Thanksgiving In the Congo

We are thankful for the people God has set in our lives, our family, friends, brothers and sisters in the Lord. Those that we know and those we do not know yet. We thank God for you…
It is our first thanksgiving in the Congo. We are learning to rejoice in what we have and no longer look at what we do not. We use to dwell on the fact that we do not have regular running water. Most nights we have to stay up very late or wake up in the middle of the night to see if there is water, and when there is water we fill containers to stock water for needs the next day. Electricity here is very unreliable, we have had unscheduled power outages that can last a few days. The outage can come at any time of the day. If you were cooking you have to switch from the electrical stove to an outside grill (babula in Lingala), which uses coals (makala- burned wood) a very annoying process. Water and electricity are just basic things but what about transportation. We missed to perform a baptismal because the car broke down several miles away from the river and it was not safe to leave the car there and continue by foot. We go out only when strictly necessary. We have been stuck in the middle of unfamiliar neighborhoods with our children up to 10 o’clock at night with the car broken. How about the simple food we use to enjoy like peanut butter ($6.00 a jar), corn flakes cereal ( $8 for a small box of off-brand), while the quality of the imported food is not usually what you are used to eating.
We thank God because now we learn to look at what we have, we enjoy washing our hands in running water, we rejoice like children on Christmas morning when water comes during the day. We all go out in swimming suits in heavy rains to play and take advantage of a God-sent shower. We enjoy the days we get electricity without outages and learn to be patient when there is no power, and when the power comes back on we join in the joyous outcry of our neighbors as if a great unexpected event just happened. One night the kids organized to have a bonfire, it was a lot of fun. We have come to realize what a blessing our car is. Every completed trip saves us at least $10 per trip. The kids may not understand the savings as we do but they have seen the pain and trouble of catching public transportation in Kinshasa. Some people say that it is like a sport, the average person goes home sore, after fighting to get into a dangerously overcrowded bus, sit in unthinkable conditions, while the vehicle crawls through heavy Kinshasa traffic. Thank God we don’t have to do that. For the most part when the car breaks down, we know that it will be fixed and we will continue our trip home. Once the car has started, we forget the hour wait, the hunger, and we are filled with thanksgiving realizing that it is only by the grace of God that we can go from one place to another and come back home safe. What grace! When we think about the blessing of food to eat, our diet has considerably changed but we are blessed to have food to eat every day. We might not have what we want, but we have something everyday. What we eat is close to organic food and is a true blessing.
This thanksgiving in the Congo we are really thankful for the opportunity and privilege God is giving us to be in His field. We have seen lives changed, people hoping and dreaming again and putting their trust back in God. We are candidates to experience the miracle of God on a daily basis, what an honor! God did not provide us with all that we wanted, but what He does with what we have is amazing…Many times people have come to us with a financial need, no food at home, a child sick and there is no money to get him to the hospital, or a bad business deal and a person finds themselves faced with the very corrupted legal system. Often when they come to me, I am dealing with my own issues, I don’t know how I will feed my family next month, I don’t have money to get to church Sunday, etc. In all these situations there was a “BUT GOD”, He showed up, I was able to act, since money and gold I did not have, God always gave me words of encouragement and faith and people have testified to me that God intervened on their behalf. One time a gentleman that came to me with a problem came back the next Sunday with money to give to me and my family, it was not a considerable amount but for someone who first came because he had a financial problem that started damaging his marriage it is truly amazing. Only God can do that.
Tomorrow we will be on our way to the beach (in Muanda), the weather is wonderful here. We are spending a whole week in Muanda at my parents‘ inn, we are truly thankful to God. I will be preaching there and we will enjoy the wonderful things God has done, we promise to think about those who have been forced to turn on their heating system (we don’t have those here, another reason to be thankful to God). Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
Senga