Coopers in the Congo: A Peaceful March

March 2019

March is coming to a close soon and we are still in the USA! Spring is on the way here in

the mountains. Daffodils are coming up and the trees are blooming. Many of you have been asking. We are prolonging our stay here this spring for various reasons and due to the Ebola situation in DRC. We read the most hopeful report this last week with fewer new cases over the past 5 weeks, compared to earlier in the outbreak. There are no new cases in 10/20 health zones affected during the outbreak, of which Nyankunde is one of them. Just when things seemed to be looking up, there was a 6mo baby diagnosed with Ebola in Bunia, an hour from us. Babies always get this disease from an adult so there for sure will be others.

We are enjoying our furlough and getting lots done around the house. It is a blessing to be able to focus on friends and family, enjoy the outdoors, and all the freedoms that we have in the USA. I wake up every day thankful to not worry about fevers, possible isolation/quarantine and malaria. There is a peace in knowing this. Emmanuel has been able to attend preschool with his peers and seems very well adjusted. He calls his friends at school “his kids.” This may be related to the fact that he calls his nanny “My Ziga,” when here name is Maziga. We are thankful to see him advancing in English immersion through this local preschool. He is getting to know his grandparents much better. He taps his feet to bluegrass music and says that he lives on Buck Mountain, but is quick to say that he is going back to Congo. It is a beautiful thing to hear him fondly talking about his friends on both sides of the ocean.

Planting flowers together

We are truly "tucked away" in the woods. There are a lot of fun backwoods trails around here, great for exploring with an all-terrain vehicle. It is funny how a destination can be only 4miles away, but it takes 45 minutes to travel there. We are discovering the area and finally sorting out the peaks visible from our front deck. Emmanuel is learning how to fish. He hasn’t caught anything yet, but he casting and seeing the fish up close. There are so many things to learn outside at this age.

Emmanuel and all of his schoolmates and teachers

We just returned from a trip to Thailand where we enjoyed medical conferences, meeting new people, and reuniting with friends practicing medicine throughout the world. We scouted out the night markets. There is fresh juice on every corner. Coconut juices come in coconuts, not in cans! We love coconut! It is hard to get a bad meal in Thailand! Thailand is a funny merging to modern and traditional cultures, very colorful and exotic. The gardens are absolutely exquisite!

We were able to visit two national parks just outside of the city where we were staying, with beautiful vistas. Unfortunately, Thailand has huge problems with air pollution so due to smog we were not able to see as much as we were hoping to. It is the burning season so the air quality is particularly poor. Emmanuel and I had a fish exfoliation treatment in a local spa. You submerge your feet and allow little fish to remove dead skin. It sounds kind of gross, but it is fairly common in this area so we had to try it. Overall it was wonderful to learn new things and get up to date on medical practice. Emmanuel met lots of new friends and loved his teachers. What a highlight!

We have felt blessed to live in a home and have a stable stay in the US. We have had the time to re-connect with old friends and make new ones. Our church here has been very supportive and kind to us, loaning us a vehicle, and intentionally coming alongside us. We have had time to go exploring and enjoy being together as a family. It seems like there is always a new project, something to be fixed or improved. It has been a season of peace and discernment.

Thanks for keeping up with us. We seem to write more often from overseas. We would love to see you in person. Keep praying for security and abatement of fear that keeps Ebola going. Pray for the continued ministry and work of Nyankunde Hospital to provide for the medical and spiritual needs of people in the area. Our hearts are very much with our friends and colleagues in eastern Congo.

-Pray for Emmanuel’s educational growth and feeling well adjusted here in the USA.

-Pray for God’s blessing of our family.

-Pray for the completion of the hospital chapel. It is being completely transformed and it is wonderful to see this in pictures.

Blessings,

Lindsey for the Coopers