Sunday, September 21, 2014
The week was different due to President Thomas traveling and Elder Atkinson and Emmanuel went to Kolwezi leaving me and Justin as the only two active drivers at the mission home. Monday before Elder Atkinson left for Kolwezi on Wednesday, we tried to fix the well at the mission home. It is a challenge because you have three separate decision making bodies involved in any decision: the mission, the FM group and the landlord. Elder Atkinson assessed the problem after we pulled the pump but due to the landlord’s intervention, we couldn’t proceed with the repair until a full week later. It seems to be a theme here and if you remember the scripture relating to being humble either by choice or by force, well the same is true for patience.
We were sorry to see the Claswons return to the US on Tuesday. They have both contributed significantly to the success of the mission and have covered a multitude of responsibilities. I did have some excitement following their departure. We have been driving for almost 3 months and I had yet to be stopped by the police without Flavien with us to talk his way out of things. Well on Thursday and Friday we were stopped. On Thursday, we were driving to the Lubumbashi Stake Center and were stopped about six blocks away. We called Flavien and Justin for help. The police were asking for the rose card or the vehicle registration. The truck we were driving didn’t have a current registration card in the documents. The police wanted to take us to the station which is the kiss of death, but Flavien came to the rescue again. While we waited, he drove his car and picked up a military friend of his. When the military guy appeared on the scene, he laced down the local metro cops and told them to let us go which they did. It took us 45-60 minutes but we didn’t give them any cash.
Cash isn’t the issue, but once they know they can extort money from you, you become a regular target. I guess the military is well equipped and well trained and well respected and the local metro cops are not thought highly of. The military can pull rank on them and that is something Flavien knew and arranged for our release. On Friday, we picked President and Sister Thomas up from the airport. When Tom is there it seems to work like clockwork. We were pleased everything at the airport went so smoothly. We must have been a little too smug because while driving back to the mission home, you guessed it, we were stopped again by the metro cops. This time all the paperwork was in order although they always try to trump up some charge against you. They told us our paperwork was out of date, but it wasn’t. President Thomas speaks very good French and he argued with them for 30-45 minutes before we asked Justin to come and visit with them. The President finally remembered a phrase Sister Riendeau had taught him. He said “stare into my eyes, I’m telling you the truth when I say this couple has come at their own expense to your country and are humanitarian missionaries bringing your people clean drinking water. They don’t deserve this harassment and he let us go again without paying any cash. I just worry what will happen when we are without this type of help and we don’t speak the language.
Obviously my confidence has been shaken but I’m still driving. It goes against everything you’ve been taught not to respect police authority. I hate trying to evade them or disobeying them when they tell you to pull over or stop or come to the station with us. I need to some hardening if I’m going to survive. Elder Clawson was excellent but Elder Atkinson has been an easier target and I’m afraid I’m next. When driving you try to look 200-300 yards ahead, you try to tailgate the car or van in front of you so they can’t step in between and you try to adjust your speed or timing so you aren’t easy prey when you stop at red lights. The locals seldom obey red lights but that isn’t an option if you’re white. Sorry to dwell so much on driving and police stops, enough already.
Another focus of this week has been preparing for Elder John Dow who is the worldwide expert on wheelchairs for the church. He is coming next week to assist us in writing a project development worksheet for a wheelchair project here in Lubumbashi. He is staying Monday thru Friday and we are arranging his schedule to accomplish a litany of preparation requests. We are working with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social Affairs in coordinating the project. We are trying to balance everyone’s egos and budgets and setting up appointments for his visit. We look forward to it but it has taken a lot of our time just in lining up appointments. Wish us luck.
I mentioned last week that Elder and Sister Mikesell came last Saturday to serve as the new mission medical advisor. We are their host couple and have spent considerable time together showing them around and trying to assist them in their transition. We remember what a change it was for us and we’re trying to make life a little more bearable for them. We had family home evening on Monday, we made arrangements for them the visit the Ministry of Health to arrange for visits to the local hospitals and clinics and we’ve driven them to all their meetings and took them to dinner last night. This is their 3rd mission and they are so faithful. He is 76 and just had double knee replacement surgery last February.
The Area Presidency called a special adult meeting for two of the three stakes here. Elder Hamilton of the Area Presidency flew from Johannesburg Friday to conduct the meetings yesterday. They were each two hours in length and the primary focus of the meeting was to talk about the dote or labola. Elder Oaks talks about this in his message called the Culture of the Gospel in the March 2012 Ensign. It is an African custom to require a bride price (dote or lobola) be paid by the groom before they can marry. This often is extremely difficult because of the exorbitant amount and the fact that employment is scarce here. It causes many to delay marriage and can cause pre-marital problems due to the delays. It was a frank and open discussion (all in French) and we’re not sure how much we understood but several members participated in the dialog. Elder Hamilton is another French RM who speaks extremely good French. I believe he is the only member of the presidency who has any French language skills.
September is our busiest family birthday month with nine. We have tried to make contact with each of you but apologize if we have not. The same old excuse is the unreliability of the internet. We have also had Joshua’s farewell and entering the MTC in Mexico City, and Emily and Scott’s anniversary. We’re sorry to miss all the family events. We also wished we could have been there to support Lindsay and Mike in their move. I’m sure the family gathering was bitter sweet. We believe it will be better having someone living in the home rather than leaving it vacant. We’re grateful to have Kevin and Megan Diehl and their two daughters living in the home.
We had an interesting experience mid-week. We were invited by the US Embassy to a meeting for American Citizens at the local Park Hotel. They had a live band, drinks, snacks, etc. and held a meeting for the 25 or so who showed up. It was good to see other white faces and we discovered most of those who came were from other church organizations. We met missionaries from the Baptists, Methodists, Assemblies of God and others. They told us about the services available to US citizens, mostly dealing with passports and visas. They have no office in Lubumbashi and you would need to fly to Kinshasa to receive most of their services, but it was informative. I thought it would be about Ebola, but not even a mention. It did provide a little excitement driving downtown at night. The bottom line was “don’t lose your passport, because if you do, you’ll have to fly to Kinshasa to have it replaced and it takes 3 weeks. By the way you couldn’t fly to Kinshasa if you lost your passport.
Our project excitement has calmed down somewhat because we can’t recommend anymore projects until we have completed and closed the ones already approved. It sounds like a good idea in theory but it really slows down the process as you have a difficult time keeping the pipeline full if you have to empty it first. We spent time signing contracts, providing documentation to Johannesburg and we’re still waiting for our promised car. Patience, patience.
I’ve tried to reflect on the spiritual highlights of a week that saw us doing many temporal mundane things. FHE, dinner with mom twice, being released twice by the police, visiting a school for the handicapped, and spending time with other senior couples who have committed to come to Africa or wherever the Lord would call them. We also had a surprise facetime call from Barr and Nancy Cannon on Monday. We missed being in attendance at Gayle Ivey’s viewing and funeral but have a testimony of the plan of happiness. Their family has been such a fine example to us in the 18th Ward. Many of our family and friends are participating in the Ogden Temple dedication today and we’re sorry to miss it.
Love, Dad (Elder Davis)
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