well sight, into the hole to  keep the wall from caving in.  

  
 By the time we'd watched them work for a few minutes lots of children had gathered to see the musungus.
When they saw the camera they all wanted their picture taken. So, we got lots of pictures of these cute little people who live in this neighborhood.
  
The crowd just kept growing
   

                                                 and  growing....
  and growing.
 

 The children followed us to our car and were happy to hang out with us to the very end. Elder B. waited patiently . This is just a part of their everyday activities as humanitarian missionaries.                         

  

The children were still watching us as we loaded in the car. Marge had a hard time escaping the little crowd of children who had surrounded her, still interested in having their picture taken. 

Meanwhile Brent was on the phone. While we were on our outing he had to deal with a little companion dispute. "Either you behave yourself or I put you on a plane tomorrow morning for Kinshasa." He never really gets a break. He's never off duty, even in the far out reaches of Kinshasa at a well project.