Zone conferences Sept. 2014

It's time for Zone Conferences again. I can't believe how quickly 3 months passes!  This conference President Cook wanted to emphasize the importance of Joseph's first vision.  He talked about how powerful this story is and it tells how our church is different from other churches.  We practiced the points of all the lessons by doing an activity where they have to place all lessons in order under their main headings.  This is the Binza Zone it is one of the bigger zones with 24 missionaries 6 sisters/ 18 elders.  We have 9 zones now since the split. So it takes us three weeks or so to get around to all the zones.

It's so important that they know these lesson points and know them in order.  They do amazing !  But a good review never hurts.  The next exercise we did was tossing the beanbag and have the person catching it gives an inspired question.

The President wanted me to talk on "My Family" booklet and how it can be used in missionary work.  I have begun to fill my booklet to show them.  They first need to begin their own booklet.

Then I had them take a few minutes and filled out the first page about themselves.

We talked of ways we could use this booklet especially in part member families and inactive families.  President role played that he was a nonmember and his daughter was a member of the church and wanted the missionaries to tell him about her church.  The Elders told how important families are to Hevenly  Father. And told a story about their grandfather. Immediately following the story the missionaries ask the father to tell them a story about his grandfather.  And this is the miracle of this booklet. Then the missionaries role played

Practicing this over and over gives our missionaries the courage to try new teaching techniques.  Finally for the last part the President wanted to show how in 10 minutes you can change someone's life.  He told them how important and powerful the Joseph Smith's story is.  He recited by memory the first vision to them.  He told them that they were going to have a prayer and then he was going to send the Zone Leaders out on the street to find someone who would have time to come back to the church and listen to the Joseph Smith story.  This is the 8th zone conference that we have done this in and it has turned out wonderful every time.  It takes about 15 minutes for the ZL to find someone.  Only in Congo can this work so well.  As the investagor enters the chapel they are always alittle hesitant but the President welcomes them in and introduces everyone and explains that we are having a training and we could use their help.  Then he calls on a companionship that doesn't know they are going to be the teachers and gives them 10 mins to tell the Joseph Smith First Vision.  These missionaries look straight into the eyes of the investigator and testify the truth of this story. You can feel the Spirit and every zone conference the missionaries have made an appointment to come and teach them.  They all have excepted the Book of Mormon.  After the sisters and elders sing "Called To Serve" to the investigator.  It's been great!  After he leaves the president asks the missionaries what they learned.  It's powerful.  And it shows them what can be done in 10 minutes.  Here's pictures of the different Zone conferences thatwe have done and these people they found just right in front of the church

Here are some of our wonderful zone conference pictures  love them all!

Kisingani DRC

We went home for a few days and then it was off again to Kisingani.  Kisingani is almost three hour flight.  That's like from SLC to Chicago!  Here there is a recognize Group that meets every Sunday.  This city was also in the Lubumbashi Mission.  Brother and Sister Logo are the couple that is organizing and helping the people there.  They have only been members for two years and they are wonderful !  They both work in the government in Kisingani .  They met us at the airport

We went directly to the building that the Kisingani group meets at and there was such a wonderful group of people waiting for us.

President Cook was told by Bro Logo that there were so many people who wanted to be baptised so we brought our APs and office secretary Aime to help with the teaching and interviewing.  Aime is a Bishop here in Kinshasa so president knew he would know what questions to ask for baptism. Plus the legalized marriage is a real issue here in DRC.  People just aren't married legally sometimes because of the cost, sometimes it's just a hassle so they aren't always married so they can't be baptised until they are.  Notice the little women in the blue chair.  She has no arms (just stubs) and no legs.  She told us that she was married but her husband left her and her three children.  She has been meeting here at church for several months and now wants to be taught and be baptised. Her name is Joyful! So the president divided the group up into three groups,Elder Kolonji taught the ones who spoke Lingula, Elder Mukadi taught the another group who only spoke Swahili , and president Cooks group spoke french.  They began to teach them the missionary lessons for two days.  I played with the children and youth showing them pictures on my iPad and playing charades trying to converse with them....it's hilarious but somehow I can get my thoughts over to them.

By Sunday 32 were ready to be baptised!  Since there was no baptismal font the river was the next best thing.  Also they had no baptismal clothes so Aime took me with him to the open market and we found white pants and shirts.  We met at the church building and bused everyone over in mini vans to the river.  This isn't the Congo river but a tributary of it.  There was a beautiful and calm place the Logos found that was perfect.

Because there were so many to be baptised President Cook divided them up into three groups again and had one of the Elders and two local brethren do the baptizing 

As I stood there and watched each group being baptised I was watching history being made.  They were so happy and thrilled to finally be taught and be baptised.  Even our little Joyful was joyful as she was being carried down to the river by her sister.

Here she after she has been baptized

Here is the whole group just before they were baptized

This was a very special trip for me and hopefully we can return to Kisingani.

24th of July in the Congo

We visited one of the two new cities that have been put in our mission Kananga DRC.  This was very exciting because we have 26 new missionaries that we went to meet!  They are great Elders! Here they are 900 miles from the mission office and are teaching and obedient.  There is no couple there to help them!

As we arrived to Kananga this was what we saw at the church. Wow! 29 baptisms

Kananga is about 100,000 people ( no one knows how many) but it's smaller than Kinshasa !  Not many cars!  It was very quiet ! Here is a picture of their baptism font notice the pipe from the roof that funnels rain water into the font!  It was tin and welded together to stone posts.  It works!!!

The next day Sunday we attended church.  RS was first and was held outside at the back of the church.  There the lesson was given on the Holy Ghost.  As the teacher was teaching us outside with a chalkboard the only had three legs.  I couldn't understand very much but the Spirit was so strong on that foggy Sunday morning

Across the lawn in the back of the church hung the 29 baptismal clothes hanging up to dry.  How pleased Heavenly Father must have looked down on this little part of the world and smiled.

Here is the church we attended in Kananga. The members were wonderful with entire families attending!

Monday morning was the missionaries P-Day they were playing soccer while the President interviewed each one.  See how foggy it is!

On the side of the road right by where the Elders were playing were these women who wanted to met a white lady.  They came over to our AP and asked if they could talk to me so I went over and met them and took this picture.  They don't see many white people in this remote area of DRC! We were quite a novelty.

After this we headed to the airport to fly back to Kinshasa after we had been there two hours they said the plane wouldn't be here for another three hours. Asked why the plane was late they just said" it's here when it's here"! So I knitted and the President was off doing this -riding a bike of one of the workers at the airport!  He was trying to convince the Elders that they could ride bikes in Kananga!  We wasn't very convincing. The Elders said riding bike would give them hemorrhoids.

We look pretty good for only having bucket showers in Kananga, no electricity, and Congolese food!  Another African experience!

Here is the kind gentleman that let president Cook ride his bike

The 4th of July in Kinshasa

It was very difficult to tell President Cook that it was a holiday on the 4th of July. We never know what day it is!  So what a surprise when Sneddons had made a reservation for us to go to with them to the American Embassy's 4th of July picnic!  It was held out on the lawn of the Ambassador's  home on a beautiful well groomed yard.  I said to the President you need to be an Ambassador !  Private pool, tennis courts nothing that I had seen in Kinsasha. There were two important people that we there.  President Cook recognized the first celebrity Dikembe Mutomba.  He plays basketball for NBA for Houston and now plays for Altanta.  He was the best to let us take pictures with him. He is known for that finger wagging after he stuffs the ball or blocks the basket!

This is the best picture. Here is Elder and Sister Sneddon with him.  He said when I took this picture to not cut off his head. It was difficult to get his head and the Sneddons haha He looks like a giant next to them!

The other celebrity was Vice President's Biden's wife Jill.  She was in Kinshasa doing some work with women in Africa .  This is Brother Ellsworth shaking hands with Dr. Biden he is American who works at the American Embassy.  He is a member of the church and is here with his family.  The man across from him is the Ambassador. 

the food was great !!  hamburgers and potato salad can it get any better than that? We all commented that we hadn't been around so many white people in along time! But the best was sitting under " Old Glory" and looking up at it and saying a quiet thank you for our blessed homeland.  God bless America takes on a new meaning to us here in Africa!

Desserets were all decked out in Red White and Blue!  It was a wonderful day!

Here is the Ambassadors beautiful home in Kinshasa and Sister April Ellsworth

Wild Monkeys/Couples Conference

You probably think by the name of this post that I'm calling our Senior Couples wild monkeys...well I am!!!  We held our first Couples Conference 2014 June 14-18. We brought in our couples from the outlying countries of Gabon,Cameroon,Republic of Congo to Kinshasa for instruction, relaxation, and fun. L to R: Brother DaTarr, E/S Bailey from Pointe Noire RC, E/S Smith -PEF, E/S Moody MLS/Humanitarian Gabon,E/S Sneddon Office couple, E/S Coleman MLS Douala,Cameroon, E/S Johnson Humanitarian Kinshasa, E/S Gates-Construction/MLS,  President/ Sister Cook

We started with a fireside Sunday evening with introductions and sharing our assignments.  Each told how they met each other and alittle about their responsibilities in Africa.  

We held the fireside in the Bybees apartment because they weren't with us and we wanted to feel of their spirit.  We missed the Bybees not being with us.  Monday morning started the first day of instruction at the Mission home.  Our theme for the conference was Hastening The Work.  Each couple took a different aspect of this theme and did a 30 minute presentation on subjects such as. HTW Through Training Member Leadership in Branches, HTW Through Faith an Action, HTW  Through Personal Scripture Study etc.  Everyone did excellent and it was a spiritual experience to hear everyone's experiences.  Here's Elder and Sister Johnson presenting their subject.

We had a wonderful lunch of chicken and Jacky's famous coleslaw and then it was off to the church for our Humanitarian Project.  E/S Johnson put together a project they have been working on. It's called the Maturation Program that makes sanitarian pads for young women.  The girls here cannot afford pads when their month period comes they have no protection and many of the girls just have to drop out of school all together. So the Humanitarian program came up with these washable pads with a holder and underware all put into a cute little bag that the young women can wash and rewash so they can keep a job and stay in school.  Here Elder Bailey is cutting and President Cook is sewing the pads on a hand wheel Singer sewing machine.  

I thought our children would get a chuckle at this picture of their Dad sewing.   Isn't this a great photo? !!!!!!  Monday night we had FHE evening and Brother Da Tarr came and spoke on his life story and the history of the Church in Kinshasa that is the photo above at FHE.  Tuesday morning we met at the Mission home again and met with Temporal Affairs.  This was so good for our couples in the outlying areas to have Temporal affairs answer their questions directly about building repairs, visas, rent payments, and ordering of supplies.  Here is a picture of Presient Eustache introducting his staff.  Thank you to Temporal affairs for coming and helping us.

Lunch was provided by Sister Sneddon wonderful chicken enchiladas.  Then it was off for a fun afternoon.  Some of the Elders went golfing and yes there is a golf course in Kinshasa !!! The Sisters were off to a fun afternoon of shopping.  First we went to the fabric store.  There are so many fun African prints. They also have fabric that has pictures of Jesus and pictures of the President of the country.

Here are Sisters Moody,Smith and Coleman sorting through fabric.

After the fabric store we were off to Theives market and the Distributing Office to finish out our day of shopping. Theives market is an open market that sells all sorts of African knick knacks and paintings.  Tuesday night it was Movie Night at E/S Smiths apartment watching the movie "Beatrice Potter" the story about the author of Peter rabbit the children books.  It was so good.  Here are Colemans, Smiths and Gates relaxing before the movie. There was plenty of popcorn for all!!

Wednesday morning we were up early and on our way to the Bonabo Park.  This is the part in my post about the wild monkeys!  The bonabo is a monkey closest to the human family than any other species of monkey even the chimpanzee.  It is only found in the DRC.  They live only here because they do not like water and so they have sent up their habitat in the land  between the two huge Rivers in DRC the Congo and the Kanaga (I think).  The bonobos are on a nature reserve where they can run free in the jungle but are enclose by a long wire fence.  Which President Cook found out had electric current going through it when he touched it with his camera haha.  It was a perfect day not too hot walking through the jungle and watch the bonabos.

The bonabos would pose when you would take a picture of them.

There were beautiful ponds with lilly pads on them.

This was so exciting for President Cook and I because it's the first we have seen any wild animals so this post is for all our grandchildren!  We found a real African hut and we all had to take turns having a photo here is E/S Sneddon in front of their hut.  Isn't this the best picture!

Elder Sneddon pointed out this termite hill/ant hill.  It was huge!!

More jungle and  more monkeys!

This is a picture of the monkey nursery.  These are the baby monkeys that are orphaned and these girls take care of them and hold and feed them and then when they are older they are set out into the jungle.  They have found these babies need to be held and loved in order to live.  Humans still haven't figure that concept yet!! Here is our closing photo of the group. And one more beautiful landscape of the jungle!

Wednesday late afternoon we went to dinner at Da Tarrs restraunt.  We invited our Aime and his wife Alfy and Elder Mbaya to dine with us because following dinner we were going to a rehearsal of the Kinshasa orchestra.  

 

We had only one disappointment the whole conference when we arrived at the rehearsal place to hear the orchestra they had been asked by the British Embassy to play for them for some event so they weren't there.  The next morning the Baileys, Gates, Colemans and us went across the Congo River.  They were returning to their homes and we were off to Branch Conferences for the last time before the division of the Mission.  We had such a fun week at our couples conference and having to say goodbye to these fine missionary couples in the other mission now was very hard.  They have been so generous to us when we have stayed with them.  They have fed us,transport us around all hours of the day and night, and listen to us ! We love them and will miss them! Until we meet again!!