Update: Passports

They're here. We received the kids passports in the mail yesterday. Now we are ready to hit the road... OK, maybe not, but we have one detail ready to go!

The Waiting Place

"Did I ever tell you how lucky you are?" by Dr. Seuss is one of my favorite books. In one spot the main character ends up in "the waiting place" where everyone is just waiting. This comes as a shock to him after he was moving so fast before.

That is kinda how we feel right now. We got the paperwork off to Quebec and are waiting for it to come through. We got the paperwork for passports off and are waiting for it to come through. I sent out emails tonight to local C&MA pastors and are waiting for them to come back to see if we will be able to speak before we leave. We are waiting to see what happens with a potential adoption as well.

So in all that waiting we are preparing. We put two new page elements down at the bottom. One is our doctrinal statement....pretty straightforward and the other is how to give if you so choose. I am taking an internet class on international medicine, and Anna is facing the daunting task of packing. We are both looking for people to help with childrens church and both continue with our regular duties.
Thanks for reading our post and if you get a chance read the Dr. Seuss book (no matter how old you are) and see what happens next.

Why the R.O.C?

Some of you have asked why the Republic of Congo (ROC)?
Well the answer lies in two areas:
#1. Anna and I really wanted to get involved in a medical mission operation that was relatively young. We feel comfortable yet challenged by the opportunities that such a situation presents. When we were looking at different sites from Pakistan to Niger most of the sites were well established. The one other that was not was in Guinea West Africa, and after some prayer and guidance from the Holy Spirit we felt the ROC was the place to be.

#2. The second part of the answer is that we were simply aware of the need there. The FP and his family who are actually spearheading the movement are good friends of ours. We met them in Gabon on a short term mission trip we were taking to see if God wanted us to be his servants overseas. In keeping in touch with them we discovered that they were a couple that we could interact and coexist with and that we shared some of the same passions. This falls under the heading of what God does when you are simply willing to follow Him.

Some prayer items

Here are some prayer items for you consider.
Thanks


Praise:
Central Bible Church's hospitality
Opportunity for adoption
Acceptance into Parole de Vie French language immersion school

Prayer
Adoption proceedings
Quick arrival of passports for the children
Quick approval from Quebec for our request to study there
More opportunities to get the message out about our vision
Safety in transitions

Slideshows

These two slide shows were not put together by me but by Dr. Harvey and another member of the missionary team. I thought everyone might like to see some picts from the Pioneer Christian Hospital. Since a picture is worth a thousand words and there are about 80 picts between the two slideshows......well you get the picture.

| View | Upload your own

| View | Upload your own

Things to come on this site

Hey, I know this site is pretty bare but more is coming so don't stop checking

Things to come include:
a running prayer and praise list
a fund raising amount
how to give to our mission
How to contact us
our statement of faith
picts of the ROC
potentially a FAQ section
links to other mission sites

So hang in there and we will get it up and running!!!

Thanks Central Bible Church

Our missions deputation got off to a good start tonight. I had asked our good friends Jeff and Emmy to speak to their church's mission committee about speaking at their church later this year and they instead invited us to come and speak this Sunday.

I worked fairly feverishly Thursday and Friday night to get something ready. I was assisted Thursday by our youngest child who shall remain nameless until 1am.

They were very gracious host and the word of Jeff and Emmy must count for something there because they pretty much let me just get up and speak.

I will try and post my ppt presentation soon, but it's mostly pictures.

Praise God and thanks to the Central Bible Church of Kalispell MT.

The Republic of Congo

The Republic of Congo (aka the ROC)

If you are at this site its because you probably want to know more about the Wegners plans in the Republic of Congo. Well, there it is.
It is a country on the west coast of Africa that is about the size of Montana (oddly enough). There are 3.8 million people in the country and they are divided into around 5 ethnic groups:Kongo 48%, Sangha 20%, M'Bochi 12%, Teke 17%, Europeans and other 3%.
About 1 in every 12 children die before they reach the age of one. This ranks 24th worst in the world and is a lot higher than the United States 1 in every 150 children. In a country of 3.8 million there were 9,700 deaths from HIV the last time there were totals (2003). The current head of state is President Denis Sassou-Nguesso. He used to be a Marxist but was ousted in the 80s. He then returned in the 90s and is now more "rightward" in his overt politics. It was under his regime in the 80's that the current hospital site was started as a Communist Youth Camp. He currently overtly supports the work there in Impfondo. The issues in the ROC are similar to other nations...unequal wealth distribution, dwindling resources, and ethnic conflict. The latter affects the ROC because they are a host nation for lots of refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
This is the nation to which God is calling us currently. More posts to follow.....
ps. this is signed Anna but Stephen actually wrote it.....I promise it won't happen too much more Anna-sorry.