Kenya, update on accident

Tim and I doing an object lesson on Isaiah 43:2, with Evelyn translating, at the children's home.  I had pictures of the cute little ones, but it's not appropriate to put them online. 

Rush hour traffic  :- )  

 This is the van later involved in the accident, when it was stuck in the mud the first week we were here. 


Wednesday of week three in Kenya was a unique day for the boys and me.  We were scheduled to go with Lois Osborne to the Grace Children's Home, to teach them, help with a craft, and help with decorating the three homes of the children's home, for Christmas.  We also "helped" with eating lunch.  :- )   (Other days we had a teaching slot at a camp.)

Lois was sick that day, but Pastor Fitzpatrick drove Timothy, Josh, and me, with Robert who is one of Lois' boys, out to the home.  

"Before" picture of a tree we were to help decorate at the children's home.

In the midst of the hub-bub, I got a call from Paul. He was traveling with some of the pastors to do two pastor's seminars further west.  They had hit a small boy with the van!

This kind of thing is scary, and I don't just mean for the boy.  There can be mob violence against the driver, or the police can impound the car indefinitely.

I felt overwhelmed.  Happily, I had gone off by myself so I could hear, and so had a place for some quick, desperate praying.  I was in an accident in 1989 in Peru where a friend hit a man on the Pan American highway.  The man did not live, and Paul had thought this boy might not live.

The kids' party went on,  while I was on pins and needles.  Every chance I got, I slipped off to ask prayer from friends on my phone.  People responded on Whatsapp and Facebook.

We gave two 30 minute programs for the kids.  Tim and Josh experienced the difference between a puppet show, and a TRANSLATED puppet show.  Translating more than doubled the length of it, and the boys' faces were twisted in agony at the strain of the longer time in an awkward position, but they were laughing too. We did stories, and the liquor bottle lesson.  We did a lesson on how Christians are to stay salty, and be a light in the world.

We helped with crafts and decorating.  We glittered their cat.  We ate lunch, with one ear on the phone.  We cut the cakes Lois Osborne had sent and distributed that.

The phone buzzed, and Paul said it looked like the boy would be OK!!!  He had stitches in his head, but no broken bones.  However, that first clinic sent him to another hospital for x-rays. That took hours.  Then the 2nd hospital sent them to a third to get a scan of some kind.  What rejoicing when we finally heard he was fine!

We left the children's home around 4 PM, but the saga continued for the guys.  They had to go back to the police station and arrived there around 10:30 PM.  The police were going to keep them all overnight at the station.  Misery!  Just before midnight, Paul got out his chalk talk and preached to the whole batch of people there.  He was preaching at midnight (like his namesake singing in a prison in prison at midnight, in Acts 16:25)!  After that, one of the Policemen said he was a believer, and said they could go find a hotel to sleep in, because of the Word of God.

So they left, and went to drop off the family of the boy who was hit.  From there, they hunted for an hour for a hotel.  Paul said he got to bed at 1:55 AM.

In the morning, it was back to the police station, wait, wait, wait some more, and then the longed for clearance!  Paul's height gave some rapport with the police chief, a man who thought he himself was tall, before he met Paul.

They left around 10 for an 11 o'clock appointment, three hours away.  They arrived 22 hours later than expected and 2 hours late for their appointment.  Happily, this is Kenya, so 2 hours late is not a panic.  Paul preached about 4 times at that seminar.  He sounds tired, very tired.
But he has no more preaching until Sunday, so he just has to get through the long drive tomorrow, and he can rest.

I'm thankful God keeps His promises!