Luputa General Hospital - Getting better every day!

Last February we reported on the hospital in Luputa which was providing care for many people with very little supplies and a dilapidated facility. The church approved a project to strengthen the hospital and a second project to support a pre-natal program. The closest medical care to Luputa is Muene-Ditu a 2 hour drive by a 4x4. Of course no one has a 4x4 so it actually means a 2 day trip walking or by bicycle

The biggest problem was getting the equipment we had gathered transported out to Luputa. We aren't talking about a few boxes, we are talking about

20 hospital beds with vinyl mattresses

operating table

4 surgical instrument kits (1 birthing kit, 2 cesarean kits and 1 laporatomy kit)

newborn kits

400 Family Health and Hygiene manuals

ultrasound machine for the prenatal program.

We included 10 pair of scissors, nursing and bandage scissors. We were told on our last visit that they only had one pair of scissors in the whole hospital. Every nurse needs a pair of scissors in her pocket, kind of basic equipment. At least that is what I was told in my nursing class.

Dr. Muliele, a member of the church and an OB/GYN physician was instrumental in helping us find quality equipment to purchase and when we found a vendor for the beds we negotiated that they would deliver the beds to Mbuji-Mayi and then we would have to figure out how to get them on out to Luputa, a 4 hour 4x4 drive. We did know of someone who had a large truck in Luputa, our water contractor, Dominique Sowa. We called and asked for his help. He not only committed to transport the hospital beds and the operating table but had his office in Mbuji-Mayi pick up the equipment at the airport go to the mattress factory in Mbuji Mayi and pick up the mattresses and deliver everything to Luputa.

The week before we went to Luputa we got a call from our water site monitor, Daniel, telling us they were delivering the beds to the hospital and the people were dancing and singing in the streets. Wish we had got a picture of that.

Saturday morning was set as the time for a little ceremony and turn over of the equipment.. Elder Parmley, our Area President, consented to represent the church and give the supplies to the hospital. There was much excitement as we arrived Saturday morning.

We arrived early as we wanted to set up the equipment for the ceremony and make sure everything was in good order. A crowd had already started gathering.

Elder Moon unboxed the operating table and proceeded to put it together. He had a lot of help as all the hospital staff wanted to be in on the excitement.



Dignitaries started arriving including the Territorial Health Administrator and several government people who the hospital had invited.

The children gathered at the gate and wanted also to be in on the excitement. We gave them pieces of the bubble wrap from the packing boxes and they had a lot of fun popping the bubbles.

Sister Moon and Sister Parmley kept them busy by teaching them songs and had them singing in English without much difficulty.

The hospital looked much different this trip as they had painted and cleaned and it was looking very good and much improved.

The ceremony was conducted by Daniel Kazadi, our water site manager and by the hospital administrator.

The District Health Administrator spoke at the ceremony and thanked the church for remembering the hospital and their needs. He said that because of the attention of the church to these needs the health department of the province was trying to help the hospital also to upgrade their supplies and improve their system.

Then Elder Parmley spoke and Farrell translated his comments into French.

Elder Parmley told the people about his career as a Cardiologist. During his career he was president of the Cardiology association in the US and head of a large hospital in San Francisco. He praised the hospital staff for their good efforts. He counseled them to take care of the gifts they were given and improve the health care of their community.

I remembered when we first started dreaming about this project. We could see so many needs and wondered how we could strengthen them and help them improve the communities health. The Lord truly inspires us as we do this work. We took their wish list and soon narrowed it down to what we could do in an area initiative and it didn’t seem like much. But when we saw the improvements they were making in anticipation of getting these new supplies and saw that the district health officials were taking note and starting to support the hospital with some help, we realized that what the church provided was a catalyst for the community to help themselves.

The program included a tour of the hospital and this was an experience for those who had not yet seen what this hospital was working with.

We needed to do some training with the ultrasound machine but before we could do the training Elder Moon said he could hear something loose, rattling in the machine. He immediately dismantled the machine and found a screw had come loose and needed to be put back in its place. He also tightened up all other connections. Our driver Alphonse was itching to get his hands on the machine. He told us he was a technician and he could fix it. Elder Moon graciously allowed him to tightenp some of the screws. He was very serious as he worked on the machine and was very proud of his assistance.

Much more is needed here at the hospital but the few things the church has supplied will help considerably, The morale of the hospital has increased and has helped the staff take pride in their work. Just having the church recognize their needs and offering some help gives them hope that things can get better.

This was a shining star experience of our mission. A dream, a lot of work and finally success. And yet again we are reminded how impossible this mission would be without Heavenly Father's influence, opening doors, providing earthly angels to help us and guiding us in the direction we should go. Humanitarian work is working hand in hand with our Savior. We realize we are limited in our ability to see the big picture. We have learned to rely on the promptings of the Spirit to guide and direct us in His work.

Luputa General Hospital

Hospital Administration

The next morning we were off to see the source of the water for the project. We had a little time before we could meet the contractor, ADIR and Dominique Sowa, so we decided to go to the Luputa General Hospital and check up on one of the nurses that came to our NRT Training, Marie Josee. The church had paid for Marie to fly to Kinshasa to attend the NRT training and we had talked to her several times since on the phone.

One Sunday she called and was so excited we couldn’t understand what she was saying. She said she had just saved a baby that before the training she would not have known how to help. She was crying and yelling “Praise the Lord, Praise the church for inviting Marie Josee to the training so that she could come back and teach everyone how to save babies, We are saving babies in Luputa!” She had us in tears and we were so grateful for the NRT program and being able to host the program so Marie could come and learn how to save babies. Supply Closet in Surgery

Autoclave

The hospital is very simple, not really a true hospital but all that they have in Luputa. The operating room had an obscure light strung to a battery over the surgery table. The autoclave was something out of the 1920s and was heated by a Bunsen burner. They had a supply closet that was 8 feet tall and 2 feet wide and their supplies only filled two shelves. Keep in mind there is no electricity and no running water. They are doing surgery here in spite of the conditions as it is the only place they have.

Scrub room

The maternity ward had 6 women who had given birth by cesarean section and there was a set of twins that looked just the same size as Christie and Carrie when we brought them home from the hospital at 4 pounds each. The best part of the tour was seeing the NRT Algorithm hanging on the wall in the birthing room. There is so much needed at this hospital and whether we do anything or not they will continue to do emergency surgery and birth babies , just as they are. We hope we can do an area initiative for the hospital to strengthen them. They have a great, dedicated staff and they are doing the best they can with what they have.

Surgery operative
OR Table note surgery light

Half way through the tour our contractor Dominique showed up but declined to finish the tour with us saying it would make him cry, so he would meet us when we were finished.


We finished the tour but wondered how this hospital was providing the medical support for this community. Marie told us that the ones that are the hardest to help are those who get in trouble during delivery at home and they climb on a bike and come to the hospital for help. Can't imagine a bike ride while in distressed labor. That made us all cry.

An Oasis For Health Care in the DRCongo

The process of choosing humanitarian projects for the church requires that we partner with NGOs (registered non-governmental organizations). Once you have found a good NGO then you have to design the project so that it strengthens the organization and leaves it stronger and more able to meet the needs of those they service. The difficult part of this mission is finding those NGOs and then writing up the project so that it is not just giving things but meets the goal of helping the organization become a stronger and more viable organization.

One of the major initiatives of the church’s humanitarian services is providing wheelchairs for the handicapped who are unable to afford a wheelchair. Soon after coming to Kinshasa we went looking for an NGO to partner with who could make wheelchairs, the tricycle wheelchairs needed for the rough terrain here in Kinshasa. We visited a rehabilitation, handicap center. This center is run by the Freres de la Charité, a Catholic organization.

This center is an amazing place. Monday, Wednesday and Friday is clinic day and the center is packed with patients and family coming to clinic. The center is a large complex with several buildings connected with walkways. The buildings are open to the outside and the waiting area is all outside around the walkways. They have a clinic, physical therapy, optical shop, wheelchair manufacturing, prosthetics manufacturing, surgery, social work, and a vocational training center. The complex is clean and well maintained which was very refreshing to see as that is not the normal case for health centers here in the Congo. Over forty percent of their employees are handicapped like the wonderful man who maintains the main gate and keeps the parking area swept clean. He has no hands. Another man working in the main office is confined to a stretcher. He is very gregarious and always makes us feel so good when we come to the center. The directors secretary uses two canes to get around and always has a big smile for us when we visit.

John Baptist Musawu is the director of the center. He is a small man exuding energy. He walks with a bounce and he moves very fast. He is cheerful and bright and always positive making him a perfect representative of this center.

When we first started talking to John Baptist we asked him for a wish list of things that the center desperately needed. At the top of their list was patient beds for surgery recovery.

We went to look at the beds and found them to be deplorable, especially for surgery patients who desperately need a sanitary place to recover from extensive orthopedic surgery. The beds were flat, rusted and the mattresses were bare pieces of foam that didn’t allow for cleaning between patients. The rooms were tiled and the walls were in good shape but needed painting. The center wanted to upgrade the rooms with new beds and vinyl covered mattresses that could be cleaned appropriately when soiled and sanitized between patients.

Since we don’t just give gifts to associations we needed to find a way to strengthen the organization to make this a project worthy of humanitarian funds. We wondered how the patients did after going home to finish their recovery and wondered if the conditions for recovery were adequate or was the hospital seeing much infection after surgery. We have had great success with the church’s program of Family Health and Hygiene and wondered if it could be applied to post op teaching of these families and enhance the recovery process for these patients.

We worked with the social workers to see if they would be interested in the Family Health and Hygiene training and they were very receptive. We wrote the proposal to include 40 new beds and mattresses and 100 each of the Family Health and Hygiene manuals and 100 supplements which are the picture book of the FHH program. Both manuals can be used to educate professionals, parents and children in how to improve nutrition, teach proper hygiene practices and educate on prevention of disease.

The project was approved by the Area Authorities and we immediately ordered the beds and the printing of the manuals. We delivered the manuals to the Social Work department so they could get started teaching. They organized open classes and are teaching post op patient families and also families that are coming to the clinics.

We had to order the beds from a supply house here in Kinshasa. The beds are very simple but they are of the type that will work great here. The beds can’t be electric as the electricity is not dependable. The beds are metal frames with metal springs. The one end of the bed can be manually raised and lowered to accommodate the raising of the foot of the bed or for raising the head of the bed. The mattresses are foam covered with vinyl.

At the handicap center patients come in the day of surgery and then stay at the hospital from 3 days to a week or more. During their stay the family is responsible to stay with the patient and provide food and clean linens and clothing. They come to the center with cooking utensils and a bucket for washing clothes and bedding. There is always linen hung out to dry just outside the patients rooms.

During our visits to the center we have run into a man who has brought his son in for surgery 3 different times. He is from out of town and has no money but wants to help his son be able to walk so brings him in to get the needed surgery. He sees us coming and asks if we can give him some money to buy food for his son. We have given him a few francs each time and he immediately goes out on the street and buys food from a vendor and brings it back to his son. We find ourselves worrying about him when we don’t go to the center and wonder how he is feeding his son. This is typical of the families here at the handicap center as they are all poor and are trying to survive and care for their handicapped family member. The handicap center evaluates each patient’s family for financial resources and charges the patients according to their ability to pay for the services. That is one of the jobs of the social workers. The center is dependent on charity dollars to serve the poor.

On January 11th we had our ceremony to give the beds to the center. Pres.Iyomi, Stake President of the Kinshasa Stake gave a speech donating the beds and training materials to the center in behalf of de Église de Jésus-Christ des Saints des Derniers Jours (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). The Director, John Baptist spoke. He said it usually takes a lot of talking and finessing to get things done but this bed project happened quickly. Now the center will have proper beds for their surgical patients. The prayer given at the ceremony acknowledged that we are all family and we should think of and help each other. Our church really does believe this and the humanitarian services practices this belief in trying to serve and help all of God’s children.

We visited the patient rooms to view the beds in service and were delighted to see the rooms had been scrubbed and painted. The beds did indeed create a much more sanitary environment for the patients and the ability to raise the foot of the bed was enhancing the care of the patients as they had their foot or leg raised to reduce the swelling to the surgical site and promote healing. The Family Health and Hygiene classes are in full swing and will continue indefinitely.

We have fallen in love with the Center. We admire the people there and are grateful for such a good partner. We have other projects in the works with the center including a wheelchair project.
We are very busy trying to find ways to spend those Humanitarian dollars you keep paying to the church. Heavenly Father is mindful of us as we work here trying to do good things. We are being led and directed daily to good partners and wonderful people. We are blessed with good health and safe keeping each day. Would you like a wonderful experience. Come on a mission!

LOOKING BACK AT 2007

Many exciting projects in 2007! A lot of work and a lot of good things happening



Vision Major Initiative: Dr. Hunsaker brought suture-less cataract surgery to the Congo. This project happened our first week in the Congo. Since then we have had two shipments of supplies for the Ophthalmology department of Kinshasa General hospital. The church has furnished a surgery microscope, slit lamp, 2 ophthalmoscopes, 3 current converters and many surgical supplies including the lenses for the cataract surgery. Dr. Hunsaker has become a beloved friend of all these doctors here in Kinshasa.


Child Soldiers Container Project: IFESH contacted us and asked for help in getting a container from SLC to the eastern side of the Congo to help with a program they have to rehabilitate child soldiers. Many children have been forced to fight in the conflicts. IFESH, an NGO out of Arizona , had grant money to pay for shipping if the church would donate some supplies. They asked for medical supplies, wheelchairs, clothing, school supplies, and food. They will work with these young boys helping them to get over the trauma (mental and physical) and integrate them back into society with a skill for them to be able to support themselves. We were unable to go to this area for distribution of the supplies as it is very remote and not always a safe place to be.


Neonatal Resuscitation Major Initiative: You may have seen this initiative highlighted in October between conference sessions. This is an initiative the church sponsors in many third world countries. This project was done in the DRC in 2006 but had difficulty getting the NRT kits to the participants. The project this year was done in Kinshasa, DRC and in Brazzaville, RC. (See previous blog for details) We are in the process of gathering information from the participants to see how many people they have taught the technique since the training. Kinshasa statistics are very good showing that most all participants have taught others from 5 more to 100 by one doctor. This was done without kits as

we were delayed in getting the kits to the participants (customs issues). They now have their kits and are re-teaching not only their own facility but other practitioners of other facilities.
The follow-up in Brazzaville is much more complicated as the participants were from all over the country, some of them from very remote areas. We have asked for the government liaison for the project to do the follow-up as language and distance is too big a barrier for us to cross. We have funded gas and phone cards and the government is going to work on ways to get the reports from the more remote areas.

Training Perpetuation for NRT: While doing the follow-up for the NRT it became apparent that those being trained needed to have the basic supplies of ambu-bag, infant mask and bulb syringe. These supplies are not available here in the DRC. We submitted for an area project for 100 more basic resuscitation kits to supplement the training provide supplies for some of those being trained that did not have the materials. It was approved. This will give 100 more facilities the needed supplies to put into practice the NRT program. We are very excited to see this projects success. A lot of money was spent but each person we talk to tells us how they have changed their practice and are saving babies. They are so excited an so grateful for the opportunity to learn this simple lifesaving technique.

Measles Campaign: This year the church helped with the measles vaccination program in the Republic of Congo. The church commits to do the publicity and provide volunteers for the national measles program. They provided banners, posters, fliers, and the volunteers for all the centers were the measles vaccine were offered through out the country. They also produced and paid for TV and Radio campaigns in two different languages, French and Lingala. A special couple, the Seiters from Arizona came and set up the campaign. We just had to support them in their efforts. The campaign was very successful and the government was very pleased with the publicity campaign that the church did. The government liaison told us that he was worried the campaign wouldn't go well but when he saw the church was involved he told his people that it will go because that church gets things done. We had worked with him in the NRT program and he felt the team had been very successful and remembered that when the measles project came around.

Literacy Training: 480 people are being taught to read and write in Lingala and then in French. This project last ten months and has been a success from the very beginning as mostly women have committed to coming to class for 2 hours two days a week so they can learn to read. This is a very rewarding experience to watch these people learn to read for the first time. Classes are held outside under the mango trees or in a community church.


Hospital Beds and Family Health/Hygiene Training Program for CRHP (Handicap Center): 40 new hospital beds including mattresses were purchased to replace rusted flat beds with foam pieces serving as mattresses. The beds were made in Kinshasa and have the capability of raising the foot or head of the bed for orthopedic patients. Along with the beds the social work department of the facility will use the church’s Family Health and Hygiene manuals as the basis for a new program they will be teaching the patient and families upon discharge from the hospital. The program is aimed at improving the recovery of surgical patients and reducing readmissions for infection.

Library for Presbyterian school: 650 textbooks for a school that has been teaching teacher to student without textbooks for the last 13 years. This project was pure joy! We now have wonderful friends in the Presbyterian Church that call us their partners with Christ.



Latrines and Family Health and Hygiene Training: We have partnered with HPP Congo, an NGO who focuses on helping communities become self sustaining. Humanitarian funds will provide 30 latrines for at risk families in the community of Malueka, a suburb of Kinshasa. The families become a part of a community group where they are taught how to improve their living conditions by having a proper latrine, hand washing principles, safe water, safe food, nutrition, first aide and disease prevention. The program uses the Family Health and Hygiene manuals from the church to teach the Health and Hygiene principles.
The materials for the latrines were provided to 30 families who are widowed, house orphans, are handicapped or very, very poor.

Family/Community Garden: A community of Kinshasa called Pigeon Quarters requested funding of their community garden project. They have joined about 10 families together to plant a vegetable garden. They plan on feeding their starving families and also perpetuating the garden by selling half of the harvest to buy more seeds and fertilizer. This project comes with a great story that we will have to tell in detail later. Humanitarian missionaries have not had great success with gardens but we will give this one a try. There have been many delays in this project due to heavy rains, malaria and who knows what. We are trying to keep the faith but we are doubtful about the success of this project. Hope we are wrong. This picture shows Farrell buying the seeds. We never give money but go with the people to make their purchases and pay. When we got to this man to buy the seeds the price doubled when he saw Farrell was American and white. There was quite an argument and the man came back down to the original price.

Major Water Projects: "Water is Life" The water project we have been working with since we came to the Congo was a 5 phase water

project that has been changed to a 3 phase water project. The first phase Camp Luka was suppose to service 15,000 people with

clean water and at present is servicing 40,000 people. The second phase is Laloux which will finish next week. Both of these projects are comprised of a well, a reservoir, an electrical pump to pump

the water to the reservoir and fountains through the

community to dispense the water.

These people have been walking great distances for water , down steep ravines and dipping water from stagnant pools. Now they will be able to get their water in short order by accessing the fountains. The third phase is small and will be a hand pump and will only take a short time to complete. Providing clean water to families is giving them a great blessing. Clean water is a large problem in the DRC.

Looking ahead at 2008

Most of these projects will finish in 2008 but we also have some project just recently approved.
Luputa Water Project: This is a very large water project that is planned to take place over a three year period and will cost $2.6 million. Luputa is a remote area in the central part of the Congo and doing this project will be a great adventure.
Cassava Food Project: This project was just authorized this week and provides for the organization of a community, Luputa, to farm cassava plants, perpetuating large harvests and processing the cassava making it ready for market. This will provide food for the community and an income for those participating in the program.
More Latrines and Hygiene Training: Our last Latrine/Hygiene project was so successful and productive we opted for another one but this time it will provide 50 latrines. Can't wait to get this one started.

We can't believe that our mission is half over. We have been busy and time just seems to zip by while we are having fun. The best part of all of this is the relationship that we are building with each other. Nothing like taking a couple to a strange land and making them work together 24/7 to make them grow together and learn to depend on one another. Our Father in Heaven has blessed us abundantly and blessed our family, each and everyone of them.

Our famiy is sure that all their blessings are directly related to our service. We have a new granddaughter. We have lost our beautiful nephew, Joe. Our mothers just keep on ticking and surviving without us. We love what we are doing and realize 2007 has been a memorable year, one we will never forget.

Christmas in Kinshasa

Christmas in Kinshasa is much less commercial than we are use to. The streets were decorated two weeks before Christmas with beautiful many lights . They put lights around the huge trunks of the trees that line the main avenue and decorated the starues that are in the roundabouts. Christmas decorations were sold on the street by the vendors. Most people do not give Christmas presents because they can not afford to not even to their family. We received several text messages wishing us Merry Christmas (everyone has a cell phone). We spent Christmas Eve doing a service project at the Polio Victims center where many children stay while they have surgery and then recover. It is very barren without any amenities and they often do not have enough food to eat. We wanted to give them a little Christmas ans were thinking of giving baskets of fruit and a treat with a small toy but our Congolese office staff told us that the Congolese are happy when they have a full belly and we should give beans and rice. So, we gave 50K sacks of rice and beans and a little bag with some cookies, candy and a toothbrush. They were very pleased to get the rice and beans and accepted the bag of goodies graciously. someone brought them big baskets of bread and they were eating it like it was their first meal in days so we decided the advice of beans and rice was good advice.

We then had dinner at the mission home and pretended that we were the grandparents of the mission staff families and had a great celebration.

Got up early on Christmas morning to go to a Church Christmas celebration at a penacostal church, Eglise du Louange. We had our advent celebration at the Tweedy’s Sunday and one of their guests, Julie invited us to come hear her sing with her group. Julie is a native Congolese who is dating an embassy friend of the Tweedy’s. We accepted but about changed our mind when we found out we had to be at the church at 7:30AM and that the meeting would last 2 hours. We felt an obligation to go since we had already accepted the invitation. The Thomases picked us up at 7:15 and took us out to the church. When we arrived we found a large plain bldg on the outside and another building across the street and both were filling up with people. We thought at first it was two different churches but found out it was one and they were televising the program to other buildings. A man came up to us immediately and had us follow him in to the main building where we found hundreds of plastic lawn chairs set up and the hall decorated for Christmas including a stage with podium and a platform with bongo type drums, guitars and an electric piano. Their was a group already singing “Praise the Lord” songs and they sounded very good. We were escorted up to the front of the hall where there were 4 rows of lawn chairs with cushions, all seemed to be reserved. We sat down in the backrow on the end trying to “blend in”. The row behind us smiled and greeted us with Joyeux Noel. After a few minutes when the hall was filled the main pastor entered with an entourage of pastors from the many churches that the congregation represented. They proceeded to the front and sat down on the podium. The grand pastor was seated in a chair that looked like a throne. Immediately a man came down off the podium and asked us to move. He told us that the grand pastor had asked that we move to the front row and sit in the middle immediately in front of the stage where there was 3 clear podiums with neon lights defining the edges. We were not given a choice so we got up and moved up four rows to the front and into the center chairs. By this time we were feeling quite conspicuous as the congregation watched our every move.. As soon as we were seated the 4 rows were filled with people and the meeting got underway.

The program was loud, with lots of audio equipment being dragged around including 3 camera men who would stand in front of us and zoom our faces and our missionary badges. Who knew this because we could see ourselves on the television screens that were set up throughout the hall. We began to wonder if we were being televised on the congo TV and were praying that we were not.

The program consisted of a choir that was all dressed in bright orange print Congolese dresses and shirts. There were several children’s groups that came dancing down the isles and then danced and sang on the stage in front of the podiums and at least 2 feet from us. The dancing was a range from rock and roll to breakdancing. Each group of children were dressed alike in bright color costumes.

We had preaching, and singing, and praying for 3 hours. We prayed sitting down, standing up and kneeling during a very long prayer session. The praying was done by the pastors sometimes and sometimes we were invited to praise the Lord in our own words and then we would have music accompaniment while people prayed aloud and with much ferver all at the same time.

We had a children’s testimony session which reminded us of the Church’s primary program where several children came out and quoted scriptures and gave testimony of their love for Jesus Christ. They had their parts memorized and gave their remarks in loud, clear voices that were enhanced by the fine audio system that was set up in every corner of the building. One little girl told about having a problem and she went to her friends for help and her school and nothing helped so then she went to Jesus Christ and her problems went away. She gave thanks for Jesus in her life.

The Head pastor of the church is a singer and sang his praises several times. He had a great voice and was accompanied by the band and a back up group. One of the under pastors gave a fine sermon in French which was translated into Lingala for all to understand (except those of us who didn’t understand and relied on Farrell to translate the French for us. He told us we just don’t have a star to guide us to Christ but we have many things that lead us to Christ. At one point he went over the reading assignment for the week and everyone in the audience pulled out a journal and started writing down his comments and references that he was giving them. It was very impressive and made us realze this wasn’t just a Christmas thing, going to church, but they were meeting on a regular basis having Sunday school and congregational meetings.

The pastor said, “Magi brought gifts to the baby Jesus. What gifts did you bring today for Jesus?” Immediately canvas bags were passed for donations. Then a basket was brought to the front and people started coming up and laying down wrapped gifts and placing envelopes in the basket. Plastic baskets with a sign on them saying Mission, were passed and more donations were given and then again a basket was brought to the front and more letters were put in the basket that we think were letters of people pledging their lives to Jesus Christ. Two bottles of cooking oil were placed near the basket and then a man brought up a goat as his offering. The goat was terrified with all the music and the shear number of people. The goat was taken out a side door very quickly.

At the end the pastor went over to the band and picked up the guitar and the other pastors sang with him along with the choir and congregation a final “Praise to the Lord”. The congregation loved this and went crazy with their shouting and singing; Oh and whistles. When ever you have a ceremony or celebration here people bring whistles and blow them without mercy. By the end of the meeting our ears were ringing.

Now the pastor turned to thanking people for coming and they had us four missionaries stand and be recognized, introducing us to the congregation and asking them to welcome us which they did by singing and many coming over to us and giving us hugs and the 3 kisses on the check, Congolese greeting.

At this point a man came down and escorted us out of the building while all the people watched us leave. We were escorted to an office and asked to wait a minute and the main pastor came in to receive us. He was very gracious and offered us refreshment. He thanked us for coming to his church and being a part of their Christmas celebration. We were now three and a half hours into this adventure and were expecting to host a party at our apartment so we excused ourselves. The Pastor walked us out to our truck thanking us again for coming and had his people clear a way for our truck through the throngs of church members who had filled the street.

What a great experience we had sharing our Christmas morning with the Church of Praise. We had not anticipated being treated so graciously and having the experience we had. Julie, who had invited us was so happy we came and thanked us several times for coming to her church and meeting her Pastor. Certainly it wasn’t a worship service we were use to but we were touched that people were focusing on Christ and reading the Bible and that children were being valued as an important part of the church.

On the way home we braved it and bought bread from a lady carrying a huge bowl of bread on her head. She had just left the large Victoire Bakery where all the vendors pick up the bread so we were fairly sure it was clean and had not been handled a lot or had time to gather too much street dust.

We had the couple missionaries and the Tweedy’s to Christmas dinner. It was a little unconventional Christmas dinner of coldcuts, cheese, street bread, bowtie pasta, fruit, roasted chicken, corn mango salsa and a variety of cookies and peppermint ice cream.

We played a game with white elephant gifts that we traded around and then Farrell put on a BYU game that Matt had sent. All the guys spread out on the couches and promptly fell asleep and the rest of us just visited and relaxed. We were going to play games but enjoyed just talking and sharing.

I was very proud of myself for not getting home sick until we started SKYPing the kids. We got to talk to Ben and Tiffany, Matt and Shirlene (all though their video doesn’t work) and then we went to bed.