Fri. - the last day of the conference

Half way through the conference

 Dan & Dorkham enjoy the plants that close when you touch them.

 Emily & Rachel playing "remember the tree" (with Josh harassing them)

Lydia having Christiana scale the wall.

Visiting the bonobos!  (up in the background, with some on the Mama's laps)

This one posed!

Conference Pictures

I'm too tired to post much, but wanted to put up a few pictures of the women making bracelets and the kids from the conference.  Things are going very well and we are enjoying getting to know everyone.  We have 2 more full days of the conference (Thurs. & Fri.).

Preparation Day

Today we enjoyed going to see where Anna takes ballet.  It is a beautiful oasis, behind the big walls, that has art, gardens, beautiful birds (including a peacock), a store, and the dance studio (like Como conservatory, but cooler).  The rest of the day was spent in preparations.  I organized a bag of the women's night materials, and then worked on the youth talks and props.  Jody worked on final details with the guest house, schedule, food, etc.  Sam (with help from everyone, even me, Jody, and Nicholas joining in to make wind sound effects) kept working on the famous Lego movie he makes for each family conference.  Garth made two flights today and then picked up the Pastor and 2 worship guys from Rochester who just got in safely this evening.  And Anna and Adelyn are working on their dance.  We’re all looking forward to a great time that begins tomorrow (Tues.) evening.  Please pray that it will be a wonderful family conference for these great MAF families. 

Big Prayer Request

We have a big prayer request.  The night before we got in to Kinshasa, the Cessna Caravan (the biggest plane that is used here) was damaged.  A fire truck smashed through a metal gate and ran into the plane.  It damaged the tail and made it inoperable.  Please pray for wisdom for Garth and other MAF staff as they work through this tragedy.  The plane was scheduled to be used for many flights in the next few weeks and it severely limits their work to not have this plane available.  For example, today, 2 flights will need to be used to cover one of the Caravan's flights.  Thank you for joining in prayer with us for this important prayer request.

Great Sunday

We had another great day in Kinshasa.  We were able to go to church and enjoyed the service very much.  We were even treated to a choir number that was in Lingala (wish I could post that video, but my one picture alone take a very long time!).  We ate at the Chinese restaurant after church (the best I have ever had!) and went shopping for groceries (where we saw a box of Kix for $11).  It has been fun to meet more of the MAF missionary families and other people that we have heard about for years. 

We Made it to Kinshasa!

With an unexpected but delightful side trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and a pit stop in Brazzaville, we were very happy to arrive safely in Kinshasa today.  In Addis, we were able to go to Bingham Academy, driven there by the taxi driver who remembered Krister Copeland and the other Copeland children.  We had a great tour of Addis and took a lot of pictures.

We got in to Kinshasa this afternoon and were so glad to see Garth right there at the airport.  It seemed surreal to be able to walk in to their house that we have heard about, complete with the Christmas tree and paper fireplace that comes up each Christmas.  This is the picture we posted – our family will recognize the backdrop from many Christmas pictures of the kids.

We have already had a short tour of TASOK (the American School of Kinshasa) where the kids go to school and Garth and Jody live, and are about to enjoy a wonderful meal together.  We are very tired, but very happy.

Thank you for praying us through our 3 days of travel!