Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

I was up with Matteus last night from 2:00-3:00 so am a little more tired today, and hope to get a good night's rest as I need to wake up at 4:30 a.m. tomorrow (Tuesday) to make it for the first flight out from Kinshasa to Lumbumbashi. I have been very blessed to be with wonderful believers here (and for Matteus at the Greenes, the land of legos, little green soldiers, and lots of fun), but am very much looking forward to being back with Didier in the cheaper, safer, and smaller community of Lubumbashi, the land where people speak Matteus' language (and at least Didier my constant companion speaks mine).



Praise the Lord for providing a reliable driver for me today from a missionary referral. We spent a number of hours in a motor-car, which made Matteus very happy. His brother I'm sure will be happy to show him around the inside of our motor-cars in our garage in the U.S.

Didier told me when you drive around Kinshasa you will see things you've never seen before. He's right. I saw some pools of water that were so deep from the rain last night that I couldn't believe my driver made it through without stalling. I saw a man urinating facing the road (in the Philippines at least they face away from the rood on the wall!) I saw someone selling passports from the black market, I presume. I saw some of the worst traffic jams ever. I saw men in expensive looking suits walking on muddy roads, since even in the capitol many roads are not paved and many people have to walk to the place where they take public transportation.


First stop with my driver: CAA Airlines to check in my big bag which you have to do at a very inconvenient location across town the day before. They check your luggage and then you begin wrapping it in duct tape until you can't see anything except the duct tape. How do you know it's your bag on the other end? You write your name and the destination in big letters on multiple places on the duct tape! I had an ominous feeling in my stomach each time I wrote "Philip Layton - Lubumbashi" ... but though it's a very unprofessional and unscientific tracking systerm I am prayerfully hoping somehow I will see my bag again sometime this week. Ethiopian Airlines is one of the best African airlines, I'm told, and CAA is undoubtedly one of the worst. The Embassy and some missions agencies don't let their people fly on it, but it is the only inter-country airline. On CAA on both take-off and landing the plane swerves on the runway, and when you land everyone claps as if it's an amazing thing (which it kind of is, with CAA :) At any rate, please pray for travel mercies, and especially that I will see my luggage on the other side.


Second strop with my driver: Jeffrey Travel Service. In Congo, even veteran missionaries that are fluent in the language hire a travel service to help them through immigration, baggage, hassles, etc., to boarding. It costs a minimum of $60 for them to help you get to and through the airport and on your flight ... things we take for granted in the U.S.


Third and final stop with driver: Embassy for Visa interview and I600 application for my son. Another American adopting mom was there and we had some good talks and she says her son she adopted from DRC last year was very similar to Matteus at this stage and he is now doing great in America (but still scared of guys in white lab coats :)


The interview went well as did Matteus, praise God, just a few questions on my file by a new American employee processing adoptions for the consul. The one hitch was there was an unexpected (previously unknown to me) charge of $720 on top of the $404 exact change for the I600, a new charge by embassy that wasn't in force our first adoption. I didn't have that kind of cash on me and in Congo, everywhere is cash only, and not having time to get a money wire and leaving Kinshasa tomorrow, I began to get worried. But they apologized they hadn't disclosed this to me and allowed me to use my VISA debit card. But then as they swiped it, it wasn't going through, and I feared our bank in the U.S. wasn't allowing international charges ... I said a little prayer, and God answered, and they ran it through!


Praise the Lord for all He has done today, and please pray that the embassy will have no problems with the investigation and be able to complete it as quickly as possible, so I can come home by next week. Praise the Lord also for a small parenting break-through with my son today, that I pray I will be able to continue to build upon. This afternoon I got him to stop crying without food and got him to go to bed just a little after 7:00 tonight! May not seem huge to you, but I would be doing cartwheels right now if I didn't have a hurt hamstring.



I got him to fall asleep earlier both yesterday and today humming "Great is Thy Faithulness" - the line that I have been meditating on especially speaks of "a peace that endureth" and God's "own dear presence to cheer and to guide" (both of which I have experienced in God's great faithfulness). The next line is equally my motto "strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow ..." God has been faithful to give just enough peace and strength needed each day, which gives bright hope for tomorrow, and I sing more from the heart than ever before, "All I have needed Thy hand has provided, great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto me"!