Let's Explore-Day 1

This week we had two opportunities to do a little exploring. One "explore" was for fun and entertainment. The other was more important and related to our work here in the mission.

Explore #1-On Saturday we decided to have an exploration P-day afternoon. We invited the Frogleys and we had a great little adventure.

We started in a small coumpound that we've often passed in the city and have been curious to see. It's call the Fleur Marche. Inside a little gate there are five or six small, primative shops stuffed full of great African arts and crafts and antiquities. We did some "poking around" and enjoyed it completely.

My personal favorites were the old masks and carvings that were in several shops. The owner put on a favorite mask. It was covered with shells, which in olden days were used as money. It would have been a very fancy and expensive mask.

There was also some interesting jewelry. We found some paper beads. They're made from long, thin strips of papers wrapped around and around to make beads, which are then varnished and strung. Most of the pieces of jewelry were very multi-colored and bright, but I found a plain black and white one that I couldn't resist.

Also in the market square were musical instruments-finger pianos, shakers made from gourds and wood, bowl-like stringed instruments and and one made of bamboo, gourds and strings that was as tall as a man and looked just like one Derek Allen got from Brazil.

And then there were the Burundian drums. Burundi is known for it's drums, so there were many styles and sizes of drums. Some were the size to hold in one hand and some were three feet tall and there were all sizes in between. Often we hear drums being played in the evenings from our apartment. We hope to see a drum performance before we leave Burundi.

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Now, shouldn't every percussionist have a tom-tom? We wanted one of each kind. But the carved ones are so fabulous that we just had to have one. How we'll get all this stuff home and where we'll put it when we do we're not quite sure about. But, we will do it somehow. Who needs to bring home old mission clothes anyway! Right!

After our little shopping venture we headed up toward the mountains to see what it looked like in the 'suburbs' of Bujumbura. We have permission to go 30 k's from the center of town. The modern city quickly turned into a more typical African village atmosphere as we drove toward the mountains.

The Congo area near Lubumbashi was a flat, dry, dusty desert. Here we find a stark contrast. It's green, lush countryside, with banana trees, grasses and bushes and there is varied contour to the land.

We ended up going up the mountains until we had quite a magnificent view. I love these mountains. We call them the "East Bench" and think of Utah when we look at them.

The view coming down was just beautiful as we looked across

the valley of Bujumbura and out to Lake Tanganyika.

It was a great day of exploration. This is a beautiful land.

I'm sure that the Lord is happy to have it gathered into his fold.

Explore #2-coming soon

And They Left their Nets and Followed Him

This Sunday we had our second fast and testimony meeting with 70 people in attendance and then we had four baptisms. There was a large group of members and friends of the Church who wanted to attend, so Brent and Elder Frogley made four trips to the baptismal site, each time filling the truck with as many people as they could get in. The record was eight.

Each person who joins the Church is unique, as are their stories, but these four have very interesting histories.

Above-Elder Kizimbou (on the right) and Elder Diazola (on the left) with the four people who were baptized. These two are the missionaries who taught all four people. Elder Diazola arrived on his misision the same day we did and has spent his whole mission where we've been. We adore him. He comes from Kinshasa, where he was raised by his aunt and uncle because he lost both parents when he was a baby. He's a "little guy." You would never guess that this gentle, tender spirit is such a powerful missionary, but he is amazing. At the baptism he told the Joseph Smith story with such power that people were mesmerized. Elder Kizimbou is the youngest of the elders with us, but very strong. You would never know that he's our "baby" and has only been out a few months.

Brother Johnson (left) and Brother Thomas, who were baptized Sunday, are two of the pastors who wrote to the Church to ask for missionaries to come and teach them and their congregations. In order to be baptized they not only gave up the things that most converts do, but they gave up their livelihood as ministers. They are men of sincere faith and testimony.

Along with them, Brother Thomas' nephew was baptized and then one young widow named Annie. She joined the Church because of a dream that she had not long before we came to Bujumbura. In her dream she was taught about the true church of God by a group of people, some of whom were white. She even knew the name of the Church, but didn't know where to find it. She lived in Baraka, a city across the lake in the Congo, and hours from Bujumbura. She somehow met one of the people in Baraka who had been worshiping with the Book of Mormon for years and was told that the church she was looking for was coming to Bujumbura. She came the first Sunday and has not missed a time since. She moved her family to Bujumbura so that she could study the gospel and be baptized. She is a great lady and we expect that she will be a real strength to the women of the Church here.

Annie and her children and also Annie, some relatives and daughter

After the baptism there is always a little awkwardness since transportation is a problem and the missionary couples have the only cars. Some of the members live a long ways away and they mostly have to walk. We feel so uncomfortable as we drive away, leaving others behind, but knowing we can't take them all home. The Johnson family was all there to see Brother Johnson's baptism, although none of them was baptized YET! Sister Malabi suggested that we take them home since they live a long distance and have seven young children. So, we offered to take them home and headed toward our truck, not knowing what we would do with all those people.

They didn't hesitate. All nine of them piled in the back seat of our truck. Brent and I got in the front and headed off. As we drove we passed the Malabi family on foot beginning their own 30 minute walk home. These people are awesome! We drove the Johnson family only part way home and then Brother Johnson told us to pull over and they would walk from there. As we drove away we saw them like a Mom and Dad duck with a whole string of little ducklings behind them walking up into the hills where they live. We not only had a wonderful day but we now own the record for the most people in a truck-11. That's good, even for Africa!

And a little child shall lead them...

My hero this week is a 13 year-old boy, just about the age of our grandsons, Michael and Ethan. His name is Malabi Ruguy Alain. He was baptized two weeks ago after waiting a long time for that blessing because baptism was not authorized here until the church arrived in September. Last Sunday Alain was ordained a deacon . He's our first and only deacon.

Each week the group leader has invited the members to come on Saturday and help clean the church and set up for Sunday. The group leader is Alain's father and every week Alain has come, on a transport, with his father to help clean and set up chairs. Today Alain's father was out of town, but Alain was undaunted in his efforts to give service. His father's absence didn't stop him for coming. He WALKED alone, clear across town, a forty-five minute walk, in 80 degree weather to be at the church on time to help. He was already there sitting alone outside the church and waiting patiently when we arrived. What an honor it is to know this wonderful young man. He is indeed a child who is leading the way for others to follow here in Bujumbura.

This Love/Hate Relationship

Communication is a problem in Africa. Rule # 1 definably applies in this arena. There is almost NO mail service here. Phone service is patchy at best. E-mails keep us going, and Skype and chat sites tie us to our family a little more. Tonight was a night of hate/love with technology and communication. Brent went online to check our bank account and this was the chain of events that followed. When he mistyped the answer to a security question, that they asked since he was on his computer and not mine, the bank's computer was angry and "disabled" the account. When I tried to get into that account from my computer DS said " Your account has been disabled, please call this number to restore your service." Are you kidding? We're in Africa! It seems that the bank's computer knew that Brent was accessing from a different computer, but not that we're in Africa and could not "call this number." Big problem!

I happened to be talking to Scott on Google chat. I love technology and that we have smart kids who understand it! He figured out how we could solve this problem. He called me ON SKYPE from his PHONE, then he called DS on a conference call, put his phone on mute and turned the call over to me. So, I was IN AFRICA, on skype, through Scott's phone, talking to DS. AMAZING! When the DS employee started working on the problem he required that I give him some information on a recent transaction from our account, WHICH I couldn't do because they had "disabled " the account. That was the problem. There's the hate part again. The employee suggested that I come to the bank and work it out. I told him that I was in AFRICA!" His response, "You're WHERE?" So, we worked for another 10 min. figuring out how I could prove that this was my account. By using another account we have at that bank, which necessitated Brent talking instead of me since the DS employee's computer knew that Brent was the primary person on the account, Brent made progress. He looked at the other account on the other computer and gave DS some deposit information from the second account, established our identity and restored our first account.

SO, by going through Skpe on the conference call made on Scott's phone to talk to DS so they could tell their computer to let our computer give us our bank account information, the problem (which was caused by the computers in the first place ) was solved. It almost made me feel like a TRUE GEEK! I LOVE/HATE technology. Thanks Scott!

Post Script-30 seconds after this marathon of technological genius ended, the power went out.

Again we say TIA! Rule #1 vs. technology! We won!

Mr.GQ Africa

When we moved to Burundi six weeks ago, we sent 13 boxes via Kenya Air Freight for the Frogleys, the mission and us. Twelve of the thirteen boxes were found and delivered after about three weeks' effort. The last box didn't come. It has now been declared officially LOST. Someplace in Lubumbashi, Nairobi, Kigali, or Bujumbura (all the places our plane stopped on the way here) our STUFF is sitting in a corner of some warehouse!! Sadly, the search is over!!

We have spent about 20-30 hours at the offices of Kenya air freight, in town and at the airport.

We now have the boss of Kenya air, the warehouse guys, the customs officers, the DHL people and the head of air freight all on our telephone speed dial.

We've actually become friends with Josiane and the folks at DHL.

There were some really important things in there, like my precious well-marked and beloved 18-year old English scriptures, the crock pot that we searched all over Lubumbashi to find, linens, meds, etc. But, one of the big problems was that Brent's ONLY suit was in that box. So, for four weeks he presided at meetings without a suit. He was not happy with that situation, but was being patient until our box was found.

However, when it got close to time for the Holland/Snow visit, not having a suit became an emergency. One can't greet and entertain general authorities in shirt sleeves. So, Brent decided to get a new suit. This is not as easy as it would be in America. You don't just make a trip to Macy's or Dillards, buy a suit, have a few alterations and voila-new suit by Tuesday!

First, you go to a fabric street in town with it's many tiny shops and pick out fabric. We went to several stores along the fabric/seamstress street. Finally we ended up in a little shop, about the size of our laundry room at home, where we found a nice piece of fabric and a very nice East Indian shop owner who was kind and helpful.

The shop owner looked at Brent and said that we would need 3 meters of fabric. No, wait, it would be half meter more since Brent was tall. Then we had to haggle a bit about the price and finally we purchased the fabric. After that the store owner sent a young man who was sitting outside the store to get a tailor, who joined us in the fabric store. This tailor spoke no French or English but seemed a whiz with his measuring tape and promised to have the suit in four days, which was our paramount concern. So, the day before the dedication we went back to get the new suit, hoping that it would be done and tried to remember which one of the many little stores we'd been in was the one where Brent's new suit was waiting.

With only a few hours to go before the general authorities arrived, we were quite anxious to see if the suit was actually done and fit.

It was ready and the fit was good enough for Burundi and the dedication. Actually, the tailoring was very good. The size wasn't perfect, but Brent had a suit for the dedication and we took it back the next week and they made a few adjustments. Now Brent is very GQ. (African style.)

Big Suit------ Dressed for the dedication------Altered Suit

Not bad for $62!