Kevan Kingsley Clawson's Blog, page 24

The Sister Missionaries Updat

Thought I should update you. Terri stayed all night at their apartment to calm them down. Sunday was a busy day with the baptisms, etc. Then Sunday night about 8pm we got another call from the same group of sisters. They were ‘sick’ and needed blessings.

Not sure what to do, it being quite late and needing another person to go with me…but decided to have the new missionary couple, the local couple from Kinshasa, the Mbele’s, go with us. So the four of us went to the sister’s apartment to give them blessings.

Once there I asked Elder Mbele to take the lead, as he knew the language. He did a wonderful job! He took time to hear from each sister, then counseled them for a while. Afterward, he asked if they needed a blessing with oil (were any of them really sick?), or just a blessing of comfort. They admitted that none of them were really sick. They were just afraid. So he asked if he could bless them all, and the house, together, rather each one separately. They agreed.

He then had us all sing a hymn, which brought the spirit even more into the room. He then stood and gave a marvelous blessing on the sisters and on the apartment. It was obvious that they all felt comforted. I don’t think we will have much problems after this.

I was so impressed with how he handled the situation, and so grateful he was there! The Mbele’s will be a great asset to the mission. It will be wonderful to see what they will do and how they will grow. And by the way, they have a son on a mission too–serving in Bujumbura! What a great family!

Mwembila Ward Baptisms

This Weekend was memorable. Terri and I received several calls from sister missionaries, and the Zone Leaders, about a sick sister (or hurt sister, or sisters) about 11:30 Saturday night. We attempted to get a straight answer from them, but all we got was theat there was a lot of blood. So we felt we had no choice but to get out of bed and drive to the sister’s apartment and find out what was going on. Turns out that one sister had a bad dream, got up and fell down and hit her head, or something, and then just went into hysterics. This then got other sisters involved and riled up… There was no one sick, no one hurt, no one bleeding, but a lot of screaming, crying, falling down, fainting, etc.

For example, when one sister came to the outside gate to let us in, she walked out to the gate, unlocked it, then fell on the ground in tears and crying… but there was really nothing wrong!

Terri felt as though she had to stay with the isters once she calmed them down, just out of fear that it would just all start up again. So she stayed and I drove home. The next day I picked her up early and brought her home so that she could get ready for church.

 

The man in the street is carrying many cartons of hard boiled eggs on his shoulders. Hard boiled eggs are on the food items eaten most during the day in the Congo. It is astonishing how high they will pile the eggs!

Mwembila ward is installing their two large water tanks onto the high steel platforms so that they can have water pressure when they have no power.

Young members waiting for the baptism to begin

After church today was a baptism. One problem, they had disconnected the water due to the water project with the large tanks. So they could’nt fill the font. We tried to go to Katuba Stake, but they didn’t have water either. So we finally rigged the water back up, but had to hand-carry it over to the font.

Some of the young men helping to fill the font.

This is where they were getting the water.

 

More bystanders waiting for the baptism to begin

Here is the group being baptized today

 

 

There were so many at the baptism some of us had to wait outside during the service.

The baptism finally begins

More bystanders

 

Terri taking care of a baby during the baptism

 

After the baptism we took the two new couples home (the Mbele’s and the Davis’), then finally got home ourselves.

Winter is Coming to the Congo?

There has been a change in weather here, just as the locals predicted. During the rainy season it was hot in the morning, then in the afternoon or late evening it would rain and it would cool down. It rained 2-3 times a week, sometimes all day, and many times with great force. This year it lasted longer than normal, but the locals said that once the ‘wind’ came, the rain would be over and the dry season would begin.

They were right. One day the wind came, and it has not rained since. It seems to be fall here—at least many of the trees are losing their leaves. But this brings a whole n’uther problem: the smoke and ash. The locals rake/sweep up the leaves and burn them, along with any and all trash that has accumulated over the summer (I supposed they didn’t burn their trash during the rainy season due to the rain?). What this creates is a very thick smoke veil that hangs over the city, and when the wind blows, the black ash/soot from their fires is deposited everywhere. If you walk outside for any length of time you come home with black marks on your clothes from the ash landing on you.

We try to keep the windows clothed, which is easy as the weather is also getting colder. Who knew that it got cold in Africa? In the morning one needs a jacket to stay warm (you feel as though you could almost see your breath…but don’t), but as the day goes on it warms up and can still get hot. It makes nice sleeping weather as the nights are cool.

We continue to be very busy. Two new couples come in this week: the Mbele’s from Kinshasa, and the Davis’ from…hmm, I forget, but they are flying in from South Africa where they have been receiving training in Humanitarian Services. We have a nice home for them to stay in their entire mission. We think the Mbele’s will be traveling to Mbuji Mayi (we have a very nice home for them in Mbuji Mayi—one that we got with the idea it might become a future mission home when the mission splits). They will cover the northern half of the mission.

The McMullin’s are traveling most of the time they have left on their mission. We are staying in the office as we are the only drivers now and need to pick people up and drop them off. We also get to act as surrogate mission presidents, as we are here to welcome the new couples, as the President is on the road (he will be back next week to interview them and get them started in their fields of endeavor).

The apartment crush is almost over. Since I first came we have opened and furnished 23 new apartments! We still have one or two more to find, but things have slowed down quite a bit. At one point we had 10 apartments in one stage or another of getting ready to move into. With all the new missionaries coming out now, it was good planning to get ahead of the curve!

Terri’s work with the medical end of the mission has lessened a lot. Now that most missionaries have been instructed by her about good health, and have followed her counsel about medical issues, fewer missionaries are calling in sick. That is why she has been able to pick-up the new assignment of doing the missionary transfers—an unbelievably difficult job! To coordinate the travel of 100 +- missionaries to their new areas (figuring several ‘legs’ for each missionary), is truly the job of a General (think troop movements during wartime?). But she seems to be handling it well, in spite of the Murphy effect: anything that can go wrong will!

We all have been suffering from allergies (again, due to the change in season and the wind), and have itchy eyes and noses, etc. But c’est la vie, oui?

A plus tard!

Mwembila Ward

We ended up with a quite weekend! The new missionary couple Mbele did not come Saturday as scheduled, it was delayed till next week–so we will have two couples coming next week!

Saturday was our normal prep-day, and Sunday we decided to return to Mwembila Ward to see how things were going there since the Open House.

This was the Gospel Principles class for new members over 45 people were attending!

This is the new chapel and Sacrament meeting…it is already full! They will need to split the Ward very soon.

The missionaries are working hard and having fun–and continue to be astonished at the number of people who want to hear the Gospel.

We should have yet another open house for the next new chapel that will be opening–this time a new Stake Center for the new Katuba Stake that was just created a few months ago.

If that goes just as well…well, the Congo is growing so fast now we can’t keep up with it! Do we push for more, or try to hold the reins back a little? Thankfully, questions like that are above my pay grade!

Misc

Here are some misc pics from the archives.

A friend of ours that has lived on the porch for some time.

Christmas in the Congo! Strawberry and Lime milk shakes!

Here are the new Elders that arrived and their companions

All the new missionaries with President & Sister McMullin

Just the new sister missionaries with their companions

We continue to be swamped with work. We have two new couples arriving, just as we sent the new missionaries off, and finished transfers. The President leaves for a couple of weeks to do Zone Conferences, then comes back a couple of days, then leaves again for two weeks with the Senior Sisters–leaving us to man the office alone.

As soon as he gets back from that, his time is about up, and the new mission president arrives. We have been assigned to escort them, well, basically everywhere (as we can drive and they won’t be able to for a while). We also travel with them to tour the mission. Then we go home! It will be a whirlwind, i’m sure.

The Moral Dilemma of Telling

There is a stigma in our society towards any person that ‘tells’ on someone: if a person sees someone breaking the law, or sinning, and the act does not affect you personally—you simply saw the person commit the sin or break the law, there is enormous pressure to simply mind your own business. If you choose to ‘tell’ those in authority you become a tattle-tale, a snitch, a rat, a traitor, and/or many other denigrating terms that have been created to pressure people NOT to tell and to stigmatize those that choose to do so.

In my book “The Enhanced New Testament” I document the strict moral code of the Jews concerning this dilemma. The Oral Law of the Jews, as documented in the Mishnah, clearly states that a person is obligated to tell someone in authority if they see someone break the law, or sin. Whether it be a family member, a friend, a neighbor, or a stranger, if you see a law being broken (Church and Civil law was the same in ancient Israel), it was your duty to tell. In fact, if you didn’t tell, your omission became a sin. The Jews looked upon those with knowledge of crimes, who refused to come forward, as guilty as those who committed the crimes. If you didn’t expose those who broke the law you were aiding them in their actions:

               Next in importance to the choosing of judges was the reliability of witnesses. It was considered to be an honor and a duty to be a witness. Anyone refusing to act as a witness was shunned and felt to be under the condemnation of heaven.

               Perjury was such a serious sin, the liar would be punished in the same manner the condemned would have been punished. In other words, if a man lied in order to get another man put to death, the man caught in the lie would be put to death in his place!

The establishment of the truth depends not only on the competence and fairness of the judges, but perhaps to an even greater degree on the reliability of the witnesses… To help the cause of justice by acting as a witness was considered to be a sacred duty, and he who…does not testify, is…liable to the judgment of Heaven…

A perjured witness was treated with the utmost severity… ‘Ye shall do unto him as he had thought to do unto his brother’… If anyone be believed to have borne false witness, let him, if convicted, suffer the very same punishment which he, against whom he bore witness, would have suffered. (ET, 307, 309)

 

In my book “Becoming a Great Missionary” I broached the subject as it related to problems between companions:

What to do with a bad companion

Now that we have described what a bad companion is, it is time to talk about what to do with a bad companion. This is very difficult. First of all, you need to determine that the problems you are having with your companion are not just the normal differences that occur between companions. It must go beyond these differences and be to the point of being a detriment to the work. It is not enough just to have differences–a bad companion doesn’t just complain or have strange habits, he must refuse to work or inhibit the work. Then something must be done.

1. Don’t be afraid to tell.

One of the biggest problems that a mission president confronts is lack of information. We discussed how important it is to be truthful in your first interview with your mission president; being truthful about what is happening within your companionship is just as important. How can you expect the mission president to correct the problems that are occurring in the mission if he knows nothing of them? It is not only the right thing to tell the mission president about problems that are occurring, it is your priesthood duty! What is most important, our naive beliefs about “not telling” on someone or making certain the work of the Lord goes forward? If you know things about your companion or someone else in your district or zone that is hampering the work of the Lord, it is your duty to tell your mission president about it. He is the only one who can really deal with a bad missionary. Work with your mission president and lay the burden on him. He can also help you discern whether the problems you are having are things you should be working out between yourselves or whether they go beyond your responsibility. Differences of opinion should be worked out between yourselves, but where a missionary is willfully breaking the mission rules and causing havoc in his area or district, your duty is to inform your mission president of the situation. It is the mission president’s responsibility to deal with these situations (poor guy!).

You are not part of a prison system where evildoers agree not to snitch on each other. You are part of the Lord’s Army where truth is the banner and personal integrity is the flagpole. When I was on my mission, I had no problems, qualms, or hesitancy in talking to the president about what was going on in my life or anyone else’s that made a difference in my mission life. I had made a commitment to serve the Lord. That meant that the Lord’s work came first. It came before my own ego and problems, and it certainly came before any missionary who was not working toward the same goals as I. In any situation it is good to ask yourself: What is the worst that can happen? As I saw it, by my talking to the mission president the following things could take place: (1) I would be able to correct problems in my life that were standing in the way of my perfection as a Saint and my abilities as a missionary; (2) my companion would be forced to confront his own weaknesses and have the choice to reflect and change or choose to continue on the path he was following, and (3) others in the district would be confronted with the same choice—change and become better or continue to disobey and become hardened in a path that would not magnify.

Now is the time, and your mission is the place, to learn once and for all to choose between good and evil and to stand by your choice. Hiding behind a false sense of brotherhood by not wanting to tell about the improper actions of others is a sign that you are weak in this area. After all, where do you draw the line? What if the others were swimming or dating or leaving their mission—would any of these actions prompt you to tell on them? Yet all of these actions are damaging both to the missionary himself and to the work of the Lord in his area and the entire mission. Small indiscretions lead to larger and larger ones. Better to tell immediately, and get the problem corrected, than to let it go until it reaches a larger transgression.

Let me say it very clearly: You should not feel guilty about telling your mission president about things happening to you or your companion, nor should you hide the fact that you are going to speak to the mission president about something. Honesty and integrity go in both directions. You cannot hide what you or your companion is doing from the mission president any more than you should hide from your companion your intent to discuss the matter with the mission president. Everything should be up front and above board. No lies, no secrecy, no hidden agendas. If you feel guilty about performing this priesthood duty, it simply means that you have an incorrect understanding of your responsibilities as a missionary and priesthood holder. It also means you have an incorrect understanding of how the Kingdom of God works. The time will come when all things will be known about people. Every act performed, every mistake, every good deed will be made known. If this “uncovering” is a bad thing, why will God make us all go through this process? It is because it is actually good. When everything is known, it forces ourselves and others to face reality. It will force everyone to accept the judgments of God as just, because they will be self-evident to everyone. The reasons this kind of truth is considered bad “in the world” are that (1) people want to hide their sins, and (2) we cannot fully understand someone’s actions unless we know all of the thoughts and events that led up to them—which only God can do. But the priesthood can bridge this world/heaven gap with the power of the Holy Ghost. We can both tell and hear the full truth because the Holy Ghost will help us put it in the proper perspective and understand what must be done. So, do what is right and what is good–and let the consequences follow.

Whatever you do, do not feel guilty about helping your mission president correct a bad situation. If anything, you should be happy that you were able to help correct a situation that was impeding the work of the Lord. The time will come when you will look for opportunities to cleanse the Lord’s church. Angels will come to reap the earth and gather the wheat unto the Lord and burn the chaff. They will not second-guess their actions in cleansing the earth prior to the coming of the Lord. You should not second-guess the actions taken to cleanse the mission and push forward the work. Your only concern should be to keep yourself clean and above reproach and to work with all your heart in bringing to pass the Kingdom of God on earth. If your mind and eye are single to His glory, you never have to worry about the outcome.

God forbid that there should be any of us so unwisely indulgent, so thoughtless and so shallow in our affection for our children that we dare not check them in a wayward course, in wrong‑doing and in their foolish love for the things of the world more than for the things of righteousness, for fear of offending them. (Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine, p. 286)

One of the things you will learn is that there are times when you need to speak up about things that are wrong. As you grow spiritually, you will understand that there are times you must confront people and force them to deal with their problems. There is a reason the scriptures talk about “reproving betimes with sharpness,” (D&C 121:43) because as priesthood holders and spiritual leaders we are supposed to do this in order to correct and build the character of those whom we serve. You will have to do this with your investigators. You will need to show them where they have to change and repent. When done with love and the Spirit, there are few things more powerful or influential in a person’s life than properly and lovingly correcting them and helping them to change.

 

The reason this issue has come up in our current mission in the Congo is that the guards that work at the Mission Home complex have been caught stealing gas. We use a lot of diesel fuel at the Mission Home—all of the vehicles and the three generators all use diesel fuel. Ever week or so a fuel truck comes to fill the vehicles and about 40 bidons with fuel (a bidon is a plastic container that holds about 5 gallons). Three times we have discovered problems with the gas: once a person came and knocked on the gate and was asking to buy gas…with the understanding that this happened all the time; we then started counting the bidons, and noticed bidons of gas missing; after the increased scrutiny, they changed their tactics: we discovered that they were taking small amounts of gas out of each bidon, rather than a full one. When confronted again, they got angry and put water in the fuel tank of the generator.

We believe that we know which one of the three guards is actually stealing the gas and causing the problems, but there is no way to prove which one is doing it, and the others refuse to say who it is…so we have no choice but to fire all of them.

But, then there is the dilemma brought up at the start of this blog: if we find out which one was actually stealing the gas, are the others free of guilt? The others obviously knew what was going on, but they refused to talk. Does this, in fact, make them accomplices in the crime? Even if you fired the one who sold the gas, could you continue to trust those who knew but refused to step forward and tell you what they were doing?

I have not always been so clear about my own obligation to expose the sins and crimes of others. In fact, for most of my younger life I believed like the world believes: that it is somehow wrong to tell on others. But an event occurred specifically dealing with this moral dilemma that forced me to make a choice and as a result completed changed the course of my life:

I was married with 5 young children. I was working for my father’s company with the understanding that someday I would perhaps take over the company. I had been accepted into an Executive MBA program at the University of Utah, and we had just bought our first home. Life was good, I had a great future ahead of me, and there were no dark clouds on the horizon. Then something unexpected happened.

Although I was a supervisor over other men in the company, I often was asked to do field work myself. On one occasion I was asked by my father’s partner to install a new roof on the home of a client. He specifically asked me to use discarded materials to do the job (my first red flag!). We kept extra, or left-over material from jobs in the yard to use on small jobs or repairs; but we never used them for new work or larger jobs as they were a mix of types and colors, so the end product would not look right. But as a dutiful employee, I followed his directions and began installing the new roof with these ‘extra’ materials from the yard.

It did not take long for the client to see a problem with the work. He immediately complained and stated something to the effect that even though he was getting this work done for free it didn’t mean that we could use inferior products on the job…(second red flag!). Who was this guy, and why was he getting work for free? After just a few questions during our conversation I discovered an astonishing fact: he worked for the LDS Church in the construction department. He worked in the construction department of the Church, where contracts were given out to local businesses, and he was getting a free roof on his house…hmmmm

When I returned to the office I decided to do some investigating of my own about the situation. As a supervisor (and one of the owner’s sons) I had access to most files and information in the office. I confirmed my fears: we were giving this man of influence a free roof. I confronted my father with the information. He said he would look into it and get back to me. Later he admitted that his partner’s son had offered the man a free roof, admitted that it was wrong, and promised that it would not happen again.

My first reaction was to feel as though the issue was now resolved. But my conscience tugged at me: what do I do about the Church employee? To try to resolve the issue I made an appointment with a General Authority friend of mine: Elder Hugh Pinnock. Elder Pinnock had been my mission president and we had become friends. At the meeting I explained the situation and my concerns—specifically about my knowledge that this man from the Church seemed to be taking bribes. The problem I had was that if I went public with this information it would cause a huge rift in the company, and perhaps put my own job at risk—and I had done nothing wrong! Put simply, I had a guilty conscience (I knew what I should do—expose the Church employee) but I was afraid of the consequences. I wanted my friend to relieve my conscience and tell me it was okay NOT to tell!

Looking back, it was an interesting conversation. Elder Pinnock obviously knew that I knew what I should do, but there was no way he was going to tell me what to do—he wanted me to come to that conclusion myself. So, he let me off the hook. He told me that I had done nothing wrong, so it was up to me whether or not to expose this individual. I left assuming it was okay NOT to tell, NOT to expose this Church employee. I felt relieved there would be no further consequences. After all, my father had promised me it would not happen again, and since I had not been personally involved, I did not have to do anything, or suffer any consequences.

Of course it didn’t end there! A few months later, during the slow months of winter, I was assigned to follow-up on past due accounts and try to get them paid. One day I was trying to find a file and wandered into my father’s partner’s office, thinking perhaps he had the file on his desk. I noticed a stack of files behind his desk and began to go through them. To my surprise I found a file that actually had the heading ‘Bribery’. With the recent events still fresh in my memory I had to look in the file! It was full of information about the State and Federal laws of bribery, and, of course, information about the Church employee. It also had some notes that suggested that he had been given much more than just a new roof!

I had been left alone in the office for about a week while everyone was on vacation, so I spent time looking through cancelled checks and other files to see if I could find a document trail. After some digging I discovered that this Church employee had been given at least $60,000 in cash payments, as well as numerous under-the-table gifts of one kind or another. I copied everything and made my own ‘bribery’ file. Then I had a decision to make.

As I prayed about going to the Church authorities about this evil employee, it was revealed to me in an astonishing way what would happen to me if I chose to expose him: I would lose everything. I would lose my job, which, in turn, would create a domino effect of losing my career, my new home, and even the relationship I had with my father and parents. Rather than be blessed for doing what was right, I would lose everything.

Most of those with whom I discussed this perplexing situation were against my moving forward to expose the Church employee. They were of the same opinion that I had been just months before: I had done nothing wrong, therefore I was under no obligation to throw away my life and career because of the sins of others. Their opinions made my decision all that more difficult.

Finally my conscience won the day. I would do what I thought was right, and let the consequences follow—whatever they might be, even if it meant losing everything.

I knew that there would be no staying with the company after exposing their actions to the world, so I prepared two letters and envelopes. In one was my resignation from my position with my father’s company, the other was a letter to Elder Pinnock, along with all of the documents I had gathered showing the bribes this Church employee had taken. Then I simply chose the day my life would change.

I went into work, gave the secretary the letter of resignation and asked her to make sure both my father and his partner received a copy (they were both still out of town), then I cleared out my desk and left. On my way home I stopped by the Church Office building and dropped off the letter to Elder Pinnock. Then I went home to tell my wife what I had just done, and to wait for the consequences to begin.

The next week I was to meet with Elder Pinnock, and members of the Presiding Bishopric concerning the Church employee. Elder Pinnock simply said to me: “I knew you would be back!” I never found out what happened to the Church employee, I only know what happened to me.

Everything that was revealed to me came to pass. Not only did I lose my job, but my father’s partner sent word out so that no one in the industry would hire me. As a young family with five children, we had little savings, so it didn’t take long for us to fall behind on our mortgage. Our phone was cut off for lack of payment and everything seemed to be sliding into some dark abyss.

I had an uncomfortable meeting with my father at his home where he tried to get me to come back to work. He would ‘fix’ everything! He refused to see that he had done anything wrong (again, the same opinion as others—I did not do it, someone else did, I just knew about it and did nothing…), but accused me of wrong because I had gone through company files and exposed them to the world. Needless to say my father and I remained estranged for some time. Interesting side-note: a few years after I left the company my father discovered that his partner was stealing money from the company—to the tune of $600,000. The partnership broke up, and our relationship began to mend.

Because of the lack of opportunity locally, I began looking for work outside of Utah. Of course, this would also mean that I would give up on my dream to obtain my MBA. As fate would have it, I was notified during this time that the MBA program was going to be cancelled for this year (they were reorganizing it). This just pushed us further into seeking work elsewhere. Then the call came.

Keep in mind that our phone had been cut off for weeks due to lack of payment, but somehow a call came through to my home. My wife answered, and it was a job offer with a company in Connecticut. She got the information and the time to meet, and hung up. She was so excited she picked up the phone to call me and her mother, but found that the phone was once again not working!

Long story short, we moved to Connecticut, were blessed beyond our wildest dreams, and have never looked back. But I did learn one thing for sure: it is our duty to expose sin, crime, and evil. If we do not, we add to the sin and sin ourselves.

So I guess we will be getting new guards at our compound. We hate to see one guard go (Scammo). We all like him a lot, and we are all convinced that he had no part in the theft. But we also know that all the guards know who was stealing, and have refused to tell. So we had no choice. Guilt by association?

What would you do?

The Ever Changing Airport Routine

I have talked about the airport here before, but it continues to amaze me. No matter how long one lives here, there is no earthly way to understand how the airport operates, or to get to a point where one could go to the airport alone, without help!

This week was transfer week (I would swear a little here, but, I AM on a mission…), and just about everything that could go wrong did. And almost all the problems and issues were external—totally out of our control.

The airlines cancelled flights, which meant that all of our schedules for matching companions, training new missionaries, and moving missionaries to new areas, had a domino effect—everything had to change! We had to re-purchase plane tickets 3-4 times as one flight or another was cancelled, or came late, or lost baggage (we had lost missionary baggage both coming and going from Lubumbashi).

One poor elder who was coming from Mbuji Mayi to go home (his mission was over), had to wait in Mbuji Mayi for a week. He was not able to attend the farewell dinner with his missionary companions, etc.; and when he finally did arrive, he ate dinner with the mission president and some other guests, then went home alone.

Others were stuck in their new areas without clothes for a week because their bags were lost, or simply left in Lubumbashi. And we ended up having to PAY to get the bags—just another form of extortion they have developed here: they lost the bags, but force us to pay extra to get them once they show up!

Today we went to the airport to send more missionaries to Mbuji Mayi and points north (Mwene Ditu and Luputa). There was a typo on the plane ticket, misspelling the elder’s name. Their reaction? They confiscated the elder’s luggage! Then they permitted the elder to fly to Mbuji Mayi, but NOT his luggage! They promised to send the baggage on the next flight—in three days. Hmmmm

I even offered to buy a new ticket, so the name would match, we spent at least an hour trying to work around the problem—no go. So the elder, with the wrong name, boarded the flight to Mbuji Mayi, but his baggage is locked up in a room here in Lubumbashi. And I’m sure that at some point we will have to pay to get the luggage back out…

We have a man at the airport named Tom that works for us when we travel. Prior to anyone going to the airport we text Tom with info about when and how many people are coming (or arriving), and he shepherds them through the airport maze. We try to pay him well for his service, as no one could get through without him! He, in turn has to pay-off people in the airport to get everything through on time and without a hassle—which is part of the reason why this week has been so odd. Usually, with help, we eventually work around the problems. But lately the airlines have just been a nightmare. Every time you go to the airport the rules are different, the physical set-up is different (you never know where to start first, as they move their desks, tables, and counters around!). All the more reason why we have to have help getting through!

In the States, all the missionaries travel to a local stake center, exchange companions, and then go back to their areas. Easy as pie, and takes one day. Here, the first missionaries in Lusuku began traveling more than a week ago, and we are still moving missionaries! The last missionaries should hit back in Lusuku perhaps Wednesday—about 12 days after we started. That doesn’t count the full week of planning before they even begin their movement! And we get to do it all again in just over three weeks!

Terri and I hope to get some rest this week. The President and Sister McMullin and the two senior sister missionaries will be traveling to South Africa this week, leaving Terri and I ‘home alone.’ Our first act is to close the office on Monday (with the President’s permission, of course). We have been going every day for two weeks. Even today, Sunday, we have three trips to the airport, starting at 5:30 am! Ahhh, the day of rest…

We still have a local couple staying here for medical treatment that we are taking care of, and, of course, our work does not end until we ensure all the elders (and their luggage) get to their new areas. In one week we have a new local couple starting a mission. They will stay in the Wright’s old apartment until they get their bearings, then they get shipped up north somewhere. Then in two weeks another couple, the Davis’s, arrive. They are the new humanitarian couple. They will be staying in a new home we have in the same compound as the Wright’s apartment. They will probably stay that home for their whole mission.

In addition, the McMullins must begin to prepare to turn over the mission to the new mission president in two months—most of the time they will be on the road traveling to Zone Conferences. They will have ONE DAY with the new mission president… They leave one day after the new president arrives.

Well, that’s it for now.

A day in the Life: Sister Clawson– pioneer

One day in the life of Sister Clawson

For those of you who wonder what kind of experiences one can expect from a mission and the type of growth an individual receives…let me give you a day in the life of Sister Clawson.

1. Terri is the Medical Advisor to the Lubumbashi, DR Congo Mission. It is her responsibility to take care of all the medical issues that come up in the mission: with all the missionaries, senior missionaries, and often even the members and non-members of the Church in the area.

2. The last two weeks have been especially busy, as Terri was taking care of a member who was in town to go to a local hospital for tests; and a non-member who had been hit by a car a missionary was driving and so had been flown to Lubumbashi for tests to make sure everything was OK (the Church is very responsible in making sure that any problems caused by our missionaries are taken care of, and fortunately in this case there were no lasting problems—the woman went home healthy and happy with her treatment). Of course all of this extra work falls on Terri at the same time as a major transfer is also going on!

3. Terri has also been assigned to plan, organize, and manage the transfer of missionaries. This is a massive responsibility! The last transfer entailed over 100 missionaries moving around the mission (and each missionary traveling may entail several legs—moto, bus, plane, etc.—to get to their designated area); and can last over a week.

This transfer was planned down to the last detail…and then went downhill from there! It wasn’t Terri’s planning, or execution, it was things out of her control: planes that broke down, or simply decided not to fly this week; luggage that was lost or left behind; missionaries getting sick or being stubborn or ‘forgetting’ time and place of travel, etc. And with each incident (especially the delay or cancelation of planes), there is a domino effect with other plans down the line. If a missionary is supposed to meet his companion in Lubumbashi, but gets stuck in Mbuji Mayi, and they are both supposed to get on a plane to Kananga the next day…what does one do?

In addition 18 new missionaries coming from the Ghana MTC were delayed a day getting here. Another domino falls…plans are moved, dinners and busses and accommodations are jockeyed around.

Even the little things seem to have gone south. I ordered 150 croissants for the missionary dinner at a local bakery—and they ‘forgot’ to make them! After weeks of relative calm the police have been stopping and harassing us with a vengeance! Terri got stopped and finally had to pay them money to be released, the President got stopped twice, and I have just missed being stopped several times (I drive a lot so run into the police a lot, but was trained well by Emanuel how to avoid them—in this instance I just ‘hugged’ the car in front of me, preventing the police from stepping in front of the car, and was able to drive past them; it also helped that we had a green light so that we did not have to stop!).

4. Terri and I are also designated drivers. With the exit of two missionary couples, Terri and I are the only ones left to use as chauffeurs to take missionaries to and from the airport, or bus station, and just back and forth from apartment to mission home. When you have 20-50 elders and sisters dropped into Lubumbashi during transfers, there is a lot of moving around!

Which brings me to two interesting incidents where Terri really shined:

The first was the night she earned her Transport driver badge (I had received mine a few months ago when I was driving the van with Elder Cook of the Area Presidency in the car, and decided to follow a transport driver up the wrong way on a backed-up street…). We were taking some missionaries to their apartments after a meeting in the mission home. Since I had been driving all day, Terri took the wheel. It was very dark (although not very late at night), and we ran right into a major traffic jam. You have never been in a traffic jam until you have driven in the Congo!

Standard procedure with a transport when cars are stopped is to simply make a new lane and keep driving. Often there are two lanes of traffic coming at you on a two-lane road! But most of the time they will at least allow a portion of the road for those traveling the opposite direction… However, if things get real bad, they refuse to be patient and will try to create a third and fourth lane going their direction! Of course, at some point you would think they would simply run out of room and/or road! But you would be mistaken! There is always the dirt berm on either side of the paved road, and people’s yards, etc. If they can find a way to drive around a problem, even if it means going off the road, onto someone’s property, or grass, or running over bushes, etc., they will do it! And that is what they did, and were doing as Terri headed into the melee…

An hour later Terri had proven her metal: she had jostled and careened and used every transport trick in the playbook to get us into, around, and through this huge traffic jam. During one section of road she was driving all the way on the left side of the road (as though she were in England…) with those coming towards us on our right, into the dirt and around a truck and back into traffic, crossing back over into the correct lane, and cars, transports, semi-trucks, and motos where driving to and fro, back and forth, on our right and on our left… And, to get the picture correct in your heads, you have to add in HUNDREDS of people walking along the road, crossing the road back and forth at will (all the passengers in the transports and taxis were fed up with the wait so got out and started walking). Also keep in mind it is night, pitch black, and though we are in traffic, many vehicles have no lights! And yet through all of this, Terri kept her calm, was patient, saw her openings and took them, and came out of it without a scratch, or dent, no people were injured, and even a few of the transports drivers gave her a ‘thumbs up” for her moves!

The second incident came the next day when we went to pick-up missionaries at the bus stop. I was driving so stayed in the car when the bus arrived from Likasi (a school bus no less…), while Terri got out to get the missionaries and bring them to the truck. Most of the missionaries were sisters, but one elder had traveled with them as part of this big transfer. When the Elder got out of the bus and retrieved his bags, two young men began to harass him. Since it was in Swahili Terri could not understand what they were saying, but assumed they were trying to get him to pay them money for something. He was refusing, and was holding tight to his bags. The tension escalated as the two men continued to harass and yell at our missionary and attempt to get his bag from him. At this point Terri came up behind the Elder and was shouting ‘hey!’ at the two men, trying to get their attention and to imply that they needed to back-down. As the situation escalated again, one of the men pushed the Elder. It was at this point that Terri actually came around and put herself between the missionary and the two men causing problems. She made it clear she was not putting up with this! The two men stopped—not sure if it was out of respect or just shock at seeing a small white woman get in their face—and Terri took the Elder and escorted him back to the truck with the other sisters. Wow!

In both situations Terri didn’t hesitate, get nervous, or even blink—she just did what had to be done and carried it off with seeming ease. Who says there are no pioneers living today? Terri is proof that the pioneer spirit lives on and can be seen every day with those senior couples serving missions and aiding the younger elders and sisters to fulfill their callings.

Two more just for fun:

This is what happens in the Congo when you don’t pay your advertising fees…

Never get tired of seeing how hard they work here–using whatever they have to get their work done! This was UPHILL by the way…

Transfer week

This has already been, and will be a crazy week for us. It is transfer week. With Terri being assigned “General” and responsible to make sure all of the transfers go off without a problem, PLUS we have people here in the hospital for testing that she has to follow…plus, as is common, there are always last minute changes to schedules (for example, it is not uncommon for the airlines to simply cancel flights, or for missionaries to do something dumb, which forces the mission president to change things—all of which causes a ripple/domino effect to everything else!) which totally screws-up the plan!

Add to that the fact that Terri and I are now the only ‘drivers’ here (unless we use Justin and Emanuel), since we have lost both the Eastmans and the Wrights. Terri and I spend a LOT of time running back and forth to the airport, or transporting missionaries back and forth.

Add to that we have 18 new missionaries coming! I have to buy goods to give them for their mission (blankets and sheets, emergency lighting, mosquito nets, water filters, etc.), we have to train them and match them with their training companion, etc.

We also have about 10 missionaries going home that will be feted and given a farewell dinner. All the while 80+ other missionaries are moving back and forth, crisscrossing the country to get to their new areas. In some cases it will take a missionary a week to get to his new area. If we have a cancelled flight, there will be longer delays (we had one missionary that waited three weeks to get to his new area!

Add to that new apartments opening that have to be made ready for new missionaries coming, and then just the day to day jobs we both have (Terri receiving calls and texts from sick missionaries and me receiving calls and texts about apartment and supply issues….).

For example, I got one complaint from Elders about termites coming into their apartment. I just told them to get some bug spray…Well, when I went to see the apartment (remember, I had just been there not too long before!) I found that one entire room was full of termites—it had become a termite ‘mound’. You can see the termite tentacles coming down the walls—that is just the outskirts of their home. The rest is in the attic. They termites have brought in so much dirt in creating their home in the attic that the ceiling is bowed and about to fall in! If we left it for much longer, the entire room would become one big termite mound! None of this was apparent just one month ago! Who knew?

You can see how much the ceiling is bowed…

Oh, and the birds like the place too!

Aren’t missions fun?

Mwembila Open House After Action Report

From our time serving aboard the USNS Mercy, we learned to complete an ‘after action report’ to gather information about the good and bad things involved in any event. There is the planning, the actual doing, then the after action meeting where you discover how well your plan worked, and what changes need to be made for the next time. This is my report regarding the very successful Open House at the new Mwembila ward building here in Lubumbashi.

Mwembila Ward Building OPEN HOUSE (Katuba Stake, Lubumbashi Mission)

After-action Report April 24, 2014

Information About the Open House

1. Open house held on Saturday April 19, 2014

2. There were TWO sessions:

A. The first session was for invited dignitaries that began at 10:00 (this included a choir, a tour of the new building, opportunity for the dignitaries and the Stake President to give a few remarks in the Chapel; light refreshments, and a gift bag to all those attending that included a hard cover copy of the Book of Mormon, church pamphlets, and a bottle of water)

B. The second session was open to the public and began at 13:00, ended at 17:00.

3. Basic set-up:

a. Rooms were set-up with information about doctrine and church organization; each room had a member or missionary that would explain the doctrine or organization associated with each room.

b. The rooms were: Primary, Relief Society, Priesthood, Temple and Genealogy, Aaronic Priesthood, Young Men/Young Women, baptism at the baptismal font, Sacrament meeting in the Chapel.

c. There was a table near the end of the tour where two missionaries obtained referrals from those who wanted to know more; and gave out pamphlets and Book of Mormons.

d. There were also a series of LDS Church videos being shown in the Chapel for those who wanted to stay longer.

e. Missionaries would wait at the gate for families/groups to arrive; then one missionary would take a group on the tour, answer questions, etc., and direct them to the referral table near the end of the tour. They would also linger, if need be, to answer questions and direct them to the Chapel to see the Church videos.

Estimated number of visitors who attended: over 2,000

Number of missionaries participating: 22 from Kisanga Zone, 14 from Katuba Zone, one senior couple

Number of referrals obtained by missionaries for future teaching opportunities: over 500

Number of dignitaries who visited: about 20

Number of first-time visitors that came to church the next day: over 30, with over 25 being men (not counting children)

Information from the After-action meeting with the participating Missionaries

1. Many people asked questions about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. The next Open House should include

a room dedicated to teaching people about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.

2. Often members who were assigned to a specific room struggled to answer questions from visitors. It was suggested that each room have both a member and a missionary to aid in discussing the specific topic in the room, and answer questions.

3. The film The Restoration should be shown in the Chapel as an additional tool to teach people about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.

4. All church missionary pamphlets should be available (we did not have pamphlets on Chastity and Tithing). With many of the visitors being young in age, there was a need for Chastity pamphlets.

5. Information concerning the Open House should begin earlier. In this instance flyers were only available to the missionaries a few days ahead of the Open House. They should be available to hand out to people at least one week ahead of the Open House.

6. Someone needs to be assigned to count the number of people who come.

In general, it was one of the best, most successful Open Houses I have been associated with. It lasted from 9:00 (missionaries arrived for final prep and instructions) to 19:00 (final clean-up).

Elder Clawson

Lubumbashi, DR Congo