DID YOU KNOW?

• That there are pygmies in the the Democratic Republic of the Congo? In fact one was brought to the Bronx Zoo in 1904 where he was placed in the monkey house and helped to attract 40,000 visitors a day.
• The DRC is a vast country the size of Western Europe the home of 60,000,000 people.
• It is geologically rich and was know for its large reserves of cobalt, copper and diamonds.
• The uranium which was used to make the atomic bombs which broke the back of Japan in WWII came from the province of Katanga in the Congo.
• Lubumbashi is the largest city in the Province of Katanga and is the home of the airport where I will land. The airport was under siege by rebels in February of this year. It took the Army several hours and many bullets to quell the riot.

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  TWO LITTLE GIRLS ARRIVED SAFELY IN SACRAMENTO THIS MORNING.
  

The Countdown Begins.

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Tomorrow is the 8th of August; on the 8th of September I will be boarding a plane to Virginia.  I will arrive there Thursday evening to spend a long weekend with Ann Terry and Hannah.  

The following Tuesday I will board an Ethiopian Airlines plane and will be off to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia via Rome. From Ethiopia, I go to Malawi which is the smallest and poorest country in Africa. Then on to Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The DRC is the largest country in Africa.

A Little History…

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In the 19th century Europe began to divide up the African Continent. Each country staking out a portion of the continent. King Leopold of Belgium laid claim to the Congo.  Note that it was not Belgium as a country claiming a large chunk of Africa, it was the king saying this is my private fiefdom.  The Capitol of the country was modestly named Leopoldville.

Under the colonial rule of Belgium the country prospered; it was served my many airline and ships.  It was attractive to many tourist .  Railroads and highways crossed the country. Bridges forded the major rivers of the land.

Things began to change in the 1950’s.  Stability and prosperity fled before invading armies. Hospitals, churches and just about every standing building became pocked with bullet holes.  Natives fled to the bush to live under starvation conditions. Pilots of incoming flights found the tarmac runways were full of divots. It is safe to say the heart of Africa was broken and civilization beg an to die.

Each day the continuing turmoil claims 1,500 lives.

The rite of passage into manhood is not getting a driver’s license or being issued a well earned diploma.  For boy soldier it is being issued an AK-47 which brings with it the the right to rob, pillage, kill and rape. The Congo has been heralded as is the most dangerous place in the world for a woman to live—rape is a weapon of warfare.

Recently someone asked if me if I was not afraid to go to such a place.  I told the man that I was more fearful of staying at home.

I hope that I have not depressed you.

This little one was in our orphanage in the Congo.

Jamie has been to the beauty parlor and has patiently endured the process.

Her adoptive family (mother and four other siblings) anxiously awaits her arrival in the greater Sacramento area. Dad is in the Congo and has been there for three weeks processing paper work.

Remember this is the closeup of a process that took about three hours.

Jamie with her hair in a net which should help preserve the process.

Wouldn't you be proud to take her by the hand and lead her into your Church on a Sunday morning? I know that I would. She reminds of the little child actress, Shirley Temple. Jamie is a little Princess.

Next month I will be surveying our ministry there, teaching prospective pastors, examing the water supply and sending back some pictures of land which the Mission may purchase.

Ask me if I am excited?

It is Sunday PM

Yes, we were in Church this morning.

Heard a great sermon dlivered by Pastor Bill.

Came home for a light lunch.

I then booked round trip ticket for the flight from Sacramento to Washington, D. C. I am glad to have that done. I was spending to much time looking for bargains.

Tomorrow afternoon I have an appointment to meet with a lady who purchased Tupperware to sell and went out of business with a rather large inventory. She is planning on donating it to us to further the work in the Congo.

That is good news, because I am going to have a Pastors Seminar while I am there. The Pastor and men who want to prepare to be Pastors will need food while they are away from home. In the U. S. we are not inclined to think to much about feeding ourselves. I have attended a large conference for Pastors in Chicago. There they open the school cafeteria and seat 800 men at one seating. No problem. At another one in Vallejo, you can walk across the street and buy a burrito—no problem.

I have been told that in the Congo, if you get one meal a day you are doing well. Two meals is wonderful. Three means that you are rich.

I want to make sure that the men who come in from “the bush” have plenty of beans and some chicken while they are at the Conference. I want them to be fed physically and spiritually.

Tupperware sold will equal men fed.

The Mundane Things

It is hard to believe that in January the vision for my September trip to the Congo was born. One of the first things which I did was to check my passport. I found that it had expired earlier this year. Having applied for and received several, I thought it would be simple. All I would have to do is get some new pictures, go to the local Court House, present an application with my old passport, pay some fees, wait a couple of weeks and have a new passport in my possession. In an age of terrorism this no longer works. Earlier this year thing had changed.

I found that I needed to make an appointment at the Post Office. This appointment was for the gathering of information as to how to apply for a passport. I found that I needed to fill out an application on the Internet which I printed. I then made a trip to Wal-Mart for two passport photos. My old passport, the application, my birth certificate, the two pictures and a personal check to the State Department went off in the mail. Before long I received a new passport in the mail. For some unexplained reason this was a major step to me.

My next step was a phone call to the Center for Disease Control to inquire about inoculations necessary for permission to enter the Congo. Yellow Fever is required; Hepatitis A, Malaria and Typhoid are highly recommended.

Could I get these shot from the Veterans Administration so I would not incur any expenses for them as they are very expensive? My doctor told me that she could not give them to me. She inquired about the danger of entering the Congo. I told her about a two hour gunfight that took place at the airport in Lubumbashi this February. She dropped her head and became very quiet. Raising her head and looking fully at me, she said, "I don't think you ought to go."

I replied, "Doctor there are somethings more important than my life." She became very quiet and I thought she was going to start crying. Then she said, "I just don't think that way." At that point the phone rang. She answered the phone and I patted her on the forearm and walked out telling her, good by. She is more than just, my doctor.

I made a trip to Folsom to visit a doctor's office which specialize in travel medicine.There I got my Yellow Fever and Hepatitis A vaccination. Pills were taken home for Malaria and Typhoid plus antibiotic pills for diarrhea.

Next my passport, shot card, two more pictures, an application for a visa (four pages duplicated), a cashier's check and two copies of a notarized invitation to visit the Congo provided by Pastor Didier went in the mail. They were mailed to the Embassy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Washington, D. C. In about a week, I had my visa which was a stamp in my passport written in French, the official language of the Congo.

But could I trust that there was no clerical error made? I was not about to buy tickets, arrive in D. C. and be told that I could not fly because of an error which I knew nothing of. Sharon took a picture of the visa and we electronically sent it to the Congo to be read. The visa gave me permission to enter the Congo one time, stay one month and stated that I must be out on or before the 4th of October. That was exactly what I wanted.

On September 8th I will fly to Washington D. C. to spend a long weekend with my daughter Ann, son in law Terry and granddaughter Hannah. On Tuesday the 13th at noon I will fly from D. C. to Rome. From Rome I travel to Addis Abba, Ethiopia and then to Malawi. From Malawi I go to Lubumbashi, Katanga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I will be in the air for about 20 hours.

I have found that the "Mundane Things" can be very exciting. The process is to be enjoyed as well as the event.

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My Heart Was Broken....

This little girl was brought to our orphanage by our Senior Pastor in the Congo. She was found wandering the street; she was estimated to be about two and one half years old. Pastor Didier advertised for relatives, but found none. When she was taken to the doctor, it was found that she had malaria, typhoid, worms and was mal-nourished. (Note the distended stomach in the picture). Ladies in one of our churches took care of her with tender love and good food and look at the changes over a period of about six months

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When I received the first picture my heart was broken over the reality that a little girl could be found in such dire straits. It made my heart ache to the point that I could not say, "orphan" without my voice breaking. Soon we received the good news that she tested negative for HIV. This meant that she was adoptable. Her adoptive father is in the Congo now and will be bringing this beautiful little girl into a home where there is plenty of love, laughter and good food. May I add that when she comes to the greater Sacramento area there will be another little girl coming with her but that is another story.

How Did It Start?

People who know me well and feel free to ask deeper questions want to know how I developed such a passion for a people so far away. Or they ask "How do you know that God is leading you to the Congo?"

It started with personal study and research. I became intrigued with the attention orphans were being given by the Christian community. In just a few years a national movement has swept across the United States. I found web sites about the number of orphans in the world and there were people gathering across the country in conferences discussing what the church could and should do about this problem.

I knew that the Bible had much to say about the care of the fatherless, but I did not see it as my ministry. It was statistical problem.

Once while discussing the problem of orphan care in Africa with our daughter, she said, "Dad you need to go to Africa." Immediately my heart was stirred. Shortly afterwards, a pastor friend, Paul Anthes contacted me regarding a ministry in the Congo. Thus a vision was born!

My ticket has been purchased. I will fly from Washington, D. C. on the 13th of September; arrive in Lubumbashi, Katanga, Democratic Republic of the Congo on the 14th. I will return to the USA on October 3rd. While I am in the Congo I am anticipating holding a Pastors' Conference for sixteen to twenty Pastors. I will also be surveying our ministry there, but that is another story.