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January 22, 2010

Crazy Busy

I really do try and keep up with this blog, but life has a way, of getting in the way.

Things are going well here, though it has been really crazy with all the arrivals of short-term missionaries over the last 2 weeks. We now have a pediatrician, a ultra-sound tech, a Physicians Assistant, a ER Nurse and a second set of hands for Art. In 2 weeks we will be getting another Dr then 2 weeks after that yet another Dr. It is amazing to see the team growing so quickly. We got a couple of AWESOME answers to prayer this week too. Rachel is leaving in April and her position really needed to be filled. The woman we were hoping to have come has been praying for a long time about it and made the step in faith to come here as soon as her support is raised. Her name is Monique so please pray that she will raise her support quickly and arrive here in time to be trained by Rachel before she leaves. The Marsh family has also been given the go ahead to come!!! We can't wait to have more of our LaGrange family here in Congo with us. Of course that means we need to finish their house ASAP.

The new PA is now part of our family. As most of you know we have an apartment that is attached to the end of our house. Rachel lives there now and Joan has also moved in. It is fun to have people around all the time and helping her to settle into life here is rewarding as well as entertaining. It is also nice to be the ones helping instead of needing help. I think I have finally figured out most of the cooking here. I don't have as many hmmm well that doesn't work with the ingredients here moments. I have to admit though I will enjoy not having to make bread everyday when we are home in June. I will love going to the store to buy things rather than making them. I will have to be careful not to gain back all the weight I have lost. Ok so you want to know how much I lost. I am grossed out to think when I got here I weighed 220 and a size 18/20 I am now down to 155 and a size 10/12, I can't believe I have lost 65 lbs!!!! I am continuing to loose weight, so pray that I will be down to a very healthy size when I get home even if not too skinny so I have room to enjoy food while I am there.

We are starting to try and get some speaking dates while we are back. We fly home from here on June 20th and will arrive at Dullas International in Va on June 21st at 7:15 am. We are not sure if we will get in a car (after getting a shower somewhere) and head to NY or if we will stay with our supporters at Mt. Hope in Va for a bit then head home. We will just have to wait and see what the Lord works out for us. Why are we heading home you ask? Well as most everyone knows we are not fully supported, we were given the go ahead to come here based on what was in our account divided up over a year. We were hopping to stay for 2 years our first term but the Lord had other plans. When we arrive home our account will be all but empty. So we will try and not live on anything (other than the kindness of our friends and family) while in the states so that we can build our account up as quickly as we can and come back here. We hope to be back in Congo by October. We are in need of $950 more per month to cover our expenses but we are praying for a $1250 increase so that we can help cover some more of the expenses that will come with living in and hosting the guest house that will be built this year. Our team is growing here so much that we need to build a guest house and we will be the hosting family.

We are doing great as a family. Michael is still really enjoying school and flying through it. Art is as busy as every fixing everything and anything that comes his way. I am working with Dr. Joe coordinating short term and long term missionaries and all the communications that go along with that, being a host/cook/tour guide for short-termers staying at the mission housing complex and trying to help out in any other way I can as well as homeschooling with Claire and Isabelle for a couple of classes a day.

Please continue to pray for us as a family and as a team. There is still fighting going on across the river and while we are safe that could change at a moments notice. We continue to pray for all of you back in the states and look forward to hearing from you. Please send me emails to let me know how you are doing, dralston@laborersfortheharvest.com

1 comments:

Anastasia said...

hey good to hear you are doing well, we are still praying for you here.

baking bread is actually one of the things I miss here, the propane tanks are too expensive to bake every day. Do you have what you would need to use the artisan bread in 5 minutes a day recipe? It's one i like to use.... http://www.theweek.com/article/index/38841/Recipe_of_the_Week_The_worlds_two_easiest_breads
...bottom of the page, use 3 cups of water not 4.
their site has lots of ideas for variations and a new whole grain and gluten free recipe. (http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/)