March 22, 2015 - Shelley

March 22, 2015

What a good week!  We were able to communicate with all of our children and many friends this week – and it has been such a boost of encouragement to us!  You are all such a blessing in our lives!

Well, I think we all have at times felt like we were standing among giants, figuratively speaking.  And this happened to us this week.  Clark and I were invited to attend the organizing meeting for Operation Smile.  This campaign is a pilot program for them, as it is a deviation from repairing cleft palates and lips.  Many women of Africa and other developing countries face grim circumstances when it comes to medical care when delivering babies.  As I spoke of last week, the patients for this pilot program are all suffering from obstetric fistulas and have been here for about a week.  This time has been spent in trying to build their strength for surgery.  The doctors and nurses arrived at the end of the week, and surgery begins today.

About 30 men and women, each with an expertise and willingness to serve, met to discuss the schedule for the coming week.  I was simply awestruck at their qualifications and their dedication to use those talents to benefit the needy.  Most of them have been on many, many OS campaigns.  Most of the doctors and nurses didn’t know each other.  Most were from the United States and Africa.  We listened to one doctor from a rural village tell how he is so grateful to be able to learn from these experienced doctors and to finally be able to help the women in his village.   Other than performing surgeries, the doctors and nurses will train local medical personnel.  The long-range dream is to take the Sendwe Hospital, which is a dying dinosaur but was once magnificent, and turn it into a fistula hospital.  There are currently two other fistula hospitals in Africa, one in Ethiopia and the other in either Ghana or Uganda – can’t remember.

The photo above shows the run-down conditions of the outside and the inside is just the same – kind of like an old, black and white, scary movie.  There is a capacity for 1,200 beds, but only 600 are there now – and very few of those are being used.  The great news is that a completely new operating suite was donated recently.  OS was the first to use it last fall when they were here.

This looks very out-of-place – so much so that it’s almost surreal when you see it.

We had a fun experience when we took the three senior sisters with us to visit the patients.  

Sister Vance who is from Canada is such an outgoing, fun gal!  The ladies were fascinated with her long hair.  She was a good sport to let them braid it.

They were also interested in Clark’s LACK of hair and he had a good time teasing with them!

Of course, all of this was done without speaking a single word that anyone could understand.  Most of the village ladies speak Tshiluba (sp?) – and our French didn’t help with anyone except one OS nurse from France.  Even that was very SKETCHY!!!! Haha

We’ve been studying our French in the evenings using a program on the computer called Fluenze.  It’s helped us a lot, but someone told us that the only way to really learn is to speak it.  SOOO- I got really brave one day last week.

We took Odette (school director) and her daughter Mire shopping for school uniform fabric.  Their school will be receiving sewing machines as a part of one of our projects – and their “buy-in” is to make uniforms for their students who can’t afford them.

Anyway, while at the store, I saw some fabric I needed for a little “P-day” project I’m working on.  So I told the clerk in my very best French that I wanted one meter of this fabric.  He gave me a funny look and promptly put the bolt of fabric back on the shelf!!!  So much for that.  Haha     C’est la vie!

In project news, eight of the bunk beds were delivered to Fifi’s orphanage.  The

mattresses for them sure reminded me of “The Princess and the Pea”.  Fifi and the girls were so appreciative!

We ate out at the zoo restaurant with Dr. and Sister Mikesell, and Sisters Vance, Anthony and Cook.  Yummy!

March is a big birthday month in our family.  Our son-in-law Scott (Emily’s husband) has a birthday on the 26th –  Happy Birthday, Scooter!!!!  

I wanted to end with a picture of this beautiful woman who is awaiting surgery this week.  She is so radiant and lovely.  We are being blessed in so many ways by living among such humble, courageous, faithful people!  Enjoy the week!  We love you!    Love,  Mom/Soeur Davis

p.s.  Welcome home, Cannons!!!!!  We will really miss your weekly letters!  We are so very proud of you!

March 22, 2015 - Clark

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

It’s amazing how your perspective changes while on a mission. I have become a real fan of the Tabernacle Choir and as mom would say, Sunday music has become a priority.  It keeps us in touch with Emily and we really look forward to our ritual at the mission home where we watch Music and the Spoken Word with the other senior missionaries.  I’m sure Jason Maraz and Katie Perry will still be there when we return, but for now MOTAB rules. We are sorry not to be following them on their upcoming tour to the East Coast but expect detailed reports from Scott and Emily.

A year ago I was in Spokane, Washington, with my good friend, Trevor Christensen, watching the NCAA tournament.  My friends at Davis and Bott have kept me in touch with March Madness through the office pool and believe it or not, this is the first time u-tube has worked in months, so I can watch the highlights and game summaries.  That has been a fun tradition and yet I imagine the events of Africa will be much more difficult to duplicate.

I know I’m in danger of losing you with a project or activity update but I need to track these events as this is my only form of journal:

1. Katimel is our all-girls orphanage.  We had 8 bunk beds delivered from Ruashi to Katimel which is in Commune Katuba.  A church member, Prince, who owns a transport van, stuffed everything into his van for delivery.  When we arrived about 18:00, the power was out and so we couldn’t assemble the beds.  Prince returned the following morning and worked with Fifi, the Catholic nun director, in assembling all of the beds.  The girls were elated to receive new beds and new bedding.
2. Justin Mukulay is the welder who has made the beds.  He was painting them green as Prince arrived 3 hours late to pick up the beds.  He had not had power at his home workshop, so he rented a place in downtown  Ruashi that had power to complete the 8 beds.  We have 12 more bunk beds and 6 single beds to collect.   Justin’s family has loved to have us come because we have taken pictures of his wife and children and returned with copies for their family.   We also took Justin to the Muslim Orphanage and reminded him how grateful he should be for his family.  They are not members, but should be, they’re great.
3. Muslim Orphanage-the female directors had been benefiting personally from our contributions, so their leaders stepped in and have taken over.  We delivered painting supplies for them to paint the orphanage before we deliver their beds.
4. Peage School is probably the poorest school we have visited in all of Lubumbashi.   They have 300-400 students and only charge 2,500 francs a month in tuition (less than $3)  Most schools are 5 times that amount and the good schools are 20 times.  Odette is the director and her daughter, Mire, is a teacher.  We took the two of them shopping for fabric and notions to sew school uniforms.  Most of their afternoon students don’t have their own uniform.  We are providing the school 10 treadle machines and their buy-in is to make school uniforms that they can sell to these destitute students at a discounted price, the money to be used for the school.  When they complete the uniforms, we will deliver 5 electric sewing machines and two embroidery machines.  Shopping was educational and they are much better negotiators than the white foreigners.
5. Tumaini is an orphanage in Ruashi where we are in the process of providing 100 desks for their school.  The school’s tuition is used to support the orphanage.  Ruashi Mining is completing 4 classrooms the school built 2 years ago.   We took pictures of the desks that had been delivered and tried to make contact with Ruashi Mining to have a joint ceremony to turn over ownership of the classrooms and desks to Tumaini.  We also visited a bundles store looking for used back packs.  The owners are almost all Eastern Indian and half of them are named Ali.  We want to provide back packs to all of the orphans at the 3 orphanages we are working with.
6. Vision Project-Dr. Jesse Hunsaker from Logan is our specialist and has directed us on what needs to be done to import equipment to 3 clinics in Lubumbashi: Saint Yvonne, Lubumbashi University Ophthalmology Clinic and Sendwe Hospital.  We spent time trying to gather all of the requested equipment lists and working with the Ministry of Health to obtain a tax and duty exemption.
7. Water Projects-Steven and Sheryl Bailey are our specialist.  They live in South Ogden and their daughter used to live across the street from Emily.  They plan on visiting us the first week in April but they don’t have a visa.  We have spent a lot of time trying to obtain a visa which should have been done by the church travel department before they left.  They may not be able to enter the country.  We’ll give you an update.   
8. Operation Smile-I saved the best for last.  We have gained a great respect for their humanitarian work and would love to continue that relationship even after our mission.  They are conducting a pilot program for obstetric fistulas and will perform over 40 surgeries.  They bring their medical team and we are providing the volunteers.  There are two 20-member wards where the women are staying.  We have loved visiting the patients, taking pictures of them dancing, singing, doing hair and socializing.  We have really been made to feel a part of their success this time and those who volunteer are changed by working with these patients.

We found time to celebrate Shelley’s birthday with facetime with the family and I bought some pastries and ice cream from La Brioche, our local bakery. We also went to dinner at the Zoo Restaurant, but mom’s favorite gift was time on Saturday for her to sew.  She made herself a new purse, but I’m afraid this will only whet her appetite.  We have been blessed over the years with her love for sewing.  Grandma Edie probably deserves recognition for this.  The new debate is Bernina or Viking upon her return.  She had to borrow the mission’s electric sewing machine because she gave her treadle machine to Tabu Farah, the leader of the handicapped community.  

One interesting tidbit is that our mission according to Elder Draper, President Thomas’ executive secretary, has been the top baptizing mission in the world for the last two months.  I’ll try to get the statistics to share with you in the future.  We’re excited for Barr and Nancy Cannon’s return home from New Zealand.  We’ve loved receiving their letter and will miss them.  Don and Bonnie McCauley, our friends from Northwestern Days in Chicago, have completed their first year in Ukraine.  Bonnie’s letters are a weekly morale boost.  We were so lucky to reconnect with them before leaving on our missions.  

Thank you for all your efforts to connect with us this past week to wish Shelley a Happy Birthday.  It was almost enough for me to decide to join Facebook.  However, it would be more difficult to age quietly and unnoticed.  I like the verse from Abraham 2:8, “My name is Jehovah, and I know the end from the beginning: therefore my hand shall be over thee.”  We  have definitely felt that this past week.  Bon Semaine (Have a good week)

Dad (Elder Davis)

March 20, 2015 - Lubumbashi Update

Clark Davis <clarkdavis@davisbott.com>	3/22/15
to monica.d.chamb., sbroche, spence.davis, ndavis45, me, matthew.davis.., andy

An email I sent to Elder Cook, our Area President, who is from West Warren by Ogden.  I just wanted to kee track of these emails.  Dad

From: LumbumHum [mailto:LumbumHum@ldschurch.org]
Sent: Friday, March 20, 2015 8:34 AM
To: Clark Davis Forward; Clark Davis
Subject: FW: Lubumbashi Update

From: LumbumHum
Sent: Friday, March 20, 2015 5:24 PM
To: Carl B. Cook
Subject: Lubumbashi Update

Elder Cook,

I apologize for not acknowledging your email sooner.  We do appreciate the concern you have expressed for us.  It’s ironic but as I was beginning my response I received your update request.   I want to be respectful but  honest.  People have certainly reached out to us since sending out our help signal.  Phillip has called, Jamie Glenn wrote to us regarding immunization work that can be done locally, Steven Bailey, a short-term water specialist has been very understanding.  They served in Rwanda and Burundi and are trying to come and visit us in Lubumbashi to assist with our water project proposals.

We have thrown ourselves into the projects we do have control over.  Currently we are working with Operation Smile on a pilot program for obstetric fistulas.  We are providing volunteers from the three local stakes in assisting 40 patients scheduled for surgery this next week.  We have also been busy working with Dr. Jesse Hunsaker who lives in Logan and is a short-term specialist for vision projects. He has identified 3 Lubumbashi ophthalmology clinics where we are obtaining prioritized listings of needed operating room and examination room equipment.

My concern is for the last seven months of our mission.  We are approved to be involved in two of the five major initiatives excluding water.  They are vision and wheelchairs.  Timing for these two projects is anticipated as follows:

1.       Vision-once the equipment lists are obtained and we obtain an MOU with the Ministry of Health to provide the consignee and an exemption from import fees and taxes, we will have nothing to do until the projected September arrival date of Dr. Hunsaker.

2.      Wheelchairs-nothing to do until the projected arrival date of the wheelchairs, perhaps August.  The Dows are the specialist who will come.

As I mentioned in my previous email, we have already spent 80% of our current year allotment for local area initiatives and the major initiatives will not require much of our time.  This leaves water.  My conclusion several months ago was that water should be our focus and yet we still have not had a single project approved.  The approval process has been painful as we have been caught in a major program shift with all control vested in SLC. It feels like the scope, focus and funding of all humanitarian work has shifted from the field to headquarters.  We are on call but not on task.   

We were hoping to build momentum while gaining humanitarian experience.  I envisioned it like serving as a young missionary and obtaining a knowledge of the language and the people and the last six months of your mission would be the best.  I hold out hope that that can still be the case. 

Don’t get me wrong, my wife and I are happy.  We love the people, the missionaries, the other seniors, the members and the humanitarian work.  It just feels we could do so much more. We may not change the country or Lubumbashi but this experience is changing us for the better.  We will continue to lose ourselves in the work that is available for us to do and serve in the role as defined by the area office. 

With highest regard,

Elder Davis

Lubumbashi

P.S.  I’ll attach our progress report sent to Phillip as of March 16^th which describes our local area initiatives which should be completed within 30-45 days.

From: Carl B. Cook
Sent: Sunday, March 15, 2015 3:47 PM
To: LumbumHum
Subject: RE: 2015 budget for Lubumbashi

Dear Elder and Sister Davis,

I hope you have had a nice Sunday thus far.  Today Sister Cook and I participated in a sharing time in one of the branches and really liked it.  I could get used to that.

Let me give you an update on what I have done since receiving your email.  Elder Ellis serves as the chairman of the Area Welfare Committee and David Frischknecht, as you know is our Director of Temporal Affairs which includes oversight of the humanitarian program.  I have written an email to both Elder Ellis and David asking them for a recommendation on what we can do to help.    I know they are both working on it.  We have also set up some meetings with the Humanitarian team in SLC when we return in 2 weeks for conference.  We will also be meeting with the Presiding Bishopric.  So, we know we need to make some adjustments and tuning.  Unfortunately, it may take some time to sort and to align.  We hope we can see some improvement quickly. 

So, please know that I am very appreciative of our email and expressing your concerns.  It helps see what is happening on the ground.  I believe in the coming days, and weeks, we will see improvement.  I certainly hope so.  

Please know that I am praying for you and Sister Davis.

Love ya!

Carl Cook

Update from Lubumbashi – 3/16/15

1.  Islamique Du Congo Orphelinat – WE15COD0003  -  We have 12 bunk beds that have been made.  24 mattresses have been delivered to the orphanage.  We have bought enough paint for 3 bedrooms. We are waiting for clearance to deliver the beds and paint from the Ministry of Social Affairs who gave the directors an ultimatum to clean up this facility or they won’t receive anything.

            

2.  Tumaini Orphanage - We have substituted this location for the placement of 100 desks with the Institut Maisha Karavia.  Maisha Karavia was unable to complete their part of our agreement to pay 50% of the cost of 400 desks.  They bought 50 desks, and we provided 100 desks to them – thus, complying with our agreement to provide 50% of the desks.  

Tumaini Orphanage runs a school.  The tuition from the school funds the orphanage.   The school added four new classrooms, and Ruashi Mining Company agreed to do all of the finish work to make the rooms ready for students – plastering the outside, installing bars on the windows, pouring a cement floor, painting the walls, and providing a door to each classroom.

As of last week, the desks have been delivered and are being stored at the orphanage.  Ruashi Mining still needs to paint the rooms and add the doors.  We were told by the director of Tumaini that Ruashi is also going to construct a security fence around the school.  Upon completion, we will have a closing ceremony to also give recognition to Ruashi Mining Company.

              

This photo shows the front of three of the Tumaini classrooms that are near completion.

  These are part of the 100 desks that are stored in the orphanage.  They were made by Maison des Jeunes.

3.  Katimel Orphanage – WE15COD0004 – We have 8 bunk beds that have been made for Katimel Orphanage.  The plan is to have them delivered this week.  The 16 mattresses have already been delivered there.  In addition, 5 treadle sewing machines will be sent there in two weeks.  The director is planning on going shopping with us to buy school uniform fabric.  Therese, the director from Notre Dame, has arranged to go to Katimel over the Easter school break to give some basic sewing lessons to the girls.

4.  Centre de Formation Socio-Professionnel Source de Vie don de Dieu (Peage School) – WE15COD0002 – We have arranged for 10 treadle sewing machines to be delivered within the next two weeks.  The director is going shopping with us this Thursday to buy school uniform fabric, white shirts, and notions.  Our agreement is that the school will make 20 school uniforms (for their students who cannot afford a uniform).  When they have complied with this part of the agreement, we will deliver 5 electric sewing machines and 2 embroidery machines.

5.  Kamweneja School – WE15COD001 -  We have given a vendor form to Ets Tout Est Grace in order to establish a business where we can buy the tins and ceiling tiles for the Kamweneja School.  The owner has yet to complete the form, but we keep asking for it.  ☺  Buying lumber to make trusses in the ceiling is still an unresolved issue as yet.  We have been told that lumber comes from Zambia and that there is a restriction on how much lumber can cross the border right now, so supplies are low.  We will need to use our cash working fund to buy this if and when lumber comes in because none of these vendors have bank accounts – it’s cash only.

March 15, 2015 - Shelley

March 15, 2015

We just returned from the Katuba Stake Conference.  I’m always amazed at the faithfulness of the local people!  Below

is a photo of the stake choir in their matching outfits – same fabric for all of the ladies but made up in individual ways.  The format for the conference was the same as at home with only a few differences.  (1) The power (lights, fans, microphone) went off and on many times. (2) A revival-type church located across the street blasted away all through the meeting – it sounded like a total party!  Other than that, it was great and the building was packed!

I had a cooking lesson this week from Kieu, our landlady.  She’s such a sweet

gal!  One day one of our guards was picking the leaves off of some vegetables that Kieu had bought.  The photo shows that.  He was helping Kieu prepare sombe – pronounced SOAM – BAY.  She took the leaves, which are from the cassava plant, and cooked them along with onions, dried fish, garlic, and her secret ingredient:  peanut butter!  I’m sure that it’s very nutritious, but I just couldn’t quite choke

it down.  The sombe is on the right in the photo below.  It is served with rice or foo foo and has been a staple in the Congolese diet for centuries.  Don’t worry – she didn’t see us try to eat it and I thanked her for helping us to understand the culture.  But I gave the

food to Emmanuel in the office.  Steve

told us that he likes to eat other things, but until he has eaten foo foo and sombe each day, he hasn’t had a real meal.  It’s apparently very filling.

It’s nearing the end of rainy season and the foliage everywhere seems to grow a foot everyday!  Below are some

flowers in our yard, and the corn in our neighbor’s yard has reached the edge of his roof.  I can understand now how the jungle gets thick so quickly.

Our humanitarian water projects couldn’t get any slower at being approved, so the week has been a bit frustrating.  Fortunately, Operation Smile has returned and contacted us to provide volunteers.  This OS campaign is different than the last one here where they repaired cleft lips and palates.  We are a part of a pilot program to branch out into other surgeries.

The surgery that they will be doing is to repair obstetric fistulas.  It was explained to me that when a mother giving birth should have a Caesarian section but can’t – it can result in severe internal damages and tears – or “fistulas”.  If the mother lives, it can leave her incontinent and she becomes shunned by those around her because of her “unclean” smell.  Here these most often occur in remote villages.  It’s such a tragic situation, especially if the baby dies and/or her husband leaves her.  OS said there are approximately 6,000 women in the Congo who are living with this condition.

OS went to village a few weeks ago and did preliminary screenings.  There were more than 100 ladies who had gathered at the health center there in hopes of being chosen.  Some walked for days to get there – several had been there for six months waiting outside with only a pot for cooking and a mat to sleep on.  Out of those, 40 were chosen.

We have already grown to love the director of this campaign.  His name is Tim Lu.  He’s young, grew up in Ohio, and is engaged to be married soon.  He’s very kind and well-organized.  He asked our translator, Steve, to recruit volunteers and to set up a schedule.  This is quite different than our first experience because we are only dealing with adults and most of them have come alone.  A private plane has flown the patients here from the village.  They will be here for a week before surgery in order to get nourishment and build up their strength – then for a month more to recover.   The doctors will arrive on the 21st.

Steve, back right, asked two people from each of the three LDS stakes to be in charge of four days each – to find and train the volunteers from their stake.  Mainly the tasks will be to bring meals up from the kitchen and to transport patients to and from surgery.  Tim is in the green shirt.

This is the first group of patients to arrive.  They’ve each been given a bed and some basics to care for themselves.  Tim even bought fake flowers to brighten up the hospital room.  This hospital is a total relic – except for a brand new operation room – which is why the surgeries are being done here.  Other than that, it’s a four-story building with no working elevator and no running water!  Below is an example of one of

the rooms.  The sticks are to hold up their mosquito nets at night.  There are two rooms with 20 patients per room.

Sendwe Hospital, where the surgeries are being done, apparently used to be state-of-the-art when Belgium had control of the country.  Patients  were brought here from all parts of the country.  It’s really huge and spread-out, but now it’s practically empty.  There are a few patients here and there, except for the maternity wing, which is very busy.  One of the local Stake Presidents is the hospital administrator.  There is a morgue next door, which can be quite disconcerting when there is weeping and wailing going on!  Anyway, it’s a perfect place for OS because there is plenty of room.  The patient below has just received her dinner meal.

I just have to say how wonderful I think these volunteers are, too.  Transportation is a huge issue because almost no one has a car.  It takes several transfers on local transports (vans) to get anywhere – and most of these volunteers are unemployed.  No one is giving them money to get there or food to eat themselves while they are there.  It’s not like they can just stop at Wendy’s on the way.  Outside of the hospital gate are ladies under umbrellas selling bananas, peanuts, and other local food items – but the volunteers have to buy this for themselves.  That’s one reason we have grown to love Tim.  On both of the training days, he brought the training team food for lunch – even pizza!  That’s very unusual for here.

As I mentioned, there are a few other patients in the hospital – mostly broken bones, etc.  These little gals were just

too cute to pass up!

This week we wish a Happy Birthday to Annsli Claire Davis who is turning six on St. Patrick’s Day!  Clark is having March Madness symptoms.  He and Dr. Mikesell check the news sources everyday to try to live vicariously through the experiences of others.  He’ll probably make it, but any bones you could toss his way would be greatly appreciated!  Have a great week and thank your family doctor for anything and everything he/she has done for you!  Thank you, Dr. Keller!!!  Love,  Mom/Soeur Davis

March 15, 2015 - Clark

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Selection Sunday and am I psyched, oh that was another life.  Let me share some of our disappointments and then some of the highlights of the week.  To understand the context of both you have to understand that the church humanitarian efforts excluding clean drinking water are focused on 5 major initiatives:

1. Vision
2. Wheelchairs
3. Neo-natal resuscitation (NRT)
4. Immunizations
5. Priesthood-led self-reliance projects (gardening and small animals)

The previous week we had received notice that our approved self-reliance gardening project had been cancelled and this week we received a message from Jamie Glenn over immunizations that our immunization project for 2015 has been cancelled and 2016 may not include Lubumbashi.   That news came on Wednesday and on Friday we heard that our water projects have been put on hold until a newly assigned short-term specialist can visit and start the process all over again in April.  

These water projects have been visited by the three top dogs from Johannesburg: David Frischknecht-Director of Temporal Affairs, Phillip Moatlhodi-Area Welfare Manager and Kenneth Mofokeng-Water short-term specialist for all of Southeast Africa.  We received word that church headquarters is reorganizing water and have assigned Brother Bailey as our new short-term specialist.  When Kenneth left Lubumbashi on February 26th, he said we should receive approval of 2 of our 3 projects within a week.  Then no news for 2 weeks so we called and he told us of the program change and on Saturday we received notice of Brother Bailey’s visit and that our projects had not and would not be submitted until after his visit.  Now half of our scheduled 2015 program budget has been cancelled or placed on hold.  Grrrr

Good news of the week was we have been assigned Jesse Hunsaker as our short-term specialist for our vision project.  He is Hedy Eyre’s younger brother and a really with-it guy.  The scope of the project is to supply 3 ophthalmology clinics with operating room and examination room equipment and some surgical supplies.  He was here 5 years ago and worked with 2 of the 3 clinics previously.  They are St. Yvonne, University of Lubumbashi and Sendwe Hospital.  We have visited all three and are in the process of gathering their prioritized listing of equipment.  Generally the ophthalmologists here are well trained but lack proper equipment and supplies.  There may also be some requested specialized training that may be requested.  Dr. H as he refers to himself has written us day and night from home and as far away as Jamaica. He is really on the ball and a fun guy to work with.

We also had an opportunity this week to start on another Operation Smile project.  My respect and admiration for their humanitarian efforts has really grown by working with them.  This project which they call a mission is a pilot program.  It is to perform surgeries for women with obstetric fistulas.  This is a condition that develops when an expecting mother requires a caesarian section but no medical help is available. During protracted labor the mother most often loses the baby and create a medical problem where there is a hole in the bladder and or colon and the discharge drains continually.  They are often abandoned by their husband and ostracized from the village.   

Operation Smile has visited 3 villages in Katanga Province and screened over 100 potential patients and selected 40 with the greatest probability of success.  The surgery can repair the physical damage but the emotional trauma and village acceptance may take years to alleviate.  The last time Operation Smile came, they were ill prepared as far as logistics.  This time Timothy Lu is in charge and is doing a marvelous job.  His parents are Filipino and Chinese.   He treats our volunteers as equals and feeds and cares for them as well as the patients.  

Our volunteer team is made up of Steve Mutombo, our translator and 2 representatives from each of the 3 stakes here. They call others within their stakes to staff the needed shifts.   We will not need nearly as many volunteers as the previous October Operation Smile mission where they performed 150 surgeries.  These volunteers dedicate their entire day to being on call for moving in supplies, transporting patients and their guardians from the airport, providing them personal hygiene supplies and feeding them 3 meals a day.  They practically move in with them and become like family.  The patients are so appreciative and grateful.  Most of the volunteers are returned missionaries and meet and greet people well.  It is amazing the difference a mission can make in any culture.

Did I mention these volunteers do this day after day with no pay, no reimbursement for their personal transportation costs, often no food or drink, nothing.  Tim has at least provided pizza and water and the volunteers think they have died and gone to heaven.  Service and sacrifice become addicting.  Several of the same volunteers are returning from the previous Operation Smile experience. For someone who found it difficult to set aside 2 hours to serve at the cannery, it’s amazing to see their spirit of volunteerism.  They dedicate entire days and in some cases weeks to such an effort.

We also had an enjoyable experience with Stake Conference today.  The music is always noteworthy but today there were about 50-60 investigators who attended the Katuba Stake Conference.  Our mission office manager, Justin Mukuna, is the stake president.  He invited all investigators to stay following a 2-hour conference session.  They did and so did about 20 missionaries.  The stake president, the mission president and the area seventy all invited these investigators to “Come Unto Christ” in their own way and welcomed them and invited them to stay and visit with the missionaries.  There were several discussions that followed this short meeting, but it was impressive to have such an investigator meeting.   

As you can see, the good far outweighs the bad.  I’ve noted a few things I want to remember:

1. Other than housing, it is much less expensive to be on a mission than to remain at home.  You would think the Congo may be one of the cheapest mission, but it’s not.  It is true that there is precious little that you want to spend your money on other than food.  Dave Ramsay would love this place because it is a total cash society and one manages money better without plastic.
2. I believe Shelley has exercised more mother’s   intuition 10,000 miles from home than if our children and grandchildren all lived with us.  We continue to have influence in the lives of our children and grandchildren although we are separated, which thing I had not supposed.  If you serve a mission, you may be separated from your family as we are but your influence can actually be increased.  Boyd K. Packer said, “while serving a mission, if you will take care of Heavenly Father’s children, He will take care of yours.”  We’ve found that to be true.
3. Each of us is known to our Heavenly Father.  We have weekly and sometimes daily tender mercies extended to us; a  timely phone call, an unexpected email, a chance meeting, a flood of previously unthought-of ideas, a personal visit, you get the idea.  He knows us better as missionaries and we know Him better as well.  

We love you.  Mom will finally be as old as me this Thursday.  People still don’t believe her age even when we tell them.  She still turns heads but none more than mine.  

Love Dad (Elder Davis)