Hi Friends,
We’ve been busy here! The last couple weeks
have had a lot of positives, which is a huge blessing and a breath of fresh
air! I’m happy to share with you some of the good things.
We had a hymn-sing (it’s a Mennonite thing)
with a couple guitars, violin and hand drum, followed by eating ice cream and
cake. [Back story: Mark and I were approached by a white man in the grocery store who
overheard us speaking English, and when he heard we were missionaries, he asked
if we were interested in an English-speaking fellowship group. He and his wife
lived here twenty years ago when there were a lot more missionaries but since
they came back in 2014, they haven’t found many people interested. Mark and I
deduced that they would be good friends with our Program Coordinators because
they both have grandkids and like to talk about them and they’ve both been
missionaries in Africa for a long time.] This couple joined us for the
hymn-sing, and we enjoyed watching more and more similarities come out between
these two couples: they don’t speak French, just Swahili and English, he likes
to do electrical work on the side, she is in the medical field, etc. So that
was a fun connection to make and felt like a success! (even though we hadn’t
set out to find friends for Clair and Beth).
We had our annual performance appraisal
reviews that went positively and were good outlets for constructive
conversations about some of the problems we’ve been experiencing.
Our church had rented a meeting hall for
2016, but in October the person we’d rented the building from lost a lawsuit
regarding ownership of the building, and we got the boot. So we were nomads for
a few months, renting a meeting room on Sundays in a hotel. God answered our
prayers and provided another semi-permanent location for the church, and it has
a great view and easy parking! When we entered the service on Sunday, there was
such a sense of peace and goodness about the meeting room. We’re excited to
continue to be part of this body of believers. The name, LePhare, means "lighthouse" (or "headlight" like of a car) in French. We have an awesome mission statement: "At LePhare Bukavu, we are a biblical family on mission. God has called us to serve the city of Bukavu for the greater glory of Jesus. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we hope to be a biblically functioning community of believers that shine the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our neighborhood so that Christ's redemptive purposes can be accomplished through the transformation of our city."
Check out the church’s website and listen
to our pastor’s great sermons: http://lepharebukavu.org/bienvenuewelcome
We got invited to the home of a guy from
our church who recently got married. We usually stay in the office and just
taking care of ourselves (shopping, getting water when it’s not on in our house
for a week at a time, exercising for good attitudes, etc.). It was nice to get
out into the community and really do the cross-cultural thing! ;) It was rather
awkward as the wife seemed to complain a lot and criticize her new husband, and
when Mark debriefed with the pastor, he said the newlyweds were asking us for
money… I was still glad we went and got to have that interaction, even if it
was uncomfortable and still revolved around finances.
Also, we finally made plans to climb the
volcano just outside of Goma!!! With two good friends! It all came together
really quickly and we’re very excited… You can await our photos and stories
after March 5-6. I will make sure Mark has his boots.
Frisbee has been going well. We’ve had a
good number of players, and they’re getting much better so it feels like a real
game! Last week, there was a French guy who is a serious ultimate player who
joined us, so Mark had some competition, finally!
For the Seed program, we’ve just celebrated
ONE YEAR! And we’re finally in a place we’re starting to talk about being
strategic and intentional. So that’s exciting to me. I like to PLAN and
ORGANIZE!
Also, my last class for my MA is going well
and almost over, and our plans for our visit home are coming together. Praise
God. AND I got my passport back from Kinshasa after having to send it in again to get my residence visa moved from my old passport to the new one.
Please keep praying for God to provide a
good work assignment for Mark.
