Josie's trip in review in pics, part 2

Marion painted boats near the ceiling

Ocean creature outlines in colors of the sea

Dear Papa and daughter : )

One of the many magnificent coral sunsets I mentioned in a previous blog : )  Pics don't do them justice...

We were presented Congolese clothes by the very kind Judge and his wife.  What fun to wear! : )  Here we stand flanking Didier at the hospital (after church, we visited Pastor Coco and his wife, one of the three other Pastor's, who had just had their first baby, a beautiful boy : ).

We painted the hands of each orphan for their parents (or parents to be).

We painted the orphanage in an ocean theme (can you tell ; )?  Here's the Nemo Wall.  We worked with the brown that was already there.

Close up of the wall (left side)

Close up on the right

We also re-painted the hands of the children (the 14 ex-orphans) that Didier has already adopted out (borrowing the hand of one child : ).  We wrote their names on the painted hands, and when they left for America from Congo.  Pictures of the kids in the U.S. are being sent to add to the wall also.

last wall: the measuring wall.  We wanted adoptive parents to be able to see how tall their kiddos were.

Thank you once again for all of you who prayed, sacrificed time, talent and treasure to help richly bless these very dear people!  Didier and Annie were so grateful for all the toys, medical supplies, books (thanks for hours of printing Mary and GBC for the laminator!) and other helpful supplies, shoes and clothes for the orphans as well as some for Pastor Didier and his family.  We also taught Annie how to make paper beads and sent lots of beading supplies thanks to many donators here in the States!  Paper bead making was slow going at first, but within a short amount of time, she was eagerly rolling away the long slips of paper to make more and more beads for jewelry.  Who knows?  You might have the opportunity to purchase a piece some day! : )

Know that your prayers and donations were a tremendous encouragement to us, and most importantly a tremendous encouragement to Didier and Annie and their family! : )  Please keep Didier and Compassion for Congo in your thoughts and prayers..  God is doing tremendous work through Pastor Didier yet he faces opposition on various fronts.  The enemy is not pleased at what he is doing and will do whatever he can to stop him.  It is indeed wonderful that we serve a great God who already has the victory! Though Satan will attempt to destroy anything good, and may delay and complicate things for Didier (and awaiting parents!), he cannot stop what our sovereign God has decreed.  Amen and amen!!

Let us keep lifting Didier, Annie and the other 3 Pastors up to the throne of grace!

Josie's trip in review via some pics, part 1

Here we are at Dulles in Washington D.C. with our 10 suitcases- Off to Africa!!!  Woo hooooo!! : )  All 10 arrived, un-touched!!! Another gift from the Lord!

Josie and Marion at the Embassy Suites in Washington DC (live swans and all!)

Andrew with a bunch of adorable orphans

Annie (Didier's wife), cooking up a storm in her kitchen (she's quite a cook!)

Annie with the new pot for her we brought (thanks to donations! : )

2 hungry and happy brothers : )- Didier and Gabe

Maman Angelique with baby Moses and I-  She is so hard working and takes excellent care of the 20 orphans!

Josie teaching about 25 women in the church about biblical motherhood.  The ladies worshipped the Lord through prayer, song, and dance afterwards.  Josie knew just enough moves on her feet to fake it, not step on anyone, and not get too chuckled at : ).

Marion delighting the orphans with bubbles at twilight

Some excited orphans who had just received a bunch of new toys to play with (thank you donators!!!)

Judge Phuna (middle), Helene his wife, and a friend.  What a huge role Judge Phuna has played in helping Didier!

Maman Angelique telling a story to the orphans.  They sat still and listened intently for the 15 min I was there : )

Priceless photo and priceless memory: An ecstatic Maman Angelique with her first drops of water in the orphanage after how many years??!!?? Oh, how easy we have it in America!!

The Eagle Has Landed! ... well, actually just the Mother Hen ;)

How wonderful it was to see my 4 kiddos and Mom and Dad awaiting me at the airport!  The children all seemed to have grown in 2.4 weeks!  As we walked to baggage claim to pick up my suitcase, the children spotted the giant stack of suitcases piled 40 or so feet to the ceiling as a decoration in the Sacramento airport.  Kara looked up and said, "Mama, which one is yours?"  So cute! : )

I'm most grateful to the Lord for a safe and wonderful trip to Congo, and for our dear families, both American and African.  God is incredibly good!

Four sweet kiddos awaiting their Mama at the airport with a special welcome home sign.  

We were all speechless for a minute or two as our hearts and eyes brimmed over..

More tears filled my eyes when I read the note from James... What a dear boy!

Thursday, June 19th

Mission Accomplished

We have been here two and half weeks and now only have 1 week left.  The days have been so full and numerous that they are starting to run together in my mind.  At this point I can say our short-term mission trip has been a success.  We have a week left to stay here but we have already accomplished everything that we set out to do.  This is impressive considering 1. How difficult it is to find materials here and 2. Putting in all the effort to get the tasks completed that were laid before us.  With a couple tool purchases and some ingenuity here and there we figured it out.  I have been tired but sleeping extremely well the last few nights.

Taking a break

Without the help of Emery and Yanike, two great brothers from the church, who are full of joy at the opportunity to work and serve, I think we wouldn’t have been done so fast.  Also, Andrew and Didier’s son Walessa (the teenagers) have been carrying their man-sized share of the duties, digging trenches and moving materials.

Another water filling station

Yanicke making a bucket-filling platform, one of seven on the property

 Marion has been helping to feed appetites, with her Congolese cuisine, created by all the work!

Elise, Marion, Mary

Making lunch for 20 little people

As of Tuesday we made Didier’s house “wet”.  He told me today that he hasn’t had indoor plumbing in any house in which he has lived for the last 15 years.  He is quite happy.  We also connected the guest-house to the water supply, so we have a spigot in the shower and another in the bathroom; and also we added water in the bathroom of the orphanage (along with the orphanage kitchen that we added last week).

The central diesel generator on the property was wired to the orphanage and Didier’s house before we came to the Congo.  The generator had been purchased for lights in the evening and with the foresight of needing to pump water from the well.  Now, after buying 200 meters of wire, we also have connected the guest-house and the church on the property to the generator.  The church was pitch black at night before; and flashlights were used to help us see in the guest house.  Electricity is another luxury I take for granted when in California.

Andrew wiring the church

Yanicke wiring the church

Emery and Andrew, electricians

Bonus Projects

As a bonus to the completed plans, we were hoping to possibly hook-up the 4 toilets on the property so that they would work like an American toilet (with a tank that flushes, instead of a bucket of water) but after Andrew and I spent two hours working on one of the toilets with a new parts kit and multiple sets of old parts, we decided that not only could these toilets not be fixed, but that these toilets never were in their history able to flush.  Can you imagine a brand new toilet installed in your house that can’t flush.  Well that is what they have been using for a while.  Andrew says these toilets aren’t worth a c**p!

So with a little more cash (yes this is a ploy for you to help out C4C with yet more funds) we are hoping to install 4 new toilets on this property that actually flush.   That is right, I’m asking you to skip Starbucks for the next month and forward some money so that our friends over here can take care of these 20 kids with the convenience of a toilet!  We found a Lebanese store here that carries a nice modern model.  We will buy one tomorrow for a trial install.  If all goes well, then we will buy 3 more next week.  This, teaching at church Sunday, playing soccer with orphans, and basketball with the teenagers of the community, and a few other little tasks should keep us busy for the next week.  We will leave next Thursday morning and start the 40 hour trek home; not looking forward to that part (up until I see a warm shower and my soft bed; that I am looking forward to.)

Cute faces

Fish gumbo and foofoo for lunch

More lunchers

Lots of lunch

Josie's artwork

Orphans at school

Pastor Stephen, also orphan schoolteacher

Morning greetings

I’ll try to update one more time before we leave next week.

God has been very good to us.

May He bless your weekend.
Gabe

Monday, June 16

Unbelievable!!  I let 6 days pass since the last update.  We have been very, very busy.  We’ve been shopping for pipes and fittings, digging trenches, installing a very big water tank, painting murals in the orphanage (and one in Didier’s house, inspired by Candace) basketball games and soccer games, and running all over town looking for wires, teaching a Bible study at each of the three churches and preparing for a Sunday Sermon, teaching the church a couple of our favorite songs that were translated into French (thanks Danichou), interacting with our Congolese brethren, getting to know the whole Mukotshi family well, and of course catching a bit of World Cup action in the evenings.

Today we will drop-off Josie at the airport for her trip home.  Two weeks went by quickly for her.  I’m glad the rest of us will be staying a bit longer, 10 days to be exact.  We still have a bit of work to do on the plumbing and electrical, plus we are starting to really like it here and are not ready to leave yet.  Josie said the same thing yesterday.  She is not yet ready to go and sad to leave.  Though I’m sure she will be glad to see the children at home tomorrow evening.

As of Friday evening we have clean water flowing to multiple points on the property.  We ran about 250 meters of pipe and put 8 spigots around the property.  We also connected the kitchen of the orphanage to water, which thrilled Mama Angelique immensely.  Excited laughing and hollering filled the kitchen.  We had some small glitches in hooking up the other two houses but hope to buy more fitting in town on the way back from the airport.  Many people in the community our now filling their hand carried buckets from a spigot of clean water instead of lowering a bucket by rope into a contaminated well.  “God bless you,” has been said more than once to me in the last two days.  Having clean water and easily accessible water is a huge blessing that I take for granted, as least when I’m living in California.

Here is a big THANK YOU, to everyone who sent us and helped buy pipes, tanks, spigots, etc.  I’ve been telling people that the body of Christ, from a few churches in America, has been putting their money together to bless our brothers and sisters in the Congo.  May the Lord be praised!  You all would love these people if you had the chance to spend time with them.  They are humble, grateful, loving, hard working, and eager to please the Lord, and they make up a solid group of local believers.

Until next time,
Hope you enjoy the pictures,
Gabe, for all us American-Africans

More Pipe Work

A new spigot

First water flowing

Connecting pump to tank

Lots of pipe

Tank install on tower

Walesa and well head

Beautiful African sky and tank

22 people on the way home from church

A new friend

Andrew and Marion shopping

Fruit for sale

Water filter