We Have Arrived – Sort Of...
Dear Friends and Family,
We are happy to say that we have indeed arrived in Congo. We had an amazingly smooth trip over and our entry into the country through the airport has never been easier. You all must have been praying! It's so good to back and be able to reconnect with old friends. As always, my favorite part about being in Congo is the people.
A lot of things have changed. There is a lot of work being done on the roads. They are a good way into the project so, thankfully, we missed the worst part of the construction delays. There are still some inconveniences. The greatest one being the effect the road work has on the power grid. Evidently, they are replacing some of the power lines at the same time. This means that we have had almost as many days without power as we've had with. It really slows things down.
We're still struggling with getting ourselves organized. It's kind of funny, Michael and I worked practically night and day (thanks to jet-lag) to get our house cleaned and unpacked. By day 6 we were just about done and feeling pretty good about ourselves. However, on the morning of day 7, a painting crew arrived unannounced and was ready to paint our house. What a surprise! Our house desperately needed painting, but having just moved everything in, we were not overly excited about packing it all back up. But what can you do? It's been almost a week of utter chaos in our house. Most of our furniture is piled up in one room and there are guys everywhere painting things. I told Michael last night that it's disorienting not knowing where anything is in my own house. Things keep getting moved. A couple of days ago Matt couldn't find clothes for school. He didn't know where his dresser was, and last night we discovered that the toilet paper had disappeared – all 24 rolls. Both things turned up in the back store room where they had been put so as not to get paint on them. These painters are a good bunch of guys, though. They work hard and are very conscientious. Best of all, they're almost done! Yay! We're ready to move on to the real work!
Our next step in moving toward a regular work schedule is procuring a vehicle. You absolutely can not function in Kinshasa without one, especially since our embassy has asked us not to use local taxis for the time being. We've put the word out that we're looking. Please be in prayer with us about finding the right car. First of all, we don't have a lot of money to work with, and secondly, you never know what you're getting in Congo. There's no Carfax system here. We're trusting that the Lord knows our needs and will be faithful to meet them – as we've witnessed him do all year.
Michael and I both are getting antsy to get started on our work with the Pastors' Institute and Mitendi Women's Center. We know that this is going to be a short term and there is a lot to be done. There is so much, actually, that it is easy to get pulled in too many directions. Once again, we need to trust the Lord to guide our steps so that we focus on the things that are important to Him.
So, even though we've had a lot of set-backs getting settled, we're very excited to be back. Thank you again for your prayers and encouragement. We truly would not be here if it wasn't for you all. God bless you.
Yours in Christ,
Jill and Mike
Dear Friends and Family,
We are happy to say that we have indeed arrived in Congo. We had an amazingly smooth trip over and our entry into the country through the airport has never been easier. You all must have been praying! It's so good to back and be able to reconnect with old friends. As always, my favorite part about being in Congo is the people.
A lot of things have changed. There is a lot of work being done on the roads. They are a good way into the project so, thankfully, we missed the worst part of the construction delays. There are still some inconveniences. The greatest one being the effect the road work has on the power grid. Evidently, they are replacing some of the power lines at the same time. This means that we have had almost as many days without power as we've had with. It really slows things down.
We're still struggling with getting ourselves organized. It's kind of funny, Michael and I worked practically night and day (thanks to jet-lag) to get our house cleaned and unpacked. By day 6 we were just about done and feeling pretty good about ourselves. However, on the morning of day 7, a painting crew arrived unannounced and was ready to paint our house. What a surprise! Our house desperately needed painting, but having just moved everything in, we were not overly excited about packing it all back up. But what can you do? It's been almost a week of utter chaos in our house. Most of our furniture is piled up in one room and there are guys everywhere painting things. I told Michael last night that it's disorienting not knowing where anything is in my own house. Things keep getting moved. A couple of days ago Matt couldn't find clothes for school. He didn't know where his dresser was, and last night we discovered that the toilet paper had disappeared – all 24 rolls. Both things turned up in the back store room where they had been put so as not to get paint on them. These painters are a good bunch of guys, though. They work hard and are very conscientious. Best of all, they're almost done! Yay! We're ready to move on to the real work!
Our next step in moving toward a regular work schedule is procuring a vehicle. You absolutely can not function in Kinshasa without one, especially since our embassy has asked us not to use local taxis for the time being. We've put the word out that we're looking. Please be in prayer with us about finding the right car. First of all, we don't have a lot of money to work with, and secondly, you never know what you're getting in Congo. There's no Carfax system here. We're trusting that the Lord knows our needs and will be faithful to meet them – as we've witnessed him do all year.
Michael and I both are getting antsy to get started on our work with the Pastors' Institute and Mitendi Women's Center. We know that this is going to be a short term and there is a lot to be done. There is so much, actually, that it is easy to get pulled in too many directions. Once again, we need to trust the Lord to guide our steps so that we focus on the things that are important to Him.
So, even though we've had a lot of set-backs getting settled, we're very excited to be back. Thank you again for your prayers and encouragement. We truly would not be here if it wasn't for you all. God bless you.
Yours in Christ,
Jill and Mike