My Roof Is Fixed!

After my sleepless wet night I found an interpreter and went to explain very clearly that my roof had to be fixed. When I got there they started telling stories about the damage the rain had done. At least 10 people died from collapsed houses and many people lost everything in their shops and homes to water damage. It made my night seem like a blessing. I found myself thanking the maintenance man for building a strong house rather than complaining about his bad roof. Yesterday he finally fixed the roof, thank God!

On Friday with Pastor Kabamba I saw 4 men peeing on buildings and couldn’t help but be thankfully no one has peed on my house in a long time now. I suspect the construction workers were the culprits. They have finished building the house and the new house blocks the wall that was being used. I appreciate not having the smell around anymore.

This week I went to one of the local hospitals to visit a couple of our members who are sick. One of our friends Da Falon from Shituru just had a baby but unfortunately visiting hours were over by the time we got the hospital to see her. We went to a different hospital and visited a little boy who has a nasty gash on his leg. While we were there we visited with everyone in the ward and it was great. I gave a short encouraging speech about the love of God and Christmas and then prayed for them all. Everyone was laughing and having a great time. Most of them had never touched a white person before so it was exciting for everyone. We also visited the pastor’s niece who has meningitis and is only a month old. I don’t understand why children suffer the way that they do but I am so thankful especially this time of year that “Jesus came to the earth to destroy the works of the devil” (I John 3:8).

One day 2 men came by from the water company threatening to cut off our water if we didn’t pay that day. I had to keep myself from laughing because the water wasn’t on and hadn’t been for days not because we hadn’t paid but because well because this is Congo. I passed the information on to the one responsible. She said there was no point in paying since there was no water anyways that she would pay Monday. It’s another problem of community living if some of my neighbors don’t pay for their share of the water it doesn’t get paid for. Anyways it proved to be an empty threat because the water came back on Sunday even though we hadn’t paid. I’ve learned not to believe anything Congolese people say (unless I know them very well) because unfortunately many of them lie more often than tell the truth.

Things are going well and I am busy preparing for my parents arrival on the 23. I really hope the electricity is back on by then. It would sure make things easier. For now I’m just thankful I can sleep at night without getting wet!

The Struggles and Miracles of Life in Congo

The first pic is Gracia the ex prostitute with her sister Falon. The second is Pastor Kabamba and Maman Isa on a hill looking over the bottom part of Shituru. The third is me with Pastor Kabamba

Last night was really rough. It rained from 10:30PM until 4:00AM and I mean it poured. As you know my roof leaks. I was under the impression that the maintenance man had done something to help the roof temporarily but apparently he hadn’t. Just as I was drifting off to sleep I felt water dripping on my forehead. When I couldn’t take it any more I got out of bed and began to assemble my buckets and pots under the drips. When the rain continued to get harder and harder I realized I had to move my mattress or else it would be ruined. I set to work for the next 2 hours racing from one spot to the next with a mop desperately trying to move everything off the floor and mop up as much water as possible in all the rooms. Needless to say it was horrible. I was exhausted I had walked countless kilometers from 9AM until 8PM, I hadn’t eaten, I was sun burnt, and now very wet as was the rest of my house. It was impossible to sleep since the worst of the leaks are right over my bed. I only wish I was exaggerating. Finally at about 1AM the rain had died down enough that I didn’t need to mop continually so I retreated to the only leak free room and began to pray and read a book. I was frustrated not only because my roof leaks but because Congolese people do things so backwards. Why hadn’t my roof been fixed? Why hadn’t anyone fixed the power in 3 months?

I can answer my own questions but I don’t like the answers. The truth is my situation sucks but it’s not really horrible when I consider all those people in Eastern Congo alone who are refugees with no shelter and nothing but fear driving them. It seems the themes I am continually reading in the Bible are about how great trials are because they build patience and endurance. I guess I’m doing a lot of building right now.

Last week there was also no water at our community tap for 6 days. I had become used to having plenty of water and had slacked on keeping every container filled. I had to do extreme rationing to get through the dry spell. I really didn’t want to waste the little water I had on bathing so I decided to test out some strange things a church had sent me from the US. There was a shower cap that claimed if you put it in the microwave for 30 seconds you could wash you hair without any water. Of course that was funny because why would someone have a microwave but no water? I put the shower cap in a frying pan over my cooking fire but then I got scared the fire would melt the plastic so I just put it on my head and to my amazement it actually worked! America has an answer for everything.

After our week of victory the devil tried to discourage us with many problems but he continues to be the loser and God continues to move in the unlikely place of Shituru. Pastor Kabamba told me yesterday “God is really working in Shituru and slowly it is going to change.” Maman Isa’s husband who was a crazy alcoholic we have been interceding for had gone sober and serious for Jesus. When we arrived on Friday for prayers Maman Isa said she was sick and when we inquired about the problem she opened her fridge and pulled out 2 bottles of whiskey. There was nothing she needed to say we understood her husband had “fallen of the wagon”. She wasn’t the only person discouraged. Gracia the ex-prostitute was discouraged because she felt her poor health may be because she is infected with AIDS which terrifies her. Two other members had been gossiping about other members and our little group had become divided. Another lady mentioned she was tired of praying because God doesn’t answer. The Holy Spirit was with me and I was able to answer every hard question with scriptures and examples in broken Swahili and French without my English Bible which I had unfortunately forgotten. I was also able to draw their attention to the fact that we are in the middle of a serious war for Shituru, a stronghold of the devil’s, and after our week of constant breakthroughs he is attacking us with discouragement so we will give up because if we keep going God is going to transform the whole area.

As usual God showed clearly that he hasn’t forgotten the cries of his children in Shituru. Maman Isa’s husband showed up early for church on Sunday morning completely sober. Although he has been faithfully attending our services in Shituru he hasn’t bothered to come to a Sunday service at the church in years. He had repented of his backsliding and thrown out his whiskey! On Monday after some counseling the members who had refused to come if so and so came were all sitting in the room together being civil but I believe we need to explain more clearly how destructive gossip is and that it is indeed a sin. Gracia said she thinks she is ready to be tested for AIDS which is a huge step. I am hoping I will be able to take her to the hospital next week. I’m also going to start giving her high protein and energy food because she is a walking skeleton. She often offered “her services” in exchange for food or clothing so we are really trying to help her so she will see that God will take care of her now. We had 2 new members and they were both demon possessed but God showed us who was more powerful when He delivered them both.

Recently I have been thinking about the church I am apart of. At times I find myself extremely bored with the very traditional very uncharismatic church. I can say the people truly know how to pray which makes my heart so happy. The biggest realization I came to however, was that at least since I’ve been here our church seems to be helping the people no one else wants. Like one lady we met because she was sick and we just wanted to pray for her and encourage her. She was so touched by our kindness that she joined our church. It turns out she had been divorced twice and was now the second wife to a man and that marriage was on the rocks. Everyone at her previous church had rejected her because of her marital history and current condition. She had then turned to witchcraft for a solution but only found herself more messed up that ever. Now I can tell you she is a changed woman completely devoted to the cause of Christ. Here in Congo often times pastors do everything they can to reach out to the wealthy and invite them to their churches or to people with good reputations but the “sick” as Jesus called them are completely ignored. I’m so thankful to be apart of a church that is serious about reaching out to the lost, the unwanted, the true wretches of this world because God has proclaimed He uses the foolish and weak things of this world to confound the wise and mighty.

Please keep me in your prayers. I have been preaching 4 times a week in Swahili and it isn’t so easy. I have been tempted to become frustrated and discouraged by all of the problems but by the grace of God am remaining strong. Please pray for my roof and that I will get electricity again soon. All in all life is good. My parents are even going to visit me for Christmas which I am so excited about. It’ll be so nice to show my life here to them.

Breakthrough!

I have continued to see breakthrough in Shituru in so many ways my mind is blown away. First of all to finally see some fruit with the men. There have been 3 men notorious for always being drunk and all sorts of other sins begin to come to our meetings perfectly sober and explain to me and pastor Kabamba that they know they have been living sinful lives but now desire to change. Just yesterday I saw 2 of these men who generally would be racing off to the bars at that time of night remain after the service just to enjoy each others company and provide an accountability so that neither of them fell to temptation and went to the bars to get drunk. I really believe that just these few men’s commitment o change can and will change the entire area pole pole as they say here (little by little).

A little over a week ago Pastor Kabamba and I met a family in Shituru who requested us to come because their daughter was sick. As it turned out the daughter declared that she loved sin and witchcraft and had no intentions of changing her life. The doctors had found nothing wrong with Gracia and had suggested to the mother that the problem must have something to do with witchcraft. Pastor Kabamba explained to the girl that she must be willing to repent before God would deliver her. The mother was so moved by our encouragement that she decided to make our church her home church since she hadn’t been a faithful member anywhere for years. On our next visit it was clear the aliment had gotten worse and Gracia was having a change of heart. She looked ashamed as her mother explained to us her love of sin whereas before she seemed proud of it. She expressed to us that she had been doing soul searching and realizing something was missing from her life. The pastor told her to take the weekend to think it over and be prepared to confess and renounce her sins on Monday if she wanted to get saved. We came back Monday and with tears in her eyes she recounted to us all of her sinful actions of theft, prostitution, witchcraft, and various other things. She said she wanted to leave it all behind her and become a child of God. After reading scriptures she prayed a prayer of salvation and was set free from her demonic illness. Our God is so powerful and wonderful!

In continuing with miraculous stories my passport is back already! Not only that but it is for 5 years instead of 2 so God has really me! I am free to live in Congo full time. I am now planning a trip back to the US in February. Thank you so much for your prayers!

Bwana Asifiwe (Praise God)

I didn’t end up going to Kolowezi which was fine with me. The whole thing was really confusing though. I ended up preaching Wednesday and then there was a special service on Thursday (Thanksgiving) and I preached again then too. Friday we spent the whole day in Shituru and it was powerful. People were set free from demons and God worked on several people’s heart who have been running from God or a long time. Today we are going back and I am so excited to see what God will do.

I have also been teaching English again. I have some new students and one is a pastor. I am excited to have more opportunities to help these students learn more about Jesus. The person in charge asked me to take over the management side of things for him. I am pretty excited about that because I have so many ideas of how to make the English center better. I start this week.

On Thursday I spent hours hand washing clothes and then I went to church and unfortunately what I thought would be a one hour service was a 5 hour service and it rained and my clothes got soaked. When I arrived back home my clothes stunk and I was so sad to realize I would have to rewash almost all of them. So that’s what I did this morning. I need to hurry back home to get them in before it rains again. I am learning how to deal with the rains here. Kerosene has become my best friend. I just pour a little onto the charcoal and I get an instant fire. I had avoided using it because it is so expensive and I wanted to be a real Congolese, but at least for rainy season I’m cheating.

Still no electricity and my rook still leaks. I’m still trying to arrange for an interpreter to explain to me why it is taking so long. Hopefully things will be taken care of soon. In the mean time God has been blessing me. I had a cold on Thursday but by Friday it mysteriously disappeared so praise God! Thanks for your prayers.

I'm back

I finally finished the process for getting my missionary visa to live and work in the country. The immigration officer was trying to convince me that it would be best for me to marry a Congolese man because that is the easiest and best visa I can get. Then he said “and your children could grow up to be Barak Obama!” Barak Obama is seriously just about every African’s hero I’ve met. Most don’t know anything about him except his father was an African and he will soon be the president of the USA. They told me I should have my passport back within a month but my Congolese friends reminded me that this is Congo and I should be prepared for 3 to 6 months before I see my passport again. We’ll see

I still have no electricity. There hasn’t been any since before I left Congo in September. Everyday they say tomorrow it’ll be fixed, but who knows when it’ll ever get fixed. Most days no one is even bothering to work on it. Thankfully the opposite has occurred with the water. I think we now have water almost all day long! It is so wonderful to just be able to get water whenever I need it and not to have to wait in line.

My big problem has been that my roof leaks pretty badly in every room. The worst spot is on top of and all around my bed. They waited a week and then did a few things to fix it so now it only leaks instead of pours. Who knows when they will manage to fix it all the way but I am thankful for what I got.

It rains so much in Congo. I wish I could measure how many inches we are getting but it must be significantly more than Zambia. Farmers here have never experienced a drought which happens every couple years in Zambia. It makes life so much more difficult. Like starting a fire in the morning, drying clothes, walking around with all the mud. I guess I’ll get used to it. It’s weird because when I left Zambia the rains hadn’t started but they are in full force here. The saddest part is a missed eating flying ants.

The pastor got right to work giving me a schedule. I have been going all over town. I am constantly learning new places. First I went to Shituru and the best part was the drunkard who I had been sent to talk to was there for the very first time and sober! It was so encouraging. We had visited with some families in the community before and a new family came. After the service the guy asked to speak with us privately. He confessed to be involved in all kinds of sins from drunkardness to constantly buying prostitutes. He had felt convicted and compelled to change his life. Then he called in his wife and explained to her his decisions. She was blown away. Another woman was demon possessed and we did some deliverance ministry. Apparently there is a big thing here called The husband of the night where through a traditional ritual women are married to demons who are supposed to make them good wives to their real husband but actually torment them in dreams at night. I don’t have all the details yet but it seems very common. Needless to say the service was powerful. I absolutely love going around encouraging people. Its always good times with the children either trying to scratch off my white skin or screaming bloody murder when they see me, women trying to teach me to cook Congolese food, and people who just need a touch from God receiving it. It’s about being a community ready to help people out.

Tomorrow I am going to Kolowezi another mining town about 70 miles from here for a woman’s conference. There will not be a translator so it’ll be interesting trying to understand everything. I do pretty well with one on one because I can ask them to clarify and vice versa but when it is someone giving a speech I struggle. I guess it is times like this that I really learn because I have no choice. I should be getting back on Saturday. On Tuesday I start teaching English again. Things are all coming together nicely and I am excited about all that God will do. Thank you for your prayers.

The Adventure Continues

Well the Congo adventure continues and it started off with a bang consisting of unforeseen problems. It started off with the typical problems the taxi driver failed to show up on time and his phone had gone dead and then the bus had accidentally booked too many people on the early bus but didn’t realize it when I called ahead to confirm there were no problems. So after securing another taxi I sat for 3 hours under the hot African sun getting sun burnt, waiting and hoping the next bus would have space. I switched in and out from reading my book and using the Tonga language with the other people also waiting for the bus because I knew it would be a long time before I had the chance to use it again.

Things weren’t too bad in Lusaka and I made it back to the bus stop before the 6AM departure time. Unfortunately in typical African fashion we left 3 hours late. All went fine until we reached Kapiri Mposhi. The conductors decided to take on more passengers than they had seats which is technically illegal in Zambia. People began arguing and complaining and yelling matches broke out all over the bus. They started yelling “rubbish bus” “never use Chembe” (Chembe was the name of the bus company). I couldn’t agree more, you couldn’t pay me to ever use Chembe again. So from then on out all of the passengers were angry and the ride was cramped and uncomfortable. In Ndola one man who boarded and had to stand up was very vocal about his dislike for white people and was angry I was riding the same bus as him. He eventually got embarrassed when none of the other passengers shared his views and retreated to another area of the bus where people hadn’t heard his racist remarks and kept quiet. Very few Zambians have any problems with race or foreigners so his attitude was a bit shocking it was also shocking for the other Zambians who heard him. In fact not long before he boarded the bus the people who had just exited the bus had been joking around with me for being a Tonga. Its funny how one person sees me as a true Zambian and the next judges me by my skin color to be a foreigner.

There were constant delays for no particular reason and I didn’t reach Chingola until 5:30PM. It is a 7 hour trip for a usual bus so there was no way I could have calculated such a crazy delay. I had even ridden with Chembe before and had gotten there hours earlier. I wasn’t sure of the exact time the Congolese border crossing closed so I asked some people and they said it was 7:30. All border posts in Zambia close between 6 and 8. I knew it was a gamble to take the taxi to the border because if they closed at 6 I wouldn’t make it, but I felt like it was a gamble worth making because I thought people from the church had traveled to Kasumbalesa to meet me and it would greatly inconvenience them if I came a day late (little did I know they hadn’t sent anyone). We picked up an immigration officer half way to the border who assured me the border doesn’t close until 6:30 which was great.

So I quickly exit Zambia and still had 10 minutes to leave Congo. The only problem was once I got to the Congo side the guards told me they were all closed. Apparently the Congo side closes at 6 which really doesn’t make sense but then few things do in Congo. So I used my sad eyes and extremely respectful Swahili to flatter the guards and plead for them to help me just this once. After all they were all still there and it wouldn’t be that hard to stamp my passport. Unfortunately they absolutely refused. By then it was probably too late to leave Zambia and find a place to stay there. Once I explained to them my situation and that I was a missionary all of them jumped to my attention and began saying they would help me. It was a forced wake up call for my French and Swahili as I had no interpreter and hadn’t used either in over a month. I answered the officers in Tonga a few times and once I saw the confused looks in their eyes recognized my mistake and searched my head for the Swahili equivalent.

Finally they explained to me their plan. They would allow me to stay in a hotel in Kasumbalesa and send an armed security man with me because there are so many crooks in the area. They said they knew the perfect place for me to be safe. I inquired about my luggage if I would need to bring it back the next day. The said “you are a soeur (a sister like a nun) so we trust you and want to help you. We are very sorry you are having this problem today and so tomorrow you can stay at your hotel room and we will send the immigration officer to stamp your passport. There is no problem and we are very happy you are here.” I was shocked at there kindness because many times it has been quite the opposite experience for me.

Congo is a catholic nation so when they see a single woman missionary they assume you are a catholic sister and so I am frequently called Soeur a nickname I encourage because it prevents random men from proposing to me which still happens far too often. Their kindness was wonderful and they arranged for a cab and took me to a nice little place with armed guards and a walled fence. After helping me negotiate for a good price they left me. In the morning they came by to get my passport and some money of course for their help. In an hour they were back with my passport stamped and a taxi ready to take me to Lubumbashi. I arrived at the pastor’s house in Lubumbashi were I usually stay without any further problems. I have never been more convinced that God goes before me to prepare the way.

Then of course once I got here they told me to wait until tomorrow to go to immigration for my 2 year visa and then today again told me to wait until tomorrow. I am back to understanding about 50% of what is going on. They said something about an administrator being out or too busy. Hopefully everything gets worked out, please pray.

It has been nice being back in Congo. The inability to communicate is once again my biggest frustration. I have been most enjoying the time with the girls around my age from our churches in Lubumbashi. They all want to learn English and are very patient with me and we can communicate every well. We are always making each other laugh and it helps me learn a lot more about Congolese people. Last night I introduced them to some simple computer games and they absolutely loved them. It makes me wish they lived in Likasi. My favorite of the group is a girl named Sabine who got married last week and no longer lives in this area. I hope I will get to see her before I leave Lubumbashi.

Congo: The Bleeding Heart of Africa

Just when you think it might be over and the people of Eastern Congo stop holding their breath tragedy strikes again. As CNN recently put it “history seems destined to repeat itself.” Another reporter from BBC said it “looks like heaven but it feels like hell.” I will attempt to fill you all in on the most recent chaos occurring in Congo.

First, the Prime Minister of Congo, Antoine Gizenga, resigned in September due to old age and failing health. Unlike most parliamentary systems, the prime minister is appointed by the president and holds no significant power. In the recent Congolese elections the top 3 presidential hopefuls were Kabila, Bemba, and Gizenga. When a run off election between the top 2 was announced Kabila offered Gizenga the position of Prime Minister in exchange for his party’s support. Many people were nervous that Kabila would select a replacement who was from his own party, but thankfully he selected the Budget Minister who is also from the PALU. Adolphe Muzito Seems like a good choice. He has received international praise for being strong with budget reforms, but regardless his position holds little power anyway.
Now to try to explain the conflict, I’ll do my best. First of all where is all of this taking place? The conflicts are only occurring in the Eastern provinces of Congo namely Sud Kivu and specifically the Goma area. When did it all start? A sort of loaded question because I could argue it started 1000 years ago, but for all practical purposes it began in 2003 after “peace” came to Congo and the Second Congo War had ended. This round of fighting began on August 28. In order to answer the other questions I will do my best to give you the information I know. General Laurent Nkunda is a former military leader for the Congolese Government Army who started his own rebel group in order to defend the rights of Congolese Tutsi people or as they are also known the Banyamulenge people. He claims Kabila fought along side Rwandan Hutu rebels (the one’s who performed the 1994 genocide of 800,000 Tutsi people) and encouraged the killing of Congolese Tutsi. He claims he will not stop fighting until Congolese Tutsi are protected. The Congolese Tutsi people are a big problem because most people in Congo hate them saying they are not in fact Congolese but Rwandan and blame them for much of Congo’s violence. Rwanda also doesn’t seem happy to accept them back. It is a difficult fight because many of them did come to Congo after the genocide as uninvited refugees who never left, but historically the general area including that part of Congo was controlled by the Tutsi people. It all sounds ok at first like Nkunda is standing against injustice, standing for the rights of the weak, unless you know that Nkunda is notorious for kidnapping children to force them to join his army, raping women, burning villages, stealing crops and food, and any other human rights violation possible. Because his so called purpose is to help the Tutsi people it is suspected he receives support from Rwanda which is likely considering Rwanda’s long involvement and medaling in Congo during the first and second Congo wars. So what is going on right now is, after months of hiding and preparing Nkunda is back in action from a dramatic kidnapping of children in August to hard core fighting everyday. He is gaining group and securing whole area under his control. It is rumored there has been hiring across the border near Goma between Congo’s government forces and Rwanda. This has left 50,000 Congolese civilians fleeing for their lives with no where to go. CNN and BBC interviewed a lady with a crying baby who said for 3 days she and her children had eaten nothing and were running away as fast as they could. BBC showed a shot of refugees fleeing with bomb blasts behind them. Since 2003 millions have been displaced. They have no place to go. Now is the beginning of the growing season and being forced from their homes now almost guarantees starvation. The UN sets up refugee camps, but because of the vast number of people and squalid living conditions thousands or even tens of thousands die of disease.

The UN drama. First of all MONUC as it is known by its French acronym in Congo is the UN’s largest peace keeping mission, but clearly has been unable to solve the problems in Congo. The UN has occasionally in Congo under extreme circumstances fired upon rebel forces and successfully secured land previous rebel controlled. Since Korea this has not been an acceptable practice for the UN but like in Bosnia is occasionally allowed. Lieutenant General Vicente Diaz de Villegas of Spain recently resigned from being the head of the largest UN peace keeping mission in Congo for personal reasons after only 7 weeks on the job. There has been rioting going on from civilians targeting the UN because they are so discontent over what the UN is doing. How can all the turmoil continue to happen with such strong UN presence? Why are they even there if they are not protecting the common people? Theoretically, in the recent situation the UN is supposed to break up the fighting between the rebels and government forces come in between them and talk to each side separately and negotiate a peace agreement. Of course easier said than done. This time around the UN has done very little leaving civilians very angry. The leaders of the UN in Congo are begging the UN to send more troops. The Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s response was we cannot send soldiers to hide behind every tree, and the situation is too dangerous for the UN. I miss Kofi Annan is all I can say to that. All that I can say for this round of the violence is it is far from over.

Congo is bleeding and has been for such a long time, and desperately needs your prayers. Like the woman in the Bible who spent all of her money on doctors who failed to help her but took all she had, Congo has tried it all to stop the violence but to no avail. We have to stand on the truth of the Word of God, that with just one touch of the hem of His garment the bleeding can stop and all will be forced to say “nothing is impossible for God.” Prayer remains our most powerful weapon to combat the evil and injustice in this world.









Most of the pictures seen above were taken from the yahoo news slide show which displays a compilation of photos mostly from AFP and Reuters. A few other photos including the map were taken from BBC news.

It's Election Day in Zambia

First of all on a personal level a virus is going around at our orphanage in Zambia so please keep the children and house mothers in prayer.

Today is Election Day in Zambia. Our president unfortunately passed away on August 19 and according to Zambia's constitution there must be an election to elect a new president within 90 days of the death of a president. I consider this a ridiculous policy because this makeshift election is costing us $75 million which Zambia can't afford anyway but especially for something that wasn't in the budget. Donor nations including the US have given a total of $11 million to help but because of the global economic crisis there is no chance of anyone but Zambia covering the full amount. The election is also only for the remaining 3 years of the late president Mwanawasa's term so in 2011 we will be coughing out over $100 million for a full Parliament and presidential elections.

There are 4 candidates running. To be brief Sata is crazy he wants to kick out the Chinese, start a war and other outrageous plans. Then there is Rupiah Banda the acting president who has been using corrupt practices and trying to buy votes from people as well as using his control of the media to tell lies and try to scare the people. Then there is HH as he is known a wealthy business man and economist who I prefer. And finally, a former general who is expected to get less than 1% of the votes. A Zambian said it best "I will not recycle leaders who have failed us for over 30 years." Zambia's democracy was born in 1992. Regardless of the differences between the candidates in the current US elections or how anyone might feel about them in 4 years neither of them can destroy completely what Americans have built in over 200 years, on the contrary in Zambia one leader, as anyone can see from African history, can easily destroy everything good in less than a term.

Additional problems include the appreciation of the dollar making prices go up for Zambians, and the falling price of copper has caused depreciation in the local currency not to mention serious problems with the economy. We had a bad year agriculturally last growing season. In Zambia systems are in place to deal with one bad year but if there is a bad year again Zambia will be begging for foreign assistance which may not be available in a difficult global economic time.

Furthermore, accusations about election rigging have been widespread. It is documented that Zambia ordered 6,000 more ballots than they have registered voters for "contingency purposes". The practice of printing too many ballots is frequently used in Africa to rig elections. Additionally, a truck bringing the ballots to Zambia from South Africa was ransacked or something we don't know the whole story but there are fears some of the ballots have already been corrupted. Sata has already said he will encourage rioting and violence if he thinks the elections have been rigged. Zambia is a peaceful nation but there are people this time around who are upset so as we saw in Kenya anything could happen. Please pray for Zambia.

delays

So It is Friday and I am still in Zambia. I got a phone call Wednesday night saying don't come. I wasn't able to understand why. Trying to understand swahili with a really bad phone connection is really difficult. I'm waiting for the email now with more information. I figure everything has a purpose but I am anxious to get back. I would hope you have already seen this on the news but knowing how American news can be I will inform everyone that violence has come to Congo once again. It all began August 28 and has been escalating since then. Nothing too serious just the normal rebel groups fighting as they have been since the war officially ended. They are killing people, stealing children, and of course Rwandan troops are coming over to "help" much to the dislike of Congo. Pray for things there. Don't worry about me because all of these problems are taking place in Kivu which is only accessible to Katanga where I live through airplanes so my area is still completely safe. Thanks for your prayers!

As for life in Zambia it is very different but very wonderful. I was able to sleep semi outside and watch the stars which were few because of the brightness of the moon. Thankfully there were few mosquitoes. After eating amazing Zambian food (Why can't the Congolese cook like the Zambians?) all the orphans gathered around and we sang songs while some of the kids played the drums. Then the little ones went to sleep and the older ones came outside and played with me and a girl named Elizabeth until "late" 9:30. They played with my phone and asked all kinds of questions and were such a joy. I'm not that great with kids but these orphans are incredible. They came from such sad situations and it is incredible to see what a little love can do!

A Little Trip To Zambia

I concluded my time in Lubumbashi Monday without applying for my visa. The paperwork was finally ready but some additional complications were brought to my attention. First,I still had to purchase another temporary visa which I learned is 3 times as expensive in Congo than it is in Zambia. Then I was reminded that although the government promises no longer than 30 days to get the visa after you apply during which time they hold onto your passport, this is Congo and nothing happens quickly. One man who has lived in Congo 15 years said he once waited a year and a half to get his passport back. The average seems to be about 3 months though. The new information caused me to take a quick trip to Zambia. I went to Lubumbashi Thursday and arrived in Zambia on Friday where I have been for the last week. It has been wonderful as usual to be here. I'm going up to Lusaka Wednesday to get my last (hopefully) temporary visa and will be back in Congo on Friday. Saturday please pray I will be able to finally send in everything for my missionary 2 year visa. Also pray it comes back quickly. if all goes according to plan I'll be back in Likasi Monday.

Tomorrow I will be going on for a couple of days to the village where our orphanage is here in Zambia. I don't know where we (me and 2 other Americans) will be sleeping but I'm rooting for outside under the stars. We have over 20 children now and they are all wonderful. I got the chance to meet the new children but look forward to getting to know them. Now my big challenge is to stop mixing in Swahili when I'm trying to speak Tonga to the kids. Since I've been back I have so many times taken a few minutes to construct an intelligible sentence using French and or Swahili and then realized I could just ask in English. Its a great feeling knowing you can easily and effectively communicate with people. In the villages its mostly Tonga which I speak incredibly poorly but at least I know some and there are plenty of translators around.

Chunga Kiloko

And everything goes wrong, that seems to be my daily experience in Congo and some how normal and unavoidable. I guess the solution is to just anticipate nothing working ahead of time. I am becoming a much more patient person.
First of all I come here because I am told to come here. Because I didn’t believe it after having waited for so long I asked over and over are you sure is this really all we need for the visa. And over and over again they said yes this is everything go tomorrow and we will take care of everything. I was excited and chose to just believe and silence the voice in the back of my head saying “I doubt it, this is Congo”. I got to the church treasure's house where I am staying and asked what time we were going to immigration and got the disappointing news that things were not ready and someone was trying to get it all together but as they usually say in Congo “chunga kiloko” or “kesho mangaribi” (Just wait a little bit or tomorrow afternoon).” So from previous experience I correctly assumed that phrase means it’ll be awhile. So here I am 3 days later still waiting and hoping.
I went to an office to get internet for my computer which can only be done in Lubumbashi. Long story short I waited in their office for 3 hours while they tried to make everything work as they continually told me 10 more minutes for 3 hours. Finally I told them I had to go and they had to give me my money back and at first they refused but I was able to persuade them to reconsider. I was really patient for the first 2 hours but the third hour was just too much for me especially since it seemed to me their system was down and it was impossible and they were wasting my time just for the fun of it. The good news is I found a new store that sells western style food because it was across the street from their office.
When I got here the pastor I am staying with took me to a room that was disconnected to the main house and told me there is good security here but I should lock the door and gave me a key. I locked the door and went to sleep. When I woke up I attempted to unlock the door but it wouldn’t unlock. No one was around to help me so I wasn’t sure what to do. For security every window in Africa has bars to keep out thieves. Luckily they had never spent the money to put in an actual window frame so the window was made of metal and wood and opens all the way making it possible for a person to climb out. So I was able to escape from the room. Later on one of the pastor’s sons squeezed through the window and fixed the problem explaining to me that they’ve had a lot of trouble with the lock and need to buy another one. Of course no one bothered to tell me that in advance.
The food situation is always humorous. I of course don’t eat meat or fish which is almost impossible for a Congolese to believe or understand. The basic idea is the only people who don’t eat meat are those who cannot afford to buy it. Then they eat Bukari everyday. Bukari is corn flour boiled with water until it is stiff. It is the basic food of Africa called by various other names including nsima and fufu. In Zambia it is much thinner than here in Congo. I prefer it that way probably because it is what I grew up enjoying. If there is no bukari at a meal there is no food and if you don’t eat bukari you didn’t really eat. So I do eat bukari but because there are frequently other choices I’ll eat bukari at one meal then rice at the next and potatoes at the next then bread then bukari again and so forth. It really confuses the people here and they think I’ll get sick or become weak because I’m not eating bukari. When I first got to Congo in March and was living with the Catholic mother she was very concerned for me and showed me in a health book by the Congolese government that for good health it is necessary to eat bukari everyday. They try to give me more and more vegetables but for me I can only eat so many leaves at one time because it tastes just how you would expect a leaf or weed to taste. I guess it’s an acquired taste.
There is also a mouse that lives in the room I’m staying in. It’s a cheeky little mouse who continually scurries around the room even though I’m here. I’ve almost killed it so many times but it appears to be quite daring and fearless. I hope I manage to kill it before I leave. I hate losing.
Please keep my visa in your prayers. I’m meeting with the youth at a church here tomorrow. I think it will be really great to get some ideas from them. It will be nice to get back to Likasi. I’m hoping it’ll be soon. Thanks for your prayers.

Shituru

So Diane asked what Blog readers could do which reminds me of another funny reality of Congo. Congo basically has no infrastructure which means basically no postal system. There is a working post office n Lubumbashi or so I’ve been told. In Likasi I found an old post office. I was pretty excited about it so I ventured inside. I was hit first by the atrocious smell of dried fish which covered the place from floor to ceiling. I asked some of the guys moving the dried fish if it was a post office still. They said ye and sent me to a room without dried fish and told me to wait for the boss. After 30 minutes he came inside. I asked him how much it cost to send a letter to the US and it took him another 30 minutes to look through all of his papers to try to find the prices. I walked around back and saw that the back side is being used as a bar and the side with the post office boxes is being used for people to hang their laundry from. So sending things via the post office isn’t really an option.
The biggest thing that blog readers can do is pray. As much as Congo’s problems and my life here brings humor it can also get super annoying and difficult. Each day I need God’s grace to handle each new challenge and to do the ministry God has called me to. If you want to ask questions or anything you are welcome to email me at noahminstriescongo@yahoo.com
On Friday I went to Shituru again. It was a day filled with intense spiritual; warfare. There is such a covering over that area hat has to be broken. We spent the day casting out demons, counseling people concerning spiritual problems, and encouraging them that there is hope. We went to one house where 2 teenage boys had just moved in with a family looking for jobs with the mining company. They got fired because they are drunk all the time but before they moved to Shituru they weren’t drinkers. One of the families had a lot of money stolen from their house and the now the husband tried to kill himself and keeps saying he’ll do it again. One young man was working for the mining company and water he said was 1000 degrees splashed onto his ankle and he suffered serious burn damage. The doctors have said the damage is so severe he will never be able to do heavy manual labor and will always walk with a limp. When the mining company heard that they immediately declared him fired and refused to pay his medical bills. There are so many problems there. In one of the house the Congolese song C’est Encore Possible (It’s Still Possible) was playing. It’s a song all about how there are so many problems and so much suffering but God hasn’t forgotten and even thought it may seem impossible with God it is still possible that things can change. It just reminded me that Shituru can change regardless of how bad the situation is because God is bigger than all of its problems.
The pastor took 2 months to seek the Lord without doing ministry. His official day back was Wednesday and he is so on fire it’s incredible. He declared Thursdays as the church’s day of intercession and this past week it was so anointed. I am excite about what God has done is and is doing through Pastor Kabamba. I am really enjoying working with him again.
A lady asked me how I got so many mosquito bites on my arms. I responded that I didn’t have any mosquito bites on my arms. So she said something I couldn’t understand and then came over and grabbed my arm and began examining it. She asked what those spots were on my arms if they weren’t mosquito bites. I then proceeded to explain to her what freckles were without much success but I assured her they never come off or go away, I was born with them, and they don’t hurt.

Mungu Wangu

I am once again writing by generator. The power has been out for more than a week. They just can’t seem to fix the problem. I keep asking if it is a big problem but everyone says “no but the repair man is tired.” I don’t really know what that means beyond the fact that I won’t get electricity today. In Congo things just take time I guess.

A little boy was crossing the street nonchalantly when a van going at an ungodly speed rammed into him just outside my house. I heard the tires squeal to a halt and many Congolese crying out Mungu Wangu (Oh My God). They have recently repaired the road outside of my house and there are no speed limits in Congo that I’ve noticed so vehicles go as fast as the vehicle can possibly go regardless of the fact that it is a heavily residential area with plenty of “children’s crossing zones”. These accidents happen really frequently from gross negligence on the part of the driver. The mentality is I have a car so get out of my way or I’ll hit you. People riding bikes get hit the most frequently because obviously the man carrying 200 pounds on his bike should get off the road rather than the car having to slow down. So the man who hit the little boy (I hear he will be ok) gave a little bit of money to the police man who quickly came to get his payment and then the driver carried on with life as usual. He didn’t loose his license he didn’t go to jail nothing. This is Congo.

Last month a truck driver hit and killed a police officer who was standing in the middle of the road in bright yellow. The driver just paid some money and continued on to make his delivery as if nothing had happened. Right now the 12^th graders are getting their results back from their standardized exam. In Zambia this is a big deal because the exam is really difficult and your score determines whether you can continue your education and if you don’t do well enough you have to wait a whole year to even have the chance to retake it. So I figured the situation was similar in Congo but I was told that if you don’t pass you just pay the school money and they let you pass. Great system they have here. Likewise I’ve heard that at university if you don’t pay extra money to your teachers to make them like you they will fail you no matter how smart you are. A friend recently made the statement Congo is 100 years behind even Zambia and although that is an exaggeration this country is ridiculous.

Once a week in my English class I print off a chapter from the Bible in English and we go through it word by word. We are learning English words and phrases but it also gives me an opportunity to preach the word of God and explain the purpose of the passage. Of course I love to preach but I especially love this situation because all of my students except one are boys and many of them have explained that a woman is incapable of preaching. So week after week I am preaching to them and explaining the truths of the Bible and they don’t even realize it.

On Friday I was called to Shituru again to speak with a drunkard. He asked me to talk to Him about the things of God. Of course it was hours after the time we had planned but I was able to take him through what the Bible has to say about drunkenness. I was surprised to hear him say he had no idea what the Bible said about the issue. I don’t know what he will do about what he has heard but I pray he changes. I really believe if just one or two key people in that area become serious about the things of God it would make a huge difference.

I began house to house visiting again this week. It is always a joy to encourage fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. I enjoy seeing different areas of the city and dealing with the range of reactions. Some of the children are scared to death of me and scream and cry while others are so exited and won’t stop asking me questions and laughing. The adults seem to have the most trouble with the fact that I wear flip-flops. I find it hilarious that we will go out in the middle of the day when it is incredibly hot and the person I go with will be wearing jeans, a jacket, and socks and shoes just because they like the way it looks.

I received news this week that my niece, Samantha, has leukemia. The doctors are really positive and God has already been so faithful and things are going well. It is extremely hard to be so far away in such a difficult time. I would really appreciate all of your prayers.

Getting my visa is coming along slowly. I have a few more pieces to the puzzle and I’m becoming more accustomed to waiting and not understanding why I should be waiting for something so simple. Please keep that in your prayers as well. God is helping me everyday. Thanks for praying.

Orphan Sponsorship

Okay I keep meeting orphans who are unable to attend school because of money. Some of these children have never been to school. Others haven’t been for 2 years. I’ve talked with them and they have so many aspirations for their lives and dreams of doing great things but because their father or parents died now they have no chance. I began to ask about how much it costs to send them to school and received the answer that every school has a different price. School is opening up soon. In order to attend the students must pay a registration fee which also varies from school to school but is usually around $8 and then the teachers will decide the monthly rate based on the number of students probably in October. I inquired about the monthly rates last year and received answers ranging from $3 to $11. I started thinking about it and decided I would ask if anyone wants to get involved. I know some times we don’t have a lot of money but we want to make a difference. If you want to sponsor an orphan in Congo please contact me as soon as possible. I’ve met with the orphans and have compiled a list of the one’s truly in need and will give the money to the teachers directly to avoid the guardians spending it on themselves. I’ll also be in contact with the teachers to make sure the students are actually attending class and working hard. You can send the money through Noah Ministries so it’ll be tax deductible. There won’t be any administrative costs on your gifts so everything you give will go to the student. If because of the exchange rate it’s a few cents more I’ll buy the students notebooks and pencils. If you are interested please let me know and I’ll get you more information. If you want I can have the student send you monthly letters. I wish I could give you an exact price but this is Congo . If you need more information just let me know noahministriescongo@yahoo.com

Challenges, Open Doors, and Congolese

After my exciting experience of 5 days without electricity that ended Wednesday the same problem of course reappeared on Saturday, not wanting to relive the experience I decided to buy a generator which makes life so much easier. Even now I am typing because of the generator. I am beginning to understand some of the valid reasons why people here can never be on time to anything. For myself some times I am supposed to do something at 3PM but at 2:50 the water comes and the thing is if I don’t stay and fill my containers with water it may be another week until the water comes again. There is no schedule so you never know which time the water will come. Not only that but the water tab services many families so you also have to wait in line for who knows how long just to get your containers filled. It makes things very difficult to prepare for. Anyway now that I have a generator I can prepare at least the electricity parts of my life.

On Sunday we played football with the youth from church and had by far our biggest turn out ever. There were 25 people. In fact several of the people I have never seen at church before but their parents attend. I am excited about the possibilities that could arise from this. There is a big youth event this Saturday at the church here and I really hope it goes well. I’m not sure how everything will work out but hopefully God will use it as the beginning of getting our youth on fire for Him. I am the speaker so also be praying that I have wisdom and anointing to say things that touch the hearts of the youth.

I talked with the pastor on Sunday and he told me he has been seeking the Lord about planting a new church in Likasi. Everything isn’t planned yet but he wants me to be apart of it which I’m really excited about. He has also asked me to begin leading the block meeting in Shituru. I sense that the devil has such a stronghold over that area of town. I am really seeking the Lord for the best way to minister to the people there.

I tried to get my furniture once again and this time asked for the coffee table that is finished. I was able to take it but decided to take it the Congolese way so I put it on top of my head and walked about a kilometer to my house. It was heavy and my head hurt for days. Everyone got a good laugh out of it.

I tried to find rat poison because I’ve had some trouble with them but all I found was glue to trap the rats. I asked my neighbor about it and she said it’s because they eat them. She asked me to please give her any I catch. I did eventually find poison and was able to take care of my problem the American way.

Another thing about Congolese is they are very free about where they pee. I’m all for peeing outside but not in the city. The men pee on the side of shops right in the heart of the city. They pee on walled fences of people’s houses. All of this I found strange but it didn’t bother me until people began to pee on my house. There is one side of my house where the septic tank is and there is a wall around 3 quarters of it so I guess it makes for a nice private place to relieve oneself. And of course peeing on the ground just wouldn’t do so they pee on the wall and I’m stuck listening to and smelling their urine. I would ask them to stop but I haven’t learned how to ask someone to not pee on my house in Swahili yet. I guess I’ll have to learn.

Next week I am supposed to begin doing house to house visiting like I did before. I am really excited about that. I haven’t heard any more about being able to visit some new places. I’m hoping after I get things in order with my visa I’ll have that opportunity. Please be praying for my visa situation. The hang up is just people taking their time. I think it is going to end up costing me even more money but I just don’t know how to motivate or convince people to do things quickly. It’s frustrating because before I left I discussed all of these things and I followed their instructions but when I got back things changed. The language barrier makes for plenty of miscommunication.

Recently I’ve been hearing some of the people from the churches I work with explain that God doesn’t heal any more. They are always praying for healing and so I asked them about it and they explained that God can use doctors and He can heal headaches and things like that but He can’t heal a lame person or a blind person or cancer. It makes my heart sad to hear them absolutely convinced of this. Also there is a lot of resentment from the old denominations and the Pentecostals in this area. They have heard many of the Pentecostals give false prophecies and now they are completely against prophesy. It has been a challenge to have the wisdom to talk to them about it especially with the language barrier. Please pray for me to have wisdom.

Thanks for your prayers. God continues to open doors and I am excited about what is happening over here. Each day is filled with challenges so I appreciate your prayers more than I can explain!

5 Straight Days No Electricity

It has been an interesting time. Because there has been no electricity I have been unable to update my blog so I will now attempt to explain the events of these last few days. The electricity went out Friday night and never came back on. The next day I was informed that there was an electrical problem but someone will come to repair it. That someone never bothered coming until Wednesday. Over those 5 days I became a pro at making fire and cooking over it. So although it was beyond frustrating it did prove helpful. There were so many things I really needed to do that required electricity. Finally, on Monday I went to a church member’s house and was able to use her electricity to get some things done.
Monday was such a bad day, everything went wrong from the biggest things to the smallest things and I felt so frustrated. Then I went to a small group meeting in Shituru, the mining area of town, and got so humbled. I met with a group of women who are all stuck with crazy drunk husbands and feel so trapped and hopeless. All I could do afterwards was beg God to change my heart and make me frustrated about how the devil is stealing, killing, and destroying the people of Congo instead of being frustrated about not having electricity.
On Tuesday I was able to go to another small group meeting in Pande the rich area of town and what a contrast. Everyone lives in big houses and wears nice clothes and seems to have it all together. I thank God that He has opened the doors for me to minister to both the rich and poor in Congo.
I also started teaching English to young adults. I’m helping a friend earn money and the plan is to teach him some financial planning because whatever money he may have today he won’t have tomorrow. It is also an opportunity to reach these young people for Jesus and I am hoping to use the class to recruit for a weekly Bible study. Please pray that I have wisdom in this new area. Those of you who know me know I’m not in any way a teacher nor enjoy teaching.
I have been trying to get my visa to stay here for 2 years but everything is going wrong once again. Please pray for me. I know I will be able to get it but the problem now has become the timing. If I can’t get everything I need by next week I will have to pay more money for another temporary visa so please pray that doesn’t happen. No matter how many times I say hurry, quickly, today, right now Congolese take there time.
Like trying to get my furniture, no matter what I try they won’t work any faster. The man promised me and put in writing he would have everything made in 2 weeks but of course he didn’t. The worst part is he would tell me I promise it’ll be ready in the afternoon every single day. Maybe next week.
My birthday was wonderful. I was able to preach at the church for the midweek service. Best of all after 5 days the electricity returned! What great birthday presents from Jesus.
The excitement of the week was brought down by disturbing news I received on Tuesday. The President of Zambia, Levy Mwanawasa, passed away after suffering from a severe stroke. He probably wasn’t the best president in the world, but he was the best Zambia has ever had. In Zambia when a president dies the country must hold elections within 90 days to choose a new president. In these circumstances anything could happen. Please keep Zambia in your prayers.
And thank you so much for keeping me in your prayers! Everyday is filled with challenges and I need God’s grace. Daily, I meet with people in difficult situations who need a touch from God. I desperately need God’s wisdom and power to help the people here. I have met with the youth leaders and we are planning some events so please pray they go well and young people get a revelation of Jesus. I was reading some of Charles Finney’s Systematic Theology book and came across these words which have become my prayer “We need to have Christ so revealed as to so completely ravish and engross our affections, that we would sooner die at once than sin against Him.”

National Conference

Well I spent my first few days in Likasi trying to get my house fixed up. I still have some more windows to clean and floors to scrub but its coming.
It has been wonderful to be back and see everyone. I was especially looking forward to seeing Baba Banza and his wife. They speak some English and were always at the church serving in some capacity. I was shocked to see they weren’t at church on Sunday and when I inquired was further shocked to discover he has brain cancer and isn’t expected to make it. He is currently in Lubumbashi but is trying to arrange to see some specialists in the capital city of Kinshasa. I’m begging please pray for this family. They have young children and are just the best people you could ever meet. They love Jesus so much and are so serious about the things of God. Please believe for a miracle on their behalf. God’s arm is not too short to save.
In addition to keeping this family in my prayers I prayed for the National Conference. It was so wonderful to meet the people. There were 4 pastors who had traveled 120 miles on their bicycles just to attend the conference. Their dedication is unbelievable. Everyone is asking me to visit their churches and villages. Please pray that I am able to go to thee places. I will have to arrange transportation (there are often no roads in Congo) as well as interpretation. I was sad that no one came to the conference from Kasai province but happy when the church leadership mentioned the need to go there and their desire for me to go as well. Really the only way to get there is a 2 day train ride. Kasai Province has really been on my heart so please pray I have the opportunity to visit soon.
I was also please to meet several of the young people from Lubumbashi churches who served at the conference in various capacities. They were wonderful in helping me to get back into the habit of using Swahili and French. I met with the youth leaders from around the area and am excited to work with them and get some things started. It breaks my heart that nearly everyday I meet people in their 20’s who have given up on church. Where will this country be if the next generation turns their backs on God? I believe we need some new strategies and the Holy Spirit has been speaking to me. Please pray for these new projects.
I am supposed to begin house to house evangelism again this week. Please pray for that ministry as well. The Conference really helped my brain to use French and Swahili but I really need help from the Holy Spirit to minister in them. Thanks so much for your prayers God is moving!

The Journey

As I look back on these past days I can do nothing but praise God. On Saturday I had come to grips with the fact that I was not leaving the next day to go to Congo. I traveled to Jembo to attend the graduation ceremony of one of my very good friends. I met the Mazeza family there and explained the problem I had been having getting my letter of invitation. Evariste informed me that it wasn’t a problem because he could write the letter for me. After a few phone calls several of the missing pieces for my trip to work out fell into place. I was excited but a little stressed by having to be ready to leave in a matter of hours. This being Africa the graduation started late and lasted longer than expected. I had to leave at 4 to make it home before dark and sadly I missed the amazing Zambian food I had been looking forward to during all the boring hours of the graduation.
I arrived home to find there was no electricity. Normally that is pretty normal and doesn’t bother me too much but today I had so many things I wanted to do that all required electricity. I was also hungry and hungry for Zambian food since I hadn’t eaten anything all day. Then Eugin came by the house and after we talked for a few minutes asked if I was coming. I didn’t know what he was talking about and then he explained the birthday party from that morning was continuing for those who missed it right then. I was blessed because it not only satisfied my hunger and desire to eat Zambian food but also gave me an opportunity to saw good bye to a lot of my friends. I was sad that I hadn’t had the chance to say good bye to my pastor in Zambia because he was out of town.
I rushed to get everything in order to leave only to wait for hours at the bus stop because every bus was full. I finally caught a bus and made it to Lusaka. I had been trying for weeks to get a hold of a certain guest house in Lusaka but was never able to. I ended up staying at another place which turned out to be perfect because it was within walking distance to the bus station and the Congolese Embassy which saved me a lot of money in taxi fees. I was blessed to find the Mazezas had already been to the embassy and talked with the people there.
Early the next morning we went to the embassy and no one was there. An hour late some of the employees came in and we quickly had the receipt for my visa and were told at 2PM my visa would be ready. After that we bought our bus tickets for the next day then I rushed to the other side of town to go to the bank. I went to the same bank I’ve been to so many times located in a nice area of town where I expected to have a few hours to get a lot of last minute things accomplished and enjoy some of the luxuries of life in Zambia.
That definitely didn’t happen since the banks machine was broken and they recommended I try another branch. It turned out to be a bad day for the machines in banks because I went to 4 before I was able to get money. In the mean time I wasted plenty of time and money on taxis. Finally I went to the big bank where I stood in line for an hour but thankfully I was not only able to get money but also walk around the area and find all the things I was hoping to do at the first place.
Then I went to the embassy to collect my visa and they said I should come back at 4. At 4 we found the whole place locked up for the day. I was frustrated and worried because not having my visa would mean loosing the bus tickets and a great deal of extra expenses. We all prayed and then Evariste said he had met the boss who lives behind the embassy. We went to see him and explained our situation and he told us to come back at 8PM and we could get the visa. He allowed us to wait in his home until 10:30 when the visa was finally ready. I cannot even begin to explain to you what a miracle that is. First of all people from the embassies don’t tend to work late. Secondly, this was the firs Congolese government official I’ve met who actually wanted to be helpful. Thirdly, in Congo people invent these kinds of situations just to demand bribes. I was anticipating the give me $100 and I’ll get you a visa. For me to get my visa at 10:30 at night was such a miracle.
We left at 5:30AM to catch our bus which of course didn’t leave until 8 but you never know the bus leaves when it’s full. We traveled until 3PM then caught a taxi to the border. Anything can happen at the Congo border. They can create things to charge you money for or just refuse to stamp your passport until you give them money. God blessed us and we had absolutely no problems. We caught another taxi and finally arrived in Lubumbashi at 8PM. It has been a really long day. I thank God that He has blessed me.
So I’ve been wondering why did I need to come at this exact time and today I got my answer. It wasn’t that satan was attacking my coming here but specifically the timing of it. I met with Evariste’s brother-in-law who works for the office of the president and he came back from South Africa the day I arrived and planned to leave the day after for Zambia. If I hadn’t traveled exactly on July 28 I would have missed meeting him. I needed to meet him because he has friends in the immigration office and speak great English so he took me to the office and translated everything for me so I now know exactly what is needed for me to get the visa to stay here. I can’t even begin to express to you how difficult it is to even get the information necessary to get something leak this done. Additionally, because he has connections he says I will be able to get it no problems and in less than a month. I thank God for how he has provided this connection.
I arrived in Likasi to a heroes welcome. My house is great. There is so much security here I feel like I’m in prison but I’ve never felt safer in my life. When they were painting my house they decided to add color and now my house is a variety or pink (yes a whole pink room just for me), red, purple, green, yellow, black, and white. Oh course there was no electricity for my first day and a half here but at least there has been water in the afternoons. I’ll try to post pictures of my house soon
The National Conference begins on August 6 and I am really looking forward to that. It will give me an opportunity to meet church leaders from all over the country. I knew immediately that I was in Congo, the crazy driving, obnoxious honking, eating leaves and weeds, driving on the wrong side of the road, not to mention not being able to communicate but I’m back and I’m here to stay.

To Congo Again

Things are going well so far. I have my visa and leave on a bus at 6AM for Congo. Pray things go well with our traveling and everything. I will be applying for my permanent visa as soon as I get there so really pray about that. I should reach my house in Likasi Thursday. I’m hoping it’s ready for me to move in. There is a National Conference in a week s be praying for that as well. I’ll try to update this every week from now on.

Mina Rudiya Ku Congo

It means I return to Congo. The plan is to leave the 29th but that is pending I get my visa by then so please be praying. My sisters convinced me to continue the blog so it will continue. Thankfully I'll have better access to a computer and will be able to write people personally as well. I have a house in Congo and I'm posting a picture of it. Thanks for your prayers!

Pressing On

Last Saturday I went around visiting people in the cité the place where the poor people live in Likasi. We walked and walked even after dark to try to reach as many houses as possible. Finally the church administrator sadi we had to stop for the night but in the morning at 7 we would visit as many more peoepl as we could before church at 9. When i began doing evangelism with the pastor he warned me to not wear sandals but it is so hot here especially when I am walking countless kilometers during the hottest time of the day so I continued to wear sandals knowing from expereince that eventually cracks would develop in my feet causing pain. That day was Saturday. In fact the cracks even began to bleed as we walked all around the area. I persevered but i was far from excited to walk all around the next day. God helped me and after the first kilometer my body adjusted and it wasnt bad. The cracks have finally healed thank God.
The service was great! It is the time of Pentecost so I was able to preach about the Holy Spirit. The peopel loved it so much they begged to me to come back this week but I had to refuse because I have a different church I have to preach at. Everyone is so excited that i am here. I met with our chuchs leader and he was so happy about everything and told me testimonies of hos peopel have been encouraged and affected by my ministry here. When I think about the harvest fields it is easy to forget about how nice it is to have running water and all the other things I now live without.
I went to the Univeristy one day and started talking to the students of theology. I was shocked to find the youngest person in the program in 35. The college has thousands of students almost all are in their 20s so i was shocked. I thought maybe in was a requirement that you have already pastored or something but they told me there were no requirements. They said the young people dont care about Theology. Honestly i can say that has largely been my expereince. The people my age dream about nothign but money and will cheat and steal to get it like so many do here in this corrupt nation. They have so little knowledge about the Kingdom of God because they are apathetic at best about it. The exceptions I have found are so entangled in meaningless legalism they are just as ignorant of God as the others. My heart so desires to reach them before it is too late.
I am in serious countdown mode since I am leaving next Friday for Zambia. I am looking forward to a shower and not washing clothes by hand and speaking English! Being understoodand able to communicate is a wonderful thing. Thanks for your prayers!

No Water, No Lights, No Keys - No Problem

Generally the water comes on everyday. It may stay on for 30 minutes but at least there is water. Some times it comes on every other day or at worst skips 2 days. It was out for 5 days. Everyday i prayed and hoped for water but nothing. It made everything more difficult and frustrating. Finally I found a member of the church who had water and we hauled bucket after bucket of water to my place. And the next morning at 6AM water flowed for hours and has been on every day since. All that hard work for nothing.
Pretty much everything about Congos infrastrsucture is horrible. The roads are almost noexistent. The electicity goes out everyday. The questions is when and for how long. There has not been a single day that it has stayed on all day. Last week the electricity was off every morning and that meant no coffee for every morning which was not good for me at all. So I finally bought an African charcoal brazer to cook on. I have started many fires in my life but with 2 major differences. First I always used wood and second I was in the bush where finding good fire starting materials was easy. I finally learned the system of using grass African brooms and wax candles to start the fire. Of course as things usually work many times right after I get the fire going the power comes back on.
Another problem I encounterd was yesterday someone came to take me into town early and being in a hurry I forgot that I had taken the key out of my camera bag and locked myself out. I remember thinking when I moved the key that it was a bad idea but did it anyway. Unfortunately I dont have any idea how to pick a lock and I had been given the lock with only one key so there was no spare. Thankfully I do know how to use a hack saw and that hack saws cut metal quite well so I bought one and in just a few minutes cut through the lock and was in my house again. It was a very foolish mistake which i have now taken many precautions against but I did discover that my door is not at all secure and am in the process of buying a better designed door.
So although the problems continue to come I always learn many things and can live a happy coffee filled life electricity or no electrcity.

Conference

I have been preaching a lot recently, which I love but it would be nice to have more time to really polish the sermons and look up words in French that could pose dificulties to interpreters who have never been around native English speakers. Th first night I was pretty confussed about the program. The second night was awesome. I keep having people come up to me to say they were touched by it. The confereence was all about the Holy Spirit. I was restricted to a certain degree on what I could say because of doctrinal differences but all of us could tell the Holy Spirit was there that day. I am realizing more and more that in order for people to regain hope all that is necessary is one hot coal in the midst who can with the help of the wind (Holy Spirit) spread hope to everyone around.
The third night was hilarious. I showed up at the church and the pastor explained to me that there was no interpreter. I was slightly disapointed but I just told the pastor that I was looking forward to his message. He looked at me like I was crazy and said I was still preaching. I tried to explain to him that it was a bad idea and I did not want to. I even refussed but he didnt understand me. He was convinced I had to preach. It was frustrating because I had had no warning and couldnt even look up words in French to somewhat prepare. I then went to an elder in the church who can understand my broken speech and tried to explain to him. He just kept saying it had to be me and even challenged me that I had to have faith that the Holy Spirit would help me. So we started by praying and I was very fervrent. I went from thinking it was impossible to being excited to try. When I got up to the front I was thinking wouldnt it be incredible is Swahili tounges hit me and I could preach to the people in tounges especially since we were talking about the Holy Spirit. Maybe my faith was too weak because broken sentences of confussion is all I could do.
The beginning was awful and then a lady in the church encouraged me with the little English she knows by saying just speak. I was reminded of how Jesus wanted to help me and the Holy Spirit helped me. I abandoned the sermon I had prepared and instead picked one of my points and dove in using whatever came to mind. The Holy Spirit really did help me remember words. Mostly though I used actions. I was jumping and flopping on the ground and grabbing people and using whatever I could find as an example of what I was trying to say. At the end I had made 2 clear points and it was simple but everyone got it. I left the church feeling really stupid for how I had acted and the difficulty I had had but the was quickly encouraged by how much the people loved it. Everyone was laughing and no one was bored. They all thought it was amazing and made comments about how I am becoming Congolese. I survive but I have no ententions of ever doing that again!
Thankfully on Sunday I had an interpreter. I was really excited about my sermon for Sunday it was all about how being a good Christian is like being a good football player but I dont know how well it went across. Part of it was harsh so i think that might be why. Plus the interpreter had a lot of trouble with simple things I think he was nervous. I was more thankful than ever to have an interpezter though.
That afternoon I started the sports program for the youth. Unfortunately the 2 youth in our church who speak English were both at a wedding in Lubumbashi so i was without a translator. Also they sent out little chldren to play like 10 and 12 years old. It was not what I expected but it was really great. We found some random people who played with us and everyone loved it. Walking around with the football made lots of people ask about it. A lot of people like to play football but arent organized enough to make teams and set times. I am really excited for next week.

Lubumbashi, the Government, and Preaching

I boarded an already overcrowded bus headed to Likasi with Gaston, a young man from our church who speaks English, as we started off a pastor began to preach the word of God and pray for our journey. When we reached the outer part of the city the bus stopped and the pastor got off to walk back into town. Gaston explained that there are many accidents in Congo so the bus drivers asked pastors to pray for their journey. I think it’s a wonderful tradition and so far so good no accidents. We arrived in Lubumbashi and I got to work figuring out how the government works and how to register everything properly in the Congo. Two trips later I still haven’t figured very much out. Every government official gives you a different story and a different price. As far as I can tell there are no fixed prices it’s all a negotiating game with corrupt officials. I can see why nothing was getting done while I was in Zambia. It does seem that with every meeting I have I find another piece to the puzzle. I think given enough time I will be able to figure things out. Thankfully I am connected with a lot of great people here who are helping me learn more. It is looking like I will return as a missionary for the church and then when possible begin to register Noah Ministries. Thankfully the church’s statues are very broad and will enable me to have freedom to do many projects. Plus missionaries are well respected. Because of Congo rich mineral wealth many outsiders have come to take but for hundreds of years missionaries have come to help. At every meeting people come late one man came over 5 hours late. My meetings are continually getting postponed at the last minute. It becomes incredibly frustrating to get things done here but polepole as they say in Swahili things are happening.
I was around English speakers or with a translator for a whole week so I feel like my French and Swahili has regressed. It makes me wonder if I will forget a lot when I return to Zambia. I sure hope not!
I was asked to preach in a church in the cité, the area the poor people live in, I loved it and the people. The pastor is incredible. Then this week I have been preaching a conference on a combination of Pentecost and the Bible. It has been incredible so far! Please be praying for the conference as it continues. Next week I am supposed to be going to another area for a few days to meet the local pastors. Pray it goes well.
Now for some testimonies! First of all in Kapolowe I was bitten by so many mosquitoes I am sure I made all the mosquitoes in the area obese. This is the worst time for malaria too. Every time I was awakened at night from the buzz of mosquitoes I would pray against malaria and it has now been long enough that I know God protected me from malaria. Also a woman I shared a room with got malaria so I know there were malaria mosquitoes in the room but God is good!
I visited a family who was so discouraged. They had dreams of becoming pastors but everything was going wrong and they were ready to give up. I encouraged them and immediately the man asked if he could accompany us as we encouraged others. He expressed that he realized the devil was trying to keep him from reaching his destiny and thanked us over and over again for helping him see that. I thank God for how he is moving. Also we are seeing sick people get healed. Not so much instantaneously but much faster than should be and God is getting all the glory. People are beginning to expect God is healing them which is a big step for a lot of these people. I thank God for how he is moving! I have also noticed that by now it’s like as soon as I enter a house God reveals to me the scripture to share and after I hear the problem it is confirmed to be perfect. It is wonderful to be lead by the Holy Spirit!