Greetings from the other side of the pond (for most of you), I can’t believe that it’s March. Where has the time gone? If you think time passes too quickly at home, you should try coming here for a bit. It seems like days should take longer at the equator, but there must be some sort of a time-warp phenomenon that occurs here in Congo. As many of you are already aware, that means that our June 20th departure for the USA is coming up very rapidly.

These past few weeks have found us in a whirlwind of tasks with short deadlines. Danielle has been busily corresponding with new arrivals (short and long-term), nearly all of whom are set to arrive in Brazzaville on the 29-31st of March. There are so many details to work out, beginning with housing. Please keep the Marsh family in your prayers over the next month, as they make their rounds saying goodbye to everyone back home and prepare to come here to serve long-term (they leave from NY on the 29th ). Please also keep our construction team in prayer as we try to get their house completed before they get here! That’s where I have been busy. We were able to get a shell of a building that stands on the mission housing compound, so that we can turn it into a house. Now, the race against the clock is on, and we are making progress daily. I only pray that it will be finished before the end of the month. It looks possible and, with the Lord’s help, I believe it can happen.

Once again, God has placed a person here at just the right time to fill a new need that wasn’t there when they arrived with us. As I have mentioned before, God’s perfect timing strikes again. Steve and Peggy Briggs came here for 2 and a half months, in the middle of January. She is a nurse, and he is just one of those all-round handy guys (not medical).

There was plenty for Peggy to do, but I had only one big job that I was saving till he got here. It took us a little over 2 days to do that. All of a sudden, we learned that the Marshes were coming at the end of March, and there was no place to house them. Steve’s help has been indispensable in preparing their house. He has helped with brick work, concrete work, plumbing, and I’m not sure what other things. Praise the Lord for providing him, even though we had no idea we’d need him!

We are trying not to think too much about coming home because there is so much to do here. It’s hard though; there is so much good food we miss! Oh yeah, and people, too. Sorry about that! I feel like I can’t leave; there is so much work to be done! It almost feels like the list gets longer every time I get a job done. I never realized just how big of a job this was going to be, but it’s not a bad thing. It keeps me busy, and I like that.Michael is doing very well. He has been doing better with school this year than ever before! He is becoming even more independent in his learning, as well as getting taller and more mature. Just about every other day he changes his mind whether or not he wants to go home. I think that being here has been really good for him.

Please praise God along with us!

Prayer Requests:

Continuing Wisdom in repairs for Art
Preparation for Leaving the field Well
Grace in our continuing adaptation to a full team here
Marsh Family’s arrival end of March
Support Needs
Travel home in Summer 2010

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!