We have had a wonderful Christmas and New Years!
We celebrated with the other senior missionaries here and had a great time.
We are all without our families here and we have become family to each other.
We sure have a good group here to serve with.
These are a few nature pictures with a few others thrown in.
The Congo has much beauty.... not man-made!
Our Nature Photos: This picture is taken from our balcony.
This was still in the dry season so we didn't often have any clouds.
I thought this cloud was absolutely beautiful!
A sunset also taken from our balcony.
In the dry season when the sun sets it is a very real red!!
That doesn't show in a picture but this is just after the red sun dropped below the cloud.
Blossoms are a favorite of mine.
Flamboyant Tree.
Spectacular!!!
These trees line the streets on some avenues.
It is red all down the street and so beautiful!
This is a transport, public transportation.
There are no buses here.
You ride in this or in a taxi, which is a small car, or on a moto, a motorcycle.
Most of the cars here come from South Africa so the steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car.
The fellow standing in the siding door is the one looking for people needing a ride.
He calls for the driver to stop when he finds someone.
The driver is very busy driving in this traffic here, you have to pay attention!!!
You'll notice the wad of money in his hand. It costs 500 fc for a ride. (just over $.50)
There are times when they duck inside the vehicle very quickly if someone is passing too close.
You see the sign on the building. One of our churches.
A beautiful Poinsettia.
Little roses.
We pass these two bushes every day. There are other bushes like them along the wall too.
Goats eating along the roadside.
These goats all go to their homes in the evenings.
No one bothers them as they run where ever their nose takes them during the day.
After dinner at a restaurant up north we were taking pictures.
He thought he would be funny! A great face!
What a smile!
We often have scouts marching along the road in formations.
These are just a few that are gathering but the lady on the road is walking in great form.
We were out one day and a saw these beautiful rays.
I love the sky!!
This is a red sun.
It's funny how it turns out in a picture because to the naked eye it is a bright red.
Another shot from a distance, without the zoom.
They have beautiful sunsets here!!
A new church is being built. We pass it almost every day.
It has a beautiful bell tower. I can hardly wait to hear the bells.
Here are more Flamboyant trees and a Jacaranda at the side. (purple)
This is the lumber yard. They do have milled lumber and they also carry logs and other wood.
This is the Zone Conference with our English class.
We teach English to the missionaries each Wednesday except on transfer week.
Sister Wamalwa is from Kenya, English speaking. She's trying to learn French too.
I think she's doing much better than I am.
Elders Kunga and Tshimpe
Two great Elders!!
These children are going through this big bag of paper scraps.
I'm sure they are looking for pieces to take home so they have something to write on.
Paper is very scarce.
One night we were at the Stake Center and we needed to make a copy of something.
We went to the clerks office and he sent a young boy to get some paper from one of the wards.
The boy came back with 4 sheets of paper.
These are beautiful bushes just up the road from us.
This construction site was amazing to watch over the weeks to see the progress.
At first they dug a very deep hole (about 10 feet).
The men were in the hole with picks to loosen the dirt and bare feet. Safety??
I love the green with the splash of color.
Different plants are growing everywhere.
They are all so beautiful!
Driving up the street to the marché for fresh fruits and vegetables. When you get out of the vehicle the women all start shouting at you. "Madame! Madame!"
They do this the whole time you in the marché.
I don't like shopping there much but we do. They are in need.
How can you not love the creations of the world?
The beauty never ends.
Sun going down just over the trees.
This is the garden right outside the front of the mission home.
Our little gardener works so hard on it.
He is one of our guards and he gets $4 a 24-hour day.
I can't even imagine how heavy those tubs of bananas are.
I am always amazed when I see this.
This woman was washing the gym floor at the church for our program.
She was there all by herself and this is how she washed the entire floor.
This was at the Girls' School that the Humanitarian couple bought a kitchen for.
Last year these girls were taught to knit and sew.
These are the projects they worked on and they will sell them I think.
Some were very well made, they even had some smocking on some of the dresses.
It was amazing!!
This school is where Santa came for his visit.
The humanitarian couple also worked with these two neighbourhoods on either side of the creek.
You can see the old bridge that they left under the new one that they built.
This was so needed and so appreciated!!
It is transfer week this week so it's a busy one.
We have 21 missionaries arriving from the MTC and 2 other temporary missionaries
serving from local stakes who are waiting to get their own mission calls.
We also have our 2 new senior sisters arriving the same day.
It's going to be so busy processing that many in a day but I think we are prepared.
Well, as prepared as we can be. There are always so many last minute things that pop up.
What fun!!!!
We miss you all!!
Serving a mission is a wonderful experience.
.... even in Africa!!
