December 13, 2015 - Luano Ward

December 13, 2015

We attended the Luano Ward with Elder and Sister Draper. We drove through part of Lubumbashi going toward the airport. We then turned off onto a good paved road for a while. Then we turned onto a side dirt road that led down into a neighborhood. The homes are farther apart than the area of Nyashi where we went to church last week.

Here is a picture of the church. 

Luano Ward Chapel

Luano Ward Chapel

The chapel is on the left side of the door; the Relief Society room is on the right at the rear. You enter it from a hallway in the middle of the building. There are padded chairs instead of pews in the chapel That is also where the Sunday School Gospel Doctrine class is held. From the hallway you also enter rooms for the Primary, Relief Society, young men, young women, and a Bishop's office. 

As we greeted people coming to church, the little ones would put out their hand for us to shake. This is the ward that Elder and Sister Draper come to each week so they are used to white people. Sister Draper plays the prelude music and the hymns on a keyboard for Sacrament Meeting. She takes a handful of AA batteries to put in the keyboard since power is not always reliable. During one of the hymns the lights went off for a few seconds, but because she was battery powered, we were able to have the music through the entire song.

Everyone was very friendly. The women are dressed very nicely in their colorful dresses and all the men have white shirts; some also wear suits. The chapel was filled before Sacrament Meeting was over. The people walk to church. The idea here is to have a place for them to meet no farther than it would take them 30 minutes to walk. This ward, however, has people that are farther out, so they don't always come. 

The High Priests held their meeting outside under this canopy. 

High Priest classroom on the left side of the chapel

Another Priesthood class was held under a tree to the right of this canopy.  There was a breeze blowing today so the weather was very nice outside. 

This is on the right side of the chapel property

During Sunday School we could hear the Primary children singing. Sister Draper and I decided to go to Primary for the third hour instead of listening to the Relief Society lesson in a mixture of Swahili and French.

The children are so beautiful land sweet. They sing out with all their hearts. Two brethren were the choristers who really worked with the children. They will be performing next Sunday night in the Stake Christmas Program that Sister Draper organized. 

The Depot where extra supplies are stored.

The offices for Dr. Mikesell and the humanitarian couple when we get another one.

The garden Elder ad Sister Draper planted

When we arrived these plants were only 1 inch high.

The newly planted lawn

Elunga plants this by hand one at a time.

Flowers at the President's home

More flowers at the Mission Home

At 6 p.m. tonight we went to the mission home with the other Senior missionaries and watched last week's First Presidency Devotional. The singing was beautiful and brings such a strong spirit. The speakers touched our hearts with a testimony of our Savior and His love for us. He is the reason we are here in the Congo. This is His church. We are here to find those looking for Him.