Just another post from the "Mundelis" (White People)

Carianne and Paul having fun with some of
the Congolese children outside of the church!

Agatha outside of the church at sunset.

Del Fan and his family with our team.

MB conference leaders!

Today started off with a breakfast of oatmeal and toast. What a great start to the day. We crammed 6 people into a compact car and headed off to the church for a meeting with the Leaders of the MB conference in Kinshasa. We met in a small room on the second floor of a building that held stores on one side and housed people on the other. We all introduced ourselves and then they gave us some information as to what they are doing and how they operate in Kinshasa. They were very interested in the way our church did things . Among the things we discussed were baptism, communion and the role of our deacons. They were interested in the role of the pastor and spoke of how visitation by the pastor in their culture is one of the most important things. Their pastors are on call all the time and when called are expected to come no matter what their own circumstances might be. We spent time in prayer and spoke of the need for us to learn from each other. The meeting was very good despite the fact that we are from two different cultures two different languages and two different churches. After the meeting we hopped on a bus and headed for Pastor Matungulas house for a meal. After a trip into yet another area of Kinshasa we arrived at the pastors house which was situated in an are that just had houses scattered about with walking paths joining them. Their house was divided into halves with them occupying one side and another family on the other. We had a delicious lunch and good fellowship with the pastor and his wife. We had about a 25 minute walk to get back to our hostel where we took a little bit of a break and then headed back to the church to take part in a ladies bible study. This group met twice a week and consisted of doing some singing, reading the bible, praying and then also working on some sort of handcrafts which they could sell. We again had a time of asking questions and talking about how each of our churches did things. We continue to be amazed at how well we have been received and the love that has been shown to this group of "Mundelis"(white people) from Canada. Our next stop was the house of the doctor Del Fan. Some of you may have met him when he visited Manitoba last fall. Because he lives quite a ways from where we are staying and we would be coming home later and in that area taxies or buses are not easy to find we hired a bus for 3 hours. This meant that they would take us to his place and wait outside till we were ready to leave. It was great to be at Del Fans house, meeting his family and sharing a meal with them. We fellowshipped together and were again made to feel really welcome and loved. After navigating the narrow road filled with potholes small hills and sand we eventually made it back to our resting place. The boys then immediately left for a small outdoor cafe to watch Spain play Germany in the semi final world cup soccer game. The patrons consisted of numerous congolese and three mundelis all watching the same game and dispite a definite language barrier we all had a great time. We ask that you continue to pray for us as our busy schedule continues and pray that God would continue to grant us health. Pray also for our families back home. Pray for Paul as he continues to lead the team and needs to make sure all the days activities are taken care of and all the logistical things are looked after. It is getting late so I will have to say goodbye until tomorrow when we will continue to update you on the latest happenings of the BMC team.
Signing off from the Congo: Ray on behalf of the BMC team.