Happy Day! Happy Day!

Not far from our house, across the main road ...

Onto a street with two enormous (you could lose a car in there) mud holes...

past a roundabout...

And a mile down a very bad road ...

is a place called RDC GAZ.

It was there that we finally got what we needed for the propane stove that we want to use when we have no power. Brent has talked to the lady there several times a week for almost a month to trying to arrange to get a regulator, a hose and a tank of propane.

TODAY WE GOT IT!

Now when there is no power, we can still eat something besides bread and cheese!

HAPPY DAY! HAPPY DAY!

Isn't it amazing how important a little thing like a hot meal can be?

Help from Heaven

So much has happened this week that we need to record. Not all mission weeks are like this. Some are very quiet and we are trying to figure out what we can do that will be of value. But we need to remember the times when things go right and we are blessed.

We made another trip to Likasi. This week we enjoyed having the Wards with us on the drive. We took them to do their training in Likasi. They have been all over Africa and so the road was not a shock to them, like it was to us our first time. It seems to have gotten worse this rainy season. At a place where a huge truck has been abandoned in the middle of the road since before we got here, there is now a small lake on the other side of side of the road. That's the only place you can drive. You have to go through the lake. Brent just put the truck in four wheel drive and went for it. He's getting to be quite the Congolese driver!

So, we sailed along with some degree of confidence. We still always worry a little that the villagers will be upset and do something frightening or that we will have trouble out there on the road in the mud far from any help. But we have been very blessed to have had no problems that weren't manageable. When we arrived at the church we helped the Wards into the building. We hadn't been in there for more than five minutes when one of the members came to tell us that we had a flat tire. It was not just low, but totally flat. We felt so grateful that we were protected from that tire going flat on the crazy, bumpy road where we hit many potholes and wildly serpentined around the road to miss the worst ones. It seems like a bit of a miracle that it didn't blow on us. It would be really bad to be stranded in the bush with a flat tire. We recognize that we were definitely watched over and blessed with a safe journey.

I attended the Ward's meetings on finance while Brent had some meetings with District leaders on a very difficult problem. It was a stressful day for him and he was anxious to get to the hotel and rest. We had dinner with the Wards at the only restaurant where we know we can safely eat and then they headed back to our house with the other auditor. We went to look for a new hotel that we wanted to try. We drove all over Likasi and never could find it or get them to answer their phone. So, we went back to the hotel where we stayed last time. It had been OK except that we had no hot water. This time it wasn't nearly as nice. Our room had no light in the bathroom. The small fridge didn't work, which we discovered was because the end of the cord had been cut off. (It did serve as a nice stand for the TV, which had three stations.) In the morning we went to get ready and there was NO water. Brent couldn't even get enough water to shave, so we just used a little hand sanitizer and went on our way to Zone Conference.

We always consider very carefully the subject that we will have for our conferences. This time Brent felt very strongly that we should talk about charity. We planned our talks and continued to feel like this was the subject on which we should speak. The impression was quite strong. We always have all the elders prepare a talk for each conference on a subject of their choice. Then we call on two of them to give the talk they have prepared.

Elder Mukenge, a really sweet young elder who started his mission when we did, was the first to talk. He began by reading from Moroni 7:47-48 and then he proceeded to talk about charity-the pure love of Christ.

When Elder Konde got up to give his talk, he too had prepared a talk on charity. We were so amazed. Then we knew that we had chosen the subject that the Lord wanted discussed. Not only had He influenced us to speak on this subject, but these two elders had been listening to the Spirit tell them to speak on that subject too. It is a sweet experience when we knew that you have done the Lord's will. We shared this special experience with our elders so that they too would know that Heavenly Father was watching over all of us and telling us the same thing. They needed to know that the Lord knew them and knew just what they needed to hear.

This is the kind of experience that makes it worth staying in hotel with NO water.

The Jameson Hotel

Sometimes, we get to know people well and they become a major part of our lives. But sometimes, we just pass through each other's lives for a moment. Even in passing, there are things to be learned and to remember. Most of the time we are pretty much on our own in Lubumbashi. It's just the two of us. We have had some visitors and it appears that the word is getting out on the African grape vine that we have a guest house. So, we are having more church people stay with us. It's good! It gives us a chance to have some really interesting people pass through our lives.

Our little guest house is made of brick that is NOT plastered. We think that it's quite attractive.

The outside and the inside look much the same. It's small, but quite comfortable, except for the kitchen, which I can hardly stand in due to a little case of claustrophobia. The Wassums, the last couple here before us, lived in this house for their full mission.

Visitors

Frere Chamberlain from auditing in Kinshasa was our first visitor.

Elder Kola, an area authority from Kinshasa, was our second guest.

President and Sister Headlee stayed in Dec. when they came to see the missionaries.

After realizing that we were starting to have quite a few visitors, we decided fix it up a little and give it a good cleaning. We hired two sweet ladies from the ward to work on it.

Sister Elaine is a very nice widow in the ward and Sister Delphine is the Stake Relief Society President. They worked all day and scrubbed every inch of the place. They worked very hard and were so pleasant. They made a big difference.

This week we had Howard and Lorrayne Ward from South Africa with us for five days. They're from Idaho, where they ran a big ranch before their mission days.

They're serving their third mission. The first was to Thailand where they were humanitarian missionaries. The second was based in Zimbabwe and travelling to do training. This time they are based in South Africa and are doing financial training and auditing. Their calling seems like a very difficult one because they are looking under every rock in the financial affairs of the church. They are the watchdogs of the Lord's money and it seems like it would be a very depressing job. However, they were happy and optimistic and delightful. Using the guest house as home base they went to Kolwezi, Likasi and the two stakes in Lubumbashi. Then they flew on to Mbuji Mayi, Kananga and Kinshasa. They have traveled by plane and car all over Africa on their missions. Before we met them, we worried that this would be a hard trip for them. Nothing is easy in the Congo and they also speak no French. But, they were amazing troopers. They are so resilient and flexible. We were very inspired by their service and spunk. When their plane was canceled in Kolwezi and they were stranded overnight, they took it all in stride. When we took them on the bumpy dirt road to Likasi, they thought it was like four wheeling. They didn't complain when we were without power twice during their visit and they even brought us chocolate chips. We totally enjoyed their visit. It was a great blessing to have them pass through Lubumbashi.

Sidenote: They also brought me a sewing machine that Sister Headlee left in South Africa. She said that I could use it if we could get it here. African quilt tops-here I come!! I'll have to piece them now and quilt them when I get home because we haven't found batting. (The African sisters I asked about quilting thought it was crazy to take a big piece of fabric, cut it into little pieces, and then sew it back together to make a big piece again. Does sound a bit silly when you put it that way. Doesn't it?) But I'm excited!

Transfers Are NOT Fun

We have had a very busy week in the Congo. We started out with transfers. I HATE transfers. We get very attached to our elders and when they leave it's very hard. This transfer we lost six of the greatest young men ever. Here they are.

Elder Kirongozi was our kind, sweet Zone leader

Elder M. Kapele,our English speaker, who dreams of going to BYU.

Elder Bunda was my Swahili teacher

We will see these three again after their missions, if we still go to Likasi, since they live there, but some elders we will very likely never see again. It's sad!

Elder Tshibangu asked me to tell him how to get an American wife.

Elder Sabue, was a tough Elder, whose name I couldn't pronounce.

Elder Ngandu, after working through a serious problem with Brent, added Jameson to his name on all his communications out of respect for his "Beloved President Jameson."

We could think of a million things about each of them that make them special to us. These young men have been with us for our whole mission and we will miss them. It's part of the plan, this transfer thing, just like having your kids move out or get married is good and part of the plan, but it's not an easy part.

The experience we have had with them will be some of the great joys of our time here. We had a very special experience with Elder Bunda. He told Brent one time (and gave us permission to record it) that he had been reading in the Book of Mormon and had found ways in which his life was like Nephi's. He made these sweetest comparisons.

1. Nephi was persecuted. I have been persecuted for the Gospel.

2. Nephi was bound by his brothers. I was bound once in Kinshasa.

3. Nephi had the spirit to guide him and the spirit has guided me.

4. Nephi studied the plates. I study the Book of Mormon.

5. Nephi built a temple. I went to the temple, the house of God.

6. Nephi taught the gospel. I teach the gospel.

7. Nephi was rejected by his brothers. I too have been rejected for the gospel's sake.

8. Nephi was a good example. I’m trying to be an example to my companions & others.

You just have to love these good Elders. These young men are the hope of the church in Africa. They will go home and be great leaders and examples to the infant church that needs just such leadership. What a joy it is to work with them!

Now six new ones have joined us. We will love them too!

Things work out

Very often we are without power, which also means no water because our water is on an electric pump. We only have a few days a month when we have power all day. Sometimes it's off all day. However, we are fortunate because we are in one of the best areas in all of Lubumbashi for maintaining power. Some places only have it every other day, if that often. On Saturday it was off from 6am to 7pm. Thirteen hours is a long time without power and water. There are so many things you can't do without power or water. Actually, there are not many things you can do without power and water. These pictures may help you see why there are problems.

This is the transformer for our area.

Our house is in the middle of this picture.

The power line after it crosses the street.

One day they put up and new power pole on our street.

We are learning to adapt. We now have drinking water stored and a bidon and big pan in the bathroom for showering.

This week we bought a propane stove. No hot food is the worst thing, especially when we have company. We found the stove for a good price at a furniture store, so we bought it on the spot. Done, right? NO!!. Nothing is that simple in the Congo!

Our new stove

Side note: You may be wondering about the figurine in the background of this picture. Those are real feathers.

The shop owner saw our missionary tags he gave us a big discount and sent his worker to get us a "gift." We just didn't have the heart to turn him down. He was so kind. So we left the store with a stove and a figurine. There are nuns on our street who we think will find a nice home for the statue. As we left, he asked us to pray for him. It's good to live in a place where religion is respected.

The store that sold the propane stove didn't sell propane. (The paint store also doesn't sell paint brushes.) However, they did tell us where to get propane and even drew a map for us. The map sent us out of town, but we didn't find the place, so we asked some police for directions. They told us to just continue and we couldn't miss it. So, we continued for about 20 minutes but found no store. Finally, we stopped a very well dressed, clean cut young man and asked for directions. He said he would take us to the propane store. It was so nice of him. I must admit that I was pretty nervous when Brent invited him to get in the truck and we headed out. It turned out that he was a young doctor who was in that part of town for a consultation and was heading back to the clinic near the gas company. He knew a young Dr. in our ward and all the members of that family, so I felt much better. He took us on a long drive that, surprisingly, ended up at the gas company. However, at the gas company, although they had gas, they had no gas regulators. Yes, this is the Congo! They said they might be able to get one from Zambia by next week.

The Dr.waited for us and gave us a map to get home. After we dropped him at his clinic we followed his map and discovered that the gas company is about 5 minutes from our house. The original map had taken us in a huge circle around Lubumbashi.

Now we have a stove and we hope that sometime soon, it will work. We have visitors from South Africa coming in four days.

We have a sign in our office with a quote on it sent to us by Barry Anderson. It's our motto nowadays.

We're trying!

Oh, How I Miss Him

Tomorrow, Jan 10th, is the one year anniversary of my Dad's death on his 90th Birthday. What a blessing it has always been to be the child of such an amazing and loving father. I still miss him every day! Sometimes, for just a moment, I find myself thinking that he's just home with the rest of the family in Arizona, as I go about my days in the Congo. Often I think if he was here with me, some of the things that I can't get would be so easy for us to make. He was always my "partner in crime" as we planned and plotted things together. He was always such a good problem solver, such a smart man. But even more than that, he was always my advisor, my supporter and one of my best friends. I hope that he and my Mom are hand in hand now watching over us all and sending love our way. Today I miss him more than usual.

We also remember the passing of our sweet Grandma Jameson 14 years ago on Jan. 10th. We are grateful that we can both say, as Nephi, "having been born of goodly parent" we are most blessed.

The Likasi Tour

We took the mission president and his wife to Likasi and Pres. Shimbi, the District President, gave us a tour of all the buildings and future building sites in Likasi.

The church where we met him is the standard small chapel used everywhere in the Congo. It has windows along both sides of the chapel, which are opened during meetings to give ventilation. It also has fans in the chapel, RS and Primary rooms, but people here don't like them. They think the moving air is not healthy and they get cold easily. It can be 80 degrees and they're all bundled up. So, they must have even thinner blood than we Arizona desert rats. It is a very nice building, despite the fact that it has no frig, stove or drinking fountains and is often without power and water, which was the case that day.

Our trip was quite an experience. I wish that somehow I could have people at home be in this world for just an hour. It's impossible to explain or photograph it in a way that others could understand what "normal" "everyday" life is like here.

From the church we went to a piece of land owned by the church where they plan a chapel soon.

It's on a road that we would call a foot path. I'm sure that you can only access it on foot or with a four wheel drive truck. That's not so much of a problem here because most people are on foot. Usually ours is the only car in the parking lot at the big church in Likasi. The path becomes too small for our truck just beyond the church property.

The plot of ground is small and will probably need to have a different type of building on it. Those buildings are made much simpler, just a square brick meeting room in one building and primary, RS, etc. in smaller out buildings. Many members live nearby and it would be very helpful to have a building closer. Transportation is always a problem here.

From there we went to see a rented building where Likasi 2 branch meets. Again the roads are a wonder to behold. We were never quite sure we were really turning onto a road when being directed by Pres. Shimbi. But then, suddenly we would see a church sign.

This building is too small already. They open the doors and some people sit outside on the patio in plastic lawn chairs during Sacrament meetings. It has rooms that would fit only about 20 chairs for RS and Primary. The rooms are about the size of the usual classroom in our chapels.

They were pleased to show me that they had a working sewing machine with a hand turned fly wheel. I'd like to have it to go with my antiques. We see them everywhere. I just love them!

Several Relief Society sisters were there. This beautiful young woman lives in a tiny house on the church property.

Curious children who live next door came to see the strange visitors. We always draw a crowd of small, curious onlookers.

This is the daughter of the First Counselor in the Branch Presidency. They live by the church.

Next we headed to another neighborhood, or commune. It's called Kikula. It's probably our fastest growing area in Likasi.

This is the main street of Kikula.

Brent and Pres. Shimbi at Kikula 2 meeting hall.

Here's the view of the street from the chapel.

A lady selling her wares next to the church.

Then we went to a neighborhood where the church is planning to buy 12 houses, tear them down and build a chapel. The people thought that it was going to happen in Dec. and when they saw us they wanted to tell us how anxious they are to make it happen.

While the men were talking business, I started talking to the groups of children who were playing in the street.

The girls had made a hop scotch in the dirt street. I used my limited French on them and they responded. We started to talk and laugh and soon we had quite a group of us enjoying a few minutes together.

I tried to use all my French to talk to them. We could actually carry on a small conversation. It was so fun!!

One little boy knew some English. He told me he could count to ten in English and then demonstrated his ability.

I tried to get all the children counting in English. They mimicked my words and then giggled with embarrassment. I also counted in French and they did that with me several times.

Then they tried to teach me 1-10 in Swahili. Boy, did they enjoy that! They squealed with delight at my every strange sound. Crazy American! Can't even make these sounds right! It was one of the best times I've had in the Congo. I love the children and we are able to connect despite the language and cultural barriers. I hated to leave them and they stood and waved for a long time as we drove off. It was awesome!! This will be a treasured memory!