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

June 17, 2014 { Josie }

Washington D.C.

How my heart is full!  Where have 2.3 weeks flown?  I am on the last leg of my 40 something hour voyage home and though weary, so incredibly grateful!  God granted me such a wonderful trip!  It was very hard to leave Congo, to leave Gabe and the kids, and to leave some very dear people that we have grown to love so much... Since I have but a short time before I catch my last flight to CA (and finally get to see some precious little faces and big ones too : )!!), I thought I'd share a few thoughts ruminating in my head. 

What precious people Didier and Annie, and their kids are!  There is great beauty seen in a life dedicated to serving the King of Kings with such clear focus and determination, and at the same time a lovely simplicity.  Their lives over there are hard and they experience much more suffering than we here in America.  Though life is difficult in Congo, these dear people unwaveringly run their race with such great fervor and patience always ready to help those in need (and they don't have much to begin with as it is!).  Yet they have all they need and are so content.  Indeed a rare thing...

Maman Angelique and her daughter Gracia, who are the main care workers at the orphanage, the other pastors: Mickey, Stephan and Coco, their wives and elders and workers at the orphanage also have found special respect and places in our hearts as well.  I already miss these sweet, hard-working people and of course dear Gabe, Andrew and Marion... I also miss the sweet faces of the little orphans, encouraging fellowship with Didier and Annie and her amazing cooking, as well as the fiery coral sunsets that would usher in the dark nights shrouded with twinkling stars. Even our comfortable little guest house complete with our little furry mouse scurrying about I miss.  Strange how even little things can become meangingful.  God's gifts truly abound everywhere, all the time... I think often though, I just don't have eyes to see them in the busyness of life, or I'm simply not choosing to see little things as the gifts they are.  For example, who would think that toilet paper is a gift?  Let me tell you, it is!! : )  For those of you who have been found it wanting, you know what I'm talking about! ; )

One highlight that will stick in my head for many years, is when Gabe hooked up a water faucet in the orphanage where I happened to be painting.   He, Andrew and the guys got all the pipes melted together and then finally the moment came when he turned the faucet on.  Oh!!!  Maman Angelique, who has been caring for all the orphans without running water for years, cried out, laughed and was so full of joy brimming over from her heart full of gratitude!  She was so excited at this prospect and what it would mean for them as well as for the people of the community!  She said what a great way to evangelize the community!  Free, potable water!!  Many others who have wells, charge the locals for water, so this is huge.  Especially in a country where water is scarce and quite difficult to come by.

Though I was so busy painting, I didn't get to spend a lot of time with the orphans but I did get to see how sweet they are!  They are so well taken care of and really are dear children!  BTW, I did try to take several photos of your kiddos, (parents who are in the process of adopting).  However, we did not give them the photo books of your families yet since adoptions are still on hold over there but we did give them their little animals (and shirts Browns : ).  Didier thought it would be too hard for them to see the pix right now and tucked them away to show them a month or so before they leave.

Running out of time before I catch my flight...  Visiting Congo was amazing and I truly hope the Lord will grant us another trip one day.  I gotta say though, there is truly no place like home!  When my plane landed in D.C., my eyes couldn't help but fill.  Not only had God granted my a safe voyage (thus far : ), and He continues to be so incredibly good, I was in the good ol U.S.!  I know I've shared this before, but how easy it is for me to take things for granted!  I love clean running water and soap and the amazing infrastructure of our country!  It's so organized and clean!  I got  my first shower today in over 2 weeks (ohhhhhhhh, what a gift!!).  Don't get me wrong, I did get to bathe, it just wasn't as easy or luxurious ; ).  Our lives are so very easy here in America!  May we remember this as we enjoy the great blessings the Lord showers us with (get the theme that's in my head? ; ).  How exceedingly good our amazing God is and may I learn to be more grateful to, and for Him!!  Will post pix in the next couple of days... Off to catch a flight! : )

Sunday, June 8th and Monday, June 9th

Sunday, June 8th
Church!  All three churches met at church #2, here at the orphanage compound.  The service went from 9:30, Congo time,(which = 10:00, American time) until 1:00pm.  It is awesome to see a completely different culture worship, the very same God we worship, in a very different way.  273 people packed into a building about half the size of our church building in Fair Oaks.  Choirs from each of the 3 churches encouraged the believers with a concert of songs.  Congregational worship, preaching, prayer and exhortation filled the remainder of the 3 hours.  What a great group of people.  I can’t wait till heaven when we speak the same language so that the relationships can deepen.  I was asked to preach.  I picked 1 John 3 & 4, the verses about loving one another.  English was translated into French by Pastor Didier and then translated into Swahili by Pastor Mickey.  My 25 minute sermon took about 1 hour 15 minutes to preach.  What an experience!

Monday, June 9th
This morning we met with the Chief Executive for Social Affairs for the Katanga province of the DRC.  We were asked to give testimony to verify that Didier is running a corruption free orphanage, and that the children adopted through Compassion for Congo are being well taken care of and are actually thriving and well in America.  We gave this man a photo album showing each of the 14 children that have been adopted out by C4C.  With recent adoption corruption developing in other parts of the country, there has been a lot of scrutiny of all the orphanages.  Many have been closed. Several people have gone to prison around the country for trafficking and corruption.  Didier’s reputation was bolstered by the meeting; in a culture where there is a lot of unwarranted suspicion.  It was also the first time Didier had the opportunity to meet this particular official.

Please be praying that President Kabila of the Congo would soon open up the country to adoptions again, as in immediately after the investigations are complete and new laws are written.

BTW – If you ever want to see an orphanage that is well run, where the workers love the Lord, as is evidenced by the love of the children that he has but into their care, then you must come visit Congo.  These faithful servants not only care for the bodies of these kids but tend to them just as much spiritually.  Watching Pastor Stephan teaching them to read, and teaching them to pray, and to see joy in all the children’s faces as they play games and sing and dance is wonderful.  Of course having parents is best for a kid, but if you must live in an orphanage this is the one!

Pastor Stephan teaching orphans

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