Eventful Week

As I was cleaning the dust away, I came across the little notebook that I use for my memory verses. I had been struggling with some fears recently, and decided to memorize Psalm 54:4 “Behold, God is my helper, the Lord is the upholder of my life.” When I read the verse again, I realized how true this verse had been to me in the past week. I will let Jon tell the story of what happened:

“Some time ago, someone at the hospital decided that there were too many big trees that could be dangerous if they fell down in the wrong spot.  So an effort was made to kill these trees by girdling the bark around them and then cutting them down when they died.  The same treatment had been given to a great tree that hung over our house, and yet a smarter head prevailed and they never cut that one down.  However, the thinking should have been done before the tree was girdled, as the tree was very strong and probably would have lasted for a long time yet.  We noticed that even though the tree still had green leaves, there were more and more limbs at the end of branches that were starting to die.

    We realized it would only be a matter of time before someone would have to cut it down.  But how to do that?  That was the big question.  I got an idea one day when I saw a tractor in town, and thought that perhaps we could rent the tractor, attach a chain that would be fastened to the top of the tree, and then by applying leverage, we could perhaps turn the tree away from the house.  I mentioned the idea to the hospital staff, and they promised to see if they could find the fellow with the chain saw, and check out the tractor possibility. 

   The next morning, a crew of 8 showed up at the house, with machetes, 2 axes, and a very long rope—no tractor or chainsaw.  This was not what we expected, so we went out to see what the plan was.  The plan was apparently quite fluid.  The first part involved sending one guy way up the tree and tying the rope to a limb.  The rope was not nearly high enough in the tree for laws of physics, which would tell us that the higher you go in the tree, the less force you would need to exert on it to affect its fall. 

Then discussion ensued.  Some wanted to cut one limb at a time, and lower it safely to the ground, using the rope.  Apparently, that plan was nixed as suddenly we heard axes hitting the trunk of the tree. 

We went out and tried to tell them that such a plan was foolhardy.  But they insisted that they knew what they were doing, and we have seen Sierra Leoneans do things that are impossible so many times, so we thought—“maybe they do have a special magic this time.”  But I hurried Heleen to get out of the house, even though they said it would be fine to stay.  We headed towards the hospital because we didn’t want to watch, but when a large tree hits a tin roof, you can hear it a long way away…and that is what happened in less than five minutes…The following pictures show some of the results…”

Looking at these pictures now, I realize the truth of the Scripture I memorized: ‘The Lord is the upholder of my life.” 

Immediately after the tree fell, people rallied together to remove the tree and all the debris. The rains held off and our belongings were safe overnight. The next day it seemed as if all the carpenters of Mattru were on top of our house! Within 10 hours, the rafters were built back and covered with tin. And 10 days later, the ceiling has been put in and painted, the electrical wiring and plumbing fixed, and the layers of dust removed. We are back in our home!

We realize that while God upholds our lives, it still means that one day - in His time - they will end, and this end came unexpectedly for hundreds of people in the capital Freetown. On Monday morning we were in Freetown ourselves as we had picked up Dr. Richard & Cathy Toupin, missionaries in Mattru just before the war, who came to help for a period of seven weeks. We woke up to heavy rains, but the building we stayed in was strong, and the streets free from flooding. So we got our umbrellas out and headed out to the Immigration Service to get residence permits for our colleagues. While we were out in town, the reports started coming in: a large landslide, mudslides, flooding, people drowning… We started hearing more and more sirens as ambulances drove on and off. At the same time, life seemed to go on as usual: we got the passports sorted, made some purchases, ate a sandwich. Meanwhile, only a few streets down from where we were, the mortuary of the government hospital filled up with hundreds of bodies of drowned men, women and children…

The next day we traveled back to Mattru and from a distance we saw the big chunk cut out of Sugarloaf Mountain.

Now we are home again. Through our friends in Freetown we are hearing stories: the man who went to the house of his foster children only to find that all ten members of the household had drowned… The pastor who lost 60 members of his church…

As we cleaned up our house it was hard to feel bad about the cracks, the scratches, the stains that cannot be removed. We have a safe and dry house and a bed to sleep in. God upheld our lives and we are grateful. Please remember this country and those who are mourning in your prayers.

Love,

Jon & Heleen