Music and Our Pet Bird

We had a very fun Musical Program in the Lubumbashi Stake last Saturday.

We thought we should go a little early because we didn't know when the missionary choir was going to sing or where they wanted us to sit.

We arrived about 1/2 hour early and this is what we found.

They are a Primary Choir.

The children were all there sitting in place and were behaving very well with only one leader there with them.  Sister Thomas is standing behind the children on the right and her son, Zac, who is here visiting is standing against the wall, the white guy.  haha

Elder Draper is sitting over to the left.

There was no one there to give us any direction.

The people here don't worry too much about time.  By the time we were 1/2 hour into the program, it was a pretty full audience.  As people kept coming and just filling in the seats these children were sitting about 3 to a seat which is normal for them.  The fun thing is that they set the rows with about 6 - 12 inches between them so you have no leg room.  Thomas' were going to sit back there but decided to come over to the front row by us so Zac had some leg room.

Even our missionaries were all late.  When they would ask for the next choir to sing then they would just come from wherever they were to the front.

It is a very relaxed attitude here.  

The next day we had another Musical Concert in the Katuba Stake.

We participated in that one too.  

At least the missionaries were on time for that one and 

we even had a few minutes to practise before hand.

Aren't they darling children?  They love having their pictures taken and like to shake hands with us.

How can you not love each and every one of them.  They are beautiful!!!  

Notice the one little boy with a question at the left.  They are so well behaved!!!

This is a little family group that sang for the program.  They were so cute.  There is also another boy but the conductor is standing in front of him.  He is a little younger than the girls.  The tiny girl and little boy know all the words.  They were so darling!!!  Such cute little faces!!

This is another Primary group from a ward in the Stake.  The young girl in front is leading this little Primary choir.  Notice her slender legs.  Many Congolese people are so so slim!!

The Stake President is sitting on the side against the stage.  His counsellor is beside him.

Many of the Primary choirs were conducted by a small child!  They do that even when they sing in Sacrament Meeting.  The children lead the children.  I love it!!

We were on our way to church and pulled up behind this transport.  I took the picture of the back door that was shut but not fitting very well.  Oh well, no worries for them.  Fun sights in the Congo.

We have been so lucky to have this little birdie adopt us as her friend.

She built her nest on our balcony up by the roof and she visits with us each day.

Here she is peeking in the window at us.

She comes each morning early to wake us.

She is here even before I open the curtains and is pecking at the window to say 'hello'.

I snuck a quick picture of her.

Here she is with her mate.  I put a little 10 grain cereal out for them to eat.

He never comes over to the window, only she does.

Here she is on the door to the balcony off our bedroom.

She is saying hello.

She's tapping on the window.  She does this on and off all day long.

I love to walk into the room and see just her head peeking over the bottom of the door.

She will twist and turn her head around as she looks and pecks.  I love watching her.

I love animals and she has drawn my attention to her so now I look for her everyday.

She is sitting on the wall of the balcony looking over the back patio.

This is her mate.  I think he is beautiful!!

Here they are together.  They have built a nest just above the door of the balcony in a tiny little spot.  When they fly up to their nest there are lots of little voices chirping.

This is the closest thing I have here to a pet and I enjoy them, especially her!!  

My grandchildren are going to name her.

Every creation is wonderful!!!

These are 2 wonderful missionaries. 

 They have both been in our English class and I love them both.  

They are from Madagascar.  I think serving in Madagascar would be a great mission.  

All of our missionaries we have from there are kind and helpful and willing to work.

He is Elder Rakotondrabe and she is Sœur Niakaniany.

There names in Madagascar are very long.  

He has now been called as a Special Assignment missionary 

to help teach the District leaders about who to have Ward Councils.

We also have an Elder Rakotoalison, Sœur Raharinjaka and Sœur Randrianirina.

This is on the church lawn.  See there is grass here in places.

I went shopping with Elder and Sister Davis to buy towels and umbrellas.

This is the store they go to for those items.

When the missionaries arrive here we have to give them supplies and the Davis' take care of this.  

They will be leaving in October and so I went with them to learn where things are.

We give them sheets, a blanket, a pillow, a mosquito net, a towel, a Seychelle bottle for purifying water anywhere (you are supposed to be able to take water from the ditch and drink it with this bottle), a battery operated light to give them light in the evenings in their homes (most do not have electricity), coloured pencils to mark scriptures, and an umbrella.  I may be missing something.  They are so poor they come with no supplies and the church takes care of this for them.

The towels we bought were on the top shelf here

so he had to stand on the counter and reach way up to get them down.  

It is interesting to shop in the Congo.

This is a display of some of the things they have to sell.

Another display of the buttons they have to sell.

You can see the counters that they work on - just rough wood painted.

Life in the Congo is so different than life in Canada.

As a matter of fact, there isn't much about it that is the same.

It has been such in interesting experience to be here.

We're having the time of our lives!!  We're so grateful for this experience!!

Some points of interest.

Hello from the Congo!!  Life is wonderful.  We all feel so blessed to be here serving these people!!  Our spiritual moments are many and they come often.

This is a family coming to church on a moto in Likasi.  

He is a member of the Stake Presidency.

His wife is coming on a different moto with the rest of their children.

I thought this was the best.  

As we arrived at church the choir was already singing the prelude music. 

 The fellow accompanying them played the electronic piano and the keyboard.  

See the keyboard sitting on its side where you would place the music.  

His hymnbook is sitting on top of the piano. 

 He played the keyboard with the right hand and the piano with the left.  

His melody was on the keyboard which was programmed with a soft mellow sound and the piano played the bass with octaves only, very loudly and with a beat to it.  

It was very interesting for a church meeting.  

This kind of thing would not be done at home but here it still can feel reverent, the Spirit is there and it is very acceptable.  The choir was very good.

This is in the evening after dark where one of our sister missionaries is making dinner

This shows how they live on the ground a lot of the time.  

She is cooking her fish on a little stove like a BBQ.

Thankfully we have real stoves to cook on and a sink to wash dishes in with running water!!

These are the luxuries of life here.

She is mashing something in this little can to eat with their meal.

This is all done outside in the dark with little lights that are NOT bright.

We have street cleaners here too.

They clean the streets quite a few times a year.

It is back breaking work but they do it and feel lucky to have a job.

She has swept the dirt into a pile and now is using cardboard to pick it up and take it away.

Her broom is lying in the grass.  She'll put the dirt into the bag on the grass.

We pass this toy store each day when we go out. 

 I wish I could have taken a picture last Christmas when they had lots of dolls for sale with the hair all matted because the toys are all second hand.  You can only imagine.  

She sets them all out on the step each morning and then takes them all in again in the evening.  

If you wanted to buy bowling pins here you would only get 3.

I took a picture of this building previously when it was just red brick.  

They have finished it with a nice coating and the doors look like they are brass.

It sure is a skinny little building though.  Not sure what all three floors are used for.

We have many tiny buildings here.  

If they saw our houses in Canada they would wonder how many families would live in one home.  We have so much and they have so little, but they are such a happy people.

I think we have too much!!

This is our little poubelle man.  (garbage man)    

He comes to the compound to take our garbage away.  

He is very hard-working and his loads can be so heavy!

Here he is taking away the branches cut off while pruning a palm tree.

This is the street that we live on.

It is grass cutting time in this field.  

These men all have their hand scythes and it takes a long time but they will cut large fields like this.

I tried to do this in our compound one day and if it was up to me 

it would have taken forever to finish the job.  

Our gardener, Ilonga, is a very hard worker!!  He never stops.  We love him.

This is a Sunday so I caught a picture of these happy girls on their way to church.  

You can see that when the traffic gets heavy and the number of lanes increases you have to be careful to not get pushed into the ditches.

We did have one missionary who got his back wheel in one of these ditches 

People just came running to help and lifted the truck out of the ditch and set the tire back on the road.

 Everyone here is so willing to help --- for a price.

More people on a Sunday going to church.  

Many times they have to carry their own chairs if they want to sit down.

These blue plastic chairs are everywhere.

Whoever owns this business has it made in the shade.

We use these chairs in some of the chapels in our buildings too 

but we don't have to take them each week.  They are already there.

Some of the chapels here are close to what our buildings are like but many are not.

It's a different look to go into a chapel filled with blue plastic chairs.

A rare photo - a policeman!!  They do not want their pictures to be taken.

They can and do stop you all the time if they can.  It usually is for nothing so they will let you go.

No one carries weapons except the military that I can see.  

We are preparing to received 7 new missionaries here tomorrow.  We love it when we get new missionaries.  They are all Elders this time.  It's sad when missionaries go home but great to receive new ones.  It is too bad that most of our missionaries come from Kinshasa and Kinshasa Mission gets most of their missionaries from Lubumbashi.  It just isn't the same experience for them but they are just so happy to be able to serve anywhere.  We do get some foreign missionaries but still all African. We have a few from Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Brazzaville, Togo, Madagascar but mostly they are Congolese from Kinshasa.  Other countries will not accept Congolese people into their countries so the missionaries cannot get the visas because the other countries are afraid that they will not return home after their missions.
We are in the middle of winter here now.  It is chilly in the morning and the evenings but still hot during the days.  I am wearing a sweater during the colder times and I found a space heater to have in our bedroom and in my office, which is the coldest spot in the compound.  They don't give off much heat but I keep it under my desk close to my legs and that is great!!!  I still haven't had to wear my jacket.  You gotta love this climate.  How will we ever go home to Canada?
This is a different mission than our Florida mission was.  Working in the office is not the same as teaching all the time.  Our biggest job is to keep as much work as we can from the President so he can spend all his time doing things only he can do.  We love our assignments here.  I only wish I was better acquainted with a computer.
Sister Cook has been teaching English to the stakes here in Lubumbashi three times a week (once for each stake).  At her last lesson before the break she got the names of the non-members and their phone numbers so the missionaries can contact them.  They were all happy to give this information.  She was so totally surprised by how many non-members come.  She had between 29 - 39% students that weren't members.  At the end of one class when they were talking about tithing one man raised his hand and asked if he could pay tithing.  He was not a member.  So many great experiences happening all the time.  We love serving the Lord and love to gather saints in this part of the world.  We love these people!!

Still enjoying the Congo

 Time marches on here in the Congo but are enjoyment continues to rise.

The wet season ended with a 30 second rain storm one night about midnight two weeks ago.

The winds have come.  

We were told that they have terrible winds BUT ...  it really is a welcomed breeze.

The burning of garbage has begun and there is much to burn.

There is always beauty here.  It is fall here and we lost the leaves on our tree next door.  It is a big and beautiful tree.  I was sad to see them go but alas, in about two weeks the tree is full again.  The leaves are clean and beautiful!!!!  I noticed the leaves are now gone on the big tree behind us but already the leaves are beginning to grow.  Don't I wish we had such a short season with no leaves on the trees!!!

Our love for the people continues to grow.  We love their welcoming attitudes. At church everyone shakes everyone's hands.  After Relief Society the women go around and shake each other's hand and then when I go into Sunday School where Priesthood has been held the brethren are all there to shake my hand as well.  No one could go to one of these wards and feel like the people were unfriendly.  There is so much we can learn from each other as we go to different countries in the world.  We can all take a little good from where ever we go.  

Their friendliness is evident as we travel around the city and countryside.  As we pass people who are really looking at us, I like to smile and wave.  They can look very serious as they watch us but when I smile and wave their faces light up like Christmas trees and their smiles are beautiful.  They wave back with a two-handed wave, or put their hands together over their chest.  They are wonderful people.  Even the guards that are stationed around the country's President's home, that are in little barricades that are made out of sand bags with big guns slung over their shoulders, smile and wave as we pass.  We pass by them evertime we go out and I love their show of friendship.

What a wonderful world we live in.

I continue to love the plants, shrubs and trees here with all their flowers.

Different trees flower at different times of the year 

but we have never been without flowers of some kind.

I do not know what this tree is called except for 'beautiful'.  These are beautiful blossoms that are everywhere right now.  They make me thin of 'popcorn popping'.

 This sweet little boy was showing Elder Draper his martial arts abilities one day while he was waiting on the street.  He took some pictures so the boy really gave him a show.

I love children!!

 We had the privilege of having Elder and Sister Evans here. 

 He is of the 1st Quorum of 70 and is the 

Executive Director of Missionary Work throughout the world.  

It was such a pleasure to have them here.  

Sister Thomas wanted us to have the missionaries sing for him so for the last few weeks during English classes we had choir practice.  

They sang in English "We'll Bring the World His Truth".

They love to sing and they sing out like you wouldn't believe!!!

During the tri-Zone Conference the whole congregation was the choir so they just stood in their seats and sang for those sitting on the stand.

 We as couples serving in the office along with the office staff of our two African brothers and their wives were invited to have a dinner with the Evans'.  

He was able to ask Frère Justin and Emmanuel all sorts of questions about this country.

Elder Evans spoke with the missionaries about getting married when they returned home.  

He talked about Mormon Math.

In my case 1+1 = 2 when we got married.  

Then 1+1 (with 6 children) = 8.  

Then 1+1 (with 6 in-laws) = 14.

Now 1+1 (with 23 grand-children) = 37  (soon to be 38)

They thought that was great.

He was teaching them how to be successful in life after their missions.

But for now, the time for looking for a spouse is not yet.

Then he taught them a very important principle that is so needed here.

We are all called to serve in the church.  It matters not where you serve or what position you hold. The only thing that matters is HOW you serve.

In our mission it has been the practise to try to be the District Leader or Zone Leader or AP.  

There were many things they would do to try to get these positions.

It is like that in the church as well. 

 The Bishop is a place of honour and it is not good when you are released.  

They look at it as a step down or that you've done something wrong to be released.

Elder Evans was so good.  He has been a Counsellor in a Bishopric, a Bishop, a Counsellor in a Stake Presidency, a Stake President, an Area President, an Executive Director of Missions for the world and he has just received a new assignment to be a Counsellor in an Area Presidency.  

The position does not matter!!  

 It is not a step down for him to go from his current position to his future assignment.

It is not a step down to go from being the Bishop to being a teacher in Sunday School.

This lesson is so needed here and I have not done justice to his teaching here.

The Spirit was strong and I know the missionaries felt it.  I hope this teaching will stay with them.

Sister Evans was adorable too.  

She spoke and they surely felt of her love for them and especially for our Saviour.

What a great meeting it was and then they closed the meeting with the choir singing

"We'll Bring the World His Truth".

Back to our dinner, Emmanuel and his wife brought their brand new baby boy, Vainquer.

He is so beautiful!!  

His hair feels like cotton balls and he looked so much like his daddy.  

Emmanuel liked hearing that!  

But when he moved and stretched Sister Thomas and I both saw Marlene in him too.

This was taken after church one Sunday.  Here Elder and Sister Davis are speaking with this man (with the help of the missionaries) about getting him a new wheelchair.  

His seat on this chair is made of wood and it is falling apart.  

This chair has pedals like on a bicycle that he pedals with his hands.

This kind of chair is common here.

This is taken from our balcony.  I love the birds in the air that I caught.

"I think the world is beautiful and lovely as can be ..."

These next pictures were taken around town as we were out doing errands.

Everything they buy they must carry.  

There are lots of vehicles here but the vast majority of people are on foot.

This is quite a way to deliver heavy pipes.

The ditches are everywhere so when it rains there is somewhere for the water to go without flooding the roads and their homes and places of business.

Some places have good little bridges but if you can't afford a good bridge you have to make do with something else.  They use car parts in many cases.  They probably got these parts off of abandoned cars left on the side of the road somewhere.

Another bridge to cross.  You have to pick your steps carefully.  

The women here walk this kind of ground in their high, high heels.

It still is amazing to me how they will load up a vehicle for travel.

I don't know how many people are in the back of this truck.  

Not only is it full but some of the people are standing!!!

Health and Safety would have a fit!!!!

There is a little pile of garbage burning here right beside where they have their clean clothes laid out on the ground to dry.  This is a great laundry spot.  The women wash the clothes in the ditch and then lay them on the grass to dry.  It is used everyday.

Here is another picture of the same place on another day.  

There are two women in the ditch washing clothes.

We've seen them watching their hair here too.

I wish you could see the color of the water in the ditch.  (brown, brown, brown)

There are police like this all over the city checking on the vehicles or just stopping them to get money.

One will step outing front of the vehicle and another will go around to the drivers window.

At first when we got here the missionaries were giving them money to let them go but we have decided (the Mission President) to not give them money as bribes.  

We may sit there for awhile talking to them but eventually they will let you go 

especially if the traffic is backed up and people start honking 

or getting out of their cars to see what is going on.  

This makes the police nervous so they let you go.

Street Cleaning

Several times a year the people go out to clean the streets.

Women as well as men sweep the ditches with brooms that are only 2 feet in length at the most 

so they do all their worked bent over from the waist. 

 They use their hands to pick up the debris and put it in bags.

I'm not sure how they are paid but it does give employment to a lot of people.

We pass this store everyday.  It is a neighbourhood toy store... among other things.  

Every evening they pick it all up and put it out again in the morning. 

 I have never actually seen anyone buying anything from here 

and we pass by this street everytime we go out.

You can see they also sell other items that are on the little table.

Of course, these are all used items.

At least they have a concrete floor and not just dirt.

This weekend is General Conference weekend for the saints in our mission.  

The DVD disks finally arrived a few weeks late but they are here now nonetheless.

We can go to the church to watch conference in French OR we can stay home and watch it in English and actually understand what they are talking about.  That is my choice!!!

We've already watched it but I'm happy to watch it again.

The gospel goes forward, baptisms continue each week and the church is growing here.

We feel so blessed to be a part of this great work.

There is nothing that can compare to serving our Saviour full-time!!

The Church is true and our Saviour lives!  

We are so grateful for this great knowledge that continues to bless us each day.  

We love the Lord!  We love to serve him!

District Conference in Likasi

This weekend, March 21 and 22, we went with the President to the Likasi District Conference, a 2-3 hour drive.  The road gets worse each time we drive there.

It's been over 2 months since we even had a day off.  I could use a sleep-in day!  I thought it was going to be this Saturday but early Friday morning President Thomas called and said that he felt like we should be going to the District Conference in Likasi with them.  It's like Stake Conference but they are still a District.  He was kind and said if we had other responsibilities in the ward or if we didn't want to we didn't have to go.  So I guess we could have been excused but to me when the Mission President says he feels like something should happen there is no alternative, so we went gladly.  He also mentioned that he wanted us to speak in the Saturday Adult Session as well as in the Sunday General Session.  He wanted us to speak about temples.  Dad also had to do the training in the afternoon for the Executive Secretaries and Clerks.  

The conference was amazing!!  The Spirit at some of the meetings here is so strong!  They had an attendance of 88.5%.  When do we ever get even close to that?  We arrived for the meetings 30 minutes early and the chapel and cultural hall were already packed with people and the choir was singing prelude music.  

The missionaries waited in the foyer for all their many investigators to arrive.

Some companionships would have as many as 20 investigators coming.

It's like that for Sacrament Meetings too.

Saturday afternoon in the Adult Session, 4 - 6 pm because it gets dark at 6:30 and everyone is walking. I spoke about Temples, the blessings, and about how to prepare now for when they can go.  Many here haven't been to the temple yet because of finances.  The church assists them to go the first time.  Many people here choose to save to go to the temple more than once over buying a car and other things we would consider to be essential.  They understand that the temple is vital to our salvation!!  It is wonderful to see such faith.

Sunday morning I spoke to the Youth and the Primary children about preparing to go to the temple when they are older.  There are many things they can do now so they will be ready.

I wrote my talks and Neil helped me with my translation.

This was a very good experience for me!!  I felt the Spirit!

These are some pictures taken after the meeting Sunday.

People here don't go out and rush off to go home.  It's like they don't want the experience to end so they linger in the parking lot and on the lawns to visit.

This picture I took of the children that came forward to see us.  Their eyes are so bright!

I had to take this picture as I exited the building.  There were so many people standing around to visit and fellowship.  It was nice.

No one was in a hurry to leave.

These are some of the missionaries.  

They are gathered mostly so they can talk with the Thomas' and us and have pictures taken.

I loved this little girls pout.  

They all dress as nicely as they can for their Sunday meetings.

I love this little girl's white dress and the suit on the little fellow behind her.

Some of them arrive in jeans but it is the best that they have and is totally acceptable!

The sleeping babies on their mother's backs is a favorite of mine.

This little fellow is enjoying himself.

I love the colours that the women dress in.  Everything here is so bright and cheery.

Isn't she adorable?  I love their hair-dos for the tiny girls.

This is our Sister Kabangu.  I love the way she has done her hair.  This has a take hours but they really know how to braid quickly.  They an do each braid in 1 - 3 minutes.

She is so beautiful!

Her she is again with us.

Elder Lufuluabo, me, Elder Buba and Elder Draper

Elder Lufuluabo just went home.

Elder Buba is a fine elder.  He is also a body builder.

We were taking a picture of the sisters but the elders thought they would just jump in.

Back row:  Me, Sœur Mbala, Sœur Ndomba, Sœur Kabangu, 

Sœur Thomas, Sœur Lazuala, Sœur Mudila

I'm not sure of all the Elders names.

Me with Sœure Lazuala.  She is a new Sister Training Leader.  She is absolutely beautiful!

Elder Lufuluabo with his arm around me.  He's a very happy missionary.  He loves life.

This is the garden that our guard has planted for us.  Sister Thomas gave him some packages of seeds.  At first, he planted them all together and we thought we would never get anything out of it.

He transplanted them when they got big enough and we were all surprised that they lived.

What do we know?

It is time to clean the streets again.  This is how they do it.

It employs many people where a 'street-cleaner' like we have at home would put many people out of work.  These women sweep with their tiny brooms and do a good job.

Talk about back-breaking work.

This is the little marché we pass every time we go out.

You will notice the round black circle things by the onions.

They are dried eels.  They love them here!!!!

They also sell caterpillars here and other fun stuff.

Here's our little house around the corner.  They have really fixed it up with brass doors and all.

This is our little garbage man pulling load up the hill close to our place.

I had to tease Emmanuel about tanning!!  I thought only white people tried to tan.  

He had to take his wedding ring off because it broke and was cutting into his finger.  

He just smiled and said it looked like he was still wearing it.  

(Emmanuel works in the bureau taking care of all the apartments in the mission.  

It is a huge job and he could use some help but we have no one.)

I had another picture in here showing the crowds at the airport waiting for this woman to arrive.

She is the Congo President's wife.

All these people were her supporters.  There was no one there to protest.

They sure were excited when she finally showed her face.

It made for a long wait for President and Sister Thomas to emerge from the airport 

after a tiring week in the Kasai Province.

While we were waiting a women came to speak with us.  We visited for quite a while and I enjoyed the conversation.  She didn't even ask for money until one of the women that was with her told her too.  That is always such a disappointment but they just feel like they have to ask.

We had a big thunderstorm the other night and the power went out.  

That is one of Elder Draper's jobs .. to keep the power going so he had to run over to the generator and turn it on for us.  When he came home he was absolutely SOAKED to the skin.  His pants were dripping wet.  

The next morning he got dressed up to show the President how he would do that in the future.  He knew he brought hip waders for something!!!!  haha

Enjoy your week and we'll enjoy ours!  Love from the Congo!!