An observation that we had during our time in the United States is just what a wonderful country that we live in. We all have some complaint about politics or economics or whatever but we have a country that is generally safe and has a system of laws that allow this. We are also a very open and tolerant country. Just walk around the mall or a discount megastore and you will hear many languages, see people of all colors and nationalities, and experience something that is so very rare—people generally get along and accept this diversity. We are, after all, a nation built upon immigration and diversity. We are fortunate to live in such a country where we not only can share in material wealth but in freedoms of speech, expression, and religion.

One delightful event occurred while we were gone that we learned of upon our return. The director of the guest house where we stay in Kinshasa, Tatu Kalonji Matadi, spent three months in the United States this fall as a missionary of the Congo to the United States. Now that may seem a bit odd, but it is not odd at all. Who better to tell the stories of the Congo but a Congolese! Who better to help us to see his brother as a brother, a neighbor, but our brother himself! He spoke at many churches sharing the good news with us Americans. The fact that we are rich and they are poor does not mean that we have a corner on the market of the good news. In fact, maybe quite the opposite is the truth. In keeping with the verse in the first paragraph, he was a stranger that we invited in and he is no longer a stranger. Can we just imagine how much safer this world would be if we would make ourselves no longer strangers. We fear most and react, sometimes, most violently against what we don’t know. When we move to a new neighborhood, we are so happy when neighbors come by to meet us and make us feel at home. The world is just one great neighborhood and we can do the same everywhere.

Just one sad note to this wonderful story. Tatu Kalonji had many photos and memorabilia such as the bulletins from the churches that he visited. He did not have room in his luggage so the material was shipped to him. Unfortunately, the customs officials determined a value for this material that made it unaffordable for him to retrieve it and it is lost to him. Typical of the Congolese, he expressed regret and dismay but not the “end of the world” attitude that we would express. He has his memories if not his memorabilia. The good news is not lost with the things. We have so much to learn! We speak of the grace of God in sentences like: “But for the grace of God, I could have been born in the Congo.” The Congolese are graced with spiritual strength while we are graced with material wealth and power. These are all gifts from God that, maybe, He intended to be shared.

Our love and our gratitude for your hospitality and love shown to us. We will certainly share that with yours and our brothers and sisters, our neighbors, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Mike and Nancy Haninger