The Wilmarth Journey: 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