Dear Friends,

I apologize that I haven’t written yet. Through jet lag and the busy two days we have had
I wasn’t able.

I am sitting here searching for words to describe to you what the last two days have been like in Kinshasa, the Capital of Congo.

Shall I tell you about the images that are filling my mind? A crumbling, crowded, chaotic city? With elegant ladies in rich colored dresses and head pieces walking through the dust and dirt of their home town? Of police and military with their guns at every gate, every building. Every white washed building has lost their white. Kids in rags and vendors weaving through stalled traffic, huge lush trees hanging with fruit I want to try, of beggars at our car doors. Of men and women lugging heavy loads of everything behind them, eggs, bread, and the like balanced on their heads.

And Sunday we entered the Lárche, our church.

It was beautiful. I can’t express again how amazing it is to be with brothers and sisters of God who live in such difficulty who worship him with such thankfulness and praise.
I was in awe as they continue to raise money for their building project. They have the roof and the columns and the floor. It is still totally open air. It has been years for them to raise the money for what they now have. This Sunday they invited members to committ to buy one rebar costing $12 each. Even that is a difficulty in this country. How far they have come remembering thankfully when much of their congregation sat under the shade of the trees outside. God provides for them and they know it.

Pastor Michael gave the sermon. He spoke about Justice and the role of the Church. Of allowing the Justice of the Lord to flow through each one them. He gave examples of Martin Luther who had a dream, of Desmond Tutu, and of Mother Theresa. They envisioned what was not. Then they acted, letting the God’s Justice flow throw them to others. Let your bodies be used as a living sacrifice. Let the Justice of God flow through you. It was clear, powerful, concise. It also caused us to realize that just to empower people to dream of the future that is possible, when they live in such despair, is a first step.

We began sharing this message the next day, today, Monday, as we met with officials. Each a grace of God I feel. Yet we are still processing. We can tell you in person how each of those times went. It was a good day. Fruitful.

I can tell you that today my heart rejoiced as we visited with a Christian brother in the government who is on fire for God. As we drove into his camp, I first felt so discouraged to see the condition of it. Broken out windows, barely a road to speak of, it didn’t seem to have any form of an official camp. He graciously invited us into his office, which was tiny, hot, really nothing available, hardly a budget and his heart is bursting with vision and burden. He is two months new to the position. He said he cries at night with the burden of reaching those that are under him for Christ. He is implementing his hearts vision, faced with unbelievable and complex challenges. We all were moved as we heard his vision mirror our vision. He is a local hero.

We also met with Pastor Nsembe, Pastor of the Lárche Church. What a great time of continuing to talk through the Sons of Congo initiative. How we would partner, processing what various officials had advised us during the day. We will share more on that later. We will be spending more time with him tomorrow and Wednesday. We have another packed day tomorrow. It is raining pretty hard now and I guess if it start thundering I have to turn off the computer. So I am typing fast, trying to beat the thunder. Uho. It just thundered.

We are all so thankful and tired. Btw, it turns out we will leave for Goma on Thursday. They sold us tickets for non existent flights on Wednesday.

Good night! Aimee for the Sons of Congo Team

Please Pray
1. That the Holy Spirit would process for us.
2. That our time with the L’arche Church would be rich.
3. That those with our same heart and passion would come to us.
4. That our team would be unified, of one heart and mind.