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

Friday, June 6th and Saturday, June 7th

Four full days have passed since my last update.  Where has the time gone?
The pictures have been numerous the last few days.  I am sending a lot on this posting.  That way you can see what we are up to without having to read my poor journalism as much.

Friday, June 6th
We went to prison today.  Fortunately we weren’t inmates.  This was a downer day; very, very sad.  We were invited by Judge Phuna to see the young men that he unfortunately has to imprison.  He is very troubled by this part of his job.  There were about 57 young men in the youth building of the prison.  It was a small building with 3 bedrooms, each about 12’ x 12’.  20+ boys sleep on the concrete floor of each room and receive one bowl of a sort of porridge each day.  The really sad part is that these boys have been previously rejected by their families and are in prison for stealing food.  There was a lot of hopelessness in their eyes.  They have nowhere to live and nowhere to go after they leave the prison.  Many come back on purpose, by slapping a police officer, in order to receive the food and shelter, as minimal as they are.

Anyone up for starting a youth rehab ministry in Congo?  You would have very pliable participants and lots of encouragement from Judge Phuna.

A rare prison lunch

Young prisoners

Bread and sardines

Bathing, laundry, and motorcycle wash

Saturday, June 7th
This was a low-key day.  Basketball, soccer, and other games; sleep, studying for preaching, spending time with orphans and friends were the agenda items.  We went to Judge Phuna’s house for dinner.  He and his wife were warm, sweet hosts.  It was nice to relax and pack my stomach.

Dinner with Judge Phuna

Andrew's dirt tan

Weekly medical clinic in church building

New church #3 under construction

Thursday June 5th – 10:08 pm

Let it flow, let it flow, let it flow !!!!

We’ve already been here three full days.  Before we expect it, three weeks will have passed and we will be anticipating a flight home, though there is a lot to do still.  Let me try to briefly recap each of the last three days, however, I must let you know the end of the story before I start.  I am compelled to spoil the ending because I am so excited.  Just 1 hour ago, water began shooting from a pipe that was laying on the ground at the base of a tree.  We measured the flow coming from it at 60 liters/min!!!  The owner of the well drilling company was estimating that we would get 20 liters/min.  Our expectations were tripled.  God knew that this would happen but wow, weren’t we surprised.

Anyway, now that I have spoiled the ending, let me start at the beginning of the last three days.  I will try to keep these recaps relatively short.

Tuesday, June 3rd

Tuesday, the day I wrote my last message, was a planned “recover from jet lag day”.  We took some time to eat breakfast then we began to open suitcases and set up the guest house.  We brought some small solar electric kits to charge the computer, phones, and cameras, so that took a bit of work.  We were glad to have two because one of the solar batteries would not charge.  (Fortunately Costco has a good return policy).  Then we started rearranging all the supplies that had been forced into the suitcases.  This took a while.  

Andrew and I opened and set up the water purifier that Stuart sent with us.  Thanks Stuart for the intestinal loss-prevention!  As of day 3 we have probably already filtered 16 gallons of water with that thing and it is still working great, along with my gut.

thanks Stuart!

Mid-morning we went to church #1 for a midweek bible study/fellowship time.  Didier taught in French while another man translated into Swahili while Josie translated (to the Americans) into English, an entertaining scene to be sure.

After church we had a short visit at Judge Emery Phuna’s office, where we met his staff.  He invited us to do two things.   One, visit the children he has had to incarcerate in the boys prison this Friday.  (He suggested we bring a can of sardines and a baguette for each boy).  And secondly, go to his house for dinner on Saturday night.  We are looking forward to both events.  He also had a picture of each adoptive family hanging all over the walls of his office.  He is quite proud of them and rightly so.  It is good to have a fellow believer here and there in government.

We then went to the market to buy some ingredients for dinner.  Among the ingredients was Joe.  That was what Andrew named him anyway as he rode there in the back of the van clucking, while his head and neck poked out through a hole in the bag where he sat.  Marion plucked his feathers after Mama Annie euthanized him.  Joe was tasty!

Matthew 25:40 on the wall

Later that night Marion went to the orphanage with a bag of animal, finger-puppets.  Cuteness!  One was placed on the hand of each child.  They mostly stared at them in wonder.  There are 20 beautiful and precious children in that orphanage.  I wish I could adopt them all.  Josie hasn’t given me the OK yet.

Wednesday, June 4th

Wednesday, was an intense day of shopping.  Shopping in the Congo is nothing like shopping in the US.  Open markets mean you have to pull out cash to engage in a monetary transaction for just about each item you buy.  Even if you visit the biggest department store in the city, you have to pay on each floor of the 5 story building; so if you want something from each of 3 different floors you have to pay three times, and then if you forget one item and have to run back in for it you pay 4 times, as we did.  

So we spent half the day shopping.  We bought new balls (basketball and soccer ball) to replace the ones that were destroyed buy overuse from three years ago.  When a ball is the only toy for a bunch of neighborhood kids to share, and they play with it 3 hours every day after school, and they are kicking it across a gravel/dirt lot; well, it wears out pretty quickly.  I’m giving the balls we bought about 2 months.

water from the earth

We also bought extra sets of cutlery, ingredients for crepes, sardines, fruit, etc.

Josie, Andrew and Marion made banana filled crepes covered with chocolate sauce; not standard Congolese cuisine as a special treat for Didier’s family.  We had the Mukotshi family over to our guest house for dessert, after another delicious dinner at their house.  They enjoyed the crepes, but the joy seemed to be mingled with confusion.  I think dessert is a foreign concept to them.

Marion treated the orphans to another small gift of glow in the dark, light sticks.  They joyously made bracelets and anklets and earrings of them while they danced in the dark and made lots of noise.

the laborious way to get water

Also we interviewed a couple of well drilling companies and booked one for Thursday.  At $110 dollars per meter we are hoping that they don’t have to drill too deep.  They estimate 50 meters for a good water flow.  The pump will cost another $1,100 and the storage tank will cost $1,500.

the old well

Thursday, June 6th

Today the men went to town to buy PVC pipes, coupling, fittings, hose bibs, etc.  The prices are so high compared to America for this type of thing, probably 250% of the cost for the same thing at Lowes.  I asked where it was manufactured trying to understand the high price.  Apparently it comes from Dubai and must be shipped by airplane.  So, now I am even more thankful for American infrastructure and manufacturing.  Highways for freight and railroads for shipping are something I take for granted, but they sure make life for us Americans much easier.

trenches for pipes

The women spent a big chunk of the day painting the orphanage, and adding some artistic features and touch up paint to guest house.  The orphanage will have an ocean theme all over by the time they are done.

The majority of the day was spent watching the well-drilling process.  What a massive and loud machine.  A team of 5 men moved like a choreographed ballet of muscle, metal, mud and diesel exhaust.  They added drill shaft length after drill shaft length, as the coring bit was forced deeper into the earth.  I was a bit discouraged when, at 45 meters of depth, dry dirt was still being forced out of the well. They had to drill through approx. 40 meters of a rock section.  Fine gray dust came out for a long time.  Finally at 55 meters sludge started flowing forth and at 60 meters we had the full geyser effect.  They finished at 63 meters.  The thought of another 13 meters more depth than we had planned, and was not encouraging.  In fact I was a bit anxious, frustrated and discouraged by this.  I had to take a deep breath and acknowledge God’s sovereignty at this point.  

oozing sludge!

Here is the reality though to put that extra cost in perspective.  

1. At least we didn’t have to go 100 meters down!
2. When I built my house 4 years ago I had to pay $14,000 to connect to the city water system.  And I still pay $40-$50 a month to use the water.  Here the only additional monthly cost will be a bit of diesel fuel to run the pump.  
3. These fellow believers have been caring for 20 orphans, in addition to their own 7 kids + 1 nephew (they’ve essentially adopted), and themselves and their workers.  They have been doing this with a hand drawn well, and daily carry water in 5 gallon containers from the well to their houses.  If you want some real perspective on this, go fill up two 5 gallon buckets (or get two forty pound weights) and walk 50 yard down your street and back with them.
4. That extra cost spread out over the next 10-20 years will be pennies per day.
5. Wow, we are getting 60 liters/min!! That alone is worth the extra cost.
6. They will be able to irrigate their land with that much water and cut food costs.
7. We are planning to put a spigot through the wall of the compound so the whole community will have clean, uncontaminated water.

So, why am I going on and on about this?  Is this a plug to dig into your wallets to help out Compassion for Congo with the extra costs? You betcha!!

Until next time, hope you enjoy the pics!

Gabe, for the Wilmarths.

P.S. – We can and will try to check e-mails every couple of days but we are unable to see any replies or comments left on this blog.

(Tuesday June 3rd – 4:45 am)

Greetings !!

From the other side of the world!!  Here I (Gabe) sit in a small brick guest house in the heart of Africa, and one of the poorest parts of the world, typing, on an Apple laptop, a message (which I will send later today) that will transmit to California in a matter of a few seconds.  Pretty darn amazing!!

The world is shrinking though it is yet huge and full of people that speak thousands of languages from all sorts of cultures.  And we all have one common eternal need and one common potential source of true joy; to truly know God and his purpose in creating this world.  

What an experience it is to travel to Africa  

After an exhausting week of preparation and packing and coordinating a thousand little details in order to get out the door; we left for DC on Friday morning with 500 pounds of baggage filled in 10 large and bursting suitcases (thank you everyone for contributing and helping to stuff those bags) in addition to the carry-ons and personal effects we were hauling.  We arrived in DC gladly anticipating the 30 hours of rest we would get before boarding the plane for Ethiopia.

We overslept on Saturday morning and missed our 8:00 white house appt.  None of us complained though because we needed the sleep and were glad to eat a large slow breakfast before walking around the capitol mall for a few hours.  Some of the Highlights we saw were the Arlington National Cemetery, the Lincoln Memorial, the WWII memorial, the (outside of the) White House, and two of the  Smithsonian Museums: American History and Natural History.

Sunday Morning was back to the airport and onto the first of our two legs to Congo.  I was glad to hear that the flight was only 13 hours instead of the 17 hours that I remember it being; though I was reminded that the flight is 17 hours on the way home. Hmm, bummer.  After a smooth transition through the Addis airport we were on our way to Lubumbashi.  We arrived very glad to see our friends, and just as glad for connections in high places!

Some may remember that last summer we had the opportunity to host Judge Emery Phuna from the children’s court of the Katanga province, DRC, in our home.  He came to visit California and to inspect the homes of the children who have been adopted.  During that visit we became great friends while having lengthy discussions about Congo and the needs of the county and the hard lives people lead and the impact that all this has on the children of the country.

So, why am I thankful for connections in high places?  Well, instead of the standard 1.5 -2 hour security check and baggage claim/inspection/fee extortion process that one normally must endure on arrival to the Congo, after an exhausting 20 hour journey, we were ushered off the tarmac around the side of the immigration building to a waiting room with a few sofas and cold water, where we were greeted by the Judge, Didier and his wife Annie, and a couple other brothers from the church.  After about 30 minutes we were asked by security to come open our bags for the inspection.  When we arrived at the inspection counter, led by Judge Phuna, the need for the inspection was dismissed and we were handed our bags and led to the parking lot within a matter of minutes!!  Everything that we packed arrived safely!!  God is good to us!!

Finally here!

We were at the “compound” by about 4pm where we settled and rested a bit before eating a delicious meal with the Mukotshis.  After dinner we went over to the orphanage to say hi to Mama Angelique who is still working and living at the orphanage since Brandon and Kara were there 3 years ago.  You will never meet a sweeter or kinder woman.  She had 20 children, all aged about 5 and under, sitting quietly in the main room of the orphanage house, watching a cartoon before bed.  An impactful scene to be sure!  Mama Angelique manages to love them all and enjoy her arduous work even though she knows she will say goodbye to them at some point.  Fortunately she has 2 other women from the church who come and work with her during the day.  What a task to manage? 20 young kids!!

Another note: Dider told us that the 8 children in his home, (his 7 plus a nephew he is raising) and all 20 orphans all had the chicken pox last month!  Anyone want to file a complaint about their life?

BTW – Marion doesn’t like African spiders.

Hope you enjoy the few pics!   Will try to update again soon.

Gabriel (for the 4 of us)

Getting Ready for: Operation Bless the Congo!!

The time has finally come...!!!!  We fly tomorrow morning at 8 AM to Washington D.C.  Much prayer, planning, and preparation has gone into this trip and we are excited to see what the Lord will do during this time!  It is our great desire to be a tremendous blessing to Pastor Didier, Annie, their children and the 20 orphans in the Congo as well as to the people of the church there.  A great many thanks to all of you who have helped with your time, finances, and prayer!

Pat, Mary and I trying to figure out how to make paper beads

Didier says that shoes are very expensive in Congo so we are excited to send a few!

Sweet Sisters and sweet kidlets helping with the packing : )  What a HUGE blessing that was!  

Thank you!

The bins before being organized and packed

One of the suitcases filled with blessings: toys, medicine, food, and a head lamp, amidst other items plus fun glow sticks for the orphans! : )

We fly to Washington DC and will spend the day there Saturday.  Off to Ethiopia Sunday morning then we arrive in Lubumbashi, DRC, Monday about noon!  

We will post more as time allows so we can keep you up to date!  Thank you in advance for your continued encouragement and prayer support!  We are exceedingly grateful for you dear friends and family! : )  God is so very good to us through you!