Today the girls, along with Mikey and I, decided to go and weed the peanut field, which is on the other side of Jason’s house, next to the road. The weeds were taller than the peanuts, so it was about time to get that job done.

While we were diligently pulling weeds, we saw Jason, Shoshana, Ivana and Yohan drive out the driveway and down the road on their motorbike. I knew that they were planning to go and check on the tractor, since Travis needed to get his battery back that they were using for the tractor. We pulled lots more weeds, and then we saw Jason coming back, all by himself. He went zooming by, towards the village. I idly wondered why Shoshana and the kids were not with him. We pulled more weeds, and then I saw Jason going REALLY fast back the way he had come! Right behind him was Obed, who is the village mechanic and a good friend of Jason’s, going just as fast. Hannah thought that maybe Obed was chasing Jason. While we were pondering the latest turn of events, a whole bunch of other motor bikes went zooming by. Our road is normally rather quiet, so this was strange indeed!

But, we diligently kept pulling weeds until I needed to run down to the house. As I was getting ready to walk back up the hill, Hannah came racing up to me, yelling about the tractor turning over with Shoshana and the kids. That got my attention!

I went right up to where Jason was hurriedly throwing ropes, chains, and cables into the truck, and found out that sure enough, Shoshana and the kids had an accident. He asked me if I wanted to go with him to help get the tractor, since it was blocking the road. Before we left, I saw Shoshana and the kids, and they looked fine to me, so I was not expecting much.

What happened was that they had gone to Hwoy Yah to check on the battery, and found out that they could bring the tractor home. So Shoshana had taken both of the little ones on the tractor, while Jason drove back to our village to get the key to the tractor. (He had jump started the tractor for Shoshana so that she could get going, but they needed the key to make something work on the tractor.) That is why we saw Jason drive by all by himself the first time.

Shoshana got to a steep hill, and about half way up or so, she tried to shift into a lower gear, but she had just gotten it out of gear, and was pushing on the brake so she could get it into the next gear, when she had the sudden realization that there were no brakes, and she was now headed down the hill backwards, going at a pretty good clip. I guess that tractors are made to turn sharp, so as she tried to keep the tractor on the road, it was making much bigger adjustments than she really needed it to make. And somehow or other, by the time she reached the bottom of the hill, the tractor rolled, and she found herself on the ground with two terrified children. Since she was holding them, she could not break her fall, and landed rather hard on her hip. Ivana was terrified, and was the first to get out of there and across the road. Shoshana was also able to get herself and Yohan disentangled, and over to where Ivana was. A man from our village had been riding a motor bike behind them, and so she asked him to go and get Jason. Then, she took the children for a little walk to pick flowers since the sight of the tractor was scaring them so badly.

So while Shoshana and the kids were picking flowers, another motorbike came upon the scene. The man was shocked to see the tractor on its side, and tools spilled all over the road, so he began picking up tools…too afraid to go and look to see if the driver was dead. He was pretty sure the driver had to be dead, since there was no noise or movement. After all, that is how this kind of story normally ends.

In the mean time, Jason had stopped at one house to get the key, and someone told him that the key was at a different house, so he drove over to the other house. Not long afterward, the man that Shoshana had told to go and get Jason arrived and got the message to Jason. The next thing the crowd at the first house saw was Jason driving like mad out of the village, followed by Obed, going equally as fast. They discussed this among themselves, and decided that there must have been a fight, and Obed was chasing Jason! So a whole bunch of them decided to go and see the fight!

Imagine their surprise when they got to the place where the tractor lay on its side. No, Obed and Jason were not fighting, they were making sure that Shoshana and the children were OK, and they were! Yohan has a little scratch on his ear, and an egg on his head where he hit the ground. Shoshana hurt her hip, but when I checked it, I don’t believe it is broken, probably just bruised since she is still walking around on it with only a slight limp. Ivana was not hurt at all physically, but she might not want to ride on the tractor again any time soon.

When Jason and I came over the hill and saw that tractor on its side, I was shocked. Clearly, I was looking at another miracle. About 30 men had arrived by the time I got there, and using the winch on the truck, and all those men, we were able to get the tractor back on its feet. It will take a little work to get the air out of the lines, and the oil out of places it shouldn’t be, but other than that, you cannot tell that there is anything wrong with the tractor at all.

So once again, God protected our family. A lot of the villagers saw the tractor, and as I watched their faces, I could tell that they were dumbfounded that Shoshana and the children were not hurt. It looked impossible for them to be OK. But God is the God of the impossible, and he loves to show His power in behalf of his children. I am certain that this will be the talk of the villages for weeks to come, and it will be yet another opportunity to witness to those around us of our Almighty God.