Josh was almost unrecognizable. He was covered in head to toe in dust. It almost looked like he bleached his hair. He had two big suitcases and a carry-on filled with presents and food! It was like an early Christmas. All of his bags were piled onto the four-wheeler, and Josh climbed on the moto. We drove about 10 feet then crashed.
A drunk was begging for money as Zach was pulling away. Instead of moving out the way, the man stood his ground. Zach swerved to avoid hitting him. The bike hit sand and went out of control. Zach panicked and revved the engine. The guys were dumped onto the floor and the moto sat comfortably on top of them.
All the Tchadians flocked around the hurt nasaras. Everyone wanted to be helpful, but no one was truly helpful. Josh decided he didn't want to ride anymore. He didn't want to fall again. So Zach and Daniel said they would meet him at his house and took off. I tried to offer Josh a ride, but he was tired. He didn't have the engery to try anything else. He rather walk.
I tried to leave but the four-wheeler wouldn't shift into gear. I put all my body weight into the lever but nothing happened. A Tchadian came over and started stomping on the pedal. He wanted to show me the right way of shifting gears. He got it into gear by bending it into place. (Remember how I said Tchadians break things the fastest, but keep them running for the longest time). I was able to start the four-wheeler, but now I couldn't lift it into first gear. The guy spent more time trying to bend the lever back into place.
After the fiasco I had to ride with one hand on the gas, while the other clung tightly to the bags in the back. I had to take a new route to Josh's house and missed a turn. I basically drove into the heart of the bush. Luckily, nothing bad happened. Everyone that came out to see the four-wheeler was friendly. No one tried to steal anything from me and I quickly found my error making it to Josh's house safely. Other then a few small bruises and cuts everyone is fine.
The next close call was located at the river. We went to our favorite spot at the river and were having a great time. The whole group decided to go up stream and float back down. We have done this in the past. It is very relaxing. Basically, we check for hippos during the hike up and enjoy our trip down.
Tony, one of the Bere boys, and Tammy jumped in first. (There is a 10 foot cliff we jump off of into the water). Allah, another Bere boy, and I quickly followed. Suddenly, I hear Tammy scream. Both her and Tony started swimming upstream. I freaked out. I thought there was a hippo due to the fear in their eyes. I imagined a huge hippo with its mouth open while we were being pulled by the current straight to its waiting mouth.
I praise God He gave me the strength and energy to swim to the bank. I'm a weak swimmer because I have no indurance. My excuse is asthma and swimming don't' mix very well, but I am able to keep up with everyone else when I am on dry ground. I don't know why swimming and I don't get along, but we don't.
Everyone made it safely to the side. The only injury occured when I got a spider bite. I grabbed a spider along with the tree at the edge of the river. We struggled climbing the slippery slope to the top of the cliff. It was tough, but the adrineline pushed us forward. By sheer determination (and God of course) we made it.
During the walk back to the four-wheeler Tammy explained what happened. Someone had strung a fishing line across the river. There were hooks there size of my hand each sitting a foot apart. The net would have snared us and the current would have pulled us down. Praise God Tammy and Tony were alert and quickly responded to the impending danger.
To make matter worse, there was a snake in the water too. Allah was able to float over the net because he had an inner tube. He spotted the snake at the waters edge. The snake jumped into the water, and Allah pulled his body as far out of the water as possible. Just as quickly as the snake jumped in the water it slithered out the other side. The snake was a fast swimmer and hungry, however, Allah wasn't its target. Our theory is the snake was eatting the fish off the line. Either way we dodge two bullets at the river this Sabbath.
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