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.