Monday morning, April 2, 2012, and finally the Missionary Conference for the three zones of Luputa, Kananga, and Mbuji-Mayi was about to take place. The 8 elders from Kananga had made the 8 hour trip in a Toyota Landcruiser, only stopping three times for elders to throw up due to the difficulty of the road. The airlines can make the trip in 15 minutes. The 8 missionaries from Luputa only took 7 hours because the road is better. The 4 elders from Mwene-Ditu came in a "taxi", usually a battered Toyota sedan (round trip $220 for 4). The 18 visiting elders stayed with the 8 elders here in Mbuji-Mayi. Quite a crowd for one apartment. We hosted President and Sister Packer, Elder and Sister ILUNGA from Luputa.
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| We awoke to the usual early morning church service next door. |
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| This morning the pasteur used a log drum to accompany his singing. |
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| We loaded out truck with supplies: tuna sandwiches, cookies, juice, pineapple pieces, mini-snickers, and extra water. We also brought along the battery powered keyboard. |
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| We met in the Mbuji-Mayi District Office: 26 elders, 2 couples, and the mission president and his wife. Sister Moore is installed on the sofa in back. |
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| President Packer's message was to tailor-make lessons to fit each investigator. |
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| His visual aide was our bag of Pakistani rice. "Do you feed the whole bag of rice to an investigator? No! You prepare doses of gospel lessons in amounts each investigator can digest. Those well prepared might only take 4 weeks. Others might require months and even years. |
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| Sister ILUNGA and her husband are a couple assigned to isolated Luputa. We asked her what the first thing she would do upon returning to Luputa after the 7 hour road trip. We would have answered, "Relax or prepare some food or check the internet." She replied simply: "Say a prayer thanking Heavenly Father for the safe trip." |
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| After the conference the President met with the Zone Leaders from the 3 zones. |
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| On the way home after the conference Sister Moore snapped a few photos. Here is an internet cafe with a money exchange stand out front. Notice the money stacked up on the desk. When I exchange an American $100 bill, I get 92,000 francs. That's about 200 bills worth 500 francs each. If I get 200 franc bills, or 100 franc bills or hopefully not 50 franc bills, the pile can get really big. Both francs and American dollars are in use in the Congo. |
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| A lady (in traditional Congolese dress) selling peanuts followed by a man with a "I Love New York" shirt. |
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| Across the street is "fast food". We'll never try it out. |
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| High fashion: pointed shoes, neon socks and bright blue trousers. |
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| Little girls going for water. When we run out of water, men pushing bicycles loaded with 6 or 7 yellow "bidons" will sell water for 400 francs per container. It's extremely hard work, the water sources are not close to where we live. |
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| A lady buys something next door. This man offered his woven baskets for sale. Too big for our suitcases. |
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A recent photo of the missionary couple. Our beautiful garden is probably the only one in Mbuji-Mayi. When we leave, the mission will not renew the lease. If you want to replace us, get your papers in this week and we'll tell the mission president to renew the lease.
We really enjoyed meeting with all the missionaries. Everything they said in General Conference is true. These missionaries are wonderful
Elder and Sister Moore |
