I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He will strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord. (PSALM 27: 13-14) A big challenge in any culture is to encourage individuals, let alone corporations, to accept responsibility for their actions and decisions. We are happy to report evidence of God's goodness in the land of the living, here in the ministry in Kikongo, in which people took responsibility! MISSING MONEY Sending a letter in the DRC is a risk and sending cash is even more of a hazard. Does one "tell the carrier" that s/he is carrying cash and actually count it in their presence before they accept the envelope and requesting a 'return receipt', or does one "take ones chances" and just send it in a letter, knowing that the one receiving it can "deny" reception and keep the cash him/herself? For the palm project, we decided on the former. Our doctor was recruited to give our envelope containing $30 to give to another doctor who was returning to Bandundu, the site of our incorporation process. Four weeks later we receive word that the money is "never arrived." The first doctor decided that, since the second doctor did not know the actual location of the intended recipient, he would give it to a trusted employee. That employee was told the envelope contained money and that it needed to be personally delivered to the recipient. However, he decided to give it, along with two other letters, to a teenager in Bandundu who knew the recipient. When the money never arrived, the intended recipient convened a meeting between the teenager and the messenger to no avail since the teenager refused to admit to having received the letter(s) in the first place. The GOOD NEWS IS, after several letters and meetings, the messenger and the FATHER of the teenager (who is involved in the Palm project here in Kikongo) accepted to each pay HALF of the missing $30. Those funds are on their way "again" to finish the incorporation of the palm project as a non-profit organization, officially recognized by the government. In a situation where fault was difficult to determine, God surprised us with two persons who TOOK RESPONSIBILITY. TOP NOTCH ACCOUNTING While the hospital and the Pastoral Institute continue to give GOOD financial reports in a timely manner, getting an accurate financial report from the church, or any one of 4 local committees has been an exercise in futility over the past 8 years. So it was an unanticipated shock to receive recently a DETAILED TWO PAGE REPORT from the church sub-committee responsible for the much needed repair of the nearly 150 houses of the mission. After several years of advocacy, the Church Council finally agreed to begin "charging" a small rent for each house in order to finance the repairs. (A typical rent is 50 cents a month, for someone with a salary of $15 a month.) Each department is to collect this from the salaries at the end of each month, then give it directly to the house-repair committee. For nearly a year, 2 of 4 departments refused to contribute at all; one has only recently begun to contribute about half what is actually due. Despite this discouraging lack of support, the committee has plunged ahead. The report presents, in a simple readable way, an overview of income and expenses, and a second page listing income by source, expenses for each kind of supply purchased and labor, and the details of what was done to each of the EIGHT houses repaired so far. We are looking for ways to congratulate the President and the committee for their excellent progress in the face of distrust and adversity. They are witnesses to God's care for the whole person--including one's living conditions. CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY. While it is a common belief that most warranties are written more to protect the company that the purchaser we are happy to report TWO EXAMPLES OF EXTRA-ORDINARY corporate responsibility!!! First: Most 90 day warranties start at the date of purchase. What responsibility does the company have when it takes over one year for the shipped item to arrive here in the DRCongo? Our grain mill project committee purchased a small commercial quality GRAIN MILL through Lehman's Catalog, a company owned by Christians and operated in Ohio's Amish Country. Within two weeks of installing the mill here in the DRC, one of the grinding wheels separated from the drive shaft. (While "normal shipping costs" would have been nearly $1,000 - more than the cost of the mill itself, through a series of shipping miracles, the mill was returned to the manufacturers in the States. After its repair, the manufacturers refused any responsibility for the repairs or the shipping expenses, which together came to just under $500.) Since we felt that at least a portion of those expenses should be borne by the company, we wrote to Lehman's and explained our disappointment. While the manufacturers refused to bend, Galen Lehman, President of Lehman's intervened and sent a check from Lehman's for $500 to cover all of the expenses!!! Second: A "WIND UP" powered FLASHLIGHT in a community with no electricity and expensive batteries is a GREAT idea! So we purchased 5 units from Free-Play back in 2003. Progressively we gave one each to two night watchman in the village, and one to the hospital for emergency surgery. While the units are guaranteed for 5 years, within two years, four had become inoperable: two because of faulty on/off switches, and the other two with broken wind-up springs. Successive letters to all 5 email addresses listed came back undeliverable, so I gave up. But I kept seeing Free-Play products being sold in catalogs. Since we do not have web access, I asked a friend in the States search for the company's current email address. VOILA - an address for FreePlay Energy, in South Africa. Fearing the worst, I again wrote describing our dilemma. While the warrantee was still "good", the demand for us to ship the flashlights one-way to the company would cost more than the combined purchase price. Would they be willing to honor the warrantee with the products being "sight unseen"? Within two days, I had a very friendly reply from Joy Lewis, Sales Secretary, requesting more details on the actual purchase, and indicating that they would discuss our unique circumstances. In less than two weeks, Joy wrote requesting the best shipping address to which to send the four replacement X-Ray LED units! Two other miracles. A missionary family from the DRCongo visiting in South Africa was able to pick-up the flashlights and bring them back to us WITH VIRTUALLY NO SHIPPING EXPENSES either to us or the company. Secondly, the X-Ray LED units have been TOTALLY re-engineered! They are less than 1/5 the size of the older unit, and there is no "wind up spring" to break --the winding unit directly drives the charging system!!! Both Lehman's and Free-Play Energy went above and beyond the call of duty. Passing the word along to you of their fine ethics, we hope is not offensive, but one way of thanking them. These stories acknowledge God, who in His Goodness, works beyond all that we ask or imagine. Jesus, in His time of need, asked his disciples to watch and to stay awake. His disciples then and now (including us Nelsons) have trouble with such attentiveness. Please pray for us during the busy closing weeks of our ministry here in the DRC. THAT WE DO NOT --switch onto 'automatic pilot' --waste heavenly time with our hurry (George MacDonald) THAT WE DO --stay alert to watch and wait for God-moments with our brothers and sisters here. Thank you partners. We'll be seeing you in person throughout the coming year. Love, Lynn and Virgil