Congratulations to Deborah and Paolo Bini who were married today in Mendon Ponds Park. Join us in praying for a long and happy marriage for them. We are rejoicing that Aden has a father figure in his life.

Slept in a little this morning. Dave drove the golf cart down to see some of the soccer game between the residents and some nurses and other locals. Keir begged off soccer today in lieu of a round of tennis later in the day.

Yummy made by Dave pancakes with scrambled eggs and bacon (the pre-cooked type that requires no refrigeration and yes it does taste like bacon!). Unpacked some of the food order and helped organize the storage space in the attic for the year's supply of canned goods and paper products. How many rolls of toilet paper would you order for an entire year?

At 6PM we had dinner reservations at Marie Terese's. Dr. Renee and Nurse Karen went with us. Had a great dinner of manioc leaves, fried sweet potatoes, chicken and fish plus rice. The restaurant has one neon bar light, concrete floors, plastic white lawn chairs and no screens on the widows. As we sat solving some of the world's problems, Marie Terese came into the restaurant telling Keir that she had a call that he was needed at the hospital. The pharmacy warehouse was on fire! (Everyone knows everyone else's business and one of the nurses knew the Thelanders had dinner reservations there.). We immediately left for the hospital and drove quickly down the pot hole filled roads. We could see the flames as we enter the hospital grounds. We share Dr. Dave's email to friends with you for the rest of the story. He and Becki are 30 plus years missionaries here. God provided a slow rain/drizzle (the first since we have been here because it is the dry season). Pray with us that the fire does not reignite during the night. Photos tomorrow.
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Dear Friends,

At 7:30 pm tonight I got a frantic call from one of our nurses with the alarming news that our hospital warehouse was on fire. Becki called around the station for others to come while I raced to the hospital. When I arrived, about 200 people (mostly the local youth group, which was meeting in the church next door) were screaming and running around, trying to get into the lock building to put it out. I could see the glow of flames through the windows. Since it was dark, I parked my car with the headlights on the door.

I grabbed the fire extinguisher from my car and ran to the steel door with my keys. When I cautiously opened the door, I could see flames reaching to the ceiling from behind a six foot high stack of boxes--our most recent medicine order. The ceiling was already on fire, along with about 10 boxes. At the center was a refrigerator that was burning like a torch. I sprayed it with my car extinguisher, but it ran out after about 10 seconds. About 10 young men from the youth group and hospital crowded in, and I shouted for some to bring buckets of water and the others to form a chain to drag our medicines out. In seconds we had boxes flying out the door and buckets of water flying in--half the time colliding! What pandemonium! Above it all I could hear women singing praises and prayers to God!

Next to the fire, I was soon elbowed aside by younger firefighters who threw the buckets of water on the fridge and through the burned out ceiling and up onto the burning rafters. Keir Thelander arrived and took charge of that effort, so I worked on getting most of the boxes around the fire out of the building. Then I went outside and discovered the fire was spreading to the waiting area roof of our new lab, which is right next door. I got some good throwers working on that one and in a few minutes we doused it. The water coming out of the hospital faucets seemed like a trickle, but after 30 minutes or so, Keir and his team gradually got the fire inside under control.

We may have lost 10 to 20 boxes of medicines and supplies and a refrigerator full of we're not sure what. The roof has a huge hole in it and there is extensive damage to the ceiling and rafters for about 1/3 of the building. But we could have lost the entire building, with over $200,000 of medicines and supplies in storage! We praise God that the youth group was there and that so many volunteers rushed to help. And nobody was burned or hurt.

Praise God with us for protecting these precious medicines and supplies and helping us to get it out. Please pray with us that God will help us replace what we lost, and repair our warehouse.

Praising our Great Lord and Protector
Dave & Becki Thompson





David C. Thompson, MD, FACS, FWACS
Assistant Professor of Surgery
PAACS Director for Africa
www.paacs.net