I just got less excited about the upcoming trip to Africa (working in Uganda and Congo). This is an excerpt from a recent update from mission partners Ed and Brenda Buell. I will be staying with them in the Congo. If you know me, you know I have a strong dislike for cats and a hatred for mice.
There is so much to say in this update that I am having a hard time knowing where to begin. First I will say that my kitten Hershey had to be given away. After our interns left and the Bairds moved into their own home he followed me around all day just crying in a terrible sounding meow. He wanted to be held all the time and he wanted meat to eat. So I asked a friend if any of his kittens were left. His mama cat had three adorable kittens. Only one was left and they were planning on keeping it. I said that was a good idea and I would keep looking. Well at the end of the week a friend of my friend, also a friend of ours, showed up with the gray and white kitten tied in a sack. I was really surprised and was afraid they gave up their kitten for me. However, their mama cat was expecting another litter and the kids decided they would just keep one of them. So now I had two kittens. Our temporary day guard really loved Hershey so I asked if his family would like to take him. He was very happy to do it and said that they had a big problem with the rats running over their three small girls during the night. He ended up taking Hershey to his house which is just at the end of our road. I did not go to see how he was doing for 3 weeks because I did not want him trying to come home. When I did go to check on him he was happy to see me but not the least bit interested in following me home. He loved being held and carried around all day by the girls and sleeping with them at night. I was told that he caught all the rats and now they had no problem with them. They feed him avocados to supplement his diet of rats and he was extremely happy there. Sadly though I was just told that someone stole Hershey away from them and they are all sad about it. They have gotten a puppy though so I think that will help the girls get over their sadness. I don’t know how the puppy will be about catching rats though. Our dog, Condi, does so maybe this one will too.
I’m not sure what I am getting myself into.
photo by Bogdan Suditu