November 9, 2014 - Shelley

November 9, 2014

Like many of you, it’s been an up-and-down week for us.  Our hearts have been heavy after hearing of the death of a ward member at home, Megan Williams.  And another senior missionary left for home this week.  Sister Riendeau made the decision to go home a month early because her sister had terminal cancer.  Unfortunately, her sister died three days before she left.  We will really miss Sister R.!  For one thing, she was a great interpreter and a good friend.

Sister Riendeau is dressed in black on the front row.  Because of her language skills, she was able to really get to know the Congolese sisters on a personal level in her French and English classes.  The rest of us kind of stumble along with bare minimum phrases like, “I like your dress.”  And “You have beautiful children.”  Nothing deep!

Those were the “down” parts of the week.  The projects seem to be coming along well.  We have our fingers crossed that the serious rainy season won’t come for a couple more weeks so that the bridge project can be completed.  We’ve had a few storms, but we’re hopeful.  We’ve had good correspondence from Johannesburg that has given us additional leverage on a couple other projects.

Yesterday we went shopping downtown and had a quite a remarkable experience.  The first thing was that Clark was able to get a picture I have wanted for a long time – a gal carrying carrots on her head.  It’s

quite touchy to take pictures of people without their permission.  Sometimes they will let you if you ask, and sometimes they want to be paid.  But he was able to get this carrot picture that I have wanted.  Carrots are abundant.  I just marvel that they can be carried like this!  And they taste quite a bit better than the little mini pretend carrots that are already pealed and packaged at home!  Not that I’m complaining – I’ve eaten plenty of them!  ☺

The remarkable thing that happened was that Elder Mikesell’s wallet was stolen.  We had stopped at a shop and someone just pulled his wallet out of his backpack.  When he realized it, he came into the store and told his wife.  The store clerks were very sympathetic to his plight.  The amazing thing was that the thief returned the wallet!  The Mikesells went to a different street and Clark was standing on the sidewalk.  A man just came up and handed Clark Dr. Mikesell’s wallet and left.  The money was gone (only $10 or so), but all of his ID was still there!  We think it was the clerks in the store who put the word out on the street that this shouldn’t have happened.   Anyway, it restored some of our faith in people.

This is just to show you that the Christmas rush is everywhere!  Even in the Congo!

If we are getting to know the Congolese people as real people, it’s because of our translators.  Above is a picture of Matilda and Steve.  Steve is our new interpreter.  He and Matilda had a very important meeting yesterday.  It was called the “Pre-Dot Meeting.”  Steve wanted Clark and I to come and speak for him, along with a few others, because he is supposed to be quiet and humble at this meeting.  Their parents were meeting for the first time.

In 2012, Dallin Oaks gave a talk entitled “The Gospel Culture.”  It was targeted at the African tradition of “lobola” or “bride price”.  Here in the Congo it’s called “dot” (pronounced DOTE).  If you’ve seen the movie “Johnny Lingo”, you’ll understand this better.  By the way, that movie is NEVER shown here!!!!

A bride’s family is able to request money and other things from the groom before they will allow the marriage to take place.  Sometimes it can be thousands of dollars worth of clothing, household items, etc.  All in all, it’s a very bad practice and deters some people from getting married at all.  

Within the LDS Church, there have been several recent meetings just for the purpose of discouraging this practice here in the Congo.  However, Matild’s family isn’t LDS – so Steve must go through this process.

In this “Pre-Dot” meeting, Steve had to give gifts and money to Matilda’s family just as a good-will token.  Below is

Matilda handing Steve’s money to her father while his cousin watches. (Her father is actually standing up – he’s SUPER SHORT!).  He also gave them five cases of orange Fanta.  Everything was very formal and somber.  Below maybe

you can see that her parents were actually sitting behind his parents – and they hardly even acknowledged each other’s presence.  It felt vey stiff and awkward!  Her father will give Steve a list of what they want next week!

BUT – when it was our turn to speak for Steve, Clark whipped out his slide show of Steve and Matild working together at Operation Smile.  He went into his “wedding breakfast mode” and told the parents what wonderful children they had raised and that they should all be very proud.  Honestly, I’d have to say that it was the highlight of the meeting!  Everyone clapped and hooted when he was done – and I was very proud of him!

These beautiful trees are growing in the schoolyard where we are refurbishing latrines.  The trees are called something like “flamboyant” – and are just gorgeous!  When you are shoveling snow, you can think of us basking in endless summer!  We love you all.  We know that we are here for a purpose – maybe even more than one.  We know that we are receiving help and inspiration from our Father in Heaven.  We are finding more and more things to love about each other – even after almost 44 years.  Have a great week1

  Much love,  Mom/Souer Davis