photos from first week back

Rwanda sure is pretty, and I won’t miss winter!

Back in Bukavu since yesterday and This view doesn’t get old. it’s so encouraging the conversations and activities we get to be part of here! Small group leader training tomorrow, church-wide picnic the next day and leadership training on Saturday! (Also, Internet is still limited here, so don’t worry if I’m slow to respond.)

Panel of small group facilitators whose groups have multiplied and they’ve started new groups. They share wisdom and encourage all of us!

Sweet fellowship with our LePhare family and visitors on this church outing to the only “park” (paid of course) around.

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.