Kenya and Tanzania

Sometimes we find out amazing things about our missionaries when we go on a mission tour. We have about 900 young missionaries in our area. This past week we were in Kenya and Tanzania. There are about 60-70 missionaries in these 2 countries with about 60 -70% being black. They come from all over Africa to serve as well as from Canada and the states. There was one missionary that is worth talking about.

He was from the DR Congo, in fact, from Kanaga. This is a city of about 2 million people. There is not a hotel there and this is the one place I did not go with Dad to visit a couple of years ago. He stayed in a brewery because there weren't any hotels. Some days he had water to shower and some days he didn't. They took there own food for survival....peanut butter, canned tuna, etc. It is very primitive, but even without full time missionaries the church is growing by leaps and bounds because of the efforts of the members.

This wonderful elder from Kanaga was told by his parents that he shouldn't go on a mission because he was too shy. His mother told him he would never be able to talk to anyone, let alone teach. Besides he only spoke French and was going to an English speaking mission. When we met him he was about 16 months into his mission. He was the zone leader of the 10 missionaries in Tanzania. This is a plane ride away from the mission office, so you know he was trusted with the leadership by his mission president because he was far from the office. Miracles happened with him. Within one month he was fluent in English. We know that the Africans are very talented with languages, but this was extra fast and then he was sent to Tanzania where they speak mostly Swahili and within a month he was fluent in that language. His shyness is GONE. He conducted the meeting; he mixed with the missionaries with gusto and with us also. He also decided he wanted to learn to play the piano. They don't have anyone who can play in Kanaga (in fact, they don't even have a piano in that district, but he wanted to play). He went to distribution and bought the "how to" program the church puts out. He asked the local branch president if he could borrow a keyboard from the church and he TAUGHT HIMSELF. He played for the meeting....not with one finger, but with both hands.
We are going to see that they have a piano by the time he returns home in August or September for the branch there in Kanaga so he can continue and so the people for the first time in Kanaga can sing with a piano. His parents won't know him. His life has changed forever in many ways. He talks to everyone, he teaches, he leads, he speaks 2 new languages, and he plays the piano. He says that they won't know him when he goes home. You would love him. I talked to him for about 15 minutes after the meetings and just loved every minute of the dialogue. He was not boastful, but humble, but yet full of life and animation. I had to really prod him to get him to talk, and the more he talked about his life and what he has accomplished in the past few months, the more I knew I was seeing a miracle. He knows it too and gives credit to the Highest.