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Hi there!!!

We've made it all the way to the Congo and believe it or not, so did all of our personal bags and the donation suitcases.  All of our flights went well and were without incident.  Those of us who ventured into London had a great time while those that stayed behind at Heathrow had a great rest.  Thanks to all of you who prayed and to God for the blessings on our travels!

We were greeted by a welcoming committee at the Lubumbashi airport in the DRC and once we called in a third vehicle to assist in bringing all the extra donation bags, we were off to Restawhile.  We had a few minutes to set our luggage in our rooms and then sat for yet another great meal!!!  Although our flights were long, they did feed us well and feed us a lot on the planes.  If today's lunch at Restawhile is any indication of things to come, we will be very well fed here as well!!!

We had an opportunity to go to the medical clinic this afternoon.  What an amazing accomplishment!!!  Seeing it for the first time in its completed form was such a blessing.  There were 10 mothers and their newborn babies at the clinic.  There are on average 60 babies delivered every month at the clinic since it opened.  Thanks to all of you who have contributed in some way, shape or form to this project that is changing so many lives in a positive way.

After returning to Restawhile, we had some discussions in terms of logistics for church on Sunday and our activities for the upcoming week.  We had yet another great meal and got to eat cake and sing "Happy Birthday" to our dear friend Gabrielle Marshall who turned 39  today (apparently again this year!!!).  We had a time of devotion, sang a few songs and most of the crew has now headed to bed to get some rest from the two days of travelling.

The group is plitting up in 3 tomorrow morning and will be attending 3 different church services here in the area.  Construction work and vacation bible school starts Monday at Ephata School for the Deaf.  We look forward to an awesome and rewarding time of service in the coming days / weeks.

Thanks again to you all for your support, prayers and encouragement and good night from Congo!!!

The 2011 Congo Team Members!!!

Jambo from the Congo Team,  

We got an early start this morning splitting up the team into 3 groups and heading out to 3 different churches in the area.  The church service here normally starts between 9:00 and 9:30 with choirs singing (sometimes as many as 4 per church).  The entire congregation participates in the 1st service.  After the singing in Swahili, they have announcements, random people get up and pray and then the pastor (or guest preacher) brings the message.  There’s more choir singing, the 1st offering (and sometimes a 2nd offering). The 1st service tends to finish up between 11:00 and 11:30.  Then there’s a second service immediately after the 1st service for the elders of the church and new Christians where they have special prayers, they sing psalms in Swahili and then have communion.  

As guests, members of our team were invited to sing, share their testimony, preach (yes I did say preach!!), pray, give the blessing before communion or share their personal testimony.  In one group, Alan and Brenda shared, in another group James shared and in the third group, Troy and Brandon shared.  The third group was composed of the Congo Team Praise Band (we still don’t have an official name yet but we do have agents apparently looking to sign us up for a record deal!) got to share a few praise songs at the service they participated in.

Although every service was different in some way, every member of the team seems to have come back with the same appreciation for the Congolese Choirs.  These people really praise with energy and enthusiasm and don’t need a mike to carry their voices.  They really know how to raise the roof off a church!!!  

Following the service, we were all invited for a traditional Congolese meal prepared by the members of the church.  They don’t have much so it was very touching to see them got out of their way to prepare and serve us a meal that was fit for kings and queens.  

The team re-assembled back at Restawhile (our home base where we stay during our trip here in the Congo) by mid-afternoon.  A group went off to see the progress on the dorm block at the Ephata School for the deaf.  Much to our surprise, phase 1 of the building itself was pretty much up and completed.  The school principal took us around the dorm and then we got to see some of the classrooms and the rest of the school grounds and property.  There is no running water of electricity at the school and there is a need for a security fence along the school property so there are still a lot more projects for future teams to work on!!!  

We had another geat meal at Restawhile, had a planning meeting for the upcoming week’s activities, a time of song and devotion before going off to bed for a good night’s sleep.  What an amazing day!!!  

Bye for now...

Well folks here we are Wednesday night. 

Sorry that there hasn't been an update, but we've been having an issue with our new email account.  So you may be seeing email updates from different people over the next couple of days.

We started work on Monday at the deaf school with great success.  The morning we spent working on the dormitory building and the afternoon was spent doing VBS.  The dormitory is practically finished, so there is no construction work to do but plenty of finishing work.  We've spent the mornings sanding and varnishing bunk beds and cabinets and also installing screens over the air vents near the ceilings. Birds have been nesting in them and thus creating a problem.  The afternoons we spend with the kids feeding them, playing games, bible stories, crafts, and puppet show. Troy Akerly is our head puppet show writer and Fernand is our head puppeteer. What a team they are.  The kids are all having fun (and so are we, we're having a blast!) 

Tuesday, there was no school so we went to the clinic and helped unpack and assemble some medical equipment that came from a local medical supply store.  $20,000 worth of equipment all paid for by Dieppe Rotary Club, International Rotary Club and the local Rotary club here.  What a blessing to have that stuff in the clinic. Incredible! The clinic is averaging 60 births a month!! No dust will be gathering on this equipment.

Today was another great day at the deaf school were everyone worked very hard.  So as a treat we went out for ice cream downtown after supper.  This is a trip many people will not forget.  We're talking about a very large city, much , much larger than Moncton.  Some estimates are one million people!!  There are no traffic lights and traffic is chaos!!  We saw taxis driving on sidewalks , the wrong way, and everywhere in between.  Make sure you ask to here about storeys of driving downtown.

That's all for now,  maybe someone else would like to add something.  Look here comes Dot.....
Alan