July 13, 2014 - Clark

Sunday, July 13, 2014

We had an eventful week but one highlight we need to relate is going to Zambia.  In order to get an exit visa, you need to travel to a foreign country within 90 days of receiving your 5-year visa.  Zambia is only about 35-40 miles away.  We had Emmanuel from our mission office drive us there and he had made arrangements with a member of the church to be our facilitator.  What happens here is that the process always seems to be a mystery and you need a facilitator to assist you regardless of the process.  When we arrived in the border town of Kasembalasa, we discovered that our facilitator had traveled to Lubumbashi and we had a substitute.  

In preparing to go, Justin said it would cost about $100 per person, but Emmanuel told us to bring $700.  We had no idea what the cost would be.  We stopped at the missionaries’ apartment before meeting our substitute facilitator.  The time at the border was confusing as we had to go first to DRCongo’s building to exit the country and then to Zambia’s building to enter the country.  We don’t know what was done but everyone wanted a piece of the action and we ended up with a second facilitator.  This process took us about an hour or so and then the real fun began.  The Zambia side of the border is a marketplace where prices are about half of what they are in Lubumbashi.  Mom and I were too afraid to pull out our wallet in the crowds that gathered and so we went home empty-handed.  Emmanuel, on the other hand had come for the shopping trip.  His prize purchase was 5 live chickens that were about the size of small turkeys.  We visited with the owner of the shop and she said they were 65 weeks old.  They simply tied their legs together and hung them upside down on the handle bars of their bike and pushed them across the border to Emmanuel’s waiting truck.  Emmanuel only bought 1 chicken for himself but he bought 4 as gifts for family and friends.  It sounds like this act is performed often and indebts to receiver of the gift for a return favor.

Mom’s favorite place in the marketplace was the dried fish market.  They use dried fish to mix in a sauce that is used for fou-fou which is their main staple.  It is a heavy dough-like bread made from flour of the kasava plant or manioc.  Dried fish lasts forever and doesn’t require refrigeration.  The sights and smells of the fish market still linger.  We were a little nervous because we were instructed to keep our hand on our phone, money and camera because this was a market where a lot of pick pocketing occurs.  Emmanuel bought a little of everything and I’m sure his wife was happy to see him arrive home.

The final cost of our visa journey was $50 for the two facilitators and no cost to have our passports stamped.  Looking back it felt much more like a shopping trip than a visa trip but it was memorable and we have some pictures from the market, even though we were worried about pulling our our iphone to take pictures.  

Another bit of encouragement we received this week was from our French language instructor, Honivah Leavitt.  I’ll forward her letter, but the essence of the letter was that “I know the living conditions will not get better, but the Lord will bless you his strength and protection.”  I found some verses in Mosiah that comforted me as well:

1. Mosiah 23:27-28, I like the term “they hushed their fears”
2. Mosiah 24:13-16, their burdens were made light and the Lord did strengthen them”

I’m still working the part of “submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord”

This has definitely been our best week.  Mom and I went for a walk downtown for 3 hours yesterday afternoon with the sisters from the office.  Our first day or so in Lubumbashi we were out for about half an hour and were completely overwhelmed to walk about a half a block.  Yesterday we must have walked 4 miles and felt almost comfortable.  We see less of the poverty, clutter and chaos and are learning to overlook the negative in favor of the positives.  The senior sisters are inspirational.  They are both widowed and serving in Africa without their deceased husbands.  They worked as ordinance workers together in the temple.  They are always positive and look on each new experience as an adventure.  We’re hoping their example is contagious.  They are 69 and 70 respectively.

We’ve had a few positives happen in our humanitarian work this week.  We had visited a hospital in Luputa on our field trip and they asked for help in assisting with the repair of their sonogram or a portable ultra-sound machine.  The stake president works as a surgical nurse and he introduced us to the hospital administrator.  We picked up the electrical cord in Mbuji-Mayi but have had no luck in finding a replacement.  The machine hasn’t worked for over a year.  Sister Clawson suggested I just write a letter for help.  I did so on Tuesday and on Thursday, they called with instructions on what would be required to secure a brand new machine.  We’re on it now and hope to be able to meet this need.  We’ll keep you posted.

Thank you for your emails, texts, skype and facetime sessions.  We’re working on becoming jaded to the unpleasant living conditions and bearing our burdens with less murmuring, but it’s sure nice to have a pick-me-up from home.  We love you all and pray for you daily.

Love, Dad