A significant birthday celebration in July!

We left Katoka on the 28th June for a shopping trip and to meet up with 2 friends of Sandy's who will be with us for a month DV and also to celebrate my 70th birthday. Never in all my imaginings do I quess what kind of a celebration it would turn out to be....the biggest surprise of all which had been a carefully guarded secret for several months was to find my sister and brother in law Annie and Tony already in Lbshi and at Rest a while when we arrived in on the Tuesday late afternoon....it was just amazing and I was literally speechless !

Rachel and Ian between them had made an amazing programme and it was wonderful. First of all the 30th June was the 50yrs celebration of Independance so they had arranged a BBQ for that and to say Good bye to a missionary family Sandra and Eric with their 2 children.

Some missionary colleaques were not free for the atual birthday the 5th July so partying started on the Saturday with an absolutely hilarious visit to the zoo. Photos of this event to follow because you had to pay for each camera to be used on the premises and therefore Ginny offered to be official photographer and to make some discs of the event. Saturday evening about 22 of us went to a restaurant called "The Bush Camp " and again it was a great surprise I had never been there before and we had a lovely time..the programme included a "drama" by the Missionary Drama Group...Rachel, Ian, Carol, Ginny, Annie, Tony, Sandy and Hanneka it was so funny..then a huge ice cream cake was brought in ...definitely delicious!

Monday morning started with the work people coming to sing Happy Birthday and then I had been told to be ready to go out at at 10.45 in my glad rags so off we went and this time it turned out to be a trip to the Karavia hotel for coffee. This was always the poshest hotel in town but it has been closed for a couple of years for refurbishment and only recently reopened....it has been beautifully done and we sat outside overlooking the swimming pool and the lake, it was fantastic. Just nearby is a place called La Plage or the Beach which is like an shopping arcade but very exclusive and has apparently been done by the Governor of the Province, again it is only recently opened so most of us had not yet been there, so it was fun to see the facilities before heading back to Rest a While for a lovely lunch to which the Legal Representative Papa Wahenga and his wife had been invited also Pastor Mazau and his wife who does so much for us all here in Lbshi.

A very memorable indeed unforgettable weekend .................

Photos:-

1 Legal Representative and his wife

2 Pastor Mazau and his wife

3 Bush Camp

4 La plage
5 3rd Birthday Cake !

6 Ian and Annie and Tony

7 Rest a while workers singing Happy Birthday

8 The Big Surprise Annie and Tony and Mary in Lubumbashi !

Bush Conference Katoka June 2010

This year the elders of our churches had invited 2 full time workers from Zambia to come to DRCongo to do the teaching at our bush conference. As the name suggests the confernce is held in the open air and this year was in a lovely shady area not far from Katoka itself. Stephen and Charles seen on the left of the picture arrived safely on motor bikes having had a very interesting 4 day trip to get to us !

Their teaching was challenging and their enthusiasm infectious and their inclusion of the children in thevarious sessions was much appreciated . The estimated numbers were for over 1200 but at least 500 of these were children and so it was appropriate that their last day was a children's rally with banners and balloons and a march past they caused quite a stir in the nearby village so it was great.

We are grateful to them both for coming and grateful to God for safety in travel and for blessing their time with us so abundantly.