October 12, 2014 - Shelley

October 12, 2014

In his weekly letter from the Mexico City MTC, our grandson Joshua said, “The days are like weeks, and the weeks are like days.”  That’s 100% correct for us, as well.  The days generally drag, but time is “flying on wings of lightening”!

Speaking of grandchildren, our granddaughter, Reese Muhlestein, is turning 9 years old this week.  “Bon Anniversaire”, Reese!!!

And another senior couple left for home – our friends, Brent and Celeste Atkinson.  We miss them already!  Below is the traditional “leaving” picture in front of the mission home with all of the senior staff.  This was the third mission for the Atkinsons – and they’re ready to stay home and play with grandkids!  (They are in the center front, President Thomas and wife on the right front.)

Our translator, Flavien Kot, was out of town this week, so we have relied on someone new – Steve Mutombo.  He did a great job as we visited old and new projects.  Steve is a returned missionary and is trying to earn enough money to get married to his girlfriend, Matilda.

Often we have people who seek us out with projects they want us to fund.  It’s amazing that they know who we are and where to find us – scary, actually!  Anyway, we had a couple a few weeks ago who told us about the school they started five years ago for disadvan-

taged youth and adults.  Even though our funds are very limited, we try to always show the courtesy of visiting the proposed projects.  Well, I have a soft spot for schools – and this one was a killer!  The school has six classrooms, with two sessions each day.

I counted 72 third graders smashed into this small classroom.  And it was about 100 degrees inside!!!!  No electricity and no running water!  Five students were sitting in each desk.  And they were as quiet as church mice!  The directors of the school had a list of needs that was a mile long, including computers and sewing machines.  Of course, with our funding cut back until January 1st, we don’t have much to offer right now except encouragement.  We aren’t allowed to buy computers because they tend to “walk off” – but maybe sewing machines.

These little first graders who were asleep really tugged at my heart!

And I could have slipped this little cutie into my suitcase in a heartbeat!!!

We made visits to eye clinics and dental offices with our new mission doctor this week.  He is looking for appropriate places to send the missionaries who need those services.  Some places were better than others, but we sure did meet some wonderful care-providers who work under what I would call very challenging conditions – but they were chipper, friendly and very nice!

This was one of the nicer dental offices.  It was a “blast from the past” to see a spitting bowl, but everything looked pretty clean-ish.  ☺  The gals below work in an eye clinic with children who have eye problems – and they were just wonderful and fun!

Before we came to Africa, we tried to learn a few French words by taping the names to various places around the house.  Our grandchildren really thought the word for garbage was hilarious – poubelle – (POO- bell).  So I thought I would include a picture of the poubelle man who collects garbage once a week from the mission home.  He charges $6.00.  He’s really short and looks like a child in stature, but he’s an adult.  Pushing this wagon full of garbage is no easy task!  In the complex where we live, the guards just burn our trash.  

One of our projects is finally getting underway – the Katuba Bridge.  It was actually the first need we heard about after arriving.  This bridge connects two communities and is used by hundreds of people a day.  Many of these are children, as there is an elementary school in one of the neighborhoods.  Several deaths have occurred during rainy season when the water under the bridge reaches the height of the current bridge.

Above is a photo of the current bridge.  It’s just the back off of an old truck.  Rainy season begins soon and we’re getting down to the wire for getting the project underway and completed.  On Saturday we had a meeting with the contractor, the chiefs from both neighborhoods, and the stake president who requested that we replace this bridge.  It was pretty funny in some ways because the two chiefs were arguing back and forth about several things.  One of them was about which side of the bridge the construction materials were going to be stored on.  Another was about who is going to be in charge of watching the materials at night so that they don’t get stolen.  Another funny thing was that the stake president finally said that we needed to have a prayer (only a handful of people there are LDS).  That’s one thing I really admire about the Congolese people – and that is that they are very religious-minded.  No one even blinked an eye about having a prayer to settle the atmosphere down.  And when the prayer was over, everyone clapped!!!! Haha  The picture below is with a small part of the people at the meeting.

Well, Friends and Fam– I’ve rambled on too long!  Clark and I feel like we have been watched over and whispered to so much that it’s undeniable whose work we are doing!  We have definitely had tender mercies at every turn.  We love you all and hope for a good week for everyone.  Enjoy the fall weather for me – it’s my favorite time of the year!  Love, Mom/Soeur Davis

October 12, 2014 - Clark

Sunday, October 12, 2014

We have missed not being able to watch or listen to all sessions of conference.  Our internet is very poor and streaming is unreliable and downloading takes a long time.  We have since been able to download the conference sessions to watch this weekend and Monica has sent us audio files to listen to the conference messages.  What a lift these words from the prophets can be especially being half a world away from home.  Here they receive DVD’s of conference in French about 4-6 after and then schedule a Sunday to watch the conference as their Sunday service.  We especially loved Elder Holland’s talk on “I am my brother’s brother”.  

We’re sorry to be missing Spencer’s big day of being called to serve in the Bishopric and being ordained a high priest.  He asked Jacey’s step-father, Dave Hess, to ordain him and I’m sure it will be special weekend for them.  Spence has made such an effort to stay connected.  It is probably out of habit because of his extensive travel schedule.  He has made a conscientious effort to skype and FaceTime from everywhere he travels to his family.  Now that we are away, he has included us in that loop.  We’ve visited with him in Ireland and Italy this past month, not to mention Florida and other US locations.  

Since our local area initiatives were shut down the previous week, we have received a few reprimands for complaining, but we have just gone back to work on the potential initiatives that we are working on.  We have three active projects where construction is beginning and will need to be managed.  We visited orphanages this week again to determine exactly what their needs are and to tell them of those selected, we will not be able to help until after the first of the year. Flavien has been in Kinshasa this week on business and we have used another translator, Steve Mutombo.  He is 24, a returned missionary who studies English 2 hours a day because he has no job and is trying to make arrangements to be married.  We are trying to help him save money for marriage.  

Elder and Sister Atkinson went home this week on Tuesday.  I told him we were not unhappy for them just unhappy that we weren’t going with them.  Elder Atkinson has been inspirational to many and I have particularly enjoyed getting to know him.  When Elder Holland talked about his image of President Monson coming home from East Germany in his slippers because he had given everything away, I immediately thought of Elder Atkinson.  When missionaries come they bring 2 suit cases each weighing 50-pounds and a carryon and a laptop.  When Elder Atkinson left, he had given everything away to the poor and he was carrying a half-empty back pack.  He had taught Steve how repair pumps for water wells and when he left, he asked me to deliver the tools he had purchased to Steve.  He said if he can’t use them, he could at least sell them to add to his marriage preparation.  Steve’s response was that I would never sell them, they are “a heritage that Elder Atkinson has left. I will help people if they can pay for the cost of materials, I will charge nothing”.  I’ll try to talk some sense into him, but I hate to corrupt the purity of his thought.

We attended some clinics this past week for dental and eye care that the missionaries receive.  The missionaries all believe they are having eye problems because it is a status symbol to own glasses even if they are unneeded.  We attended with the Mikesells, who have no transportation and no translator, so we provided both and went along for the education.  We were made to feel so welcome at every clinic or hospital we attended.  The eye clinic at St. Bernedette was especially impressive not only because of the services available but because of the number of patients they serve.  They have a wing just to service children and they turn no one away because of the inability to pay.  They have an NGO who funds the children’s service.  As humanitarian missionaries we are instructed not to proselyte.  No Books of Mormon, no tracts or pamphlets, etc. with anyone involved in humanitarian projects.  It was fun to be with Mikesells, who found several opportunities to pass out books and literature during our visits.  

An exciting opportunity we have these coming weeks is to work with Operation Smile.  Since we can’t spend any more money on local area initiatives until January, we looked for ways to do humanitarian work without spending money.  Representative from Operation Smile had contacted us a month ago and we told them we could provide volunteers to assist them.  They had procrastinated getting back in touch with us until this past Thursday.  We attempted to tell them we thought with 3 stakes in Lubumbashi, we could provide most if not all of their volunteers on all days except Sunday.  They will need over 200 volunteers over a 10-day time period.  We are working with the stake presidents and have also asked the mission president to allow the missionaries a chance to serve.  We’ll keep you posted.  They plan on having 250 patients with an escort, who will all be housed at Sendwe Hospital.  Volunteers will participate in registration, translation, serving meals and assisting the medical crews with logistics of transporting patients between rooms and the operating area.  

Our grandson, Joshua Chamberlain, who is in the Mexico City MTC, wrote a letter this past week describing the passage of time as a missionary.  He said, the days seem like weeks and the weeks pass like days.  Because the weather is fairly constant, each day here seems like Groundhog Day, but Joshua’s description is appropriate.  The Clawsons told us when we arrived that next thing you’ll know, it will be your six-month mark.  Well the next thing has arrived, we’ve been serving as missionaries for nearly six months now and it seems like six years or six days, we can’t quite remember.   

We’re having some amazing experiences with people here in the DRCongo.  We are still trying to overcome our anxiety and the loss of our creature comforts, but the people are amazing.  We’ve been scared, away from home, can’t understand the language (neither French nor Swahili), overwhelmed by the poverty and cultural changes, but with all of that, the more time we spend with the people, the more we are learning from them.  Time is of no consequence here, which is good and bad.  They will volunteer for 4 days instead of 4 hours and think nothing of it.  Meetings have no standard start or stop time; it’s not over until they’re done talking.  Means are meant to be shared, not hoarded.  We hope to become more Congolese so their virtues rub off on us.  We do have a hard time blending in and not sticking out.  We know that Our Heavenly Father is mindful of us.  We continue to have tender mercies on a regular basis.  We need to be careful about what we pray for, because they are answered almost immediately.  We’re still frightened but faithful and your emails and calls sustain us.  

Love, Dad (Elder Davis)

October 05, 2014 - Shelley

October 5, 2014

Well, it finally happened!  After being told for months that our car would be out of customs next week, “next week” actually came!!!  

Here we are with Felly Bukasa, the church employee over vehicles.  He worked so hard at getting this for us – and I feel bad because he can’t afford a car himself.  (Note: We didn’t buy this truck – it is being provided for us to use while we are here.  It’s a church-owned truck.)  This is a diesel truck, as are all of the other mission vehicles.  We were kind of hoping for an old “beater” because the wear and tear is very high here – but it’s brand new.  I haven’t driven standard transmission that much lately, well – EVER! – so I could be facing a learning curve!  But it was exciting news!

Our week was different than any other we’ve had so far because we had visitors from the United States.  John and Marcia Dow live in San Diego.  Their church assignment is as Short Term Specialists over wheelchairs.  They served a humanitarian mission in Mozambique in few years ago and have been coming to Africa about five times each year since then in their new assignment.  Every year the church donates thousands of wheelchairs in countries around the world – including Africa.  Here the main need comes from victims of polio, amputations, and congenital problems.  The wars have left many people disabled, too.

One main focus of the Dow’s visit was to line up the physiotherapists and technicians who will be trained when the actual wheelchair project occurs – hopefully, sometime next year.  I was really unaware of how much “fitting” is required when someone receives a wheelchair.  These professionals must evaluate, measure, and train each of the recipients in how to use and main-tain their chairs.  They said that a disabled person can actually become more disabled if they have a chair that doesn’t fit properly.

We visited several handicapped associations during the week.

The man in the photo is the president of one of the associations.  These are self-organized support groups of about 50 people who help each other.  There are about 12,000 handicapped people in the city – and we visited several groups.  The man below received his chair two

years ago in a previous wheelchair campaign.  It’s easy to see how worn the chairs become because of the rough terrain and lack of paved streets.

I was especially touched by this cute gal.  She also received a chair from the church last time, but she usually just crawls along the ground unless she is “going to town”.  She sews for a living and wheels herself downtown to get fabric and supplies – MANY blocks away.  But she was so happy and grateful for her chair!  It really reminded me of when you go to see someone who is sick so that you can cheer them up – and you are the one who gets cheered up because of the good attitude of the sick person.  Well, she did that for me!

This guy is just showing off!  He has no legs but can maneuver around like nobody’s business!  He was very helpful to the others in his group and had a funny sense of humor.  This type of wheelchair was unfamiliar to me.  It’s called a tricycle.  Even though Elder Dow said that it really isn’t the best one for this area, everybody wants one because they are “cool”.  Who ever thought that wheelchairs could make a fashion statement?!

This man, Tabu Farrah, was our guide for the week.  He’s the president of all the handicapped groups.  He has prosthetic legs and uses crutches.  He’s married and has four children – and is quite a remarkable man!  

We definitely saw a difference in how organized some of the associations were.  None of the groups receives help from the government.  Most have family members who help them.  Some are very ambitious and have devised means of support.  The following photo shows one group who has a well where they sell water to their neighbors.  Those yellow containers, called bidons, hold about 5 gallons of water, for which the owner is charged 5 cents.  This group also raises chickens, bakes bread, grows mushrooms, and makes pottery.

It was a very exhausting week, especially since summer is coming and it is definitely getting hotter.  However, it was inspiring, as well.  Even without a disability, this is a difficult place to live.  We saw so many “poorest of the poor” who were reaching out to ease someone else’s burden.  Our proposed wheelchair project still has to be approved, but we’re hopeful.

I’m almost embarrassed to show the last picture in comparison with the others in this letter.   After a long, hard week, we

rewarded ourselves with dinner out at Latte’licious, a favorite place for Americans because it almost feels like you’re in California or Florida!!  They play American background music and have western-style food.  The Dows are in the center and Flavien Kot and his wife are on the right.  Flavien is our wonderful translator.

This is General Conference weekend.  I had planned on making conference cookies (a Davis family tradition) – but, alas, no graham crackers and definitely no chocolate chips could be found!  I’m counting on the rest of you to eat one for me this year!  We aren’t able to watch Conference.  Part of it is because of the time difference, but most of it is because of our lack of band width.  Hopefully, the DVD’s will arrive before too long!

I’ve thought a lot this week about how blessed we are.  When you see people who truly have nothing, it’s hard not to feel guilty.  I think of the times I have whined about my little inconveniences or aches and pains – and they seem insignificant compared to someone who has no legs and has to crawl in the dirt.  I’m hoping that my Heavenly Father is patient with me and will forgive my complaints.

We hope you all have a wonderful week!  Much love,  Mom/Soeur Davis

October 05, 2014 - Clark

Sunday, October 05, 2014

Skip the first two paragraphs if you don’t want the history and only want the positive feedback for the week.  We have had some highs and some lows this week.  I don’t want to dwell on it but I’ll start with the lows so I can finish strong.  As humanitarian missionaries we are able to work on major initiatives and local area initiatives.  The major initiatives include: water, vision, wheelchairs, neo-natal, immunizations.  These projects are generally controlled by headquarters (SLC) who have to allocate budget and approve the projects.  When we first arrived in Johannesburg, they provided a budget allocation for DRCongo, Lubumbashi of $665,000 which we thought was great for the balance of the 2014 year.  Three major initiatives were included in our budget allotment: wheelchairs, water and immunizations.  Long story short, they changed the rules for water when we were here 1 month which shut down all water projects, our immunization money was spent by Kinshasa before we arrived and in 2012 the wheelchair project here had not completed their reporting, so we were told they would not approve another. We had lost approximately 90% of our budget.

Not to worry, they told us that we could just start lining up local area initiatives and they would arrange to transfer budget dollars from major to local initiatives and we would remain engaged.  What happened is that everyone did the same thing and before long the pipeline was full.  We had a new area presidency and they were overwhelmed, so they sent out a proclamation stating that not more than 5 local projects could be open at any one time.  This meant before any new projects could be approved, the existing ones had to be completed and closed.  Everyone complained but we went on.  Well this last week we received the ultimate notice: “we assured you there would be sufficient money for local projects but we have now been notified that we cannot transfer funds and NO ADDITIONAL LOCAL PROJECTS WILL BE  APPROVED UNTIL 2015”  This was devastating for us as we now had all our eggs in the “local area initiative” basket.  The church is true but the bureaucracy is crazy.  Enough said, we will be creative and stay engaged in humanitarian services requiring no money.  It seems so odd because the Southeast Africa humanitarian budget for 2013 was $12 million and they only spent $9.  When we received our original training, they said in their history no project had been denied and we needed to spend our entire 2014 allotment or the area was in danger of losing their allocation.  Stay tuned.

This was an eventful week as we were hosting John and Marcia Dow.  They are what is referred to as “short-term specialists” from headquarters specializing in wheelchairs.  They are from San Diego and first started their missionary service in 2005 as country directors in Mozambique.  Since that time they have been short-term wheelchair specialists.  They have visited Southeast Africa 5 times this year already, staying for 3-5 weeks each time they come.  They made four wheelchair location visits this trip.  They spent Monday through Friday with us.  We had requested they come.  We are still hopeful we can have a wheelchair project approved with 2014 budgetary funds.  The church had planned on 14 wheelchair projects in our area for this year and they only have 5 budgeted for next year.

We visited with government officials, hospitals, clinicians, technicians, handicapped organizations and former recipients of chairs.  They worked extremely hard and we were along for the training indoctrination.  Our hope is to import a container of chairs (about 300), conduct a weeklong training course for the clinicians and technicians.  They will be instructed in how to make a proper assessment of the type and size of wheelchair and make all the proper adjustment to fit it properly to the recipient.  The government helps us in allowing the waiver of fees and taxes because it is a charitable donation to the Congolese people.  Sounds easy enough but you wouldn’t believe the legalese and red tape required to make this all happen.  We spent a lot of time on contracts, reports and division of financial responsibilities.  It was difficult not to detract from the focus of the project.  They were wonderful in every way and we learned a great deal about wheelchairs this past week.  Flavien, our translator had been here for the last project and they said he is the best translator they work with bar none.

Other news from the week included a new office and a new truck.  We have not had our own vehicle since arriving May 17, 2014.  We were so grateful to finally receive our new white Toyota Hilux diesel pickup.  We actually would have preferred an old beater.  The driving here can be insane and most vehicles show the wear and tear with scratches, dents, broken lamps, you get the idea.  We’ll do our best to return it in good condition.  The timing was close because the Atkinsons, who have been our chauffeurs are leaving on Tuesday and their truck is being returned to the construction department.  Another positive from the week was no additional police stops.

We have been in limbo regarding an office.  The Drapers were given our old office and we have been in the open reception area for the past few weeks.  They decided to make two offices out of the sister trainers’ apartment (formerly known as Bunker’s Bunker).  Dr. and Sister Mikesell will occupy one room and the bathroom and Shelley and I will occupy the other room.  They have had the painter at the mission home this past few weeks to repaint in the mission home and then repaint our new office rooms.  Sister Mikesell is very persistent and she is working on upgrading the internet in our offices.  We’re grateful but no results as of yet.  We spent Saturday moving some furniture and cleaning the new offices.  

Our paths have crossed with Kennedy again this week.  He is a 26-year old returned missionary who speaks excellent English.  We had consider hiring him as a translator but neither of us had a car, so we relied on Flavien.  Kennedy had asked us to buy him a camera in South Africa because he could get a better camera for the money.  We made arrangements for Sister Thomas to purchase one for $200 dollars but Kennedy could only produce $160 for payment.  We made a list of candid photos he could work on to pay the difference.  Kennedy has a BA in chemistry and finally found a job near Kolwezi this past week with a mining company as a metallurgist.  His fiancé, Naomi, received her mission call a day after he secured his job.  They’ll now wait another 19 months before they marry.

Brent and Celeste Atkinson are returning home this Tuesday.  They have been our neighbors in the apartment complex.  We have spent a lot of time together because they have been our transportation.  When Clawson returned home, I had to start driving more, but until then everywhere we went it was with the Atkinsons.  Brent doesn’t love to socialize, but we went for lots of walks, attended church together, worked on pump repairs and coordinated the construction project for rebuilding the market place that was burned down.  We’re closer to them than anyone else mainly because of the amount of time we have spent together.  We will miss them terribly but we’re happy for them.  We had a going away dinner for them at the mission home last night.  It was typical of events here.  It was scheduled for 5:00.  Justin was supposed to bring the pizza at the request of the Atkinsons.  Justin is a stake president and got caught up negotiating the bride price for one of his members and didn’t arrive until 7:00, but he arrived without the pizza.  We ended up eating at 8:00 after President and Sister Thomas made a pizza run to latte-licious.  

The weather has been hot this week and we don’t have the luxury of air conditioning in our bedroom.  The temperature has ranged from 74-97 and it is hard to recover from the heat.  We understand that September and October are the hottest months and we’re hoping that’s true.  The rainy season is supposed to start around the end of October.  Our neighborhood has received a newly-paved road.  When we arrived, the ruts and potholes were so deep, it would have reminded you of a Lagoon ride, but with new pavement, it has now become the preferred raceway for the local transport vans.  It has been good to see construction equipment in our neighborhood and the infrastructure improvements that are being made.  The road to the airport has also been improved dramatically.  The driving here is challenging but the saving grace is the speeds are not as great as at home.  Most drivers are defensive drivers but the first one to blink is lost.  

We enjoyed the week and they do seem to fly by although the days never end.  I love my companion and I’ve discovered how strong she really is.  She looks like a pushover but her strength of character is amazing.  I always wondered why senior missionaries called their wife “Sister”; well it’s their title or calling similar to “Elder”.  It had never dawned on me before and frankly it’s still not natural for me.  Mom is stronger than I ever imagined and living here one needs to be.  President McMullin may have said it best when he said, “Elder Davis, every day is hard”.  I might just amend that by saying every day can be meaningful and we can do hard things.  Doing hard things together is bringing mom and I closer than we have ever been.  We love you, have a “hard” week.

Love, Dad (Elder Davis)

P.S.  We’re missing conference, conference cookies and conference visits!

September 28, 2014 - Shelley

September 28, 2014

Well, spring has sprung!  The weather is getting warmer and there are some beautiful trees that are in bloom everywhere, sporting big purple blossoms.

I told Clark that I had a moment of almost feeling “local” when I bought eggs at the store that definitely had feathers and chicken poop on them – and I didn’t even flinch!  That’s better than my first trip to the grocery store here when I started to cry at that sight.  I found that it really does all come off in the wash!

We had an interesting couple of days this week touring local medical facilities.  We have a new mission doctor, Dr. Mikesell, an oral surgeon from St. George.  Our tour was conducted by Dr. Saban, who is the medical advisor over all of the doctors in Lubumbashi.

We are pictured here with the Mikesells and Dr. Saban (3rd from the left) and part of his staff.  One side note:  Dr. Saban said that he doesn’t like to stand next to white people in pictures because he looks like a black hole!  What is really funny is that he is standing next to Sister Mikesell who has a condition where she has no pigment in her skin.  She almost glows because she is so white!!  Dr. Saban showed us hospitals that would be acceptable for our young missionaries to go to – and two that have English-speaking personnel for the senior missionaries.  And he showed us others, as well – basically, the good, the bad, and the VERY UGLY!!!  He volunteers at a neighborhood clinic that services 20,000 people.  

In most hospitals here, a patient’s family must provide all food, laundry service – and sometimes medicine while the patient is there.  We saw one gal that had had a baby three weeks before but the hospital wouldn’t let her leave until she could pay the $23 they charge to deliver the baby!  It’s hard to imagine, but one clinic has a piece of equipment that was donated by Mohammed Ali’s daughter, but it isn’t used because no one knows how it works!  They keep it covered up in the “operating room”.  It’s truly heart-breaking!  I really have to admire Dr. Saban because he obviously has a good job and many privileges, but he still dedicates part of his week giving free service to the poor.

He expressed several times how worried he is for the rainy season to come – which, I think is at the end of October or so.  He said that in 2012, Lubumbashi had 7,000 deaths during the rainy season from cholera.  He said that

Above:  Technician with useless donated equipment.

many new people have moved here recently – mostly into the poorer parts of town.  It’s hard to tell from the photo

above, but about half-way up the street is a latrine.  Then about a hundred feet down the hill is a well where people are getting drinking water.  When the rains come, the unsanitary situation is compounded and disease is spread.  The water in this ditch is black – and there are children everywhere!  This is typical of many neighborhoods.

Well, on to more positive topics!  We have had pretty good internet this week – well, not as terrible as usual! I was able to reconnect with a long-time friend of mine, Janis Christensen, from North Ogden.  We have been friends since our first children were babies and we lived in San Francisco.  Anyway, Janis has a son with ALS.  I’ve noticed lately that there have been many ALS challenges on Facebook – so people are becoming more aware of this dread disease.  Janis said that KSL has done a documentary with her son, Seth, and others with ALS that will be aired at 1:30 on Saturday, Oct. 4, between the morning and afternoon sessions of General Conference.

One of our projects is almost complete!  

We are shown here with the work crew that is rebuilding the market that was burned down in August.  The first phase is complete and the second phase has started.  250 vendors were displaced when a fire started during the night.  These markets, or marches, are everywhere and sell everything from food to clothing.  The open-aired

stalls allow for customers to walk down the center of the structure in order to see all of the products for sale.  If I called it kind of a mall, that would be way too much of a stretch!  However,

it works here, and the vendors are very excited and grateful for the shelter.

Our mission office is in the midst of change.  Currently there are 5 senior couples in addition to the Mission President.  This week one couple, the Atkinsons, learned that they will be going home two months early because their assignment is completed.  They haven’t been home for five years because this is their third mission!!  And they are both younger than we are!  We have definitely met some very faithful people!  Then Sister Riendeau, one of the senior sister missionaries, decided to go home early because one of her sisters has terminal cancer.  So – before long, Clark and I will be the couple here with the most experience!  Now that is a scary thought!

We have been so blessed by others – both at home and abroad.  Our children and grandchildren have been great to keep in touch and to have us involved as much as possible in their lives.  Our ward family has been wonderful to our daughter Lindsay and her family who lived in our home until last week.  By way of info, we now have a new family living there:  Kevin and Megan Diehl and their two little girls.  Kevin and our son Andy have been friends since they were about 9 or 10 years old.  They met when they played the parts of Kurt and Frederick in “The Sound of Music” at our local Heritage Theater.  We feel thrilled to have the Diehls in our home!

We also receive inspiration from our friends who continue to serve, whether on actual missions or at home.  We had a big surprise last week from Barr and Nancy Cannon who are serving in New Zealand.  They called on Face Time!

I would be very remiss not to mention what a blessing it is to work with so many wonderful Congolese people.  Because of the nature of our work, we have gotten to associate with many of the local Church employees, government officials, and businessmen and women.  Many of them could work other places for more money – Dr. Saban, for example.  But they have chosen to stay here in Lubumbashi to try to raise the standard of living in their homeland.  It is not without cost – both in money and in personal conveniences.  The Congo is a hard place to live – for everyone.  

Much love,  Mom/Souer Davis

September 28, 2014 - Clark

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Let me share a couple of personal interest stories with you.  I’m beginning to realize that it’s not the work you do with organizations but the opportunity to affect individual lives that is important in our humanitarian service.  I have been concerned that most of our DRC budget has evaporated with bureaucratic red tape compliance.  Well let me share some positive experiences with you.

1. We have attended 9 orphanages, some multiple times, in Lubumbashi.  We have been trying to develop a project proposal for 3-4 of them.  At one of the orphanages we attended, we met a young lady by the name of Rose.  She had raised herself by her own bootstraps and was just completing her university studies.  Flavien, our translator who owns a print shop, recognized she needed help in printing her thesis for graduation.  She needed 6 copies of it.  Flavien gave her his contact information and told her to contact him.  She did this past week; he told her he would prepare it at no cost, but she offered him 10,000 Fc, about $10 dollars, a large sum for an orphan.  He was so impressed with her that he prepared 10 copies, provided her transport in his car and spoke with his family about adopting her into their family.  Flavien’s parents have 13 children.  Our limited thinking for help for her orphanage was to buy beds and mattresses.  You can see how advanced Flavien already is as a humanitarian missionary.
2. We’re starting a construction project to build a pedestrian bridge near one of the local chapels.  It will join two neighborhoods and allow school children to cross the Katuba River safely on their way to school.  Each construction project requires a site monitor to track the construction progress, take pictures, and keep a log.  We have been impressed with a young returned missionary we have met by the name of Steve Mutombo.  He is 24, engaged to be married and a counselor in a local bishopric.  We contacted Steve to serve as the site monitor.  You need to understand these are not glamorous positions and only pay $2-3 per hour and they only require maybe 10 hours per week.  He was so grateful because this will allow him to proceed with his marriage plans.  I told him that small things often lead to larger opportunities.  I told him exposure at the mission home will help with future potential employment opportunities.  Today at church President Thomas talked to Steve about another employment opportunity with the Mikesells that may develop this week.  The bridge project may have less to do with the neighborhood and more to do with Steve.  He’s the type of young man that could be a future stake president someday.  

We received some exciting and some depressing news in the same announcement this week.  Elder Brent and Sister Celeste Atkinson are going home two months earlier than expected.  Elder Atkinson has been part of a construction program where they train about 10 returned missionaries at a time in the construction trades while they are assisting in the construction of local chapels and stake centers.  His construction program was cut short due to building construction being put on hold or being cancelled.  The mission has used his skills in repairing everything in sight and he has assisted with the missionary apartments.  He and I participated in a potential project to repair water wells and they have lived in our compound.  The area presidency decided since his program had been cancelled, they would allow him to return home two months earlier than planned.  They are both excited and the rest of us are losing close friends and part of our support network.  We’re excited for them but will miss them tremendously.  Brent keeps our apartment infrastructure in good repair, fixes all of our unreliable appliances and takes me on stress-relieving walks in the evenings.  He also speaks very good French and we will be lost in meetings without him.  Mom and Celeste have also become good friends.  Celeste grew up in Brigham City and her father still lives there.  Mom has been working on a knitting project that she had planned on sending home with Celeste, but now it has an earlier deadline.  Every evening she is busy with the needles.

This week we spent most of the time with the Mikesells.  They do not have a car and no translator.  We let them use both; we became their drivers and Flavien became their translator for the week.  We visited local hospitals to determine what services they provide and what equipment they have.  We were introduced to Dr. Saban, who is the supervisor of all hospitals in Lubumbashi.  He introduced us to the vice mayor and his staff at the city office buildings.  He accompanied us to visit several hospitals and clinics.  It was a discouraging time for Flavien.  His complaint was that these nicer hospitals, CMC and Foundation, are not available to the locals because their costs are so high.  Obviously they were the hospitals with equipment and more complete service offerings.  

We noticed at some of the poorer hospitals, they had received second-hand equipment from well-intended donors but no one knew how to operate or repair the equipment.  It just sat there in the operating room with a blue covering gathering dust.  One operating room had lost the light over the operating table and had only natural light to perform surgeries.  I’ll try to send some pictures.  

Flavien has served notice, he is going on no more visits with the Mikesells and he wants to return to humanitarian services which he feels are much more worthy of his time.  We’ll take care of that this next week.  John and Marcia Dow from San Diego are coming.  They have spent the past week in Kinshasa and Brazzaville.   They travel the world visiting 3rd world countries as the church specialists in wheelchairs.  We will host them from Monday through Friday.  Monday and Friday are travel days and we will probably accomplish precious little, but we have the other three days packed with appointments.  The Ministry of Social Affairs has appointed Tabu, a person who is handicapped and requires crutches, to arrange for all our visits to handicapped centers.  He will also be responsible for all reporting of wheelchair placements.  We look forward to the week and hope to be successful in receiving approval for a wheelchair project here in Lubumbashi.  Prospects look promising.  Wish us luck.

The weather here has become warmer.  It’s just opposite of what you would anticipate because we are in the southern hemisphere.  We have been told that the warmest months of the year are September and October.  It ranges between 70-95 degrees in Lubumbashi and has been much more uncomfortable.  The heat isn’t extremely humid and so it is bearable, just uncomfortable from what we have previously experienced.  The composition of the mission has changed dramatically this past few months with the departure of President and Sister McMullin, then the Clawsons, now the Atkinsons and we just heard that Sister Riendeau is going home in less than two months.  Her sister has bone cancer.  I suspect she is also disappointed that President Thomas cancelled her French language lessons to the Sister Missionaries.  We’ve had the arrival of the Drapers and the Mikesells and we’re feeling extremely unprepared to be the senior tenured couple.  Elder Ngandu was sent to Ngandijika to finish his mission and Elder Lono has replaced him as an AP to President Thomas.  These are wonderful young missionaries with testimonies and scripture knowledge to match the best of them.   

Mom and I have recommitted to studying French because many of our crutches are leaving or have already left.  Sister Clawson sold us her Fluenz language program and we are trying to study daily (week daily) we are understanding more and yet still feel like first graders.  We have had better connectivity this past few weeks and look forward to our facetime visits.  We appreciate you trying to stay in touch as it lifts our spirits and gives us the encouragement to persevere.  Mom and I are doing well together but we needs some alone time occasionally.  The work can be frustrating but we do see changes in the lives of people, including ourselves.  For those of you familiar with Zions Camp, we feel this is often a similar experience.  The Lord is proving us to see if we will be faithful and we hope to measure up.   We’re surrounded by wonderful examples in the lives of other senior couples as well as local members and missionaries.  We’ve been reading in Heleman, chapters 13-15 on Samuel the Lamanite.  One good lesson we’re learning is not to covet our own property.  President Thomas discovered in the Swahili language there is no word for ownership.  The word translates into stewardship rather than to own.  Rennie Bott, my long-time friend and business partner shared a Boy Scout slogan with me written on a coin, “Leave a Legacy”.  We hope through our missionary service we are leaving a legacy of faith and stewardship for our children and grandchildren.  We love you,

Dad (Elder Davis)