Stuart and Kathryn suggest that you read this letter in the light of verses: 6, 13, 19 & 28 from Psalm 107. To access this Psalm you can follow the link on the right hand side of this page. Stuart's Difficult Journey It was dark and pouring with rain, not a gentle rain but a heavy tropical downpour. The track was a mass of ravines and thick brown mud. During the day, I had already fallen off the motorcycle 4 times, the situation seemed desperate. I estimated that it was another 25 torturous kilometres to my destination at Kabinda. It is an isolated town in the eastern Congo where there is a thriving Anglican church. Two years ago, I had visited with the Archbishop, the first time a bishop had been there for 7 years. No one had been able to visit because of the war and continual population migration. I had promised to return. Now I was stuck in the mud, and miles from anywhere. I thought aloud: “Is this how Captain Falcon Scott felt when he was stuck so near and yet so far from help?” I fell off the motorcycle for the fifth time. My foot appeared to have turned around backwards. The pain was agonizing. “I cried out to the Lord in my trouble…” (Psalm 107:6) and my foot flipped back again the right way! | "There is a frequent lack of drinking water, even though it is said that the Congo has enough water to supply the whole African continent." | |
Although my ankle was painful it was not broken. It was then that God spoke, quietly but clearly: “Stop here”. “But where Lord?” I replied. I looked around and there in the darkness, I could see a hut at the top of a slope. Soon I was welcomed and given shelter under the overhanging roof. I was safe, albeit cold and wet. In the morning light I saw why. I realized that to have continued in the dark would have meant serious injury and possible death. Many people in the Congo are living daily in a desperate situation. In some parts east of Mbuji Mayi, war and rape are still commonplace. In our town, there is a frequent lack of drinking water, even though it is said that the Congo has enough water to supply the whole African continent. Basic food is not easy to find and often the price is outside the reach of the local people. Kathryn's News & Prayer Requests Please continue to pray for the teaching at St. Paul’s Centre. It is in daily use with a variety of courses on offer, from learning to read and write, to learning to speak English on an accelerated course. One can even learn to sing in English with an English language choir!
 | | Kathryn Broughton |
Stuart also travels out to lead seminaries in more remote part of the two Kasai provinces and to visit the projects you have helped to finance. We have recently observed a growing sense of unrest, as there is talk that general elections set for June may be postponed for a further 6 months. We intend to leave here in July, by which time we hope that an assistant bishop will have been appointed. We plan to fly to Australia to assess how we can best help our daughter Suzanna. As some of you know, she has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, has a benign tumour on the pituarty gland and has impaired vision in one eye. This is not good for her professional work, and indeed her future, so please continue to pray for her. We will be in touch again later. Yours sincerely, in Him, Stuart & Kathryn Latest Update Since writing this letter, Stuart and Kathryn’s departure date has been brought forward to 19 June due to the local unrest caused by forthcoming elections in D. R. Congo. They will be travelling to Australia via South Africa to be with their daughter Suzanna. Stuart and Kathryn have asked that people pray for an improvement in the chronic water shortage as well as the lack of electricity across Congo. Also that they would be able to leave the country on time and that the red rash which Stuart has had all over for the last month would go. (Kathryn was able to report on 12 June that this had begun to clear over the previous week.) | 
