MIC (missing in communication)

Fortunately we are not missing in action just missing in communication.
Since our last post in (dare i say it ) the beginning of July we have been busy and have missed opportunities to communicate to you. For that we ask your forgiveness.

First a summary of what's been happening with us.
From a communications standpoint we've been handicapped by two events in August. One is the death of the hospital's modem for satellite internet. This left us for the month of August without a way of mass communication. We let some of you know but for the rest of you we apologize. The other event was we had a malfunction with our main laptop computer. Apparently the video processor is melted and now we cannot access anything on the computer. We are grateful to some tech savvy fellow missionaries who confirmed the diagnosis for us. In response to the former we have purchased a cellular modem that is slow and charges by the minute so we will not be uploading a lot of picts for you to see and we ask that you do not try to send us attachments or forwards as well. We will also try to get the laptop back the states for repair as well.

From a family standpoint: The children stopped school in July and August and will start up again in October. However Anna has been tricky and is doing some "learning activities" during that time to keep up with the structure of school. They also have had some fun doing some biking trips and other outings as well. Currently we are on a bit of a vacation in the port city of Congo called Pointe Noire. We are enjoying the hospitality of some friends with the CMA here. We have eaten chocolate, drunk diet coke, played, bought toys (with money from chores and the AW in the RMD), gone to the beach, relaxed, and generally enjoyed ourselves. We will be returning to Impfondo in 3 days. Then in October, school will start back again.

From the hospital standpoint: In August Dr. Harvey left for the states to see his oldest off to college and so Dr Fuka, a short term physicians assistant and I held down the fort at the hospital. We stayed pretty busy during the whole month with not a lot of time off for relaxing and recharging. During that time we lost 3 people to HIV and 4 children died as well. So our planned vacation to Pointe Noire came at a very good time.

With that summary you can discern some prayer requests for yourselves but we would like to highlight some for you as well.
1. Travels
2. School starting in October again
3. the goals that i shared in an earlier post
4. Our internet situation
5.Our computer situation
6. Continued improvement in team unity and communication


thanks again for praying with and for us. Thanks for all who remained faithful in prayer despite the fact that we weren't communicating well with you.

Communication

Thanks for all of you who continue to come along side of us with prayer, moral, logistical, and financial partnering to help us further the this radical goofiness that is the good news of Jesus. We have had a busy month in July. I am going to talk about two areas of semiurgent needs from us. See the bold type and follow that up with a wrap up of prayer requests and where God's been working.

I need some help in two areas .
One is with the communication support aspect of our partnership though. I am looking for volunteers to help get these words to people who do not use computers but who attend a church that you attend. This maybe printing them off for a bulletin board post once a month or just giving them to people you know in your church who exceed in the area of prayer.

An illustration of this need is a lady in E KY named Peggy Manchini who has been serving God for a lot of years and who now spends a lot of her time praying. My parents will fill her in on our needs as they hear of them and she prays for us. She is a huge part of our team but if not for my parents she would not know how to pray effectively for us.

The second is for speaking engagements.
If you are in the eastern United States and would like us to speak at your church in August we need to know within 5-6 days so we can plan the next months of whereabouts for us. Also
So I hope you see the need.

If you are in Montana or points between MT and KY and would like us to visit your church we are traveling out to MT either the middle or end of August and will stay there through a good protion of September. Please let us know if we can come along with your church and partner with you to spread the word about us, IFAP, God's goodness etc.

IF you want to help out with these just send me an email at swegn001@gmail.com and let me know. This would also encourage Anna and I greatly as well.

Now for updates.

TRAVEL: We have been to Hazard KY, Lewisport KY, Chattanooga TN, Lewisport KY and now we are back in Hazard KY. We plan to be in WV this weekend then back to Chattanooga TN and Lewisport KY. After that we are planning to get to MT in September but see above for details. Thank God for travelin mercys so far and pray for contninued.

SPEAKING: We had a good week at Camp NAthanael, and we also enjoyed our visit at Hunter Memorial and Augst 9th we will be speaking at a C&MA church in Louisville KY. Please pray for that and for more engagements as well.

FAMILY: Praise God our family is doing well. Ian was ill for a couple days this week but we've enjoyed relaxing times and good visits with family

FINANCES: I was able to work some the month of July and will work some more the month of August. I am also trying to secure work in Browning while we are there. I am doing this to offset our living expenses here so as to not to dip into what people have given as gifts for our ministry. We also have recieved some more promised financial support and are about 1,ooo/mo away from being able to go for 3 years, and we are about 2,500/mo away from a more longterm support level. Please continue to pray that God will raise up people to partner with us in this area and prayerfully consider doing so.

Thanks again for praying with us.

Stephen