Let's face it. Sometimes I feel pretty down over here. This is typically driven by the often-recurring idea "things are going to stay like they are; they're not getting better."
However, I just want to post in a time when I can say that things are getting better! All kinds of things, in fact! For example, Karen and I moved out of our place three weeks ago. Today we finally said goodbye (good riddance!) to that landlord. I just deleted several sentences telling you about her, but it's better form to just say that we are quite glad we moved. In our new place we have a nice landlord, and we're around Congolese people, and the rent is 1/2 what it was, and it's a 5 min walk to our office, and it's just better in so many ways.
Related to that, we just found out that we're having Chinese neighbors move into the newly finished apartments upstairs. This is a positive development in several respects. First, they're here to pave the road in front of our new place, which is currently really really bad (as opposed to the other roads, which are merely really bad). Second, we will be having electricity almost 24/7 with them here because they need a special wire for their work, and they have to connect the entire apartment to it to access it. Third, they've brought their own security guards, which will also increase our own security at this place. In fact, if we had moved in after them, the rent would have been significantly higher. But God sent us here at the right time, and we're very grateful.
The road is also a symbol for Bukavu in general. Even though sometimes I feel like it's the least developed city of a million people in the world, and it's infrastructure was better 60 years ago than it is today, things are going to get better. This road is proof, and it affects lots of people, not just us (unlike the other things I've mentioned in this post).
Karen and mine's language ability is about to get a lot better. Because we're going to official French language school in Brussels for 6 weeks! We leave on June 22nd and are very much looking forward to time to be truly immersed in French (in Bukavu people speak Swahili more than French, which makes it quite hard to actually acquire French). This is another area what once felt like "I'll never get it!" but where change is coming.
Also, Karen and I have both been consistently facing a certain difficulty with our work. In the space of 72 hours, and quite unexpectedly, it has evaporated. We're still frankly shocked this has happened so quickly. It has felt like it could never get better, but all of the sudden it is. We feel quite grateful for this turn of events.
With all of these things together, Karen and I are feeling the sense that we can now really focus on the work that we (especially Karen) came to DRC to do! We're feeling quite starry-eyed and excited about the possibilities now, and are looking forward to what God has in store.
Here's some pictures that are otherwise unrelated to this post!
However, I just want to post in a time when I can say that things are getting better! All kinds of things, in fact! For example, Karen and I moved out of our place three weeks ago. Today we finally said goodbye (good riddance!) to that landlord. I just deleted several sentences telling you about her, but it's better form to just say that we are quite glad we moved. In our new place we have a nice landlord, and we're around Congolese people, and the rent is 1/2 what it was, and it's a 5 min walk to our office, and it's just better in so many ways.
Related to that, we just found out that we're having Chinese neighbors move into the newly finished apartments upstairs. This is a positive development in several respects. First, they're here to pave the road in front of our new place, which is currently really really bad (as opposed to the other roads, which are merely really bad). Second, we will be having electricity almost 24/7 with them here because they need a special wire for their work, and they have to connect the entire apartment to it to access it. Third, they've brought their own security guards, which will also increase our own security at this place. In fact, if we had moved in after them, the rent would have been significantly higher. But God sent us here at the right time, and we're very grateful.
The road is also a symbol for Bukavu in general. Even though sometimes I feel like it's the least developed city of a million people in the world, and it's infrastructure was better 60 years ago than it is today, things are going to get better. This road is proof, and it affects lots of people, not just us (unlike the other things I've mentioned in this post).
Karen and mine's language ability is about to get a lot better. Because we're going to official French language school in Brussels for 6 weeks! We leave on June 22nd and are very much looking forward to time to be truly immersed in French (in Bukavu people speak Swahili more than French, which makes it quite hard to actually acquire French). This is another area what once felt like "I'll never get it!" but where change is coming.
Also, Karen and I have both been consistently facing a certain difficulty with our work. In the space of 72 hours, and quite unexpectedly, it has evaporated. We're still frankly shocked this has happened so quickly. It has felt like it could never get better, but all of the sudden it is. We feel quite grateful for this turn of events.
With all of these things together, Karen and I are feeling the sense that we can now really focus on the work that we (especially Karen) came to DRC to do! We're feeling quite starry-eyed and excited about the possibilities now, and are looking forward to what God has in store.
Here's some pictures that are otherwise unrelated to this post!
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| Here's a view of the motorcycle ride I went on just before vacation. Outside of Bukavu it looks like this, and it's beautiful. Mostly between 5000-8000 ft. above sea level. |
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| This is me after the motorcycle ride. |
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| Sunset in Kinshasa |
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| Another one |
Really glad to see this upbeat post & hear that various things are changing for the better for you guys. I've been wanting to send a message to the MONUSCO force, "Hey Bozos! Get back in there & straighten out Congo for my nephew and niece!" Now I'm going to have to be grateful to the Chinese! This will be difficult...
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