November 15, 2014 - Clark

Saturday, November 15, 2014

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.  

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

November 9, 2014 - Clark

Sunday, November 09, 2014

Steve has served faithfully as our new translator.  We had an organizational meeting for correlating our activities on Monday and identified things to work on during the week.  I told Steve, his responsibility was to plan our daily schedule and make appointments in advance so we made the best use of our time.  He went right to work and made sure our schedule was full each and every day.  Here many do not eat a meal at lunchtime but only eat breakfast and dinner.  We aren’t local in that sense and rely on a mid-day break.  Steve worked us through lunch both Tuesday and Wednesday and we ate at 3:00 and 4:00 in the afternoon or not at all.  Looking back it’s hard to remember our accomplishments but I’m going to share 3 events:

1. We have had 2 projects that were stalled and not moving at all.  We were afraid we would have to close them without completing the approved project; probably not a bad idea if conditions for continuation are not met, but we cannot start any new projects until 1/1/2015.
1. We had an ultrasound purchase approved for Luputa, a city of 300,000 but we were required to obtain a waiver of taxes and fees from the government.  We have worked on this from a distance of 500- miles and 5 hours for the last 3 months but nothing has been granted.  Phillip Moatlhodi, the Area Welfare Manager called on Wednesday and said he would proceed with purchasing the equipment in Johannesburg and we should bring an empty computer bag to our conference in January to personally carry it on the plane for delivery to Luputa.  Hooray, a voice of reason.
2. Maisha-Karavia is a school that has completed 10 new classrooms this past year with the assistance of a $50,000 grant from the Governor but they were unable to purchase the 400 desks required to furnish the classrooms.  Although they don’t normally qualify as poorest of the poor, we felt their example in the principles of self-reliance were reason enough for us to recommend a 50/50 participation in buying new desks.  The area office had never had a 50/50 participation project, so it was a big deal and they have watched this one.  Long story short, neither the principal, the parents, nor the Catholic Church has raised their 50% match.  Phillip Moatlhodi gave us full discretion to negotiate a lower participation percentage or to use the funds on other more needy schools as we saw fit.  This is autonomy we have never had, but we appreciated his phone call so much.
2. Yesterday we took Sister Anthony and Elder and   Sister Mikesell downtown shopping.  We parked in the Jambo parking lot and walked to the vendor souvenir booths across from the Park Hotel.  We were in crowed pedestrian conditions and Elder Mikesell was carrying his wallet in a shoulder bag with a zipper.  You guessed it, he lost his wallet.  That isn’t the story worth telling.  We went into a shop selling fabric and we were discussing the loss of his identification materials.  The clerk asked how much money he had lost and we said the money wasn’t the primary concern but the personal items in his wallet.  We left the store and I waited on the sidewalk across the street while Shelley and sister Anthony shopped in a small strip mall while the Mikesells traveled to another store a couple of blocks away on foot.  In about 20 minutes, a young man in a blue shirt came running across the street and handed me Elder Mikesell’s wallet.  The money changers nearby gave me a thumbs up signal and I thanked the young man for the return of the wallet before he quickly disappeared.  When the Mikesells returned, we returned to the fabric store and gave the clerk a small reward for her role in putting out the word through her local network and finding the wallet and its contents, excluding the money of course.  It restored our faith in the people and Elder Mikesell was definitely relieved.  
3. Yesterday, Steve, our translator invited us to his pre-dot meeting with his family and the family of his fiancée, Matilda.  The bride price tradition in Africa is discussed by Elder Oaks in the March 2012 Ensign in an article called, “The Gospel Culture”.  Both families join together, the father of the fiancée conducts, welcomes and is to provide a list of items required of the potential groom in order to gain his daughter’s hand in marriage. The list was not provided and will be in a matter of days.  The potential groom brings a token of his interest in the form of 5 cases of Fanta orange and money in an envelope.  Steve had his cousin talk for him.  His Bishop was supposed to come as a negotiator, but he was not there.  I asked Steve beforehand if I could say anything in his behalf and I was granted time.  I showed 25 slides of Steve and Matilda serving together in Operation Smile and Steve’s other activities as our translator for humanitarian services.  I gave a brief endorsement to both of them.  We were served soda, popcorn and nuts.  The TV remained on during the entire meeting and very little was said.  Steve and Matilda had to act serious and humble while the adults (mostly her father) conducted the meeting.  I’m not sure what was accomplished but her father’s acceptance of the token gifts is symbolic of his acceptance of Steve and the negotiations will continue in subsequent meetings.  The 45-minute meeting took 4-5 hours to assemble everyone on time and deliver them back to their homes.  I asked Steve what his family would do on a Saturday night.  He said this night would be devoted to making fun of Steve and every word of the meeting would be pantomimed and rehearsed as all family members teased him mercilessly.

When Phillip Moatlhodi, our Area Welfare Manager called, he asked if we were having a project celebration soon.  We told him we had already scheduled one at the Notre Dame School for Girls on December 6th.  He asked if we would have the School write a letter of invitation to him because he would like to attend.  Phillip is coming December 3-7 to visit Lubumbashi.  This is a big deal because he is over about 20 countries.  I suspect Elder cook’s meeting from the previous week may have had something to do with Phillip’s particular attention to us this past week.    Elder Cook asked some informal questions and I shared some of our frustrations with the bureaucracy of the humanitarian work.  We did mention Phillip had always had a direct line to us and had given us encouragement.  His encouragement and attention was definitely a highlight of this past week.  

I don’t want to end a whining note but I do want to record these feelings for my own reflections.

1. It remains difficult to be quarantined in our own apartment 13-14 hours a day.  We’re not supposed to go out at night and sunset and sunrise are around 6:15.
2. It’s emotionally difficult to send senior missionaries home who have become your friends and you rely upon for mentoring and support
3. Every day is Groundhog Day because of no change in seasons other than hot and hot and wet.  My pillow is wet every night, not from tears but from perspiration.  

Despite these and other setbacks, Shelley and I often wonder what we will do for excitement when we return home.  Every day seems to have a new adventure.  We have been so happy with our assignment because we get out among the people and have a personal tour guide with us almost every day.  Flavien and Steve have helped us to better understand the people, the community and the culture in a way that would be impossible on your own.  We take pictures every week and our biggest challenge will be cataloging them all. We hope to be able to capture these memories for the time when Alzheimer’s sets in.  We’re trying to share several of them with you on the photo stream or in Shelley’s photos.  We love the Gospel and each other.  We’re gaining a greater love for the Congolese every week as we serve.  Have a great week.

Love, Dad (Elder Davis)

P.S.  I have to add one last breakthrough.  We have been waiting for the official signatures of the wheelchair memorandum of understanding spelling out both parties’ responsibilities.  It required the approval of the Minister of Health and his chief Deputy Dr. Kitopi, who also serves as his legal advisor.  We have been working on this since Elder and Sister Dows visit over a month ago.  On Friday at 5:00 pm we finally received the signed agreements along with the estimate of costs.  This was a minor miracle and an answer to prayer.  

November 2, 2014 - Shelley

November 2, 2014

I try to write my weekly letter on Sunday afternoon.  I am using this as my journal, so I like to think back over the week to recall the highlights.  Some weeks are same, same, same.  This week, however, was different, different, different!

It started out with a “back door” invi-tation to Family Home Evening at the home of one of the Stake Presidents – President Tshibanda.  He actually only invitied Sister Riendeau, who will be going home tomorrow.  Sister Riendeau and Sister Tshibanda have become good friends in the French class that Sister R. has been teaching.  Since it’s not advised to be out after dark, especially for two single gals, Sister R. asked if it would be okay if she brought us along.  

We drove and it turned out to be a wonderful evening.  Clark and I haven’t been in many homes here – so this was very interesting.  Pres. T. has a good job working with the mines as an engineer.  He owns a car, a home, and a rental home.  He has six children, but also has his mother, a sister, and two nieces who live with his family.  These wonderful people live in a very modest 3 or 4 room home that has a cement floor.  Chickens wandered in and out – but the house was tidy and felt very homey.

We didn’t realize that dinner would be served and it was so touching to see that rather than serve fou fou, which they normally would have eaten, they had bought food that they thought we would like.  They had fruit, French fries, and a variety of salads.  Knowing how expensive food is made it especially meaningful.  

We had two project celebrations this week.  The first was to recognize the church members who had volunteered with Operation Smile.  We met at a church building.  Clark put together a little slide show, a few people shared their thoughts on what the experience had meant to them, we passed out certificates, and had refreshments.

This is my favorite photo of the volunteers.  You can just feel the kindness in their faces.

The next celebration came with the delivery of desks to Bukanda School.  It’s the village school where students had been sitting on bricks.  We bought 130 desks, paint and termite spray for the walls, and chalkboard paint.

This is a long-shot so that you can see the gathering under the trees.  The school is located behind where I’m standing.

This shows the parents on the left and  part of the students.  It was so cute because they had an actual program prepared with skits, choir numbers, and speeches.  We had brought 600 bottles of soda and about that many packages of cookies.  We had a few bottles of soda left over, but not much more.

This brings me to another topic.  We have a new translator.  Flavien has worked with us since we arrived and has been simply wonderful!  He has accepted full-time employment with the church with facilities management.  We are happy for him, but will miss him!  Steve Mutombo is our new translator.  He’s a returned missionary, unmarried, and has a university degree in computer science.  His English isn’t nearly as sophisticated as Flavien’s, but he’s an outstanding young man.  I have started collecting what I’m calling “steve-isms”.  On the way out to Bukanda School, with all of the soda in our truck, Steve wanted to have a soda himself, but didn’t quite know how to put the words together.  So he said, “Can we start celebrating the departing of soda?”  I thought it was so funny!  Maybe you had to be there!  Haha

There was an unexpected death of a counselor in one of the local bishoprics this week.  He was 70 years old.  Sister Anthony and I attended his funeral – mainly just to see what it was like.  We had heard several wild stories, but the service was actually very much like funerals in the United States. . . UNTIL the end.  When the service was over, the casket was carried to the church parking lot and very unceremoniously shoved into the back of a transport!

The main method of transportation here is in white vans called “transports”.  It isn’t unusual to see 25 people pile out of one – they are hugely crowded!  Most people don’t own cars, so this is the way of getting around.  Anyway, after the widow was seated in the front of the same van, everyone else piled in – either to this one or to several other transports in the parking lot – and off they went to the cemetery.  No one thought it was unusual – except us.

I’ve probably blabbed on enough, but I did want to share a couple of “people” pictures from this week.

This little cutie is the daughter of one of our office employees – Emmanuel.  I asked her mother how long it took to do her hair like this (I think it’s just extentions woven into her own hair) – and said it took two hours!  I have had some experience over the years with trying to fix a 3-year old’s hair (I won’t mention any names, EMILY! haha), and I just don’t think it would have worked for me!!!  But she’s sure cute!  Emmanuel and his family are leaving tomorrow to be sealed in the Johannesburg Temple.

I must be feeling partial to little girls this week, but I thought this gal looked so adorable.  The neighborhood where this is taken is where our bridge project is.  It’s a very poor area.  There are hundreds of children who wander from backyard to backyard, playing in the dirt with sticks and rocks and “toys” they’ve made themselves out of nothing.  Life feels very simple and uncomplicated.

I want to express my thanks for your letters and encouragement this week.  We have loved the photos of Halloween costumes and activities!  

Our mission president and two of the other senior couples made a trip up north this week.  It’s the same trip we took in June – to Luputa, Mwene Ditu, and Mbuji-Mayi.  It’s quite an eye-opening experience to actually see into the heart of rural Africa.  Neither of the senior couples had been there before, and they were very ready to get back to civilization by Friday night.  After they had been sitting in the Mbuji-Mayi airport for several hours in the sweltering heat, waiting for their plane home -  it was announced that their plane had decided not to stop in Mbuji-Mayi because of an impending rain storm – so it just flew over without them!  T– I–A!!  (They finally got home 30 hours later!)

Well, the Lord has blessed us beyond measure with a wonderful family and friends. We miss you all, but we love to hear how you are taking care of each other.  I asked Steve if he would move away from Lubumbashi after he got married.  He said that he probably won’t because his mother doesn’t want him to.  He said, “She wants to see me around her.”  Well, I feel the same way about all of you – I want to see you around me!  But for now, this will have to do.  Have a wonderful week.  

Love,  Mom/Soeur Davis

November 1, 2014 - Clark

Saturday, November 01, 2014

We were worried about what to do, but soon found other areas to take our focus after the close of Operation Smile.  We had one last hurrah with the volunteers from Operation Smile at the Gecamine 2 chapel.  I prepared an Apple slide show where we used two hymns: Called to Serve and I am a child of God.  Both seemed to fit the activity.  Steve handed out certificates to all volunteers.  I had to read all of their names and I felt like I was in primary all over again, with helpers whispering the correct pronunciation in my ear.  

Another fun activity from this week was to have our closing ceremony for the delivery of 125 desks at Bukanda School.  This is the poorest of the poor and they were so grateful to have desks.  Before they have been sitting on bricks for desks and their parents would complain because they came home dirty from sitting on the floor at school.  We had purchased cookies and soda pop for the occasion and the entire village came to the event.  There were skits and songs and prayers and everyone stayed for refreshments.  We purchased the drinks from a local brewery who told us if we gave them 3 weeks’ notice next time, they would provide the drinks free.

This is our last week with our translator, Flavien Kot.  He has been wonderful and we will definitely be lost without him.  Our thought is that his work with us made him more valuable as an employee for the Church, who is his new employer.  He will work with facilities management and I think his English is better than anyone who works for the church in Lubumbashi.  I suspect he will go far.  We attempted to close all projects that we had started together, but the hands of progress move slowly.  Our wheelchair project is simply waiting for a couple of signatures but they never came.  Dr. Kitopi from the Ministry of Health has been difficult to deal with.  

WE have been in charge of things here at the mission office this week while President Thomas, the Drapers and the Mikesells have been traveling to the cities up north.  We invited the sisters to the Bukanda closing ceremony and took them to dinner at late-licious for dinner.  Sister Reindeau had decided to go home a month early so she could see her sister who has terminal cancer.  Friday morning at 2:30 her sister Dominque passed away.  At least she will be there in time for the funeral.  She has been in shock for the past couple of days.  

Today, I have been the designated chauffer for two brethren from Kinshasa.  Felly was supposed to take them but he has had malaria.  One is Brother Lunda who is the director of the Distribution Center in Kinshasa and the other is a government official who is reviewing the church’s exempt status.  It has to be renewed every two years.  To qualify for exemption from taxes, the church has to conduct humanitarian projects and activities other than strictly religious and the church members cannot be the primary beneficiaries.  We visited our current and finished projects that were close: market fire rebuild project where we constructed boweries, the Mapendano School latrine project, the Katuba Bridge project and Notre Dame School for Girls.  It was a busy day of driving and yet satisfying to know that our activities are allowing the church to maintain their tax exempt status.  

Sunday, November 02, 2014

Time seems to be of no consequence here in Africa.  Let me explain an event with travel.  The mission president and 2 other couples traveled to the cities in the north of the mission and were scheduled to return on Friday evening.  Their flight was coming from Kinshasa with a scheduled stop in Mbuji-Mayi which is maybe halfway in between Kinshasa and Lubumbashi.  Well there was a thunder storm under way as the flight approached Mbuji-Mayi and so they just decided not to stop, leaving our traveling party stranded.  The next day there was an unscheduled flight from Johannesburg to Kinshasa that stopped in Mbuji-Mayi and picked up passengers on the flight to Kinshasa where they stayed on the plane to fly to Lubumbashi and arrived at the airport at 12:30 am.  We were glad to be the chauffeurs.  We arrived home at 1:30 and were fortunate to awake Sunday morning at 9:13 just in time to attend our 10:00 block of meetings.  

While at church we saw Elder Mvutul`u.  We couldn’t  believe there were so many in the audience not singing the hymns until we visited with the Elders after the meeting to find out they had 28 investigators in sacrament meeting.  I’m sure I didn’t have 28 investigators in 2 years while serving in Germany.  The work here is incredible and we hardly recognize the impact because we don’t know members from investigators.  We have arranged to attend their next baptism which is on November 15th.  I imagine there will be more than a few.

We have had a weeklong of activities recognizing Sister Riendeau. She has worked tirelessly in her calling to serve the women of the church.  She has taught 3 separate French language classes to the women of the three stakes here.  Many of the woman don’t finish school and don’t have an opportunity to learn French.  About 60 percent of the population only speak Swahili.  This past week she had graduation ceremonies for all the women in her three classes.  For graduation she gave them all a pair of reading glasses.  Glasses are a status symbol here and they were forever borrowing her glasses to read in her classroom.  

We were the beneficiaries of her kindness.  On Monday evening President Tshibanda invited her and her guests to his home for FHE.  His son, Jonathan, who is preparing for a mission gave an excellent lesson.  He and his wife gave Sister Riendeau a plaque with the map of the African continent on it.  They also served “take away” dinner to everyone.  They had purchased items they though Americans would enjoy such as fries, coleslaw, macaroni salad, etc.  I hope it didn’t cost them a fortune but it was very generous of them to invite and include us in there recognition of Sister Riendeau.  We also took her to dinner on Thursday, had birthday cake together on Friday celebrating Sister Anthony’s birthday and again on Saturday we had her farewell dinner.  Six of the office were stranded in Mbuji-Mayi so we perservered without them.

The power was out at this mission home and the generator was not working, so we made other plans and went to dinner at the Bougain Ville.  It was a nice and peaceful setting, but unfortunately Sister Riendeau was sick.  She has not been sick a single day of her mission but the events of her sister’s passing I’m sure affected her.  We had a nice evening and Elder Cook, our Area President joined us at dinner.  He was in Lubumbashi to talk to the members of the Lubumbashi Stake about the culture of the gospel address from Elder Oaks.  It is a talk about the cultural practice of paying a “bride price” to the family in securing the parents approval of the engagement of their daughter.  It can be devastating and delays many marriages and creates an atmosphere for disobeying the law of chastity.  All in all a bad custom but one that is difficult to overcome.  We had an enjoyable evening visiting with Elder Cook and the two  Congolese couples who were there Emanual and Justin told their stories of courtship and marriage and then we all paid tribute to Sister Riendeau.

We had a faith-promoting experience this past week.  We had worried about what we would do next with all of our projects coming to a close and no new projects allowed except for water projects under the newer more restrictive guidelines.  We prayed for guidance and it came almost immediately.  The answer was to work on water projects and the following events during the week confirmed that:

1. Monday morning completely out of the blue, Kenneth Mofokeng, the area office director over water projects called me and asked if there was anything he could do to help us develop some water proposals.  We have been here over 5 months and this is the first call of this nature. We discussed several possibilities and he was very supportive.
2. Immaculee, director of small village water projects, had called the previous week and asked us to return and work with her office.
3. Leon, a subordinate of Immaculee, called our translator Steve, separately and requested we return to work with them.
4. Jim Bullock, who is an area welfare specialist in Ghana and a friend of President Thomas wrote us an email asking if we needed any help with water projects.  He is the water specialist in Western Africa area.
5. When we had our correlation meeting on Monday with our translators, I had asked them to come with suggestions for new projects.  Flavien said he felt we needed to concentrate on water development in Lubumbashi.  He said that nearly 60% of the city is without access to the City’s water system.  We identified sectors and created a plan of action.
6. There were other incidentals such as President Binene from Luputa asking about latrine projects, Johm from  FM Kinshasa updating me on water development in Tshitenge and the fact that the church does not own the property there and it is only under lease, preventing water development by the FM group at the site.

Sorry to bore you with all the details, but this is my mission journal as well and I want to remember that these were not coincidental, but a flood of new ideas and sources to help us in our next venture, water development.  I’ll keep you posted.  

Love, Dad (Elder Davis)

October Photos from Lubumbashi

WE14COD011 – KATUBA BRIDGE.  Included in this photo are the two neighborhood chiefs, the contractor, the Stake President, director of Public Affairs, the humanitarian couple, and others.  It was taken at the conclusion of one of our meetings to unify the neighborhoods and inform them about the bridge.

The construction company has begun working on the bridge in hopes of completing it before the rains begin.

WE14COD005 – BUKANDA SCHOOL DESK PROJECT.  Sister Davis, Bukanda School principal, and Elder Davis are sitting at one of the new desks.  Standing behind are the director of physical facilities for the Catholic Diocese and the contractor who made the desks.

These children were participants in the hand-over celebration for the desks at Bukanda School.

These are part of the new desks for Bukanda School.  

WE2014 0440 – MAPENDANO SCHOOL.  Workers are clearing out the old latrine area.

This is a sample of one new latrine.  It is not completed.

WE14COD012 – NOTRE DAME SCHOOL FOR GIRLS.   Therese, Sister Riendeau (our interpreter for the day), and Elder Davis look at kitchen utensils.

Sister Davis, Therese, and Sister Riendeau are shoppers!

WE2014 0416 – MARCHE FIRE.  The students from the church’s construction department are painting the new marche with termite protectant and paint.

A large crowd turned out at the “hand-over” of the market to the Commune Kampemba.

Church employees representing Public Affairs, Facilities Management, and President Kongolo are greeting the mayor (in the black suit).

Group photo.

OPERATION SMILE.  We were contacted by Operation Smile to see if we could provide volunteers to help with their cleft lip/cleft palette campaign.  We contacted the three stake presidents in our area and developed sign-up sheets.  The response was overwhelming!!!  About 100 church members from two of the three stakes have worked together for 10 days in the month of October along side the Operation Smile personnel.  They helped register patients, assisted in moving patients in and out of surgery, acted as interpreters, and served food to the patients.  Their help was invaluable!  The following pictures show a small portion of what happened.  We had a small celebration for the volunteers at one of the church buildings.  We heard  testimonies, had a slide show of photos depicting patients and volunteers, and had refreshments.  There was a great turnout!

OPERATION SMILE.  Elder Davis and Dr. Mikesell (our mission doctor) were able to observe during several operations.

The church volunteer on the right is acting as an interpreter to help register patients.

Sister Davis and Sister Mikesell helped the photographer take pictures of the potential patients.

A picture is worth a thousand words!  And so is a smile!

These people represent part of the group of volunteers who came to celebrate their participation in Operation Smile.