August 24, 2014 - Clark

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Week 18, but who’s counting?  We are becoming better adapted each week.  This past week saw us in a role reversal.  When we left Johannesburg, we were so nervous that our hosting couple, Bruce and Melinda Kinghorn stayed with us at the airport for an additional two hours getting us checked in, bags checked, fed us breakfast and held our hands pretty much until departure.  This week the Kinghorns visited us in Lubumbashi.  They are the couple we report to and are called area welfare specialists.  When they arrived, we worked with a facilitator, Tom, to help them with the check-in process in navigating their way through the airport.  We drove the mission van in traffic chaos and visited several of our projects throughout Lubumbashi.  I would never have though this possible a short three months ago when we arrived.

We received good news from the area office following their approval process for the week.  We had previously had two school desk projects approved (Bunkanda and Maisha Karavia), but this week they approved:

1. Ultra sound equipment for Luputa
2. Construction materials to rebuild the market booths following a local fire
3. Mapendano School latrines where we are building 32 latrines for a student body of 3,000 students from 2 secondary and one elementary school.  They currently have 4 operating toilets.  This was our highest priority project.

There are two other projects that weren’t reviewed by the committee: Notre Dame Girl’s School and Katuba Bridge.  We’re still hoping for their approval.  

With the Kinghorn visit came more bureaucratic red tape and bad news.   I’ve mentioned in the past our disappointment when our major projects have been shelved for the year, so we turned our attention to smaller projects called local area initiatives (less than $25,000).  Elder Hamilton of the Area Presidency said we should put a string of these together to take up the void.  Well it appears others have had the same experience and now the area office is overwhelmed with the number of small projects to the point where they are limiting the number of “open” small projects to 5 per couple.  We have nearly 40 in some stage of development.  We have 5 already approved and two in for approval that likely will have to wait.

The Kinghorns served a humanitarian mission in Ukraine and their limit was no more than $5,000 per project and no more than $30,000 per year.  This is a far cry from our original budget for Lubumbashi Mission of $665,000.  We’re trying to be compliant but it seems we are stymied at every turn.  One mission couple said just give us the money and let us manage our own projects.  You really feel that way.  We’ll now try to focus on what we have approved and hope the area becomes easier to work with over time; no promises.

Today in Priesthood we studied “The Gospel Culture” address from Elder Oaks from 2012.  He refers to the plot of the movie, “The African Queen” where two refugees from World War I violence in East Africa are trying to reach the relative safety of Lake Victoria.  After surviving many near disasters, their boat, “The African Queen”, is stranded in a marsh.  Unable to   way the current is flowing and surrounded by high growth, the two refugees become disoriented and discouraged.  At the end of their energy and faith, they are about to give up and die.  Then, in a moment of high drama, the camera through which we are viewing their peril rises, and with new perspective we see their true location.  Out of sight to them, but just a few meters away, are the long-sought liberating waters of Lake Victoria.  

Elder Oaks says we often lose sight of our destination and become discouraged but if we could only see above our current circumstances and know our true location on our journey to eternal life, we would realize what great progress we are making.  I take hope in this analogy, we are going through those experiences but it feels like we are making progress ever so slowly.  We continue to pray for insight and revelation regarding our assignment and purpose here.  

This much I do know, these experiences are changing us and although we have yet to spend a single dollar on a specific project, we have made many friends and establishing working relationships with government and organization officials.  This past week we felt like we were following the admonition found in James 1:27 “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and keep himself unspotted from the world”.  We visited three orphanages this past week and a school for disadvantaged girls.  Your heart and disposition are changed when you see the care givers and mentors who are the true champions in these institutions.  You go with the desire to bring hope and you leave with renewed faith in the divine nature of the individual.  

I have adopted a new hobby of mom’s.  Since I have no flower gardens to attend to, I have taken up baking.  I have enjoyed baking bread, brownies, sweet rolls and cookies.  Another secret I hadn’t identified with is that mom always gives away a portion of whatever she bakes.  That has been a powerful example to me and it has brought new-found satisfaction to share the end product with our landlord, the guards, other senior couples, our translator and the office staff.  This program is probably not weight-watcher approved but it has been a fun activity.

This next week we will serve as the host couple to receive, orient and assist a new couple arriving from Calgary, Canada.  They are the Drapers and come from President Thomas’s stake.  It’s amazing how quickly you turn from student to trainer.  Our most experienced couple, the Clawsons, are going home in just a few weeks and everyone else is scrambling to fill in for everything they do.  Although the humanitarian program is designed to function independently from the mission office functions, we are happy President McMullin and President Thomas have included us.  We feel needed and more a part of a team.  The other senior missionaries help us a great deal with our projects as well.  

Our testimony of the gospel is strengthened every day by the examples of service and sacrifice we see in the lives of the members and the missionaries.  Language limits our communication but there is so much communication that is non-verbal and spirit to spirit.  The people we work with and are meeting are wonderful.  The Congolese people value family, modesty and religion permeates their lives.  The organizations we meet with regularly speak of God and faith openly.  They express gratitude to God for bringing us to them.  Unlike the USA where talk of religion is almost suppressed as unacceptable public behavior, here it is embraced.  We love you and look forward to hearing from you.  Our connectivity continues to be a shortcoming but we do receive emails and check on them regularly.  Thanks to all who have written.  Have a wonderful week.

Love, Dad