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