Food for Mind, Body & Spirit

A pretty pink Hibiscus on the Church grounds reminded me of my beloved Florida.  I'm very thankful that our Heavenly Father gave us so many beautiful things to enjoy with each of our senses.

Eating out with the Staggs last Friday, we had these condiments brought to us.  The closest and largest is mayonnaise, which the Congolese LOVE!  Next to it is ketchup, which they never give you enough of.
 Finally, a small quantity of "red stuff", which  should be accompanied by a sign clearly stating:
 "Do NOT eat this if you value your life!"

This was my meal...  slaw (always chock-full of mayonnaise & bland), fried plantains  (similar in looks & taste to banana & a BIG favorite in the Congo), and some beef pieces on a skewer that seemed more boiled than grilled.
Still looking for a restaurant with a good menu selection and preparation.

Admittedly my plate was more appetizing than Sister Stagg's.  I don't know... call me picky, but I don't like eating something that is looking back at me.

Sweet Sister Kalonji.  She was in the Saturday choir at our Stake Conference, along with six other siblings, including a brother who we know from the Mission Office.  He is part of a 7 week rotating employment plan to help returned missionaries earn money by cleaning the office once a week.  She is also a returned missionary and she & her brother are both going to college.  In addition, she is engaged to be married soon in the Johannesburg temple.

For those who are interested in style, I wanted to capture one of the countless ways that Congolese women make their dresses unique.  This one has a pleated skirt that flares (just the bottom half of the dress).  She is talking with her friend, Boris Kabeya, who kindly sat with us that day to translate and did the general translation for earphones  the next day.

On Sunday, it was an amazing thing for us was to arrive more than an hour early and find the choir singing and the chapel, the overflow and  most of the cultural hall, not only full, but with the people listening quietly and reverently.  The total attendance was around 2,000 with about half in adjoining classrooms equipped with sound.
There are ten wards meeting in eight chapels in the Kinshasa Stake (like a Diocese).
 Our Kasa-Vubu Ward, meets in this building.  From this angle, we usually sit on the left, close to the front & next to the windows (to better access the Wi-Fi connection for my Kindle Fire's LDS Library and "iTranslate" apps) 

These little cuties were trying to talk to me in French & hoping to better understand what they were saying, I leaned in. The one on the left suddenly moved forward & gave me a quick kiss on the cheek.  Then we all laughed at his audacity. I asked, "May I take a photo?" to which they enthusiastically agreed.  When I showed it to them, they giggled happily. After that, I noticed that they were sort of "following" me through the throng of departing people outside and then the one on the right sidled up to me, with his friend watching him expectantly, and said with a smile, "Give me some money." Now, by way of explanation, this was not necessarily because I took his picture and he wanted some reimbursement (although it COULD have been).  But the Congolese culture is such that if someone is perceived to have money or to have some possession that is admired, it is not a shameful or awkward thing for a person to simply ASK them for it.
If they are refused, there is no embarrassment.  In this case, I got such a kick out of this little guy that I just reacted with laughter, shook my finger at him and teasingly said, "Ohhhh, no you don't!"  They thought I was funny.

This little girl sat in front of us.  I think she had her big sisters shirt on because her shoulders couldn't keep it up.
She gave me permission to take a picture of her unusual braid-do.  

There was no more room on the row with her family, so this young girl sat next to George..  What she lacked in braids, she made up with in sparkle paint on her hairline and sparkly gold shoes.

Across the aisle sat a young girl who watched us throughout with what I can only describe as a "bemused" expression. I motioned to ask if I could take her picture and a very small "Mona Lisa" smile appeared.

This picture was taken after the meeting.  All of the Senior Missionaries and the Jamesons went up to the railing to listen as the choir sang several "postlude" hymns..  including "Joy to the World".  The first two men in the front row from left, are returned missionaries, Kalonji & Bienvenue, currently & previously employed at the office short-term.   This choir was so remarkable for several reasons... They took great pains to look uniform and attractive with their suits & ties for the men and matching purple scarves and dark skirts and white blouses for the women; they began singing about an hour before Conference and, when the electricity/organ went out (several times), they simply sang acapella  through several hymns, in perfect harmony; they always sang with great volume and enthusiasm.  After the closing prayer, as people began to leave the chapel, they continued to sing, informally, for several minutes & blessed those of us who stayed to listen.

Very few people have cars & taxis are awful, so this bus was chartered by the members of one of the wards in  the stake.  Every seat and every INCH of "squeezed together" standing room in the aisles was taken.

Across the busy road from the entrance to the chapel, these waiting buses were also rented and the members packed in like sardines to return home.



The beauty of the women and their lovely dresses always compels me to take a picture.
  Here are three members waiting for a taxi outside the compound after the Conference.  

And, here is the oft-mentioned dinner on Sunday night.  What you see here is a wide variety of Congolese favorites.  First, the best of all was some sweet fresh pineapple which was excellent, then you see the grilled chicken (delicious) and rice (very good) with a fried yam (good).  Now it starts to go downhill.  Also on this plate are items with varying degrees of appeal.  I HAD to eat some "Foo Foo", which is pretty much a blob of grey-ish matter that you pull off and wad into a ball & eat.  I would say it was like eating paste, but paste has a flavor.  Even Hawaiian poi is better than this! Then there was another item made out of cassava (same result), Then there was some fish that I just couldn't bring myself to eat lest it came out of the Congo River or any tributary thereof.   Of course, there was the ubiquitous cole slaw and FINALLY, the real delicacy of the Congo... roasted black caterpillars.  They were heaped up in a huge, industrial-size bowl and our Church contractor from Geneva happily popped one in his mouth to show me how good they are. I almost vomited on the spot.   You will see that I placed them on my plate so that nothing was actually touching them.  But, their bulbous eyes watched me quietly as I tried to sample most of the things on the plate & still keep it all down.
In the end, those repulsive critters prevailed.  I kept the food that I ate in my stomach, but threw away most of the plate.

 But, re: food choices... after posting pictures of some of the "unique" meats in the new store a couple weeks ago,
it occurred to me that the Leg of Lamb I purchased this week might not appeal to some people, either.

Soooo, I wonder if they actually PAID someone to come up with this name?
And, will the hotel be full on December 21, 2012?

A close-up of one of the cute outfits sewn for the orphanage children.

The creator & seamstress, Sister B, prefers to remain anonymous.  She also plans to make shirts for the boys.  Those of the women in the Senior Couples who sew were invited to help.  I haven't received my invitation yet.. probably lost in the mail.  Oh wait, there IS no mail in the Congo.

You know you are a painter in the Congo if... you paint the vertical blind pull strings to the wall.

You know you are a painter in the Congo if... you don't put a primer on the original enamel painted wall.

You know you are a painter in the Congo... if you first paint the light wall, dripping onto the baseboard and then correct it by  painting the dark baseboard paint up an inch on the wall.

There is a story behind this picture.  A young bird is not helped if someone breaks the egg for him to come out.
The very act of using his "egg tooth" to peck his way out strengthens him.  To do it for him would actually be harmful. So it is with our Father in Heaven.
He helps us when we have done all that we can, but He will never do FOR us what we can do for ourselves.
In this way, through adversity, we have the opportunity to become stronger.

Brother Houghton, Sr., Brother Hawkins, Brother Kamosi and Brother Houghton, Jr.
Brother K is from Washington, DC and was baptized 12 yrs ago by then "Elder Houghton" to the right.
The Americans have a construction business w/ an office in Orem, UT... about a 5 minute walk from our home.

Speaking of food.. which would be most comforting to you... this healthy stuff?

Or Belgian Chocolate?...   I thought so!

Living in Kinshasa

WHEN YOU LIVE IN KINSHASA, YOU LEARN TO APPRECIATE LITTLE THINGS

A Lebanese restaurant, clean & neat.  The eight of us were the only ones with white faces & the object of much staring. We all made friends with the two children next to us whose dad had brought them in for a really gigantic hamburger, so that lightened things up.  Can't say I want to go back, though.  I KNOW the menu just said "Cordon Bleu" (so they didn't PROMISE chicken) but somehow Swiss cheese & ham inside FLANK STEAK just doesn't seem right!

I was thankful not to be one of the unlucky passengers inside this taxi, patiently waiting for some kind of miracle repair.
(Notice the stones placed to keep it from rolling away)

Still getting used to driver-less cars passing us... it's just an occasional right-steering wheel vehicle.

This is what happened not long after I  told George that, with the thousand "near misses" we'd witnessed since our arrival,  I couldn't believe we had never seen an actual accident happen... The car-taxi attempted a U-turn from the far RIGHT (4 lanes over)... and HE was mad at the van-taxi that hit him!  What NERVE for the van to assume the left lane was clear!

And, speaking of nerve... We are traveling north here on the major boulevard and the driver of this red car is coming toward us in our lane...
He apparently has a death wish. 

A very common sight.

Rows of corrugated tin dwellings were pervasive in Ngaba.  They make the one room homes we saw in the countryside, (made out of poor quality concrete or clay brick) look luxurious.

I was looking over the street and plaza, watching an approaching storm and bemoaning the fact that an open truck full of cardboard and styrofoam trash from the Chinese construction next door was going around the triangle while bits of stuff were blowing off onto the street.  It wasn't the first time we'd witnessed this carelessness and I was irritated at it all.  I watched as the wind picked up a large piece of styrofoam and blew it all the way to our side of the plaza and then saw this little girl (whose parents were sitting under the taxi waiting area) gleefully pick up that piece of styrofoam and, squealing with absolute delight at the amazing treasure that had come to her, run to show her parents! 

I am thankful that I am not the Director of Tourism for Namibia.  He has a long road ahead to make THIS appealing!

One day Elder & Sister Bingham came to the Mission Office and "kidnapped" President  & Sister Jameson & me.  They took us to the biggest social event on the Kinshasa calendar for the foreseeable future... it was the long awaited grand opening of a South Africa chain supermarket!!   We were waiting outside for others to join us, but peeked in and gazed with undisguised glee at the large, clean, bright and fully stocked store.  While we waited, we asked "La Vache qui rit" (The Laughing Cow), to take a couple pictures with us.  You may remember the blog picture of his product in a large Christmas billboard still standing atop the Post Office.  Sister Jameson took a pic of Sister Bingham & me with the cow, but I decided not to post that one for two reasons...1) Sister Bingham looks as if she's very afraid he is going to bite her and 2) I look more like a cow than HE does.

One of my happiest findings at this new store... Ginger beer, which is similar to U.S. ginger ale, but SO much better.   The one on the right was served at the pre-Easter dinner hosted by USAID folks in our apartment building & was practically the only non-alcoholic drink available.  Fortunately, I loved it (and yes, I KNEW it was just soda!).

On the other hand... some offerings in the new store were not so exciting.

Pass!

It's probably better than dog, but I'm not going to find out.

Why on earth would I BUY this when I can produce my own?

Called to Serve in Many Ways

WHAT A JOY IT IS TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH SO MANY WONDERFUL AND DEDICATED PEOPLE WHO ARE SERVING OUR HEAVENLY FATHER.

Thierry is our office assistant extraordinaire.  He is unfailingly cheerful and, when greeted each day with the question "How are you?" responds, "Stong and Powerful!!"  He & his wife have three children (the latest, a preemie "miracle baby") and this fall he will earn his Bachelor degree.  He is a brilliant man who knows everything and everyone in our mission (and nearly everyone in Kinshasa) and is a tireless worker.  He makes me look good because of all his help.  Today, he completed 3 days of escorting Elder Tad Callister, President of the Seventy, who was presiding over a Stake Conference in Brazzaville.

Here is Pascal, getting ready to take several newly arrived missionaries to their assigned locations.  

He is our "wheeler-dealer" who knows where to get anything for anyone at the cheapest price (after which he bargains and gets it even cheaper!)  His sense of humor is "British-dry" & hilarious!  

He will make a joke with a completely straight face, but then laugh helplessly himself when we laugh.

You have to be careful of what you say aloud because, if you express a need or wish, he fills it.
 He speaks low, but is often heard humming Church hymns (or something) in a falsetto voice.  He & his wife are saving so they can travel to the Johannesburg temple to be sealed 

"For Time & Eternity"

Quiet and serious and also a gentle, good man.  Aime is one of our drivers and is actually a lawyer and a legal Magistrate in Kinshasa.  To attain that position, he had to compete in a test with 1,800 other applicants for just two openings.  Since we have been here he has been diligently taking an English class, which he passed last month.  We enjoy having him come to us with questions about words or phrases he comes across, but doesn't understand (most recently, "ATM".  How would YOU like to explain that?)  He is also a member of an English Club, which recently asked him to be the President.  He felt so humble about his English that he was going to refuse, but we suggested that he pray about it that night and we would join with him in prayer. The next day, his wife (whom he calls his "best friend") persuaded him that it was a wonderful opportunity for him to bless others, as well as himself.

Our first glimpse of the beautiful Ngaba chapel.  It is located in the midst of the most squalid conditions we have yet seen in Africa, but it stands as a beacon of light to the people.  After the graduation ceremony, we were outside about to leave when Brother Draper came bounding out to the car with a big smile on his face.
A man had come in the front door and walked up to him saying, "How can I become of member of this Church?"  There just happened to be a meeting of some of the young area missionaries there that day (all of whom recognized me and either called out or came over to say "Bonjour, Sœur Smeeet!")

so, he happily took the man over & left him in their hands.

Brother Doucette, who is a retired Obstetrician, is giving Neo-Natal Resuscitation Training to this Congolese woman 

The students were doctors, nurses and midwives and were flown in from all parts of the DRC.
They, in turn, will go back and train an average of ten other people.

Dr. Draper and Dr. Ngoy discussing some of the training.

The official seal of Latter Day Saint Charities on each graduate's diploma.

It's blurry, but I just had to show the happy, proud graduates.

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In a few days, a young man who is currently in the Ghana Missionary Training Center will arrive with several other new missionaries to begin his 2-year mission here.  I just heard about his story this week and when I see him, I'll ask him permission to post his picture.  He joined the Church at age 19.  He began working and saving for his mission, which means just the money for his visa & passport (about $150) since the mission expenses are paid by Church funds for most Congolese missionaries.  After six years, he finally had enough, but he had to get his papers in and approved before he turned 25, the cutoff age, which was just a couple weeks away.  To insure that they were in time, he walked to the nearest designated location to turn in his papers.  It was SEVEN miles each way!


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Also this week, another young man, who is sacrificing in a different & more familiar way, will arrive in Africa. His home is in Provo, UT... right next door to my very oldest and dearest friend, Trudy Dowling,  Sadly, he will not be in the group that comes to Kinshasa but will fly straight to his assignment in Cameroon, one of the other countries that are part of our mission.  I will see if I can get his permission to post his picture after he arrives.  He and his family have saved, perhaps for years, to fund his mission.  He is leaving a comfortable life, college, family and friends.  He has just completed two months at the Provo MTC to learn a strange language so that he can come to a strange land and share the gospel for two years.  Why?  Because he knows that he has been called serve by our Heavenly Father & that the gospel will bless every individual who hears and accepts it.  What he doesn't fully understand is that the sacrifice that he is making now will be compensated a hundred- fold by the joy of seeing lives changed... and the experiences that he will have, the maturity that he attains & the faith that he gains will bless his own life as well as that of his future wife & children forever.
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This was posted by our Mission President's wife and is a sobering reminder of the tragic circumstances which some people have in their lives.  It is also a testimony of the power to overcome, which the Lord gives to all who seek Him.

Friday, January 27, 2012

"Called to Serve Him, Heavenly King of Glory..."

During one of our zone conferences last week we had the special experience of having a young man, who's serving as a full-time ward missionary right now, open his full-time mission call. It was a wonderful event for all of the missionaries there and for us to be his "family" for this occasion.
Yesterday we got an email from our office couple, who have known Christian well, telling his whole story. It's a tender recounting of Christian's story, so with permission from them, I'm inserting this in our blog along with pictures that I took the day he opened his call.

 A Call to Serve, The Story of Christian 

I first meet Christian on a Sunday, he introduced himself in Priest quorum as a new move-in. He was a quiet boy with a ready smile. He listened carefully in class and  offered well thought out responses. He was always  clean and neat.   Sister Hatch and I noticed him next at the weekly dance classes we were giving at the Ngaba Ward house. Again it was the same thing every week, always a smile and a happy face. Knowing that the Ngaba Ward was on the other side of the Kinshasa from his home ward, I asked him once how he was able to get to the dance class every week, and he just smiled and said "I manage."

Christian spoke fairly good English and attended every one of our Wednesday afternoon  English  classes.

Another time, the Young Men of our ward planned a service project to clean up the church house early one Saturday morning. I arrived on time and after waiting for about 15 min. I walked around the building to see if there were any young men already there. I didn't see any one so I waited  awhile longer.  As I walked around the building one more time , I noticed someone sweeping the floor in the cultural hall. It was Christian. I asked him when he arrived.   His answer was simple "At 7 o'clock as we had planned."  I found a broom and the two of us swept the building. As we worked I asked him to tell me about himself.

Christian was orphaned as a young boy in his 11th year. Both his parents were killed in the eastern Congo wars as soldiers raided his village and killed many people, including the women and children. An aunt took him in and gave him a place to sleep and eat. After a few years he was able to save and borrow enough money to pay for the transportation to move to Kinshasa. One day he was walking by the LDS church house in Ngaba when he noticed two young men in white shirts and tie's coming out of the building.  He said his heart told him to ask those two young men who they were, and if they would tell him about the church from which they had just come. He was baptised a short time later, and he has been active in the church since that day.

I asked Christian what his greatest goal was in life was and he told me he wanted to be a missionary. He stated " I have been saving my money from the day I was baptised, and I have almost 100 American dollars. I am saving everything I can." When asked  if he had a job, he said "No, but I try to find work anywhere I can, even if it's for a few hours. I have faith that if I do all I can then maybe I can be a missionary before I am to old to receive my call." His quiet voice was filled power and conviction as he told me of this goal. 

I was humbled by this young man's determination and faith. That day I made a promise to myself that I would do all I could to help Christian. It was not very long after that conversation that Christian found a job cleaning an office. One day he came to us and said that he had saved enough money to pay for his passport and visa, and that he had an appointment with his Bishop for a mission interview. He also had a full set of French scriptures given to him by a returned missionary who spent some time in Kinshasa as an intern for the state department. Christian also said " I now have 3 white shirts, 2 pair of pants, shoes, and a few ties."

Two transfers ago Christian was asked to help out the DR Congo Mission as a full-time ward missionary to fill in where there would otherwise have to be a threesome.  He gladly agreed to serve.

 As many of you know all the American senior couples were evacuated during December because of the political unrest. During this time a soldier shot into one of our missionary apartments and the bullet landed in the bed of one of our Elders. It was early in the morning and he and this companionship were up doing their appropriate studying. Because they were obedient one of our missionaries is alive today.  Christian was the companion to this elder.

Finally his call came.  Because he had no family to see him open it, he waited until Zone Conference which was held  in the Mission home for Zone Conference to open his call. He was so excited and nervous that he couldn't  even open the envelope  and asked President Jameson to open it for him.

 President did and the handed it back to Christian saying" but you must be the one who reads it." 

 
President Jameson asked Christian to read his whole call to remind  all the missionaries of the similar call and commitment that they had made. His missionary family looked on as he read that he  has been called to serve in the DR Congo Lumbumbashi Mission, in the southeastern part of the DRC and will report to the MTC in Ghana on March 2nd.  Christian's dream is about to come true. May we all have the faith it takes to answer the "Call to Serve" no matter where, no matter when.

 Elder Hatch

               

To Elder Hatch's final comment, I'd like to end this week's blog with a thought:
"If not me, WHO?  If not now, WHEN?"

Failure To Communicate

THESE ARE JUST A FEW OF THE FUN CHALLENGES WE'VE HAD WITH THE VARIOUS AND NUMEROUS FOREIGN PRODUCTS WHICH FILL THE SHELVES IN KINSHASA.



Some products are fairly easy to figure out, even if they ARE in another language.


Other products tease you with a little English, but remain "inscrutable"!

This was easy to translate, so we bought it.  Then we got ready to prepare it...

Oh, oh!  Can't figure it out!  That's OK... they also have the more directions in another language,
probably English.

THERE!  Now, let's see... 

Do you want to know how to work the evil washer/dryer combo I call "H.A.L."?
Just read the instructions below...

I KNEW I should have taken that Koran class!
For those who don't know Arabic, they also have instructions in French, German & Chinese.

A manual for the "Evil-Cousin-to-HAL" Oven.  The GB is for Great Britain, but don't be fooled.
The stilted English instructions, full of malapropisms, were written by a Chinese author... 
and were almost as hard to understand as the French, German and Greek that followed.

Judging from my experience with this product, "Tertmiz Bulasklar Yumusacik Elter" is Turkish for:
"Pretty aromatic pink liquid which does not actually clean anything."

Give me your best guess...What does this picture look like to you?
My guess was artichokes.  "Mais, No"!

IMPALPABLE... adj. 1. Not perceptible to the touch; intangible.  2. Difficult to perceive or grasp by the mind.
Sooooo...it's sugar that you can't feel OR comprehend?

Take a capsule daily on a full stomach & those pesky Congo mosquitoes won't give you Malaria.
 (well, most of the time!)
The interesting tradition among the Senior Missionary Couples here is for the host or hostess to pass around the box after dinner.. lest anyone forgot to take theirs that day. 

Here we have an unusual mix... German, Norwegian, Spanish & Arabic.  
I'd need all my fingers & toes to count the total number of THOSE nationalities here.

Look at those little critters!
These are de-worming pills... and when we leave the Congo, we will have to take the medicine.
Personally, I was sorta hoping to get a tape-worm & lose some weight.

Found this on my desk at the Mission Office.  Essential equipment? 

Apparently not.

George & I really liked the name of one of the assignment areas on our Kinshasa Mission wall board.
For a fun name, "Bumbu A" just cannot compete!

Loved the look of this Knorr soup.
Thought the picture on the package looked yummy.
Liked the fun name.
Fixed it for soup & sandwich dinner this week.
Didn't notice small red pepper in upper left side.
Should have.

George decided to get this different brand of peanut butter because it was cheaper.
Well, it IS different because it's honey!

Was sooo excited last week to see "Sparkling Apple Cider" on display near checkout.  
Chilled it and pulled it out for our anniversary dinner.
Got one good sip in before George read the fine print.
Anyone want some slightly used 4.5% alcohol Sparkling Apple Cider?

The "Pièce de Résistance"...
Our first week here, President and Sister Jameson took us grocery shopping.
They helped us get used to foreign labels & products and gave us guidance on quality, brands, etc.
Guess I didn't listen carefully to the comment about a certain cut of meat being good for hamburger.
For the past two months, the butchers have looked at me strangely when I told them what I wanted.
Turns out, I've been pointing to the wrong cut of meat and we've actually been eating ground 
Filet Mignon hamburger in various dishes at least once or twice a week!!
"BON APPÉTIT!"