Congo Mission: Lubumbashi

There is a place

a name

That conjures up terror

and trepidation

A wild country that

speaks of night mares and

violent death

The largest rain forest in Africa

As full of mystery today

as it was a century ago.

One of the last great wild places on Earth

The fabled "Heart of Darkness"

Congo

***Dialogue from BBC DVD

"Natural World: Africa and Europe"

(available from SL Co Library)

When we tell people we have been called to the Congo on our mission, the first thing most people say is: "Be safe!"

We were both willing to go. But the Lord has been very kind to us. We gave us what we desired. Sweet Sister Ann is a mosquito magnet. The Lord has blessed Lubumbashi with few mosquitos. Ann's first choice for a mission was Hawaii. Well, Lubumbashi is in Central Africa, but at an altitude of 4000 feet. We've monitored summer temperatures in the high 70's. Almost Hawaii.

What follows is from President and Sister Headlee's website. President Headlee is the mission president in the Kinshasa Mission. The Lubumbashi Mission was split off from his mission about 7 months ago.

LUBUMBASHI

President Mike and Sister Pam Headlee administer the DR Congo Mission. They have a web site: headleefamily.net. I pass on a post about Lubumbashi which has been a mission for about 7 months.

Posted on July 15, 2009 at 10:35 pm in Uncategorized

http://headleefamily.net/page/3/

It just rolls off your tongue! ….lube ume bosh ee… It is at the southeast end of the Congo. It is about 1000 miles from Kinshasa. There are two LDS stakes here and they are growing very fast. It is possible that we could see 2 more stakes here before we leave. It felt a lot like being in Zambia…possibly because it is only 40 miles from the Zambian border. We came to Lubumbashi to have a zone conference and meet the missionaries. There is a couples’ home here, which is vacant right now because our couple assigned here doesn’t arrive until Sept 7th or 8th. We came down one day and President Headlee met with the 2 stake presidents, had a zone conference the next day, the following day we drove to Likasi (about 2 hours drive away) for a small zone conference and then drove back the same day. We left the following morning. I was thinking that all this travel would be a drag, but actually it is really nice to get out of Kinshasa and visit some these pleasant (and rural) areas away from the big city.