Ring of Fire

This month, October, is preparation month for the people to be able to plant next month. One of the ways they prepare their fields is to burn them. So October is burn month. October is also one of the windiest months of the year. Wind and fire do not go together, if you know what I mean. Anyway, Wednesday there was a “controlled” fire that got out of control up on the other side of the mountain from Mago. Janet and I drove to it and it was quite a distance from our property. By Friday it was on this side of the mountain and moving down. We kept an eye on it but did nothing else. Sabbath morning when the people went to church Janet told me to get walking shoes on, we were going for a walk. What started to be a walk to view where the fire was came very close to a disaster. We watched it as it moved into the valley close to the school. Janet and I knelt for prayer and put the fire into His hands. We watched as tall pine trees flared up in a huge flame. We could feel the heat although it was at least 100 yards away. It was so devastating to watch. We were standing in a field of tall dry grass and I told Janet if it comes into the field it will move fast and not to get down in the field too low. A little while later, I think she knelt and prayed again while I was down standing by a small tree. There were others standing around watching and talking with some people who had just came out of the forest that were fighting the fire. All of a sudden I see it hit the grass. I took off running up hill yelling to Janet that it had hit the grass. She repeated it as a question and I yelled yes as I kept running. Running up hill is very hard, but when you have fire chasing you, you need to run faster than you thought you ever could. We got to the group of people who were standing around talking and when they saw it, they started to run. I was scared, I don’t know about the rest of them. I ended up standing in a garden area that had been dug up and was taking pictures. Janet, in the mean time had gotten a blanket, got it wet and was trying to beat down the fire in the grassy field. She and some of the guys around there were trying to save a couple of houses that the fire was heading towards. Part of the time she was by herself fighting the fire and then some men and ladies came to help put out the fire. They got some of the fire and started another section of the field to burn itself up to the other fire so that it will burn itself out. It worked. The fire was out there, but raging other places. We came back home to get our fundis to help fight the fire. We were busy most of the day fighting fires. We were able to help save a few more homes and the people were very thankful. The last fire we fought was purposely started and the 2 men were caught and taken down to the authorities. The mindset of some people – they had lost their home and felt others should to.

Later that evening it started back up again and Janet and I both thought it would reach our property before morning. So we took turns staying up most of the night. It slowed down after 1:00 so that Janet slept on the sofa and I slept on my bed with my work clothes on. The Lord blessed and we were safe. She hired 2 men to go and put out the fires that seem to be threatening us so that we could sleep better the next night.

The fires kept raging on the other side of the mountain. It ended up at the top of the tall mountain like 2 arches. Then the arches joined together and ended up as a huge ring of fire about a mile wide. My camera could not pick it up but we had some visitors from Kibidula that took some pictures and I am hoping they will turn out.

It was exciting to say the least and we all gave up a prayer of thanks for our safety and the safety of the village people.

Today Janet had to do minor surgery on my hand. I thought and she thought that I had a huge splinter a little over 1” long in the palm of my left hand just below my fingers. She gave me a shot of Lanicane and froze the area. Then she probed and cut and couldn’t find anything. Still not 100% sure she stitched me up (3 stitches) and bandaged it up. We will watch it for a few days and see how it feels. Right now I am typing with my two middle fingers numb. They feel funny.

Well we are pouring the footings to our second building today and we have Bill and his family here for a few days from Kibidula. Bill is building our rafters for our first building. Things are happening fast.

Well so long for now from Mago,

Deniece