30 Juin

DRC's Independence day is 30 June. We celebrated by driving to the center of the downtown area where a new park was recently completed. We enjoyed a relaxing day with our friends ... not too hot and no traffic! GREAT DAY!

Singing Basketball Star

This weekend we had a special visitor for dinner... Thurl Bailey.  He was here with the NGO he works with called Tifie. 

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]

Au Revoir

The theme for this trip to Pointe Noire and Cameroon is “Au Revoir” ! We came to say goodbye to 2 of our senior couples who have served so diligently for the past 18 months. We crossed the river to Brazzaville on Sunday morning and then went immediately to the airport where we got a flight to Pointe Noire. We were able to get to sacrament meeting in time to hear the Baxters give their farewell talks. They returned with mixed emotions…happy to see family and friends and sad to leave many dear Congolese friends behind.  Elder and Sister Baxter worked with both branches in Pointe Noire helping the leadership, teaching English, teaching hygiene classes and assisting the young missionary elders. They did all of this without speaking French!  We will surely miss them.

[caption id="attachment_342" align="aligncenter" width="1024" caption="Elder and Sister Baxter"][/caption]

We left the next day for Douala, Cameroon. Here we received two new American missionaries, Elder Buck and Elder Nash. The next day we had a zone conference and delivered Elder and Sister Willis and Elder Wigginton to the airport as they also finished their missions. The Willis’ worked in the two Douala branches to assist in many church activities, teaching with the elders and helping many of the members. They were very close to the American elders and will be missed by all!

[caption id="attachment_343" align="aligncenter" width="979" caption="Elder Wigginton and the Willis Couple"][/caption]



We had the delight of spending some time with our new Yaounde Couple…the Thompsons from Alberta, Canada. They have been here just 2 weeks. Now they  will be stewards over both Yaounde and Douala which will keep them very busy.

[caption id="attachment_345" align="aligncenter" width="694" caption="Our newest couple, the Thompsons"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_347" align="aligncenter" width="791" caption="Yaounde Elders welcome new couple, the Thompsons"][/caption]

While in Douala we visited the newly-renovated Bonaberi apartment of the elders. It is big enough to hold branch sacrament meeting in…until they exceed 80 members or so. The elders here worked really hard cleaning and painting and fixing and the result was spectacular!

[caption id="attachment_346" align="aligncenter" width="1024" caption="Bonaberi Apartment"][/caption]

Unfortunately it is a two-day trip home for us… one leg to Brazzaville and then first thing Tuesday morning we will cross back over the river to Kinshasa. We are often at the mercy of plane, boat and bus schedules.

Elaine Dalton Visit

We were delighted to have a special visitor from Salt Lake...Elaine Dalton, the church YW general president. She and her husband came with the Renlunds for a weekend visit. They did Stake training, focus groups, visited some YW homes and a Young Adult fireside. The first day she arrived we had a dinner for all the stake YW presidents and their husbands. (23 in all).

[caption id="attachment_368" align="aligncenter" width="879" caption="Kinshasa Stake YW leaders with Elaine Dalton"][/caption]

Mission Tour

A mission tour is when we do a round of zone conferences accompanied by a General Authority, in most cases a member of the Area Presidency.  We recently had a mission tour with Elder and Sister Renlund.  We started out crossing the Congo River to attend a stake conference in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. We did leadership training  for Priesthood leadership and auxiliaries, attended and spoke at the adult conference session on Saturday and then attended conference in a large parliament building on Sunday. After conference we toured the Brazzaville ward buildings all afternoon.

[caption id="attachment_350" align="aligncenter" width="1024" caption="Members at Stake Conference"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_351" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="President Headlee and Elder Mkhabela"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_355" align="aligncenter" width="1024" caption="Neighborhood"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_352" align="aligncenter" width="1024" caption="Little girl in neighborhood playing making dinner for her dolls"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_357" align="aligncenter" width="1024" caption="Road in front of church building"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_358" align="aligncenter" width="1024" caption="Baptismal Font made from container"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359" align="aligncenter" width="680" caption="Egg McMuffins available for breakfast outside hotel"]

[/caption]

Neighbor Girls

[caption id="attachment_363" align="aligncenter" width="1024" caption="Driving through the back streets of Brazzaville"][/caption]

We were supposed to go to Douala, Cameroon the next morning, but an unexpected strike there forced us to call it off so we headed back to Kinshasa instead.

On Wednesday we returned to Brazzaville to conduct a zone conference with all the missionaries. Our Pointe Noire missionaries took the short 45 minute flight to join us in Brazzaville. We returned back across the river that same afternoon.

[caption id="attachment_361" align="aligncenter" width="1104" caption="Barge crossing Congo....remember Waterworld?"]

[/caption]

We had a day of R&R and then conducted Kinshasa zone conferences Friday and Saturday.

[caption id="attachment_364" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Kinshasa Zones part 1"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_365" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Kinshasa Zones part 2"][/caption]

Renlunds left for Johannesburg and we prepared for a quick 2 night visit in Pointe Noire. We flew up Monday and returned Wednesday, making our 3^rd river crossing in 10 days!  We enjoyed spending time with the Baxters, who leave in just 2 weeks.

Hair

One thing we see a lot of here in Africa is amazing hairstyles. Sometimes it is hard to know if it is a wig or real hair!  African women claim they don't have very good hair and so they love to embellish what they have with hair extensions or wigs or both!  When they braid their hair it is often done with intricate and complicated patterns.

Here is a funny story. We recently visited Kananga. President Headlee had over 16 interviews to do for young men and young women who wanted to serve missions. I took their pictures for their applications. We had 3 young girls in their 20’s who needed their photos.  After the first one was finished the next girl wanted to borrow the first girl’s wig for the photo. Then when it was time for the 3^rd girl’s picture she also wanted to borrow the same wig! …So all three girls wore the same wig for their photo. See them below without wigs/with them/and as they appeared the next day:







Let’s take a hair tour of the Congo….

Sometimes women and girls simply have no hair at all. These beautiful African women can get away with that!



[caption id="attachment_297" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="(No hair, no bugs!)"][/caption]

Many many women wear a fabric headpiece to match their dress....









A scarf can be a fashion statement....or not!



I have seen some pretty creative hair nets....perhaps a style we could bring to the States...!



Women here spend a lot of time getting their hair done. Braiding is a fine art. And sometimes not!  Braids can be close to the head...







...or reaching out to outer space!





Sometimes hair extensions can help add bulk and length..



Everyone has their own style...and here the styles are endless!  No two are ever alike...unless they want to be...



It is interesting to see that even little baby girls have hair extensions. They also put lots of colorful beads and trinkets in their hair.

















[caption id="attachment_316" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Never too young!"][/caption]









[caption id="attachment_335" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Young women in Kananga"][/caption]

















Have a great hair day!