November 30, 2014 - Clark

Sunday, November 30, 2014

It’s hard to believe that tomorrow is December.  One of the highlights of the week was receiving a new air conditioning unit in our bedroom.  I’ve told you before that my pillow is often wet and not with tears.  The temperatures have dropped because of the rains and clouds.  It is still in the low 90’s high 80’s most of the time but the nighttime temperatures are now below 70 degrees.  The new air conditioning unit gives us better nighttime recovery.  We are truly spoiled especially when the mission home manager, Justin Mukuna, came over to supervise the installation.  He has neither running water nor electricity at his home.  

We’re going to Ruashi to attend church today.  We continue to attempt to visit several wards and branches to get a better feel for the breadth and strength of the church membership here in Lubumbashi.  Ruashi is where Emmanuel lives.  He is over apartments and repairs in the mission home.  His wife and two daughter just returned from attending the Johannesburg Temple.  The financial participation required by the members is to raise enough money for their passport, all other costs are paid by the church.  Emmanuel and his wife have wanted to attend the temple since their marriage but this is the first time they have been able to jump through all the hoops.  It’s a good thing because they are expecting their third child next March which may have delayed their chances at least an additional year.  When he returned he had hundreds of pictures he shared with us.  They were so happy. Emmanuel’s favorite expression is ”powerful” and this definitely was a “powerful experience”.

We have had another memorable week although all of the days are running together.  We spent much of our time trying to finalize our three outstanding projects in preparation for Phillip Moatlhodi’s visit.  He is the Area Welfare Manager over all of Southeast Africa, over 20 countries.  Here is my progress report by project:

1. Mapendano School Latrines-the contractor has been wonderful and has consistently gone the extra mile in doing things not on the plans.  He painted the door and entry way to the latrines.  He installed interior lighting and altered the teachers’ facilities to provide more privacy.  He is nearly complete and we will have the hand-over exercises Thursday.  We ordered a special copper plaque for the entry way.  We contacted a street vendor and negotiated our own deal; not sure if it was good, but the sign is about 1 meter square for $200.  
2. Katuba bridge-finished and painted to project despite the rains.  We’re concerned about keeping all the community leaders happy because it spans a river that is the dividing line for two neighborhoods and two communes.  Too many chiefs to please.  We had to loan money to the contractor to start this project before the rainy season because the church financial processing system can take 30   days or more.  These contractors don’t have working capital to order materials.  The neighbors recognize us now and we are treated very well whenever we visit the bridge.  Colors are red and white.
3. Notre Dame School for girls-Therese Ndaya is our local version of Oprah.  She runs a school for 350 girls and teaches homemaking skills.  She received 10 sewing machines two years ago and has developed a complete sewing program around that meager start.  We have assisted her in developing a cooking lab with kitchen equipment.  They will have over 400 participants at their celebration on Saturday.

For all of these project closings, the local tradition is to have a celebration where the ownership is symbolically turned over to the beneficiary organization.  We have only had one where we provided sodas and cookies.  That is the cheapest option.  We ordered 800 bottles of soda just yesterday for these three events.  The sodas come from the local brewery.  

Again this week we went on a fieldtrip with Immaculee from the ministry of health.  This was a continuation of National Latrine Day.  The village of Pita was recognized as the award winner in the health zone we visited.  This time we had the opportunity to tour 32 latrines while local judges made the selection of award winners.  This was a real eye-opener.  I enjoyed photographing the local residents as we toured the latrines of the village.  Shelley has the 6 criteria.  We thought it was only fitting that the awards were Lifebuoy soap in varying quantities.  The village children performed several vocal numbers for us.  We were the guests of honor and Shelley was invited to hand out all of the prizes.  This village is progressive in comparison and they have started accumulating preventative maintenance funds for well repair.  They have two wells and neither is working at present. They have to carry water from the river.

We also visited two orphanages again that are on our list of potential projects.  One is in Ruashi and needs school desks.  They have an elementary school whose tuition supports the orphanage.  They have added 4 new classrooms and need 100 new desks to attract additional enrollment at their school.  We plan on helping this orphanage with Christmas clothing as well.  They have 52 boys and girls.  The other orphanage is Katimel where we have a long-term relationship.  This is where the senior missionaries will participate in a painting and sharing gifts.  I previously talked about buying clothing bundles for this purpose.

The bundle purchase was an experience in and of itself.  The bundles are sorted by gender, size, season, mix, etc.  There are bundles imported from various countries.  Steve’s mother has some experience in buying and reselling clothing bundles.  She suggested the best quality are from Germany.  We searched out two locations that sell clothing bundles and bought a single mixed bundle for an experiment.  We opened it for Thanksgiving while together with all the senior missionaries.  We guessed how many articles of clothing would be in this 100 pound bundle.  271 was the correct answer; that’s 37 cents per item.  This was a much better solution than buying single individual items of clothing.  The girls will all have multiple items and can have the fun of trading after we leave.

Thanksgiving was very nice.  We didn’t celebrate until Friday afternoon and everyone made portions of the dinner.    Local ingredients can be scarce and one of the rules was that there would be “no apologizing”.  The sweet potatoes and the pumpkin pie were both made from squash with added flavorings.  The turkey was small (9 lbs) but we stretched it into two meals.  We had so many left overs that we decided to celebrate with another dinner on Saturday evening.   All in all it was a great success and we certainly had enough to eat.  We did however miss the company of family and friends in our own home.  I hope you all had your in-law Thanksgiving this year so we can monopolize your time next year.  The list of things I missed is too long to enumerate but by next year I’ll be able to name them all.  We’re especially thankful for Christ, Church, Country, Family and Friends.  We like Emmanuel are thankful for the sealing ordinances of the temple.  Mom and I are having the adventure of a lifetime, but not without a little (lot) of fear and trembling.  Come to think of it, that is the story of life; working out our salvation in fear and trembling.  Holding on to each other makes it bearable and that much sweeter.  We are healthy, happy and in love.

Love, Dad (Elder Davis)