A letter home from the Congo

Djambo Sana (Greetings) from the Democratic Republic of Congo!

UMCOR has recently begun establishing aviation units to support missions in isolated areas of the world where other transportation is not available and the huge sparsely developed country of the Congo was first.

In June, the plane in Kananga suffered from an engine failure on takeoff with a team of visiting VIM missionaries. Miraculously, all escaped without major injury but the plane was totaled.

The Kananga Conference acquired a replacement Cessna TU-206 that has been sitting (happily, hangared) in Lumbabashi for 15 years, but it needs replacement of the engine and numerous parts and a thorough inspection.

Mike went to help with the repairs. Once the plane is finished we plan to fly it up to Kananga and do the inventory there and future plane repairs as needed, and then work on repairs to the aircraft hangar, which suffered major damage in the recent war.

Our daily routine is pretty set. Up, breakfast, to the hanger, work until about 6, go home, eat, read (usually by flashlight) and go to sleep.

Jacques, our pilot, lives with us in an incredibly beautiful guest house run by the Brethren. It's large, nicely furnished with all the "mod cons," except for electricity a good part of the time..

Kigali, our house guy, is a world-class cook. He is also in charge of laundry, which concerned me at first because he irons everything, including socks (and I didn't want Mike to get used to that). But I've found out it's needed because there is a local fly that lays eggs in your underwear while it is drying. Ironing kills them. I can live with that.

The city is large and spread out, most of the streets are dirt, It is in no way a tourist spot. It exists for the mining industry.

We attend church next door with the Brethren. Their hymnal has all our familiar hymns, only in Swahili, which is a very straightforward language to read and pronounce so I am learning a lot of words there.

Mike recently went out on a flight to a nearby hospital to pick up a patient and his return was delayed by a thunderstorm. He had a chance to visit the hospital, which was quite upscale. It actually has a doctor assigned.

However, he has no instruments to do even basic surgery and only a little medication, so he makes do as best he can and depends on medical evacuation to treat the seriously ill.

After loading up the patient, they were taxiing to take off and got stuck in a mud hole. There was a group effort to push the plane out, using a line of rubber flip-flops for traction. (See photo at left.) Your Methodist mission dollars are at work here at the most basic level.

On a recent Monday, I was stopped by a Congo Air Force guy named Kasati, who asked if I could get him a Bible in French. The next day another five guys approached me and asked for one. Wednesday it was 25. Thursday, 50; Friday, another 50 . It's easy to evangelize here.

So the "Bible business" is going like hotcakes with the Air Force and Republican Guard/Army. We're up to 370 requests.

It is really something to have a soldier come to the door with his best "war face" on, as Mike calls it, then leave with tears that someone has given him a free Bible.

The first name of one of the guys who just came by was "Thank God." One can only speculate about why he was named that.

Saturday the Base commander stopped me, and told me how happy he is to be able to read his Bible and that he would like to start a prayer and Bible study group with the people who have gotten Bibles. Now I am really out of my league. Any advice?

The engine and propeller for the plane have finally arrived. Hopefully it won't be long before we're asking for prayers for the safety and success of the test flight and trip across the bush to the plane's home base in Kananga.

Thanks for all the prayers and encouragement. You can contact us at mle9493@gmail.com.

- Peggy