January 18, 2015 - Shelley

January 18, 2015

Well, believe it or not, today is HUMP DAY for us!  Our release date is October 18.  In most ways, it seems impossible!

It’s a big week of events for our family.  We have a granddaughter, Gretchen, who is celebrating her birthday on the 20th.  Happy Birthday, Gretty!! And it’s our 44th wedding anniversary on the 22nd!!  Forty-four years ago we were

standing together outside the Salt Lake Temple – and here we are, a life-time later, standing outside the Johannesburg Temple.  Great places to be – both of them!

This week was our welfare training in Johannesburg, South Africa.  It’s about a two and a half hour plane trip from here.  There were 11 other couples, each representing countries in South-eastern Africa.  We knew about half of the couples from our first training in May – the others have since finished their missions and have returned home.  This is a plug for any couple who could serve:  you are desperately needed!  Africa is a place where you can make a difference and there are so many ways that you can serve.   There are 5 couples who will be returning home this fall – including us – and no replacements have been found.  Think about it!  ☺

Anyway, we stayed at a beautiful hotel.  It was called the Courtyard and we thought it was connected to the Marriott Hotels, but it wasn’t.  From its looks, it could have been.  We felt very pampered!  I saw the first vacuum cleaner I’ve seen in nine months!

Here are a couple of the missionaries talking around the pool.  AND across the street was the Rosebank Mall!  I hate to sound so caught-up in worldly pleasures, but it was pretty great to see the different shops and eat good food!  The shopping was almost too much because I haven’t been in a place like that for almost a year – and I could hardly take it all in.  But I’ve learned that I can do hard things, and I managed to persevere!!! Haha

I want to mention one of the very special couples from the Area Welfare Office who were in charge of the conference.  Brent and Charlene Lee

have served six welfare missions.  Only developing and third-world countries have welfare (also called humanitarian) missionaries – so you know that they have served in some very difficult places.  One amazing thing is that Charlene is profoundly deaf.  A few years ago, an illness left her without hearing.  She has a cochlear implant and that’s why she wears her hair in such a poofy style – it’s to hide the implant.  Brent is great, but Charlene is definitely the expert on almost anything having to do with welfare.  She conducts the meetings, even though she can only “hear” if she is looking directly at the person speaking.  Anyway, their mission will be finished in two weeks.  They are both very wonderful!

There is a philosophy in humanitarian or welfare work that is sometimes hard to understand.  When I look around the town where I live, I see nothing but people with needs. But I’m judging those needs by my own Western standards.  Too many well-meaning people have come to Africa trying to “save” the people.  They see people in a poor situation and say, “This doesn’t look anything like my situation at home.  I’m going to fix this so that you can live like I do – and then you’ll be happy like I am.”  Well, it doesn’t work, even though they are only trying to help.

Billions of dollars have been poured into Africa from other countries around the world – not just the US.  And the people are no better off than before – maybe even worse.  They have come to rely on others rather than to look for solutions to their problems themselves.  

This is very hard to understand when we think of the Savior’s words that tell us to help the needy.  In our conference, the point was emphasized over and over again that we need to help the needy to help themselves.  It’s like the old story of teaching someone to fish rather than to give them fish.  We’ve actually submitted our proposals for this new year – trying to use those same principles of teaching self-reliance.  Many of them are regarding safe drinking water – definitely the biggest need everywhere.  Our plan is to have the beneficiaries dig the trenches for the water pipes so that they have sweat-equity in the project.  Then they will have ownership and feel like this belongs to them – and they will hopefully take care of it and repair it when it’s broken.  Wish us luck!

Here’s a cute mother and her children that we saw after church today.

When we landed in Johannesburg last Sunday, I was overwhelmed with how clean and modern everything was.  My thought was, “I have finally returned to my former life!!!!  It will take a crowbar to get me out of here again!”  Well, after a week of being there, I found out for myself that I have changed in the last nine months– and I hadn’t even realized it.  I’m not saying that I don’t miss all of those things, but they became increasingly less important to me as the week wore on.  My heart has been softened and I feel a distinct sense of purpose in what we’re doing.  The projects we do will fade with time, but hopefully the relationships we establish and the lessons we are able to teach will live on.  I know that we are receiving the Lord’s help, and we feel your love and support.  Thank you!   Much love to all of you,  Mom/Soeur Davis

January 18, 2015 - Clark

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Hump Day, can you believe it but who’s counting?  Our scheduled release date is October 18, 2015.  When we first arrived, we couldn’t imagine how we would keep ourselves busy for 18 months and now we’re hoping they don’t cut us off too early so we can get as much accomplished as possible.  They told us in May that they wouldn’t let us start anything new in the last four months of our mission but they revised that to two months this past week.  We spent the week in Johannesburg.  When we first arrived, Shelley said they would have to pry her out of there with a crowbar but by the end of the week we were ready to return home (Lubumbashi)

The conference was wonderful in many ways.  The training materials were more understandable this time around after spending some months in the field.  Last time we were fresh off the 34 hour travel extravaganza and were suffering from jetlag.  There were 1he couples at the conference and we knew half of them, so it was like a missionary reunion.  We enjoyed getting to know the new couples as well.  We stayed at the Courtyard Hotel which is right across the street from the Rosebank Mall.  The rooms were mini suites and very nice accommodations with breakfast and lunch served at the hotel.  They provided us a cash card with $75 each for dinners for the nights we were there.  We mentioned that we ate out six nights at a new restaurant each night and every location was superior to any we have in Lubumbashi.  

I thought of Bathsheba’s husband Uriah when he had returned from battle and refused to go to his house but instead slept with the servants.  Allow me to explain.  We have spent 9 months steeling ourselves to all the inconveniences we live with so that it is bearable and not overwhelming.  I didn’t want to adjust so quickly to all of the conveniences for fear that returning to Lubumbashi would be too difficult.  I was overwhelmed with all the selection at the mall; restaurants, stores, goods and services not even remotely available to us in the DRC.   Don’t get me wrong, we did indulge ourselves a bit but were extremely conservative.  We even turned money back on our food cards.  We found ourselves missing the people we work with every day, our translator Steve, our other senior couples, the missionaries, even the guards at our apartment compound.  How did Moses say it, “which thing I never had supposed”.  

It was a wakeup call about losing ourselves and doing all we can while we have time here in Lubumbashi.  Our Area President, Elder Carl Cook and his wife took us out for ice cream one of the evenings and mentioned that he had asked President Thomas if he could spare us and he said definitely not.  We love being needed and feel so much more at home in Lubumbashi than we did in Johannesburg.  

We had a small miracle happen that I’d like to share.  We have been trying to obtain a certificate exempting the Church from paying any VAT tax or import fee on an ultrasound machine we had received approval for to be placed in Luputa.  The approval came over six months ago and we were unsuccessful working through government channels.  Phillip Moatlhodi finally said we will order it and you can pick it up at the conference and attempt to hand-carry it back to Lubumbashi.  We left our computer home so we could carry the machine.  We packed the parts in our suitcase, but the basic unit itself It had a carrying case about double the size of a computer bag and it weighed about 40 pounds, so it was hard to carry and hard to miss.  When we went through the airport screening, there were two lines, I selected the line based on the attendants and then had Shelley submit the machine while I handled all other personal affects.  They asked us if the case contained a computer and if it should be removed from its case, to which we responded negatively.  As they scanned the ultrasound, they asked Shelley what kind of machine it was, to which she responded, “an ultrasound”.  Ugh, or a grunting sound was their response and let it pass right through.  Not miraculous to many, but for the people of Luputa, that was huge.  (Thanks President MuMullin and Sister Clawson for your roles in making this happen)  We will have Mbidi Ilunga, our local director of the self-reliance center deliver it next week.

Another miracle or two happened at the conference.  When we first arrived, we were instructed not to contact the priesthood leadership and not to have them direct any humanitarian projects.  When we first arrived in Lubumbashi, President McMullin lined up a meeting with the 3 local stake presidents and then took us on a mission tour to introduce us to all the priesthood leadership, in direct opposition to the area office instructions.  Are we ever grateful for President McMullin.  We were used as the model couple for involving the priesthood and they are now instructing all couples to follow President McMullin’s model.  Another development is that we can now use FM personnel to assist us in our humanitarian work.  

In Mbuji-Mayi, we worked with Serge (with President McMullin’s direction).  He lined up 3 contractors to accompany us to Tshitenge to review the possibility for water development. This site is where all general authorities visit because it would remind you of the sacred grove.  The village and branch are small but the branch president is also the village chief.  The residents have to walk 2-3 miles each way to fetch water every day.  They feel they have received many previous promises of water development but have never seen anything come of their dreams.   Previously they said the humanitarian couple needed to be present to manage any projects.  Mbuji-Mayi is only accessible by air and the hotels have no running water.  We haven’t been back in the last 7-8 months.  However, they did allow us to do a hydrology study or a feasibility study and this past week, they told us we should proceed with this water project for Tshitenge using the FM personnel.  Progress is painfully slow but it’s nice to see the fruits of seeds that have been planted by others come to fruition.  I’ll keep you posted.

The overall message from the conference regarding projects was that the local couples on the ground will have less and less control over what are referred to as local area initiatives.  Last year with a shortened year and having them cut off funding for the last 3 months, we completed 7 projects.  For all of 2015 we are allowed to have only 2 local area initiatives.  This means Salt Lake will decide on which projects will be completed under what they refer to as major initiatives and they will send technical specialists to design the project, write it up and manage it.  As local couples we will be their gophers on the ground but we will have little local autonomy.  We hope it works to the point where we are busy full-time but we are skeptical.  We do have 6 major initiatives assigned to us for 2015 which is as many as any couple.  We have another wheelchair project, a vision, project, immunizations, member short term project which is teaching gardening skills and 2 water projects.  We also have Operation Smile returning in March.

While at the conference we were able to purchase come books that we are enjoying: The Challenge for Africa by Wangari Maathai, Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo, and Congo by Davis Van Reybrouck.  These probably wouldn’t have been on our short list a year ago but now they’ve come alive.

At the conference we met the new Director of Temporal Affairs, David Frischknecht.  His brother is Roger Frischknecht from Brigham City; Shelley taught all of their children.  He was also in the language translation department of the Church previously and worked with Jeff Johnson, a BEHS graduate and one of my college roommates as a freshman.  It is such a small world in the church (and for Matt in the military).   David Frischknecht is coming to Lubumbashi this Thursday for three days and we have a chance to sell him on our water projects.  He is coming to conduct annual interviews of all church employees and visit all the buildings.   We’ll have a full report of his visit next week.

I just need to comment on flying into the Lubumbashi airport.  May 17th we arrived in Lubumbashi and were picked up by the Clawsons.  We had read too many security alerts and were shaking in our boots.  Everything was so strange and intimidating; we suffered culture shock for months.  This time when we arrived, it almost looked like home. I believe we have changed and not Lubumbashi.   We were happy to be back and have renewed enthusiasm for the work.  D&C 43:9 was a scripture used in our conference; “bind yourselves to act, after being instructed that you may be sanctified” That’s the goal, wish us luck.

Love, Dad (Elder Davis)

January 11, 2015 - Johannesburg

Dear Fam - Dad and I made it to Joburg (as the locals call it) - it was actually a very nice trip.  It only cost us $55 each to get out of Lubumbashi!  That airport is absolutely crazy!!!  Being in a clean hotel room with electricity, clean water from the tap, CARPET, no ants . . . I don't know, I just might want to stay!!!  At least I'm going to enjoy it for a week.  Anyway, I just thought I should let you all know how to get ahold of us in case of emergency. Our cell phones won't work here - something about sim cards.  We are staying at the Courtyard Hotel.  The number is +2711 880 2989.  Of course, we will check our emails everyday, too.  Well, we love you all and keep you in our prayers.  Love, Mom and Dad

January 10, 2015 - Shelley

January 10, 2015

It’s rainy season!  As our translator, Steve, would say, “We’re in the muddies!”  Yesterday we took three contractors and a government official who is over water development on a field trip.  We went to neighborhoods

that have been identified as being at the most risk for disease-born illnesses because they lack clean water.  Clark and I visited these same spots a few days ago and there was no problem – but wouldn’t you know it!  When we took the contractors with us, the roads were almost impassable because of the mud the rain had created.  

We are concentrating on water projects for this new year since 60% of the residents here don’t have access to clean water.  We are required to have bids from 3 different contractors (well drillers in this case) for each project.  So we thought we would visit the potential sites with all 3 contractors at once.  It actually worked out fine – it was just messy!  I was the only woman on the trip – with 8 black men and 1 white man (Clark)– so they pampered me quite a bit!

Actually, I love the rainy season so far!  The rain is often accompanied by loud claps of thunder that even rattle the glasses in the cupboard.  And the rain comes down in torrents – then clears up to a sunny day.  At night I think there is nothing quite as peaceful as going to  sleep to the sound of falling rain – no matter what country you are in!

We’ve said so many “good-bye’s” to senior missionaries in the last few months that it was really wonderful this week to say two “hello’s”.  Two senior sisters,

Sister Cook (on the left) and Sister Vance arrived to work in our office.  Janet Cook is from Lehi, but she is originally from Tremonton and was a Bear River Bear!  Heather Vance is from Calgary, Canada, and is a friend of President and Sister Thomas.  They didn’t know each other before they came.  Both are just great gals!

I wanted to introduce a couple of interesting people we have met.   Mbidi

Ilunga (pronounced EM – BEE- DEE) is a church employee who is over Public Relations.  He is just a terrific person and has helped us so much with our projects.  He is shown here with his family.  His wife has such an amazing story.  She is the third of eleven children – but her mother was only pregnant six times.  Sister Ilunga is a twin, there are two other sets of twins, and a set of triplets!!!  In a country that has the highest infant mortality rate IN THE WORLD, the amazing thing is that all of these children survived and are now adults!  Isn’t her outfit beautiful!?!

A few weeks ago we met a man at church.   He is on the left in this

photo.  You can’t really tell how muddy and dilapidated his bike is from this picture – but it’s a wreck!  He lives in a nearby village and gets up at 3:00 a.m. to ride his bike to church.  Most often his wife and 5 children are with him.  He keeps his church clothes in his backpack and changes once he gets there.  The Bishop of this ward told us that this fellow is always the first one there on Sunday.  He is a farmer who has been a member for five years.  I took a picture of his hands compared to Clark’s hands (on the next page) – and of course, the picture doesn’t really do it justice – the difference was pretty startling.  It makes me realize that I have quite a bit of repenting to do when I

reflect on the fact that I live one block from the church at home and have been known to slip in a few minutes late more than once!

Everywhere we go in the outlying neighborhoods, we create a crowd.  This cute gal and her baby were part of a group who came to see why two white people were poking around – more of the crowd is shown below.

This little guy knew just what to do with the rain.  Isn’t he adorable!?!

Well, we’re off to Johannesburg tomorrow for the humanitarian conference.  I’ve been so excited to go!  It’s funny because when we first came to Africa, we spent 10 days in Johannesburg getting trained.  I thought at the time that the city was so scary and different.  There really aren’t many white people.  BUT -  my perspective has definitely changed!  I can’t wait to get to a place where people speak English and – although it is no City Creek – there is a mall!!!!!   I’ve heard rumor that there are actually chocolate chips at the grocery store, so here’s hoping. . . haha

What a sister missionary is SUPPOSED to say is that I’m so anxious to go to the conference and receive more training.  My “natural man” creeps out more often than I want to admit!  But I’m working on it – sometimes. ☺  I do have a wonderful companion!  He continues to be an inspiration to me!  Have a great week!

   Much love,   Mom/Soeur Davis

January 10, 2015 - Clark

Saturday, January 10, 2015

We’re traveling to Johannesburg tomorrow and may be unable to write.  I won’t have my computer with me because we are returning with an ultrasound machine for Luputa.  Often there is a duty or import tax even on donated gifts from charities.  If I carry it personally it will appear to be a personal computer.  Mind you we have attempted for 6 months to get the appropriate waiver but have been unsuccessful.  Shelley and I have looked forward to the humanitarian couple’s conference for months and the time is finally here.  

Looking back it was certainly a blessing to be able to connect with all the other couples at the beginning of our mission.  In May, 2014 we started in Johannesburg with 10 days of training with all the other humanitarian couples from Southeast Africa, covering over 20 countries.  Little of the classroom training stuck but the relationships were enduring.  As we look at the agenda of those attending the conference this year, at least half of our friends have returned home and we are delighted to be able to meet the new couples.  We hardly feel like veterans, because the transition period continues and I suspect will until we return home.  

This past week we have spent much of our time preparing to submit project proposals.  The process is laborious and has been restricted for local projects for the last 4 months.  We will finally be able to submit our proposals for new projects following our conference.  The process requires a written report, pictures of the proposed project, and request letters from beneficiaries and pro-forma invoices that support the budget proposal.  One disadvantage is that we only have a single computer that is authorized for church business and we cannot use our personal computers for that purpose.  It would be nicer if we both had such access.  Well, I believe we are prepared to submit three new proposals:

1. Orphanages in Lubumbashi for beds, desks, sewing machines, paint and a piano.
2. Peage School is the poorest school we have visited.  They are the school where we saw 132 4th graders in a single classroom.  We’re requesting desks, sewing machines, fabric and paint.
3. Kamweneja Institut is a high school of 700 students.  They requested new desks but the roofing on the buildings has failed.   We’re requesting roofing materials which they will install themselves.  We are not to be involved in construction, but an investment in desks would be unwise until the exposure to the elements is corrected.

We are also working on a couple of major water project.  One is the drilling of new wells within Lubumbashi.  Yesterday we took 3 contractors with us to visit 3 proposed sites in Taba-Congo.  It had been raining throughout the night and the very first site we visited was only accessible by way of an extremely muddy road.  I never did much off-road driving at home, but here everything is off-road.  Of the 3 cars we took, ours was the only one to navigate the road successfully.  The other two got stuck.  There are no tow trucks available but whenever someone’s vehicle is stuck it seems there is a flash mob that appears immediately to rescue you.  They want to be paid of course, but the cost is nowhere near what a tow truck would be.  To make the story short, we eventually were successful in visiting all 3 sites.  We had mud on our pants up to our knees and spent much of the morning in the mud and rain and enjoyed every minute of it. These are everyday adventures here.

This week we welcomed the arrival of new missionaries.  There are two new senior sisters, Janet Cook from Lehi and Heather Vance from Calgary.  Both sisters have connections with this mission and were warmly welcomed.  We also received 21 new missionaries. They also called a temporary missionary to provide the right number to establish companionships.  These temporary missionaries are young men who have already received their call and have a few months before they enter the MTC in Ghana.  They usually come from Justin’s stake.  Justin Mukuna is the Katuba Stake President and also the mission office manager.  

I need to mention another ”chance” meeting.  Dr. Saban is over all the hospitals and health clinics in the entire city.  We spent a day with him and Flavien visiting hospitals when Mikesells first arrived.  On our fieldtrip, he took us to his personal clinic near Mapendano School.  This was four months ago and we have tried unsuccessfully since to schedule a follow-up visit.  We are trying to develop a block-wide water project with Mapendano School and Rala Institut in the same block as Dr. Saban’s clinic.  Just so happens that when we traveled to pick up Baltazar, the Kampemba health zone representative, we saw Dr. Saban at the Health Zone.  We spoke with him and arranged for a joint meeting upon our return from Johannesburg and voila, magic.  We recognize the source of this “magic”.

We also received some good news from Phil Squires this week.  He is a patient of David’s who serves as a short term specialist who visits countries around the world to help with agriculture projects.  We had made a request for a short term specialist and it has been granted.  The unemployment here is 90% and anything to help the people to gain knowledge on growing crops for self-reliance and for selling would be a shot in the arm.  He may not be the one assigned, but he definitely helped us know the ropes on how to initiate the process.  Mbidi Ilunga, a local bishop and a full-time church employee as the director of public relations and the newly created self-reliance center, had asked us for help in establishing such a program.  We’ll keep you posted on the progress.  The soil here is extremely fertile and the possibilities seem endless.  This will not be a church farm and will start small with both members and non-members involved.  Training is the key rather than giving tools, seed and fertilizer.  The end objective of humanitarian projects is to develop self-reliance.  This seems a perfect fit for Mbidi.

It was disturbing to receive news from home this week and it is always a distraction.  Lynn Yeates’ death was a shocker.  Lynn and I served Box Elder County together.  He was not only a great public servant, but also a close personal friend.  I remember attending emergency training together in Emmitsburg, Maryland, not far from Gettysburg.   While there he made a trip to the hospital and I gave him a blessing.  He was married to my cousin, Roxi Ann, at one time and their daughter Amber now lives in our stake.  These are sobering events, but remind of the Plan of Salvation.  Lynn was truly a person who wore out his life in service.  Being the Sherriff wasn’t enough for Lynn, who also served on the Ambulance Crew and Search and Rescue.  I don’t know when he ever slept.

Have a great week.  Mom and I are healthy and happy.  We hope to have exciting news to report following our conference in Johannesburg.

Love, Dad (Elder Davis)

January 04, 2015 - Shelley

January 4, 2015

IT’S A BOY!!!! Our son Andrew and his wife Kristen had their second child, first son yesterday.  This is Charlie

Abraham Davis!  There is something so wonderful about seeing your son full of emotion over the birth of his child – especially knowing that you felt the very same way when he was born.  These are tough moments for a grandma to be away, but we feel so happy for them!

And “Happy Birthday, Samuel Chamberlain!”  He’s also our grandson, and he is turning 6 today!  What a great way to begin the new year!  Lots of excitement in the last few days!  And technology is simply amazing when you think that we could even be a part of these events without waiting for snail mail.

One of our latest “traditions” is going to our office at the mission home on Sunday evenings to watch “Music and the Spoken Word.”  The reception is much better there than at home.  Another fun part is that Elder and Sister Draper have a friend who also sings in the Tabernacle Choir, so they come to watch with us. Their friend, Carol Salmon, often sits next to or very near Emily.  Here are two silly selfies of watchers and singers!

We are currently 9 hours ahead of Utah, so 9:30 a.m. there is 6:30 p.m. here.

We made it through the holiday season with joy!  It wasn’t our usual slate of activities, but it was still very special.  

I was still able to watch my favorite Christmas movie – “White Christmas” thanks to other senior missionaries who had the foresight to bring movies from home.  And we had several opportuni-

ties to connect with our family via Face Time.

I’m so thankful for my children and grandchildren!  Here some of them are pictured with my mother at Apple Village, where she lives.  They went to put on a little program for her, using their many and varied talents.  She loved it, and so did the other residents!  Words simply can’t express my gratitude for the many ways they have cared for Mother – and not just at the holiday time.

We have appreciated your holiday messages and letters, as well.  We’re trying to get “revved up” for the submission of new projects and our humanitarian conference in Johannesburg.  We feel so blessed and recognize every single day that the Lord is looking out for us.  Have a great week!   Love,  Mom/Soeur Davis

January 04, 2015 - Clark

Sunday, January 04, 2015

A new baby trumps all other news.  It’s a universal truth and Andy and Kristen had a new son born yesterday, Charlie Abraham Davis, weighing in at 7 lbs. 13 ounces and 19 inches.  We’re so excited for them.  Grandmothers have an especially hard time being away from home for family events like Thanksgiving, Christmas, baby blessings, baptisms, etc.  I believe Shelley cried more than Charlie did yesterday, but they are genuinely tears of joy.  We had an opportunity to face time with the proud parents and the new baby.  His name is especially meaningful because of our connection with the Stuart family.  Marcia’s father, Clark Hillam, used to call Andrew, “Abey Baby” and he had a nursery rhyme he would sing that started “ABC da baby…”  Marcia, you have to send us that ditty and maybe you could sing it for us.  Brother Hillam always called Andy “Abraham” and apparently it stuck.  When Andy has shared their choice of names, all the members of our family have shed tears.  This isn’t to mention that Charlie Stuart was also a hero of Andy’s while he was growing up.  We had such a wonderful neighborhood for raising families.

This past week has seemed like we have had one holiday and five Mondays.  The holidays have been very challenging because they have just seemed like another work day.  We are both happy to be returning to a more regular work schedule.  We did have a fun gathering for New Year’s Eve with the Mikesells and the Drapers.  Elder Mikesell makes pancakes and other breakfast meals.  He invited the seniors over for a pancake breakfast to celebrate New Year’s Eve.  Both food and friends were enjoyable but the evening ended a bit early, 7:30 pm.  We’re not quite that OLD, so we stayed up playing 2-man phase 10 and watching a movie.  I did miss the New Year’s Day college football marathon but read the scores on the internet; not quite the same.

We did have some eventful activities associated with our work this past week.  On Friday, we took Dr.  Pascal from the Ministry of Health and Baltazar, director of the Kampemba health zone on a tour of potential water-well drilling sites.  We had asked the Ministry of Health through our good friend, Enoch, to assist us in water development.  He first contacted Dr. Kabila to conduct some research of potential sites.  The criteria was to identify those areas of the community that were suffering most from water-borne diseases such as typhoid, cholera, etc.  Dr. Kabila assigned Dr. Pascal to complete the study.  They listed 115 potential well sites in 5 different sectors.  Friday we visited 5 sites in in a single quartier in one of the 5 sectors.  It feels like we can do so little, but when we see the poverty and the living conditions, we are motivated to do anything we can.  Three of the 5 sites visited were obviously the most critical and we will return again this week with 3 separate contractor representative to get some competitive proposals that we can submit to Johannesburg for consideration.  

It was a little discouraging while visiting the most needy of the three locations, teenage boys stole 12 bottles of water out of the back of our pickup while we were visiting with the neighborhood leaders only 15 yards away.  Probably my fault for not locking the pickup shell.  

I wanted to mention also that we had a call from the director of a small health center in Kisanga called Kilima Simba.  They had previously asked us for assistance in completely outfitting their health center.  It’s near impossible to decide where to start when they have neither water nor electricity.  The center is generally used for maternity and immunizations.  When we met previously, we asked them how they were going to help themselves.  They said they would gather a single brick from each resident of their neighborhood, 23,800 population, and use those bricks to expand their center.  We told them to call us when they had gathered the bricks and we would return and discuss how we could help.  They called, they were in the process of adding on to their center and almost doubling its size.  We were warmly welcomed upon our arrival and did some brain storming on what we could do to help.  We decided to visit the chief of the health zone along with the center director.  At the health zone office they shared their plans for future development which included adding a health center near the Gacamine marketplace.  They said they could cancel those plans in order to bring electrical power to Kilima Simba.  We all recognize the deplorable conditions at the Gecamine marketplace and said we wanted them to pursue their own plan priorities.  However, we still feel there is a possibility of bringing electrical power to Kilima Simba in the future without sacrificing the proposed new health center.  The chief of the quartier where Kilima Simba is located is Daniel from our bridge project; he had us in his home and we met with him about how to help Kilima Simba.  There always seems to be another “tender mercy” awaiting us that we are totally unaware of.  The work really doesn’t seem to be ours but we are happy to be a part of it.  We’re taking Dr. Mikesell with us tomorrow to Kilima Simba to have him give us his assessment of what pieces of equipment would be recommended to equip this modest health center.  We’re going to make some arrangement with Steve to bring 5 bricks (one for each of us) so we can be part of the solution.  

We have spent much of the holiday time in our office trying to complete all of the yearend reports and complete our reporting of previous projects.  Lots of office time required that I generally put off because being in the field is so much more educational and rewarding.  When you’re visiting people and potential projects and developing relationships, it is so much more rewarding than reporting to someone about it.  We have also been preparing for our humanitarian couples conference in Johannesburg to be held January 11-17.  We leave a week from today, so we’ll have to write earlier or later next week.  

Today we attended church at Nyashi 2nd Ward.  President Thomas arranged for 2 missionaries to meet us at the Katuba Stake Center and assist us in locating this ward.  A good thing they did, because there is no way we could find our way back without them.  The building itself was highlighted by a large tent in the center of some building used for classrooms.  The tent was the main chapel for sacrament meeting.  The members were humble but so grateful we attended.  They were different than most of the wards here, the families were actually sitting together, the meetings started on time and there was a great spirit there.  I’m sure we’ll go back but we will need help.   We took Sister Anthony and the Mikesells and they have officially put me in charge of scheduling our Sunday meeting locations.  This was a fun one.  Where we can’t speak French, it is difficult to feel a part of the ward, but the members are always very excited that we would visit.  They make you feel like ours is  a general authority visit and always want their picture taken with the white people.

Have a great week.

Love, Dad (Elder Davis)