Four days to go…

Today is our last Friday in Congo. We are driving away from the Elikya Center at around 4:30 AM next Wednesday morning. We will arrive in Bangui that evening, spend the night and leave late the following night. We land first in Paris for a 5-hour layover then fly to Copenhagen to catch our connecting flight to Chicago. We should arrive in O'Hare at around 5:30 PM on Friday.

All four of us here are excited about our return to the US. We look forward to spending time with friends and family and also to sharing about the Elikya Center and the work that is happening here in Congo. We are looking forward to the little things too- 2% milk, orange juice, being able to go grocery shopping, being able to speak English, enjoying the freedom that comes with having a car and highways at our disposal, etc.

Learning Lingala has been a constant drain on the brain, as learning any language is. We are encouraged by the progress we've made while at the same time realizing that when we return next year it will be much the same at first: slow, steady, not without effort and infinitely rewarding.

Our last week here has been a busy one. On Monday we were at the house of the President of CECU (Congolese Free Church) for lunch. On Tuesday we got pineapple plants, plantain and banana trees for planting, burned the stubble in our garden and went to Mama Susa's (she works with the widows as a teacher) for lunch. On Wednesday we were back at the mission as Nicole (the girls' Lingala teacher) left for university in Kinshasa. We were then at the house of Mama Francoise (accountant for Global Fingerprints, a child sponsorship program administered by CECU). On Thursday we made the 2 ½ hour trip to Bwamanda and back for a look at the work of CDI (Centre de Développement Intégral),which does a great deal of agricultural, water resources and infrastructure development in the region. Today we were at the house of Guylain (our other Lingala teacher) for his birthday celebration. With all the walking we did it turns into a nearly all day affair. Tomorrow we are planting our garden. On Sunday we are singing a song and giving our testimonies in Lingala in the church service. That brings us back to Monday and we begin packing and preparing for the long trip home.

Once we arrive in the US we will have about four days respite before we are to attend PT Live in Minneapolis. This is something akin to a final training before our mission term begins. We will be attending with several other ReachGlobal missionaries in their final months before departure for their respective fields.

Maladies in Congo

Well, as it goes, with short-term mission trips I (Michelle) was bound to end up with some sickness or another, and so I have. Roughly 2 weeks ago I woke up with a stomachache and fever, which I took medicine for and the next day felt like my old self. Still it seemed like my body was set to revolt against me, as a few old mosquito bites became infected and have stayed that way long after my fever had gone. I tried treating them myself as I would in the US (washing with soap and water and applying anti-biotic ointment), but them seemed to get worse by the day. I decided to tell Lute (the wife of the director of Elikya) who is trained as a nurse. I told her how I had been treating my Mpota (cut or sore) which had now become a small hole in my arm/leg and she in was not pleased. Instead she set to working on cleaning out my infections with some products of her own. I started reading the labels of the Kisi (medicine) she was using and saw that she was washing the it with an aloe based body spray moisturizer, she then applied an aloe based cream moisturizer, and finished with a big glob of aloe based toothpaste! I picked up the toothpaste and said, "Kisi oyo ezali mpo na mino?" (Isn't this "medicine" for teeth?) She smiled and said yes, but it's also good for healing. A couple days of this repeated treatment and things were looking better. There was still something that concerned her though, so yesterday she changed the medicine she was applying to a clear gel, and this container did look more like a tube of medicine, but on reading this label I saw it was anti-biotic eye ointment. My bites are healing and I have to say I am amazed! For instead of being healed by western medicine I have been saved by moisturizer, toothpaste, and eye ointment! (Pictures not included as they might gross you out)

Clearing our garden

What's for dinner?

Palm Grubs

Many Congolese ask us if we're getting used to the climate here and to the food. We generally respond in the affirmative. Not to everything, but to most things. Meals here generally consist of a combination of the following foods:

Mosuni (meat): usually chicken in sauce or fried fish, sometimes goat or pig

Ndunda (vegetables): usually leafy greens in palm oil

Loso (rice): part of every meal just about

Mbuma (fruit): pineapple, avocado, papaya or oranges

Fuku: cassava root "paste" mixed with corn

Mpondu: cassava leaves in palm oil

Mabenge: potatos

Makemba: plantains

And in the picture above, there are some other tasty morsels which we have only been served once. Most of us are happy about that.

Almost halfway (Photos)

Almost halfway

We have been here at the Elikya Center for just about 24 days now; that's over three weeks and that's just about halfway. Everything has gone well thus far and pretty much according to plan.

Lingala learning is now well underway. Three weeks in, though, and we don't know it all yet. Shame. Six weeks is an extraordinarily fast course for a language. When we return next January (God-willing) we will, of course, continue to learn as we begin in full our ministry here at Elikya. As of right now, everyone is picking it up quite well. Michelle and Sarah, who didn't have the privilege of our head start are forming sentences, telling stories and explaining how to make tacos, all in Lingala. Our Lingala teachers don't know English which has made it difficult at times but has been good at other times. After all, the only way we can find out what a Lingala word is sometimes is to use more Lingala. And using more Lingala is never a bad thing.

Our days here revolve around our morning classes. Every weekday except Wednesday, Guylain and Nicole generally arrive around 8:30 AM. We then begin going through our lesson for the day. Once we come up against noon, they leave us saying "Tokomonana lobi" or "We'll see each other tomorrow." The afternoons are spent in personal or group study or in conversing with whoever happens to be around. On Wednesdays and Saturdays the girls have a day off of class, but study Lingala on their own or spend time getting to know the widows. Meanwhile, Sam and I go on a "field trip" with Guylain that is meant to enhance both our Lingala learning and our cultural understanding. So far we have walked to the stores in the center of Gemena and have gone to a garden to learn how to plant manioc, pineapple and bananas and plantains. Yesterday I walked with Guylain to the other side of the marketplace to buy a Lingala songbook for church today. These field trips generally include a lot of walking but that's okay.

We were told that during intensive language learning there are two things we need: 1) plenty of rest and 2) an outlet for physical activity. We have an hour-long siesta here just about every day so we're getting the rest we need. Walking is one good outlet for physical activity and the other is, of course, soccer. Michelle and I have played three times in the past week. The Director's kids have a penchant for playing, and even more now that they know the mindele (white people) will play with them. The game quickly grows as neighborhood kids miraculously seem to sense that there is a game going on and are drawn like moths to a flame. I get extremely sweaty and dirty by the end of the game and usually have some sort of ailment on my feet afterwards (blister, bruise or cut) but those are all elements of a good time.

The other day of the week, Sunday, has not yet developed into a day of rest for us. We have been to three church services so far. One was 5 hours on the dot, the next week was about 5 and a half hours and the next was about 4 hours and 50 minutes. During one service we were escorted from the sanctuary during the service into a side room for coffee and bread. When we were finished, we were brought back to our seats. They wanted to make sure we had the stamina to last the rest of the service. As Michelle explained a couple weeks ago, a Congolese church service really is an amazing time. The church is filled with people who make their praises and their prayers heard. During the songs there is an expression of sheer joy and absolute reverence on their faces. You can hardly hear the moyembisi (song leader) because the congregation is singing with such force. It is incredible. The most joyful time of the whole service is the offering. The congregation walks or dances up to the front of the church to give what they have to the work of God. Here again, to see the joy expressed by those who have so little and give so much is humbling.

This week we are in for yet another week of Lingala. Pray for stamina and that we would continue to be quick learners. In our "free time" we are also completing an online prep course that is required by ReachGlobal to go overseas in a ministry capacity. Pray for stamina in that regard as well. Thank you for your prayers and for your updates and notes of encouragement.

Prayer Request Update

Lingala learning is going well. Pray that we would continue to learn and that we would be bold in inviting and seeking out conversation. Pray that we would not be discouraged when our progress is not as quick as we'd like.

We have been awed and blessed by the kindness and the warmth of the people here at the Elikya Center and in the local church. Pray that we would continue to build solid relationships with the Director of the Center and his family (Mowa, his wife Luta, and their kids), with Robert (our houseguy)and the CECU church leadership.

We have begun cooking a few meals a day for ourselves and this has proved to be a challenge. We cook over hot coals and we are unable to access our finances or go shopping here (there is no stable bank so we ask for funds from Mowa who is reimburse by ReachGlobal and then Robert goes shopping in the market because we wouldn't get fair prices). So explaining meals and amounts we want to make has been challenging and stretching in a good way. Please pray for good communication and patience as we relearn this skill.