Skipton Baptist Church Blog

Dear Friends
Goodbye drought!
The sky early this morning looked as if it had had a good scrub. The rains have returned! The earth is gulping down every drop and the ground is already greening over outside my house. I’ve just been reading Psalm 104 and find it reassuring that God makes the lightning to serve him! Storms here can be both magnificent and terrifying – some may remember that the centre was struck by lightning last rainy season and some damage done, though thankfully, no one was injured.
The first rains bring the first flying ants and I enjoyed an evening spectacle as they danced in the last gold rays of the setting sun – to the huge delight of all my chickens practising their vertical take-off skills and getting a good meal into the bargain.
College re-opens after the annual holiday
November has also seen the return of the ISTELU students (theological college) plus the arrival of a new group of students in year one. I haven’t quite worked out how many there are as there has been a fair bit of absenteeism. Two students who are related were off for the funeral of their mother/aunt and another has been away in Kinshasa for the wedding of his daughter to a Congolese doctor who lives in the UK. It seems marrying someone who lives abroad is quite the thing at the moment. My neighbour’s daughter has just got married to a young Congolese man who lives and works in Canada! Lylie is from a huge family of brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles and a grandmother who with the parents all live together. I wonder if she has thought how different life will be away from the support of her extended family.
I’m hoping by next week, things will have settled down at college and we can get down seriously to the business of teaching. We are quite short staffed, with 3 colleagues currently away from Lubumbashi and a fourth often tied up with university studies and other teaching commitments, so I have been doing all the hours I can. With 5 computer classes and two English classes, plus preaching duties in morning worship, I’m kept well busy! Kym (Delport), is helping out with an extra computer class for the final year students as her knowledge of Excel programme is undoubtedly better than mine.
Youth Bible Reading notes … and Presidential/legislative elections
Last weekend, I was away overnight on a training/refresher programme for writers of Scripture Union’s Bible reading notes for young people (the notes are distributed throughout French-speaking Africa). The notes we write this year complete the series of 6. We had a great time of fellowship and, among other things, looked at some different approaches to reading the Bible based on Jewish and monastic traditions. We stayed in the newly opened Methodist Guest House and took the opportunity to visit the enormous building being constructed on the site. We were told it would seat a church of 5000 people. Adjacent buildings for offices and meeting rooms were almost as huge.
It was blissfully quiet, a fact which just about everyone commented on, coming as we had done from the hurly-burly of the city, with its all night bars, all night church meetings and the endless streams of vehicles bearing politician’s supporters on their way to election rallies. Not wanting to miss an opportunity to attract customers/evangelise/win supporters, everyone announces their intentions with full amplification, whatever the hour! Given that there are over 18,000 candidates vying for 500 posts in central government, including over 600 here looking to fill 13 positions, it’s not surprising everyone is working flat out in the 30 days allowed for campaigning. We’re thankful that earlier violence seems to have subsided and we are praying for peaceful elections and a trouble-free post-election period. Join with us! Elections are due to be held on 28 November, the results to be announced on 6 December.
With love and thanks for your fellowship in this work,

Bridget

Dear Friends
I had thought of writing this blog around the theme of marathons but then knew you would all get completely the wrong idea and think I had suddenly taken up running! That would be too far away from the truth by far, although no doubt my waistline would think it an excellent idea! Never mind. Somewhere not too far away, a carpenter is beavering away constructing a table tennis table for the youth group and me to enjoy. I’ll get some exercise somehow.
Bemba translation of basic Christian teaching booklets
You may remember this being mentioned before – not being a Bemba speaker my role in the process was to get everything down accurately on the computer ready for printing. There were a few hiccoughs and discouragements along the way but finally we got together one last time, the two translators Pastor Jean and Guy, plus a Bemba advisor, Patrick and myself for what turned out to be a marathon of a day from early morning till 7pm. With some excellent input from Patrick who had experience of the language both sides of the Congo/Zambia border, we were able to dot the last ‘i’ and cross the last ‘t’. A satisfying result. It was only the next day when I got up to go to church that I remembered I had spent 10 hours sitting on a hard wooden chair, barely moving. (I didn’t make it to church though I stumbled slightly over my excuse to the Pastor and his family with whom I usually hitch a ride. Ended up saying I was a little stiff…)
Prayer vigil
These are common in churches here where prayer together is seen as important but often doesn’t fit in to people’s busy schedules (though an intercession group in a church generally has a weekly night of prayer). I confess that they don’t usually feature in my programme but New Year’s Eve is an exception. Like everyone else I had wrapped up warmly with multiple layers. Some people brought mats and blankets and stretched out when it all became a bit much but for once I didn’t struggle as much with the need to sleep. Several choirs animated the event with short messages and prayers taking us through to 5.30 in the morning. There were many exchanges of ‘Bonne Année’ before we all headed home. I had planned a quiet day with the option of a doze in the afternoon but part way through the morning the phone rang. Pastor Fidèle from Scripture Union, was wanting to borrow a flip chart to use at a seminar the following day. He arrived with some of his children in tow and announced that his wife had sent him to take me back with them! I spent a delightful afternoon having lunch and chatting with Fidèle and his wife, with the children and various other visitors coming and going. Much better than snoozing away the day.
Artemisia and sunflowers
I’m always dreadfully impatient when it comes to waiting for things to grow and be ready for harvesting. The abundance of rain at this time of year means that we quickly have luxuriant growth but that doesn’t speed up the food production! Just this week though we have cropped our first Artemisia (the medicinal plant whose leaves are meant to help as a cure for malaria) and the sunflowers are finally bursting into flower. They make a beautiful display and seem to keep the local bee population very busy. Yesterday I ate the first beans and soon there will be maize and maybe some sweet potatoes. There will be no shortage either of people willing to help me eat everything. In my circle of friends are several students who are studying in Lubumbashi but whose families live a long way away. They are never sure where their next meal is coming from. A friend of mine with a year old baby is separated from her husband and other children and struggles constantly with her own depression as well as the health needs of her baby. And then there are my missionary colleagues…
Greetings
I’ve just received the card that many of you signed! It’s lovely to be reminded of you all and I continue to pray for you, glad that you do the same for me!
Love

Bridget

Photos to follow!!

Bemba Bible Masengo trims the leaves off the first Artemisia bush ready for drying in the oven.

Someone has to be the first to try Artemisia tea
Well done, Judith!

And it had 2 spoons of honey in it!

November 2010
Dear Friends
A boubou (left) flew into my house the other day, much to my surprise and that of Nyota, my dog. We’re used to sparrows and fire finches flying in if the front door is left open but this is at least twice the size of a sparrow! Mercifully, he left without putting up a fight and Nyota’s interest did not convert into an early supper.
After discussion with the English conversation group that meets two evenings a week at my house, we now have Bible study on Saturday evenings (in English) and Monday evening is a ‘fun’ evening during which we do anything else the group chooses! Yesterday it was Scrabble with 12 young people divided into 4 teams, pitching against each other to achieve the highest score. The word ‘crazy’ springs to mind. They were highly competitive but it was all good natured. Several of the group have just learned their exam results, and to our great delight, Didi and Ezra were successful, unlike last year. Albert, who was doing a degree in hospital management, is thrilled to have made the grade too. He now begins the long search for work. Dr Moses, one of the group’s founder members, has put together all his paperwork and sadly, like many young Congolese doctors, is heading out of the country to look for work in either Botswana or Angola where salaries and working conditions are so much better than here. He has applied for several jobs in Congo but with not a single response has become discouraged. It still grieves me to see these highly intelligent and dynamic young people leave the country and go off to what they hope will be greener pastures. Some of those who remain behind often become very de-motivated. Moses told us of one girl who he found at home, unemployed and living off her family, after successfully completing 7 years at medical college! A great waste of an education that costs families and the students themselves dearly and also for the country which badly needs more qualified medical personnel.
Clément Musonda (pictured right) works for an environmental project run by the Methodist church. There are two main aspects to the project – to encourage the use of solar ovens and to help people plant and look after different varieties of trees and bushes, (artemisia, neem and moringa), the leaves of which can be used for medicinal purposes.
Always up for a challenge, I’ve purchased 2 solar ovens and am getting the hang of using them. I trust eventually to be able to invite some of the students’ wives to learn how to use them and perhaps they will be able to use them for their small business ventures. To date I’ve successfully baked banana bread and slow cooked two lots of meat, both of which were deliciously tender. Less successfully, I tried a lemon cake but the lid of the oven blew down in the wind and the ensuing uneven temperature produced a cake that tasted fine but looked bizarre. Not sure how much sun we will get over the next 3 months during the rainy season, but if there is enough we’ll have a go. If not, we’ll wait for the dry season.
An artemisia nursery near Lubumbashi
I hope to get some land prepared soon so that we can begin a small tree nursery, then the trees can later be transplanted to areas of the Centre where new development is planned. The welcome rain which fell this morning should make the ground easier to work.
This comes with love, prayers and lots of thanks for all you did for me while I was in UK this year.
Bridget

PS Rob is trying to get the pictures to appear for me so please watch this space!

Hi
I am just working on the website at the moment trying to improve what we are doing

Hi
I’m just working on the web site to try and improve what we do

Rob

January 2010
What a diary you must have!
This from a friend who should know me better than to think I can do anything as organized as keep a regular diary. But so she’s not too disappointed, here are some notes from the diary that doesn’t exist…
A day in November 2009
My befuddled brain tried to work out which was worst – finding that I was sharing my bed with a lizard or 5 minutes later on my return from the bathroom, not being able to find the lizard ! Where had it gone? Would I wake up in the night to find it had returned? What kind of lizard was it anyway? Too tired to reach a satisfactory conclusion, rolled over and fell asleep almost immediately. Creatures were clearly on the move. Next morning there was a huge cockroach in my shoe – and cockroaches I do not like. I have tried really hard. I’ve even called them brown beetles, which helps a bit but not enough. I was in the end woken soon after 5am, not by the lizard but by one of the puppies outside, hollering for all it was worth. I crawled out of bed to prepare some warm milk. By the time the milk was ready and I’d made a cup of tea, the puppy had retreated into the kennel, joining the cozy heap of its sleeping siblings.
The next day …
Praise group took the roof off at church this morning with ‘Worthy is the Lamb’ sung in English then in Lingala. Lots of worship songs here are sung in 3 or 4 languages one after the other. It’s sometimes a challenge to know what language we’re singing in!
Guess what – he’s back! Why do I assume it’s a ‘he’? Smart stripy outfit and leering at me from the end of my bed. I refer, of course, to my ‘friend’ the lizard.
Youth group – a December afternoon – making garlands and Christmas cards. Something none of them had ever done. Although you do see Christmas cards in some of the shops in town, there’s no great custom of exchanging cards or gifts at Christmas here. On the other hand, the young people have yet to turn down the chance to do something creative. We had great fun, using all the bits and pieces I’d been able to put together, shapes cut out from old Christmas wrapping paper, glitter bequeathed by some teachers visiting from the UK, felt tips and some pastels that I got on Skipton market… plus oodles of glue! Even the templates got used. The end results were … not bad at all! I overheard one young boy proudly tell his neighbour ‘I don’t do technology at school but I can do this’. In schools here the orientation towards a career starts very young. Secondary school leavers may be primary school teachers the next day or set up their own tailoring, carpentry or car mechanic’s business. Subjects like art, music, drama fall by the wayside or never really happen and then it seems to me some part of who we were created to be remains under developed. At the end of the session, Papa Kas as we call Mr Kasongo, who’s in charge of Christian education at Kawama church, thanked God for his gift of creativity. It struck me that it was the first time I’d heard ‘creativity’ mentioned in a prayer since I came to Congo thirty some years ago!
Week before Christmas
I asked some friends if they’d be doing anything special for Christmas. Okende said that they would try to buy new clothes for the three youngest children in the family and that if there was enough money, they would buy rice for their meal. And, of course, he said, they would be going to church to thank God for having brought them safely through the year. Contrast with Mathy, a young hairdresser friend, who comes occasionally to talk English for an hour. Her family planned to buy rice, 3 kilos of beef, chickens, fish (tilapia), eggs and plenty to drink for everyone – and oh, of course, they would be going to Mass to thank God for having brought them safely through the year…
Christmas Day
Started the morning by joining Debbie and the church she’s part of at Luwowoshi, an area of new development on the edge of the city and a tented church in the middle of a great drift of long grass! The children’s choirs were well rehearsed and gave a lovely performance, far more confident than most children of their age in UK, while the young people did a simple re-telling of the story of the birth of Jesus, the visit of the shepherds and the wise men. Debbie had worked hard with them, including some overnight rehearsals and for once we didn’t finish up with the slaughter of the young children in the Bethlehem area, normally a highlight of local performances.
After church I joined a missionary family who live not too far away, with their two children and a Congolese friend, for a ‘traditional’ Christmas meal with all the trimmings, a Christmas tree (made from 3 upturned palm brooms), presents and lots of silly games!
New Year’s Day
I’d been invited to a service at a ‘Ministry’ in Kamalondo, across the other side of the city. Lubumbashi is awash with ‘Ministries’, small independent groups headed up variously by pastors, apostles, prophets and patriarchs! In this case the pastor is the brother of my good friend Esther, whose family I have got to know well. I picked up Esther and Eben-Ezer (her sister), in front of the Methodist centre and we made our way to another tent but this time one in the heart of a built up area. The service, which included the commissioning of Girls’ Brigade officers and the dedication of the first elders and deacons, started at 3pm or thereabouts and finished at 7pm. The early part of the service was accompanied by spasmodic explosions which had us all leaping out of and back into our skin – not gunfire, mercifully, but left over bangers from the night’s festivities which small children were taking great delight in doing what small children like to do with fireworks! Those who lasted the course of the lengthy service were rewarded with a soft drink and snacks – popcorn, peanuts and ‘crunchies’.
Shambuy came to the door this morning with a small bundle of sticks, dripping with resin. Firelighters Congo style! We’ve had another dearth of daytime power, so the charcoal brazier is back in use. With days and nights of drenching rain, there’s not a dry stick to be found so these will stop Anni having to come up with all sorts of ideas to persuade the charcoal to burn!
(We’ve since had a chance to use them. Amazing. Instant fire. I’ve never seen charcoal light so quickly!)
You probably need to have read this as a 3 part serial. I didn’t realize how long it had become. I should write more often!
Christmas and all your cards arrived again on 15 January. Much enjoyed! I should really take them down though…
Love and thanks for your support, prayers and love,

Bridget

Changing the world one life at a time

We will be running a Christians Against Poverty Money Course at the end of January. (Click button on home page for more information) Talking to the people at CAP, one of them was telling me that when someone comes to faith because of the help and friendship they have received a ships bell is rung in their office in Bradford. This is to let everyone who works there know the good news, Not only has someone got their debt under control they have also found a new life in Christ.

I liked the idea so much that I invited the church on the first Sunday of the New Year to do something similar. Being Baptist I didn’t think bells would quite work for us but everyone here is familiar with prayer sticks (over grown lolly pop sticks that you write the name of someone or some cause you want to pray for and carry it with you).

My suggestion was this, that as we journey into the New Year there will be people and places where we will want to make a difference because we love Jesus. So I suggested we wrote the names of those people or places on a stick and when we see God at work and a difference being made in their live or in those places we have named we bring the stick back and place it in the ‘love vase’ (a large heart shaped vase that will be at the front of the church). I told people they could then take another stick and over the course of the year I hoped we would have the joy of seeing the jar filled to overflowing - a testimony to God at work changing lives, one life at a time.

The difference can be big or small it doesn’t matter, it’s just that I believe we as church can make a difference in this world and in our community one life at a time and in doing so change the world.

Rob

Back in June this year I was fortunate enough to be given a three montn sabbatical by the church. During that time I decided that it would be good to do some theological thinking and a little practical work.

The practical work was to learn how to design and build a new website for the church as our old one was getting a little creeky round the edges.

Two months of intensive labour went on during the summer to get the basic site into place and then when I was back in the office things slowed down as I began to fill the site with information.

I am glad to say that as of today it is done, well that is until everyone lets me know what needs to be changed from typo’s to information.

Hope you like what you see

Not a season for the house-proud!
Dear all
It’s still the dusty season here, although there have been a couple of very welcome storms which briefly brought the temperature down. I can’t stop sneezing and the layer of dust grows ever deeper throughout the house in spite of repeated dusting and daily washing of all the floors. Ah well! Just have to fix my eyes on something else – the crimson bougainvillea flowering on my garden wall, 8 little black puppies curled up in the corner of my living room, the amazing colours of the frangipani trees, pink, apricot and cream … definitely an improvement on dust.
There are mulberries to pick this morning. The mangoes are ripening on the trees all down one side of the orchard and some of the avocado trees are also starting to fruit. The little coffee tree is in blossom; maybe we’ll have coffee beans this year to add to our harvest of good things.
Please don’t check to see how long it’s been since I last wrote! The long college ‘holiday’ is coming to an end with the official opening this Saturday and courses set to begin on Monday. This year I will be teaching all 3 year groups both English and computers but for the first couple of months my classes will be on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday leaving Thursday and Friday free for other things (like admin, piano lessons, preparation for an SU ladies’ retreat, writing youth Bible reading notes etc). We hope to have a good intake in year 1 to make up for the smaller classes in year 2 and 3.
During the holiday I was able to run an ‘Introduction to text processing’ for a group of half a dozen young people, with a little jiggling of the programme to accommodate power cuts! This term I’m hoping to fit in an afternoon course for another group, particularly for those who have learned typing in the past but would like to adapt their skills to the computer. Our computers need a bit of an overhaul but hopefully that can be done fairly soon by someone who knows about these things.
It had long been my intention to try and get to Kolwezi to visit friends – a former student, Kheke Kalombo, his wife Francine and their family. The dry season is the best and the worst time to undertake such a trip which takes approximately 7 hours by bus. Less chance of the bus embedding itself in a miry hole for several days but more chance of inhaling several litres of dust and being covered in it from head to toe plus all the nooks and crannies. I made it, though and was able to have time to read, relax and enjoy playing with the children. I had planned ahead and taken games and puzzles as well as puppets to make so we had lots of fun. On the Tuesday afternoon I’d been invited to speak to a ladies’ group at Kheke’s church. By then I’d acquired something resembling flu so struggled a bit but was glad to have gone. At the end of the meeting the leader asked if anyone had prayer requests and just about everyone stood up and said they’d left everyone at home ill! Must be the season for colds, coughs and flu so I didn’t feel quite so bad. The pastor’s wife kindly visited me several times, bearing gifts of lemons, wild honey, oranges, bananas, potatoes, rice, eggs and a chicken! I felt very spoiled. At the end of my stay, Kheke wanted us to take the remaining eggs and the chicken back to Lubumbashi. I suggested they keep the chicken till it got bigger and let their family eat the eggs. I couldn’t quite see a tray of eggs surviving on my knee over the bumpy roads and the alternative didn’t bear thinking about! As it was, on the return journey we all had to get off the bus at the Lualaba bridge because the authorities weren’t sure the bridge could stand the combined weight of bus and passengers. At least I didn’t have to descend clutching my tray of eggs!
28 October
College is under way! All but 2 students reported in Year 2 and 3 classes and there’s an intake of 7 new students, with at least 4 more on the way. That’s more than in recent years so we’re encouraged. This weekend I’ll be taking some of the students to the Lutheran college at Kimbeimbe, on the airport side of the city, for a lecture on Christianity in the Third World given by a German professor who has worked in Cameroun and Tanzania. We seize every opportunity that comes our way for widening the knowledge base of the students (and our own‼)
With love to you all and thanks for every encouragement you send!

Bridget

Dear All

Nyota and I took our usual early morning walk just after 6 am and came across family members and friends of Pastor Mukala (one of the translators), armed with a machete and heading for one of two trees which have been home for many weeks to hundreds of caterpillars. The caterpillars holed up in amazingly sturdy cocoons and have dozed quietly now for some time. Apparently today was d-day. The grubs are seemingly delicious and eaten by the Basongye people but not by the local people here. Just as the caterpillars had lethal hairs all over their body, which cause serious itching, so, it turns out, the cocoons are still decidedly unfriendly. Touch one and you’ll itch all day. Furthermore, once a breeze gets up, the cocoons give off some kind of noxious fumes, which also cause itching, so they can only be collected when the atmosphere is completely still. The caterpillars follow one particular tree (the ‘mamba’) of which we have just two. The other one’s in my field. One young man climbed high up to knock the cocoons down and everyone else kept a safe distance. Then with the help of 2 sticks, the harvest was safely placed in a cardboard box and taken to the field to have the outer casing burnt off. The grubs, released from their fortresses, could now be taken home, fried and eaten. Having shared in the experience, I was given some to try. Anni looked horrified when I produced them but we will enjoy a new experience/challenge together when she comes on Monday. I’ll let you know how we go on.

This time of year, schools and colleges are busy with exams. The 6th year school finalists sit their last state exams between 22-25 June. The school on the centre has 23 candidates, taking 3 different options (education, business & administration and tailoring) Quite a few of the young people I know are either sitting the exams for the first or second time, hoping to be able to go on to higher education. I’ve been keeping a watchful eye on a group of six girls who came in as half-boarders in April so that they could concentrate on revision and catch up on courses where they had missed out because of illness earlier in the year. My friend Esther’s youngest sister, Ezer, is one of the group. Esther had to drop out of school for lack of finances after her father died and has made huge sacrifices to ensure the same thing doesn’t happen to her sister. Pray for Ezer, Caleb, Mudilo and all the other pupils that they’ll give a good account of themselves and that the exams themselves will pass off smoothly. There is huge pressure on parents, particularly those who have fallen behind with the payment of fees, as threats are made not to include their children’s names on the list of candidates. With the exams only days away, it doesn’t help the finalists either to know they may be excluded at the last minute!

We’re gathering in grapefruit and oranges today after noticing that quite a few are going missing and they’re coming in by the barrowful. The smell is lovely – sorry I can’t send you any! From the sales we hope to be able to invest some of it back into improving the orchard which is in need of quite of lot of work and any extra will go into the Centre fund which helps pay wages, National Insurance and taxes or the Centre maintenance fund which has huge demands on it. For now, I’m leaving most of the fruit on my verandah so it can continue to ripen in the sun.

A couple of things coming up: next Saturday the Kawama youth group are meeting for a morning of prayer and worship; then the following Saturday they are having an away day at Chemchemi, a Roman Catholic centre a few kilometers out of town, where there is a farm, also a boys’ school and lots of fishponds. (I seem to be into ponds at the moment though not literally, of course!) Pray for the leaders as they try to build stronger relationships with the young people and get alongside them. I’ll be joining them for both events and it looks as though the lot has fallen to Chantal, Judith and me to organize the food and games. We expect around 40 young people to be at Chemchemi and have invited 3 different speakers.

With love to all

Bridget