56. One More and I'll Quit Bragging! He Takes After His Dad!!

55. FYI and/or My Ramblin's

FYI  and/or My Ramblin’s

MPH is a blessing in this huge town. It is a clean, affordable and safe place to stay for missionaries, church volunteer group and pastors. It has been a care giver from the early 1960’s- when it was a dorm home missionary kids attending TASOK across the street -to the use as MPH currently. Now it is going through slow but sure remodeling where it will be better able to serve its guest. All summer as folks have stayed here they have gotten to see the changes in the rooms and baths. So now with the kitchen renovations beginning this fall, MPH is on a roll. Some day, I bet all the dorm rooms will be turned into AC rooms with a private bath like downstairs! But not this week!! ;)

In the kitchen I showed the cooks how to keep cooking implements that are constantly used out in a crock and easily accessible. While in the US for two weeks, Inge is going to get magnetic strips or a knife block for knives so those too are easy to get to instead of in a drawer. I’ll bet the cooks walk miles a week getting to cooking items because of the “kitchen triangle” arrangement. Things are where drawers etc. are instead of near work and cooking areas. So the crocks help that. Think I told you I got them pastry cloths and rolling pin covers from Bed, Bath, and Beyond. So far they LOVE those. “It’s so easy to clean up when we make bread, Mama!” Yea!

Looks like the Texas granddaughters are all back into their fall routines of school- home and public, theatre, college choices, soccer and gymnastics. They will all be together for Clint’s ceremony this week so I hope for a picture or two from there. They have grown and changed so in five months!! All are in school now. Wow, time flies!

No fall nip in the air here and definitely no snow like our Montana (Hey guys, I’m still coming for that sleigh ride in the snow up there!) and Colorado friends are getting! I’m ready for some seasonal changes.  With a stop in Belgium on the way home- with only Congo type clothing- we may definitely feel a nip in the air!! Hard to believe Thanksgiving and Christmas time will almost be there when we get home to the US.

Mangoes are in! Cooks are making fresh mango sauce for supper. We are also having fresh avocadoes. With the mangoes etc. we need to get them using “free” food. MPH has all of these recipes that have not been used since the fruit was not in. Now for the next few months there is plenty of fresh stuff in the garden and off of our trees. I have found if I just ask almost any of the cooks- do you know how to make ___”Oui, Mama. We have the recipe.” But apparently it comes back to asking. One guest at lunch said she had never had mango sauce and she has lived in Congo for 10 years- said she did not know how to make it. I said it’s just like making apple sauce. “I don’t know how to do that either.” I asked if she’d asked her cook. No. Oh well! So it really doesn’t matter if I personally(I LOVE them!!!) don’t like mangoes etc., they are free and others at the table can eat them!. I did get the cooks not to put tomato sauce or paste or stewed tomatoes on almost every piece of meat that comes out of the kitchen.” Oui, Mama. Pas de tomate!” And they just laugh!!  Spaghetti, Sloppy Joes, BBQ Chicken, Chili and Chicken Cacciatore are supposed to have it. But not on all of the beef, pork and chicken!! Even so -don’t serve red sauce every lunch and/or night in a row!! I think they have it! They know how to make great pan gravy for pork, beef and chicken and skim off the fat. I asked Inge to get one of those fat skimmer measuring cup deals for the cooks so it will soon be easier for them! When one lives here or stays here long term the menus need to change from time to time. All I had to do was ask! One night I told them to do something different with the beef they had out.  When they asked what- I told them to surprise me! They loved the freedom to just cook. It was good. Mango Cobbler is next! Like peach Cobbler! Yum!! I may also get them to make something besides peanut butter cookies. There are other MPH Cookie recipes because I re-typed them for the cooks!! Oh well. Soon to be above my pay grade!! ;) They are good cooks and have been so patient with me! Bless their little hearts!!

One of our guests was too late for supper so she bought some native chow. We were all still sitting around visiting, so she came to eat her supper with us. This is her meal. So maybe I will eat fish heads! Yep! I agree! OMG!  Catipillars and "stuff" and bedia and greens.




















So that about does me in for the day! GAG!! Have a great weekend.
Love Ya! Me

54. Memories and Pride for Clinton Kenneth Murray

Memories and Pride for Clinton Kenneth Murray

September 27, 2013

Since Ken and I are doing volunteer Mission work here in the Congo, we are unable to join in on the very special festivities for our son, Clint, as he becomes a Colonel in the United States Army. We want to join in some fashion. Words are my thing and a quiet pride is Ken’s.

Little green plastic soldiers were his toys of choice. And GI Joes by the dozen filled his gray Blue Grass Army Depot Ammunition box. Santa brought the Iwo Jima Mountain Battlefield, jeeps and guns. He and his “men” won the front and side yard war games with the neighborhood boys. An old Army helmet and ammunition belt were part of his daily garb. As a young boy stories from two Great Uncles who served in World War II and Korea mesmerized him. These two men talked to him as an equal. One of the uncles had not talked about his war years until Clint asked him! And he talked to this “man child” for hours!

The other side of Clint’s interests came from going with his dad to work in the Athletic Training Room from age 2-3 on. He loved band aids and Ace wraps. He saw blood, puke and guts and he was fascinated. He was at practice when a football player suffered a broken neck. As a young elementary child he stood quietly on the side realizing the gravity of the situation. At supper that night he asked his dad about each detail of the afternoon. He had missed nothing in the care of the young player!

When asked,” What do you want to be when you grow up,” the response never wavered! “A doctor in the Army!” So an ID he has become and he loves the “Chase” – to find the elusive cause of what’s hurting his soldiers.

This child of ours has become a husband to LeeAnn and a father to Callie and Sidney. They have the greatness of heart to understand the difference in his duty and his love for them. They too have counted the days and eagerly awaited emails. Our three brave “girls!”

He actually LIKES the PT part of the Army! He learned how to jump out of a perfectly good plane. He speaks initials, wears initial named clothing and tells time in 24s. He is confounded when his Dad asks about an award or promotion that he has not told us about. What he does not realize it that when he is deployed we read Psalm 91 morning and night and live on the internet and look for every back door to “stuff” there is. And we often find one! So after his return to safety our habits continue- especially Ken’s!

While he was deployed in Iraq with the Big Red 1’s Forward Support Battalion to Ramadi and Fallujah, we sent care packages. But ours were unusual requests-“Dad, go to these specific Lubbock surgeons and get their books on these surgeries and send them to me ASAP!!”  He met and helped  “Special” friends in the dead of Iraqi nights and treated one famous Marine. He never did tell us about it. The Marine did when he was speaking in Lubbock! “Son,” I asked, “why didn’t you tell us?” “Mom, he was a patient and needed care.” he responded. And that was the end of that. When deployed to Afghanistan recently his girls asked,”Dad, get us a picture of Prince Harry!” “Girls he is a soldier and busy.”

We raised him to care for others, to have unwavering honesty and that right is right no matter what or who. We have always asked him to be and do the very best he can. So he pushes himself and now pushes others to be the best they can be.

So who is this new Colonel in the U.S. Army of whom we are so proud? Here are the attributes we have seen in his years as “ours.”

Committed

Others above self

Lionhearted

On many occasions-gentle

Nerve and fortitude are ever present

Enthusiastic and emotions in check

Level headed with backbone and convictions

 

Confident, and consistent

Loyal

In-touch, inspires, initiative

Nose to grindstone

Tenacity, tact

Overly instinctive

Never lacks patience or forbearance

 

Kindhearted with grace

Empathetic, emotional stability

Never lacks self discipline

Never fears social boldness

Ever dauntless

Tolerant, tough minded, true grit

Humor, humble, high standards of self AND others, honest

 

Mettle, maturity

Unselfish grace and patience

Resolute, realist

Ready with spirit and sensitivity

Adventuresome, ability to delegate, appetite for learning

Yes, we are proud of our Army son! Congratulations!

 

Love, Mom and Pops

53. Mercy! Mercy! Mercy!

53.  Mercy, Mercy, Mercy!

The grandmother of some dear friends, that we got to know in Lubbock, were lucky enough to still have his grandmother alive for a long time- 90s+. We all called her “Granny Burkhardt” and she was a pistol and game for anything we all did!! Oh, could she laugh- “a Granny Burkhardt  laugh” at my antics! When she got really sick at the end of her great life- all she would say over and over were 6 words that became the Murray’s and Burkhardt’s favorite ones to say when life was… life! So as my last week is here- and no real back up and no telling what is up – it’s “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! Lawdy, Lawdy, Lawdy!” time for me!

I think it has already started. Excuse me. I need to go to the apartment! Whew! Have the Patient Panties –now I can make it! We have 4 refrigerators and three are having some kind of issues today. So Jose is here. Since “trouble comes in threes”- maybe this is it!! Y’all keep praying!

Have a convention here-from the Methodist church next door- whose lead Pastor has been an absolute “Toot!” Not a Hoot! A TOOT!!!  I finally had to tell him how the Cow eats the cabbage and that Franklin Graham( they are using Franklin’s products) is a family friend and if he doesn’t want  me to write a letter to Franklin he’d better get his toot in gear- or polite words to that effect! He has given Helene and me both headaches every time we had to deal with him!  He is like a rug. He just lies there and here too!! But this too shall pass! Conference is over on Friday.

Marcia got in safely last night. It has been great to be with her. We are going out for my birthday supper. She and Ken went out with the chauffeur and got a bunch Marcia wanted. She’ll shop some more while we are out for the MPH groceries.

Did budget for two weeks today and signed all of the money and stuff back over to Inge.  Listed $ amounts and Sealed the envelopes and it’ll go back to Cindy. Now that I have figured all this budget stuff out I’m almost done. Isn’t that life! Once you figure it out- you are almost done! ;))

At breakfast we had with us a fascinating man from South Africa whose job is ferrying planes around the world. He just flew over a plane for Paul Law- leaving from Bangor Maine. It took twenty two hours flight time. I asked how he stayed awake and he said he took 20 minute naps. As the fuel is depleted, the plane changes pitch and it wakes him up. (So will a big splash!!) He said flying a single engine plane, alone across the Atlantic with extra fuel tanks strapped in it “earns him 37 extra Church points.” He said those were used up the first three miles in Kinshasa traffic. In the entire world he has never seen anything like traffic here. “The person with the most nose of the vehicle in has the right of way in any direction!” Then he said he flew with Paul -as the pilot -from the big airport to another smaller airport only three miles away and that earned him 320 more Church points! Paul has not flown in quite a few years- to say the least. This guy was a hoot with a lovely South African accent. Topic of Kenya Mall came up and he went to this comment:”I can’t understand these Muslims. You get a Christian all riled up and he gets a Bible and goes to Africa or somewhere and preaches to the Zulu or some tribe. When these fanatical Muslims get riled up they strap on a bomb and kill themselves and others. Makes no logical sense! Don’t they realize there aren’t that many virgins in the world?”

Weird. Just had a three inch rain. Three inches between every drop. So all it did was get things spotted. But it smelled great! “Be patient, Mama, it is coming for months and then you will want some dust instead of mud!” They ought to know!!

Bobby Pruitt wrote me: “Forgot about the spears at a madilu. But remember the sounds. Your house was close to the hospital entrance. Also near the five o’clock Tshondo. Miller Time so to speak.”

I’ll close for now. Day after tomorrow Clint becomes a Colonel. How proud we are and sorry we can’t be there!! LOVE you Son! So proud of you and your life!

Take care, All!

Love Ya! Me

52. Instant Flashback! And Other Happenings at MPH

Last Friday I was in my office with a meeting so I was pre-occupied. But I did hear a ruckus and went out to find a guest all but carrying a Congolese lady into the lobby. She was sort of quietly weeping and so was the guest. (The guest’s father was David Law- a missionary that had died recently.)The lady was most upset but calmed down eventually. But last night … WHEW!!  We were eating supper and in walked a huge Congolese man. He saw the Missionary’s son, Paul, and began a “Madilu.” It is a funeral wailing and rolling on the ground and thrashing and louder wailing and crying. I instantly knew what it was when I heard the first wail!! I will try to include a picture of one from long ago at Lubondai. Back then they would all be dressed in leaves, wailing and weeping in high shrill sounds, have at least their faces painted white, carry baskets and have spears to shoot the evil spirits that killed the person so they could be put in the basked and be buried too. They would come from the village and go to the hospital “shooting” and then back to the village to the grave.

Paul had their old cook come and use our kitchen here at MPH to can some of the greens we eat here. They used the Law recipe from their part of Congo not the MPH one from here. ;) (I am looking forward to eating Kasai greens and bedia when we get to Marcia’s.)Then once it was all done they put the jars in the pressure cookers to seal them all. Hope he doesn’t mind losing a suitcase if one of these jars breaks or leaks on the way home in the plane!

Happenings in the last 15 hours:

Our curtain rods here at MPH are Re-bar. LONG, big re-bar for our 10’or so windows. One fell from the window in one of the bedrooms. That will wake a person up for sure. The guest had a good sense of humor about it all. Today the guys are getting that all back together.

Then we have to fix a leak in a cement formed kitchen sink from when MPH was first built. Did not use it all weekend so it could dry out and be able to use caulking/ putty -that they call cement- on it today. The challenge was to be quick enough to remind all the cooks and night sentries to not do the dishes in the normal sink but to use the other two sinks!

Then we have a toilet that is now on its way to being a marathon track athlete! I opened the back expecting the chain to have come off. It’s one of those weird deals where you pull up a deal on the back and it flushes. No chain. Closed the back and waited for the guys to deal with it. Above my pay grade!!

We have also been moving furniture that is the Boyd’s out to the yard to get it cleaned and moved to their new home. He is one of the PCUSA folks that will be back here in Kinshasa for a few years. He works other African countries too but is based out of here.

In my other life as a teacher I use to have “Needy Students.” Always up at the desk or raising their hand wanting or asking something. They usually had great grades. Even when I told them to do it how they wanted, they would ask something like- but if you had a favorite way for it to be done what would it be? Well, we have a “Needy Guest”- older acting missionary (They are a lot younger than I am for sure!). They have been here almost a week. They need to be reassured all is ok. So they needed me to come and see that their towel was used two times and they wanted another one. Ok- just gave them another. Locked their Key in the room- four times!!  They wanted me to walk down with them each time to unlock it. OK- I need the exercise.  Not sure what they are doing with the toilet paper but….OK- not going there!! They saw some ants and could I come, spray them, kill them and sweep them up. NO. Gave them the spray and told them where the little whisk broom and dust pan is for their hall. (It is Congo- and they live in this country out in the bush -and ants are a part of life. We spray the rooms before each guest arrives but it is really futile!) Last one was to let me know that their socks are getting dirty here. Sorry? We mop the halls every day. Put your shoes on? It is Dry Season and dust is everywhere? Just smiled. Life is fun running a guest house! People are interesting curmudgeons. And guess whose toilet it was that kept running! Yep!

Starting tomorrow it will be Ken and”me and a dog named Boo”- really two cats!- I mean- and MPH. So keep praying that all mechanical things run fine for 11 more days until Clay gets back!! Really pray hard!! PLEASE!! ;)  I am beginning to run low on Patient Panties and am all out of P-Nut M&Ms!! Clay probably wants a few days of grace with his jet lag! So make it 15 days!  ;)) I have phone numbers etc but I’d rather that all just keep on keeping on for 11 more days!

Well, here it is the end of another blog.

Have a great week!!

Love Ya! Me

 

51. Forewarned is Forearmed -Where EverThe "Travel" Here in Congo!!

One of the ladies here at MPH went out yesterday by cab. She ate mid afternoon where we had eaten lunch earlier!! When she came out of the restaurant and was negotiating for a taxi back to MPH, she got mugged for her purse. She refused to give it up because she had just been to the U.S. Embassy to get her new passport and it and her old one- with all the visas in it-were in her purse. She won but she is sore. That’s why Ken and I use the Chauffeur and have made friends with and TIP all the security guys and police at every place we have been going- groceries and restaurants! Plus even though I dress American I wear no jewelry except a palm nut ring that I bought when we got here for my wedding ring finger.

Marcia has given us this info on traveling to Lubondai. “I have been thinking about the trip to Lubondai (or at least as far as Katubue only that probably doesn't have many memories for either of you). In theory, it is possible to do it in one day there and back. If one leaves Tshikaji at 6 a.m., one could hopefully be at Lubondai by 10 a.m. at the latest, then leave Lubondai by 2 p.m. to return by 6 p.m. So, the whole trip is done during daylight hours. Taking a picnic lunch and plenty of water and toilet paper with us, of course. If we have more than one flat tire, get stuck in the mud or have a tree or truck blocking the road that we have to cut a way around, it will take longer :)   Was just outside talking to the gardener, Tatu Bilolo, who is from Lubondai who says that it is about 105 km more or less to Lubondai and that they have really been working on the roads. The person in charge of roads is a big "commercant" in the area with big trucks that he wants to travel the roads quickly. So, they have been putting clay on the roads and you can go quickly these days! So, he says. He walked to Lubondai last January and he took 2 days. First day from 6h to 16h from Tshikaji to Mission Bunkonde and the next day again from 6h to 16h (50 km to Bunkonde from Tshikaji). He said the 2nd half of the trip the road was really good and they have been working hard on the road from here to Bunkonde recently.  Of course, we all know what rains and big trucks can do to even the best of dirt roads.:)”

Just got this from Thom Mccutchen –“Go now into the interior and experience the wonders of the Kasai we all remember and cherish. Drink the water, eat the food, find the sick and come home with so many microbes that they will crawl out the window of the lab at TTU before they can even be tested (copied quote). Enjoy Lubondai, Munkamba, etc. I'll have some questions when ya'll get back to PK.”  

The group of 4 from Canada is back before returning home. They too are out here for the first time since 1960. Up country was a long trip because every road had a bridge or ferry out and they had to take a “long cut” around, change tires, fix car, and ride sideways for 35 hours in a Land Rover People Mover between stops before they could get to a safe enough place to stay. Best part of the trip? “The People!” Seems to be the consistent answer! Luckily Ken and I will fly most of the way to Tshikaji and only the last part by car. Though one group this summer said that part was the “exciting” part! One of the ladies(my age) had her hair all done in braids all over her head. Her kids told her she was too old for that and to take them out before she came home! So she did! Enjoyed those folks!.

Got this about Lubondai from Jimmy Shafe:  Lenore ,Your writing makes me smile, and laugh, and grin, and tear up. It touches my soul and brings little wrinkles to the edges of my eyes. It is almost unfathomable to me that your blog will soon end. I will grieve. My bucket list included making my one return trip to Congo. Did that in 2006. Couldn't shake it off.
Lubondai –
*The church front has changed. No big deal.          *The Tshonda is laying on the floor in the little building next to the church. They clang on an old tire rim now. Big deal.·        *The CS campus still looks essentially the same - just deteriorated.  *Perspective - in 2006 Lilibet, Shruggy, Phyliss, Farris, Kathy, and I looked at the classrooms and were distressed at decay. A Fulbright professor with us who had never been there before was impressed that they are still being used. A colleague of his in Miami saw photos and remarked that what was on the board was advanced calculus.*Hospital – beds looked pretty good a year ago. New water tank put in a year ago (low). New deep well put in in 2007.*Dam – Johnny Metzel is working on getting hydro again.

So from all of you and even the Canadians- “It’s the People!” I am fine (So quit worrying!) and I will see it all with loving eyes and memories. I will get to see, hear, touch and smell my old Home Sweet Home! ;)

Well, here ends another ramble. Had the beginning of my final meeting with Inge on the turning back over the running of MPH. She and Larry leave for the US Tuesday the 24^th.  So it’s “ Just us chickens”  running this place! Marcia comes Monday the 23 and will spend until the 3^rd here at MPH with us- shopping and eating out. Then we all go up country together on the third. Stay with her until the 14^th. Back here until we leave for Brussels on the 20^th. Home to US on 25^th! Football games on TV on the 26,27, and 28!

Take care! Love ya! Me

50.FYI- Time You Enjoy Wasting Is Not Waisted Time. ;) And The Beat Goes on

 Ken was tired of poetry. So, I will share the other one later! ;))

In comes the cook after knocking on the open door’s door frame (they all do that here!), “Mama Lenore, can you write on your computer some recipes we can’t read anymore?” So I told him sure- to bring the old ones to me. Holy Smoke! They look like they went through”The Battle of the Alamo!” Crumbling brown parchment paper in brown ink. All water damaged, missing visible ingredient amounts and of course in French. They have the recipes memorized so could tell me the missing amounts! So I have been working on that part of the morning.

I was also asked since I can read, would I get all the books left all over the tables in the library back on the shelves. I agreed to find places for them on the shelves but that I was NOT going to try to categorize them all since it’s a “by Category” wreck in there anyway. Hotter than- well, it was hot in there! With “folks who can’t read” removing the books and dusting and then putting them all back on any shelf- it is a topsy, tervy, willy, nilly library world. My Librarian friend, Nancy Holihan, would either have a ball getting it all correct- until the next dusting ;)))- or she would take a look and run! (I advise the latter!!) Some of the books - were sent from US in the 1930-50’s and from CS to Kinshasa in the 1960’s- and some are so old that I think the Apostle Paul used them in class or as a Concordance resource to write his Letters to everyone! Only the Paperbacks seem to be borrowed. I saw Baldacci, Patterson and Clancy and three Dr. Seuss. Oh- there was War Dogs of Space or some such thing! Eclectic tastes missionaries have! ;)

It is amazing what guests in the middle of a third world country and staying at a hostel allow me to experience! If the public restroom is out of toilet paper-please, oh please tell me!  The other solutions chosen have not been pleasant. (Kinshasa trivia- Little Kleenex packets are sold all over the city and at every red light and corner and only cost 20 cents. Almost all 11 million people in this city have a package or two in their possession. Amazing!)

Out back by the Sthreshley’s house -it is septic holding tank digging time. It is a huge hole and at least 15 feet deep. (This deep so Inge can plant on top of it.) All done by hand by two gardeners with a shovel each. Don’t know how the two of them got out!! Nice sandy soil. The field- also dug by hand – oops- they did 90 degree turns so they had to re-dig and fill in some. No roof yet – on the house not the septic tank- but it is in the near future. (I know you English teachers have gone nuts with my run on “everythings” in my blogs! But the end is near!). The roof must be on before major rainy season really hits! Have one window in because after roof is on it can’t be gotten in. OH! The roof began today. A pretty green. It really is a nice floor plan!

I have been overseeing the cleaning of the Kitchen cupboards and more of the walls today. Hummmmm. There are some kitchen tools in there- way in the back of drawers- that I have never seen before- even in Bonka’s kitchens or antique stores! Showed them the trick of rubbing a bar of soap on the drawer slides to make these old thing work a little better until they re-do the kitchen. They found that amazing! And it worked. The new house/kitchen guy is working out great. He is a Type A so far!! Clean Freak- for living here! Also the new cook in charge of all food etc. is also working out very well!! Tuesday is verifying the items in and used the last week and it went great! Had been taking 2 + hours and we got it down to 1:15 today by getting Nzila organized yesterday before he left for the day. Yea!

Guest just asked that if I’d let her use the microwave in the kitchen to cook some popcorn she’d share! OHHHHH it was so good and smelled so good!  Oh, the little things!! I am still waiting for real Texas Mexican food and a good brisket and the fixings. Wonder how long I’ll have to eat it before I am tired of it? Never!!  Also a Pappadeaux fix in Ft Worth!

Ok. I’ll finally answer the Question from several “inquiring minds that want to know,” Why did you feel the “call” to this mission this summer?  Let me see…  Excuse my French but- Hell, the phone rang and I answered the call… No?  OK!... Well…my bet is that if you asked Ken and me the question in two different rooms you’d get two sort of different answers and yet not. So since I am writing the blog, I get to tell it my way. For years Ken has said he wanted to come back. I wasn’t that determined. I really wanted to remember Congo the way I remember it. I also refused my Mother’s –almost-order to see my brother, Manford, in his casket! (So, I remember him happy at our son Clint’s wedding six monthe earlier with his daughter, Brianna. She is soon to be a mother and make me a Great Aunt!!) Many of you have described some of the almost deserted and destroyed stations and I really don’t want or need to see Lubondai like that. I just love my memories- in case you have not figured that out!  BUT, I love my Ken more!  I know it will be different- especially up country- what isn’t after 50+ years. (I surely am!!) But I still see it 1960.

What I was determined about on a Congo trip was that with some of his health issues, Ken was not going to come without me. He says he honestly didn’t think I could handle the heat and really roughing it here (though MPH is far from roughing it! AC and Wifii) or up in the bush. As the mother of two boys it was always join in or get left behind. Do I prefer the Hyatt (or the North's home in Paradise) over Motel 6 or the Red Roof Inn? Well, Duh!! But, can I do WHATEVER I put my mind to? You are darn tootin’! Just need Patient Panties!

 Ken’s sister, Marcia wrote him last spring and said that Cindy and Clay Dunn, the managers here at MPH, needed a break and would we be interested in coming out and covering for them for “a month or so.” Knowing- he thought- that I would say no -he forwarded the email to me. I figured this would get us out here for a month or so, we could go see Marcia and her new home here, he could check his Bucket list and we could be home by fall football. As things progressed we were asked if we could “stay a little longer.” The definition of that word ended up being 4 months or so and then still go see Marcia. So here we are. Folks are treating it as if we are missionaries – no, just we are volunteer substitutes - so I guess “We is it!” I told you God has a sense of HUMOR!! Lenore a missionary! That’s an Oxymoron!

We are just running MPH for a few months and having fun and sort of doing a service in the process. We have been meeting folks and getting to speak Tshiluba all over this city and to poor unsuspecting folks who happen to walk into my office and get asked, “Do you speak Tshiluba?”  Are we doing a mission-  welI, guess so. I just see a very happy Ken and that is my Bucket list checked off.  FYI- one of you wrote and shared your Congo story with Ken and me personally. Ken wrote you back personally – a most unusual thing-and sent me a copy. As I read his note to you, we could have stayed in the same room and answered the question and it would have been the same! ;)) Don’t you agree?? WOW!! Guess 45+ years of marriage does that to folks! Love ya, Ken!  Hope that answered your questions on why we did this.

It looks like we will go to Lubondai while we are up country visiting Marcia- Ken says he won’t go without me. So I will go. I will let you know through my eyes, words and memories what I see.  But now that I know I am going to go, I am again thinking of the people – not the things that have changed. So I will be fine- I’ll go to Ntolo’s village and see the people -of the people- of my past. So Brother, Les, I guess I will get you those pictures of the station where you were born.  Marcia even mentioned our going to Lake Munkamba. That will be fine. I don’t have strong memories of it like I do my home at Lubondai. All of this depends on the roads in rainy season!

My email is murray.lenore@yahoo.com  .Sorry, I guess I haven’t put it out there. I also do Facebook- especially while I am out here. When I get home I will probably take a break or just turn it off. I haven’t done Congo Connection because Ken does that and shares. I have been working on a Honey Do List for when we get home and like my friend Coco says, “I’d better get to it!”

WELL!!! Wednesday Inge went with us to grocery shop. We were on the search for a rumored wholesale food place. When mentioned to the Chauffeur, Emanuel, he told us it was not a good area of town for us to be. But we decided to go anyway. Figuring it could not be much worse than another place we had tried. Boy, were we wrong! We wound our way into an area at least one street over from Commerce. It was like the tiny, skinny alley ways of the movie pictures of areas in India or the Casaba in Morocco. Only we were in the MPH van. It should have been a one way street but no one told the cars and big delivery truck drivers, the push-push guys or the people. Plus, we were all only going one way, right?? Size is might on who is the lead dog! It made Spaghetti Junction look deserted by comparison. The roads did not have pot holes. They had craters in them, garbage all over the place, filth!!!, food vendors, people selling everything from used wedding dresses and sets of bridesmaid’s dresses- that looked so “tired” hanging on sticks, enough plastic furniture to outfit a small island, smoked fish, people urinating and others sleeping on the streets, women in Congolese dress and others that looked like “ladies of the night”- only it was daytime, kitchen ware, baby clothes, fresh produce and beggars knocking on the windows. With all the drivers trying to go all over the place as usual it was nerve wracking!! People were pressed up against our car to keep from getting hit by cars whose drivers got frustrated and tried the smallest of areas to jump ahead in this snarled mess! We were told to go a wrong way and had to back up. Then we had to turn around in this mess and go the other way, only to find out we had missed it! Prices were good- especially if you buy for three months at a time. But I have decided the better part of valor for me is to “let Cindy do it” when she gets back.  ;)) We’d never do it without Inge!!!! While Inge and I were in the store writing down prices, Emanuel went to check the traffic for getting out of the area. He locked Ken in the car and told him not to get out no matter what!! So, technically we were not scared but we were delighted to get back into the “usual bad” Kinshasa traffic. My highlight was to go to my regular stores and see “my Peeps!” When we got to Hassan Frere’s, Allene was so glad we were there. “We close at 15:30 until Sunday for the high Jewish Holidays. “But Mama, you have my number and call me if you have an emergency and I will let you in the back door and take care of you!” Sweet!! The OLD policeman was back out front and we fussed at him for not being there last week. “You noticed, Papa?” These are the things we will miss- the delightful people and “friendships” we have made all over this town. When we arrived at the restaurant for lunch the Tshiluba speakers we had met two weeks ago came to greet us! One told Inge that Ken spoke the “Tshiluba of his parents” and he was honored by our meeting the last time we were there!

Today, as we did this excursion, I noticed something different from growing up here. The handicapped are now visible. Bicycles have been modified to be hand turners or otherwise modified. (As I understand it – “ordered” by a former President’s wife) People help the handicapped. Handicapped folks get free ferry rides back and forth across the Congo River for trade purposes and don’t pay taxes. They are allowed to have two “Helpers” to also go free. So now folks are willing to help! The almighty dollar!

Tonight I have been asked to help cook. Request for Spoon bread and squash patties again. I was tired after grocery shopping yesterday, inventorying it all in and then packaging all of the raw meat. But today they brought out the Food Saver and began to use that!! YEA!! Don’t know where they will get more rolls of Food Saver stuff.

My new guy cleaned on the whole kitchen all day and did it with pride and of course I bragged on him!! He cleaned a fan that must have had grease on it from when MPH opened!!! Now it is good as new! He washed all walls, cupboards, AND all pots and pans before he put them back in and the top of the refrigerator without having to be told!! Miracles do happen in Congo!! He also thanked Ken and me for recommending him. I don’t know how he knew that- don’t tell me these workers don’t at least understand English! I told him thanks and that Ken and I had watched his work ethic when the French were here and his pleasant attitude and smile. So we had no problem recommending him! “Thank you , Mama!!”

So I will sign off for today. Hope y’all slept well. Have a great weekend! Did have a miracle at Possum Kingdom Lake! Clint went to check on our cars that have been parked in the RV bay and both started!! Yea!!

Love Ya! Me