Fwd: Our Christmas miracle

-------- Forwarded Message --------

Subject:	Our Christmas miracle
Date:	Sat, 5 Dec 2015 06:18:07 -0500
From:	Wendy Roberts <africamedicalaviation@gmail.com>

Well, it doesn't feel like Christmas, and it doesn't seem like   Christmas, but it is December and we did have a miracle this week.    About two months or so ago on a Sabbath afternoon, we took Jason and   Cherise up to McArthur's hill. It is where the military base was where   he staged his campaign on the Philippines (although he was mostly on his   boat in the harbor in Jayapura, but anyway). Anyway, it is still a   military camp but you can go in and it's a nice place to go hang out on   Sabbath and there are some woodsy areas and you can see all of Sentani   and the airport from up there so the kids like to see the planes coming   in. So while we were up there we came upon this cute little kitten that   someone must have dropped off. The man running the little information   hut up there assured us we could have her and Jason and Cherise have a   dream to rescue all the neglected/abused animals in Papua (or at least   the ones they come across) so they really wanted this kitten. Gary   didn't resist as he was wanting a kitten to keep the population of   rodents down in the hangar. (We have a cat in the old hangar, but she   won't move to the new hangar!) So we came home with this little kitten   who was affectionately named CJ for Cherise and Jason.    Well, she really has been a sweet kitten. She follows Cherise around   like a puppy and she really loves people which you know is somewhat   unusual for a cat. She had diarrhea which I thought would just go away   but didn't so we ended up giving her flagyl for a week and she still had   it, so we changed her diet and finally had things firming up in that   area. She was also starting to gain some weight. Cherise went every   morning to let her out of the shop, one of the rooms in the hangar where   we kept her at night to keep her safe (mostly from other cats as there   are holes where the big hangar doors meet up where cats can get in and   out, or maybe from the rats that are as big as she is! Just kidding!)   and every evening to put her back inside. She spent quite a bit of time   playing with her and being a good kitten she loved to play. Cherise was   thrilled with her.    Then Wed morning Cherise went out and played with her for a while and   let her out as usual and then while we were eating breakfast Jason came   running in and said to Cherise, "Come out to the hangar quick. CJ has a   bad cut on her side. It's really bad!" Well, the kids tend to be a bit   dramatic and I never know if I will find someone with their insides   hanging out or just a little scratch and he didn't ask me to come, but I   decided to go anyway. When I got out the gate I met the kids coming to   get me. When I got in the hangar she was sitting by the back wall with a   big triangular shaped wound open all the way to the muscle, but when I   got closer, I could see and hear air going in and out of the wound - her   lung was punctured. In medical terms it's a sucking chest wound. I look   at Cherise and said, "Oh Honey, she's not going to make it!" (Big   mistake- poor Cherise was crying for the next 30 min probably!) I   started looking around for some plastic but quickly realized everything   there is dirty, so ran back to the house for seran wrap. The temporary   solution to this problem is to cover the wound with a square piece of   plastic and then tape it on 3 sides so that air cannot go into the   wound, but can escape. Then of course you rush to emergency surgery for   a chest tube! Well, I just came back with my seran wrap and held it over   the wound. I really did not expect her to live more than a few minutes.   I was surprised she was still alive! I didn't really even want to move   her, but she was just sitting there alert and awake, so eventually I   picked her up and held on one arm, but had to keep the other hand over   the wound to keep the air from getting in. Try sticking plastic to a   bunch of hair!    Well, I'll spare you the details of the whole day, but let's just say I   held her most of the day (Cherise helped some, but had a harder time   keeping her comfy and sitting still herself!) until finally in the   afternoon, I was able to put her down and she slept. She was in so much   pain that before that she wouldn't relax and sit still, but she was   weak. She also had a couple of other wounds so it was obvious a dog had   gotten her, and Jason told us that Lucy (our dog) had been out by the   hangar and he had put her back in our yard, so she is my chief suspect   as she LOVES to chase things - especially cats. So that was hard for   Cherise to get past as well, but the cruel facts of this world...Anyway,   Cherise was in tears and very distressed most of the day. I really   didn't think CJ would make it til night, but she did. So then what?   Well, Cherise just put her mattress beside her on the living room floor   and we all slept. I was pretty sure CJ wouldn't make it through the   night. (For the nurses she had nasal flaring, and crepitous up in her   neck and shoulder.) But by that time Cherise thought she was going to be   ok. I don't know why, because she was still really struggling and in so   much pain.t I was somewhat distressed by this time because Gary thought   I should try to put CJ under and shave her so I could take the plastic   on, but I was fighting getting sick and feeling lousy and how could I go   running around town and try to find this med that they probably wouldn't   give me anyway, and even if I did get it how would I shave her with a   huge razor and not get hair all in the wound! But I knew she was going   to die if I couldn't keep this wound closed. Well, by this time I had   discovered that if I wrapped the seran wrap all the way around her it   would stay closed most of the time. But since it was just laying there   technically I was hoping air could still escape (it's bad if it can't).   But since it is still hard to seal plastic on hair sometimes it would   start leaking and she would cry out in pain! So, I just couldn't handle   undertaking surgery, but I felt like I wasn't giving it my best shot.    I should mention that during all this Ruth, who is also a nurse, had   come over several times and helped reassure me that I was doing the   right thing. I was really thankful for her support because, sure it was   only a kitten, but Cherise was really upset about it, and it just ended   up being very emotionally draining! We had talked during the day about   whether we should just put her to sleep, as that was our doctor's   solution, but we couldn't bring ourselves to do it. We decided that if   we were praying for Jesus to heal her it wouldn't be showing very much   faith to put her to sleep, but it was really hard to see her suffering.   When I went to bed Cherise had left a note on my pillow that said, "Hi   Mom. I love you. I thing CJ will be ok. XOXOXOXO..." Well, I was very   touched, but I just started crying because I thought that there was no   way CJ would survive the night and she was having so much faith and she   was going to be crushed in the morning. I finally just had to leave   everything up to God - Cherise and CJ and thankfully we all slept! I   woke up in the night to go to the bathroom and decided I wasn't going to   check on CJ because I didn't want to find her dead, but then after   laying awake for a while I decided that it would be better for me to   find her then and take her away from Cherise's bed and it would be   better for me to tell her in the am than for her to find her when she   woke up. But low and behold she was still alive!    In the am she was still alive too! I forgot to mention that already she   was really stinking. To keep a wound moist and warm is the worst thing   for it, so with our seran wrap we were creating a perfect breeding   ground for infection. I ran out first thing and bought antibiotic. We   started forcing her to drink coconut water as we had given her nothing   the day before - I just didn't see the point in putting her thought more   torture, but now that she had survived the night, we were going to do   what we could. She was also cold, so got a heating pad from Ruth and   that has been her bed ever since. Thurs I would say she still wasn't   doing good, and we had to get back to school, but Cherise was diligent   in giving her coconut water and calling me when the wound would start   leaking air again.    Friday morning she was still alive and Cherise called me, "Mom, CJ just   walked from the school room into my room!" Sure enough, she followed her   all the way to my room, then to the kitchen and then back to the school   room. I was simply amazed! That seemed to have tired her out, and she   spent the rest of the day in her bed, but showed some great promise! She   still was not eating/drinking on her own, and was fighting us more with   the coconut water, but we kept going. It was obviously giving her   strength! Ruth came over and helped us clean her up some while I held   the plastic in the puncture with my finger, because the wound had been   leaking fluid this whole time which is just matting up all the hair   under the plastic. She smelled so bad we could hardly be in the same   room with her! That helped a lot and CJ actually seemed to enjoy it.   Probably felt like her mommy licking her and she even started cleaning   herself up too. It was so amazing to see her actually being like a real cat!    So today, she is still slowly improving. I took the plastic off this am   and could barely hear air movement, and that only some of the time, so   the wound is mostly closed! I worked on cleaning her up some more which   again spurned her into licking herself and by the time she was done, it   was leaking more air, which I was afraid of, but maybe by tomorrow we   can take off the plastic. Which will be great news for the wound to be   able to heal and get rid of the infection. She still isn't   drinking/eating on her own, but is seeming thirsty (licking her lips   like they are dry) and she did eat one little bite of cat food but I   think maybe it was too heavy to start out with, so she didn't eat any   more. Tomorrow I'm hoping to get some chicken broth from Ruth (she feeds   chicken to her dogs) and I'm hoping she'll like that...But she walked   around the house again this am and then again this evening, so she's   seeming more and more alive every day, and definitely less and less in pain!    So that's our miracle of this week. And I'm learning lessons on faith   from Cherise!  Love you all,  Wendy    PS. So the pics are the wound the first day and then CJ just now. She   wasn't real happy that I turned the light on in her eyes, but she has   come out and is crawling around in my lap and computer now! :-)        

Remembering Dad

I'm sure by now most of you have heard that Gary's father, Bob Roberts was killed in a plane crash on the 9th of April in West Papua, Indonesia where he was a mission pilot for 22 years. I am so happy that I was able to become part of his family and get to know him before he died. He was an amazing man, and of course I would say that since Gary is a lot like him! :-) We were able to travel to Indonesia in time for the funeral on Friday morning. It was truly amazing that we were able to make it here so quickly. Gary and his brother Eric are very involved with the investigation, though there are still many unknowns. It has been good to be together during this difficult time. Please pray for Adventist Aviation Indonesia now and that God will direct in how things continue here. Also, please pray for Stephanie, Gary's sister, as she has been having health issues for several months now, and this is a hard enough time without added complications. Also, please pray for guidance and direction for Jan as she moves forward on her own. Ruth Boyd, who lives and works here on the same campus has written a really nice blog about Dad and that day. You can see it here:

Cherise is well

Someone posted somewhere that Cherise was very sick and please pray for
her, so we have had a few emails wondering how she is doing.

I'm not sure she actually had malaria. I was sick with a very nasty flu
(?) bug and had the worst sore throat I've had in ages. I ended up
taking an antibiotic as I was afraid it might be strep and I felt much
better within a day or so of starting that, but I thought it was
probably just coincidence, and the virus had run it's course. Then just
as I was feeling better (after about 5 days), Cherise got the same
thing, but since it is accompanied by a high fever we tested her for
malaria and it was positive, so we treated that, but she never got a
sore throat so didn't give her antibiotics. This bug seemed to have a
five day course, and after 5 days Cherise was doing some better, but
still dragging. Then on Sabbath, which was the 8th day, she didn't play
with Lyol and Zane at potluck, like she usually does. I could tell she
wasn't feeling well. Sure enough, on Sunday afternoon she got a very
high fever again. We weren't sure what to do, but Gary realized the only
thing I did differntly from her was to take the antibiotics, so we
started Cherise on them and the fever broke in the might Sunday night
and hasn't been back. She was still not 100% Monday, but since then has
been back to her old self.

So, thanks so much for your prayers. We were a bit worried as to why the
fever had come back, but are very grateful that it was a relatively easy
solution!

Test

This is just to see if this works... Here's hoping...

Cherise

I just thought I would do a little update on Cherise. She is six years old now and a fun little girl. In fact, she is involved in everything that is going on and if she isn't she isn't happy! She is a big help to me at the nutrition center, or the market, or whatever else I'm doing, and she loves to help Daddy in the hangar, fueling up the airplane or whatever else needs to be done. She also loves playing with her local friends, their favorite past-time right now being climbing trees. I've just included a few pictures for fun. She's really the life of our party!

is

Written 6/4/12 He was in a pathetic state. About a year previous he had become paralyzed from the waist down, whether from an accident or from some kind of curse, we never could ascertain, but lack of proper care and sanitation had left him with sores on his back and legs that oozed the infection that was sapping his strength. His wife brought him to us to see if we could help him, but there was nothing we could do. He had already been to Béré Adventist Hospital just 4 Km from us, but he was too far gone. Thankfully, Gary, was touched by his plight and felt that there were some deeper issues and so that Sabbath we went to visit him at his home. When we arrived he was laying naked on a mat, the refuse he was laying in attracting flies by the hundreds. His father, Phillip, quickly washed him and covered him up. Phillip said he had turned his back on God and the local evangelical church wouldn't even come pray for him. As he struggled to breathe, Gary assured them all that God never turns his back on His children and gave a simple, beautiful explanation of the plan of salvation. He then prayed for him and immediately his breathing calmed and a peaceful expression replaced the previous turmoil. He died the next day, but Phillip told us he believes he made his peace with God. Now we are holding a branch Sabbath School and midweek bible study at Phillip's home. He is eagerly seeking truth and reading his bible. Please pray for Phillip, his family, and neighbors that they will be freed from the darkness in which the devil has held them so long.

Babies, Babies!

Written 8/25/12 It's been almost two months now since we accepted our first inpatient malnourished babies at the center created from Kaleb's memorial funds. Constructions is almost finished, just some finishing touches and screening need to be done on two of the three buildings, but we have been working around the masons as they have finished things up. They are also still working on the wall surrounding the property, in between the rains, but we were seeing so much malnutrition that once the buildings were livable we decided to start with what we have. So, on June 27, though not officially open, we accepted the first three babies. Soon there were more. I can not describe for you the craziness and stress of trying to figure out what we were doing and trying to get everything functional. Looking back, I can see how far we've come, and am happy with our progress, but we still have a ways to go. At first we were trying to feed the mothers as well,and even though the mothers were actually doing the cooking, it was taking all our time going to the market and trying to keep them fed since we don't know how they prepare food here, and they are really stuck on you have to eat this particular green with peanut butter, and this other one with beans, etc. So, we decided to make the mothers bring and cook their own food, and then we can focus on feeding the babies. Well, several of the moms were unhappy and left, but this is the way they do it at any other hospital in the country so especially since all the treatment for the babies is free, it really isn't asking too much of them. We were having a lot of trouble with ladies leaving. They would come for two or three days and decide it's too much work, and then just leave (taking our dishes, etc with them!). Well, this had to stop since the first 2-3 days are very intense and a lot of work for us, and then they are wasting resources since it isn't benefiting the baby to be there for 2 days only. So, we've made it harder to get in. They have to go to the hospital for a consultation and medicines since all of them need treatment for parasites, probably malaria, and some vitamins, then they need to go home, get everything they need to stay for a month and come back on a certain day of our choice. Many of them never come back, which is really sad, but at least then the ones that come are the ones who are actually willing to do what it takes to save their baby. It is so hard for us to imagine, but most of them are not willing to wake up every two hours at night, and coax and cajole their child to drink when they don't want to, or use a stomach tube if necessary. But then that is why most of them are malnourished in the beginning. It would be too inconvenient to take the baby to the farm with them, so they leave a very small baby with an older sibling who gives it water all day to keep it's belly full until mom gets back. Or it would require a lot of work to prepare three healthy meals a day, so they just buy deep fried flour balls on the side of the road, if the kid is lucky! So, we do see a lot of sad things, but we are starting to see some rewarding results as well. I had one lady who was coming to me for baby formula because for some reason she wasn't producing breast milk. So, normally this is Tammy's specialty, but since she was in the US I decided to help this lady. So, the rule is they have to work four hours for a can of formula which lasts from 4 days to a week depending on what stage the baby is at. This lady had been working for her formula for a month or two, when one day she and her husband show up at the nutrition center with their baby who is two months old, a two year old sister, and a 5 year old brother - all malnourished! The sister being severe. So, I admitted them all and at first the mother wanted to go home, but eventually she buckled down and did a great job. The sister, her name is Lundi (which means Monday in French), we called the lonely child at first. We would constantly find her sitting somewhere all by herself doing nothing, just alone. She was always happy though if you would pick her up and haul her around with you. The older brother, Jean, would also beam with delight at any attention given him. They are super sweet kids, and we all love them! But they did really well, we worked with the mom on feeding the baby and the older two kids eat and eat, so last Friday we finally let them go home. It was really exciting for us to look back at a picture of when they first arrived and see the difference!

This is Lundi and Jean on my right, I'm holding Samuel, and Kousmia is on my left. Another bright spot in everyone's day is Samuel. He is supposedly 4 years old and his father brought him in several weeks ago. His mother died when he was two. I tried to work with him by sending food home with the father because I didn't figure the father would stay with a bunch of women and babies! But after a couple weeks, he developed edema in his feet which is a bad sign, so I told the father that he really had to stay. The father said there was no one to stay with him, but said he would stay by himself. He is absolutely adorable and a little parrot! He will say whatever you say - in any language. He is so funny! He doesn't walk yet, which is really sad, but he should be gaining strength and we have him stand some every day. The problem is his father leaves him at home alone all day while he goes off and works in the fields. So, we are trying to find an aunt or grandmother who can take him. Not long after we started, we had some drama with the women. We had one lady with a very sick boy that we were really struggling with. She had a hearing problem, and so had to be looking at you to understand you, and from the beginning the other ladies treated her like she was stupid. She was really struggling, and wanted to go home, but Bronwyn convinced her to stay a little longer. She was really a nice lady and we all liked her. But one morning she came over to the office where I was working and someone told me that she was outside crying and I better come; they thought she was packing up her things. I went outside and she told me that when her mother had come to visit her the day before she had given her 2000 francs (about $4 but several days wages for them) and that she had put it in a specific place last night but now it was gone. She was really upset, but I assured her we would find her money. So, I called all the ladies into the building and closed the doors and told them that I wouldn't open the doors again until we found the money. My translator, Krya walked up just as all this was happening, for which I was very thankful. Immediately one lady who had just arrived the night before brought over a 100 franc coin and said, "I came with 200 francs and then I spent one on this oil for my baby's skin (the baby's skin was sloughing off and full of sores) so this is all the money I have." I thought that was a bit strange since I hadn't asked or accused anyone. I just told everyone to start looking for the money, but everyone just sat there, so Krya and I started with the girl who lost her money and looked through all her stuff to make sure it wasn't there. It wasn't. So, we started a systematic search through everyone's things, Krya on one end and I on the other. I did wonder what we would do if we found 2000 F, because the woman could just say it was hers. But the lady said it was only one bill, so that at least helped to narrow it down. Well, we went through everything and found only a few random coins, but this lady that had showed me her 100 F at the beginning kept talking and acting a bit strange and all the other women were saying it was her. The entire time it was a big buzz of all the women talking excitedly and giving their opinions. One lady was telling me that we had to take the lady's hand and put it in boiling water (I couldn't figure out how I was to know which woman, or if I just started with one and whoever got burned was the one who stole it, or once I found the culprit that was the punishment) but I told her no, we weren't going to do that. The babies got upset from all the ruckus and I tried unsuccessfully to calm the women down. So, after I had finished searching and found nothing, the women said it must be one of the women sleeping next to her. Since the women who was acting guilty was sleeping on one side of her, I figured that was as good a place as any to start and also all the other ladies had been there for some time and we'd had no problems and this lady had just arrived the day before, so she was my chief suspect, but I didn't want to just single her our without reason. It is really really unforgivable if you accuse someone falsely here! So, we took the two women sleeping on either side of her, and I basically made them strip down. They tie money up in the corners of their wrap around skirts, so I checked that. Neither one of them was wearing a bra! Then Carlie, the nurse who was working then said, "What about their head wraps?" "Good idea. Hand them over." So, they did. The suspect had on a nice velvety piece of cloth that was double thickness. When she handed it to me I shook it, but nothing fell out, so I almost gave it back, but instead ran my hand down the length of it. When I got to the end I found a small folded piece of paper between the layers. Krya was watching me and when I felt it she was so excited she grabbed it from my hand and fished it out. Sure enough. It was the 2000 francs! So now the women really went wild! I told the lady that she would have to leave. I tried to find a way to help the baby anyway as it was so pathetic with the sores and very malnourished, but she had had an attitude with us from the beginning and lived a long ways away, and she didn't seem willing to stay nearby and come to my house or anything. So, I had to let her go. It's so sad to see children suffer from choices that their parents make. On a funnier side note though, we have now dubbed the building where they sleep as "The Dorm" because of all the drama that goes on there! So, some days are good, and some days are bad - we have had a few babies die, which was really hard. They were so bad when they came in but we had to try. But every day, we are very busy. We are in desperate need of help, if you or anyone you know would be interested in coming to volunteer with us, please let me know. I am especially looking for nurses and someone with a nutrition background focusing on a diet that is whole food plant based.

Work, work, work

In other news, things have been moving along well on our projects, though now I'm afraid we have screeched to a snail's pace again.

We were able to put up the frames of the three nutrition center buildings. They put one up a couple weeks ago and then the next week they put up the next two. It went really well and it's exciting to see that coming up.

The first nutrition center building going up!

Cherise took her job seriously!

But she had fun too!

The beginning of that same week Gary had gone to the capital to buy all the tin for our house and those buildings plus a couple churches and so that was all delivered on a Friday (2 weeks ago, I think?) We were really excited about that. Our house is almost ready for the roof to go on - just a bit more welding to do and so things were really happening. Jonathan Smith, our volunteer from Texas, who we endearingly call Tex has done a lot of roofing and so he was excited to finally be moving on to his area of expertise as well. (He's done a lot of construction, so he was great doing everything, even welding our roof although he hadn't done that a lot before, but he was the expert in our group at least for putting on the roofs.) Then on Sabbath he talked to his mom, and his dad, who has been battling cancer for over a year had taken a turn for the worse. He was already thinking of leaving early (he was supposed to be here until July) but now he decided and we encouraged him to go ahead and go back. The only problem was he couldn't find his passport. So, Gary, Artur, and I spent quite a while that evening looking though the entire bedroom (3 bachelors in one room - use your imagination!!). It was no where to be found. Gary was already planning to fly to town the next day, so Tex went with him and then helped him get a new passport and get on a flight. Sounds simple, but it wasn't! I won't go into all the details, but the flights were full, embassy not too helpful, etc, etc. And Gary had a couple flights to do in between! Anyway, Tex finally got on a flight on Tues and Gary came home. We really miss him, and of course miss his expertise, but being there for his parents and spending some quality time with his dad are much more important right now.

Tex welding on our house

Also on Tuesday, Kel and Josie left to go back to the States for a few months. Josie has some concerts scheduled at a couple camp meetings and they had some family celebrations to attend as well. They are hoping to come back some time in September, but in the mean time our group has really shrunk. We miss them all...

Oh, the same Sabbath that Tex decided to leave, we went to church as normal out in Dabgue. While Dr James is gone he let us use an old Land Cruiser that was donated for the hospital and just came in on the container that we got in Dec. (It looks exactly like the one Gary's family had in Zaire when he was growing up - same colors and everything, it's just a gas model instead of diesel.) Well, unfortunately it has quite a few issues, which I can't explain, but we tried getting the part from the US and it was the wrong one. I don't really understand this either, but it is some part for the carburetor, I think and it doesn't have the original one on it anymore, so we don't know what one it has on it or something. Anyway, it will randomly just die as we are driving along and you have to stop and wait a couple minutes, pour some gas into some filter, and then off you go again, until it does it again. So, I don't think we had any problems all the way to church. Cherise is our official driver (actually steerer) and she can actually do a good job if she doesn't get distracted! So, we got all loaded up (remember this is Africa, so that means at least 3 people up front, 4 in the middle seat, and as many as will fit in the back - maybe as many as 6, but some kids, 4 or 5 on the roof rack, and 3 or so standing on the bumper!) So, we got all loaded up and Gary pushed in the clutch and there was nothing - the clutch was gone! Great! So, we unloaded, pushed it out into the street and then as everyone was pushing it, Gary had to coax it into gear and off we would go, with everyone scrambling to get on since we couldn't stop! Let's just say we got the procedure down pat because it stopped five times on the way home! It was pretty funny, though it was very hot and we were just hoping we could make it home!! Anyway, we did make it home and haven't touched the car since!!

"This is the way we go to church"

The rainy season is approaching. It's hard to know when it is really here because it will rain a few times and then stop and then rain some more, but there has at least been rain around every afternoon for the last few days, so it has at least cooled it down at night, which is always a relief. Sometimes it's worse to have the rain because the sun comes right back out and then it's just really humid, but if it rains in the evening then it usually is better. So, we are thankful for the rain.

Yesterday, Cherise and I were taking clothes off the clothes line and Cherise pointed out a little lizard. We were quite close to it and it wasn't running away, so I looked a little closer and she was straddling a small hole with about 5 eggs inside. Cherise got to within a couple inches of her, I think we could have touched her, but I didn't want to disturb her. Cherise did take a picture, but it is hard to see the eggs. Then maybe an hour later, Artur came home and Cherise wanted to show him, but it was gone. So, she must have covered them up when she was done. We did see the lizard though. Anyway, we hadn't seen that before, so that was cool.

Monkey Love

So, I've had several requests to her more about the monkey, Red. When we got home from our last travels and had been gone almost 2 weeks, he had really changed. He had a lot more hair and had turned even more orange. He looks more like a patas monkey now.

He really is a naughty monkey as I guess most monkeys are! We let him on our screened in porch since we like to sit out there when we have time and hang out with him, but he isn't allowed inside the house. The only problem is, we can close the screen door into the house from the porch side, and he knows good and well he is not allowed in there, so of course that is exactly where he wants to be!! It is especially bad now that the cats have been inside and he likes to torment the cats! So, he will sneak inside and hide under the table and up on the chairs so we won't see him. Usually he doesn't get any farther than this, but it's hard to catch him and I'm sure he thinks it's funny! One time though, I was in the kitchen and I heard something and turned around and he was up on my stove! So, we tried various punishments to discourage him: we put him in the small dog kennel which he hates, swatted him (a monkey spanking!), flicked him, etc, but none of that seemed to give him good enough motivation to stay out where he belongs! So, Gary got a good idea. We have a bug zapping racket. It looks like a badminton racket, but has wires with a little bit of juice when you push a button and the bug (hopefully a mosquito!) touches two of the wires and fries! It's really quite wonderful. Only now our racket is pretty old and doesn't work very well, but Gary got that thing out and we zap him every time he comes inside. It hasn't solved the problems if the racket is out of sight, but get that thing out and we suddenly have a very obedient monkey! It's quite funny to watch!

So, we weren't sure how Red and the cats were going to get along. Obviously we don't want cats that will end up deciding he is a yummy meal, but we didn't need to worry. Red decided he is the boss and the cats haven't been smart enough to figure out that there are two of them and only one of him. He is totally unafraid of the cats and will come up to them (one more than the other) standing on his hind legs, arms up and swinging! I'm surprised that they don't hurt him, they have really gotten into it a couple times, but he doesn't seem phased.

So, his next shenanigan was to get out of his cage! I originally made it out of desperation when we first got him. We got him on Sabbath and by Sun or Monday Gary left on a trip. I can't remember which trip this was, but he was going to be gone a week or so, and I knew I couldn't stand to keep Red inside the little dog kennel the whole time. We have to put him in there for his safety if we are gone from home so that nothing can get him, but he really doesn't like it. Gary had strung up a line outside where he could run but then you have to worry about him getting caught up in the cord and strangling himself and also he isn't protected from all the kids and their slingshots. And let me tell you, there were ALWAYS several kids at our fence to see him. Often there were as many as 50 kids! I about went crazy! Anyway, it's a bit better now since the novelty has worn off, and we've fixed our fence some, but the kids were tearing holes in the fence just so they could see! So, I knew I couldn't stand the week with all the kids and trying to keep the monkey in the little cage, so I took a wooden crate that our refrigerator had come in and screened it in. Then I put a cardboard roof on top and the two ends had cardboard strips on the bottom as well to hold the screen. Anyway, it was a great relief because at least he was safe, outside, and had a bit more room, but it wasn't a permanent solution, especially once it started to rain! You will remember that from Oct to May we really hadn't seen a drop of rain (actually in April I think we had a few spits one day, but not enough to speak of) so it wasn't a problem, but now we have started to get a few random showers and as soon as that cardboard got wet, Red figured out how to get out! So, for a few days we were putting bricks and heavy things on top to keep him in and then he figured out how to get out the bottom, so it was just no use - he needs a better cage! We had to use our porch as a cage which isn't ideal, but of course Gary was leaving again for a few days. At least Red would stay in his cage during the night and then let himself out in the morning! So, he asked the boys to start working on cutting some steel for a cage. Then, the unthinkable happened. Last Wed night all the nasaras (foreigners) came to our house for bible study, so Gary put Red in his cage maybe 15 min before it got dark. I was in the kitchen a few minutes later and saw Red outside with the cats. Gary said he would wait a few more minutes to put him back, since he would probably just get out again anyway. So, we started our study and in 10 min or so Gary went to put him back to bed, and he was gone! Gary looked in all the trees and even went out to our new house/hangar site since they've had him out there with him quite a bit while they were working and called and called him, but he was nowhere to be found. He came back and told me quietly that he was gone and he was sure a dog or a kid must have gotten him. After we were finished I asked everyone to pray for our monkey and they were all sad to hear he was gone. We all looked around and called some more, but still nothing. There was a dog next door that kept barking so I called the guy over and asked if he had seen the monkey that evening, and he acted all innocent - I wasn't so sure! But there really wasn't anything we could do until morning. We were all really sad even though I stubbornly refused to give up all hope. Gary was pretty sure a dog had gotten him. Red didn't really have a good enough fear of dogs and we have been worried about that from the beginning. He didn't really think Red would wander away on his own. While we are home, he will climb the fence and trees along the fence line, but he stays in the yard unless we go out. I woke up several times during the night and each time I checked in his cage to see if he had come back. But each time it was still empty. We woke up to a lot of wind and the threat of rain, though it never did rain much, and I couldn't help thinking that maybe Red was scared if he was out there somewhere. I had just about given up hope, and was feeling really bum and I just wanted to go outside and be alone, but Cherise heard me and came running. I was a bit grumpy with her and tried to get her to go back inside, but she figured out what I was doing and wanted to look for Red too. I couldn't refuse her, but I didn't really have the energy to answer her questions! "Mommy, did something eat Red?"

"I don't know, Honey. It seems like maybe so."

"But I want my monkey."

"I know, so do I, but he isn't here."

I was turning around to go back inside, when above the howl of the wind I heard a faint cry. It took a minute for my mind to register.

"Gary, I hear him!" I yelled.

I didn't see him right away and I expected him to be half dead when we found him. But before Gary even got outside I found him in this tiny tree on our fence that's about as big around as if you put your thumb and index finger together into a circle. He likes that tree and will often sit there and watch the world go by. He was afraid to come down I guess, so I quickly ran over and he jumped to me. I was SO HAPPY to see him again and he was fine. Gary was already there as well and I could tell he was very relieved as well. Who knows where he was for the night, Gary knows he wasn't in that same tree as he checked it more than once, but we were very thankful he was safe, even when he started in on his antics again! I'm thankful that God cares even about the little things like keeping our animals safe!

Travels

I wrote this May 9, but somehow didn't get it posted. Sorry!

I was gently reminded this last week that I haven't written since Christmas! Wow - I'm sure I can't remember all that has happened since then, so I will just hit the highlights and more recent happenings.

A couple months ago Cherise got a monkey! Some kids brought him to our branch Sabbath School and were teasing him and not being nice and he was really scared and crying/screaming and trying to get away. His back right leg was broken (actually in 2 places), so Gary told the kid that had him that we needed to take him to the "hospital"! He didn't want to give him to us, but Gary couldn't stand to see them mistreating him. He told them to come to our house the next day and he would have negotiated something with them, but they didn't come. We don't want to pay for animals because then they start trying to catch them, so we don't want to start that, so it worked out nicely that they didn't come. I guess they won't now. So, we didn't know for sure at first if we were even going to keep him. I sort of feel like we are turning into a wildlife refuge! Some kids brought us a hawk the the other day, but they were trying to sell it to us and birds are too hard for us to keep because of the kids with their sling shots, so we told them if they keep it until we get back we will take it, but I don't think they will keep it alive that long.

They are starting to work on the wall around our property, so I will be glad when they finish that. Right now we have to keep the monkey, he is a patas monkey, who has finally become known as "Red" in a cage if we aren't right there with him or else the kids will shoot him with their sling shots. :-( It makes me mad that they do that, but I guess it is just too big of a temptation. I actually caught two boys, probably about 10 yrs old or so that I saw shooting at the neighbor's. Josie and I snuck up behind them from each side and they couldn't get away, so I marched them over to our neighborhood chief and complained. I don't know if it will help or not, but anyway, it isn't good for the monkey to be in a cage so much, so I will be glad when we get our wall up and can have some privacy and hopefully he can learn to stay inside and roam free most of the time.

We also just got two cats. I haven't seen them yet. The pilot that was working in the game park just left so he gave them to us and Gary took them home already. He had a flight from down near us to the East on Friday, so he went back home Thurs night and came back Fri afternoon. We are hoping to keep the mouse population down as we are always struggling with that!

For the last month or so, we have been home only a handful of days. First we had a trip to the capital. Cherise needs to renew her passport, so she needed to go. We got back from there and found out that our overflight permissions for Cameroon had finally been issued. We have been trying to go there for some time now. So, within a couple days we left for our trip there. We started out by visiting our primary school in the Northwest, out in the mountains where Steve and Carol Rose were working. They are returning to the US now after serving for two years there and so their replacements had arrived, and so Gary was able to have some meetings and hopefully help the transition go more smoothly. It is in an absolutely beautiful location - green, lush, and cool! Coming from Chad, it felt like a feast for my eyes! I couldn't believe it when I went to the market with Carol and she bought a whole hand of beautiful bananas for the same price I pay for one small one!! It was especially fun for me to meet Carol as Steve spent three months in Chad with us back around Christmas 2008, but I had never met her.

After a couple lovely days there, we continued on down to the coast and spent the weekend at the beach. It's not the best beach in the world, my biggest complaint being that when the tide was in it would wash out all the trash and debris from the shore. But we really had a lovely time playing in the waves and black sand. Cherise surprised me by how much she loves the water and wasn't even afraid of the waves. There is also a fresh water spring, just a couple hundred yards from the beach so after finishing in the salt water it was so nice to go for a quick swim in the fresh, cold water. It was really refreshing!

We then continued on to Douala to the village where we used to have a branch Sabbath School when we lived there. They have started a primary school there as well, so we were able to visit that briefly and pick up some of our books that we still had there. I've been wanting the books for a long time! We also ate lunch with one of Gary's friends from the airport there, a French guy who is operating a charter company. Then we continued on to Yaounde, for meetings at the Union office in the morning.

Yaounde is up at 3,000 ft or so, and has a bit of varying terrain (maybe not mountains, but certainly not flat like we are used to) and so is also quite pleasant for a city. We only stayed one night and met the new officers at the Union and Gary had a good planning meeting with the president and then we flew back home.

We arrived home on a Tuesday and we had plans to go to the game park to do some maintenance on their plane and ours, but we were thinking we would probably go on Friday. It's hard to do serious maintenance on our plane since we still do not have a hangar, so Gary negotiated with them to use their hangar for working on our plane as well, if he would do an annual inspection on theirs. We are good friends with all the guys there, so it wasn't a problem. But then another flight came up for Gary to do on Friday, so we ended up going to the park on Wed afternoon. Nothing like unpacking and repacking in just a few hours, but we did ok. Another reason we were going to the park was because they were scheduled to put radio collars on ten elephants to try to help with the poaching problem. This way, if they get the collars on the correct elephants, so that each family group has at least one collar then they can keep track of them and hopefully better protect them.

So, they started with the first elephant on Thurs morning. The old pilot that used to fly for them back when we first got involved is also a conservationist, but he is now in school, working on his doctorate, I believe. So, he came back for this as well, so Gary flew the first day and he went with the ground crew. What they do is find the group of elephants with the airplane and then direct the vehicles in by radio. The vehicles get to within 1/2 a kilometer or so and then the vet gets his dart ready, etc and then he and two guys with guns go in on foot. The guns would be used for shooting in the air to scare the elephants away in the event they got in trouble. One of these guys also has a radio to stay in communication with the plane so they know where they are in relation to the elephants. It's really quite amazing how close you can be to 200+ elephants and not know it! Then once the vet is able to get close enough to a good elephant (30-40 meters) he will dart it with the medicine. Then things can get a little crazy! Of course the elephants start to run and it takes the darted animal up to 15 min to fall. It is usually too hard to follow the one that is darted from the air, even if you see it, since it is mass confusion with elephants running everywhere. So, you just have to watch them all and watch for one to fall at the same time directing the vehicles where to go and also coordinating for the vehicles to pick up the guys on foot, if possible. Then once the elephant falls, it is imperitive that the ground crew reach it in 5 min or less, or it can die. Once the ground crew arrives, they straighten out the truck so it can breathe, cover the eye with the ear to keep it from drying out, and put water on the ear too keep it cool. Sometimes the elephant will fall on the chest and you have to push it over onto the side. Anyway, we were able to go two different days, Gary went with us the first time and they collared two, and the next day Gary flew and Cherise and I went and did two more. The very last day, Gary was flying and only one other guy with him. I really wanted to go see it from the air, but I wasn't sure I could take circling for two hours or more! There was only one elephant left though, so I knew it shouldn't take as long, so we decided to go with Gary and he flew with the window open almost the whole time, so I didn't feel sick at all. Cherise didn't feel so well and laid on my lap for quite a while, but then did fine after things started happening on the ground. But then when it was all over we were waiting for the vehicles to get to a certain spot in the road so that we could buzz them and they could get video of it, and Gary was playing around following the river, and Cherise finally lost her cookies! But she did well, and still seemed to enjoy it.

Well, I wrote most of this on the way home, and it's a good thing because I've lost the time and motivation now! Things are fine here - just hot and muggy now. This is the hardest time of year for me!

They put up the frame of the first nutrition center building last week, so that is really exciting! This morning Gary left to go to the capital to buy all the roofing for our house, that building, and at least one 1-day church that they have up as well. We are really trying to get the roofs on before the rains really come - we've had some showers, but nothing really serious yet.

We've canned 55 quarts of mango sauce since we got back and of course the house is a mess, so we've been busy!!

God Bless,
Wendy, Gary, and Cherise

Elephants!

Hi Everybody,

I will write more soon, but we are heading home from the game park
today, so thought I should get with it and send a few pictures while we
have good internet.

I will write to explain them, but we've been doing maintenance and
putting radio collars on elephants here. We were also in Cameroon before
that and took a couple days atthe beach.

Love to all,
Wendy

This was Sabbath, just a few yards from our house!

Also Sabbath. There were three big males.

Checking the heart beat

Cherise was a bit scared and wouldn't let go of her Daddy!!

This is Cherise holding her monkey the day we got him. I'll try to send

a more recent one soon - he looks a lot healthier now!

There was a little "Playground" there at the beach and Cherise had a

ball on the trampoline!

Merry Christmas!

Just want to send warm (literally!) Christmas greetings your way. We had
a lovely day. Last night we had a nice little gathering of most of the
white faces around - some were sick, and we had plum pudding and
cinnamon rolls. Then today we had a nice quiet Sabbath. We went out to
our normal branch Sabbath School and Cherise told the story of baby
Jesus. It was quite amusing as we haven't read it to her for a while.
She was holding up the My Bible Friends book, and this is sort of how it
went, "So, the lady was pregnant, and she had a baby in her belly."
..."And the baby was so tired of traveling in her belly!" Frederick was
translating for her so we were hoping he was smoothing it out a bit!! It
was really funny, but we were proud of her for trying. Next time we will
read her the story beforehand!

We had a good week. Gary and the other two couples (Kel and Josie, and
Jonathan and Melody) went to Moundou to get the container through
customs. The others needed to get some stuff for setting up
housekeeping, and I needed a break, so it worked out nicely. They we
able to get everything through customs and unloaded, including a vehicle
and get back about 12:30 midnight Tues night (really early wed morning).
Most of the stuff in the container is for the clinic in Moundou that
James is starting, so the whole thing didn't come here, they just filled
up the two vehicles and brought stuff back. So, our fridge and freezer
have arrived!!!!!!!! I am so excited! I really wanted to have at least
the fridge hooked up by Christmas, but since they weren't able to bring
everything this trip, not everything we need made it here. :-( Gary
tried anyway to rig something up and he really made a valiant effort, so
I appreciate it and I guess we'll have to go get the rest of the stuff
soon. The only problem is neither one of the hospital vehicles run very
well, so it's always an act of faith to start out on a trip with them!!

So, just wanted to let you all know that we were thinking of you today.
Hope you have/had a wonderful Christmas and Sabbath.

Love,
Wendy, Gary, and Cherise

Waiting for heaven.

Exo with a bucket on top of his head.

On a sad note, Wed we heard that a little boy who lives across the
street from the hospital had fallen in a well and drowned. I immediately
thought of little Exo (I have no idea how to spell it, but that's how
you say it!). He is absolutely adorable and every time I go down to the
hopital if he is anywhere around, he is there to shake my hand and greet
me with a beautiful smile. Actually, sometimes he doesn't even want to
shake hands, but just puts up his hands for you to pick him up. He is
really a charmer and always brings joy to my heart. I was really hoping it wasn't him, but from the description it sounded like his family and
they said it was a boy. He has brothers though, so I still didn't know.
But yesterday, we went down to give our condolences to the family and
they confirmed that it was him. It really makes me so sad to think that
I won't see his beautiful smile when I go down there. I was very
impressed with his father though. Of course he is very sad, but you could tell that he has the comfort that only knowing Jesus gives and you
can be sure that when we get to heaven, I'm going to find Exo by his
beautiful smile and give him the biggest hug ever!

Exo (left) with Bezeel, a neighbor friend.

Exo's family with a student missionary from a year ago. Exo is on her lap.

Miracles.

So, we witnessed at least one miracle this week and I'm inclined to
think two.

First of all, we have been having a terrible time with the district
medical officer (MCD) here. He is really controlling and just seems to
try to make trouble. Two Congolese doctors (from very near where Gary
grew up, and speaking the same local dialect) were here and came to work
for a year, but they and James had been working on getting them
authorization for over a month and the MCD was doing everything he could
to prevent it. So, the hospital over in Koza, Cameroon has been without
a doctor since our friends the Shanks left 4 months ago. So, James took
them over there to work and they were welcomed with open arms. So, the
Shanks had left some stuff for us which will be really useful to us, and
James was willing to bring it back for us. James was on his way home,
stopping over in the capital to pick up the new docs and the van broke
down. Since the new docs were coming in that night, he had to get there
to meet them, so he left the van at a shop to be fixed and he went on to
the capital. Well, when Gary heard, we were sure without a miracle we
would never see all that stuff! So, we started praying for angels to
protect it and then Gary called our good friend and taxi driver in the
capital, Emma and asked him to go down first thing in the morning and
just be with the van. The border closes at night, and the van was still
in Cameroon, so he couldn't go then, but we would still do what we
could. He went early in the morning and of course he didn't know what
all had been there, but at least there was still stuff in the van!
Anyway, as far as we know it was all still there and they were able to
repair the van quite quickly and James and the new doctors, Olen and
Danae and their son, Lyle (almost 2) made it safely home. We really feel
like the angels watched over the stuff that night.

So, while we were praying for the van, I decided we should pray for the
container too. Several months ago, James shipped a container full of
medical supplies, etc and more than a month ago we had heard that it
left the port in Cameroon. We were also able to put some things in it,
but since we hadn't heard anything for so long I was starting to wonder
if we would ever see it. No one could seem to tell us where it was, and
James has had one that disappeared after arriving in Cameroon. So, I
prayed that it would be protected as well, and arrive here safely.
Within a day or two, it was in Chad! So, Thurs, Gary and James went to
start the paperwork and Gary is going back tomorrow to try to finish
that. Please pray for them that it will go smoothly and quickly and they
have some heavy, tricky things to unload as it is loaded with a forklift
and we don't have such a thing here!

Playing Pilot.

So we had a great time with Alex and Emily here. I was very sorry that
they got burned, but we really enjoyed them! They decided that since
they were supposed to be leaving in about 2 weeks anyway that they might
as well go home. Emily has a really hard time with anything healing -
bug bites and everything just get infected and won't heal, so we were
worried about her big burns getting infected. They live with local
families, so it would have been very difficult to keep them clean and
covered. So, they scheduled to fly out Thurs afternoon.

Gary got back into the country on Tues night and came home Wed
afternoon, but when he got here he was burning with fever! We've had a
cold/flu bug going around and many of us only got it for about 24 hrs,
but then Kel had felt a lot worse and had it for about 5 days, or so,
and was still dragging. I was hoping that Gary would feel better by
Thurs because we had arranged for him to fly the girls up to the
capital. It would have been very uncomfortable for them to ride the bus
- it's quite bumpy, crowded, hot and dirty. Not exactly what they needed
before taking a 30 something hour flight home! Unfortunately, Gary was
still no better Thursday morning. We decided that I would go with him
and help him at least while we were in the air. I don't know how much he
actually slept, but he brought along his pillow and at least rested most
of the time. He just told me what to do and when to wake him up and we
made it there and back! So, we got the girls off, and headed home, we
didn't even leave the airport.

Jonathan (our other pilot) and his new wife, Melody, were supposed to be
returning on Wed, but they didn't receive their passports with their
visas in time, so they had to reschedule for the next week. It would
have been nice for him to be here to do the flight with Gary, but we
weren't really ready for them! On Sunday, I had told the boy living in
their hut that he had to move out (actually I had told him before that).
He thought that since Jonathan wasn't coming until Wed he should be able
to stay until then! I said, "NO, he is coming with his wife now, and we
have to clean this place up!" Ok, he would move tomorrow. Well, Monday,
Josie and I just went up and took brooms, etc and started moving stuff
out. He didn't put up a fuss, but he wasn't going to do it without some
motivation!! Anyway, it was really filthy and there was all kinds of
construction type stuff and whatever else in there, so we piled it all
in a container. I really wanted to set it up clean and nice for them to
come home to and then they could work on going through the stuff at
their leisure. Well, while we were cleaning, Josie said, "This place
really needs some paint on the walls." It is a mud brick hut and the
walls are just sand and cement plastered and no one has ever painted it.
I had to agree, though I knew it wasn't going to be an easy job. I asked
around and was told you can get paint in our local market, so I called
Gary who was still in France and asked if it was ok if we painted it. I
wasn't sure why it hadn't been painted yet, so I thought maybe there was
a reason! He said we could, but I could tell he thought we were crazy!
Anyway, I called Frederick and he was willing to go to the market with
me to help me find it. The guy only had two gallons which I knew would
not be enough, but I thought at least we could start with that and see
how much more we would need. (I really don't know what I was thinking -
why start if I didn't have enough!? But I really had no idea what enough
would be!!) So, we started working. The two gallons almost covered the
whole thing once, but the wall soaked it up as fast as we could put it
on! I wasn't really surprised, but started realizing that we would need
at least 3 coats. So, back to the market Frederick and I went. I had
seen some 5 gallon cans of paint as well, so even though I knew he
didn't have more gallon tins, I thought maybe he would have a big one.
Sure, enough he had one and it was a lot cheaper than buying it in the
gallon size. I was really thrilled. So, the next day I ran up to start
painting and opened it up. It didn't look the same and it was really
thick. I waited for Kel to come and he confirmed what I was afraid of -
it was water based paint - not oil based, like we had been using. Kel
thought maybe we could use it, but some of my walls have water based
paint on them and it just washes off. So, I didn't want that. So, I
called Frederick and he came and helped me take the paint back to the
market. Thankfully, we had also found out that Jonathan and Melody
weren't coming that week, so I wasn't as stressed because at least the
pressure was off a little bit! Frederick convinced the man at the market
to take the paint back and since Gary was coming back that day I wanted
my money back so that Gary could just buy some in the capital. They
usually don't want to do that but he did. So, we waited two days for
Gary to get back and then he didn't get paint. He went to the store to
get it just before coming home and they were closed for their midday
siesta! So, I sent Frederick back to the market to ask the guy to order
the paint - he had told us before that he could get it, but I thought it
would be faster to get it from town. It was good that we had a couple
days of break because Josie wasn't feeling well and since I had been
gone flying Thurs and we had had so many people here, things were a real
mess! So, he got the paint Friday afternoon, so first thing Sunday
Frederick and I were back at the market! He had 4 gallons. I had asked
for 5, but we would take what we could get. We really had to get to work
now, so Kel jumped in to help us. I don't think he was too excited about
it, but he was a good sport and we really appreciated his willingness to
help us! Anyway, we got the third coat done and ran out of paint and it
was still splotchy. I sent Gary back to the market to see if he had a
couple of pints at least - no luck. We were so close! I was really
discouraged. We were out of time and paint, and it was getting better,
but if we just had 1/2 a gallon more, I was sure we could have it
looking so much better. But what could I do - there just wasn't any more.

Well, the new doctors were coming in that night, so I gathered up some
sheets, etc and we went down to make sure they had a place to sleep for
the night. They weren't going to be getting in until late, so we wanted
something to be ready for them. It's another long story, but there
weren't any decent mattresses there, so we got Jamie and Tammy's bed and
moved it over. Then when we were in their house Gary said, "Here's a
gallon of white paint if you want it". Yippee! I was so excited! It was
exactly what we needed! (Thanks Tammy and Jamie - I'm replacing it for
you!!) So, the next day we finished touching up the splotches in the
morning and started cleaning (carefully!) in the afternoon. By noon the
next day, Thurs we were ready for Jonathan and Melody's arrival at 1:30!
We had just enough time to make lunch before they arrived. I felt so
much better! And they were pleasantly surprised, I think!

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

Thanksgiving in Tchad 2010

Hi Everybody,

Just wanted to tell you we had a nice TG although our chief cook had
some problems in the kitchen :-/, but we left with full bellies, so I
guess it was a good TG. I bought bad flour - normally I smell it before
I buy it, but this time I forgot. It smelled like dirt but I decided to
use it anyway - bad mistake! It wouldn't bake. It was disgusting!! I
tried to make an "apple" pie with green pumpkin, but it wasn't green
enough, so it tasted like pumpkin! It was ok, but not too exciting. We
had some real potatoes, but then I made another pan of the fake instant
kind, and no one really ate them! We had gluten and gravy, cornbread
stuffing, which was ok, but it was a bit dry, then Josie made a sweet
potato pumpkin dish, and a friend sent her stuff for green bean
casserole and pumpkin pie. So, it was ok, but since the pie crusts had
the bad flour as well, and we thickened the gravy with corn starch, I
was a bit disgusted that after being in the kitchen all day it didn't
turn out better! But we had good fellowship so that was fun. Right now
we have 4 SMs, one girl was here before and she is really a character.
She brought two friends with her and one of them was a student of Aunt
Verna's in 1st and 2nd grade! (Aunt Verna, it is Phillip Sherwood.) The
last one is a girl from England, so she had her first TG in Chad! They
are a really good group and a lot of fun. The three of them are only
here until just before Christmas though, so we wish they had more time,
but glad to have them for now anyway.

There are also a couple of Congolese drs here who are from near where
Gary grew up, so they speak his African dialect, so they have had fun
chatting together. Unfortunately, we have a new district medical officer
who is really being a pain and won't give them licenses to work here in
Chad, so they are going over to Cameroon to help at the hospital there
for now, since they have no dr there right now. Our new drs for the
hospital here are scheduled to come in about 2 wks so we pray they will
not have the same troubles, but he is really being a pain and
unfortunately his brother is the head of parliament or something like
that, so everyone is scared to cross him.

Anyway, we had a nice Sabbath and now Gary leaves tomorrow for some
meetings in Paris. He will be gone for about 10 days, and Jonathan and
Melody will meet up with him in NDJ on his way back, so we are looking
forward to having them back again!

Guess that's all for now. Would love to hear about your TGs too if you
haven't written already!

Love to all,
Wendy

A deep subject.

Well - it's a deep subject. I've been procrastinating writing this in
part because I didn't know the outcome and in part because I know I
can't accurately describe the work, energy, sweat, and frustration that
went into this project! (Also, I was hoping Gary would write this, but
he's way too busy!)

Two weeks ago this last Sunday Gary started drilling a well on our new
property. The hospital has a small "back yard" (as Gary calls it)
drilling rig and Jamie had used it a couple times, so we were hoping to
get a good well and get down to clean water. Jamie and Tammy were
leaving on Tues for the US so Gary said he would fly them up to
N'Djamena in time to catch their afternoon flight if he would help him
drill this well first. So, they got everything ready and Gary told me
that once they started drilling they couldn't stop, so I nievely thought
that by the time Gary left on Tues, we would have a well with pure,
clean water! Yeah, right - TIA: This Is Africa! They drilled all day,
got the bit stuck once, so had to take it back out a ways and then go
again. Night was a blessed reprieve from the sun, but everyone got too
tired and curled up under the bushes and went to sleep. By 1am Gary was
working alone - he didn't want to stop and risk getting the bit stuck
for good. I can't remember how deep he was; maybe 100-120 ft or so. The
ironic thing about drilling a well is that you have to have water to do
it. How is that supposed to work, I mean, aren't you drilling a well
because you don't have water??! Thankfully we do have a hand dug well
probably 50ft away, so during the day several boys had been kept busy
just bringing water, but now Gary was doing that too! Just as the sun
began to peek over the horizon Cherise woke up and we went out to see
what was going on. Gary was still drilling! I couldn't believe it! So,
we pumped and hauled water for him for a couple hours. He finally
stopped and came in to eat. Anyway, he kept drilling that day as well
until they ran out of drill stock (pipes that drive the bit down into
the ground) at 150 ft! He talked to a guy that has done lots of wells
around here and he said he would surely get good water at 65 meters - 45
more feet. So close, and yet so far! So...the reason you need water when
you drill is to put down in the hole you are drilling to bring all the
mud back up out of the hole. So, Gary decided if every couple of hours
we pumped more water in the hole we could hopefully keep it open (it's
possible for the sand to cave into the hole and then you have everything
stuck in there and you are in a world of hurts!) and he would find more
pipe in NDJ so that he could keep going.

So, Tues he went to NDJ. It took him until Wed at sunset to find the
pipe, a way to thread it, etc and get back. So, Thurs he was at it
again. He finally got through a big hard clay layer and got into some
sand and it kept collapsing around the bit. So, in the water that you
pump into the hole, you can put this really snotty stuff to help lift
out the sand/mud, but Gary felt like it wasn't mixing up well enough, so
he thought my VitaMix would be just the thing! I wasn't quite so sure!
But, I was ready for this thing to be finished. I was like, what is this
stuff, I don't want to put non food items in my blender. He said, of
this is the stuff that they put in canned beans and stuff to thicken
them, it will be fine. Still doubtful I said, "So it's edible?" "Well, I
just said they put it in canned foods, so I'm assuming it's edible!" I
wasn't so sure that was good logic! I think they put lots of stuff
that's not edible in those things! Anyway, in addition to cooking for
whoever was working for Gary ever day (most people would only work a day
or two at most and then it was too much work for them - or maybe it was
the food!) Cherise and I got to be snot blenders! It was a HUGE mess!!
Two tablespoons of this stuff in the 2 liter blender would turn it all
to this thick snotty mess! And we blended up at least 40 gallons of the
stuff!

I can't possibly remember all the problems we encountered and what
happened on what days, but eventually Gary got to what he thought was
good sand and he pulled out all the pipe and the bit. I thought we were
on the downhill slide now, but alas... Now we had to put the casing in.
It was going to take 17 pieces to get down to our 170 ft hole and it was
going nicely until we got to piece number 14 and then it stopped!
Probably because it was a hard layer, and we had a big bit on small
pipe, the hole was not perfectly straight. After trying and bunches of
guys pulling and hanging on it, they finally pulled it all back up. Now
the pipes wouldn't unscrew, because they had tightened and twisted so
much! Anyway, they finally got it out, cut the bottom piece to a point
and put it back down. They got to number 15 that time and there was just
no going any further! It was truly disappointing! He had worked SO hard
on this thing! But what do you do? It's 150 ft underground! So, there
had been another layer of water up around 65 ft, but Gary didn't think
it would be clean, so that's why he had kept going, so now he decided to
go back up and try that one. So, they pulled the casing back up to that
point and then filled in the hole with dirt. (This is all much more
complicated that I'm making it sound. Because we had gone so deep the
casing we had was too big, so while he was in NDJ Gary had gotten
smaller casing and had it shipped all the way here. He was worried about
dropping the casing in the hole as you screw the next piece on, so at
4am one morning he had gone to the hospital to weld up a contraption to
hang the pipe from a pulley. And I know there is other stuff, like the
drilling rig was falling apart and Gary had to fix it, but I don't
understand enough to be able to tell you about it and this story it
getting really long!) So, basically, we are at the first layer of water
and he put a pump down in there and there is water, but it will only
pump for about 5 minutes before it runs out. So, basically we wasted
over 2 weeks on this crazy well and we have nothing to show for it! I
know what business I don't want to go into!!

So, not much else has happened besides that! I did cut Cherise's hair
yesterday though! She has not been keeping it up in pony tails or
braids, so it's just been a ratty tangled mess, so I kept threatening to
cut it, so I finally did. It's about chin level and it looks really
cute! I think it's going to be a whole lot easier to keep up - I should
have done it sooner!

I went to Kelo today. That's where we get our packages and it's about 30
miles, but takes an hour by motorcycle to get there. Three SMs who are
here had gotten a message from the guy at the post office (through a
hospital worker) to come get their packages, so they decided to go on an
adventure. I decided since it's almost TG, I'd like to go to the market.
We've hardly been getting anything in our market for a couple weeks. So,
Frederick drove me on our bike and the other 3 hired moto taxis and off
we went. Normally it is a break neck, hang-on-for-dear-life ride, but we
must have gotten the slowest drivers in Chad! I guess one guy must have
been learning still because the girl who was with him said, "He can't
drive! I could drive better than that when I was 10!!" So, it took us
more than an hour to get there, but at least it wasn't quite so jarring
that way. So, we got to the PO and there were 9 packages and about 4
envelope size ones and some other mail, but only 1 of them was for the
kids! So, they were a bit disappointed, but went to the market and did
our shopping (there really wasn't a lot there either, but at least we
got cucumbers, tomatoes, avocados and green onions) and then managed to
get them all back between the 4 motos. It's always more fun with a box
digging in to you back and smashed between that and your driver who
holds your backpack on his front! And then the guys told Frederick that
he was going to fast for them on the way there! So, about 1/2 way back,
we left the others in the dust. I think Frederick couldn't handle it any
longer. I have to say that even though it is bumpier going faster, it is
more fun, and I was worried about getting fried! Anyway, we made it back
fine, and it was sure nice to have Frederick there to help us.

So, that's all for now. Hope everyone is well and that you have a
wonderful Thanksgiving!

Love to all,
Wendy