Partying...in Congo?

Well this week was an eye-opening week. Let us start on Sunday. We went to church, and I learned in Relief Society, mainly through the senior missionaries there and others who could translate to me, that the men here sometimes have more than one wife. I know...polygamy here. The missionaries told me that before anyone gets baptized here they have to go through lots of interviews to understand that there is only one wife, and no other girlfriends or wives. Never knew that happened here. But the reason they were talking about it was because our lesson was on Family Geneology. They weren't quite sure how to do it if there were two or more wives in the family, like their dad or grandpa having more than one wife. They also were talking about how it was difficult to understand when things happened, because they don't have seasons, they just have the rainy and dry season. I never really thought about the family history of Africans, but it is hard for them. Especially here, since most likely there is no record of anything. They just don't keep them. So we, me and the missionaries, might start helping them to see if we can find anyone for them. Oh and we had four little kids sit with us on Sunday, because they were amazed at Spencer's I Spy books, and his Magna Doodle, because they can't get things like that, no money.

Then on Wed. night we were invited over to the Mission Presidents house here, the Livingstones, to have dinner with them and some other missionaries, and Elder Young, from the South Africa General Presidency, and his wife. It was fun to meet them all and one of the couples did a presentation about the service projects that they are all doing here. It was awesome to see how they have gotten water pumps to people, and done eye surgeries. Amazing! They had a quote on the slide show from one man here in Congo, and he was saying how if someone was coming here to put in a water pump for them it probably wouldn't get done. But then he saw that the Church was involved and he was like oh I'll help how, because I know that this will get done now. It was great.

Other than that....not much is going on. Oh Mom wanted me to put this little fun fact about our lives in here. They, mom and dad, were asking me about the walls that surround the compound that we are in now. They are made from cement blocks with mud, like stucco, on the outsides of them. Then I told them that on top of the walls was barb-wire. Yes we are enclosed with barb-wire walls. It's common here so I didn't think anything of it. Everywhere here there are walls, and there is either nothing, barb-wire, or shards of glass on top of the walls. Oh and the rainy season for sure is upon us. Sometimes it's sunny and raining, or like the other night we were woken up by the rain, it sounded like we were under a waterfall! But it's starting to make everything green here. Well, that is about it. We are moving into our permanant house next week, which I'm very excited about. And then hopefully in a couple of weeks we'll have internet at home. Write more then!

Pictures...

So I hear that you all would like to have some pictures. :) Well...let me tell you the deal with that. Since I'm using the Embassy computer right now for the internet, I don't want to put all of our pictures on this computer. So when we get our computer set up, since we got all of our air freight stuff yesterday(HORRAY!!), then I will be putting lots of pictures on here. Another reason there are no pictures, is because I can only take a limited amount here. I can't take any out on the street, or of the Congo River, but I might try. They have a rule here that there are to be no pictures, but we'll take some of our house and the geckos of course.

Things are going well though. Spencer is getting excited about Halloween, and I took pictures of him last night in his Care Bear costume...it's the most precious thing!! :)

Oh one more thing. We made it to church last Sunday. It was great, even though everything was in French, I could still feel the Spirit there. Everyone was so nice, and some people spoke English to me, which was nice. Our bishop can speak English and we talked with him before church started. He's very nice. All the kids LOVED Spencer. Mostly because he's the only white kid they have ever seen! So they kept touching his hands, arms, hair, and Tyler saw one girl looking at his ear. The Primary people said that he acted like he had been here his whole life. He loved it! Then after church he had six girls just surround him. It was so cute! There is a senior missionary couple here, and then some other Americans are here for a humanitarian project. So there are 6 white people in the congregation. But it's great!! Lots of people introduced themselves to us, and they are all so nice. We are actually in the stake center, and there was probably in our Kasavubu Ward about 150 people there. So lots of members. Something different for our Relief Society and Priesthood meetings is that they don't use the Presidents of the Church manual. They use the Perfecting the Saints book. Just so they all can get the basic principles down first.

Well I suppose that is all. I will write more next Sat. hopefully we'll be in our house in two weeks so then I can start writing e-mails more often. Until then...au revoir!

Business Class

HI!!! We did make it, and I'm glad that Dad got on here to let everyone know. We are doing fine, and have been just trying to get used to living here. It is very different, and most definitely a third world country. There are lots of people...EVERYWHERE!! Walking, driving cars..it's crazy to me. Most likely I will not drive in this country. There aren't really any traffic signs, and if there are, people don't follow them. So it's quite nerve-racking. If you have to turn you just kinda put yourself out there, and hopefully the other people are watching and don't hit you. Spencer is wide-eyed everytime we go out. There are people all up and down the road, selling things and just walking. I'll tell you about what they sell later. I did want to tell you about our Business Class experience coming here. Now that is the way to travel!!!! We had a 17 and a half hour flight here, so it was great that we got Business class. They had reclining chairs for us to sit in, and Spencer slept probably half of each flight because of those seats! :) We also had individual TVs and could watch movies or different channels or play games. The food they served to us was wonderful too!! I've never had beef like that on an airplane, let alone anywhere else! It was great!! Oh and when we were waiting for our flight to leave we went to the first class lounge, I had to go to the bathroom...HOLY COW!! There was soft lighting, a rose in a vase, AND the toliet seat was warm!!!!! Quite different than what we are living like now, but it was a nice little present. :) So yeah...that is about all for now. I will write more when we get our internet or when we come back to the Embassy and get on the internet here.....Maybe next Sat. But let me tell you real quick about the sellers on the side of the road. They sell EVERYTHING! From fruits and bread, to office chairs, eggs (that they carry on their head!), clocks, maps, books, furniture, and I thought I saw someone selling parts of a gun...but not positive about that one. But the thing is, if you are in the car driving and they are walking up the side of the road right by your car, if you catch their eye or they see you looking at their stuff, they run up to the window and press it onto the window so you'll buy it. crazy! You just kinda have to look up in the sky or off to nowhere, or just ignore them. We've also had some beggars come up to the window of cars we've been in and want stuff, sad to say that we have to ignore them...but that's what we do. It is really crazy here, but good too. We've had 3 geckos in our house so far, cockroaches (the biggest being around 2 inches), and ants. But they say you'll never get rid of the ants, which are all different types. Oh and a flying bug that was in the house last night, but we weren't really sure what it was. Tyler said it looked like a huge ant that could fly. It was probably an inch to two inches big. Well I should go now. I will write more later. We are doing fine, and would love to hear from you all! I'll be in more contact when we get in our house, by the 1st of November, and we'll have internet there. Have a great day!

They made it!

Hi all - this is Becca's dad and she wanted me to let all of you know they made it to Kinshasa. They arrived Thursday evening and were quite exhausted after traveling since 6 p.m. EDT on Wednesday. We have talked with them twice since they arrived and they are doing well. Their sponsor took them out for pizza and to the grocery store on Friday - she said the Golden Grahams and Frosted Flakes taste different from those in the states. Spencer was excited over seeing geckos and some other lizards while having pizza. They are currently in an apartment but should be able to move into their permanent housing in a few weeks. It will likewise be several weeks before they have internet access but she will be contacting you as soon as she is able. I'm sure there will be lots of news to share!

We've packed our bags, and we're ready to go...

I just wanted to write a quick note to you all to say that we are flying out today, or well tonight, and we are so excited! We will let you all know that we got there safely hopefully on Friday. We'll see what the internet situation is over there when we get there. We will miss you all, but are excited to see these new things and tell you all about them. I can't help but think how great it is that we are going to Congo, a place where not many people know about, and be able to share with you the wonderful things that are there (not just the bad stuff the media gives out). It will be a learning experience for us all. Thanks for all the help everyone has been, and we will be safe and take in as much as we can while we are there. We just really are ready to get going and be where our stuff is going to be. Let the adventure begin! We love you! Bon voyage! :)