Mission Tour with Renlunds June 2012 -Part 2

  

Pointe Noire was the next destination on our mission tour with the Renlunds.  We held zone conference with the missionaries in the Wheatleys' home and then had a wonderful brunch provided by the Wheatleys.  There were four missionaries in this group whom we had only seen once just a few days after they arrived.  We could see tremendous growth in them in just a month.  Missions are such a maturing experience.

Jamesons, Renlunds and Wheatleys

 After another good four-hour conference with our dear missionaries, we went to  the Hotel Le Fez. One never knows what one will find when going to an African hotel. Price doesn't even tell you what kind of a place it will be.  We approached the hotel in the middle of town on a small dirt side street and wondered what we would find. It was probably the most unique place that we've ever stayed in our lives.  It was, as the name implied, very, very Moroccan.  From the minute the doorman opened the door,we felt like we had stepped into the movie "Casa Blanca."  We almost expected Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart to be sitting around the corner in the restaurant.  

  

 

       This mosaic displays were quite amazing. fountain was magnificent. The whole place was beautiful in its own kind of lavish, gaudy, over the top way.  There was certainly plenty to occupy the eyes in the cultural flair at the Hotel ,  .

Everybody was busy preparing on their i-pads for the next project . What would we do without technology?

Early the next day we were on our flight to Cameroon where we had gathered the Yaoundé and Douala missionaries for their zone conference with all the Cameroonian  elders and the Nuttals and Evansons.  After the conference we had a nice meal provided by the Nuttalls. Our senior couples do so much. 

They are the backbone of the mission. 

 

At the end of a busy week-long trip, the Renlunds headed home on the seven-hour red-eye  flight to Johannesburg.

We spent the night in the Hotel Bano Palace, one of the better hotels in our mission, and began our preparations for our next adventure- our first trip to Bangui, CAR.

Mission Tour with Renlunds June 2012- Part 1

After our big weekend with the Masina Stake Conference we started right into Zone Conferences. We began in Kinshasa with two combined conferences. One consisted of two Zone and the other of three zones.

The program for Constuction

After the zone conference on Tuesday we went to see the program for construction. It's a pilot program of the church in Kinshasa to help young members prepare for jobs in construction. It's very promising.  Elder Renlund wanted to see how it was going. So, we went over to the place on the church grounds where they're practicing their newly acquired skills. They have classroom teaching in the morning and then application in the  afternoons five days a week for 12 weeks. We saw Elder B. at work teaching masonry to these 10 young men . 

  

   

 It was interesting to see the project in action and the young men were thrilled to have pictures taken at their school site with a general authority.

 

 

Four of the ten are RM's who were on missions with us in Lubumbashi.  It's a joy to see them finding success and looking optimistic about their futures.  We think that this program is going to be a real blessing.

Only three of the four were there that day. Elder Konde (Frere Joseph) was attending a family funeral. Elders Kabengele, Mambuku and Tshituna, who are now called Freres President, Cedrick, and Joseph learned to mix and pour cement in the masonry class.They each got to pour a square and put their name on it. They were showing us their squares and signature most proudly.  

    

 We also saw the bunk beds that the couples are making to give to an orphanage that they have been helping. The beds are being financed by the couples and made by Elder B and one of the masonry students, Crispin. It will make a big difference for these children to have a bed to sleep in.

On Wednesady we headed across the Congo River to Brazzaville for the next zone conference. In total we did five five-hour zone conferences in four cities,which were located in three countries in five days. We saw all 162 missionaries, including our couples. When Brent sent the agenda to Elder Renlund he suggested that this would probably be the most concentrated mission tour in the history of the church.  It might not really have been, but it was pretty crazy.  Such is life in the Kinshasa mission.  And we had a wonderful, exhilarating, time with the Renlunds. They are not only inspiring leaders, but just a lot of fun!  

We took the Assistants, Elders Mulambo and Twite, with us as far as Brazzaville. They stayed on to work with the missionaries there. This trip we rented a boat. It's much easier, but still an adventure. 

 

    

 

Quite honestly, crossing the Congo is always an adventure.  The 10-minute boat trip takes about 2-3 hours to accomplish. Oh, the sites you can see!

 

 

Brazzaville Zone

After a very busy day crossing the river and holding a five hour zone conference, we ended our day with a calm, quiet evening in the Hotel Adonis, one of our favorite places.  It was a nice little reprieve as we relaxed and prepared for the next days 7:00 AM departure for Pointe Noire.

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.