There's a new baby in town!

Simplice, one of our four Hospitality Team members is now a momma!! She got married last year and found out she was pregnant a few months later. Her pregnancy has been a difficult one and the past two months or so she has mostly stayed at home because of doctor's orders. Simplice's baby was due at the end of June and we were really hoping she would give birth before we returned to the states so we could meet her baby. Two weeks ago she had malaria which is very dangerous for a pregnant woman and baby. Simplice went into early labor and at 2 AM on Monday, May 21st she gave birth to a healthy baby boy! She was only 7 1/2 months pregnant, but the baby is in good health and weighed close to 3 kilos (a little over 6 lbs). The baby's name is Samuel (after his grandfather, not Sam).

Sam, Hannah and I went to visit the new baby this morning. It was such a joy to see Simplice holding her new baby with that motherly glow on her face. So, I had to share some photos of the newest arrival.

It has been fun to help Simplice walk through her pregnancy and learn about the different practices in each other's culture. Michelle and I have had many conversations with Simplice about being pregnant and caring for a baby. We are so excited she now gets to experience motherhood! Congratulations to the new parents!

Installation Service

Yesterday was an important day for CECU (Congolese Free Church). In March, the CECU President and Vice President were re-elected for another four-year term. Yesterday was the instalation service and it was a big deal. There was even official fabric people could buy and wear for the service. So...we joined the club, bought the fabric, hired a tailor and wore our uniforms to the service.

Dressed in our official installation clothing

Even the babies matched

The service began around 9:30 AM with special choirs and ended around 3:15 PM! Michelle and Sarah left earlier with the babies but the rest of the team Ben, Karen and Rachel) stuck it out until the end. At least they got fed afterwards! Here are a few photos from the service...

Hannah and Great Aunt Rachel watching the special dancing

President Bosokpale and Vice President Badi in the processional

The President of ECC (oversees the protestant churches in Congo) came for the event

Bebe translating for Karen during the service

Pastoral line-up

Unexpected Reunion

On Thursday we traveled out to Karawa, another village, to visit some of the Global Fingerprints orphans with the team that is here from the States. We were all received with a huge welcome party and lots of food at almost every place we traveled.

While we were visiting one of the churches, I (Sarah) was surprised and pleased to see Elizabeth, one of the former Elikya Center students. Elizabeth was one of the sewing students in 2009 that we met when we came to Congo to study Lingala for 7 weeks. Michelle and I sat with the women while they sewed on most days and tried to use the Lingala we had learned to converse with them. Even though our Lingala was very broken at the time, we tried hard to build relationships with the women.

During that time, there were two women that we talked with the most...Elizabeth and Mama Lili. They were always willing to teach us new words and they were patient with us. When we came back to Congo in 2010, I couldn't remember which village Elizabeth and Lili lived in. I thought I would probably eventually run into them again. Just a few weeks ago I was thinking about these two women and came to the conclusion that I probably would not see them again because we were leaving Gemena in June and I didn't know where they lived. And then to my total surprise...there was Elizabeth right there at the church in Karawa! I was so excited to see her and she told me that Mama Lili would come the next day to see me. So, yesterday afternoon I sat with Mama Lili, Elizabeth and Elizabeth's 3-year-old daughter, Esther. Esther was only about a year old in 2009 when they were at the Elikya Center and I so enjoyed seeing her now as a little, chubby girl. Mama Lili and Elizabeth were excited to meet Hannah and I told them about Michelle's daughter, Soleil.

I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to see both of these women again. I thought of them often and had given up hope that I would ever see them again. God knew my desire to see them again and he allowed that to happen at just the righ time.

Elizabeth and Esther in 2009

Mama Lili (left) making soap in 2009

Reunited in Karawa 2012

Passing the Torch

Michelle is on her way (hopefully she has arrived already) to pick up the last short-term team we will host. But, this time around WE are not actually doing all the hosting. This is the Hospitality Team's first opportunity to do all of the hosting. Michelle is on her way to pick up the team, but Bebe is with her and will do all of the hard work. We will be around to observe and offer a hand when needed, but we are really "passing the torch" this time around.

While we were in Kenya, the Hospitaility Team initiated having a meeting together to create the schedule for this team and to talk about how they will move forward as a team when we are back in the States. It delighted us to hear that they did this on their own. We met with the CECU (local Free Church) President and Vice President along with the Hospitlaity Team to discuss the details for the short-term team's stay in Congo. The Hospitality Team led the meeting and everything went so smoothly.

We already know there will be some challenges for the Hospitality Team while they are hosting the next several days. Mandaba is attending a training in Kinshasa and will not return until a couple days before the short-term team goes home. Simplice is 8 months pregnant and her doctor wants her to stay at home because of some complications she has had. So, that leaves Benjamin and Bebe with the main hosting and translating responsibilities. Simplice and Mandaba were still able to help with some of the preparations, but will not be hands-on. So...please pray for Benjamin and Bebe as they jump into their work. Sam, Aaron, Michelle and I will be available to help them when needed since they are "short-staffed".

Luckily this is a small team and they are all ReachGlobal staff members. They are just three people coming for the same purpose which will make hosting them much easier than teams we have hosted previously.

ReachGlobal Africa Conference

We left Gemena on April 19th to attend the ReachGlobal Africa conference in Nairobi, Kenya. It took us a truck trip, a plane ride and a couple extra days staying in guest houses to get us there...but we made it. And, we are so grateful that we went.

We arrived in Nairobi three days before the conference began because of the limited flights from Bangui to Nairobi. But, we decided to use those extra days for a mini family reunion. Sam's dad, Jim, came a few days early from the States. Sam's older brother, Ben, and his wife, Lauren, who live and work in Tanzania also came to Nairobi a few days early. Ben and Lauren had not met Hannah yet and we had so much fun introducing them. We stayed in a beautiful guest house in Nairobi for three nights, went out to eat at nice restaurants, visited shopping malls, went to a movie in an actual movie theater and soaked up all the family time we had together.

The yard at the guest house in Nairobi

Half of the Snyder family

Then we headed up to Brackenhurst, a Christian retreat center outside of Nairobi, to attend the 6-day ReachGlobal Africa conference. Last year we were not sure if we would be able to attend this conference because of the amount of financial support we had at the time. We are so grateful that we had enough money in our account to attend the conference. We were extremely blessed during our time in Kenya. The conference had over 100 attendees who were ReachGlobal missionaries working in Africa, some of the US ReachGlobal staff and many of the African leaders who partner with ReachGlobal in various ministries. A pastor, worship team and prayer team from the States also came to lead us in coorporate worship and offer prayer ministry. It was so refreshing to fellowship with so many different people and to experience times of coorporate worship in English again.

All the conference attendees

We attended several workshops and were able to reconnect with many people who helped us come to Congo in the first place. Hannah had her first experience in childcare and, to be honest,  she had mixed feelings about it. But she was so well-taken care of by a mother-daughter team who came from the US for the sole purpose of caring for our babies. We were blessed by their care and all of the special things they did with Hannah and the other babies.

Kenya is a beautiful country and it was rainy season during our stay. It was actually cold! We were delighted to bundle up in sweatshirts and fleece jackets. It was so refreshing after spending almost two years in constant heat. It was amazing to see the differences culturally and developmentally between Kenya and DR Congo. Both countries are in Africa, but they seem worlds apart. We are happy we got to experience a different side of Africa.

View from one of the hills at Brakenhurst

After another plane ride, a few days in transit at a guest house and another truck trip, we are finally back home in Gemena. And now we have less than 2 months in Congo before we come home. This time away was a great refresher for us and for the Larsens. We felt that God used this time away to refresh our hearts and speak to each family about the things to come.

It was so fun to watch Hannah experience all the wide open space and see her interact with so many people. Here are a few shots to show you some of what she experienced as well.

A big yard for crawling around at Brakenhurst

First bite of lemon

She LOVED the swings!