May 28, 2009

Our month in mission

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your continued prayers for us as we return to mission service in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Through your generosity in prayer and your financial support of our work you demonstrate your commitment to the mission of the church.

When we last wrote, we explained that we were about to begin a month of intensive language study. Indeed we did have a very good (and intensive) refresher in French. The course was given through the Centre Linquistique du College de Jonquiere, which is located in the town of Jonquiere, in the Province of Quebec, Canada. We lived with a wonderful retirement-age Canadian host couple, Rose and Laurence Emhoff, and we spoke, lived, and breathed French for a month. We would love to return to visit with the Emhoff family, particularly during the blueberry season, for which the area is well-known.

As part of our language study, we had a lot of activities in the evenings and on weekends (always in French of course), which had the primary goal of French language learning, but also were a wonderful opportunity to get to know something about the history and cultural background of the Saguenay region.

A great highlight of the time in Jonquiere was the visit of John’s brother Don and Don’s friend Karla. Don and Karla are both fluent in French, so we spoke French with them most of the time—but I must admit that we did let a little English creep in! We were very thankful to them for taking time out of their very busy schedules to come up and be with us for a weekend.

Upon our return to the United States after language study we were confronted with the unfortunate news that Gwenda’s mother (Fran Emerick or Mum) had been found to have an abdominal mass and was scheduled to undergo exploratory surgery. The mass was found to be a lymphoma. Due to this unforeseen development we had to delay our scheduled departure for Congo, putting off our departure for two weeks. Mum had a rather rocky time after surgery but is now doing much better and will continue to have follow-up with her oncologist. Please keep her and the family in your prayers.

During this time Gwenda and I caught a nasty cold, hoarse throat, and fever. This necessitated a rather last-minute delay in our departure because of the H1N1 flu pandemic. Although we felt well enough to travel, we didn’t want our illness to result in our getting pulled off of the plane! Despite a number of problems that have emerged recently, we have very clearly felt God’s loving hands around us and have seen how seemingly insurmountable obstacles were suddenly resolved.

Our children continue to do well. Rachel and her family are keeping busy in Kingsville, Texas, where Rachel’s husband Mike is in the U.S. Marine Corps jet pilot training program. Our son John was accepted into medical school at the Uniformed Services University for Health Sciences. He will be commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Army, will go to Officer Basic Training at Fort Sam Houston in June, and will start medical school this fall. John and Michelle are in an incredibly busy time now as they get their house ready to be rented and they prepare to move across the country to Maryland and a new life in the Army!

We have just arrived in Kinshasa, the capital of the DR Congo. We have just begun a month of study of the Tshiluba language (the language of the Kasai area of DRCongo). Continue to keep us in your prayers. Pray for our re-adjustment to the Congo, for good language learning, for patience, for understanding, for hearts and minds open to learn what our Congolese friends and colleagues have to teach us, and above all that we always remain open to seek and faithfully follow God’s will for us, wherever that may take us and whatever it might require of us. Recent news from the Kasai area of the Congo where we will be serving indicates that they are experiencing a significant worsening of the economy and that the trains which bring in most of the supplies to this central area of the Congo are no longer running. Please pray for the people of the DRCongo.

Grace and Peace,

John and Gwenda