Dear family and friends:

Today is June 26, and we have been here in Kinshasa for six days. We wanted to wait to write our first letter from Congo our final destination—the city of Tshikasi in Occidental Kasai—but it looks like we will be here in Kinshasa for some time, and so we decided to write now.

We returned to Louisville in early May after a month-long wait in Cameroon, not knowing whether we would ever get to work in Congo. We were tired and lacked confidence that God did indeed want us to go and serve in Congo. We spent many hours in discussions with colleagues in Louisville and at Good Shepherd Hospital in Congo. We also spent many hours asking Him and listening to Him.

Shortly after our return to the States, we received the word that Tshikaji was very calm and people were anxiously waiting for us to come. We made plans to make another attempt to enter as soon as possible, before the situation in Congo changed and before our desire to serve in Congo diminished. Bags packed, tickets in hand, and the original visa still valid, we were ready to travel. We even managed to get physical check-ups while we were waiting. But then three days before our departure, Simon's lab results came back with strong indications diabetes. On doctor's orders, we unpacked our bags, canceled our plane reservations, and let the visas expire. When all the delays were happening due to others' actions or inaction, we felt frustrated and angry, but when the delay was due to myself, I felt shame, disappointment at myself, concern about becoming a burden to colleagues and to the church, and sorrow for disappointing Haejung. Haejung and everyone around us encouraged me with true compassion, without annoyance or an accusing attitude. Their care and concern allowed me to concentrate on the treatment rather than the newly "obtained" chronic disease. God used my own weakness to teach us the proper attitude towards those in need. How North American it is to place blame and responsibility upon those who are suffering! All the tests of vital organs came back normal and the glucose level came down rapidly with minimal medicine usage. Four weeks later, I received the doctor's permission to travel.

There is no postal service to and from Congo, so whoever travels to Congo hand-carries letters going to our partner churches and other missionaries. The volume for us to carry spoke loudly of our delays: they have been waiting a few months. Our arrival was absolutely uneventful. The Presbyterian Church of Congo had worked out all airport formalities in advance, so all we had to do was to sit in the VIP lounge and wait for our passports. Given all our travels, this was anti-climactic.

Our first week in Congo has been a period of training and being cared for. We are trying to cope with our very limited French, while everyone is trying to help us with their (in some cases) very limited English. All have been eager to help, perhaps because we are inadequate, and helping those in need is very satisfying. We feel like "beta version" missionaries. For those of you not familiar with computer software terminology, a beta version is a product that is not ready for release in the general market but deemed useful enough to be tested by real-world usage. God has put us in Kinshasa to be tested and trained in a real mission field, but where others can fix my mistakes and share their experiences with us. We met Pasteur Kim, from the Korean Presbyterian Church, who has had to learn and work single-handedly for the past nine years through several evacuations. His family has adopted us as older but innocent newcomers and has provided us with more Korean food than we had in Louisville, Kentucky.

Our original plan was to leave Kinshasa this weekend for Tshikaji. Well, we should have known by now that things don't work that way: Foreigners who live and work in the countryside need several documents. First we need to change the entry visa to a residency visa and then get a permit to travel to a mining zone, a work permit, and a residency certificate in Tshikaji. It will likely take four to six weeks, so we are staying at the church-run hostel, learning more about Congo and her people, trying to assist the Christian Medical Institute of the Kasai (IMCK) with its affairs in Kinshasa, and being tested as beta version missionaries. We are healthy and remain grateful for the opportunity God has given us. We know every difficulty we face now is to equip us for better service in the future.

Please pray that we would continue to grow in our trust in God, sharing Jesus's compassion, and for a deeper relationship with the people of Congo. If you would like to write us through snail mail (slow snail): c/o Doug Welch, 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, KY 40202.

Please send letters and cards only. The letters will be accumulated in the church office and hand-carried when someone travels to this country. If you have an urgent message, e-mail is best. We are attaching a short "how to" for sending messages to Congo.

Will write next month, hopefully from Tshikaji.

With grateful hearts,

Haejung & Simon

The 1999 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, page 33