Precious in His sight. . . Psalm 116:15 - Part I

The death angel has taken three more. We miss them so. death is a two-edged sword, an advantage for the believer, a heartbreak for those of us left behind.

Because life expectancy in Congo has dropped to only 43(undoubtedly due in large part to the war in the east) Jim and I never know who or how many of our staff will have been taken from our midst each time we return. Three have been called home since our last trip. They are Romaii, Jacques, and Mama Mumbunba.

Romaii was 47, a faithful worker and lover of God; straight as an arrow was his fidelity. We could always trust him. Quiet. The father of one and grandfather of three. He never drove a car, not even a bike. Supportd his many relatives educationallly on his modest salary. Made a little extra money by buying flour and selling it to the villagers in Longo. Dependable. Smart. Always smiling. We profited from his efforts and enjoyed his presence for twenty years. He walked twelve miles a day to and from work until we were able to purchase a vehicle for transport two years ago. That's twenty years of walking twelve miles a day five days a weeek. Adds up to threee-thousand miles a year if you figure in two weeks of vacaton. Twenty years later an inconceivable sixty thousand miles of walking has been his lot. I'm stunned. Are you?

Romaii was struck by lightning and he's present with The Lord. Precious in God's sight is the death of His saint.

Part II tomorrow.

A Day To Remember

The Congolese people of Laban are very empathetic folk. Oftentimes struck by tragedy, including loved ones, they can say unequivocally, "We know just how you feel." When my mother died in 1994, upon our return, in order to "kabisa bampasi ya mono" or "divide and share my sorrow," they gave me a beautiful two-piece outfit. Again, after suffering the loss of two beautiful and precious grandchildren, they presented Jim and I with new clothes, sacrificially paid for by our staff. We donned our new attire on Friday for an official welcome and comforting ceremony. The Lord was esteemed and lifted high through singing and words of cheer of encouragement, followed by a meal. What a beautiful, cultural offering from their hearts to ours.

Another huge blessing fell on us that morning after breakfast with Pastor Viktor and Pastor Mboma. Pastor Mboma, who is director of Radio Glory, handed us an envelope, which contained his "dime" or tithe. He said, "This is a gift from me to you, our missionaries. I have never done this for you before, and want you to have it." We were overcome. It fills my eyes with tears as I ponder his more than generous gift of $27.31. We will use it joyfully for the reunion coming up. Please pray for that week of March 14-21st. Funding is still needed as we anticipate hundreds of returning Laban grads to the mission campus for both the weekly seminar and graduation.

I am rereading We Two Alone by Ruth Hagee, veteran missionary, who served at Mangungu, Congo. Her co-worker was slain with an arrow, shot through her jugular vein. Her stirring account of the Communistic-induced youth rebellion in 1964 in Congo moved me beyond words and causes me to drop to my knees in thanksgiving for such soldiers of the cross as Ruth Hagee and Irene Ferrel.

We covet your prayers. Thank you for standing with us.

We're Here!

We are at Nkara. Everything is going well. As usual we have a great need for supplies, but praise God we have also been able to purchase many supplies. We've held two staff meetings and have a meeting tomorrow to discuss in detail the 2009 reunion of many of our grads. Graduation 2008 will take place on March 15th. The reunion is starting on March 14th-March 21st. We're expecting hundreds of guests. Our staff is awesome, but we need your prayers because there are some staff problems. It's in the 90's and 100's here, but we're not getting tan. You're backing has been wonderful and we so appreciate your continual prayer.

Jim and Nancy.

Is a change in the air?

Congo is ready for change. The last election promised that but has not as yet delivered. Today I went to exchange a check for American dollars from a former classmate of Shawn's when she attended TASOK (The American School of Kinshasa) here in the 80's. Was it really that long ago Shawn?

I asked him how he sees Congo today. He said that he expected some kind of impending explosion. The soldiers haven't been paid. When they are paid, they receive only a stipend, enough to appease them until they feel they can't take it any longer. Each night their children wait for them to come home with food or money for class. There is no such thing as free public education. It is public, but at a cost. With the average person making only $100 a year, each day holds its own fears, uncertanties, and dread. Will their kids go to bed hungry again tonight? Until a few years ago, teachers made about only $3 a month.

He told me that toward the end of March, there may be a new bill printed. Last month the treasury here was down to zero dollars. This month there is less in it than is needed to get by for one month. People have to be paid, so the answer must be to just print new money, a franc with a higher number. And, although the number on the franc will double, its value will be less than the present highest numbered franc. He said everything will double in price almost overnight.

At first, his words stunned me. But as I walked out the door, I recounted how many times we have been hearing these same words down through the years. "This situation can't go on; it can't last forever. Something is going to happen." But it has lasted much longer than any of us thought possible, that is the continuing of Congo.

When we first arrived in what was then known as Zaire in 1978, one of the first tidal waves of shocking news was that the government has just changed all their currency. That means that whatever money one had at home today would be of absolutely no value tomorrow. The only hope of redeeming that money was to run to the bank and have them buy it. However, if one had a great deal of money, the bank refused to exchange it or buy it, and that person was left literally holding the bag of worthless "Zaires" as it was called. In amounts so great that a house could be purchased or a new car, the mounds of "cash" became good for nothing more than starting a fire. So people jumped out of story buildings. They hanged themselves. They fell into the depths of despair not to return to what was their norm ever.

Psalm 18 came to mind. It's an incredibly powerful song about the Lord taking a stand when His children have been attacked ruthlessly their enemies. In this case, it was the Lord's beloved David. What hits me about this Psalm is that the Lord actually changes position when He has had enough of the onslaught of evil on his babies. I have noted this change of position over and over again in the Scriptures. Just think about it: the Lord will rise up at the right time, the succinct time--not a minute too soon or a minute too late which is only known to Him--and by the breath of His nostrils throw our enemies to flight, consuming their power and very presence by His zeal alone. It amazes me. It gives me goose bumps, and it is worth posting this dynamite section of the Word of God.

It gives me such hope for the people of Congo who love Him and pray through many nights, fast many days, and bow before Him in great fear and reverence. Take a minute and read it for yourself with me one more time beginning with verse 4 of Psalm 18:

"The cords or bands of death surrounded me, and the streams of ungodliness and the torrents of ruin terrified me.

The cords of Sheol (the place of the dead) surrounded me; the snares of death confronted and came upon me.

v 6 In my distres when seemingly closed in I called upon the Lord and cried to my God; He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry came before Him into His very ears.

v 7 Then the earth quaked and rocked, the foundations also of the mountains trembled; they moved and were shaken because He was indignant and angry.

v 8 There went up smoke from His nostrils; and lightning out of His mouth devoured; coals were kindled by it.

v 9 He bowed the heavens also and came down, and thick darkness was under His feet.

v 10 And He rode upon a cherub and flew; yes, He sped on with the wings of the wind.

v 11 He made darkness His secret hiding place; as His pavillion round about Him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.

v 12 Out of the brightness before Him there broke forth through His thick clouds hailstones and coals of fire.

v 13 The Lord also thundered from the heavens, and the Mot High uttered His voice, amid hailstones and coals of fire.

v 14 And He sent out His arrows and scattered them; and He flashed forth lightnings and put them to rout.

v 15 Then the beds of the sea appeared and the foundations of the world were laid bare at Your rebuke. O Lord, at the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.

v 16 He reached from on high. He tooke me; He drew me out of many waters.

v 17 He delivered me from my strong enemy and from those who hated and abhorred me, for they were too strong for me.

v 18 They confronted me and came upon me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my stay and support.

v 19 He brought me forth also into a large place; He was delivering me because He was pleased with me and delighted in me.

I love verse 19. Oh, God! You are going to bring your Congolese children forth into a large place; You are delivering them because You are please with them and delighted in them.

As I stated, this is not the first time of a threatening future for these people and others who work and minister here. So it may be nothing more than spoken fears and projected dread. But will you pray with us for a diffusing of any plans satan has to harm, kill, and destroy for whenever the changeover of currency may take place?

I leave with you two comforting portions of Scripture that so wells up in my spirit during a wanna be crossroads facing Congo. It is this:

When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift a standard against him and put him to flight; It will come like a rushing stream which the breath of the Lord drives.

and Isaiah 8:13,14

"The Lord of hosts--regard Him as holy and honor His holy name by regarding Him as your only hope of safety, and let Him be your fear and let Him be your dread, lest you offend Him by your fear of man and your distrust of Him.

And He shall be a sanctuary, a sacred and indestructible asylum to those who reverently fear and trust in Him."

We are leaving Kinshasa tomorrow. I won't be able to post as I have been posting. And though it will be wonderful to be back on the mission campus of Nkara, there is a degree of isolation. Part of that isolation is the fact that we have no internet access. Therefore, I will call our sweet Molly and dictate short updates for her to post or to send JCI Design in Dearborn to post for us. I am not sure how that will work.

Thank you for your prayers and support. I will miss blogging these updates so much, and I will yearn to read email. That is something we want to change by the next trip we make to Congo. And the Lord can do anything--even give us vital connection through the internet in the bush, 450 miles due east from here. nancy

Wish I had a camera. . .

Cameras are forbidden on the streets of Congo as a rule unless they go undetected, of course. Yesterday, we did some serious shopping for the upcoming reunion we are praying to be able to have from March 14 through March 21. One of the delectable dishes is makayabu (mock ah yaboo). Makayabu is a mild fish to begin with, but for the sake of preservation, it is heavily salted to the point of brine so that it can remain eatable without refrigeration. You can smell it a mile away. Bones are still intact, and it is as stiff as a cutting board. After soaking or boiling the salted fish for a good length of time, it tenderizes and is delicious with beans, rich, and palm fat. I can't remember if palm fat is currently not good for you or it is now okay to consume. The rules keep changing.

At any rate, on Monday we priced the prized catch in downtown Kinshasa (known as Kin), and yesterday while at another market far from downtown, we noted a much better sale. Changes in prices take place momentarily depending on who is buying, how poor or affluent they are, and what skin color they wear. We drew a lot of attention as we purchased two 100 lb. sacks of dried beans, 20 kilos (2.2 lb. to a kilogram), and about 50 lb. of onions. In fact, with windows rolled down but the space filled with bodies and faces and thus no air circulation, the temperature inside Augi's little car mounted. Swarms of Congolese quickly surrounded us, hoping to make a quick sale of everything from brooms, to flashlights, to gaudy colored bras, to aprons, to butcher knives. . . you get the idea!

As we began to look for vegetable oil, two men appeared out of the woodwork; and, voila, they opened cartons of huge pieces of the smelley commodity we needed. Then the fun began. In Congo, I learned the hard way to always weigh products being sold on the streets that claim a certain weight on the package. In the past when purchasing makayabu, the stated weight of 9 kg. has fallen far short when I failed to do this at the time of purchase and later had to weigh the product so it could be transported on the MAF plane to go up country to our mission campus.

After an hour of weighing 10 boxes of the nauseating salt brine and fish smell, with half of my body out of back seat window and persperation dripping down my face, constantly reminding them to take their hands off the carton as they weighed the fish, we successfully validated our 9 kg. per carton x 10, piled them all in the trunk, and sat back to enjoy the breeze that we were afforded because of the disappearance of vendors, and made our way home.

Jim decided to go with me yesterday, and we both wished we could have shot that scene with my little camera.

Today was more of the same. In order to cook, have hot water, and refrigerate and freeze food, we must use propane tanks. For the last 3 years, however, propane has not been available in Kinshasa. That means men have to risk their lives going across the crocodile-infested waters, avoiding whirlpools which took the life a former beloved MK several years ago, and carry those 100 lb tanks in a canoe, purchasing them in Brazzaville. So you know what that means--the price has doubled.
Since eating raw meat is not an option, we choose to pay the high price. That meant spending an hour and a half in the back seat of Augi's car in temps of nearly 90 while the men weighed the tanks, filled the tanks that were underweight, called a delivery truck, loaded the tanks on the delivery truck, and then we all drove out to the MAF hangar, had to get special permission from MAF to put them in the hangar, drive through a gated entry, and hire a few men to unload the tanks and put them in a secure place.

It is a different world out here. The good difference is that as people are standing around--in particular a policman yesterday who calmed the crowd and kept it from total bedlam because of their desperation to sell something so they can buy food for supper that night--the Gospel can be freely shared, welcomed, and actually embraced without any looks from the recipient that make you think he thinks you are not operating with a full deck, or that you might be a finatic, or you are emotionally deranged.

And that is what makes it so worth it to be here. People are desperate for God, and THEY KNOW THEY ARE DESPERATE FOR GOD. In America, we are desperate for God, but we don't know that we are or how desperate we are. Most actually want to hear. Most are teachable. Most embrace the Godpel. Many crave actually owning a Bible. They take a tract as if it were a newly discovered treasure.

The most disappointing thing about the last 3 days is that sweating boat loads does not necessarily equate to losing weight! Makes me so bummed.

We can't wait to get up country as they call it here or into the interior. It so brings us back to basics. It is so satisfying to watch people light up when given the smallest token of appreciation for what they are doing. To see how much the Word of God is treasured here, validated, and held soaringly high. To sit down with people who never make you feel rushed or as if they have more important things to be tending to. To gather with those who will set aside what they are doing at the drop of a hat to gather for prayer and take those requests home with them to lift them to God day after day until the answers come. What a privilege to walk with them. They teach us soooo much.

Your prayers are being felt. Can't thank you enough for interceding. God treasures your prayer thoughts so much he keeps them in a bottle and writes them in a book. Serious stuff. Makes us recheck our priorities. I love Congo. I love being here despite the difficulties. It makes me fiercely God dependent. No fluff here. Genuine warfare. In His strength, we are going to see victory after victory. Lord, strengthen what you have wrought for us! You are AWESOME.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Monday. . .

Not much happened today. We went to get Congolese currency, which was a distance of 2 miles which took more than 30 minutes. What is known as a main highway, the 30th of June, is two large lanes of cement pavement embedded with thousands and thousands of cars. The street is the same as it was when constructed by the Belgians in the forties, maybe the thirties. I don't know what the population was back then, but today it is probably close to 9 million, and the road is the same. So it is bumper to bumper and zigzagging from more lanes than there is room for to get to one's destination. It definitely requires a defensive driving attitude. We leave the driving to Augi who has been on staff with Laban since the late 90's.

Little children and beggars come to the car windows. Clusters of scattered refugees can be found on the streets downtown. Dodging potholes is a full time job, and windows must be kept rolled up to avoid being robbed. Mind you, they are not malicious robbers in that they will not harm one bodily, but are desperate for food or money for their children's education. Vendors also run up to the cars, selling anything from maps of Congo to watches, to kleenex to puppies. Thousands upon thousands are walking the sides of the streets as well, trying to catch a ride to work or going to buy goods they can turn around and sell down town or wherever. What a sad life the people of Congo have been forced to settle for from policial leaders who promise them everything and just do not deliver to the masses.

Every time we leave Congo, we say to ourselves that surely it can't get any worse, and then when we return here, we see that it has in fact become just that.

Pastor Gary Kapinga, the national director of Laban in Congo, called us today on his cell phone. He lives at Nkara, our mission campus. It was good to hear his voice. We will see him on Friday. Funny, everyone--even the poorest--has a cell phone here, just like everyone in the States has a TV, even the poorer.

Bodies everywhere. Faces I don't know. Many tongues; in fact, I hear there are over 800 dialects in Congo alone. And God knows everyone of those faces and understands all those tongues!

Someday you will make it all right, Lord. Cannot the judge of the earth do right? We place them all into your hands, Father. It is overwhelming. The need is beyond fathoming or putting into words. Lord, bring them to yourself.

Are we there yet?

We are! For the next two months, our blog will consist of live updates from Congo. Friday, Feb 13, we left Detroit to Chicago to Washington Dulles, to Johannesburg, South Africa, and then today on up to Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. A total of 21 hours was spent in the airplanes, and we are thrilled to report that all 17 trunks made it in good shape.

We are staying at the home of Dan and Karen Carlson in the capital city and will have internet access until late Thursday night. That's because on Friday we fly into the bush via Mission Aviation Fellowship, and there will be no internet access there. So to keep you current, we will call home and dictate updates which will be sent through an email to JCI Design who will post them on this blog. Cool, eh?

Tomorrow will be spent going to several different locations to get propane tanks so we can have COLD water and ICE from our propane frig and freezer, HOT RUNNING WATER set up by Towers for Jesus some years back, and COOK QUICKLY on a propane stove. We go one place for dried beans for the students at Laban Bible Institutes as well as dried fish and another place for rock salt, 100 lb bags of sugar and flour, another place for 50 lb bags of dried milk, and another place for potatoes and fresh vegetables. It takes all day going for several days, but we should be through by Thursday night.

We expect to have a grand time with our people. One highlight will be a reunion, Lord willing, if funds are available (and we have a good start on them) around Mar 20
with graduates coming as close as 50 miles and as far away as 200 miles. By the way, they don't fly in, nor do they take a Greyhound bus; nope, not even a bicycle. They walk to come and be refreshed in the Word of God and by their fellow grads. (See our website, home page, for more information).

Another event will be attending graduation. Because we were unable to return to Congo last year, the ceremonies will be held in March. We are thinking of combining the reunion with graduation. A couple of cows will give their all to help feed the hundreds who will attend, along with goats, chickens, and fish, dried beans, rice, caterpillars (silkworms) cooked in palm fat with onions and hot pepper, saka saka (similar to our spinach), fresh bread baked in clay ovens, tea, coffee, and sardines. Are you working up an appetite? It will be a great week, and our grads will go home so encouraged and ready to plunge back in to their routine with fresh zeal.

Please pray for Satan's defeat. He hates seeing Christians praising God together. He hates the advancement of God's kingdom. He hates seeing God rescue the perishing. He hates seeing triumph and valor and rejoicing. He hates seeing God glorified and worshiped. He hates seeing our trust strengthened, deepened and solidified. That's what is in store, so we can be sure he will appear in many different forms. After all, he poses as an angel of light doesn't he? We want to see him coming and see him defeated in Jesus' name, diffused before our eyes, and fall into the pit he is attempting to dig for us all our here who love the Lord Jesus Christ, who will be high and lifted up by men and women we consider