Elder Moon has always loved to run and traveling to Luputa was no exception. I would only let him run around the field in front of our room. Even in the early morning there were people out and about. They gave him some very curious stares as he ran around! Some of the kids would try to imitate him for a few steps but would always stop.

This is the Nakale family. Oh how we love them! We had the wonderful opportunity to teach them the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's an opportunity that most office couples never get. They moved to Kinshasa from Namibia and don't speak French so we were asked to teach them in English. They were all baptized the same day. The youngest, David is almost hidden. We were thrilled when Eustache who works in the office with us and Mamie had their third child and we got to go see little Johan. How exciting to hold a newborn! We are grateful that all went well and both mother and child are strong and healthy.

This is the Nakale family on the day of their baptism. Bombyck on the far left is the Ward Mission leader and came with us to all our appointments. The sisters in front were at many of the lessons also.

Elder Moon also had the privilege of baptising these two cute brothers from our ward.

This little girl is sitting by piles of charcoal that she is selling. Most people cook with charcoal that is simply made by burning wood. Many people will only by enough for the day because if they buy a big bag of it, their neighbors and friends will see how much they have and will take some home for themselves.

If you look beyond the woman carrying the load on her head, you can see many homes of a village off in the distance. This is a beautiful country!

Most villages we drove past, the people would come running, waving and welcoming us.

The roads are narrow and our driver would constantly be beeping his horn to let people know we were coming through. People would leap off the road and into the bush.

Notice this woman is carrying a long branch or trunk of a tree on her head. I'm sure she will burn it and turn it into charcoal.

One of our favorite parts of traveling is meeting the children. These two little buddies walked with arms around each other.
Elder Moon would turn the monitor of the video camera around while he was recording so the children could see themselves. They loved it!

These three kids were standing in the bush just watching us.

OK. This is the man I talked about in a previous post. He was doing a water dance at the water project. He was quite the character and perhaps alittle too suggestive for me to watch!

Another shot of the soap factory at the monastery. It was really something to watch the process they used.

This is a soap factory at the monastery that we stay at. The young man is pounding the soap into a mold.

This is the way most people iron here in the DR Congo. The iron is filled with charcoal. You can see the orange glow through the hole on the bottom right.

This girl ironed for hours late one night. Once in a while she would wave the iron around to distribute the heat.

This picture reallly belongs below with the water project pictures but we thought it was a cool picture!

We did hike through some pretty muddy terrain but what beautiful country!

Marie José is on the left pointing to the table of food. She is also shown holding a picture of the Barlows who served as the Humanitarian Directors for the DR Congo Kinshasa Mission. She has a great love for them and they for her. Sister Barlow and Marie José are like kindred spirits. The Barlows finished their mission in October. Elder and Sister Bailey have been here temporarily but leave to go home on the 19th of March. We are excited to meet Elder and Sister Moody who will be arriving next weekend to serve as the new Humanitarian Directors.

These pictures were taken at Marie José's orphanage and Center for Malnourished children. She is an amazing woman who is really trying to make a difference in the world. She is head of Maternity at the Hospital in Luputa and then runs her own clinic and orphanage. She has the biggest heart! She has rallied the neighborhood surrounding her orphanage to help out. The children eat their meals at the orphanage but play and sleep in "homes" around the neighborhood. A man rides around on a bike with a loud speaker and horn to announce when meals are being served. She only houses the very sickest and weakest of the children. People from as far away as Mbjui Mayi, which is a far bigger city than the village of Luputa, have started bringing malnourished children to her for the great care she gives.

Feeding time at the orphanage.

The church is also working on a Cassava project. They are partnered with IITA who is experimenting with different disease resistant varieties. Here you can see one of the healthy new varieties and also a diseased variety they have grown for years. In one part of the field, they have 42 rows that have two rows each of twenty-one different varieties to see which ones will grow best in these conditions.

This is Nestor who is the site moniter for the Cassava project. I think he has a degree in agriculture.

I don't know the man's name from IITA on the left, but next is Nestor, President Livingstone, President Binene and Elder Moon.