Heat, Exhaustion Take Toll on Congo Delegation

KINSHASA, CONGO (November 20, 2003) - "We're tired - it's been exhausting with the last four days really full," reports Pete Ekstrand as the five-member Evangelical Covenant Church delegation arrived today in Kinshasa.

Ekstrand spoke this morning via satellite telephone with Don Meyer, executive minister of the Department of Communication in Chicago. He said sweltering heat drained the energy from those visiting ministries of the Covenant Church of Congo (CEUM) in the upper region of Congo. "The church yesterday was really warm - very hot up country," Ekstrand said.

Ekstrand, regional coordinator for Africa in the Department of World Mission, also is serving as a special news correspondent for Covenant News Service as he accompanies the delegation led by ECC President Glenn Palmberg. Also accompanying the delegation are Keith Gustafson, country coordinator for Congo, and CEUM President Gbuda Luyada.

Wednesday the group was in Loko and Gbado-Lite where they visited the Garden of Eden - a group of agricultural gardens - Health Zone offices and the hospital.

"The tours of Eden began to image very practically how we can partner on into the future," said Jim Sundholm, director of Covenant World Relief and a member of the delegation. (Top photo shows Sundholm greeting residents.) "We talked about trying to submit a Foods Resource Bank project within the next two months. It is humbling to recognize the opportunity there is to reasonably impact literally thousands of people in hundreds of villages through these ministries."

Sundholm pointed to the recent Covenant World Relief newsletter that reported the theft of livestock at Loko and the fact that the fruit tree gardens started by Roy Danforth and Paul Noren continue to significantly help sustain life. Covenant World Relief made contributions to protect the fruit gardens from damage caused by brush fires that occur during the dry season, which is expected to arrive soon.

"I am impressed with the present management," Sundholm observed. "I feel this is an excellent place for a Foods Resource Bank project," an opinion shared by another delegation member, Jerome Nelson, who sees the ideas as "logical projects."

At the hospital, the group visited the operating room and ward, the pharmacy, the maternity ward and the Moxon chapel. The group was particularly impressed by the quality of the medical staff serving the Loko hospital and encouraged by the significant increase in the number of children in the health zone inoculated for preventable diseases during the last year. (The center photo shows Dr. Ndombe explaining hospital operations to Palmberg and Keith Gustafson.)

The group also inspected the new tin roof on the building that includes the operating wing and the pharmacy, made possible through a generous gift from Rolling Hills Covenant Church in California, the home church of the late Dr. Paul Carlson, Covenant missionary who was killed by Congolese rebels in 1964.

"Following our tour of the hospital, the staff expressed their deep appreciation for the founding missionaries of IMELOKO, Dr. Wallace and Sarah Thornbloom, as well as those who followed - Dr. Arden and Joanne Almquist, Dr. Roger and Ruth Moxon and Dr. Roger and Eileen Thorpe - for their vision and initiative in training medical personnel and providing a foundation for medical care," Ekstrand said. IMELOKO (Institut Medical Evangelique de Loko, the Evangelical Medical Institute of Loko) was founded in 1968 in memory of Dr. Paul Carlson.

A ceremonial welcome greeted the delegation at the Gbado-Lite airport, including a youth choir and a children's choir that danced and sang. From the airport, the group traveled the four miles into town and the church, with the vehicles carrying the guests flanked by b icyclists carrying the choir members.

"Exhuberant" is the word used to describe the scene at the Gbado-Lite church as five choirs and more than 3,000 people greeted the delegation. People packed the worship area and overflowed onto the grounds surrounding the church. The worship service included four choir numbers and dancing, with Palmberg and Nelson preaching.

The Gbado-Lite service marks the last of the services planned during this visit, punctuated by a moving prayer time as President Luyada and President Palmberg each prayed for the other and the ministries of the respective churches they lead (bottom photo). Four neighboring church regions had representatives attending the service with some traveling up to 60 miles by bicycle to reach the church.

The delegation, led by Palmberg, includes Curt Peterson, executive minister of the Department of World Mission; Sundholm; Nelson, a Central Conference coordinator; and Bob Thornbloom, a Covenant missionary who coordinates technical support in Congo.

Purpose of the trip is to visit CEUM ministries and confer with CEUM leaders on the ministry partnership of CEUM and the ECC. The delegation left Chicago Monday, November 10, and is scheduled to return November 22.

To read earlier news coverage of this historic trip, visit the links below:

• Palmberg Leads Delegation.
• Delegation Warmly Received.
• Large Crowd Greets Delegation.
• Drama Depicts Arrival of Gospel.
• Palmberg, Luyada Lay Wreath.
• Six Thousand Join in Worship.
• Faithful Gather in Sweltering Heat.
• Delegation Retraces Footsteps of Dr. Paul Carlson.

To read a special greeting Peterson sent to staff members in the World Mission department, visit Peterson Sends Greeting to Staff.

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