Congo Hope Blog

Days in Congo - A Day of Tears We are now in the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo), and sadly, because we live in the bush, no internet is available when I go back in a few days. But until then I am in Kinshasa with internet, at least much of the time. So I will attempt to post a series called "Days in Congo." For a year now, we have been involved in a court case with a denomination of the national "church" here in Congo, who forged papers in 1997, claiming the mission we have served on since l978 and formerly where Dr. Laban and Marcella Smith served from 1947 until his death in 1953 and then to which Marcella returned until 1978, is really theirs. All of our papers and documents regarding ownership are in order. Two lower tribunal audiences and one higher tribunal court attended by 3 judges have all ruled in our favor. Still no actions have been taken to formally recognize true ownership. Rumors are now circulating that some of the higher ups are being bribed to drag things out with gifts of cattle, goats, and money from our opposing side. Since the judges are late getting their stipend from the government, these "gifts" can be very welcome and enticing. Nkara is a beautiful valley surrounded by a horseshoe-shaped hill complete with a 7 acre lake, a church which seats 4,000 people, which we do not enter anymore, a state ssupported grade school, middle school, and high school run by this "church" group, Laban Bible Institute, and East Hill crowned with Radio glory. Three homes are present on the site near ours: a guest house we call the White House, Pastor Kapem's house, and the home of the national "school inspector." Just down a way from the Bible institute is our men's dorm, a mill that grinds manioc (the daily staple of manioc root) into flour, a small mud hut which ordinarily posed as a girls' dorm, and many cement block homes built by Laban Ministries for staff personnel, a new mud/brick dining hall being built for our students, plus the homes of teachers of the state-operated schools on the property. Once a center for ceremonial cannibalsim and child sacrifice, Nkara has always been controversial ground. In the late 1930's or possibly early 1940's, its true origin was disputed by the same and only village of Mpene that refused to welcome Laban and Marcella here in 1947. Years before they came here to preach the Gospel to the Bayangi tribe, 70 men from this same village committed suicide in the lake at the bottom of the hill in front of our home because the two original villages who originally owned this land threatened to defend their position. And, rather than fight these two villages, the men walked into the lake knowing they could not swim and died. In their eyes, these deaths secured ownership of Nkara-Ewa. It was a sacrifice they considered equivalent to possessing the land. So mistaken. Just days ago, a staff member by the name of Mupiya said, "The day before Dr. Smith died he stood and said, 'Nkara has been and always will be a place of jealousy. There will be many people who will want to take over.'" This has certainly proven true. Other groups have wanted this land as well, but so far God has enabled it to stay in the hands of the Smith family. What a stark contrastt Nkara is today compared to those days of darkness entrenched in demonism and witchcraft, resulting in child sacrifice and youbg men of royalty being offered up as an atonement for the sins of the people living in this area. Some 65 years after Dr. and Mrs. Smith opened the Word of God to te Bayangi Tribe, Laban Bible Institute has graduated hundreds of men who are now pastoring churches all over the Bandundu Province. On the same land, the denomination who has tried to steal the land out from under us is operating the state-funded school, supplying teachers who have a wife here and one in Kikwit, charging illegal taxes to anyone who grows gardens on the land, and have made an adulterer the chief of the district of churches in this locale that bear their denominational name. The Lord only knows what other evils are lurking. . . So, after a year of running back and forth to the town of Bulungu (45 miles from here), empty promises to settle the case and evict the thieves as well as all of their cohorts, many of whom are from this hateful village of Mpene, of having their side not show up for court dates, and telling our staff repeatedly that they are losers, that their jobs are ove, and that we are never coming back, long drawn-out repetivie presentations of our documents and no presentations of their "documents", our staff is fed up with the opposing party and concerned about our welfare. Every week day morning we meet with the staff to spend time studying God's Word together, to pray, and to discuss work projects, the day's work load, and upcomiing events, etc. Discussions ensued one day about the next court date, and some rumors going wild. As I was walking back to our home, Pastor Richard joined me. He is a graduate of LBI, a long-standing staff member, chief of the locaL district of pastors in the Iwungu area, where Jim's parents lived before coming to Nkara. Soft-spoken with a gentle demeanor, he said, "Madame, I see what is going on and today in chapel I was so distrubed by the way things are being handled that tears came out of my eyes for you and Mr. Jim." At his words,I myself was moved to tears, and we walked together a ways softly sobbing.