Family Christmas photos

We're safely back in the US since Tuesday night. Enjoying sweet time with family. (Here with Mark's family.) Please keep praying for the DRC! The elections have just been postponed for a week.

Dawson Christmas celebration

Serious cookie decorating going on today with cousins on the Hartman side

photos week of Dec 16

Christmas party with expat small group. We had a great white elephant gift exchange!

Weather here has been wet and cold the past few days. Frisbee got rained out on Saturday, so those who showed up came to our house to watch a “real” ultimate game on Mark’s computer. 😊 Frisbee girls’ Bible study also rained out today. 🙁

Baptisms at church today! Praise God for what He’s doing here. It’s such a privilege to be part of it.

Still cloudy and cool but it was dry long enough to get out for some laps! This is where we play Frisbee and is usually very crowded, but apparently not so in the middle of a school day.

End-of-year lunch with church staff! Pastor Nicolas in the foreground

snippet of Congo life

This evening, we were leaving our house to go to a Christmas party with our expat Bible study group. 

 

First task is to call the neighbor who has parked us in to ask him to move his car. (This is normal because parking is limited.) 

 

He said it would take a couple minutes more than usual because his battery was stolen last night. (Like someone opened the hood of his car and took the battery out. It also happened to a second neighbor! They both park their cars on the street because there are only three spaces inside the fence.)

 

So he had bought a backup car battery but was keeping it in his apartment, so he had his worker carry down the car battery and they installed it so he could pull to the other side of the street so we could get our car out. 

 

Then when we got home, we called him to let him know so they could move the car back in front of our parking spot.  

 

#congoadventures

week in pictures December 7

Nature is decorating for Christmas here! #redandgreenchristmas

Normal life in Congo includes a fair amount of dodging drying laundry. 😉

love finding reasons to laugh in unexpected places, like this hand-washing basin. (Lots of cheap plastic stuff from China) #valentinesday #letsourhealthjoyfuleachday 🤣

Dec 2 week in pictures

Crafting on my Sabbath day. “All manner of things shall be well.” #julianofnorwich

It’s election season in Congo and campaigning has begun! “If someone explains Congolese politics to you and you understand, they didn’t explain it well.” 🤣 #dec23 #lordhavemercy

An ideal place to do some translation work. Mark is working on translating a book that has games for small groups which facilitate learning spiritual lessons.

Christmas decorations for our home in Congo. I ❤️ when we have electricity to light the tree. Also, this tree was a gift from Mayfield RHA (the girls’ dorm at our college) 14 years ago!!!

two weeks worth of photos

We live here. So thankful for the natural beauty that helps us be resilient when there is so much hard stuff going on in the lives of people here.

We went to visit friends from church in a neighborhood where we (the church) are hoping to plant a new campus. Pray for Bagira, this community, and that God continues to move here.

 

m enjoying hosting a gathering of expatriate Christians in our home weekly. Gives me a good reason to BAKE! 😁

We have been going out to lunch with the different church staff members to hear their stories and it’s been incredible! This is Augustin and he is an example that this county needs: sold out for the Gospel and motivated to work hard to serve others.

We live in a hilly, densely-populated city, but there are still so beautiful sunsets if you’re paying attention!

Thanksgiving in Congo. Thankful for friends, food and most of all God’s grace.

Photos week of November 11

Don’t forget the reality here. High walls and UN vehicles. These are the civilian vehicles. We see many with mounted guns and peacekeepers in full combat gear.

An intersection in our city where one of the main markets is located. It’s always a bit chaotic!

We went to visit friends from church in a neighborhood where we (the church) are hoping to plant a new campus. Pray for Bagira, this community, and that God continues to move here.

photos week of Nov 5

Here are some glimpses of our week!

Sunday school! 24 kids, from 2 to 12 years old and two teachers in a simple room with some benches. Madeleine did a great job teaching psalm 23 and prepping coloring sheets.

Birthday celebration 35.0

Drummer boy

We had an all-day Frisbee event today, and it was really great! Lots of participation, perfect weather and mostly good attitudes. It’s pretty cool to be part of this.

This is the field where we often play.

We had a small meal. Bread, fruit and avocados!

We got to celebrate a marriage today! An American girl marrying a Congolese guy, and we don’t know either very well but we had a nice time.

week of Oct 27 photos

This is the Catholic center where Mark goes once a week to pray. Since there are no parks and it’s rare to find a quiet piece of nature, we’re especially grateful to enjoy the serenity of this place. It’s also where we had a retreat the weekend in July 2017 when I told God I was willing to consider staying in Congo! I was thankful to be back on Tuesday morning.

Happy birthday, Honey! Celebrating with bacon and chocolate croissants

The last Friday of every month, we gather to pray for the nation. This week, we were especially aware of the upcoming presidential elections as there were protests on Friday as well.

Pictures catch-up

So I've been pretty good about posting pictures regularly on Facebook and Instragram, but maybe some of you who read this blog don't do that kind of social media, so I'm going to try to post weekly here to share the pictures from the week! Here are a bunch of photos from the five weeks!

Neighbor boys are glad we're back!

Here is Bukavu! THe view of our city from where we play frisbee during rainy season. With two frisbee players

So happy to be back with our Biblical family on mission in Bukavu, DRC! Here we are with Pastor Nic and his wife Rachel.

I always notice this staircase when I walk by.

This is the view from a friend's apartment. I never tire of the different lake views!

My quiet study place at home

Lunch with a friend from frisbee, collaborator in many other pursuits. He took us to a new restaurant and ordered fish that was cooked in the banana leaves in front of me.

These are some of the eight Seed participants I co-led for two years. Good to see them again!

I love this lake! Some people don't get in because they're scared of this or that, but it's so refreshing and beautiful!

These past few days have been long (language learning) and dusty/smoky/dry (no rain and little water in the taps) - yuck! But playing frisbee with these girls brings me joy!

In line waiting for water...

To get to our church, you walk down this alleyway, enter a door on the right and climb 4 flights of stairs.

We went out to swim on our Sabbath, but it started raining. I didn't mind sitting and reading, and Mark swam anyways. Isn't it lovely?!

Studying Swahili...in French. God help me!

Waiting for Frisbee girls to come through this gate for our first Bible study

They came!

I've never been so proud of a "C" grade in my life! Level 1 Swahili exam!

God has called our church to serve the city of Bukavu for the greater glory of Jesus.