Week #1 in Pointe Noire

     We finally made it to Pointe Noire, Republic of the Congo on Wednesday January 8, 2014 at 8:10 A.M.  The Bybee's were there to meet us at the Airport, and we have been so grateful for their pioneering the way for the last 2 1/2 months in preparation for us to come.

Brother & Sister Bybee from Springville,  Utah

The Airport is only 5 minutes away from our home which will be wonderful when we have to transport missionaries to and from the mission.  We then made our way to our home away from home for the next 18 months and met our guardians, Patrice (who is our day guardian) and Annicet (who is our night guardian. 

Annicet and Patrice

The Bybee's had 5 days to teach us the "ropes" and they left yesterday Jan. 13, to head back to Kinshasa to do what they were called to do as Public Affairs Missionaries in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.  We will miss them dearly.

They helped us learn where to buy fruit, bread, groceries, and household supplies, as well as how to handle all the financial and everyday workings of running a mission here in Pointe Noire.   They also helped us as we attended our first church meetings on Sunday.  

We have 3 Branches in Pointe Noire...

The first Branch is the Pointe Noire Branch.  President Sombo is the Branch President and we have Elders Morin and Johnson who serve there.Then we have the Mpaka Branch with President Dekous as President and Elders Baker and VanAusdal, and Garland and Brockbank serving in that area.  And last we have the Aeorport Branch, with President Caillet as President, with Elders Lundberg and Hatch in that area.  We love our missionaries already, and have had one zone meeting and 2 District meetings.  While attending the District Meetings I told them if they cleaned their apartment I would make them cookies.  Their cleaning has a lot to be desired, but we will work on that.

Back: Elders VanAusdal,Brockbank,Lundberg & Hatch.
Front: Elders Baker, Morin, Garland & Johnson.



This is a picture of the Aeorport and Mpaka Branches.  The land was purchased in 1995 to build a beautiful new church for the Saints to worship in.  We had a wonderful meeting where we bore our testimonies and met many members of the church.

Elder Bailey opening the doors of the church.

We enjoyed getting to meet the members and bearing our testimonies in French.  They were short and sweet, but heartfelt.