Team with congregation at Impani church--can you find the team members? Stephanie was the master photographer!

Praising the Lord through dance and song!

The Puppeteers revealed--reading Psalm 139 in French and Nigali (local language)

Blessed to be partners in ministry with Missionary Fred Reinhardt

On Our Way Home

We received the following update from the team in the Congo.

It's Tuesday morning here and our flight leaves at 1:30 pm.  We have had little time or access to the internet since being in Brazzaville. Thank you to everyone for your prayers. We are all joy filled, healthy, and thankful for an amazing mission here in the Congo. We will post new photos and updates upon returning to the US. God willing we will arrive Wednesday afternoon into Boston at 2 pm.  We love you all and thank you for your prayers.  Here in the capital we have worshipped and led training workshops at 3 churches. Amen!

God is indeed faithful!

President Mavoungou holding gifts our team was given after our training workshop in Kingomo--chickens, palm wine, eggs, bananas, peanuts and more! (notice that the chickens are alive? Yikes!)

On the way to a training seminar at a church

Sisters in Christ

The church in Dibemako

A vicar and his family--what beautiful people inside and out!

The joy of the Lord!

Greetings from Brazzaville on a sunny Saturday afternoon by Matthew

Hello family and friends!

Thank you so much for your prayers and love.  We are doing well, by God's grace.  We arrived safely in Braazaville (the capital city) on Friday afternoon around 4 p.m.   Here in the capital city we are staying at the SIL Gues House, which is very clean and comfortable.  Last night the church hosted a Night of Music for us, which was amazing!  The Congolese love to sing and dance, and we were singing and dancing along with them!!!  It was a joy filled sanctuary!  Today (Saturday) we have been shopping and are taking a break to send some messages now before meeting with another congregation for training and encouragement later this afternoon.  Stephanie was not feeling well yesterday, but is back to good health today, so praise God!!! 

We have been treated with such kindness and love during our days here.  God has given us many opporutunities to encourage and love His people here.  It has been a blessing to share life with them and provide verbal encouragement as well as ministry tools to strengthen them in their ministries.  Our team has been joyful and patient and have demonstrated the compassion of Christ to all we meet.  I am so thankful for Scott, Lori and Stephanie and their willigness to love God's people and experience life in Africa.  As they share their testimonies, put their arms in puppets to teach the Gospel message, put those same arms (minus the puppets) around brothers and sisters in Christ here, and take photos for Missionary Fred Reinhardt's furlough presentations, they are doing it all for Jesus!  We especially have been thankful for the kindness of President Mavoungou as he has been our primary host.  Stay tuned for more blog entries and photos...love and prayers to all!!!
Together in the Great Commission

Presenting the Gospel message--the joy of Jesus' resurrection!

Puppets presenting Psalm 139 truths to children (can you guess what team member is what puppet?)

Team with congregation at Sion

President Mavoungou giving the blessing

An "honorary" African arrives in N'kyai after our four hour ride there (read below for more information)

Precious Congolese children loved by God!

Lori and Stephanie with the women at Sion Lutheran Church in Dolisie

Greetings to all from Missionary Fred Reinhardt

Greetings to all at Our Savior Lutheran Church, Topsfield!

This is your missionary, Rev. Frederick Reinhardt.  I just wanted to thank you as well as the pastor and members at Mount Calvary Lutheran, Ft. Wayne, for supporting Matthew, Lori, Stephanie, and Scott to be able to make this “first” of a mission trip:  first time for Lori, Stephanie and Scott in Africa, first time for Matthew in the Congo, and the first team of short-term LCMS missionaries to visit the Republic of the Congo!   The President of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Congo (EELC) is so happy to accompany us, and he is very pleased at the spiritual encouragement that the team brings, as well as the teaching, the excitement, the friendship, and the creative activities.  The six of us get along well, and make very good travelling companions.  This is also a “first” for me, as I have never before had my “own” short-term team to accompany and introduce to one of the national churches with which I work as the Area Facilitator for Francophone Central and East Africa.  Africa is an adventure, and we are having the opportunity to experience it together, while hopefully being a blessing and edification to the Church in this place!   We are certainly being greatly blessed by the people here and the whole experience.  I thank God for you all, and am looking forward to visiting you in early December when on furlough later this year!

God bless you,

    Missionary Fred Reinhardt

Traveling adventures and Encouraging the women by Lori

Dear family and friends,

As Scott has already given you the lowdown about our adventures so far, we have decided that there are new meanings to certain phrases such as ‘four wheeling’, ‘detour on outer road’ and ‘eat my dust.’  Our drivers have been wonderful to keep us safe and get us to our destinations without any harm. 

We have to use taxis for most transportation and I have to say they are the most skilled drivers I have ever seen.  Their judgment on distance and maneuvering around other vehicles, pedestrians, goats, chickens and any other known thing to cross their paths is a sight to behold (if your eyes are opened).  

On a more serious note, for myself, greeting one on one certain ladies of the congregations has been a true blessing from God.  It is a joy to see their happiness when they see you care for and love them.  As for the children, they are truly beautiful and are happiest when we give them just a little attention.  I am looking forward to our next congregation.  Each congregation is a reminder to me that it doesn’t matter what type of building we worship in—God is ALWAYS present. 

He loved me first!

Lori

Monday to Wednesday ministry opportunities

-Monday (Pointe Noire): We strolled the beach after breakfast before joining Chantal¸ executive secretary of women’s ministry, as she would be joining us for the remaining destinations.  At the marketplace, we contracted our vehicle and loaded the caravan in preparation for the four hour drive to Dolisie on the other side of the mountains.  The ride was an adventure, to say the least (how many grown adults and oversized luggage do you think you might be able to fit into a Land Cruiser?  And the guy hanging on the spare tire out back wasn’t counted!).  The road was a mixture of pavement, pavement-in-the-making, checkpoints, and detours through dirt roads in the bush.  A copious amount of laughter could be heard from the back row of seats (no comment on who the occupants were)

-Late Monday/Tuesday (Dolisie—“doh-lee-zee”): As with everywhere else in Congo, we were warmly received on arrival and offered plenty of homestyle cooking.  We were able to meet Vicar Fred, a CLET graduate, who is using his engaging and insightful talents to rebuild the small congregation in Dolisie.  We attended the added service on Tuesday morning for a few hours.  With the boisterous praises sung, it’s hard to believe you are worshipping in a ruined, roofless concrete shell in a location that regularly changes due to landlord whims (how easy it is to take our own facility for granted!).  Still, I think Vicar Fred’s closing blessing to us best describes the touching experience: (referencing Acts 3) “Like Peter and John with the crippled man, we don’t have anything material to give to you.  But we send you with the blessing of the Holy Spirit.” 

We were also able to visit Vicar Fred’s pregnant wife, Carmen, in the “hospital” (only technically a hospital!), where she was being treated for malaria.  We prayed for her and the others there—please keep the two of them in your prayers!

Later that afternoon, we also stopped by another regional parish in Dibemeko (“dee-bay-may-ko”) to briefly worship (yes, an hour or so is considered brief these days!) and cause some fifty children to roar with laughter as we used animal puppets to introduce Psalm 139.  Can I also note what a marvel it is to hear the Lord worshipped in three languages, sometimes simultaneously?  English, French, and Kituba (a regional dialect of the Lingala language)… we’ve been trying to pick up a few words of the latter.

-Very Late Tuesday/ Wednesday (N’kayi—“nk-eye-yee”):  Again, how much a modern infrastructure makes our lives simple to the point of few considerations (ubiquitous internet, included)!  With a later start from Dibemeko than we should have (a busy schedule compounded by poor roads), we embarked in a new caravan vehicle on what should have been a “good” road of two hours driving.  We quickly found out that the vehicle had no shock absorbers and the “highway” was hard, lumpy dirt through Congolese brush and dusty, red soil the whole way.  So, two hours turned into four of the most bone-rattling hours I think any of us had experienced, all crammed in with ankles overlapping ankles!  Add in the exhaust pipe that leaked soot into the back set of rumble seats (where your dear mission team members Scott, Lori, and Stephanie all learned, firsthand, about two of the five points of “fellowship”: suffering together and sharing burdens!) and you had one very crazy ride.  Scott was so blackened by soot that Chantal declared him “an honorary African.”

After the trying experience of the drive the night before, we began to wonder if we should truncate the plans to visit yet another outbound town, knowing we still had to reverse the drive back in order to make a Friday flight out of Dolisie and back to Brazzaville (to skip even worse roads….. can that be possible?).  But, the Lord blessed us with a refreshing night’s sleep and endurance to move forward.  We attended a rural service at Martin Luther parish in N’Kayi in the morning.  Our visit was to be subdued as the catechist’s son has died and the town was in mourning.  Still, Vicar Jean-Bosco let us know how appreciated our visit was: “God has blessed this church with a visit from the West.”  As we later found out, this was one of the first areas Lutherans visited in the Congo but they had not had a visit since 1991!  The church had many prayer requests, with deaconess Antionette at the top (she was the aunt of the catechist who’s son died and the animist relatives and neighboring village accused her of responsibility through sorcery and expelled her, but Martin Luther parish has been keeping her safe.  Please pray for this woman, her family and those villagers)

-Wednesday afternoon (Mouyandzi—“moo-yahnd-zee”): The sooty backseat (or some may call ‘deathtrap) was replaced by a significantly better vehicle (even if some of the doors didn’t open!) and a great driver named Freiz (“Frez”).  We made a much easier and faster trip to Mouyandzi to spend the night before visiting the rural town of Kingomo on Thursday.  What few tiny “hotels” were there were filled with a visiting international optometrist group (?!?! Out here?).  Coming back to our original hotel, we accepted the three rooms they had and decided to double up.  One of the workers at the hotel soon made it apparent why the Lord had led us onwards and to here, despite our earlier troubles on the way to N’kayi: Mouyandzi has been without a Lutheran parish since the last evangelism had to leave town in order to find a paying job elsewhere.  Since then, the church trickled away and a new church has not been established as it would require founding members.  But, she had been praying that a Lutheran church might come back.  So she and her brothers, after meeting President Mavoungou,  shared that they would be willing to be founding members of a new church in Mouyandzi. President Mavoungou knows of a pastor who would be willing to transfer to serve in a neighboring district as he found it hard to be an evangelist in the small town that he grew up in.  Praise God for the stop at this hotel that has led to a new church being planted here!  And to think we might not have made it this last little bit by our own choosing!!!  God provides, indeed!

All Is Well in the Congo

We received a phone call from the team and they are healthy and are doing well.  They are in the interior part of the country and have no internet access.  The traveling has been a challenge--what should have been an hour drive yesterday took them four!!

They will give us another update as soon as they can.  Thank you for continue to remember them in your prayers!

Untangling the kids cross necklaces--an African adventure for sure!

Lori and Jairus (Pastor, she wants to adopt him!)

The Lord's love is here by Scott

Mbote!

How can I not echo what everybody has already said above?!  The Lord’s love is certainly demonstrated in all the people we have met.

After landing in Brazzaville and praying with Pastor Mavoungou’s congregation at Christ Le Roi (Christ The King), we left the next day for Pointe Noire on the coast.  We visited both churches in Pointe Noire (Wittenburg and Christ Le Roi) and worshipped at Wittenburg with both congregations (a full house, indeed!).  As Pointe Noire is the second largest city we will be visiting, we were able to distribute many of the gifts and teaching resources sent from OSLC to the clergy, wives and children.  Thank you to all for your loving support—it was very well received.

A blessed few days, indeed!

Until the next internet spot,

Scott

Matthew preaching during the Sunday worship service in Pointe Noire on August 21

An Amazing Experience so far by Stephanie

Howdy all!!!

Wow!!  What an experience this has been and we are only on day 3!!!  We have been very busy since we hit the ground.  We came to Pointe Noire Sat. and have been overwhelmed with their generous hospitality.  The meals they fixed for us have been more like a feast and outstanding!!  We had church service today and did a puppet show and shared our testimonies.  We also handed out cross necklaces to over 90 kids.  The crosses were a church wide event; see the picture to see!!!  (Isaac and Ruth—the  church service was 4 hours long…so don’t whine about an hour!!)  They have been more than welcoming to us.  Please continue to pray for us as we go on to the next churches, heading out tomorrow to the next church. 

In His Strength,

Love,

Steph

Lori and Stephanie with the women at Pointe Noire congregation after distributing gifts to them

The team with church leaders in Brazzaville, Congo

Blessed to be here by Lori

Dear friends and family,

Bonjour mes ami!  I send my love to all from the Congo.  It is truly a blessing that God has permitted us to come to this place and to love these beautiful people.  Sunday worship was awesome!  It was longer than our worship services, but if was so full of joy and the Holy Spirit that not one person minded.  The total participation from the small children to the adults during four hours of worship and celebration was amazing! 

The people have greeted us with open arms and have shown us such hospitality.  Since we arrived on Saturday in Pointe Noire, we have eaten two delicious home cooked meals by the women of the church.  I have been so moved by the church people’s generosity and kindness.  Barbara MacDonald, you were right.  I want to bring all the children home!  We look forward to the days ahead and all that blessings that God has in store for us. Keep us in your prayers.  I remain in His love.

Love, Lori

Scott sharing his testimony during Sunday worship service

Lori as Sophie the Sheep during the children's time in Sunday worship in Pointe Noire

Safely in the Congo!

Pastor Porter just received a phone call from Lori to let us know that the Congo team has arrived safely in the Congo.  And ALL of their luggage arrived safely as well. 

Let us join our hearts together to thank our great God for His traveling mercies!

Watch for more updates from the team.

Waiting in Washington D.C.

After an early, early start this morning (and some left even earlier!), we have made it to DC where we have connected with Steph and now are a complete team!  We have a few hours in DC before we depart on our 13 hour flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where we will be delighted to connect with Fred Reinhardt on our final flight to Brazzaville.

On a personal note, the preparation leading up until today has been both a humbling and uplifting experience.  While I have appreciated it in concept, it has been a  marvel (in the truest sense of the word!) for me, through all those senders, to witness the Body of Christ as stretches beyond OSLC... and we have only just left!  For all those both near and far your prayers and support have certainly been felt!

Scott