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!
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