Kifoliating in Kikongo and The Storm!

Alright, so this is a general update of what i have done so far so this may be long. If you don't want to read the whole thing then i won't be offended because i won't know.

It all started back on Wednesday at 5:30 am. My family woke up and we got ready to go because we were on our way to our adventurous spring break trip. It was my parents spring break and they wanted to go somewhere...anywhere. Their friends and neighbors, the Lowerys offered to have them and others come with them to Kikongo, a small village 45 min. flying east of Kinshasa (where I am). The Lowery family has a house there because Mike and Jill work there and the family use to live there until they moved to TASOK. So, my parents and i, Todd and Shannon Stone, The Lowery family with their two kids, Matt and Hannah, the Gorenflo family (i am not sure how to spell their name) with their three young daughter (Sarah, Christiana, and Rachel), Ms. Sara Ewbank, and the Shepard family with three of their eight children (Evangeline, Sarah, Theo but their other children are older and don't live here) all flew into Kikongo on two different flights. My flight was the early bird flight with Mr. Gorenflo as our pilot and the second flight coming two hours later (Mr. Gorenflo flew back, picked them up, and then came back to Kikongo.) So, in the end, there were 21 people there on Wednesday. We started our adventure at the Lowery's house just hanging out and then preparing for an ultimate hike. I put on my swimming suit and we hiked about 5 minute down a narrow path to the river we affectionately call Uncle Wamba. todd, Shannon, Sarah Shepard, Eva Shepard and I all played Frisbee and created an entire company with the amazing "sugar" sand that we found on the bottom of Uncle Wamba. We named our company, which would provide sand for skin exfoliation, Kifoliating and the actual process would be called kikoning. We rode in a narrow canoe that I later learned how to drive (sort of but i ain't any good at it) up the river to the other side. From there we hiked deep into the middle of congo to a river and waterfall that very few have ever been. Amazing how I can actually say i have been to places that few have been or done things that no one has done. The water to the africans near Kikongo is evil so they do not go in the water. On our way back Eva, Todd, Walt Shepard, my dad and I were the first people to swim across Uncle Wamba. Everyone floated down the river back to the sand bank we claimed as our own.

The next day, 11 of the people left and all that was left was my family, Sara Ewbank, Todd and Shannon, Jill and Matt Lowery, and Sarah and Eva Shepard. It was a day filled with learning to canoe, swimming with Uncle Wamba and getting extremely sun burned! Many card games were played at night and the food was great. We also had camp fires, singing, and stories.

Friday we took a nice tour of Kikongo, Mitedi (a neighboring village) and the hospital in Kikongo. All of it was an amazing experience that very few get to see. We walked through an actual African village. Children surrounded my dad as he marched through Mitedi. There were drums being played and we walked over to watch. All of the kids began to do their dancing and it was amazing to see. One of the kids was doing the chief's dance and all the others were clapping and jumping in unison around the drums that two boys were playing in the sand. We got pictures (which we can't get in Kinshasa since it isn't allowed) and it is hard to explain, like much of my trip in Africa so far. We again began to walk back through the village and the kids would try to hold your hand. Most would only grab a finger or two and as many kids as possible would try to hold your hand. most of the kids tried to grab your entire hand and be selfish. Strange that I felt more honored by these children than i probably ever have in my life. One boy would hold my entire hand and others would try to grab my hand. He would swat them away but i scolded him and wanted the other kids to hold my hand. Just a crazy experience. The hospital was in horrible conditions but i could describe that.

The rest of my trip was games and more of Uncle Wamba. A small rain storm with a little lightening, keeping us from joining Uncle Wamba. More cards, a great game of spoons, eating and just hanging out talking, stories, fires, and fellowship. Tough to describe but a great trip. We left on Saturday and flew back in the afternoon.

Easter Sunday was an early 5:30 am service where we sat watching the sun rise over the Congo river. An amazing experience with beautiful acapella singing. One of the songs was in French and it was beautiful. We later all said "He is risen indeed" and Pastor Walt Shepard had people say it in different languages. Amazing to hear a statement of rejoicing in so many different languages. God truly is a universal God. Sunday night brought about a lot of just relaxing and reading. I finished my book "Monster" last night but we were interrupted with no power and an amazing storm. Honestly this storm was the biggest storm anyone in my family has ever seen. More lightening and thunder than i have ever seen or heard in my entire life combined. There were times where I jumped because of the crack of the thunder not even a second after the HUGE flash of four or five bolts of lightening seen. It was constant lightening somewhere in the sky. It looked like a battle was in the near distance and constant flashing and rolling thunder that shook our entire house. Just an amazing experience.

As I write these experience, I realize how 1. hard it is to share with others because most of my trip is indescribable, no matter how much i try to describe it to you, i never will. 2. God is simply amazing in ALL aspect and in EVERY country. He is risen, He is risen indeed. Though at times it is easy to wonder and ask what God is actually doing in Congo or where God is. The people are so poor and needy. So much heart ache here. Driving down the down town I saw bullet holes from the week before in buildings. I see gunned police and special forces all over. Things I would never see in the states. Just amazing to still know and NEEDING to TRUST that God is in control can be hard here. He has a plan and in the end HE comes out on top but it isn't always easy to trust him or see him in everything. God is good but trust me, though i was not challenged with trusting that he is always good in the states much, I am challenged here to understand that he even has these people in his hands and had them on his mind when he was on that Cross. All i can say here is that I Trust Him when he says he is good and He is risen, He is risen indeed!