How you can help

You can be a part of the UMC's missions to the DR Congo (Haute-Katanga Province and Mulungwishi) by:

• Donate to an Advance special:
• Mulungwishi Theological Seminary Scholarships, #05773A
• Mulungwishi Women's School, #08112A
• Katanga Methodist University Professors' Salaries, #14432A
• Katanga Methodist University Program, #14433A
• Send a donation for the Mulungwishi Ministry 2007 calendar.
• Pray. See the Mulungwishi Ministry 2007 calendar for suggested prayers each month.
• Volunteer your time (Volunteers in Mission, church group mission trips to Mulungwishi, help get the word out at your church, etc.)

Cell phones drip with blood

The Democratic Republic of Congo is rich in the combination of minerals columbite and tantalite (Coltan for short), which are used in cell phone batteries. African journalist, Kofi Akosah-Sarpong has said, "Coltan in general terms is not helping the local people. In fact, it is the curse of the Congo." In addition to the chemicals being suspected of causing birth defects in families of Coltan mine workers, the mining has cause forest destruction. "Cell phones are tainted with the blood of 3.2 million deaths since 1998", reports an article by the World Rainforest Movement. [Thanks to Barbara Powers for passing this information to us.]

News roundup

Here are some of the Congo-related stories from December and January...

• Thousands homeless after floods
• Most of Congo Basin forests could disappear
• Getting Congo's wealth to its people
• Congo pygmies' problems
• National committee to standardize food quality
• Poaching devastates Congo's hippos
• Congo hippos face extinction
• "I have nowhere to go" (an 18-year old Congolese refugee)
• Capability to produce AIDS treatment sits idle in Congo

January: On the road again

We now find ourselves in California beginning our itineration in the Cal-Pac Annual Conference. It is hard to believe that our time here in the States is flying by so quickly. We arrived back in the States on August 26th after spending two weeks in Switzerland. Two churches had invited us to speak and we have so many friends in Switzerland who have been our colleagues in the work in Congo. It was a wonderful time of sharing. We were joined on the trip by Dan and Nancy Massimer of Canon City, CO. We have been long time friends and their church supports the work in Congo. September 6th saw us begin our itineration in the central and eastern parts of the United States. Our trusty blue Toyota van saw us safely through close to 12,000 miles in which we visited churches in Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma. All told, we made 104 presentations in 60 churches. Side trips included family visits in Kansas, Connecticut and Texas. We made a quick visit to be with Lynette (many of you know her through our e-mail connection) in the Washington DC area. We were in Atlanta for part of our medicals. Thanksgiving was held in Chicago with my Brother John, his wife, Dagmar, and other members of the family. It was our first Thanksgiving together without any of the parents present. It meant so much to be able to be together to enforce the family bonds we have. Christmas was held in Denver. Amber flew in from Seattle. Jeff’s parents came from Illinois and his brothers live her in Colorado. Michelle and Jeff have moved into their new town home in the Denver area. Andrew is still in our town home. It was good to have both families together to get to know each other better and to enjoy the season. We need to say that Christmas in Colorado this year was definitely white and we were snowed in twice. Because of responsibilities in Congo we are cutting our year of itineration in half. We are doing six months now and will be doing the next when we return this fall. Our plans are to return to Congo at the beginning of March. We covet your prayers for us as we continue to travel and share what God is doing at Mulungwishi.