Busy with good things

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.