August 9, 2015 - Clark

Sunday, August 09, 2015

Mom and I have had a fun time this weekend trying to organize a dinner party with some of the couples we have met and become friends with here in Lubumbashi.  Mom has prepared in advance her famous sweet and sour chicken and we plan on having banana splits with all three ice cream flavors.  It’s not a conscientious effort to rebel against fufu and sombe but we thought they might enjoy something we are familiar with.  The event is this coming Friday evening and we have invited Mbidi, Steve, Mwamba and Marcel and their wives and Steve’s fiancé Matilda.  If you have any games we can use for entertainment, send them our way.  We’re thinking about minute to win it games but something that requires few language skills for the two of us.  If successful we plan another dinner activity to involve another four couples.  

It might sound like we are having one constant party because yesterday morning we had a senior missionary breakfast at the mission compound.  The menu was sweet rolls, scramble eggs, hash browns, Canadian bacon and a fruit salad.  Everyone contributed and the stories shared afterwards were as enjoyable as the breakfast.  Sister Thomas is quite the actress.  President Thomas will say, “Tell them this or that story luv”.  She often is a reluctant participant but once she gets started, she has everyone rolling in the aisles.  She is a master story teller and keeps everyone engaged for hours on end once she launches into her character.  

When I was a young missionary in Germany and would write home or send pictures home, everyone thought I was there on vacation because the shared pictures were from our P-day activities.  I find it much the same here because it’s difficult to capture a picture of the challenges we face daily, but it’s a snap to capture a moment on film.  We have often questioned how we will ever be able to tell someone about our mission and our experiences.  Even for those of you with whom we have shared letters and pictures, the experience and the events are of such a personal nature that I suppose you have to experience it yourself to make it come alive.  It feels a little like a testimony, you can share your own, but until someone has experienced those things for themselves, they don’t have the same appreciation.  Elder Jeff Wright used to write me before our mission and explain the things he and his wife Sandy were experiencing as they served here in Lubumbashi.  It prepared me but I had no reference point until his painted pictures became our reality.  We hope we have shared enough with you that you have a desire in the future to claim these missionary experiences as your own during your mission.

While serving in Germany, I can hardly remember a Sunday when investigators would visit our meetings and yet here there are investigators at every meeting.  This past week we met a lady in the grocery store by the name of Chaida.  She is Congolese but lives in Washington D.C.  She asked us why we were in Lubumbashi and when we explained we were missionaries, she asked where our church was and she invited herself to come.  She brought her sister Jackie who had just arrived from France the day before.  I don’t believe they are golden contacts, but this is the openness of the people.  Marcel Tambwe, the Director of Public Contracts, who has helped us with the customs clearance process, asked us why we build such grand churches.  We told him that the feeling of the church is that all members worldwide should enjoy similar privileges and that the churches built here are similar to churches built worldwide.  There are three stake centers here and the community is proud to have them.  Nearly everyone knows the church or at least the church buildings.  For the most recent Ministry of Health training for health centers throughout the province, the training was conducted at the Lubumbashi Stake Center.  (Almost 300 physicians and government leaders)  Members are also well respected and the Church is well known and growing rapidly here in Lubumbashi.  When one considers that this mission started when Gary and Paula Packer came here just over five years ago, it is astounding how quickly things are progressing.  If you want to be a witness to how the Lord hastens His work, you don’t have to look any further than Africa and specifically Lubumbashi and the DRC.

Our major initiative projects (vision and wheelchairs) continue to be our daily focus.  The process is supposed to be that the consignee, Dr. Eric Sompwe of the Ministry of Health, is responsible for receiving all imported equipment and clearing the border crossings and paying all of the customs and import fees.  That is the theory but if you want anything to happen you have to be constantly vigilant in tracking the process that has never been explained or taught to you.  You feel your way through literally and yet somehow we have faith that it will all work out in the end.  We are 3 weeks away and although the equipment is in country, we have no access and were handed customs bills this past week for nearly $5,000.  We rely on Greg Buttars from Salt Lake City to coach us on these issues and he is available day and night.  I have seldom written him an email where he does not respond within an hour and usually immediately.  When we are so remotely located it gives us great comfort in knowing that someone with Greg’s experience is there to support us.   We have found multiple volunteers (short-term specialists) as well as full-time church employees who are likewise committed.  We know we are just foot soldiers but it’s nice to feel a part of this army of volunteers.  It reminds me of D&C 65:2  “The keys of the kingdom of God are committed unto man on the earth, and from thence shall the gospel roll forth unto the ends of the earth, as the stone which is cut out of the mountain without hands shall roll forth, until it has filled the whole earth.”

We were recently asked by Phillip Moatlhodi to write a report about developing relationships.  He also asked us to summarize lessons learned in working with beneficiaries in an effort to have them invest ‘’sweat equity” in their projects.  Many of these lessons are learned as parents and not in school or church.  I’ve attached a copy of our report which was printed in the Southeast Africa Area Newsletter for July/August.  My children and grandchildren will recognize this as the matching concept.  We have always felt it is important to have some skin in the game and these are some examples of how that has applied to our work as humanitarian missionaries.  

I’ve told the story on several occasions of selling beef raffle tickets for Kiwanis at Peach Days.  When I was first a member we were assigned to sell 50 tickets at $1 apiece.  It was impossible for a couple of years and I always felt guilty for not reaching my assessment.  Eventually I discovered that if I gave my Peach Days weekend to this commitment or was “all in”, it was enjoyable.  I met lots of people, had my sons and daughters accompany me, grew closer to the other Kiwanis Club members and as a by-product sold over $1,000 worth of tickets for several years running.  Our mission experience has been somewhat similar.  At the beginning, it was extremely difficult and I struggled but once I gave myself more completely and committed to be “all-in” it has become enjoyable.  (Mosiah 24:12-15)  So my advice for the week is to be “all in”.

Love, Dad (Elder Davis)