IT IS MORE BLESSED TO GIVE THAN TO RECEIVE

This morning Ann, Hannah and I went to Church. (Terry was on duty at the fire department) After Church we stopped at Starbucks. Then home to take care of some items like letting the dog out for exercise, had a light lunch and off we went to a store which sells everything for $5.00 or less. Ann and Hannah purchased at least half a bushel of toys for the children in our orphanage in the Congo.

Next stop was Wal-Mart for shopping. Just as we entered the store, we were able to touch bases with a family who had just flown in from Africa with newly adopted twins from our orphanage. Josie started sharing the needs of the new orphans (5) which have just come into their new home. Ann took the phone and listened to the needs.

We went off to fill the needs of the five.

I just packed 30 pairs of undershorts, three pairs of blue jeans, four pairs of pants, nine shirts, two pairs of tennies, several sets of pajamas, five t-shirts and two sets of twin sheets.

Tomorrow I will go to a camping store and buy several battery operated lanterns with spare batteries. Josie said that the orphanage workers operate without lights.

I am so glad that Ann was there to do the shopping for the children. I felt so incompetent in that area.

I have yet to pack the twenty books for the leaders of the Church. I will put them in the duffel bag and dump toys on top of them.

I am so glad that Compassion for the Congo mission gave me an extra stipend for shipping costs.

Arrived In D. C. During The Monsoon

I had an uneventful flight from Sacramento to Washington, D. C.  Several times during the flight the crew announced that the weather was warm and humid or that it was showering lightly in the D. C. area.  When we arrived the captain announced that we were going to think that we had arrived in Seattle instead of D. C.  As I exited the plane, thunder shook the airport.  Unloading of baggage was delayed for at least two hours due to lightning virtually closing down the airport.  Ann phoned to let me know that she was about ten miles from the airport, but could hardly see due to the heavy rain and to tell me that she would be late as she was about to float off the freeway.

Eventually the warning buzzer sounded to let people know that bags were going to be on the carousel and there were my bags.  I grabbed them and went to the exit, phoned Ann and in about 15 minutes we were happily reunited and on our way to her house. 

We walked into the house to the delightful smell of some to the best chili I have ever eaten.  My son in law, Terry, is an outstanding cook; he had filled the slow cooker with the makings for dinner and it had cooked all day.

We dined then I went downstairs and rested. Traveling makes me so tired, but by about 9:00 pm I was feeling good.  Ann drew me a map showing me the way to take Hannah to her school.

I took her to school, met her teacher and will return to school at noon to help in the lunchroom.  The teachers desperately need help at noon as the children require so much help during lunch.  They eat in a large room at tables.  There are Lunchables  (sealed meals purchased from the grocery store) to be opened.  Spills to be wiped up. Children with hands up, needing permission to go to the bathroom. Tables that need to be wiped down after the children go back to class.  And then there are things on the floor to be picked up

I got lost on the way to the school so I had to apologize to the teacher.  It was raining and I missed an exit.  So after driving too many miles, I just returned home.  As I was driving I saw things that were scary. A road was completely washed out. The paving material had dropped into a sink hole.  The street was completely impassable.

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I got an email from the Congo we have five new children in the orphanage and again they are mal-nourished. That is to be expected. Between 1996 and 2000 more than 1/2 of the children did not live to see their 6th birthday. Typhoid, starvation, malaria and other easily treated problems  wiped them out.

Things I have yet to shop for: toys for orphans (2-3 year old), clothing for six month old babies, battery operated lantern for the orphanage and some twin bed sheets.

Jamie:

The first little girl in our orphanage. Just rescued from the streets.

Being held by me last Friday evening.

We had so much fun playing together.

Her very loving family plus one who wants to be adopted as a grandfather. Her sister Jordan is being held by her mother. Father is almost hidden by Jordan.

WHAT ARE YOU TAKING TO THE CONGO?

This morning I opened what was called a "sea bag" when I was in the Navy. In it I placed 24 Meals Ready to Eat or as they are better known--MREs. Next was a water purifier purchased from RE I. It is supposed to kill 99.99 per cent of all living organism in clear water. I have been told that in the bottled water which can be purchased locally in the Congo you can see floating items.

For Others: one package of balloons, a very large container of Band Aids, two bars of perfumed soap, four very large bottles of non Aspirin pain killers, children' s vitamins, one package of dried mangoes, a very large container of dry roasted peanuts.

On top of the container I placed a few Fiber One Bars to bring the total weight of the package up to 49.8 lbs. Fifty pounds is the maximum I can carry in a suitcase without paying a penalty for being overloaded.

In another bag I will pack my personal items which are necessary for more than a month of absence.

When I arrive in the Washington D. C. area I will be adding twenty books to my shipment. I will be able to give each person attending the Pastor's Conference a free book in the French Language. These books were graciously given to me by Desiring God's International Ministry.

Seventeen Days and Counting Down

It is hard to believe that after months and months of thinking, planning, praying and purchasing it is so close.

Sunday morning I wrote a post for my my blog site and then deleted it, because I considered it to be critical of a country which I only knew from history books and the internet. Two history books, hardly makes one an expert. The internet even less so.

Today I prepared two Bible Studies for my forthcoming Pastors’ Conference. I am concerned about speaking through an interpreter. Will he understand the nuances of English theological language and be able to accurately present it in French? I am afraid that it will be difficult for both of us.

I have ordered twenty books from Desiring God’s International Ministry so I can give each man who attends the Conference a book in his own language.

I have balloons for the children. They are inexpensive and light in weight. I can take 100 lbs. on the plane without penalty for extra weight.

I asked Pastor Didier what I could bring for the Pastors’ wives which could not be obtained locally. His wife said a solar panel—electricity is very expensive when you have to generate it yourself.

On Thursday the 9th of September I am looking forward to meeting a baby boy from the Congo and his adoptive father at the Airport in Washington D. C. On the same incoming flight there will be twins from the Congo with both mother and father. All will be headed to California that evening.

That is good news.

I HAVE BEEN READING HISTORY AGAIN.

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What did the capitol city of the Congo look like in May of 1997 when a new dictator came to power?

Kinshasa had become the third largest city in Africa; over five million people.

But:

• There was no postal service or public transit system
• Despite an abundance of rainfall two million people had no direct access to water.
• Ninety-five percent of the people were informally self employed doing such things as: carrying luggage, selling bags of cassava flour, shining shoes, hawking everything from cigarettes to nail polish.
• There were 600,000 civil servants who went to work daily in suits and ties, but seldom received a salary.   Many of those who did receive salaries were paid as little as five dollars per month.  Graft, bribery and extortion had become ways of life. There were 120,000 uniformed soldier to pay.  According to the first dictator, Mobutu, who had now been overthrown, they did not need to be paid as they had AK-47s.
• Garbage accumulated in open sewers and heaps where it rotted and was eventually burned.
• Half the population lived on one meal a day. A quarter of the people ate one meal every two days.
• The zoo had become a collection of rusty cages. Two of the lions had recently starved to death. Other animals were kept alive by a group of expatriates who brought food from upscale hotels to feed the remaining monkeys, chimpanzees, antelopes and snakes.
• The nation’s economy was one-third of what it had been in 1960 when the DRC was under the rule of the Belgians.
• Inflation was at 750 per cent. Five per cent of the population had salaried positions.
• When the new dictator went to open the vault where the wealth of the government should have been, he found that there was only a fifty franc note left behind—an insult.
• Shanties seemed to grow by themselves apart from any guidance—city planning was non-existent.
• The parks were filled with homeless people by night.
• This was the capitol of the twelfth largest country in the world which could only lay claim to 2000 miles of paved road.

My plans are to go to relatively more peaceful area—Lubumbashi.  There I will live in a guest house with barred and shuttered window and a steel door.

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It looks as if the little girl on the left, Zephanie, will end up living in the wilds of Wyoming.  That makes it all worth while.

P. S.  We are making plans to bring Pastor Didier to the U. S. He needs rest and medical care; hopefully the medical care will be taken care of before he leaves the DRC.  He has malaria and typhoid.

I WANT YOU TO MEET PASTOR DIDIER AND HIS DEAR WIFE

I am borrowing information from Jim Hagen’s journal which he recorded while in Africa in October of 2006.

We might think that someone who is carrying such a ministry as Pastor Didier is was raised in a second or third generation Christian home where he was nurtured on the Bible. No, his father was a devil worshipper who loved power and riches. His father was so desirous of what this world had to offer that he promised Satan a blood offering from his family. Of five children he offered three of his sons to Satan as a sacrifice.

Starting at age eight his mother sent Didier (pronounced DDA) to a different province (state) for eleven months of each year. He was very lonely and pleaded with her to be allowed to remain with the family. By being sent away he not only received protection but also an education. He graduated from high school at the age of nineteen.

While still a youth his mother died, his father remarried and all the attention was turned to a new wife and four new children which he sired. The situation became so intolerable that Didier fled into Zambia where he met a Christian Missionary. She taught him English and led him to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Eventually she returned to the States, but she challenged her replacement, a man, to continue with the process of training Didier.

The next steps in Didier’s educational process was being sent to a trade school where he learned to cook. As he returned from the school as a cook, he met his wife to be Annyta and they were married six months later. He worked as a cook for two years and then he and his wife moved to Kinshasa where he furthered his education at the Mennonite Seminary for the next three years.

By the time he graduated he had two sons. His second son became very ill and Didier took him to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. The hospital personnel were preparing to send his body to the morgue. Didier response was, “No I do not accept this death, I do not think it is from God.” He prayed being willing to accept the death if it were from God, but if the death was not from God then he believed that God would restore his son’s life. As he was praying the child gasped and began breathing again. The boy was lame for a while, but now is almost completely well.

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The picture is of Didier and Annyta with a baby which is not theirs. Next month the baby will be traveling from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Washington D. C. and then on to California. In California he will meet his new mother and three big sisters.