Of course, the biggest event in our lives since last November was Heidi Jean's birth! Crystal was 2 1/2 weeks overdue before Heidi finally arrived. |
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Though a little later than anticipated, Heidi came very nicely into the world. |
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In her first couple of days following birth, we noticed she seemed to smile very easily. Within her first month, she was very actively smiling at anyone who would try to amuse her. |
By April (4 months), she was very good at standing on her own two feet (with a little balancing help from Mom, Dad or big sister). |
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And she was starting to figure out how this "sitting up" thing goes. |
So... what has been happening on the hospital project?
One exciting ministry taking place for a few months was an English class at the hospital site. Loretta Eisbrenner was the first to get it going in November, and it very quickly took off. Within weeks, dozens of students were regularly attending the class.
Salem van der Swaagh, who came for 6 weeks in January and February, took over the class after Lauretta's departure, and the students' enthusiasm was incredible. Even Impfondo's military chief was faithfully attending and would stop his chauffeured SUV along the street to greet and chat with "my teacher" whenever he saw her.
Sadly, this ministry has (for now, anyway) come to an end until the day that more missionaries with both a heart for teaching English and with time to be able to do it might come to Impfondo. |
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Late in November, the hospital's Kubota tractor had a major transmission failure. One of its power take off gears somehow experienced a catastrophic failure, resulting in the destruction of most of its teeth. This in turn destroyed a number of the teeth in the gear it ran against, and all the shrapnel, vibration and excessive forces caused damage to a number of other parts in the transmission. |
It wasn't my fault, Daddy! (THIS time!) |
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Fortunately, Rob Eisbrenner, a very experienced motorcycle mechanic from Canada, and Jay, a mechanical engineer who has many times torn down malfunctioning tractors with his father on the farm, were around at the time. |
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