Three young adult Relief Society Sisters singing in a women's choir at the celebration.
Relief Society Sisters participating in a celebration game.
Our truck with the new canopy on the back. Elder Wheatley is worried about how to transport the elders now - they won't all fit in the cab......and no more 'free rides' for anyone!
Weekly Letter:
April 19, 2013
Dear Family,
Recently, being prepared for tomorrow has been on my
mind. I often think of the people here
and how they live from day to day. Going
to the market is part of the daily routine for most women. They eat a lot of French bread here which
they buy fresh both morning and night. The majority of the people have no way
of storing food. Since we live in a
country where a rebellion could flare up at any time, we are supposed to have a
week’s supply of food for us and the eight Elders in case they had to take
refuge here. It would be very difficult
to feed eight young men on the storage we have. Things seem very peaceful right
now. The last civil war was in
2008. If you follow the news you might
have noticed that the government in the Central African Republic which borders
this nation was recently taken over by a group of rebels.
What I notice most right now is a shortage of propane. Many people have small hot plates that are
fueled by propane. The families own a
propane bottle much like the one people use at home to fuel their barbeque
grills (only much bigger, like the tanks they use to fuel forklifts). We have six tanks, two for each
apartment. Finding replacements recently
has been challenging. Wherever they sell
propane there will usually be a group of people standing round, waiting for a
truck to deliver filled tanks. These
people will travel great distances carrying the container on their head or
pushing it in a wheelbarrow. If the
store is out of refilled containers they will often sit outside and wait for
hours hoping a truck will arrive to resupply the outlet. We feel so sorry for them, at least we have a
vehicle with which to go in search of propane.
The other day we just happened on a store where the truck
had just arrived. People were flocking to the area. As we secured a container and drove away we
felt both happy and sad. Happy that we
now have three full spares and three in use that are good for several days,
maybe even months. Sad, knowing that
the full tanks will be gone in a matter
of minutes and that someone will return home with an empty tank and adjust
their diet to a meal that doesn’t need cooked, or back to cooking on charcoal
outside on a 3-legged charcoal burner.
This city is very dependent on the shipment of food and
hardware from the outside world - it must come from the sea or the air. There are no good roads through the jungles
to other supply outlets. It is very
apparent that the people who suffer the most if there were a crisis would be
the rich who rely on the good things of life.
The poor would survive because they still know what plants are edible
and could live off the land.
Hopefully, as a family, we will never be too good to grow a
garden and eat home canned fruits and vegetables, bake bread and pluck a
chicken (just kidding). We do need to take
food storage and other essential items seriously. But we also need to store what we use and use
what we store.
We had a good week, we were in a small store owned by a
person from Portugual, and a man said, “Hello Elder” in English. I was probably as surprised as he was. This was a man from the Philippines who is
working here in Pointe Noire. He indicated that he did not know the Church was
established here. He said he had been
listening to the conference talks through the internet. We gave him the address to the Church. His Congolese driver indicated that he knew
where the Church was. He came to Church
today.
This week, we visited three families who haven’t been attending
church. We usually make banana bread to
take as a gift. Victor and Therese were
baptized about a year ago. The
neighbors indicated that Victor was at work and Therese was at the market. Their eight year old daughter, Dorcas, came around
the corner of the house just as we started to leave. We were able to leave our banana bread with
her and in our broken French, ask her to tell her parents we had come. Therese was at Church today. The next visit was to Claude and Nellie. They were baptized before we arrived here in
Pointe Noire. They live out of town and
finances are a very real challenge for their little family. They often walk to church and then walk home
- about five miles each way. They live
in a swamp in a small wooden home (in our country we might say shack but that
seems a bad thing to say when it’s their home).
We arrived unannounced, and the children spotted us as we walked through
some trees. A ten year old daughter and two boys eight and
six. They were home alone. The boys
entertained us for a few minutes doing somersaults and then played a game very
much like Jax, only with small round stones.
We gave them the bread and a hug and walked back to our vehicle. We were just backing away when Nellie appeared. We got out and Sister Wheatley gave her a big
hug. We walked back to their home. They brought out some benches. Elder and Sister Wheatley sang “I am A Child
of God” in English. The children then
sang it in French, so we must have sung it well enough for them to know what
song it was! We asked if we could have a
prayer. The children voted for Elder
Wheatley. We then gave them all hugs
again and departed. A simple visit but
one we will always remember and cherish. We can always communicate through song
and prayer. We don’t have to understand
the words because the spirit lets us know the meaning. Claude was at Church today. Yesterday we went with the Elders to visit
Aimie and Georgette and their three daughters.
It would be more correct to say the Elders went with us. Neither of them had been to their place. This family was baptized about a year
ago. Shortly before their baptism they moved
to the outskirts of town, where they erected a small home about 10ft by 10ft. We
donated the Elders’ plywood sheet/ping pong table for a door at that time,
because it wouldn’t fit into our little house. It is on a hill overlooking a river. It is so peaceful when compared to the hustle
and bustle of the city. We have enjoyed
visiting them several times and have watched as they have added to the home and
planted a garden. We found Georgette
sick with malaria. She said she had been
sick for several weeks, which is not unusual here with malaria. The Elders shared a lesson on “Standing In
Holy Places.” We hope they understood
that indeed their home is a place of holiness. We asked Georgette if she would like to receive
a Priesthood blessing, and she started to cry. It was very humbling. Aimie holds the Priesthood, but is not yet an
Elder, and this was probably the first Priesthood blessing their family has
experienced. It felt like a very sacred
time during our visit and the blessing. They love to sing. It’s amazing that their young daughters have
several hymns of the Church memorized.
They have marked in their hymn books, many of their favorite hymns. Georgette loves the hymns!
Even though it is difficult to communicate with our voices,
we all know the effects of a hug, a smile, a song and a prayer.
We hope all is well.
Once again we thank you for your prayers. What they said in a couple of the conference
talks about the saints in Africa is so true.
Of course they give the positive stories of their faith and
commitment. The downside to culture in
Africa, is that the wicked traditions of the fathers are slow to disappear,
such as requiring dotes before marriage.
But we know that we have a Father in Heaven who is patient. We are grateful he is patient with our
faults, too.
We love you all.
Elder and Sister Wheatley
