MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM D. R. CONGO

It’s Christmas once again! And doesn’t that bring back memories! I remember how everyone had their favorite stories to tell when the missionary families got together, and what a wonderful time we had, sitting around the Christmas tree, drinking the last cup of coffee, with all the cookies and chocolates, to make it all so sweet.

First we had the reading of the Scriptures of Jesus’s birth, “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” Matthew 1:21-23. Then the stories would start coming, about Christmases of more recent years...

One year, a young Missionary couple, just starting their lives, to serve the Lord in the Congo, arrived in Kinshasa, the BIG CITY as it was so famously called. And when they arrived at their Hotel, they found that the airline only gave them a room and not food! So with a dollar in their pocket, (someone had advised them not to carry any extra cash, so they wouldn’t lose it!) they took a walk around the Memling Hotel, and found a couple avocados and some sandwich bread to buy from one of the street vendors - for a dollar - and that was Christmas Eve supper! Imagine how they felt about that! But, being young, and knowing that the next day, they would be flying on to Bukavu, to finally arrive and be celebrating with Fred and Millie Bahler, Kathy’s parents, they were so happy!

The next day, Christmas Day, they finally were on their plane, headed for Bukavu, eight hours away and half way across Africa. But first, they had to stop in Goma, where they learned from the pilots that there was a storm, so they didn’t know for sure if they’d be able to land. Most pilots found excuses like this, for not flying on to Bukavu! But, Richard had an idea, and decided to tell the Steward to give a note with a missionary pilot’s radio frequency to the pilots, and to tell them to call Kathy’s Father, Fred Bahler on the HF radio and ask for his pilot’s weather report
So, the pilot did just that, and finding that the weather wasn’t that bad, they were able to stay on the plane and make the last leg of their flight on to Bukavu! As they watched and prayed, just before landing at Bukavu’s Kavumu Airport, (which was very, very short air strip), they saw Lake Kivu churning and throwing up white caps, which didn’t seem too reassuring!

Fred and Millie Bahler, Kathy (Bahler) and Richard McDonald

But, the next thing they knew, they were landing with screeching tires, and the 737’s huge metal retro-shields on the jet engines, in front of us, flung open, and the retro rockets fired, to suddenly stop, at the end of the runway! As the plane turned to taxi back from the end, they looked down the huge cliff below the plane – it seemed a mile deep ! What a shocking revelation! No wonder pilots did not want to land at Bukavu – with hardly any runway, and a Huge drop-off at the end! But Praising the Lord, they had made it!!!

Sooo began our adventure into Missionary life in Zaire, formerly the Belgian Congo, and now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And, so the exciting adventures just kept coming and coming, and we know that the Lord brought us through all of them, even when we didn’t know what to do so many times! All Praise for all these Wonderful years goes to our Heavenly Father, for taking care of Richard and Kathleen Sheryle (Bahler) McDonald!!!

We THANK YOU ALL for praying and giving, some of you from 1972; and we Praise the Lord for all the special friends He has Called Along-Side His Ministry to us and through us, through these Very Blessed Years of Service in His Family!! It is a miracle!

With Much Love and Prayers
 for a Blessed Christmas and New Year, 
Richard and Kathy McDonald