Sabbath

I just wanted to write an ask you to pray for us - we've had a rough
day... It started out with Kel being sick. He was sick yesterday as
well. We've had a cold/flu bug going around and it seems to last a day
or so. Cherise had it first and then I had it Wed and felt a bit better
Thurs, but not top notch. Then Kel wasn't feeling great yesterday and
worse this morning. So, since Gary is gone, Josie and I were going to
still go to Dabgue and have Sabbath School with the kids. I can't drive
out there - the sand is really deep and so I went to pick up Frederick.
He can drive us and then translate for us, so that works out well. Josie
was excited to tell a story to the children and had felts picked out and
everything. So, I got to Frederick's house and we all got on and started
out, and he had only gone a short ways when he looked back and stopped -
the back tire was low. It had been flat yesterday and Kel and Lassimb
patched it. So, I don't know if the patch didn't hold or what. So,
Frederick's house is near the hospital so he told me to park it there
and he will fix it tomorrow. So I did, but since we were there I figured
we might as well go to church. I wanted to let Josie know though that I
wouldn't be back to get her, but I didn't have my phone with me, since I
thought I would be right back, so I didn't have their phone number. So,
the man who works for Rich and Anne was here and his brother is a nurse
at the hospital, so I walked to his house and asked him to call his
brother and have him tell Josie I had a problem with the motorcycle. I
didn't know how much Kel and Josie would understand, but at least they
wouldn't be so worried. Then Cherise and I went to church. After church
I stopped by a little apartment that the student missionaries are using
to hang out and cook food for the malnourished babies (they live with
local families) to borrow a water bottle and then we were going to walk
home. On the way out though I looked at the tire and it didn't look any
flatter, so I called Phillip (on of the SMs) and asked him to come look
at it and see if it would be ok for me to drive it home. I didn't really
want to walk home in the sun and I wasn't sure if Cherise would make it
the whole way. He thought it would be fine, so we just rode the bike home.

We got home and Josie was wondering what had happened to us. They
figured out we had a problem with the moto, but that was about it. Kel
was still resting and didn't want to come eat, so Josie was going to
take him a plate of food when we got done. We fixed a salad and were
almost finished eating when my phone rang. It was Phillip. He said, "The
girls were using the pressure cooker and it exploded and they got
burned. Can you come with some cream? Do you have any?" He said it so
calmly, I thought he was kidding. I knew he knew that my tire was flat
too though, so it took me a couple seconds to process. No, he wasn't
kidding. "Ok, I'll be right down." I told Josie and Cherise and ran into
the bedroom to get the silvadine cream. It is the best stuff for burns
and some doctors who were here last year left a whole container with me.
I knew just where it was too because I had this huge box full of meds
and toiletries and I kept needing stuff in there and it was a real pain
to find anything. So just the other day I took all the meds out and had
them all over the whole room. Thurs night I decided that I had to clean
all that up or I wouldn't get it done before Sabbath, so I knew exactly
where it was. Then I ran outside, grabbed the generator and compressor
from the shed and pumped up my tire. Josie ran and grabbed their tire
gage for me, which was a big blessing because I wouldn't have known how
much to fill it and wouldn't have filled it enough. Then Cherise and I
jumped on the bike and went. As soon as Cherise heard, she wouldn't let
me go without her - she LOVES those girls and she really is a little
nurse in the making. She loves to take care of people, so I didn't have
the heart to make her stay.

I drove as fast as I dared since the sooner you apply the cream the
better. Phillip was there to open the gate at the hosital compound and
said, "It's pretty bad - they are crying and stuff." I ran in and they
were just getting out of the shower. The phone was ringing and it was
Emily's father who is a family practice MD. I talked to him as I was
assessing the burns and Shadae (SP?), the English girl who is a med
student and I started lathering on the cream. Alex is burned on her
forhead and left side of her face and both shoulders. Her left ear was
bothering her the most and she can't hear well out of it (must have
damaged the ear drum?). But thankfully she doesn't seem to have many
blisters, so I'm very thankful for that. Emily is burned the worst all
under her left arm and shoulder and neck and spots on her back. She also
has some on the left side of her face as well. Her arm is quite
blistered, but thankfully I don't think she will blister on her face
either. Man, the poor girls! It is really going to hurt for a long time.
I don't think it will be serious as long as we can keep it from getting
infected, but it is going to be a rough couple weeks and they leave for
the US in just two weeks. So, please keep them in your prayers. They are
going to come here and stay with me after it gets dark - they can't put
shirts on very well, and we don't want the sun to get them any more as
well, so thus the reason for waiting after dark! They can cover
themselves African fashion and wrap material around them. Then I can
feed and take care of them and hopefully it will be cleaner than their huts.

So, I finally left them to bring Cherise home for a nap and we went over
to get the house key from Josie and she said, "The water has a funny
smell, have you smelled it?" I did think I caught a whiff of something
last night in the shower, so she gave me a cup - yep - we have another
rat in the well!! Thankfully Kel is feeling a bit better, so he and
Lassimb will try to find it before night and get it out and then we can
charcoal or bleach over night...Will this day never end??? I sure hope
this one is easier than the last.

Love to all,
Wendy

Sun Morning update:

Well, I didn't get a chance to send this yesterday, so just wanted to
let you know that we got the bat (it wasn't a rat) out of the water
tower and while he was up there Kel cleaned out the muck too. Then we
let some water flow through it and then let it sit with bleach for the
night, so we will drain that now and then hopefully it will be good.

The girls came last night and were in much better spirits. I was afraid
they wouldn't sleep well and Emily was awake quite a bit, but then got
some good sleep toward morning. Alex took a while to get to sleep but
then slept pretty well, so that's a blessing. Emily's blisters under her
arm are growing and growing. I thought they would pop in the night...

Thanks for keeping them in prayer!
Love,
Wendy