We Are Here

Linda got to watch Tim's second surgery at Kibogora.  The other white guy in the picture was Mike, a sweet visiting doctor from Canada, fresh out of residency.  He stayed here for three months, and the two docs had a 5 day overlap in their time here - so Mike was able to get Tim oriented and introduce him around at the hospital.  Mike and his sweet wife, Mandy, had two of the most adorable kiddos!  We will miss them! 

Here we are! We made it Kibogora Hospital and to our new home on the Hospital Compound late Sunday night.  I haven’t posted to the blog because our internet has been extremely slow and it hasn’t been possible to upload even words – much less any pictures.  I have a few moments right now, and the internet is better this morning, so I am going to try to fill in as best I can with the limited time I have.

Tim doesn’t start work until next Monday, but he has snuck in a few consults and done a couple of operations.  Our most pressing need right now is for prayer for a sweet 8 year old boy, who is in danger of losing his leg.  He came in with a severe infection of his tibia.  Please pray for this boy, that somehow his leg can be saved.  Also, if any readers of this blog know Dr. Mitchell, Dr. Allen or Dr. Morris, please ask them to email Tim at Bergfamilyafrica@gmail.com or doctortimb@gmail.com.  He would like to discuss this case with you.  Or, Dr. Bob Williams, if you are reading this, he would love to talk with you as well.  He has an xray he could email to you. 

We are supposed to be at a missions conference all this week called "Kumbya", for all the missionaries in Rwanda.  It is being held at a campsite by that name which is very near our compound, only about a 30 minute drive from our house.  However, we have only made it there about half the time, due to unpacking, jet lag, Tim working or a lack of cars/drivers at the compound.  The time we have had at the retreat has been awesome, however.  (And the extra time we've stayed home to sleep has been awesome as well.)  Here is a picture of Sam jumping off the diving plank, which is about 30 feet above Lake Kivu at the campsite.  I will try to get out in a boat soon, so I can get a picture from the water of Sam jumping in.  It's a pretty spectacular jump.  

A funny thing happened our second day here, when we were driving to Kumbya for the  

first time.   This man next to us on a motorcycle kept making these wild gestures at us and at our truck.  We didn’t know what he was trying to tell us.  Once our driver finally noticed him, he immediately stopped the truck.  It turned out, our back left wheel had COMPLETELY come off!  Ruthie took a picture of it, and if we can get it off her camera, I will upload that later.  It was so funny that we couldn’t even tell the difference in the ride – the road is THAT bumpy that we couldn’t even tell.  Anyway, we got out of the truck and commenced a seemingly futile search for the four bolts which held the tire onto the truck.  Believe it or not, we found the missing tire, and all four bolts, about 200 feet behind the truck.  Meanwhile, we had our puppies with us, and kept having all these people wanting to trade with us for them.  Rwandans don’t like dogs (or so I thought), so this surprised us.  One man tried to trade his chicken for our puppy.  I thought he was just offering to let me hold the chicken for a minute, and since I love chickens, I was more than happy to oblige, until I realized he was tugging at the puppy in Ruthie’s arms after I held his

  chicken.  I quickly gave "Cluck-Cluck" back to the man and explained through hand gestures that we were NOT trading! 

I have much more to post, but will have to finish later, as the family will be waiting on me to leave for Kumbya.  Hopefully, the internet will be working later tonight or tomorrow morning, so I can finish our update.  Thanks for all your prayers for us!  Please keep that 8 year old in your prayers as well. 

I can’t believe I don’t have time to post any pictures here of Ruthie, Stephen or the new “guard dogs” (aka, our temporary pets!!) for the mission.  I will be sure to post those first thing, next time I get on. 


PRAYER REQUESTS:
1. For the 8 year old boy's leg.
2. For our adjustment to our new life here.
3. To begin learning the Kinyarwandan language!  (Desperately needed!)
4. Ruthie dropped her iphone in some water, and lost over 1,000 pictures stored on it, along with the ability to send pictures of Rwanda home to her friends via instagram.  Please pray it would dry out and "get well".
5. My visa has not been approved.  Tim's visa was approved with the notarized copy of our marriage license, but I need an original of the marriage license.  Go figure.  My Dad fed exed an official copy from the Bandera courthouse to me (thanks, Dad).  Please pray they except that, as our original is glued into a very large frame, and buried in a million boxes in our playroom.  It would be very difficult to send.  If they don't accept our certified copy, our next step will be to get re-married at the US Embassy in Kigali.  Sounds romantic!  At any rate, Please pray my visa is granted.


Thank you! 


J