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When this blog was first started in 2008 - I was Bethany, going to work in the DR Congo, for a year... Or so. I didn't really know what I was doing (on the blog or in my future work!). I certainly didn't know what to expect from my time in Congo. And the last thing I expected, in coming here, was to meet the man of my dreams!

Fast forward four years - Noé and I are married and it's no longer just Bethany in the DR Congo. But it's Noé and Bethany doing life together... Right now we're in Congo. So we've created a new blog and will try to keep you updated and informed on life as it happens, here.

The blog is still being developed... But it's getting there. Being married and with lots of commitments at work - we haven't gotten it to the level we'd like, just yet. But it will get there! :) Eventually.

So if you want to know what's going on with Bethany, and with Noé - you will have to go to our blog to find out, we won't be updating here anymore.

Thanks and we hope you'll find us there!

love,

Noé and Bethany

noeandbethany.blogspot.com 

Changes to the blog...

Hello faithful friends and followers!

We have updated, with a lovely report full of photos (yay!).
But it's not here - it's on our new blog, noeandbethany.blogspot.com
So if you'd like to see the report - please click on this link!

With Love,
Bethany and Noé

Odd

A few weeks ago, we went to a civil wedding ceremony in Beni... Well, not only did we go, but Noé drove the new couple after they were married. I was his date :)

Anyway, during the very long ceremony... the "official" who married them, had a phone call. And he stopped talking and he answered the phone!

Here's a little proof :)
To protect his identity - we've blurred it a little... But you can still see the back of the groom's head, fairly clearly! And the official is hard to miss, on the left, with his hand to his ear (I promise he's holding a phone!) hehe

A few minutes later, he resumed his duties and married the couple... eventually. But we all heard his conversation - which, was weird. 

August Update

Hello dear friends,


If you follow the links below, you'll find some information from us, at last!

The first one is our recent report, here: August Update

As well as our prayer card, here: Prayer cards

Please check out the links to these documents above, read them, share them if want, and remember us in your prayers. We long for God's people to be united in prayer... Not just over us, but together in prayer in all things.

If we're united in prayer, then we'll see the power of the Lord moving in and through and for his people. 

And although students aren't in class right now, we've still been working the last month and a half. But we hope that for the next few weeks we'll be able to have a little time off... We'll still be online occasionally, just not as "regularly!" 

Thank you! 
With love,
Noé and Bethany

A World of Difference - Congo Initiative

This Congo Initiative update can be found in full, by clicking here!

A World of Difference

On a cool, overcast and breezy morning on July 28, students, faculty, staff, distinguished guests, family members and people from the wider community gathered to celebrate UCBC's second Commencement. Graduates were robed in their garments with stoles draped around their necks--down one side was printed "U.C.B.C." and down the other was the name of their academic discipline. The Commencement address was given by Daystar University's Vice-Chancellor Dr. Timothy Wachira. Special awards were presented by UCBC President ("Rector") Dr. David Kasali. The UCBC Welcome  Center was dedicated to the late Lyn Lusi, a courageous woman who dedicated her entire adult life to Congo, founded HEAL Africa with her husband, and served on the Board of CI-UCBC in Congo. 

So what's one more graduation? Honestly, we have them every year. Many of us have gone through them ourselves and sat through those of family and friends. Aside from the distinctly Congolese flair, in many ways this graduation looked a lot like other graduations. So what's the big deal?

The big deal is that the young men and women graduating from UCBC one month ago are not simply cogs in the machine. They did not graduate merely by satisfactory completion of assignments and rote memorization, which is the standard for Congolese universities. These graduates have not simply completed their studies, but they have been formed. They have been transformed. And now they will go out to transform. It will not happen overnight. It will not be easy. It will take years. Decades. Generations. But a new thing has begun and is flourishing at UCBC--the intentional, deliberate formation of leaders who are choosing peace, justice and hope for Congo--who take seriously the call to serve others. 

The big deal is that each graduate from UCBC represents another rupture in the cycle of poverty. Poverty that is not only physical, but mental. Circumstances may not change, but mindsets do. Value systems are formed that give new meaning to being fully human. Life, in all of its beauty and terror, is suddenly very different when seen through the lens of hope rather than despair. This is why a UCBC graduation makes all the difference in the world.  

UCBC Graduation 2012

Enjoy a few of our photos from this year's graduation ceremony!

Ready to leave home and go to the graduation ceremony

Students ready for the ceremony to begin!

On the way down to the ceremony - students were so happy!!

Family waiting for the graduates to arrive

Music with Mama Hulda as a prelude

Noé on the keyboard

The graduates getting closer to the stage!

Guitarists

Serious (or anxious?)graduates

Applied Science students waiting to receive their diplomas. 

The Rector and leaders handing out the diplomas

Graduates celebrating (during the ceremony) with friends and family

Lots of flowers, photos, and laughter!

Noé and Bethany - during the ceremony

A proud new graduate!

Young family members enjoying the celebration with a cold Coke!

Some of the new grads with President, Dr. David Kasali

A young son looking hungrily for the food - where is it?!

At the reception with  Noé's Mama

A great photo opp outside the Lyn Lusi Welcome Center at UCBC

Congratulations to all of the UCBC Graduates!! We are so proud of you! :) 

Campus Frenzy

It is two days before Graduation and the campus is in a frenzy. 

Most students have finished up exams. But a few have one this morning.

The library has been successfully and totally moved from the computer lab. We now have a library with book shelves holding hundreds of books, tables to study at and even a few couches and comfy chairs to read in. It’s a proper library.

Irene and Jerlas after presenting her final project (very well)!

Candidates for graduation have presented their final papers, publicly defended them, and are now awaiting results to find out if they will graduate on Saturday. (see photo on the right)

Visitors have been steadily arriving since Monday. Even more will come tomorrow.

The stage is getting set up, as are the tents for spectators to sit under during the graduation ceremony. Chairs and parking and decorations are all being prepared. The campus is changing before our eyes!

He occasionally uses a brush to "cut in," but the painter
does not protect the space around him, like the floors! 
Our cleaning crew will have a bit more work today :)

Final grades are being submitted (or calculated!) by the teaching staff – hopefully providing all of the grades and details for the 2^nd semester.

The diploma _____ (covers? books? folders? what are they called?) are here, with UCBC’s logo on the front – they look wonderful.

The grass – all of the grass – is being cut today. Thankfully not by hand, or with the weed whacker (there must be a real name for that!), but with a small push mower. It is gas-powered, so even though it will take most of the day to finish the lawn, at least it won’t take 3 days and 10 people!

Painting outside of the Welcome Center

The walls in the Academic Building are getting a fresh coat of paint... Dad, you might not be so impressed with the technique - but hopefully it will look great when the work is finished! The outside of the Welcome Center is also getting a make-over. (see photos on the right)

The CI-UCBC Board meeting started yesterday and goes until tomorrow. It is great re-connecting with members of the board and getting to know some of them a bit better.

Noé presented about the Work Program yesterday in the Board Meeting. He talked about the progress of the Program and some of the challenges that he’s faced… And he put together a wonderful presentation showing the changes on the UCBC campus, over the past four years. It’s remarkable to see.

UCBC is getting ready for graduation! 

Hopefully we’ll be able to upload the presentation so you can see the photos, soon!

Until then, it’s back to work :)

This is why...

...I no longer accept anyone's flash drives to be used in my computer... Or give out my own drives either!

Thankfully, this message did not come up on my computer.

But unfortunately, it is on another computer! Yikes - about 30 viruses? No thank you.

100 days...

... Since this:

Yay for milestones! :) Thank you Lord!

UCBC's 1st Annual Tree Day!

June 13th, 2012 - one of my favorite days at UCBC! 

Please check out the update from Congo Initiative on Tree Day here at UCBC - The Tree Planting Project.

(The one that I'd written got lost when my computer re-started itself to install updates... [Click here to read a tiny bit more] So check out what Congo Initiative wrote instead!)

I'm proud of Noé for all of the work he put into organizing this special day! It was a great celebration of the gift we have received, in our 90+ acres of land; a celebration of the nature and creativity of God - and it was enjoyed by the whole UCBC community. 

Enjoy the photos, dear ones! 

June Update

Dear Friends,

The latest update (and the first one in a while) is completed and ready for you!

June 2012 Report

Please read it, share it, and enjoy it!

With love,
Bethany and Noé

Trees and rats

Noé and I after planting his tree on campus (mine was already
planted - more photos to come, hopefully soon!)

I had written a full update and before publishing it (I was waiting for some photos to upload), I went to chapel and while there... My computer installed updates and restarted. My update was totally lost. So since then, I haven't had the words / focus to try to re-write it... But in the mean time, for now, here is a photo of that day, the UCBC's first annual tree day.

Also... Watch out for the rodents at UCBC!!

This is what the mice (rats???) did to our container, which was
closed tightly, but forgotten at UCBC overnight... Yikes.

Homegrown peanuts

We recently harvested a crop of peanuts that we planted in our garden... It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun! 

We even visited it with the family when they were here in March / April! 

I can't find the photo of us in the garden with the family... So instead here are some with us in the house, after we visited the garden - and worked to shell the peanuts which we sent back to the States with Mom! :)

(I'm also having problems moving these photos, hence their placement here, at the beginning of this post!)

Inside our home Noé, Bethany, Nathan, Hannah, Dad, Sarah, Mom

See how much fun everyone had?!

Nathan, Dad, Luke, Sarah, Hannah & Mom

Mom and Noé with the first amount of fully shelled and ready to roast peanuts! We love you Mom. 

And now, on to the photos of the garden! 

Baby peanut plants

In our field :)

The peanuts were ready to be harvested about one week before our wedding... So the day before Noé and I traveled to meet the family in Uganda, we harvested the peanuts!

Harvest day!

Our helpers. These boys saw that we were harvesting and wanted to help remove the peanuts from the plants... We decided to give them a little money for their help, but maybe more importantly, they got to take peanuts home! 

Aselme and Victor hard at work

Pulling up the peanut plants

Pulling the peanuts off of the plants

It was good to be part of the full process! 

 

That is a lot of peanuts!!

We were so excited!

After harvesting the peanuts, we had to let them dry out in the sun for a few days before they could be shelled.

A few weeks after the wedding, we were finally able to start shelling the peanuts... Working with friends and family made the work easier. 

Shelling peanuts at home

Enjoying the work with family!

The fruits of the laborer's hands

Nothing better than eating the food that you planted, took care of, harvested and cooked! (Please pay no attention to the mayo in the background!)

Freshly roasted and salted peanuts!

We thank God for the abundant crop of peanuts that we harvested! Although they are now long gone, we happily ate the 6+ kilos of peanuts while they lasted!