Laborers for the Harvest

As I sit here on an unusual yet wonderfully quiet Saturday afternoon, I am grateful for all of your prayers since our last update. I will answer everyone’s questions first…..

What is going on with the conflict in DRC and is it still affecting you? Well it was quiet for the week of and following Christmas. The hospital hasn’t received any more wounded since Christmas time. We do continue to receive many refugees with various medical problems. Malnutrition from hiding in the jungle seems to be the most frequent thing we are seeing. We have started hearing shots across the river this week once again, but it seems pretty random and we haven’t heard any news from the UNHCR about any increase in danger to us here. So, we are still safe and continue to do our work here at the hospital just like any other day.

How are we doing as a family? We are doing pretty well. Don’t get me wrong, the stress has taken its toll on each of us in different ways. Our own personal stress has been pretty low, however, that of our team around is us very high. Our team has been experiencing many growing pains as the team expands both with short-term people and long-term missionaries joining us. Our team needs much prayer, to learn how to communicate with one another effectively and to use each person’s spiritual and physical talents rather than having them go to waste in the chaos around us. The team here has never had this many long term hands to do the work that has overwhelmed the so few before now, and finding how to fit all those hands in to the puzzle is a growing and stretching experience. So we are doing well ourselves, but are feeling the stress of others around us and feel inadequate as to how to help the team function together better. We have started to do some of the training that we received at MTI 2 years ago, including interpersonal skills and cross-cultural understanding. As of yet the training hasn’t done a whole lot, but as we progress we pray that it will. Please pray for the possibility of a couple that may come in March to help with talent and job placement assessment for the team here.

The biggest news that we have is that some friends, the Marshes, from our home church in Perry, NY have been given clearance to come to Congo!! We are very excited to have them come work with us here and look forward to friendly faces from home being here. Because the team is growing, Joe has started making decisions about building and renovating housing. The first house to be done is for the Marshes; pray that things will be done in an organized and timely manner for their arrival in mid-March.

The other housing project that is in the beginning stages of discussion is for a guest house to be built. It will be built on the hospital compound and will house a hosting family, which will Lord-willing be Art, Michael and I, as well as another apartment and 6 dorm-style rooms for short-term people and work teams. This will be the main center for team meetings and feeding the mission staff at the hospital each day. We, as I said, really hope to become the host family. We really enjoy getting to know each new person and I love to be cooking for them all. I am sharing the duties with Becky and Patience at this end for now, but I know that one centralized place for each person to be while they work here will be easier for all. That will allow each family to invite individual visitors to get to know them each better in a smaller setting. Part of what we hope to do when we are home and speaking, is not only try and increase knowledge of what we are doing here and continue to raise our personal support, but also raise funds to help build the guest house and purchase supplies that will be needed for it. There will be a container this summer, so that we can send things here, but the cost for this is very high and each family needs to help pay for a “per kilo cost” to get things here. We have started putting together a list of items that will be needed and hope and pray for the Lord’s provision for the purchase and transportation of these items here to Congo.

Just as a reminder, we will be coming back to the US June 21st. We arrive via Dulles International Airport and hope to spend some time with our Mt. Hope family before heading to NY to settle in for our furlough. Over the next few months we will be trying to reach each of you to schedule speaking dates and just time to fellowship and reconnect with you. If you have a specific date you would like us to keep open email me and let me know. I know many of you wonder why I bother to say things this far out, but we would like to make sure we can see as many of you as possible and in order to do that we need to start planning now.

We continue to keep you all in our prayers and wonder how you are doing. Please remember we love to hear from you and want to know how to pray more effectively for you. In all of our business and with the complicated nature of sending emails we do forget at times to let you know how much you each mean to us, so don’t feel as if we have forgotten about you. That’s all for now from our neck of the woods, let us know what is going on in yours……….

Now that you have heard from both Art and Michael I thought you would like to hear a little bit about what we are all doing now that we have all settled in. Art as you know is busy fixing everything and anything that breaks. He will be wiring all the houses here on the living compound for the town electric. This will allow us to have lights etc. the couple nights a week that we have power to our end of town.

Michael is busy with school. He is in the 10th grade this year and is enjoying school, except for Math, which I am pretty sure he will never like. He does Biology and a writing class with Claire Harvey and they both are enjoy their big writing project of the year, a book. They are writing a historical novel that takes place in the medieval time period, and they are having fun coming up with a time line and names for the characters as well as the plot line. It will be fun to read their final project. Claire is a talented artist and is also doing the illustrations.

I have been able to stay busy now that the Harvey’s are back. I do school with Michael in the mornings then do writing with Isabelle then writing and Biology with Claire and Michael. The rest of my day is spent doing some communications for Joe as well as our own emails. While this might not seem like a big deal, emails are our life line here.

I still struggle with the language here and rely on Michael for most all my communications here at the house. I am able to do Marketing on my own but not a whole lot more than that still. It is very frustrating for me and I am trying to learn but speaking French is not my strong point. Olivia has started teaching the Wegner’s and I Lingala each Wednesday afternoon and I hope to learn that more quickly than I am learning French.

All in all I think we have really started to adjust to living here and the talk here has changed from I can’t wait to go home because I miss this or that. Now it is more I can’t wait to go visit everyone so we can bring back this or that. Most every conversation to do with wanting to bring back something revolves around food. Still, I am pretty sure that is what we think about missing the most.

Thank you all for your prayers and support, our survival here depends on them.

Here in Africa I have been blessed. I am able to have fun things most kids my age don’t get to do. Just recently I got to take a walk through the jungle. Our guide was someone familiar with the area, so he found things we might not have known were there. One thing he found was a vine that was at least 2 feet around. Another cool thing was a tree were you could walk under the roots.

I have also been blessed by having the Harvey’s back. Their only boy, Noah, hangs out with me a lot and we have lots of fun running around outside together. Their second oldest daughter, Claire, and I are writing a book together for a school project. I am having lots of fun here, but I will be happy to head home for a visit in June.

Merry Christmas! Joyuex Noel!

Merry Christmas!

We hope that this update finds you doing well and enjoying the Holidays with family and friends. You can enjoy lots of good food as well, but we don’t want to hear about it! Yesterday marks seven months since we got on the plane in New York and began the adventure of serving God here in Congo. In some ways, it feels impossible that we could have been here seven whole months. In others, it’s hard to believe it has only been seven months and not seven years. Enough time has passed to get very settled in, and we now feel like we have a pretty good grasp of how things work here. That doesn’t mean that we understand all of it; just that we have a good idea of what to expect.

In our previous updates, we haven’t said too much about the missionary team here, other than who is coming or going. The Lord has truly been behind the timing of all of the changes and talents represented in the team. Doctors Eckhart and Klaudia Wolff, along with another young doctor (Juan-Carlos Panchi), arrived here with us early in October for a 3-month stay. Eckhart is an orthopedic surgeon and Klaudia does anesthesia and patient counseling. Dr. Panchi is a general practitioner. Together, they have been a huge asset to the hospital and a powerful tool for God’s loving work here.

When the three of them arrived in Impfondo, Dr. Fuka was the only physician at the hospital. The Harvey family was still in the US for almost another month. Things were busy, and poor Dr. Fuka had been working hard carrying the load of all the patient cases. He was looking forward to a little break. Some people with serious debilitating hand and foot deformities had been scheduled ahead of time for surgeries during Dr. Wolff’s time here.  It looked as though it would be an easy time for the next 3 months. Then, out of nowhere, the conflict across the river started. Refugees began pouring into Impfondo and the surrounding area, and victims of the violence started coming to the hospital. We had machete wounds, bullet wounds, and serious infections that had plenty of time to take root on the slow journey to our hospital.

Most of the past couple of months have had an average of 2 or 3 surgeries each weekday, with emergency cases on top of that. We have treated at least a dozen victims, and now we are treating around that many wounded rebels that have been brought to us. That presents its own variety of difficulties, not the least of which is security.

Victims don’t really want to be bunked with the guys who killed their family members, but this is a hospital and not a hotel. We only have so much room and so many resources. There is also a possibility of escape once these guys begin to heal. The government is keeping an eye on them, but it’s not like they’re prisoners of war either. This is an international situation, and it’s really complicated.

Getting back to the three doctors, this was obviously the Lord at work in having them here. While Eckhart operated on the victims, Klaudia counseled them (they were all traumatized), and Dr. Panchi took care of most of the regular patients. Dr. Harvey was more than busy directing with all of the attention we were receiving from international organizations, governmental delegations, and the international press. In the midst of this time, the Wegner family arrived. Dr. Wegner is a pediatrician and emergency medicine specialist. His skills filled in the remaining gaps in the team as the hospital filled to capacity plus, and he has graciously given much of his personal time to helping out with any little thing that pops up (which happens a lot). In all, the Lord has abundantly blessed the work at Pioneer Christian Hospital in the last few months. It is a very busy but exciting time!

For the last five weeks, we had a surprise short-term missionary join us. Her name is Amy Riedy, and she’s from California. Her time was spent helping with all sorts of things, from helping Sarah change bandages on her leprosy patients to welding grates for drains to changing brake calipers on Joe’s truck and building crutches. She was a pleasure to work with, and we are hoping that God directs her back to us again at some point. We are also thankful that she was able to make it home to be with her family for Christmas.

So, I know you all want to know what the current status is on the fighting. Well, there’s not that much to say. We have heard gunfire a handful of times coming from somewhere on the other side of the river. We have heard reports (hearsay) that rebels are here or there and have attacked this place or that one. We hear that the military is chasing them and they’re running for their lives. The leader of the rebels has got some serious Satanic powers behind him, and no one seems to know where he is at the moment. We do know that the rebels are on the run, because the wounded ones have bullet wounds in their backs! We also know that the rebels are using machetes and the military use guns. If it wasn’t so hard to catch people in the jungle, I think it would already be over. Who knows? So, we aren’t very scared, but is a little unsettling to hear AK-47’s in the afternoon and shotgun blasts in the night.

After a deep probing of our financial condition, we made the decision to return to the States this coming June: June 20th, to be exact. Our tickets were purchased this week. We will be home for however long it takes to raise more support and get a bit more of the things that we now know we would like to have here with us. There is a possibility of a container being planned for next Summer, so we would be organizing that also, if it does happen. There are many things that we would like to put in the next container to ship here! It will be great to be back home for a bit, and we will begin setting up our calendar soon. Lord-willing, we will get the opportunity to visit many of you over the Summer months of 2010 and then return here for 3 or 4 years.

Please keep the hospital in your prayers. It is overflowing with patients right now, and it’s a great opportunity to share the good news of Jesus with so many people! We have seen changed hearts and second chances for lives, and it’s a beautiful thing to be a part of. Please pray for the fighting going on, that God will use this for His glory and bring us people that He wants to save. Pray for the victims of the fighting, families and villages that have been destroyed, for healing physically and spiritually. Pray for our time to be home in the US to be productive in raising support and continuing to support the work at PCH from overseas. Last of all, please pray for the medical team as our Ecuadorian doctors (Wolff’s and Panchi) return home to the HCJB hospital there (the Wolff’s are from Germany, serving there for over 20 years).

Thank you, as always, for all of your continued prayers on our behalf. Thank you for supporting our work here. Thank you for reading these long-winded newsletters and sharing the news with friends and family. May God bless you and all of yours this coming New Year!

Below is a copy of an email that was sent out by Dr. Joseph Harvey our medical director here. Please read carefully and respond as he as asked at the end. We appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

Art, Danielle & Michael

Dear Team Members, Friends & Family,

Since October 28, 2009, we have been in a state of heightened security at PioneerChristianHospital here in Impfondo, Congo. That was the day that we received the first civilian casualties from fresh fighting in Dongo, a town in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Since October over 77,000 refugees have flooded across the OubanguiRiver into the Likouala Region of Congo from the Equateur Province of DRC.

We received two more waves of war wounded in November, and hear that more are on the way. From collateral damage, streams of very sick refugees and residents have been flowing into PioneerChristianHospital for HELP. Currently more than 50% of our patients need nutritional support, have only the clothes on their backs, and no means to pay for the care we administer. At the same time, we are trying to stem the tide of a confirmed Swine Flu epidemic that has already taken the lives of 3 of the 10 contagious children.

We are glad to be here doing our best to stretch our limited resources and minister effectively to very real needs, but the stress of being so close to a war zone is starting to take its toll.

Things seem to be getting noticeably worse instead of better. God knows if things are about to turn around, or descend into complete chaos, but I believe He wants us to be prepared either way.

A lot has happened just this week:

- On Tuesday, Laurent Fuka (17 year-old son of our surgeon) arrived home after evacuating from Bwamanda, DRC, where he has been attending boarding school for the last year and a half. He and 7 classmates spent a week, fleeing from the rebels on foot, pirogue, UN motorboat, and truck. They had several close encounters on the way. Before leaving one of Laurent’s classmates went to the market to buy some food and was killed by the rebels.

- Tuesday evening we were called upon to treat two wounded rebels at the government hospital. One is a 14 year old boy with a bullet in his right humerus. The other is a 22 year old with a bullet in his buttocks.

- Tuesday night some people came to the government hospital looking for the wounded rebels, intent on rendering vigilante justice. The staff was able to hide the patients, but this significantly delayed them from getting the care they need.

- Wednesday morning during morning report at PioneerChristianHospital our maintenance staff heard gunshots coming from the river. This was around the same time a Central African Riverboat was released by the rebels after being held overnight. Occasional gunshots have been heard several other times this week too.

- On Thursday local public high school students went on a riotous rampage after the government teachers went on strike instead of administering final exams for the semester. The students trashed their school, then attacked several private schools in town, beating up other students and staff, destroying classrooms, and smashing computers. The gendarmes and police were called in and ended up arresting 11 students.

- Thursday night a river boat and barge hired by the United Nations to bring emergency food rations for the refugees came under repeated attacks from armed men in dugouts, and motorized longboats recently stolen from the UN refugee agency in DRC. The barge was flying the UN flag and the pusher was flying the Congo-Brazzaville flag. The attack was finally repelled with support from a Congolese military attack helicopter.

- Friday we were interviewed about this crisis by a correspondent from Bloomburg News Service. Maybe it will play on National Public Radio.

- Friday night a river boat barge loaded with fuel for Impfondo was also attacked. Congo-Brazzaville government soldiers traveling with the barge opened fire, reportedly killing a number of DRC rebels, whose bodies fell into the river. The boat arrived in Impfondo this morning with a helicopter escort.

- Saturday the regular Air Congo flight was postponed, and some people say it is because of the increased military activity downriver from Impfondo.

I think we have no choice but to raise our security alert level and review and implement emergency planning.

I didn’t want to write this message. As far as we know, we are not in immediate danger, but we do need your help. If you would be willing to join our intercession team to pray for our protection, wage spiritual warfare, and ask for peace on this part of the earth, please send a short message to Danielle Ralston and let her know what day(s)/time(s) you will be praying

Before I go any further, I would like to clarify the situation that I am sure you are hearing about in the news concerning Congo. Once again, this is the other Congo (Democratic Republic of Congo), but this time it is rather close to us. There is a small rebel army about thirty miles north of us, on the other side of the river, that is causing a big stir. From what I can put together, this began with two tribes fighting over fishing rights on the river. It has grown from that, and now the leader of this rebel group is said to have magical powers and to be un-killable (is that a word?). Just last evening I heard that the national army came in and killed about 40 rebels and captured another 60 or so, theoretically squashing the problem. However, the leader “vanished into the mist” and was not caught. Maybe he is dead, maybe he really does have some satanic powers. It’s so hard to tell. Demonic powers really do come into play here, but so do tall tales and extraordinary gossip. The UN and humanitarian groups are now helping the refugees (about 5,000 at the moment), and we have treated 8 or 9 gunshot and machete wound victims. It’s good to be the ones receiving refugees, instead of the other way around. Evacuation plans are being formed, but it seems unlikely we will need them. There has been no violence on this side, and the whole thing seems to be drawing to a close.

Something to keep lifted up in prayer is the lack of proper medical attention in the region. The first two victims came to the Pioneer Christian Hospital a few days after the incident took place. They were cared for, and it wasn’t a huge deal. A few days later (one whole week after the incident), six more showed up. They had been at the local government hospital here in Impfondo, where their wounds were closed up and not inspected and properly treated. Infections set in, and by the time they got to us their lives were in danger. Two of them ended up being amputated (one arm and one leg below the knee). The one who lost the leg was an 11-year old girl. The point of this is that none of this would have been nearly as bad if they had reached us sooner, or if they had received decent care at the hands of the other doctors. Please keep this lack of care in prayers, and that God will change the hearts of the staff at the government hospital and even the nursing staff at our own hospital, that they will be more conscientious of the level of care they provide to patients. The government is investigating what happened with these refugees, but the hearts of the people need to be changed. It’s not something that firing a few bad doctors can remedy.

Yes, the Harveys are back! It’s strange having neighbors now. The house was empty practically since we got here. We are enjoying having them back, and now Michael has kids to play with and Danielle is getting handed many jobs to do. It’s a welcome change. Things are also busy at the moment, as we prepare for the arrival of the Wegners this Saturday. Their house is being made ready for them, and we hope it will actually be ready when they arrive. We have a short-term missionary coming for one month, who will also be arriving here with the Wegners. We didn’t know she was coming until about a week ago, so this is a bit of a surprise. There are plenty of things to be done around the hospital, so there won’t be any trouble keeping her busy.

I was so eagerly awaiting all of the new replacement parts for every broken machine at the hospital. For some reason, in my mind, I had it all figured out that everything would be together and running inside of a week. Boy, was I wrong! Not only have I not repaired all of the previously-broken stuff, but there is a growing list of newly-broken stuff. And I got a nasty cold this week, to top it off. We were hoping that I would have the time to do a few things to the Wegners’ house. Now, I’m not very sure what I can get to. Tomorrow was going to be my day for that, but the clutch went in one of the 4-wheel drive Toyotas yesterday. That’s a priority to get running again, so I need to get right on it. In my garage back home, it would be a day-or-so job. Here, it will take a good 3 days, plus waiting for any parts to come up from Brazzaville. Please keep the equipment at the hospital in your prayers, too. I am feeling very much attacked since the Harveys return. It feels like everything is going wrong, and I am powerless to fix it. I know that the battle has already been won, but I could use prayer in getting beyond the feeling that keeping the hospital running is on my shoulders. I need to give it to the Lord, and it’s easier said than done.

Thank you to all who sent us supplies that came with the Harvey family. I think we received all of it. Since they got here on October 31, it was like Christmas on Halloween for our family. Danielle has some new clothes to wear. Michael has some new books to read. We all got too much candy, and we are enjoying some of the cooking spices, the hard drive full of movies, and near-necessities that we were unaware of when we were packing to come here. A handful of things are not yet opened; mostly Christmas presents for Michael. If you were not involved in any of this, we also thank you for that! Trust me, we got plenty of stuff. Adjusting to living here means getting used to having less. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just simpler; more basic. Seeing two trunks full of various items was almost overwhelming. Michael very much enjoyed all of his birthday presents from everyone. Thank you so much for making his first birthday away from home fun!

A special thanks goes out to Pete (my step-father) for all of his time and effort in gathering the grocery list of replacement parts, and to Brenda Whaley for coordinating the assembly and delivery of everything (and clothes shopping for Danielle). As always, we thank you for your prayers. We thank you for your support, and we thank God that He is faithful in always providing for all of our needs, and even above and beyond our needs. We always look for e-mails from each of you, and we enjoy the chances we get to make some calls back home. I guess that’s all for now, so I’ll stop right here. We love you and miss you all. Have a happy Thanksgiving, and don’t forget to thank God for all that He has given you. He is good!

The last 3 weeks have been full of lots of activities.  First our team is starting to return from their time in the States and Canada visiting friends and being renewed to return to us here refreshed and ready to work.  Dr. Fuka was in Brazzaville getting some much needed training in treating AIDS patients and came back here after a little over a week away.    The Harvey’s will be leaving from JFK on October 26th and should be arriving here in Impfondo sometime the first week of November. We have a team of doctors arriving the first week of October and staying here till the end of December to work on orthopedic cases.  Then Wegner family will be joining our team sometime in November for, Lord willing, 3 years.  While the team is growing we are still in need of many more members to support the hospital and all of the aspects of running it smoothly.

Ok what’s with the title you ask?  Airports…  our lives here have revolved around whether a plane will come in this week or not.  Part of our team returned on September 10th but were stuck in Brazzaville until September 22nd due to no planes being flown up to Impfondo for over a week.  There was also much debate whether another member would be able to get here on Thursday September 24th but there was a plane and she arrived with all of her things with no problems.  The other part of the wondering if a plane will come is that the pharmacy is very low on medicines right now and we are waiting for boxes to arrive on each flight in order to restock things.

Tractors….. Art has been busy fixing one minor problem after another on the tractors around here and is waiting for parts to arrive with the Harvey’s to finish fixing a couple of major problems.  He continues to surprise himself with his ability to figure out what needs to be fixed and how to fix things that he has never seen or done before.  He has also been exchanging many emails with people back in the states to help diagnose problems both with the big generator here that hasn’t worked in over 2 years and the x-ray machine that is sorely needed here at the hospital.

Language learning has been slow going for Michael and I, but we are still learning.  I am beginning to understand the French that members of our team from Canada speak.  The Congolese French will take a little longer but I am getting there.  I can now have a very basic conversation and I understand about every 3rd word someone says, which makes me dangerous I think.  I am understanding enough to get only part of a conversation which makes for lots of confusion on my part and others if I respond wrong.  I pray for the day where I can understand our church services here all the way.

Michael has been doing school for a bit now and is really enjoying it still.  I never thought he would actually like school.  He has also taken on the task, totally without any provocation from us, to start a garden.  He is still digging out the area and will start planting things sometime in the next 2 weeks.  It is a very slow going process if you are big and strong here. Michael is still growing, has improper tools to do the job, and is only 11, well almost 12, to boot!  He has been enjoying having a task to do that will hopefully benefit the family in time.

Now that we have a working stove in our house I am really enjoying cooking.  With Rachel back I have enjoyed cooking a bit more and look forward to dinner each evening. Most of you know me well enough to know that cooking is what keeps me relaxed and sane.  We have hired a young man (named Chapi) to clean and do the marketing for me each day.  Please keep him and his family in your prayers.  He is in his late teens or maybe early 20’s and is now responsible for 5 siblings, since both of his parents have died over the last few months. He is the provider for them now.  He works very hard and I only wish I could give him a full time job to help more.  He speaks French with very, very little English so it is great practice for me each day to give him tasks to do and a shopping list. He is trying to learn English from us in the mean time so we are both challenged by him coming each day.

Having Rachel back here is really nice.  She really has become part of our family.  She picks on Michael like a big sister, Art picks on her like a big brother and I get to cook for her and enjoy having a woman around.  She brings fun and laughter into our house right now while we still find life difficult and confusing most days.  She is from Canada and is a French speaker so she also gives us lots of help with our French as well as laughs with us at our mistakes.  She also has brought us many treats from home we are all enjoying the chocolate, cheese, pepperoni and gum she brought back with her.

We have also made a decision.  Notice I said we?  We hope, Lord willing, to come home next summer for 3 or 4 months to visit with family, get many things that still remain there that we would like to have here and celebrate Michael’s 13th birthday with family.  We see the need to be renewed and encouraged by everyone there.  While life isn’t so hard that we really need the break so much we will fall apart without it, we still would be recharged and strengthened by a visit home. Not to mention we really miss pizza, McDonalds french fries, and ice cream!  I am sure many of you are wondering what other things could we possibly need to bring with us; we sent things on a container and 14 pieces of luggage came with us when we left in May.  When we packed we left many things behind we didn’t think we would need, and we were wrong.  We would also like to get some bigger tools that Art has stored ready for the next shipping container. We don’t have any idea when that would be but the time home will be used to get things ready for it, so that all someone will have to do is get them to the container for us when the time comes.

Many of you have asked how we are doing support-wise.  We are at a stand still there, or even maybe going backwards, depending on how you look at it.  When we left we knew we had enough money pledged in monthly support and in our account to stay here one year.  Since leaving we have not gained any more support, so each month we watch our account get smaller, but know that we are here in the Lord’s will and remain here as long as it is His continuing will for us.  Please help us keep our needs in prayer as we explore our next steps in remaining here.

Please remember to email us often.  We love to hear news from home and still want to be praying for each of you.  We are able to pick up our emails a few times a week and try to answer things as quickly as we can. The only place to really email anything from is the hospital, so there are times where it may take longer than others.  For those with good internet access, if you would like the opportunity to “chat” online with us you can find us on Facebook or Skype. Our Skype account name is art.ralston (remember to ask who you are talking to as it could be any one of us).  If you are able to connect with a microphone we can actually speak directly to you for free.  The calls that we have made home to many of you have been wonderful and made us all feel more able to be at home here.

Once again we thank you all for your prayers and your messages to us. We are only here through your prayers and through the Lord’s will in our lives.  Be looking for our new update formats in the next one!

Hello to all of you!

It’s almost October, and we can hardly believe how the time has passed. We sit here, in the perpetual summer weather, missing the beautiful fall weather that some of you are enjoying back home in western NY. On one hand, it doesn’t seem possible that it’s already fall. On the other hand… what fall? It would be wonderful to see the changing leaves and feel the mild, crisp fall air. Endless summer has its own set of benefits, too. We’ll be okay, but it does make us a little sad to think about it.

School is back in full-swing again for Michael (and Danielle). We have found that he is not quite ready to handle 10th grade math, so we are reviewing 9th grade math this year. It’s not  like he doesn’t have a little room for taking a break. Without the daily struggle in math, everything else seems to be going very well. Unfortunately, because of my work situation at the hospital, I haven’t been able to have Michael spend the time with me that I thought I would. I already have 4 guys looking to my lead, so I don’t have the extra time to spend with him, or the extra space (with the others already looking over my shoulders). Also, because Michael is a self-learner, Danielle is not tied to his schedule; she has a bit of free time right now.

The boat finally came into Impfondo on September 7th. That meant that Danielle’s oven was finally here from Brazzaville. It only took about 6 weeks longer than expected. In that time, we heard a million stories about when the boat would arrive. Every day was a different tale of where the boat is today. I think they were almost all incorrect. We purchased 2 ovens from Volunteers of America that were sent on the last container, that came from TN. It arrived in Congo last August, and then its contents were shipped by truck (like pick-up, not tractor-trailer) to Brazzaville, where they sat in storage at “Hotel Bravo”, Global Outreach Mission’s base of operations there. We pawed through everything that was still there when we arrived in May, and set aside what needed to come on the next boat to Impfondo. In the time that lapsed (the extra 6 weeks), we ran out of gas for the stove, and the town power station was out of gas to generate electricity. The stores were getting a little more bare than usual, as well.

We made it through the waiting period (it was rough), and now Danielle has a nice, shiny, American oven! After swapping ovens at 4 houses, the new ones were all hooked up. Our stove top works great, but the oven was broken. It’s gas, but it’s pilot-less ignition. There’s no knob for the oven, but you use electronic buttons to control it (the heat is still gas). Inside the oven, it has 2 burners; one under to bake, and one above to broil. The broiler worked fine, but not the baking burner. If you know Danielle, you know that is a big problem. In addition to the burner failure, our battery wouldn’t put out enough juice to get the thing going anyway.

The first step was to buy a new battery for the solar system. We kept the old one (still good) and tied the new one to it, to double the amp output. This morning, I swapped out the igniter (built-in thermocouple) from the broiler. Now it works like a charm. I am hoping to get something nice as a reward for my labor, like a cake!

My work at the hospital has been a mixed bag of rewards and frustration. In the last month, I have really begun to feel settled-in as far as my job. I have repaired a few tools, machines, and bicycles. That is rewarding, to feel that I am making a difference there. I’ve also had the joy of being able to identify the problems  with the x-ray machine, large generator (with a little help from another missionary, via e-mail), and 2 tractors. I know that all machines basically operate the same way, but it is a relief to know that I am capable of repairing an x-ray machine! That one had me worried. Then, there’s the down-side: even though I know how to fix all this stuff, now I need to get the parts to do it. Just as an example, the John Deere tractor has been out of commission since the middle of June. It has a bad o-ring in the hydraulic pump. Oil was shooting out like a garden hose. It took all of 15 minutes to find and remove the old part. I am still waiting for the replacement to come from the states. I think that the Harveys will be bringing the solutions to many problems with them when they arrive at the end of next month. I sure hope so, anyway. Please pray that the Lord will make it possible for all of the necessary parts to make it back with them.

I hate to run on and make these updates so long, but there is so much stuff to tell you! The boat also carried many of the tools that I had sent ahead on the container. While the hospital has some tools, there really weren’t that many, and nothing beats using the tools you are used to. Seeing my favorite tools (sorry ladies, it’s a guy thing) come off the boat went a long way toward my settling it at work. It gave me the motivation to get going on some of the bigger projects that I was hesitating to get into. This week, I hope to get the Land Rover up and running, or at least get the problem figured out and call for parts.

As a family, we are feeling settled here in Congo. There are many things that we miss about home every day, but this is where we are. God is using us here, and so it’s all good. I think anywhere can begin to feel like home, if you let it. We’ll never be Congolese, but living here is okay. We would really like to come back to the US next summer if we can, but it’s not because we need a break. If we are going to be here long-term, there are still a lot more things that we would like to bring back with us. And, of course, we would love the opportunity to eat a little pizza and ice cream!

Thank you all so much for your prayers. Thank you for your support, your e-mails, calls, and even pictures on Facebook. We’ve been trying to call many of you, but some people are just never home! Maybe now that fall is here, we will be able to nab a few more of you on a Saturday morning. In the mean time, thanks for being part of this with us. We love and miss all of you.

Here we are, in the heart of the rainy season. Things are even slower now than normal around here. When the rain comes, life stops. There are always a handful of small things that can be done in the mechanic shop and the wood shop, so work doesn’t completely stop. The motivation for the workers (and sometimes attendance) is definitely affected, though. Our team is also short in attendance, since the only foreign missionaries here (beyond ourselves) numbers 2. In a couple of weeks, that will drop to 1 for a short while.

I think we are getting used to life here, whether we necessarily like it or not. There are obviously things that we miss about home, and there are things that go on here that we find rather annoying. Some of that is cultural, and some of it is… well, I guess it can almost all be attributed to the cultural differences. People here are loud. All the time. Even though the house sits back a good 150 feet from the road, you can hear every conversation as people walk by. Of course, we don’t understand any of it, but we hear it all, none the less. Almost always, it’s Lingala. We have decided that Lingala isn’t really worth taking the time to learn.

I speak in French all day, every day. I’m not always sure how good my French is, but they seem to understand just fine, and I do get compliments often at how good it is. I tend to think they’re just being nice. In addition to work at the hospital each day, I am giving English lessons 2 evenings a week to a small group (2-5, depending on weather and schedules), for one hour each night. In exchange, Danielle is getting help with her French from the students. Having to remember things like demonstrative pronouns and past participles and then explaining them in French is also helping my grasp of the French language. So, it’s a good thing all the way around.

Michael is picking up a bit of French as well as Lingala, from playing with the neighborhood kids and talking with the guards at the house. I don’t think he even realizes that he is, and that’s just fine. If he caught on that he was learning something, who knows what he would do! He is at the point where he translates for Danielle at the market, and he can have small conversations with people. He sounds like a Congolese when he does it, too. Like them, he goes back and forth between French and Lingala as he speaks. I think they just know both and so it’s easy to do. For Michael, it’s the only way he can string enough words together to get his idea out.

We’ve received a lot of e-mails from many of you lately, and it’s always wonderful to hear from you. We check e-mail at least once a day, and it’s disappointing when there isn’t anything new. Also, we have learned that our Skype account (telephone calling on the computer) allows us to call anyone in the US or Canada for 2 cents a minute! Since our account originates in the states, and we are on the internet (which has no geographic locality), it’s like we are still there as far as Skype is concerned. Last Saturday we had some spare time in the afternoon (your morning), and we made a handful of calls. It was great to talk to friends and family for a bit. We made a few calls that missed people, so next time be home! I think we will attempt to do that as often as we can spare the time on Saturday afternoons. Of course, that might not be more than twice a month.

Each of you are in our thoughts and prayers, and we hope to hear from you and get updates so that we can be current and effective in our prayers. Thank you for your continued prayers. Thank you for your support. Thank you for the e-mails. Until we meet again in cyberspace…

God bless!
Art, Danielle & Michael

P.S. Our Skype account name is art.ralston

P.P.S. If you would like to read some of Danielle’s personal journal entries about are trip here and life here please go to www.goingmissionary.blogspot.com

Hello everyone!

Is it really August already? I can imagine picnics, swimming pools, and fun things like that. Here, August has a little different of a theme to it. July is the month of the caterpillar. Millions of them are harvested from the jungle, and I guess they are then smoked, roasted, or whatever it is that they do with caterpillars. Now, in August, they are all over the place for sale. August is caterpillar-eating season. Frankly, I think I’ll stick with burgers and hot dogs (when we are in the states, that is).

The presidential elections went on with no violence or disruptions to report. Thank God for that. We were a little concerned with the warnings coming from Brazzaville that there were demonstrations and protests going on. Here, we saw military carrying machine guns (not the usual) and we had trouble sleeping at night with all of the campaigning going on in the street. Other than those few things, life was pretty normal (at least what we think is normal so far). Evacuation plans had been formed, but thankfully there was no reason to worry.

Things have been moving along at the hospital. We are working on renovating four buildings at the moment (a Sunday School room, a boutique for selling items to raise money for the hospital, the nursing school, and administration for that school. As soon as we are done, there are other buildings to renovate as well as the constant rotation of failing equipment that we repair daily. Then, there is the question of housing for the soon-growing missionary team here (as well as housing for short-term teams). No obvious solution has presented itself thus far.

Now that the elections are over, Danielle and Michael are back to going to the hospital a few days a week to help out with some inventory stuff in the pharmacy. They also get on the internet and check e-mails and Facebook. Michael is getting ahead a little on his school, and we are hoping that we can get him involved in some small projects around here soon. Danielle is anxiously waiting for her ship to come in. Actually, it’s the boat that’s due here next weekend from Brazzaville. It has her oven on it (and most of the rest of my tools), and she can hardly wait to get cooking again. The cook here, Serge, has also asked her for cooking lessons. I think they are both excited about that.

As a family, we can’t think of any specific prayer requests, but there are always things at the hospital to keep in prayer. Please pray that the nursing staff will be more aware of the level of care that they are providing to the patients. Laziness and an apparent lack of care are perpetual problems here that could cost the life of a patient. Also, please pray for the Lord’s provision of other doctors to help fill in the gap while Dr. Harvey is on furlough, until October. There was a doctor here for 2 weeks, from Kenya. She left on Thursday. Now, Dr. Fuka is the only doctor at the hospital. The load he is carrying right now is quite a lot for one guy to be responsible for. Pray for his strength, as well as his ability to be there for his family, and for others to come and serve alongside him.

Many have asked for our current support level: to stay here 2 years we still need $700 a month.  We have enough funds to stay for a year plus our return flight costs.  To stay for 4 years (our original plan), we need $1,300 per month, our total monthly support need is $2,820.  We know the Lord is taking care of all of our needs and are blessed beyond measure by the support we have already received.

Thank you for all of your prayers and support. If you get the time and the urge, we’d love to hear from you (e-mail is good)! We hope to get the time to start sending more personal e-mails soon. We miss all of you!

Together for the Kingdom,
Art, Danielle, & Michael Ralston

P.S.  Oh yeah people have asked for our birth dates and Anniversary date:
Art 2/16
Danielle 1/9
Michael 10/15/97
Our Anniversary 2/2/94
–
Art, Danielle & Michael Ralston
Your Missionaries to Republic of Congo, Impfondo (since June 2, 2009)

www.laborersfortheharvest.com
www.goingmissionary.blogspot.com