Arandis, Namibia: News from Arandis

Monday, February 19, 2007

News from Arandis

19 February 2007

I came home last night after having gone out to dinner after having attended the Make A Wish benefit put on my Melissa Hoffman Dance Center. In my inbox was an email from Boniface. It started out with touching, short notes from two of the children, Nadine and Chandre which really made me smile thinking about them. He wrote another paragraph which addressed something I had written in my last email to him, providing me with some phone numbers I had asked him for. Then my eyes went to the next paragraph, telling me of a rollover that Tresford and Pearl were involved with. I must say that my heart sank as I quickly continued to read his words...

The car overturn 7 times but they was no death. Pastor had a pain on the neck and his back, while Pearl had a shoulder pain.

Praise the Lord that none died.
Boniface

Praise the Lord indeed!

Talk about your rollercoaster of emotions email. High to low in less time than it takes to blink.

Well, this morning I decided I needed to call. I knew Pearl would likely have her cell phone on her and (coincidentally?) she had just given me her cell phone number in an email just last Friday. In that email, she told me that she, Tresford and others were heading to an outreach for the weekend. I reached her on her cell and we chatted for almost 20 minutes. She confirmed the rollover coming home but there seemed to be a chuckle in her voice when she corrected the exaggerated news of rolling 7 times. They only rolled once. I say a chuckle in her voice because she told me of another version...whereby someone was saying they had rolled 10 times.

It was good to hear that familiar chuckle of hers. There was something reassuring to me in hearing it after having had such heartsinking news the night before. Still, rolling a vehicle, even once, is once too many. I've got to believe the good Lord was holding all of them tightly for no one to be seriously injured.

I learned just a few hours ago, from Brenda, that when she had spoken to family in Arandis last Wednesday, they had been talking about this upcoming trip. Supposedly, Julianna - Chandre's foster mom and Nadine's real mom - was going as well. I had not heard from either Boniface or Pearl that she was also in the van. So now I am back to wondering...about someone on the other side of the world - not that there is anything I can do at this point. I've sent off another email to try to find out more. Brenda will be calling on Wednesday, so we'll see what she hears.

(Pictured above are Fabiola, Tresford, Pearl, Licky and Yeshua)

posted by Don @ 5:30 PM

2 Comments:

At 4:53 PM, Don said…

Received an email this morning from Pearl informing me that it was only her and her father in the van who were from Arandis. She also mentioned that she had been to the doctors today because "my muscle in my back got hurt." She went on to say, "I guess I won't be dancing for some weeks."

Prayers to you Pearl for a speedy recovery and that you are able to return to helping the children of Arandis learn how to dance very soon.
At 9:10 PM, amanda said…

thanks for the updates Don! Wow.. praise God for His protection! It amazes me how big God is that He hears my prayers, and the prayers of those around the world all at once, that blows my mind!