Banyama (Photos)

Banyama (Animals)

Our house went up in a matter of months, which is extraordinary for this part of the world. We weren’t here for it but we were kept informed of the progress by rather regular e-mails with picture attachments (also extraordinary for this part of the world). And now we have this house- a duplex actually- at the edge of the tall grass for our habitation. But not just for us. Its location makes it prime real estate for several other creatures, these ones with four legs instead of two.

The first resident of note was a gecko to which we bid welcome. Any house in sub-Saharan Africa would do well to have a few extra geckos and a lot less bugs. The second resident of note was a small mouse which would dart across our bedroom floor whenever we entered and make good his escape into the walls. It was only a matter of time, however, before he was a bit too careless in his explorations and found himself with no escape route. That happened a few days ago. In the bathroom. With Michelle. She half-screamed once, realized what the fuzzy blur was and swiftly made the capture in a small plastic bucket. We then introduced him to his new home about 150 feet from the house. His big brother has since taken his place.

But far and away the most prominent animal denizen of our home made his arrival yesterday night. I heard him in the bathroom wall as I was brushing my teeth but thought that it was nothing more than a lizard or two. However, as we lay in bed trying to sleep we realized that the noise (coming now from the ceiling) was far too big a production for a mere couple lizards. Whatever it was, it was worth finding out. I pulled a chair into the shower, removed the trap door in the bathroom ceiling and pulled myself up to take a look. And there it was- our upstairs tenant, the pangolin. A pangolin is something of a cross between an armadillo and an anteater. It is about the size of a small cat but quite a bit heavier since it is covered by a sheath of scales. It somewhat resembles a living pine cone with a long tail and a longish snout. It has a soft underbelly, eyes that are a tad too big for its face and stubby legs tipped by a fair set of claws. It has a penchant for curling up into a little ball with its tail curled over its head when it feels threatened. Once I had successfully extracted the pangolin from his hiding place in the rafters, I lowered him into a bucket that Michelle was holding up. He squirmed out of it and scooted around the bathroom for a bit before he was prompted into his more docile discus shape.

A pangolin has to be one of the strangest creatures God has put on this planet. We simply wanted to watch him all night and all day. We kept him in an empty plastic trunk and threw a couple of shirts in with him as well as some sugar, a little bit of peanut butter and several ants (which are the staple of their diet). He slept most of the day. The Congolese that we let in on our discovery asked what we planned to do with him and we said in return that we would release him back into the woods. They were incredulous and would respond in the imperative: “Bwaka te. Ezali kitoko koliya”. Or “Don’t throw him back. He is very tasty.” But almost stranger than their appearance is the attachment we felt towards this creature. It is part fascination, part intrigue and a great part of it comes from the way he curled into a ball in my hands or crawled around my shoulders or hung from my arm by its tail. This evening we walked him back a ways by a tall tree and let him go. My family had one as a pet when we lived here when I was a kid. I remember a similar attachment then as well. Ours was named Spiny. I kissed his scales once and my friends told me I would get rabies. I believed them.

Our Lingala teachers, Guylein and Nicole

One week in (Photos)

One week in

We are now well into our initial trip and I believe a comprehensive update is in order, comparable in length to an Encyclopaedia Brittanica entry but with better pictures.

We arrived last Friday night and spent Saturday unpacking and resting. On Sunday we attended a church service which Michelle detailed in an earlier entry.

The real work began on Monday, when we began our Lingala classes. Sam and I are learning from our teacher, Guylien, while Michelle and Sarah are learning from another teacher, Nicole. The idea is to have the guys learn how to talk Lingala like real men and the girls how to talk Lingala like proper Congolese ladies. We'll see how that works out. Everything has been going well so far and we have been able to supplement our lessons in the morning with "extracurricular" activities such as a field trip to Guylien's garden, a visit to the river and the palm plantation here at Elikya and conversations with the widows and the orphans. And if not conversations (that may be a little too generous) then worthy attempts at least. The primary purpose of this initial trip is to learn Lingala.

The days here are rather predictable at this point. We wake up around 6:30 AM and have breakfast at 8. Guylien and Nicole arrive shortly after and we have class until noon. After lunch we take a brief siesta and then we do something in the afternoon that is oriented around language, Congolese culture or both. For instance we went to the outdoor market and the stores here on two separate occasions (we got rained out the first time) to get an idea of necessities (and some extras) that are available and where and how they can be bought.

Our living arrangements are constantly being improved. For example, today we have graduated from bucket showers to a barrel on a stand outside the house with a pipe that runs through the wall to a shower head. That's right, a shower head. The solar panels were also set up this week and our porch was enclosed somewhat. It really is amazing to consider the thought and the effort that has gone into this place to make it a home for us. We are extremely blessed by this "apartment" and the work that has gone into it.

This weekend we took an overnight trip to a neighboring town, Tandala. This used to be the big Free Church mission station in Congo and is the site of the hospital. It is also the childhood home of both Sam and myself so we were pretty excited to be there. We took a walk around the station and were able to see our old homes and the homes of our friends from almost 20 years ago. Everything seems smaller now- it's funny how that is. We met the doctors at the hospital (there are 4 right now), visited the dentist's office and the new wireless internet site as well. We returned to the Elikya Center today and our journey somewhat typifies travel here in the DRC: 10 of us in a Landcruiser, a chicken tied up on the roof with some other luggage, we were stopped once by the police at a checkpoint (they wanted a ride because their truck had broken down but we were already full), we were stopped once at a village (by a mob of men waving sticks and yelling during a tribal ritual), we were stopped once by a truck picking up a load of sand in the middle of the road (we ended up driving through a yard and over a couple banana trees to get around) and we stopped four times of our own accord to buy plantains, sugarcane, 2 laundry baskets and palm oil.

Now we are preparing for week number two. More Lingala and of course more mistakes, more people to meet, more relationships to build and more who-knows-what-else to come. We are extremely grateful for the chance to be here and to serve the Lord at the Elikya Center. Please keep us in your prayers. Pray that

• We will be quick learners of Lingala and would make the most of the remaining weeks of language training
  
• Jim Snyder will have a safe trip back to the US as he leaves here Wednesday morning. Jim is a former missionary to the Congo (then Zaire) and is the director of Touch Global, which has several projects in this part of the Congo. He is also Sam's father.
  
• We would have a healthy humility and a Christ-like attitude as we continue to work through our own inadequacies, mistakes and frustrations in making these adjustments, particularly in language-learning.

How to worship Jesus, Congo style…

Sunday was my (Michelle's) first experience worshipping in a Congolese church and I must say it blew me away. There's nothing quite like praising His name Congo style. The service at Bethlehem Church lasted for almost 5 hours, although we were told that it was an exceptionally long service that day, and the pastor thanked us for our patience.

You might be wondering, what happens at a Congolese Church service? Well let me share… The service was the first time since we've been here that we saw true Congolese culture shining through, without any western influence. They kicked things off with multiple songs from the men's, women's, and children's choir. Most of the choirs danced their way to the front and back to their seats. The congregation sang some songs (everyone claps or dances!), a pastor prayed, more singing, a pastor read some scripture, more praying, more singing, a pastor introduced all the pastors and visitors in the congregation of about 250 (including visiting pastors, notable guests and community members), more praying, a pastor introduced Jim Snyder, Jim Snyder introduced us and explained why we had come to the Elikya Center, more praying, more singing, a pastor gave an alter call, more praying, more singing, a pastor gave the sermon. Then came the offering… a pastor said that they were raising funds to build the foundation of the church or soon the termites would eat the walls and that would be shameful (it currently looks much like a large rectangular gazebo with mud floor, walls of bamboo posts lashed together and a corrugated tin roof decorated with flowers). The men, women, children, and visitors were assigned a specific person to give their offering to. Some musicians began to sing excitedly and play the drums as portions of the congregation rose and danced in lines up to give their offering. Giving is truly the focal point of the service and it was evident as people danced and sang their way to the front of the church. Soon after the sky opened and it began to pour, so the offering was extended and they continued to dance up and worship for 1 ½ hour. The whole offering we had been standing and after a while a couple ladies caught my eye. They were giggling and motioning for us to sit down. I think they felt badly that we had been standing so long. It amazed me that without any leading because of the rain the people continued to worship! Have you noticed some trends? It was so clear you couldn't miss that these people joyfully prayed, sang, and danced to the Glory of God!

All this to say… God is good at all times, in all places, and all His people worship joyfully!... We'll post pictures and video later if we are able!

Here at last (Photos)

Here at last

The past week has been both a rush and a slow march through time. Regardless, on Tuesday morning we woke up in Rockford, IL and now on Saturday we are finishing our first full day in the Congo at the Elikya Center. Here's how it all went down…

We took a flight from Chicago to Washington DC for a brief layover then boarded another plane for the overnight to Paris. We arrived early on Wednesday morning having hardly slept at all due to the change in time zones (I think that's the definition for jet lag). We then wandered around Charles deGaulle airport like zombies looking for Jim Snyder who was flying in on a separate flight. A German missionary we later met in Bangui described Jim as our "shepherd" on this trip and that's a good a description as any. He will be with us ten days to help us get settled and will then return to the US. Anyways, we finally found him and took the train to Paris for a day of sight-seeing. Those sights included the Eiffel Tower (of course), Notre Dame (of course) and L'Arc de Triomphe (of course). That night we caught the weekly red-eye to Bangui in the Central African Republic, arriving at dawn on Thursday. We spent the day and night catching up on sleep at a guesthouse in the city and the next morning crossed over into Congo. This consisted of taking a 7-seater dugout canoe with plenty of cargo space across the river to the town of Zongo. Following the traditional border-crossing nightmare that is customs we took a 7 ½ hour truck ride to the Elikya Center in Gemena. It really was a great experience and/but we are glad to be "home".

Today has been a day for unpacking and rejuvenation. We really are being spoiled here. Everybody in town was talking about how quickly our housing was built. It has electricity (from a generator for 3 hours each night) and will soon have a solar power connection for charging our laptops, keeping a micro-fridge cool and other uses during the day. We are sleeping on an air mattress in a frame that was built custom for it. "Armoires" were finished today and we enjoyed the sunset from the chairs on our porch. Mowa is the director of the Elikya Canter and we are at his house for every meal, all of them delicious. We have been overwhelmed by the welcome we have received here and the incredible kindness and warmth of our hosts and our neighbors.

Continue to pray for us! Praise the Lord for our safe trip and for the blessing of being with our Congolese brothers and sisters here in Gemena! We are ready to dive into Lingala Monday morning and are excited to move ahead in this transition.

3 days to go

The two and a half weeks we had between leaving our jobs in Lancaster, PA and leaving the country has been whittled down to a mere three days. We spent last weekend outside of Rockford, IL with Sam and Sarah Snyder going through some team-building instruction with Jim Snyder (EFCA TouchGlobal) and Lois McMartin (EFCA ENHANCE). We covered personality types, leadership issues, conflict management, culture stress and other issues that have the potential to disrupt the effectiveness of any team. Pray that we would handle these issues (if and when they come up) in a healthy and mature manner. Pray also that we would enjoy a strong bond of team unity, would put the needs of the ministry and of each other before our own and would honor the Lord in the way that we handle challenges and stressful situations.

Following our weekend with the Snyders, we headed up to my grandparent's place in Pembine, WI for a little rest and relaxation. We picked up some last-minute supplies, finished up some "office work" and said good-bye to my family and friends at camp. Of course there was some time for walks down Dixon Lane and through the woods, playing fetch with our dog, swimming at the lake and learning about Congolese culture and Lingala from "the veterans"- my mom, aunt and grandparents.

We are now back in Illinois, once again visiting with friends and getting ready to fly out on Tuesday.

Home, sweet home

Our new home for at least the 6-week trip (possibly longer).


It is a duplex to accomodate both couples.