September 21, 2014
It’s Sunday afternoon here. Our weather has become hotter – in the mid-90’s, but our home is still pretty comfortable, even without the air conditioning that has spoiled us for so many years!!!! Just a little fan!
Flavien Kot is our wonderful translator. We attended his ward today.
It’s a humble, but clean, little building that is located in a poor area and is on a very bumpy dirt road. The number of children to adult ratio has to be about 5:1 at least!!! And they were unbelievably quiet and reverent!
This is Flavien with his wife Crystal, his mother Rosalie, and their three children – Octavia, Dan, and Brent. Rosalie is the Stake RS President. Some gal in the background must be trying to “photo bomb” the picture! Haha
It was a week for “farewells” as we sent the Clawsons home. Sister C. has been the medical advisor and her husband was in charge of missionary apartments.
Here they are with the rest of the senior missionaries and our two office staff. They were multi-talented people and will really be missed. Consequently, the office has been pretty quiet this week as we have all been trying to see who will fill in the gaps.
One gap is being a driver! Clark and I are the only couple who currently have drivers’ licenses other than the two office sisters. They are both under 5 feet tall and prefer not to drive the mission trucks that have standard transmission unless that absolutely have to! SO – we have had the dubious honor of picking up people from the airport and running errands in the truck! Well, we had the unfortunate luck of getting pulled over TWICE this week by the police! Lest we sound like the Congo’s Bonnie and Clyde, I have to say that the police are very under-paid and pull cars over to look for any possible tiny thing wrong with your car. They wanted to impound the car both times, but we managed to survive without even paying a franc!!!! It’s a long story. Angels were watching over us for sure!
We attended a meeting with the American Consulate’s office from Kinshasa. It was for Americans living here to tell them about their services for us. It was mainly interesting to see the other people there because we haven’t met many. Most of those who attended were associated with churches. Afterward there was a little reception, and in the background there was a band playing soft, American music. It took me by surprise to hear “The Tennesse Waltz” after I saw who was playing it!
The back porch of the mission office has been housing a large pile of boxes containing French BOM. We’ve been doing some cleaning and rearranging of the supplies and found that the termites were loving those books just a little too much. As President Thomas put it, “They are feasting on the good word of God.”
I’ve mentioned several “champions” that we’ve met since coming here. They are people with vision and know-how to improve the lives of those around them. Well, we met another one this week. Her name is Maggie and she started a school for children with handicaps in 1980.
She started with 8 children and now has 500 students on a 30-acre campus. It’s a very diverse school – some with disabilities and some without. Some live at the school and some commute. Some are in a regular classroom setting with normal school subjects, and some are there to learn a trade. It’s a very big operation! And this Maggie is wonderful! You can tell by the picture that the children all love her! I especially like the look on the face of the boy who is sitting on the step.
One interesting thing that has happened to us is that we have basically had no church meetings while we have been here. We go to church every week – but all meetings are either in Swahili or French – so we never really know what is being said. Actually, it’s pretty hard to stay awake. I need to learn Emily’s trick from Girls State for sleeping with her eyes open!!! Just kidding, Em!!!
We aren’t the only ones struggling with this. So last week the new couple, Dr. and Sister Mikesell, suggested we meet each Monday night in a Family Home Evening setting to study the Sunday School lesson for the following week. That way, we will at least have an idea of what they are talking about. The lesson was on “standing in holy places”, which was especially great for me since that was a recent Mutual theme. Just having that spiritual boost made a big difference to my week. I feel a greater sense of responsibility to keep my thoughts on a higher plain - including developing more patience for our work here, which seems to proceed at a snail’s pace! I have a heightened appreciation for my church membership and for those who are such good examples to me. And my thoughts and prayers have been even more closely tied to our children who trying tirelessly to raise their children in homes that are holy places and a refuge from the world.
Happy Birthday this week to Gray and Annabelle!!! Much love, Mom/Souer Davis
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