October 12, 2014 - Shelley

October 12, 2014

In his weekly letter from the Mexico City MTC, our grandson Joshua said, “The days are like weeks, and the weeks are like days.”  That’s 100% correct for us, as well.  The days generally drag, but time is “flying on wings of lightening”!

Speaking of grandchildren, our granddaughter, Reese Muhlestein, is turning 9 years old this week.  “Bon Anniversaire”, Reese!!!

And another senior couple left for home – our friends, Brent and Celeste Atkinson.  We miss them already!  Below is the traditional “leaving” picture in front of the mission home with all of the senior staff.  This was the third mission for the Atkinsons – and they’re ready to stay home and play with grandkids!  (They are in the center front, President Thomas and wife on the right front.)

Our translator, Flavien Kot, was out of town this week, so we have relied on someone new – Steve Mutombo.  He did a great job as we visited old and new projects.  Steve is a returned missionary and is trying to earn enough money to get married to his girlfriend, Matilda.

Often we have people who seek us out with projects they want us to fund.  It’s amazing that they know who we are and where to find us – scary, actually!  Anyway, we had a couple a few weeks ago who told us about the school they started five years ago for disadvan-

taged youth and adults.  Even though our funds are very limited, we try to always show the courtesy of visiting the proposed projects.  Well, I have a soft spot for schools – and this one was a killer!  The school has six classrooms, with two sessions each day.

I counted 72 third graders smashed into this small classroom.  And it was about 100 degrees inside!!!!  No electricity and no running water!  Five students were sitting in each desk.  And they were as quiet as church mice!  The directors of the school had a list of needs that was a mile long, including computers and sewing machines.  Of course, with our funding cut back until January 1st, we don’t have much to offer right now except encouragement.  We aren’t allowed to buy computers because they tend to “walk off” – but maybe sewing machines.

These little first graders who were asleep really tugged at my heart!

And I could have slipped this little cutie into my suitcase in a heartbeat!!!

We made visits to eye clinics and dental offices with our new mission doctor this week.  He is looking for appropriate places to send the missionaries who need those services.  Some places were better than others, but we sure did meet some wonderful care-providers who work under what I would call very challenging conditions – but they were chipper, friendly and very nice!

This was one of the nicer dental offices.  It was a “blast from the past” to see a spitting bowl, but everything looked pretty clean-ish.  ☺  The gals below work in an eye clinic with children who have eye problems – and they were just wonderful and fun!

Before we came to Africa, we tried to learn a few French words by taping the names to various places around the house.  Our grandchildren really thought the word for garbage was hilarious – poubelle – (POO- bell).  So I thought I would include a picture of the poubelle man who collects garbage once a week from the mission home.  He charges $6.00.  He’s really short and looks like a child in stature, but he’s an adult.  Pushing this wagon full of garbage is no easy task!  In the complex where we live, the guards just burn our trash.  

One of our projects is finally getting underway – the Katuba Bridge.  It was actually the first need we heard about after arriving.  This bridge connects two communities and is used by hundreds of people a day.  Many of these are children, as there is an elementary school in one of the neighborhoods.  Several deaths have occurred during rainy season when the water under the bridge reaches the height of the current bridge.

Above is a photo of the current bridge.  It’s just the back off of an old truck.  Rainy season begins soon and we’re getting down to the wire for getting the project underway and completed.  On Saturday we had a meeting with the contractor, the chiefs from both neighborhoods, and the stake president who requested that we replace this bridge.  It was pretty funny in some ways because the two chiefs were arguing back and forth about several things.  One of them was about which side of the bridge the construction materials were going to be stored on.  Another was about who is going to be in charge of watching the materials at night so that they don’t get stolen.  Another funny thing was that the stake president finally said that we needed to have a prayer (only a handful of people there are LDS).  That’s one thing I really admire about the Congolese people – and that is that they are very religious-minded.  No one even blinked an eye about having a prayer to settle the atmosphere down.  And when the prayer was over, everyone clapped!!!! Haha  The picture below is with a small part of the people at the meeting.

Well, Friends and Fam– I’ve rambled on too long!  Clark and I feel like we have been watched over and whispered to so much that it’s undeniable whose work we are doing!  We have definitely had tender mercies at every turn.  We love you all and hope for a good week for everyone.  Enjoy the fall weather for me – it’s my favorite time of the year!  Love, Mom/Soeur Davis