June... our 12th month in DR Congo!

We are coming up on our one year anniversary here in DR Congo. The time has just flown by. As we approach the 1st of July there will be some big changes for our second year... at that time our mission will be split. President Gary Packer and his wife, Paula will be taking the helm of the newly-created DRC Lubumbashi mission. It will include some of our most remote spots in the south and eastern parts of DR Congo, including the country of Burundi.  Mbuji Mayi, Luputa, Mwene Ditu, Likasi, Kolwezi and Lubumbashi will no longer be in our stewardship. It fills us with relief and sadness at the same time!  We have come to love the people in the Kasai and Katanga areas of the DRC.  We made one final trip to Lubumbashi to say goodbye to our 58 elders and sisters there.  Goodbyes are especially hard here since we may never pass through some of these areas again and we truly have come to love the people here. Here are our photos of this last trip....

[caption id="attachment_382" align="aligncenter" width="1024" caption="Katuba Lubumbashi Zone"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_383" align="aligncenter" width="1024" caption="Lubumbashi Zone"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_384" align="aligncenter" width="1024" caption="Likasi Zone"][/caption]

Did I mention that we also have a "special" zone now in Lubumbashi?????  It is called the Tired Zone!  It seems that some of our elders and sisters have worked way too hard.

[caption id="attachment_385" align="aligncenter" width="1024" caption="These elders and sisters seem to need a little ZIP to get going again!!!"][/caption]

The wonderful Assistants to the President, Elders Nkong and Kabengele...now assisting President Packer.



It was wonderful to visit the city of Likasi one last time as we attended the District Conference. We were happy to see two of the sisters that had just finished their missions 2 weeks earlier and returned to their homes in Likasi.

[caption id="attachment_387" align="aligncenter" width="1024" caption="Sister Kankonde and Sister Ntumba are now RETURN missionaries!"][/caption]

We also were happy to meet the parents and families of some of our missionaries still serving.

[caption id="attachment_388" align="aligncenter" width="1024" caption="This wonderful Kapele family has TWO sons serving with us in Kinshasa!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_389" align="aligncenter" width="1024" caption="This brother also has 2 sons serving in our mission! "][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_390" align="aligncenter" width="1024" caption="This baby is the same age as my granddaughter Paige...so I needed to hold her!"][/caption]





[caption id="attachment_393" align="aligncenter" width="682" caption="Dressed in Sunday Best !"][/caption]





[caption id="attachment_396" align="aligncenter" width="684" caption="Everybody looks pretty for church!"][/caption]



[caption id="attachment_399" align="aligncenter" width="681" caption="These clothes don't look all that great on white women...but the African women love it when we dress like they do!"][/caption]







[caption id="attachment_403" align="aligncenter" width="1024" caption="Likasi elders..... Elder Muyanna & Elder Zafimananjara...great English speakers!"][/caption]