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!