Last weekend our team had our “midterm retreat” (with only two months left in our 7 months out of the country, it was a little late, but that’s ok).  It was an amazing time; it was refreshing both physically and spiritually. We went to Zongo Falls, an incredibly beautiful falls. The resort is right on the falls, just behind it, and we could hike around to the front and just get soaked by the incredibly powerful spray coming off the falls, even though we were around 200 feet above. It was more powerful than the most torrential downpour with gusting winds I have ever been in.

The best part was that we came on a Sunday night; we literally had the place to ourselves. We were the only group that stayed there that night.  Here we were, at this resort, surrounded by rainforest, with a huge falls right in front of it, and no crowds of people to spoil it. So we spent a relaxing day hiking through the rainforest, being soaked by the falls, swimming in the pool, and then spent time as a team praying for Congo, for our next two months, and worshiping God. The next day I spent a few hours in the morning praying and reading the Bible, and I really feel that I have a clear direction coming out of this time.

I have come to realize how much of a gift this opportunity is from God, and I feel the weight of that responsibility. I don’t want this to be an episode in my life that I lived and look back upon with fond memories. I want to, and I feel God leading me, to stay involved with the people here.  Practically, this means that in the immediate future I will work to make the English class sustainable. Many of our students are very passionate about learning English; already we have had some students take initiative to set up study times outside of planned teaching times. We know a couple of ex-pats – Adam and Sarah – who are willing to continue the advanced English class, and Mark and I are in the process of finding a few students who are able to continue the beginner’s English class. When I come back to Canada, I will stay in contact with them and either raise money for more English supplies or find some English supplies to send to them for more course material.

I also want to connect my church family with Congo; to be able to have a continued partnership with the Congolese church that connects to my church back home is a dream of mine. But more than that, the experience here, the time I have spent praying, reading the Bible and learning what it means to be a disciple of Jesus has woken in me a desire to be much more involved in my home church. I have gone to Yarrow Alliance Church for over 20 years now, and I desire to be more intentional to build relationships in the church and serve in the church.

Looking to the last two months here, I will continue to build up the relationships with some of the people from my advanced English class. One conversation I had recently with a student named Esperant was really encouraging. He told Mark and I very frankly about some of his sin struggles, some of his spiritual doubts, and some of the ways that Jesus has been working in his life. We were able to talk about the Bible, tell about our experiences, and encourage him to seek an answer from God. Then I asked how his time reading the Bible has been, and he told us that he has never had a Bible! We had the privilege to give him his first Bible, and it was incredible to see how excited he was to receive it. I can’t wait for the next time I see him, to ask about how his reading has been going. (On a side note, he is 34 years old, and has been a Christian his whole life).

I also will make an effort to continue to find people that are working for change here in Congo. We have met many people who are working effectively in different areas to bring change. Some are businessmen that promote micro-loans or entrepreneurial activity, others are doctors that set up clinics in areas with no medical care, and we have met some politicians who are working to create change in the government. One man we talked to had an inspiring attitude. Charles is a doctor (a radiologist I think) here, and he talked about a city, Kikwit, in the interior that has no x-ray machine (it is a major city in Congo too). He has purchased two x-ray machines, and is working to get it up and running there. He needs to buy an industrial generator and find an operator for the machine, and he is optimistic that it will be functioning by June, even if he needs to spend time there and train the operator himself. The impressive part was when we asked him if he was receiving funding from MBMission, he replied, “No, I talked to them, but the funding was going to take too long to come in, so I am just going to get it done myself.”

We have met so many people here that are looking for a handout, whose project is stalled until they find the funding they need. It was incredibly refreshing to see someone that is taking initiative, working to better Congo on his own. As Murray, a man who works with MBMission here in Congo, said, these are the kind of people we need, people who are working on their own to promote change. And we must search for them, because otherwise we will just be overwhelmed by people looking for handouts.

One example of this is a church I visited recently. The church is situated on a large amount of land. The pastor is hoping to start a much needed clinic there. But all he is doing to work towards this is asking around at different NGO’s. He won’t even try to raise the funds through his own church, which is a relatively wealthy church in the area. Meanwhile, the land sits unused, when it could at least be used as farm land. But he says that he couldn’t find anyone to farm it. So I hope to see more of the people who are actively seeking change on their own, and build those people up, people like my friend Charles.

And, coming back to the time I spent at Zongo Falls in prayer, I will continue to commit my life to God, to developing my relationship with Jesus. I will continue to spend time with Jesus in prayer and reading the Bible. I will continue to grow in devoting my life to Jesus, every aspect of my life seeking to glorify God. I will continue to develop discipline, daily dying to myself and carrying my cross.