The joy of the Lord is our strength!

President Joseph Mavoungou and his wife Victorine with Pastor and Missionary Fred Reinhardt. Fred has been an outstanding translator for our team during all of our days in the Congo. We learn from his missions heart and desire to see the church in French-speaking Africa be strengthened and encouraged.

The young women's choir sings praises to our awesome God during Sunday morning worship

Reading God's Word at the Sunday worship service at St. Augustine Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brazzaville, the Republic of the Congo

Friday evening was spent with our sisters and brothers in Christ at Rock of Horeb Mission Parish. The welcome greeting was absolutely remarkable! We visited this parish in 2011 and have not had the opportunity to return since. The joy of the Lord was in that place! We were so honored to be with them and encourage them to remain steadfast in their following of Jesus.

We had the honor of spending Friday afternoon with some of the pastors and church officers of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Congo. Here we are with National Church Secretary Pastor Jean Pierre Nkara, a dear brother in the Lord. Some of the topics included a Bible study from the Book of Ephesians and evangelism and faith sharing ideas. We were privileged to distribute evangelism resources and children's picture Bibles to them. Thank you for all of your prayers and monetary donations that allowed us to bring these resources!

The traditional wedding of President Mavoungou's daughter, Emmanuelle, and her new husband Delfort--read below for Scott's description about the ceremony

This afternoon we attended the traditional wedding of Papa’s daughter Emanuelle and Delfort at his sister’s house.  What a blessed event to share in!  I would guess that almost 200 were in attendance.  Though a mixture of French and Lingala were spoken, we could still follow… and what an event it was!  The ceremony consisted of acting out a number of traditions, with two dueling emcees (one representing each side of the family) hamming up village traditions.  First, a “taxi” was called (one of the girls pretending to be a car) to go fetch the bride—with all sorts of hijinks about police delays, getting the wrong person, needing extra money, etc.  When she arrives, she “searches” for her husband, hidden in the crowd.  Then, about four or five rounds of gifts are brought forth, dowry and “thanks”, which consisted of cases of soda and other beverages, and ending with all sorts of housewares and food and animals.  After this was completed, Emanuelle brought Papa a beverage representative of her fiance’s village (Fanta grenadine…. Clearly not accurate!).  She said a small monologue, offering it to her father for him to drink with the implication being that if he trusted enough to drink what she brought, he acceded to the marriage; he did.  What a joyful time it was!  And I even got to see my dear sister, Mama Chantal, again!!!  Truly, my heart was bursting with joy--- what a close friend she became after our 2011 “roadtrip” portion.

     One last bit that I had wanted to mention was the delight which shines forth during all of the kids activities that Matthew has arranged.  They love being a part of acting out God’s word, doing crafts, and playing with balloons and the parachute.  Matthew was so good as to “give” his “Making Melodies” song to Papa to lead, who then translated it into Lingala.  How wonderfully it was received by all the kids and the parishioners to see the president of the national church leading them in silliness, showing that he is a humble servant, willing to be low.