January 18, 2015 - Clark

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Hump Day, can you believe it but who’s counting?  Our scheduled release date is October 18, 2015.  When we first arrived, we couldn’t imagine how we would keep ourselves busy for 18 months and now we’re hoping they don’t cut us off too early so we can get as much accomplished as possible.  They told us in May that they wouldn’t let us start anything new in the last four months of our mission but they revised that to two months this past week.  We spent the week in Johannesburg.  When we first arrived, Shelley said they would have to pry her out of there with a crowbar but by the end of the week we were ready to return home (Lubumbashi)

The conference was wonderful in many ways.  The training materials were more understandable this time around after spending some months in the field.  Last time we were fresh off the 34 hour travel extravaganza and were suffering from jetlag.  There were 1he couples at the conference and we knew half of them, so it was like a missionary reunion.  We enjoyed getting to know the new couples as well.  We stayed at the Courtyard Hotel which is right across the street from the Rosebank Mall.  The rooms were mini suites and very nice accommodations with breakfast and lunch served at the hotel.  They provided us a cash card with $75 each for dinners for the nights we were there.  We mentioned that we ate out six nights at a new restaurant each night and every location was superior to any we have in Lubumbashi.  

I thought of Bathsheba’s husband Uriah when he had returned from battle and refused to go to his house but instead slept with the servants.  Allow me to explain.  We have spent 9 months steeling ourselves to all the inconveniences we live with so that it is bearable and not overwhelming.  I didn’t want to adjust so quickly to all of the conveniences for fear that returning to Lubumbashi would be too difficult.  I was overwhelmed with all the selection at the mall; restaurants, stores, goods and services not even remotely available to us in the DRC.   Don’t get me wrong, we did indulge ourselves a bit but were extremely conservative.  We even turned money back on our food cards.  We found ourselves missing the people we work with every day, our translator Steve, our other senior couples, the missionaries, even the guards at our apartment compound.  How did Moses say it, “which thing I never had supposed”.  

It was a wakeup call about losing ourselves and doing all we can while we have time here in Lubumbashi.  Our Area President, Elder Carl Cook and his wife took us out for ice cream one of the evenings and mentioned that he had asked President Thomas if he could spare us and he said definitely not.  We love being needed and feel so much more at home in Lubumbashi than we did in Johannesburg.  

We had a small miracle happen that I’d like to share.  We have been trying to obtain a certificate exempting the Church from paying any VAT tax or import fee on an ultrasound machine we had received approval for to be placed in Luputa.  The approval came over six months ago and we were unsuccessful working through government channels.  Phillip Moatlhodi finally said we will order it and you can pick it up at the conference and attempt to hand-carry it back to Lubumbashi.  We left our computer home so we could carry the machine.  We packed the parts in our suitcase, but the basic unit itself It had a carrying case about double the size of a computer bag and it weighed about 40 pounds, so it was hard to carry and hard to miss.  When we went through the airport screening, there were two lines, I selected the line based on the attendants and then had Shelley submit the machine while I handled all other personal affects.  They asked us if the case contained a computer and if it should be removed from its case, to which we responded negatively.  As they scanned the ultrasound, they asked Shelley what kind of machine it was, to which she responded, “an ultrasound”.  Ugh, or a grunting sound was their response and let it pass right through.  Not miraculous to many, but for the people of Luputa, that was huge.  (Thanks President MuMullin and Sister Clawson for your roles in making this happen)  We will have Mbidi Ilunga, our local director of the self-reliance center deliver it next week.

Another miracle or two happened at the conference.  When we first arrived, we were instructed not to contact the priesthood leadership and not to have them direct any humanitarian projects.  When we first arrived in Lubumbashi, President McMullin lined up a meeting with the 3 local stake presidents and then took us on a mission tour to introduce us to all the priesthood leadership, in direct opposition to the area office instructions.  Are we ever grateful for President McMullin.  We were used as the model couple for involving the priesthood and they are now instructing all couples to follow President McMullin’s model.  Another development is that we can now use FM personnel to assist us in our humanitarian work.  

In Mbuji-Mayi, we worked with Serge (with President McMullin’s direction).  He lined up 3 contractors to accompany us to Tshitenge to review the possibility for water development. This site is where all general authorities visit because it would remind you of the sacred grove.  The village and branch are small but the branch president is also the village chief.  The residents have to walk 2-3 miles each way to fetch water every day.  They feel they have received many previous promises of water development but have never seen anything come of their dreams.   Previously they said the humanitarian couple needed to be present to manage any projects.  Mbuji-Mayi is only accessible by air and the hotels have no running water.  We haven’t been back in the last 7-8 months.  However, they did allow us to do a hydrology study or a feasibility study and this past week, they told us we should proceed with this water project for Tshitenge using the FM personnel.  Progress is painfully slow but it’s nice to see the fruits of seeds that have been planted by others come to fruition.  I’ll keep you posted.

The overall message from the conference regarding projects was that the local couples on the ground will have less and less control over what are referred to as local area initiatives.  Last year with a shortened year and having them cut off funding for the last 3 months, we completed 7 projects.  For all of 2015 we are allowed to have only 2 local area initiatives.  This means Salt Lake will decide on which projects will be completed under what they refer to as major initiatives and they will send technical specialists to design the project, write it up and manage it.  As local couples we will be their gophers on the ground but we will have little local autonomy.  We hope it works to the point where we are busy full-time but we are skeptical.  We do have 6 major initiatives assigned to us for 2015 which is as many as any couple.  We have another wheelchair project, a vision, project, immunizations, member short term project which is teaching gardening skills and 2 water projects.  We also have Operation Smile returning in March.

While at the conference we were able to purchase come books that we are enjoying: The Challenge for Africa by Wangari Maathai, Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo, and Congo by Davis Van Reybrouck.  These probably wouldn’t have been on our short list a year ago but now they’ve come alive.

At the conference we met the new Director of Temporal Affairs, David Frischknecht.  His brother is Roger Frischknecht from Brigham City; Shelley taught all of their children.  He was also in the language translation department of the Church previously and worked with Jeff Johnson, a BEHS graduate and one of my college roommates as a freshman.  It is such a small world in the church (and for Matt in the military).   David Frischknecht is coming to Lubumbashi this Thursday for three days and we have a chance to sell him on our water projects.  He is coming to conduct annual interviews of all church employees and visit all the buildings.   We’ll have a full report of his visit next week.

I just need to comment on flying into the Lubumbashi airport.  May 17th we arrived in Lubumbashi and were picked up by the Clawsons.  We had read too many security alerts and were shaking in our boots.  Everything was so strange and intimidating; we suffered culture shock for months.  This time when we arrived, it almost looked like home. I believe we have changed and not Lubumbashi.   We were happy to be back and have renewed enthusiasm for the work.  D&C 43:9 was a scripture used in our conference; “bind yourselves to act, after being instructed that you may be sanctified” That’s the goal, wish us luck.

Love, Dad (Elder Davis)