One would hardly know that Christmas is just around the corner. Just a few stores here and
there will put up a few lights and decorations, but nothing like in the States! So, we make our own Christmas in our home. I decorate with the fir tree branches and put the red bows and candles around the branches, which really looks pretty. We’re starting to play Christmas songs in the house and on the radio and that gets everyone moving into the Christmas spirit!
Traditions are part of every society especially at Christmas, and here in Bukavu it is no different. The men have to show their wives that they still love them! And, the way they do that is to make sure that they buy a new “kikwembe” (cloth) for their wife! So, for some men, Christmas is a hard time of year!!!Finally, Christmas Eve arrives, and the whole town gets settled in with everyone going home to get ready for the Christmas Day church services.
We light our little Christmas tree, if the electricity stays on, heat up our little meal, light the candles, and make lots of coffee to go with the cookies and that special cheese cake that we brought home from the States to have on that special evening.Finally, we read the Christmas Story and remember once again the wonderful, Unspeakable Gift, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, that God sent to redeem us from our sin.
Throughout the Congo, churches and Sunday Schools will have a special program on Christmas Day. Usually, that means that one has to find a goat or cow to butcher to make sure that there’s enough meat to go around for the feast after church! The services lasts a loooong time, and this is really wonderful, as everyone wants to sing a special number and recite their memory verses. So, most Christmas Days aren’t over until late in the afternoon.Each member of the BES radio team will be sharing the time and workload during these days to try to make it through, as each of the team has special responsibilities and duties at the radio and at their church and to their family. It’s a hard, but Blessed, time for our Christian Radio outreach.
This year is an extra special blessing for the Radio Kahuzi team, as HCJB Global upgraded our FM and Short wave transmitters in February to double their power and performance. The Lord has been blessing listeners who are calling in and sending daily SMS (text) messages of Thanksgiving and blessings, as well as, distress messages and prayer requests from all over the Congo and central Africa. Today we had many requests from Rwandans who have come across the border for Galcom radios because they appreciate our different language broadcasts including the Bible in Kinyarwandan. We praise the Lord that other radio stations and NGOs are helping us distribute the Galcom short wave receivers to the far North and South, and to individuals like Lauren Nkunda or the Interhamwe, for now their enemy! One team member going to the East coast for his father’s surgery listened to our programming in Uganda during their stay in Nairobi, Kenya. What an encouragement for us and for them! We are thankful to be able to broadcast Mondays and Fridays into the evening hours until 10 PM with tremendous feedback from new listeners from far and wide, despite the problem of being down to only two team members for the workload.
Please pray for our effort to put ten solar powered broadcast relay sites in three provinces, as the details get “rather strung out” to simplify the telling of it. But the Lord has out done us with the sixteen stations volunteering to relay / rebroadcast some of our best programming on a day-to-day basis. That was a really unexpected shot in the arm for us in Bukavu!!! Above is a picture of the representatives from each of the radio stations that are partnering with us in this effort. Praise Him, it’s the Lord’s Work, not ours. Surely He will complete what He has begun!We THANK YOU ALL for everything you do to make Radio Kahuzi possible!
Thank you for praying and giving and for your friendship and wonderful memories that we cherish of you all – from years ago or from our two visits to the States this year. It was really special!! We pray that you all will enjoy this Blessed holiday season celebrating the birth of our Lord!
Keep Looking UP! And Keep On Keeping ON!!
With love and Thanksgiving to you,
Richard and Kathy and the whole BESI / Radio Kahuzi Family
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