{"id":465,"date":"2010-04-13T12:49:44","date_gmt":"2010-04-13T17:49:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ekstrand\/?p=465"},"modified":"2010-04-16T18:07:44","modified_gmt":"2010-04-16T23:07:44","slug":"warm-reception-in-congo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ekstrand\/2010\/04\/warm-reception-in-congo\/","title":{"rendered":"WARM RECEPTION IN CONGO"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_466\" style=\"width: 233px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2010\/04\/reception-serving-line-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-466\" class=\"size-full  wp-image-466\" title=\"reception serving line\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2010\/04\/reception-serving-line-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"223\" height=\"173\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-466\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Reception Serving Line<\/p><\/div>\n<p>We had a wonderful and warm reception when we  arrived in Gemena Wednesday afternoon.\u00a0 Keith Gustafson was there to meet us along with the CEUM people responsible for protocol in town.\u00a0 There were no problems with  the officials and soon we were on our way for the 4 mile drive to Bokonzo,  the neighborhood on the outskirts of Gemena where we will live.\u00a0 This is  where the Congo Covenant Church (CEUM) headquarters is located and many of the  church leaders live.<\/p>\n<p>As we drove in, there was a group gathered to welcome us. \u00a0Palm branches were along the sides of the road.\u00a0 The welcome included shaking everyone\u2019s hand, words of welcome by President Mossai Sanguma and comments from us. \u00a0Then there was tea and roasted peanuts for everyone. \u00a0We were blessed by the many who showed up.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_467\" style=\"width: 215px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2010\/04\/Zefanu-Cindy-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-467\" class=\"size-full  wp-image-467\" title=\"Zefanu &amp; Cindy\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2010\/04\/Zefanu-Cindy-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"205\" height=\"130\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-467\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Zefanu &amp; Cindy<\/p><\/div>\n<p>This photo shows Cindy and Zefanu. \u00a0He worked  for us as cook\/househelp when we lived in Gemena between 1986-1991. \u00a0He was a believer and a pleasant man to have working for us who loved the kids.\u00a0 He was at the reception and then came back the next day to sit and chat and hear  how all the family is doing. \u00a0He was very encouraged to see pictures of the  kids. \u00a0Will we hire him again?\u00a0 We don\u2019t know and don\u2019t have to make that decision yet.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-report-this\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ekstrand?moderation_action=report_form&object_type=post&object_id=465&width=250&height=300\" class=\"thickbox\" title=\"Report This Post\">Report This Post<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We had a wonderful and warm reception when we arrived in Gemena Wednesday afternoon.\u00a0 Keith Gustafson was there to meet us along with the CEUM people responsible for protocol in town.\u00a0 There were no problems with the officials and soon we were on our way for the 4 mile drive to Bokonzo, the neighborhood on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>WARM RECEPTION IN CONGO - Ekstrands in Congo<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ekstrand\/2010\/04\/warm-reception-in-congo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WARM RECEPTION IN CONGO - Ekstrands in Congo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We had a wonderful and warm reception when we arrived in Gemena Wednesday afternoon.\u00a0 Keith Gustafson was there to meet us along with the CEUM people responsible for protocol in town.\u00a0 There were no problems with the officials and soon we were on our way for the 4 mile drive to Bokonzo, the neighborhood on [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ekstrand\/2010\/04\/warm-reception-in-congo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ekstrands in Congo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-04-13T17:49:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2010-04-16T23:07:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2010\/04\/reception-serving-line-2.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Pete &amp; 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