Work Day 1

Today started out great.  Breakfast at 6:30am, devotionals following and on the property at 7:45.  The construction crew unloaded and immediately went to work putting the roof on the church.  The construction of the church (previously destroyed by a strong storm) started last October with this same crew.  They were like a well-oiled machine.
Also, at the property, Dr. Brenda and Pam went to work on medical and Sara shopped for shoes, mattresses and mosquito nets for our children with the money their sponsors sent in.

Meanwhile, in another part of Uganda, the 2nd half of the team headed to into the Bush.  Helping Hands has 4 Bush Schools in addition to the school in Busia. We visited the first of the four today, Nakoola. David, Larry, Carol, Jennifer & Mike did an awesome job playing games with the children and singing songs but, of course, the main goal was to share with them the love of Jesus. About 300 children heard the message!  While the kids played, their mothers attended a teaching seminar with Kim.  About 40 women were in attendance as they talked about Raising Spiritually Healthy Children.

We broke for lunch at 1pm and had the usual, rice, beans, tortillas, potatoes, cabbage, and a mystery meat.  Then we headed back to work.  The construction crew tried to get their first truss up on the roof and with about 20 guys we lifted the heavy truss. Jeff S. was up on the roof guiding the truss into position when the truss gave way and knocked him off of the wall.  He fell 15 - 20 feet to the ground and landed on his back.  We immediately ran to help him and told him not to move.  He wanted to get up but we kept him still.  Dr. Brenda, and Pam came to check him out.  He was laying in a puddle of water and after talking with him a little we decided to move him out of the puddle.  We used a ladder and a piece of plywood to make a backboard and carefully slid the board under Jeff while keeping his head, neck and back immobilized.  We moved him out of the water and made arrangements for transport to a medical facility.  There are no ambulances here, and no real hospitals so we called a friend that had a flatbed truck and used this to transport Jeff to the clinic.  The power at the clinic was shut off as it has been in the town for most of the week so they could not take x-rays or do anything. So our next option was to cross the border to Kenya and take him to a "hospital" there.  Once there they got x-rays and from what the Dr's can see there are no broken bones.  They will keep Jeff overnight and monitor his condition.  On our last report,   Jeff was joking, talking, eating and ready to get back to work on the church.  He even got up and walked to use the bathroom.  This is truly a miracle and we praise God for his favor. Jeff still has a headache and because of that Dr. Brenda decided to move him to a different hospital that can do a CAT scan.  We just want to cover all of the bases.

We will update you on his condition tomorrow. Please pray for Jeff, his Dr's, the safety of the team and our ministry.