Kapolowe

I was asked to attend the District Conference of Likasi in Kapolowe. It was a wonderful experience! I met all of the church leaders and learned many things about how the church operates here. I was a bit sad to hear some of the things going on, but encouraged by the zeal I recognized in the pastor for the cause of Christ.
I slept on the ground with the other church leaders and lived just like poor Congolese. For me having grown up in Zambia it seemed normal since I’ve done it so many times before. For the people here it was unheard of that an American would be able to live like that. They kept telling me that they knew God had sent me to them because I was able to live the Congolese life.
I ate Congolese food all weekend which is different from Zambian food. In Zambia the people grow vegetables like cabbage and rape and cook them with tomatoes and little cooking oil. Here they eat leaves. Cassava leaves, potato leaves, pumpkin leaves, and weeds. Literally weeds that grow wildly around. But they are serious about seasoning. They have perfected how to prepare the leaves through various methods of cooking cutting and pounding. They find all kinds of peppers and even grow nutmeg and season everything. They also use way too much cooking oil and anyway I much prefer Zambian food. So the leaders of the church always want to accommodate me and informed everyone that I don’t eat meat so special vegetables were prepared just for me. One day the women prepared langalanga (a weed) and used the juice from the goat innards to season it. I can’t get them to understand that I don’t like the taste of meet so I don’t want my vegetables to taste like meat and even if I did Americans don’t eat goat innards.
I greatly enjoyed the conference. It was filled with Congolese music. People playing drums, clanging metal together, and blowing whistles. I thank God for how He is moving.