Well it’s Saturday and we just returned from a baptism. We asked at our English class which missionaries were having baptisms. Sister Bilau and Sister Mambuku and Elder Biduawa and Elder Mbuyi were scheduled to have baptisms today. The sister’s candidate postponed until next week and only one of the two investigators came for the Elders. We spent from 10:00 to 12:00 deciding who would be baptized and then another hour and a half conducting a 30 minute service. We were happy to be there and I’m not complaining about the time, just trying to give you a feel that time is of little importance here. We left at 9:30 and came home at 1:45. Both mom and I were asked to bear our testimonies and we sang hymns in French for over an hour during the prelude, program and postlude activities. I also had the privilege of serving as a witness and she had to be baptized 3 times. We were talking about things that are different every day that can jump up and shock you. Well, following the meeting, when we went to greet the new sister she extended her hand for shaking while sitting breast-feeding her baby. She is a new mother and this is their first baby. Her husband is still taking the discussions but is not yet a member.
We’re going to buy a sewing machine this afternoon with Sister Mikesell. She knows about treadle machines. Mom has been going crazy without any diversions and still has the bug to sew. She was involved with the maturation project development and as you know enjoys her handcrafts. The mission has a single machine and Sister Thomas has reclaimed it. We’ll see how this all works out. Maybe we can call this our personal study time.
We took Sister Mikesell with us to shop for a treadle sewing machine. It was another adventure. We ended up receiving a referral from Ma Maison electronics to go to a store called Super-Lux. It was owned by Hussein, an Eastern Indian and his store manager was Abdul from Dubai. Abdul talked to us for 45 minutes to an hour while his in-store technicians assembled a Singer treadle sewing machine. We paid them $5 for the assembly and $125 for the machine. We spent quite a bit of time talking about religion as he asked us why we come on missions so late in our lives. He said it’s too late and we should serve much earlier in our lives. I showed him pictures of the young Elders and explained we are here to support their missionary efforts as well.
When we left the store, I had another driving mishap. Many of the stores have grates in front of the store that cover a ditch used for runoff. Well I pulled out and drove directly into an open area of the ditch not covered by a grate. Before I could switch to 4-wheel drive, there were 3 young men helping us pull out of the hole. They lifted us out in no time at all and all wanted to be paid along with anyone else close-by who had their hand out. I tried to pay them from our stash in the console in the middle of the front seats of the truck but they wanted it all not just the few 500 franc notes I gave each of them. It felt like a mad rush trying to satisfy them while pulling away to avoid further begging. The youth who really helped us was clinging to the truck asking for much more money and his face still haunts me as I drove away.
When we returned home, we tried out the machine only to find a part missing and you know how mom dreads returning anything. I think she is so driven by her passion to sew that she will actually return and visit with Abdul. We had the Mikesells and Sister Anthony over for dinner and watched a movie together. We plan on attending meetings in Kasumbalesa tomorrow and every one from the mission home other than President and Sister Thomas are coming with us. It is mission president conference in Johannesburg this week.
We received a notice of a new Area Presidency policy on senior missionary travel. I guess some couples planned site seeing outings on the way to and from our January conference. They were told in the notice to cancel all such outings and they would only be able to attend such on their way home from their missions. It is exactly opposite of what we were counseled back in May when we arrived. They told us that to keep your sanity it would be helpful and totally permissible to schedule a diversion trip every few months. We had asked to go to Victoria Falls and told no by President Thomas but now the Area Presidency is clamping down on everyone. It’s ironic because our supervisory couple, Bruce and Melinda Kinghorn, have been on safari with their family for the past two weeks. We didn’t come to Africa for the site seeing but something in your nature wants to rebel when you are told what you cannot do.
This past week we had a small adventure with Charles, director of FM for the Catholic Church here in Lubumbashi. They have over 200 schools they are accountable for and he is supposed to visit every school. He doesn’t have a car and so a trip to Kipopo is almost out of the question. It is beyond Golf and the Foundation Hospital by about an hour and a half on dirt roads. It was a small village school with no power. They had 27 students and four local faculty members. They need almost everything. You could really classify this school as “the poorest of the poor”. Charles said that administrators who are assigned to this school view it as a penalty. There is no transportation and it is definitely remote, but the countryside was beautiful.
Sunday, November 16, 2014
We just returned from attending our meetings at Kasumbulesa which is on the Zambia border. They have two branches there and it takes about 90 minutes to drive. When we arrived, we drove all the way to the border not recognizing where the Church building was. We even paid a motor bike rider to show us the way but we knew he was leading us off course because we had been there 5 months ago when we traveled with Emmanuel to obtain our visas. We eventually called the missionaries who came and picked us up. The problem was that the church has moved since we visited 5 months ago and the motor bike rider was leading us in the correct direction. We made it to church on time to attend all three meetings of the second branch, so everything worked out fine after a little diversion.
All senior couples other than the Thomases went with us. Somehow I have become the designated driver and it puts added responsibility on you when you feel responsible for everyone. The road noise and air conditioner noise make it impossible to carry on a conversation. The 4 missionaries in Kasumbulesa - Mukenge, Mukanda, Mwanken and N’sayolo are in our English class and they were definitely happy to see us. It was enjoyable to get away from the city. The drive was relaxing and the members were very excited for our visit.
After meetings, pictures, visiting with our limited language skills, we took the missionaries to their apartment and resupplied their medical supplies. They showed us around and compared to the sisters apartment, this place was spotless. They were disappointed when we told them we couldn’t drive them back to Lubumbashi for their P-day soccer game tomorrow.
We’re going to the mission home this evening in hopes of making a better internet connection in order to watch Music and the Spoken Word. We love seeing Emily because we can reconnect. We love the music and the half hour reprieve from the everyday routine. We have been unsuccessful in trying to watch for the past 3 weeks with our hotspot at our apartment, so we’re trying to change our luck.
As far as accomplishment from this past week, it’s hard to measure preparation. We have been preparing for the three closing ceremonies to be held the first week of December while Phillip Moatlhodi, the Area Welfare Manager, is here. Refreshments, program organization, invitations, monitoring project progress to make sure they are all completed in time, etc. No major milestones, but solid preparation progress.
We do have some fieldtrips scheduled for Monday and Tuesday. Immaculee from the Ministry of Health Small Village Water Program is taking us on a fieldtrip to small villages where Elder Atkinson repaired wells on the road to Kasenga. We’re trying to determine the success of our well repair and to supervise the formation of a water committee to collect money from water usage to be used for well repair. This is being done in an attempt to develop a model program that can be used throughout this health zone; wish us luck. Tuesday we are scheduled to visit a trade school identified by Mbidi Illunga while he was working on a project for street people; those with no family and no job and no future. This school is designed to help them. We’ll report back.
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