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.