Dear Friends,

It has not been quite a month yet since we wrote to you. Hope you don't mind getting another message from us this soon. Every month, after we write our report we start keeping a list of things for the next month. This month our notes grew quite fast, so rather than waiting until the end of the month, we want to make it this weekend’s project.

Update:

We talked to you about being called to a higher service.

Weak cool-aid, too weak to know which flavor, was served as communion wine. All the ladies cover their heads when they come to church. The well dressed lady who sat in front of us had on a colorful vinyl shower cap. Simon served as a general maintenance man for all administrative equipment.

What we do on weekends:

Since there is no TV or newspaper, we create our own entertainment. We roast peanuts, bake two loaves of bread, clean out water filters, defrost refrigerator (remember that kind?)and take malaria prophylaxis. Twice a week we sweep floors to get rid of all dead bugs.

Getting settled in:

We have been here long enough for the excitement and novelty to wear off, but not long enough to appreciate local culture and relationships, in a limbo state. We are not surprised to see babies being breast fed in public, but still mildly embarrassed. At the end of the day, we are quite tired for having survived a day in an unfamiliar environment.

Dr. Mvita’s family who live across the street from us prepared a feast of local cuisine for us. Since it was too much for two of us, we invited them to eat with us at our home. They were special dishes that they could not afford to prepare for themselves. We were so glad that we had the wisdom to share.... Dried eel, green vegetables and caterpillars, pigeon, manioc, and a few mystery dishes. Haejung picked around and went through the motion of eating, while Simon had to bear the burden of actually consuming generous portions. The evening meal was followed by a few cups of very strong coffee.

Maintenance:

On Monday of this week, Simon had to perform an emergency maintenance work on the Gestetner duplicating machine at the hospital. No maintenance or cleaning for three years, it is a miracle it stood up that long. It turned out we had to disassemble many internal parts and clean them well. It works now. That experience got us wondering "What about the maintenance of our heads (professional knowledge) and hearts(faith and spirit)?" What would our faith and relationship with God be like, if we put it into to heavy duty use for three years without regular maintenance? Many of our friends tell us that they envy the strength of our faith and spirit filled life. We try to gain strength from the encouraging comments and letters. The truth is, our daily work is not really spiritually fulfilling. Request for fuel, authority to spend money, request to fix broken machines, worrying about salary payments, people at the door wanting to sell us things, people with hardship needing help, the list goes on. We do not have a large enough English speaking community to have proper worship and support each other in our spiritual health, our Tshiluba knows four words, and French worship is not readily available and difficult to understand.

When we made decisions to enter into missionary service and to come to Congo, it was a commitment of faith, and we look to God at times of difficulty, but we do need regular maintenance of our faith life. Sometimes, it gets very lonely emotionally and spiritually. We are

determined to cry out to our Lord, to have mercy on us and fill us with His spirit. We started our weekly prayer meeting and bible study, just two families. We will pray for our children, our obedience to Him and His ministry at Hopital du Bon Berger. Pray for us, especially for our

spiritual nourishment, without which our work here is only a very difficult job. It may be disappointing to hear that our life is not always filled with joy and victory, but then we wouldn't need Him, would we?

Many of you also asked about Simon’s diabetic condition. The glucose level is mostly within the doctor prescribed range. What we do not know is whether Simon’s glucose level is really under control, or Simon has been careful as to when to examine his blood sugar. By avoiding peak times, he can record good results. Out of guilt once in a while, he measures at a time he knows it will be high. We wonder whether this is similar to our desire to pick and choose the time and place to meet our God and savior, when our life would look half-way decent. In the past, we probably have written to you only about the sunny side of missionary work. In the future we will try to be more truthful and more complete.

We have not sent you much economic news, so we will send you our shopping list and prices. We were told that we might experience some food shortages, so we bought a few items. Some are very cheap, some similar to the States, some outrageously expensive. (Average salary for fully employed is about $50 per month).

Shopping list: Note what we buy and what we do not (not available)

Green vegetables: Chinese cabbage, Zucchini, Cucumber
Garden Compost: $1 for 2 cubic feet
Gardener: $40 per month plus benefits
Harvest: Simon & Haejung
Garden tools: Wheelbarrow $120, Shovel $10, Coup Coup $2, Machete $3,
Water hose: Borrowed
Fruits: Mango $.04, Banana $.03, Pineapple: $.40, Papaya: Back yard, Avocado, $.08
Meat: red meat-Not available unless one is fond of goat meats. We buy canned corned beef and on special occasions bring out a can of spam.
Fish: We bought a large fish with white meat for $14. We buy canned sardines in tomato sauce
Chicken: whole live one $10
Goat: Adult (live) $65 (vegetarian diet is not too bad!)
Staples: Rice-10 lbs $11, Flour-110 lbs $35, Table salt-one pound $3 (yes $3), Sugar:-11lbs $4
Powdered milk:-4 lbs $11
Dairy food: Cheese-gouda $5/lb if purchased in Kinshasa (7/99)
Fuel: Diesel $4.30 per gallon, Gasoline $6.45 gallon, Methane gas $150 per 40lbs if one can find it (we use it for stir fry only). Personal use of hospital vehicle $0.40 per km/$.64 per mile

REQUEST:

Anyone has about two hundred umbrellas you would like to donate? Imagine, your organization's name being displayed all over Central Congo! We are into our rainy season. Fortunately it does not rain in the mornings, but when it does the workers do not come to work until the rain stops, each having their own definition of when it stops. Last week the workers’ commuting truck did not come in until 10:30, three hours late. All because of want of umbrellas. We will take all types, even Coors and Budweiser promotional ones. You will need to ship them to Baltimore Maryland, but we will arrange for shipping from there. If you have some laying around, please...

So goes another report. John finished his trip to Thailand, and was excited to come to Zambia this month until the Jesus Film project decided that it is too dangerous to work in Congo at this time. He looks forward to a trip to Kenya next month. Unfortunately, for us to travel to neighboring Kenya is more expensive and difficult than a trip to the States, so we will not be able to see John when he is in Kenya. Kevin is in Toronto, working hard on his school work, we pray.

Until next month, God’s blessings to you all.

Haejung and Simon Park

(If you e-mail us, please don't send attachments. We have to pay by the byte.)

The 1999 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 33