Sending Messages

It sounded like a basketball bouncing somewhere down the path.  Thump, thump, thump.  Then the tree fell.  This would have been nothing extraordinary, but that morning it made me sit upright in bed.  "They're cutting down trees to block the road."  At 4:30, we had received a text that there was a roadblock starting outside the front gate of the Hospital.  And now this was more.  We went out in the yard, and saw the fallen tree.  They cut more down, then hopped on their motorcycles and headed back up the mountain.  When they finished, there were four roadblocks and the hospital gate was chained shut.

Lately there have been two meetings postponed (not by the Hospital).  It seems like this has been perceived as a lack of interest in the problem and they were sending a message that they still want electricity.

The footpath that goes by our house was full of traffic all day, with people, patients, and motorcycles trying to get from the main road to the hospital campus the back way.  I watched a man on crutches make his way up the mountain to get to the hospital.  Amazingly, the clinic was fairly full of patients coming to their appointments, but the parking lot was starkly empty.

After supper, we heard more chopping.  We were so relieved to see that this time it was a group of men chopping up the trees and taking them away.  There were varying reports as to who they were...guys hired by bus drivers so they could get through to deliver their loads, or a group from a community down the mountain who had said they would come open the road should this happen again.  Either way, we were glad.

The hospital gates remained chained closed for the night, as we decided not to push it.  The guards had tools to cut the chain if needed, and in the morning they did so with no repercussions.  Yesterday and today everything has remained open.

There are so many things that go through our minds.  What is the message we want to communicate?  How do we do it?  We want to communicate that we want to listen, talk, and be loving, kind and reasonable, but that this is not acceptable and is destructive.  It is destructive to the Hospital, to the patients, and to their own citizens who need to use the roads in their daily lives and businesses.

Some specific prayer requests we have:

- For us to send good, Christ-like messages
- For the "group" - that they can see how destructive this is, and that their hearts can be softened.
- For MEBSH as they seek to help with the problem.
- For a solution to be found that is good for all, because we know God can work it all out for good.