Pastor Greg teaches from Thessalonians 3:11-13 & 4:9-10.

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We just flew to Epulu, where we will have an overnight rest at a beautiful riverside game reserve. Everyone is feeling healthy today. Doug, our other Congo “newbie”, pens our update today:

“Jambo” from Nyankunde, Congo, from Dave J., Dave B., John, Keith, Brian, and Doug! Our mission is going very well. We feel blessed to be here representing all of your love toward the people of the Congo.

We wake up around 6am, have breakfast, bible study, and then get busy working. We finish work around 6pm and then go to the home of other missionaries who make our meals and take good care of us (Ruth and Richard). We are amazed by the spirit of the people here. The missionaries are filled with God’s love and are dedicated to His work. From the pilots, to the local staff, to the many others that we have met along the way, we have been blessed to meet them all. They have inspired us greatly.

At night the plane’s hangar serves as the center hub of activity. The generator gives us some power, but it’s not too long before we’re in bed and sleeping. We’re isolated, so there’s not much around us. We walked to the village next to the mission station and saw people living in grass huts. They smile and wave with a hearty “Jambo”! We greet our brothers and sisters here in the name of Ustick Baptist Church and extend your love and greetings to them. At night we hear them singing gospel tunes in Swahili. The songs are the same ones we sing in church, another reminder that God speaks all languages and listens to the praises of His people around the world.

As a first-timer to Congo, I am very impressed with the mission team. All of the men work very hard, and they’re very knowledgeable about so many things. They are amazing to watch as they use their gifts to honor the Lord here in Africa.

We thank you for your prayers and your support. Without your love and support we couldn’t be here. We pray for you that the Lord blesses you and keeps you while we are away. Additionally, we are so thankful to our families for supporting us and sacrificing for this mission. We love you.

Pray that God continues to reach out to the people of Congo in miraculous ways.

Things are a bit different this year on the food front as each evening we gather around the table of Richard and Ruth Dix, who are overseeing the rebuilding of the hospital and doing some medical training. We enjoy more-or-less American food and great fellowship.

We made more progress on all the projects today: wiring, woodshop preparation, painting, pressure washing, generator enclosure, etc. The weather has been mercifully considerably cooler than last year. This is another of many things for which we are thankful. Please pray for good health – John and Doug were hit with stomach bugs in the last few hours, but are feeling a little better now.

Greeting from the Congo

Everyone is healthy and doing great. We had a little bit of slow start due to the fact we were so tired from the trip. We are now working very hard and many things are getting done. Yesterday the generator was set in its new home and the brick walls are going up around it. Today the big job was getting water to house #2. We needed the water so we could use our gas powered pressure washer to clean the house. This was a big job since had to set a tank plumb it in. All the water has to be hand poured into the tank mounted ten feet above the house. We do have lots of help from the local MAF staff. The block enclosure is almost done around the generator. Other jobs like installing glass blocks in some rooms to allow light have been done also.

We have settled into our home in the MAF hanger with all the comforts of home. We have nice beds, flushing toilet, shower, and all the clean water we want to drink. We have had great food and no one is going hungry. The weather has been in the 80’s with only 1 heavy rain storm Monday night.

The locals are very friendly and always have a smile and a warm welcome. Working with the local staff is a real privilege as they work hard always willing to do anything to help out.

Thank you for your prayers as they are answered all the time as by our successes so far.

Serving our Lord,

Dave B, Brian, John, Keith, Doug and Dave J.

Here is an update from the Congo Missions Team:

We made it to Entebbe, Uganda, where we are now waiting for the MAF plane to take us to Congo. We had a few tense moments when most other passengers had picked up their baggage and left the terminal and we had not seen any of ours. Then all 12 of our crates came in right at the end, all in good shape.

While we were waiting on the plane in Amsterdam to leave for Entebbe, the crew discovered a mechanical problem which resulted in a long wait and finally a plane change. We arrived in Entebbe at ~2:00 AM, five hours late. We decided to just stay in the terminal rather than cross customs into Uganda and get a hotel as per the previous plan. While this actually saved a fair amount of money, we are a bit less “bright eyed and bushy tailed” than we would otherwise be.

We are enjoying one another’s company and feel very glad to be here safely with all of our baggage. We are grateful to God to for the privilege to be involved in this work and very much appreciate your prayers.

John, Doug, Keith, DaveJ, DaveB, and Brian

And another quick update from March 1, 11:00 AM Boise time:

After a short delay for rain, Lary (resident MAF pilot missionary) loaded us up and flew us to Bunia, where we quickly cleared immigration. Then another quick ten minute flight whisked us to Nyankunde. We greeted the ten national MAF staff and other community members whom we met last year. We got settled in, gave DaveB and Doug a quick tour, sorted out our tools and equipment, and got in a couple of hours of work.

Because of our problems with the Amsterdam – Entebbe flight, we are all dog tired and looking forward to a LONG night’s sleep.