LUPUTA

Today I read in the LDS Church News dated July 23, 2011 the story of LUPUTA. It's a place that has fascinated me since we arrived in Africa. It was in the Lubumbashi mission and we thought that we would go there someday. That never happened, but it's still a place that is dear to my heart. So today I wanted it recorded in our history.
In this place, far from everywhere and accessible only with great effort, the gospel is thriving. The church just completed an enormous water project to bring the first clean water to nine taps located throughout the city. There are no public services, no water, no power, no garbage collection, no street construction and repair. Any power that's used is done with generators and water is hand carried for home and public use. But we have come to love Luputa without ever going there. We had missionaries with us in Lubumbashi and Burundi from Luputa, notable Elder Mpoyi, who arrived on his mission the day we first arrived in Africa and was among the eight missionaries in the "Burundi Bunch" who we took with us to Burundi. Now we have 20 Elders and Sisters in our Kinshasa mission from this city and more to come. The story of Luputa is a story of faith, determination and success against all odds. It's truly inspiring and after seeing this article in the church news, I knew that it had to be a part of our mission history. President Binene stayed with us in Lubumbashi after making the 2 day trip from Luputa to attend coordinating council. He stayed for 5 days because transportation wasn't available any more often than that. He' was called as the first Stake President of the Luputa Stake. So here's the story with editorial comments in blue.

Growth of Church in remote central Africa is remarkable

Africa West Area (Acutally Luputa is in the Africa South East Area)

Published: Saturday, July 23, 2011

On a beautiful sunny day in the city of Luputa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, the 10th Congolese stake in Africa was organized. More than 1,800 members gathered from villages and farms — some traveling by riding bikes and others riding in the backs of trucks — to the Church building on June 26. Most came walking, some even for 6-8 hours, just to attend the conference.

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Church members in Luputa, Democratic Republic of the Congo meet at the creation of the tenth Congolese stake in Africa on June 26, 2011.

Assigned by the Quorum of the Twelve, Elder Paul E. Koelliker (Allan's childhood friend) and Elder Alfred Kyungu (who lives in Kinshasa) of the Seventy met with local leaders (including Pres. Binene in the center of the picture) and other members to call the new stake presidency.

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Members in Luputa, DR Congo, gather prior to the creation of the 10th Congolese stake in this central African nation.

The growth of the Church in this somewhat remote part of central Africa is quite a remarkable story. For the previous five years, since the district was organized, there have been no full-time missionaries assigned to these villages. Each of the branches had only branch missionaries who worked under the leadership of the district and mission presidents.

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Church members in Luputa, Democratic Republic of the Congo meet at the creation of the tenth Congolese stake in Africa on June 26, 2011.

In 2008, Elder and Sister William W. Parmley visited the Luputa District Conference where they were surprised to find nearly 700 members and friends gathered. A district choir sang hymns of Zion and thus began this unlikely chapter in Church history. Less than three years later, the numbers had grown to more than 2,000 members with many more eager to join the Church.

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Church members in Luputa, Democratic Republic of the Congo meet at the creation of the tenth Congolese stake in Africa on June 26, 2011.

Many young men and women have responded to the counsel of President Thomas S. Monson to serve as full-time missionaries. From this one district — where no full-time missionaries were assigned — 34 full-time missionaries have been called to serve in missions around the world. It has only been in the last six months that full-time missionaries have been assigned to teach and serve those living in Luputa.

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Church members in Luputa, Democratic Republic of the Congo meet at the creation of the tenth Congolese stake in Africa on June 26, 2011.

In the stake conference, 21 brethren were sustained as high priests and are now members of the new high priest quorum presided over by President Willy Sabowe Binene. These brethren are well organized and very capable in leading the establishment of the Church and the teaching of the gospel. Missionaries are beginning to return home to find work, obtain an education and apply the principles learned as missionaries.

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Church members in Luputa, Democratic Republic of the Congo meet at the creation of the tenth Congolese stake in Africa on June 26, 2011.

Several of the messages of the conference sessions focused on preparing for temple blessings and although only a few of the leaders and the returning missionaries have received the blessings of the temple, many are preparing to enter the temple.

Following the Luputa Democratic Republic of the Congo Stake Conference, Elder Koelliker, Elder Kyungu and President Binene met with 14 young brothers and sisters, giving each of them their letter from President Monson calling them to serve as a full-time missionary. They were full of missionary zeal and anxious to begin serving.

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Church members in Luputa, Democratic Republic of the Congo meet at the creation of the tenth Congolese stake in Africa on June 26, 2011.(Some of these will be our missionaries soon.)

This is a season of growth for the people living in the nations of Africa and they are responding with great faith.

It's Christmas in July

After only three and a half weeks, our shipment, which got here before we did, was released from customs! Happy Day! It felt like Christmas when all the boxes started to arrive. There must have been 20 huge boxes. There seemed to be many more things than I remembered having been taken from our preschool room a few months ago. But I was pretty excited to open the boxes and see what I thought was important to have with us. Did I really need all that stuff?

All day long we unpacked and put things in their places. Brent was off doing interviews with missionaries most of the day and I stayed at home to receive our goods. Thankfully it was a day when Jackie came to help. She's a delightful person and such a hard worker. We worked together for seven hours and then Brent came home and we worked another couple of hours. Boxes were unloaded and most things put away. Just a few things now to assemble. It is like Christmas!

At times I thought that maybe I should have lived without some thing. There was so much to unpack. Maybe I could have gotten along with less. Others have done it. Actually, we've done it. But then I found some very special things and I was thrilled. It amazing what things become meaningful to you when you're away from home. It really did feel like Christmas!

Some things you just need to have. Right? We're so blessed to have many comforts and conveniences that make life easier. It brings just a little of our Arizona life to our Kinshasa home.

More Elders, More travel

Our six day odyssey to the far ends of the mission continued. We stayed in Yaounde, Cameroon for less than 24 hours, but it was a full day and time well spent. We met with the great missionaries there and started to get acquainted. Brent interviewed Elder Palmer who goes home this transfer. It's strange that we knew of him and corresponded with his mom on the internet before our last mission. We thought we would never met him even though we'd been called to the same mission and here we are. Brent gave him his exit interview and issued his temple recommend. What a crazy life we have!

The Thompsons were kind enough to host our meeting in their home, which made it very warm and comfortable.

We spent the rest of the time in Yaounde with the Thompsons. They come from Canada and are doing a great job of supporting the elders and the local branches. They're even working on a temple trip that will require a boat trip of many hours. They're very courageous and hard working. Both speak excellent French and that's a huge blessing.

They showed us the huge baptismal font that was built at their rented chapel. The only problem they have is getting enough water to fill it. They had a whole list of things that they wanted to tell us about and we learned a great deal. We visited their building and talked non-stop about good things that were happening and other things that need attention. We drove around Yaounde and got a feel for the city. It seems to be quite progressive and is also beautiful and green, with nice contour to the land. It's still Africa, but there seems to be a little prosperity here that we haven't seen before.

We had lunch at a lovely restaurant with Thompsons, then we were headed for Douala, Cameroon on that great Camair Co plane. I just love their brand new planes. The Yaounde airport was easy to navigate and we were very happy for that. Since we were flying business class we had a nice lounge to sit in and were able to board the plane after all the pushing and shoving was finished. We flew everywhere we went on business class because the other class is often oversold and so sometimes you just don't get on and have to wait, sometimes overnight, for the next plane where the scramble begins again. We were so glad to know that we would have a seat and didn't have to worry about getting to our next stop.

In Douala, we were met again by the Nuttalls. They come from Provo, but have lived all over the world, including 6 years in Paris. So, their French was also excellent. Elder Nuttal served in the same mission as Brent, only a little earlier. They had places and even a few people who they both knew from their mission days. They'd actually shared the same mission president (Pres. Martin) for awhile. Again our meeting was hosted in the home of the wonderful couple. These senior couples are such a great blessing. We just wish we had more of them.

It was so fun to be able to speak in English in these places. I loved being able to just express myself without being tied to a prepared talk or floundering for the right words to say when I spoke. Elder Waite, one of these elders once said, when asked what he'd sacrificed to go on a mission, that he'd sacrificed his ability to communicate freely. I can relate! We were actually a little nervous about working with North American elders. We've worked with Africans, but this would be different. It was different, but it was just as great! We loved them and felt at home immediately.

Brent did another exit interview with Elder Acorda. He's so darling. I hate that he's headed back to Canada, having finished his mission and we won't have the chance to meet him again.

Since we were in Douala for a day and a half, we got to see and do a little more. Again the couple had a long list of things to share with us.

We were able to attend a wonderful little group who is about to become a branch. It was interesting that here there were both English and French speakers. They just got up and spoke in whatever language they preferred. I loved it! They were warm and wonderful people. They need to have their rented building remodeled. They're bursting at the seams. The missionaries live in the same building. Their apartment opens into the chapel room. The primary is in a tiny place, but there are plans to remodel and it will be a good building when it's done. I love the spirit in these tiny, new units. They just have a giant spirit in a tiny church organization.

Chapel, Young Mens' Meeting

One of the first members in BonaPriso, a cute young woman, and the Primary

This building will, after some significant renovation, be a place where two branches can meet in the future. It's large and well built and it has beautiful, hand carved doors that I just love. I hope they don't decide that the doors need replacing. Each was different and I just loved them all.

After church the Nuttalls were kind enough to invite Marius Nkong and his friend to dinner. Marius was our AP in Lubumbashi . It was so fun to spend a little time with them.

Our last stop was Pointe Noire. The flight there was about two hours. That gave us time to have a little meal on the plane. It was nice that we usually got a meal, since we had little time to eat at each of our stops. Pointe Noire is on the ocean and has some beautiful beaches, even some black sand beaches. We walked on the beach near the couples' house for a few minutes. It wasn't a really beautiful one, but there were great shells that the Gates have collected. They really have some amazing things. That day he found a very nice one and gave it, and two others to us as a souvenir. We hope to get to the other beaches someday, but this trip our important task was to visit with missionaries and couples.

Again we met at the couples' home and it was a good thing to do that. It felt comfortable and easy to invite the spirit and to talk together. It was another great learning experience as we talked to the elders and the senior couple. When Sister Gates introduced herself we found out that we went to the same high school. She was two years behind me, but I did know her older sister. Small world. Brent interviewed Elder Wilkins, who will go home before we get there again. We had another nice evening out with the Gates at a nice restaurant next to the ocean and they too had a list of things they wanted to share with us. Wow, did I say that we learned a lot on this trip? We hope that we can help address their concerns and encourage them to have courage and keep moving forward .

After a day in Pointe Noire, it was off to Brazzaville and another adventure crossing the Congo River. This time it was still a different experience. After sitting in an unairconditioned, old room for two hours waiting to clear customs, we finally headed out to our boat. We had stairs to climb down to the water this time, but they had no handrail and were pretty much an adventure. I had been very nervous about getting our big suitcase down the hill, but we had help and that part was easy. However, there was no nice touring boat waiting for us this time. We went in a very old, tiny speed boat. It reminded me of the little water skiing boat that we had when I was a child. Actually, maybe it was the same boat. I think it was that old. We had no access getting onto the boat . We had to step up from the beach onto the front of the boat as it sat in the water. I could do that easily when I was 16 and we had our little ski boat. This time I found it much more of a challenge. They packed 11 passengers and all our luggage and parcels onto the little boat and we headed out. Again the trip was much more uneventful that the getting to and from the trip. However, the week before when our AP's had returned, their small boat had ended up on a sand bar and was stuck for about half an hour until they could get it free. Interesting!?!

When we got to the dock on the Kinshasa side there was no place to easily get off the boat, so we had to step up about two feet above the side of the boat onto the dock. The landing is visible in the picture below. Brent went first so that he could help me and the luggage get off. An Africa women, who was in a big hurry, pushed me aside and jumped in front of me. So, Brent help her up and then I followed after her.

Next we went back through the barred area that we'd come through on our way there. Thankfully, the customs lady hired by our office manager was there to help us. She convinced the police that our luggage didn't need searching and our documents were in order and we moved right through a group of about five tables full of police and into our waiting car. It was an amazing six days. We had a great time meeting the missionaries and the church leaders in all of those places. We learned so much about their areas and the things that they need from us. It was quite an experience and the most amazing part is that we're going to repeat it every few months for the next two years. We can do it, right!?!

The Next Round of Meeting.

During our first round of zone meetings each trip required a round trip drive of an hour or two, the next round of conferences required real traveling and was pretty intense.

Six days, three countries, two boat trips, five cities, six airplane flights, numerous car adventures, four zone meetings, one branch block of meetings, visits with branch and stake presidents, looking at church properties, three mission release interviews, 44 young missionaries and three senior couples with whom to get acquainted. Did I miss anything? Wow!

On Thursday afternoon we headed for "the beach" to take a boat across the Congo River. In order to go to any of our other cities we first go by boat to Brazzaville. We've been told about this trip, but you have to do it to believe it.

Thierry, our office manager, took us to the “beach.” We stayed in the air conditioned car while he arranged for tickets on the boat, took our passports to the immigration officials and exchanged dollars for Central African francs to be used in the two countries we were visiting. (Note: This was all happening on the day before his wife, who was in the hospital at the time, gave birth to a 2 month premature son. Baby Ariel's doing fine, but will be in the hospital for some time.) Bless Thierry's heart!

There were crowds of young men wanting to help us with our luggage and people wanting to sell us everything imaginable. Noisey merchants and their porters were everywhere. It was just masses of humanity going about the business of life on the docks.

Thierry knows everyone and arranged for an immigration official (in the green & white shirt) to walk us through the process of getting on the boat. Sounds easy enough, but not so! There were hoards of people wanting to cross the river, pushing and shoving and yelling at each other. It was seriously tight quarters and my claustrophobia was really put to the test. We were held between two iron fences, along with a few hundred others, while we waited for the next gate to open. There were two lines going opposite directions. We were in the line to the nice boats and we were very glad.

The gates were finally opened wide enough for one person at a time to get through and we were rushed over to a nice touring boat. It held about 20 passengers. Each of us was given a life jacket. The boat ride lasted five minutes and was safe and easy. Getting to it was a challenge.

At the other end of the dock from our boat were larger boats, crammed with crowds people and their belongings. They had been in the line going the opposite direction from our line. They had piles of plastic chairs, buckets and bundles to take to Brazzaville to sell. There were animals and every sort of baggage. Thierry made sure we weren’t on that kind of boat and we were so grateful!

When we reached the other side of the river we saw just how easy our ride was compared to the transportation of many goods. Dugout canoes take people and goods across the river. We saw them loading as we exited our boat. It was just amazing. These people work so hard.

When we arrived in Brazzaville there was no ramp to use to disembark, so we had to climb with our luggage up a steep hill about 30 yards long. The assistants accompanied us on this first leg of the trip and helped us with some of our suitcases. I don't know what we would have done without them. I was helped by Elder Yangoie near the top of the hill when we reached a huge step up . He literally saved me from tumbling back down. At the top of the hill were hundreds of people coming and going across the river. I could hardly believe my eyes when we saw the enormous numbers of people packed into the dock area. We were so glad to have people to help us make this trip!

We were met at "the beach" by a "brother" of the church employee that was supposed to greet us. Frere Gaetan was held up in traffic. One never knows if a brother is really a brother or just somebody that you feel close to. But after waiting for a few minutes out in the crowds of people on the dock who were working and traveling, we got through passport control and Gaetan took us to our hotel. It was a really nice hotel, probably the nicest we've stayed in while in Africa. It was fresh, clean and well decorated and we enjoyed it very much.

The hotel and the statue in the roundabout outside.

As soon as we were settled in our room, the first order of business was meeting with the 20 missionaries in the Brazzaville Zone in an upper room of a restaurant, with some privacy. The conditions in a restaurant weren't as conducive to the Spirit as we would have liked, but we trudged ahead. As always, we loved the missionaries as soon as we met them. There were several whom we had met in Lubumbashi and Likasi.

It was especially an honor to meet Elder LaGuerre. He's the first missionary to ever serve from Central African Republic.

The next morning Gaetan picked us up at 6:30 to go to the airport to fly to Cameroon. There's a new airport in Brazzaville and it was very nice.

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The only problem with it was the crazy pushing and shoving that went on to get into the passenger area. Wow, are the people here ever anxious to get on the plane. We had a stop in Pointe-Noire that was supposed to be just to let passengers deplane. Then we were supposed to leave immediately for Cameroon. We were on the ground for two hours for reasons unknown—no explanation. This made us late for our connection between Douala and Yaoundé. The couple in Douala, the Nuttalls, met us and an airline employee took us to the office to change our tickets to a flight to Yaoundé later that night. Our flight to Yaounde was on a new airline that just started service. Cam-air Co. They were really wonderful. They were helpful and their planes were the nicest ones we've been on. The walkway to their plane was also interesting.

Again the rush of people happened when they announced a flight to Paris. We sat quietly waiting for the Yaounde flight. Then we noticed that everybody but us was leaving the waiting room. We asked an airline worker when the plane to Yauonde left and she said it was boarding. It was going to Paris through Yaounde, but there was no announcement of that. We boarded a jumbo jet that was going to Yaoundé (a 40-minutes flight) and then on to Paris. We were tempted not to get off and go on to Paris for a little vacation, but we rose above it. We finally ended up in Yaoundé around 10 PM where the Thompsons, a great senior couple from Canada who both speak French, met us and drove us about an hour to their apartment. We fell into bed about midnight, happy that the day's travel was behind us. We'd been on planes and in airports for almost 14 hours. After all day traveling, it felt good to share the home of this great missionary couple.