Thoughts from Mom [and Jessica]

Things are quiet across the river. To give you a perspective on the closeness, there is only the Congo River separating Kinshasa (capital city of Democratic Republic of Congo) and Brazzaville (capital city of Republic of Congo). [Closest two capital cities in the world!] It was a sad situation. Jessica kept saying, "Why do they want to destroy their own city?" A fire burned all day yesterday because apparently the oil reserves were bombed and flames could be seen shooting skyward from a vantage point near SIL [about 4 miles from the scene].

Yesterday I did get to go into the prison here with a CMA missionary, who also lives here on the SIL compound. Got to do a couple of songs....I do love these Congolese people. [Brave woman. At this prison you get locked in with the inmates, and the guards take no responsibility for you! But she said the women welcomed them with smiles and hugs. They also went into the men's area to support the guy who was preaching. I wasn't allowed to go to the prison because I'm "too young and pretty" :o) Ha!]

Tonight Jessica and I are going to the French Cultural Center for a concert. A girl from Jessica's church is in it. Tomorrow night there's another concert in which many of Jessica's musician friends will be performing. So you see, life is not really too bad here, although we got caught in a huge windstorm while we were out today and came home with sand in our teeth & eyes (and everywhere else). But we did buy some wonderful material and took it to Jessica's tailor--who lives in a neighborhood that makes Ciudad Sandino (where Wilber lives) look like Nob Hill. She will construct an outfit that will make me look African! All right!!!! [For those who don't know, Wilber is my mom's "son" from Nicaragua. As for the outfit making her look African...we'll see :o) ]

Thank you, thank you, for your prayers. It was a scary couple of days, but it was good for this mom to see how Jessica's director stayed on top of the situation and kept a cool, but alert, head. ["Scary situation"? Yeah, Mom wasn't scared one bit. I was the nervous one!]

On Monday we will fly to Ouesso, where Jessica has heard that the homes of many were damaged or destroyed yesterday by a storm that came through. So please be in prayer for that trip. We will be returning on Friday to Brazzaville.