Wrong place! Wrong time!

Tuesday morning we were leaving to take some PEF brethren for a day trip up Zomba Mountain. We picked them up at the hotel and had decided that on our way we would drop off one of our new trucks at the Isuzu dealership so that they could fix a problem with the canopy on the back.   Elder Bullock drove that truck and I followed.  The men were with me.  We were almost at Isuzu when we turned down a street and suddenly Jim stopped.  He was behind a Security truck that carries guards in the back and responds to alarms, etc.  The Security truck was on its way back to their shop. 

However, about halfway up the  block there was a robbery taking place and some men were fighting.  When they saw the Security truck they assumed that it had been called because of the robbery and they shot at them (the bullet apparently hit the ground).  

From my vehicle we couldn't see any of this because we were behind Jim.  We had stopped and heard the loud gunshot and then the next thing we knew Jim's truck lurched back a bit and I saw a guard laying on the road at the front of Jim's truck.  I thought he had been shot and was dead but then he started screaming and crying.

What happened was:  when the gun was fired the security truck driver got scared and without looking, he quickly backed up and smashed into the front of our new truck .   Jim had no time to get out of the way and of course, didn't want to back into me.  Unfortunately, one of the guards was either starting to get off the back of the truck or climbing back on and when the driver reversed so fast he was just trying to hang on.  His lower leg was smashed between the two trucks.  I didn't get out and look but one of the men did and said it was really bad.    The security guys put the guy into the back of the truck and took him to the hospital.  I really hope that his leg can be saved -- not sure how good their medical technology is for something like that.   After things had settled down a bit I got out to see the damage to our truck.  It wasn't as bad as I expected but bad enough.  Also there was a pretty good pool of blood on the road in front of our truck that no one bothers to clean up. 

Jim thought they were going to take off so he ask for the driver's liscense and he didn't want to give it.  Jim grabbed the keys out of the truck and with some persuasion the driver traded the documents for the keys.  This all happened very quickly and then they left for the hospital.    We had seem some police just  back a block or two so Jim went to get them.  After lots of talking and looking it was decided that we would follow the police and they allowed us to drop the injured truck off at Isuzu.  It was leaking antifreeze but we were very close to the dealership.   We then went to the police station to fill out a report.  The security truck showed up after a bit as well and they do have insurance that should repair our vehicle. 

 

Apparently the thieves were robbing a bakery and got away with 2.5 million kwacha (about $9,000).  That is a lot of money in Malawi.     We are totally fine and really this could have happened anywhere - not just Africa!   We are grateful that we were not harmed.  Again, the Lord looks after his missionaries and we do have a lot of people praying for us each and every day!  Thank you for your prayers!!!