KARAWA, CONGO (November 19, 2004) - More than 2,000 Congo residents were waiting at Karawa Airport Thursday to welcome an 11-member delegation representing the Evangelical Covenant Church on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the death of Covenant medical missionary Dr. Paul Carlson.

Co-leading the delegation is Lois Carlson Bridges, whose husband, Paul, was killed by rebel forces in November 1964. The Carlsons were serving the Covenant medical missions in Wasolo and Karawa when civil unrest forced the evacuation of Covenant missionaries. Paul Carlson stayed behind, intending to remain only a few days to care for critically ill patients and then rejoin his family and other colleagues. Instead, he was seized, imprisoned and fatally wounded when Belgian paratroopers attempted a rescue at Stanleyville. Carlson's story was featured on the December 1964 covers of both TIME and LIFE magazines.

Other members of the delegation include the Carlson's son, Wayne, and his wife, Rebecca, and their son, Paul; Carlson's brother, Dwight; Rick Carlson (unrelated) who was the producer of the new documentary Monganga unveiled at this year's Covenant Annual Meeting in Minneapolis; Bob and Jan Thornbloom, well-known Covenant missionaries to Congo for many years who continue to work with various Covenant ministries; Curt Peterson, executive minister of the Covenant World Mission; Jim Sundholm, director of Covenant World Relief and the Paul Carlson Partnership; and Pete Ekstrand, regional coordinator for Africa who also is serving on this trip as a special correspondent for Covenant News Service.

The top photograph shows Lois being greeted by one of the children in Karawa, with President Sanguma standing to her right. Other family members with her include (from right) Dwight, son Wayne, and grandson Paul. Sundholm can be seen standing just behind grandson Paul. The lower photo shows Dwight greeting one of the younger children and chatting with the mothers. To see additional photos from the arrival in Karawa, please see Karawa.

Most of the group arrived on a Mission Aviation Fellowship plane from Kinshasa – Peterson and Sundholm had arrived earlier for meetings with the leadership of the Covenant Church of Congo (CEUM). The group was welcomed by CEUM President Dr. Mossai Sanguma and the CEUM leadership, as well as Keith and Florence Gustafson (country coordinators for Congo) and Covenant missionary Nancy Jo Hoover.

The delegation arrived in Kinshasa Tuesday evening and were welcomed Wednesday by CEUM churches in Kinshasa during a reception at the Kasa-Vubu church. "The welcome was overwhelming," one Carlson family member commented. "The people are very gracious and we were deeply touched." Carlson's brother, Dwight, said it is "a very special honor to be here again and to see all the faces. I would like to know the story behind each person. This is so overpowering – I don't know if I can put it into words yet." Family members had tears in their eyes as they left the airplane, Ekstrand observed.

The delegation was scheduled to remain in Karawa today (Friday) and travel tomorrow to Wasolo, where they will remain through Sunday. Transmitting email-based information from Congo to North America is a challenge, given the remoteness of the jungle areas where the delegation will spend much of its time and the limited access to technology required to transmit photos and information – most of that work will be handled by Ekstrand using a satellite telephone network. Updated information will be posted to this online Covenant news report as it becomes available.