Well, we are back from Nebobongo. Nebobongo has become well known due to the work of Helen Roseveare who was a missionary doctor for many years including during the Simba rebellion in the 1960's. We ended up staying 6 days in the village which is about an hour and 15 minute flight (Cessna Caravan) northwest of Bunia. Our time there was a struggle and also very enjoyable. Looking back it was an incredible blessing and experience for us. There is a German missionary family living there, Bernd and Anni Lutz, with their 3 elementary aged children along with 4 short term (9 month) German missionaries. It was great to see how they are ministering to the community through girls clubs, bible studies, and prayer meetings. It greatly encouraged us in how we can reach out to the community we will be serving in someday in the future.The week was a challenging one for a number of reasons. One was that there not really much for us to do. We didn't speak the language to communicate with people and everyone else was busy going through their normal weekly routine. Although this was a struggle at times, it did allow us a lot of time to talk about what we had experienced with MAF, Africa and missionary life in general. It was great to "catch up" on all we had seen and done.
Another challenge was Caleb getting sick, as well as the majority of the Lutz family. Due to something we ate (the mushroom pasta sauce is currently suspect) there was a very fitful night of sickness followed by about 24 hours of almost continual sleep and slow re hydration. Finally early tuesday morning the fever broke and food began to look good again. We got to see first hand some of the challenges of living in such a remote place. There were no Sprites or Saltines to help with an upset stomach. We had to heat water on a kerosene burner for showers, fought off cockroaches, spiders, and tiny biting ants on the bed which found Emily very tasty (Caleb-not a bite).
The week did have some great joys as well. After Caleb had recovered, we were able to go with one of the short termers to the secondary school and join his english classes for the day. We told about our families, school, american life and then answered questions they had for the remainder of each class. It was a lot of fun to hear their questions ranging from the recent elections to marriage customs to US foreign policy and welfare system. They found great amusement at the fact that Caleb is only 23 and even more that Emily is older at 24!
The greatest joy was the friendliness of the people and the openness of the community. Most of the other places we have been, everyone has walls around their houses for security. In Nebo it was nice to walk down the paths and be able to wave at people in front of thier houses. Everyone would stop and greet us; we even had someone stop their bike, get off and shake our hands before continuing on his way. The few that did speak english would come by our house and talk with us and pray with us, which was a great encouragement to us. When the people heard that one of Caleb's flight instructors was Bill Kilgore, (who lived in Nebo at one point while they were in Africa) we became instant celebrities! It was really neat to see how much of an impact Bill and Jan and their family had made on the community and people in less than a year of living there. Bill and Jan - Nebo says Jambo sana! (and can you pay for their school bills :-)
Here are a few verses that ministered to us this last week and thought they would be encouraging to you as well:
"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called accorging to his purpose." Romans 8:28
"For we do not have a high priest (Christ) who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses..." Hebrews 4:15
"What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, not the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him." 1 Corinthians 2:9
"In him we have obtianed an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will." Ephesians 1:11
5 comments:
Hello Caleb & Emily:
Thanks for the great blog update. Sounds like you had a stretching time in Nebobongo. I remember reading about this area when I was 12 or 13 from a book called "Out of the Jaws of the Lion" which was the account of the Simba revolution in the mid 60's. We are continuing to pray for you. Glad you are feeling better Caleb. We will save some Saltines and Sprite for you! Thanks for your faithfulness!
John Smith
Emily,
Thank you for being a great testimony for the kingdom of God despite language barriers! We look forward to your return. Praying for sturdy constitutions for the rest of your stay!
Praying.
Dave and Beth
I'm glad to see your comments about Helen Roseveare. Just before your blog, I read this..."The scene is a small clearing in the north-eastern border o fhte mighty Iruri rainforest in Central Africa, just a couple of degrees north of the equator. The time, July 1962. ... Here in this small, almost unknown village, a hospital has grown up. The hospital staff seek to serve the surrounding population of almost half a million people living in thousands of scattered villages within a radius of five hundred miles. ... A mile long village borders the dirt-track road that runs from Isiro, the Government township fifty miles to the north, to Ibambi, the small commercial centre ten miles to the south. ... As for me, the doctor, Nebobongo is my life." (H. Roseveare, Living Holiness) Did it look anything like that when you were there?
Hi. Loved reading about your time in Nebobongo. I was born there in 1956 whilst my parents (Bill & Doris Derbyshire)were missionaries with WEC. Helen had recently arrived at the hospital and my claim to fame is that she oversaw my birth. Day was only 5'2'' so he became a missionary to the pygmies as it was thought his size wouldn't be a problem. We were mainly stationed at Wamba which is south of Nebobongo. Brian.
Sorry that last posting was supposed to say Dad not Day!
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