End of Summer Update

It's time for a long overdue update!

Mission Team- May 2010

1.Transitions:
Our theme this summer seems to be good-byes.   As we began the summer, we had already seen Sarah Speer go to Canada for medical leave and said good-bye to Suzy Lardner as she returned to the US.  Siko and Delphine Bambemba had left for a 6 month home assignment.

Shortly after our trip to Spain, the Harvey family left for their year of home assignment in the US.  We found out that the Marsh family would need to take unexpected medical leave as well.

Now with Melanie Madinga on a six week break, Laura Foudy and the Samoutou family attending conferences, we find ourselves the only missionaries here for the first time.  This has meant many long days, but it is just temporary.

2.  Medical Work:
Stephen has stayed busy (as always!)  We are always short staffed at the hospital, and there are many needs.  You can see examples of some of the patients we've had recently in the posts Another Random Saturday Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

3. Family:
We started school at the end of July.  We have finished seven weeks now!  We are doubling up on some of our subjects since we will have a transition in the middle of the school year.

You can see our family blog Montana Wegners for more updates on the kids.

Mission Team January 2011

4. Spiritual:
It can be easy to be consumed with the overwhelming medical needs and forget the spiritual needs here in Impfondo.  Stephen has been giving a morning devotional to the staff once or twice a week, and preaching at the Sunday morning service once a month.

His puppet ministry has continued each Sunday morning after church for those children who cannot attend church.  He is also continuing to disciple one of the nurses in the mornings.

Stephen has been visiting each of the hospital employees on Sunday afternoons with our hospital chaplain.  They finished the last few people this past Sunday.  It was a good opportunity to connect with the employees away from the hospital, spend some time together and listen to their concerns.

We were able to host training sessions for counseling victims of trauma.   Those doing the sessions spoke very positively about our hospital employees who attended.  There are so many victims of trauma in this area, and currently there is little help available to help them process their experiences.

The Lingala version of the Jesus film is being shown one Friday night a month in our chapel.  Now more people can hear the gospel in a language they can understand.

In the past, there has been a shortage of Lingala Bibles.  The Harveys were able to arrange a purchase and transportation to Brazzaville, but the Bibles had not made it to Impfondo.  Just this week, the boat finally made it to Impfondo with around 1,000 Lingala Bibles.  Now more people have a chance to read the Bible in a language they can understand.

Mission Team September 2012

5. Future Plans:
We are starting to talk about dates for our return to the US at the beginning of 2013.  Currently, we are planning to arrive in the US mid-February 2013.