January 2-3, 2016 - Hair cut and Kisapa 2 Ward

January 2 - Spent a lot of the day in the office discovering some things in IMOS I can use to help automate my duties further. Did the laundry in between. It is so nice to be so close to home and the office.

Elder Draper cut Elder Petersons hair.

Sister Thomas trimmed my hair. I supposed we will have to learn to cut one anothers hair while we are here.

January 3 - We went with the Mikesells, Sister Vance, and Sister Cook to the Kasapa 2 Ward this morning. It is a more educated ward than most. The people very very friendly. Many of them speak some English. Some have come to Sister Cooks English classes.  Sister Vance was very brave and bore her testimony. We are fasting today for Elder and Sister Bennetts daughter-in-law who has cancer. The Bennetts found this out on Christmas Eve while they were here.

I went to Primary again today. Senior and junior Primary were separated for class, two big classes. The brother who taught Senior Primary did a great job with the first lesson of the year, The Book of Mormon is a gift from God. I could follow along a little bit. Sister Mikesell came in and we were able to download the Primary manual and a few other manuals on Elder Petersons IPAD using her hotspot connection from her phone.

After the lesson the Junior Primary came in and all were taught a sharing time from the new outline. There was no singing time today, just an opening song and a closing song. One thing I was really impressed by was what they did at the very beginning of sharing time.  The children started reciting the Articles of Faith in unison. They recited all of them--one through thirteen. I was amazed. The Junior primary did not know all of them but the children in the senior Primary did. They have spent some major time working with the children to complete that task.

Primary can be so exhausting

When Primary was over I asked if I could take some pictures. Here is no different--they all want to be in the picture and see the immediate result.

Primary President with some children

Primary Presidents baby

Primary President with other Primary sisters

I finally made my way outside thinking the others would be waiting for me. As I approached the van I found it full--but not full of missionaries--it was children. Sister Mikesell had quite a few sitting in the van with her.

Sister Mikesell and a van full of children

Kasapa 2 Ward Chapel newly painted

Sister Mikesell in the van mobbed by children

Little boy we sat next to in Sacrament Meeting

Extensions on this baby who was almost bald

Beautiful sisters

Sister Cook with some children from the Branch

It was a wonderful fast Sunday in the Kasapa 2 Ward.

December 31, 2015 and January 1, 2016 - New Years Eve and New Years Day

December 31 - We worked in the office as a normal work day. Then at 5:30 p.m. all of us here in the Office Compound went to a Chinese Restaurant for dinner. The others have eaten at this restaurant previously. However, about the time we arrived in the Congo the restaurant closed its doors so they could move to a new building. President Thomas had been checking every so often to see if they were open for business. Finally, they are now open so we are going there for our New Years Eve Dinner.

Several dishes were ordered: sweet and sour chicken, Kung Foo Chicken, a cabbage dish, another assortment of vegetables dish and three bowls of rice. They brought regular white rice, ham fried rice, and then a seafood rice. It was all very good. We enjoyed it very much. The atmosphere was nice even though the service was a little slow. We all were able to sit around one large round table.

There were several small groups of Chinese people who came into the restaurant, placed an order at the bar area and then went through a doorway to another room. A couple of Congolese people came in, sat down, and then left without ordering. We determined later that there must have been a private Chinese party going on that night. We are not sure exactly why they let us in and no one else.

We did not wait up for the New Year to come in. We went to bed around ten o clock.

January 1, 2016 - The New Year is here. Time to work on new goals or revisit old goals not achieved. I spent some time today organizing some French materials to study.

Our assignment for our New Years Day Brunch was muffins. We chose the brown sugar muffin recipe to try. Sister Davis left muffin tins and papers so we were all set. The oven cooperated and the muffins cooked just right. Everyone commented on how good they were and wanted the recipe. Rachael had emailed the recipes she had typed so they were emailed as a Christmas present to all the sisters here. Sister Vance and Mikesell cooked eggs, Sister Thomas had bacon and ham. Sister Cook arranged a fruit plate, and Elder Draper made hash browns. It all tasted very good. We sat and visited for a total of three hours over brunch.

Pears, mango, pineapple fruit plate complete with the red hibiscus flowers for presentation

Omlette, Watermelon, fruit plate

Elder Draperès hash browns

Brown Sugar Muffins

Omlette

Bacon and Ham

Table loaded with delicious food

Sister Draper, Sister Thomas, Sister Vance

Sister Vance, President Thomas, Elder Draper, Elder Peterson

Sister Draper, Sister Cook, Sister Thomas

Sister Vance, the ham, checking out the bacon. Sister Thomas in the background

Elder Peterson helping himself to some yummy eggs

Elder & Sister Mikesell, Sister Vance, Sister Cook, Elder Peterson

Elder Peterson, Sister Thomas, President Thomas, Sister Draper, Elder Draper

I had cooked some squash a couple of days ago so today I used it in place of pumpkin and tried Grandma Petersons Pumpkin Brownies. They turned out pretty good, but next time I will cook it a little longer.

Since I was in a cooking mood, I baked some chicken. The recipe book had a broccoli-chicken cassarole I thought we would try. The cream of chicken soup had to be made from scratch. Then it called for uncooked rice. Against my better judgment I followed the recipe. After the half hour in the oven it was not cooked. So I added some water, stirred it around, and put it back in the oven for a while. In the end we had Congolese style broccoli chicken cassarole. It tasted good. We have plenty of leftovers for another time or two.

For any of you who were worried we were not eating very well--stop worrying!!

December 28 - 30, 2015

December 28 - 30. Regular office duties this week. I worked on letters going out to Stake Presidents and families of our December new missionary arrivals. This is something we are just starting in our mission. It is done with a mail merge similar to Microsoft Word, but it is done in the church IMOS system. The data elements are automatically included such as Missionary Full Time, Missionary Last Name, Companion Full and last name, the city they serve in, the sector, etc.

I was having issues with the French translations of Elder and Sister customizing the letter. After calling Salt Lake I found that two letters need to be created, one for Elders and one for the Sisters. The software is not translating into French the way it is supposed to. That may be fixed in a future update but not for a while.

The letters were finished and emailed to the Stake Presidents and the letters for the families along with a picture of the arriving missionary with President and Sister Thomas are now ready for the POUCH system.

We received some missing information we needed to complete three more prospective missionary applications. These were prepared to send to Johannesburg. After being reviewed at the Area Office, they are then forwarded to Salt Lake for one of the Apostles to extend the mission call.

A mission call was sent from Johannesburg for us to forward on to the missionary who lives in Mwene Ditu. We thought the process took a long time in the United States, but it is longer here in the Congo, getting all the necessary papers in order. With no mail service we have to get the mission call through the church pouch system here in the country to the various wards and branches.

December 27, 2015 - Kipushi Ward

December 27 - We went with Elder and Sister Mikesell, Sister Vance, and Sister Cook to Kipushi, about 1 hour driving distance. It is a border town between the DRC and Zambia. We drove through the town to the guard station before turning around and going to the church. The road on the other side of the guard station leads to a small village in Zambia. After that, there is no good road heading anywhere.

Kipushi Branch Chapel

Sister Cook, Sister Peterson, Sister Vance by baptismal font, Kipushi Branch

Sister Vance with children after Sacrament Meeting

 The people at church were very friendly. After Sacrament Meeting Sister Vance, Sister Cook, and I went to primary. They sang a few songs but most of the time the children were being taught from the Primary lesson book and the Primary President gave a sharing time from the outline for sharing time. Another sister taught the lesson. They spoke in both French and then Swahili to teach the children. Main points in French was written on the board. I was able to follow along pretty well with what the children were being taught.

When the sisters finished with what they had prepared there was a few minutes of time left. Sister Cook asked if she could sing with the children. She sang songs in English and the children, after figuring out from the tune what the song was, would sing in French. Sister Cook sang SMILES, doing a really good frowny face. The children and their two leaders laughed and laughed. We had a great time taking pictures of them.

Family getting mangoes from the tree in the church yard.

After the meetings we sat in the van and ate lunch. Sister Mikesell realized it would be after lunch time when we would return so she prepared food for us. We ate ham and cheese sandwiches with Elder Mikesellès snickerdoodles for dessert. We will miss the Mikesells when their mission is finished the end of February. They are very thoughtful people.

The following pictures are taken as we are driving from Kipushi back to Lubumbashi.

Termite clay hill used for making bricks

I enjoyed a nap while Elder Peterson studied.