Saturday

On this past Thursday, September 10, at 2:25 p.m. I had an accident at the church. I fell from the second floor to the first floor when a ladder slipped and fell out from under me.

I was in the hospital for 24 hours and now I’m home recuperating with a very sore lower back and can barely walk. Praise the Lord for his protection during this fall.

Let me tell you exactly what happened. At the church we are working on putting some dry wall up in different areas. Also we are doing some electrical work, building a new ladies bathroom and installing a drop down ceiling.

My Uncle Lyle Snakenberg, Aunt Rose, and Bill Painter from Chattanooga , TN , are here helping us with all the work we need to get done at the church. We also have 10 men from the church helping us get all the work done. We praise the Lord for all the help that has been sent our way to help us get the church up to the city code.

At 2:25 p.m. on Thursday I climbed up the ladder to go to the second floor to throw a rope down. The ladder is a long expandable ladder with an adjustable foot at the bottom. I had the ladder leaning up against the second floor wall. We had been using that ladder all morning and had been going up and down with no problem. When I got back on the ladder to go down, the ladder started to slide on the smooth auditorium floor. I grabbed the ladder tight with my hands and in a few split seconds it came crashing down. The ladder stayed under me. I went for a roller coaster ride with a crash landing. My bottom and back received the blow of the fall. I lay on the floor with a terrible back pain. It felt like my back was broken. Pastor Jose Miguel called an ambulance on his cell phone. Somebody brought me a jacket to put under my head so I did not have to lay it on the cold floor. I then asked for a mattress which was brought down from the ladies dorm. I turned over on my back and got on the mattress.

The ambulance arrived 20 minutes later. Praise the Lord!! They put my body on a board and my head in a brace. They wanted to take me to a public hospital, but since I knew that the doctors and staff at the public hospital were on strike this week, I requested that they take me to a private hospital downtown. The ambulance paramedic honored my request and took me to the Sanatorio Modelo, a private hospital.

We arrived quickly and they rushed me into the emergency room. After a long wait the doctor showed up to ask me a few questions about what happened. He ordered an x-ray done immediately. Next they put an IV into my arm. It was painful and unpleasant, but I got used to it after a few minutes. While I was getting the x-ray done my wife and Pastor Larry Owens with Evangelist James Belisle showed up to see me. I asked the person that took the x-ray how it turned out and they would not tell me. He said, “The doctor will let you know.” I expected a bad report. After they took four x-rays of my entire spine, they took me back to the emergency room. Several minutes later the doctor showed up and showed me the x-ray. It did not look good since my femur bone (leg bone) was up into my hip bone too close and it looked twisted. It looked like the femur bone impacted into the hip bone. He prescribed an operation as the only solution to put the femur bone and hip bone back in place. He asked me if I was allergic to any medications. I said that I was allergic to hospitals!! The doctor talked to two other doctors to get another opinion about what happened. A few minutes later a bone surgeon specialist came into the room to explain the x-ray. He said that it did not look good and prescribed a CAT scan to be done immediately. The CAT scan was not able to be done until 10:00 a.m. the next day.

The next step was to find a room in the hospital so I can stay and get the care that I needed. The doctor said that there was not a room available at that hospital and that we would have to call around and find a room somewhere else. My wife and Pastor Owens went to the front desk to double check that there was not a room available. They said there were no rooms available. We called two other hospitals and there was not a room available. Eventually Pastor Owens and Pastor Jose Miguel went to a phone booth and called all the private hospitals in town to see if they can find a room. After making many phone calls they did not find a room. Since we knew that the doctors and staff at the public hospitals were on strike, we knew that we would not be able to get a room there either.

Pastor Larry Owens, Pastor Jose Miguel, and my wife came back into the emergency room to tell me the sad news that there was not a room available anywhere. The doctor came in and told me that maybe I could go home. But when I tried to get up from my bed, I just could not get up because I was in too much pain and was scared. Next thing we did was to have a prayer meeting right there and ask God to help us find a room. After they prayed I told Pastor Jose Miguel to go back again and ask if there was a room available at the hospital where we were. He came back in a few minutes and gave us good news that the hospital found a private room available. Praise the Lord!!

The secretary at the office told us we had to pay $2,000 pesos deposit so we can have access to this room. All we had on us was $1,000 pesos which I had requested my wife to bring when she came. We asked the secretary if we could put down $1,000 and later and give them another $1,000. She refused to cooperate and requested that we pay the full amount. Pastor Owens offered to go to a bank and get another $1,000. Praise the Lord for the help of Pastor Owens. Eventually we paid the $2,000 deposit and were able to go to a private room. The room on the sixth floor was real clean and first class. It had an extra bed and a bathroom. They told us to pay cash for all the tests and medications first hand before they would do anything. Praise the Lord we were able to eventually get some cash and pay for all the expenses.

Pastor Jose Miguel stayed with me that night and helped me throughout the night with anything that I needed. The nurses and staff were very helpful. We gave everybody that we came in contact with a Gospel tract and were able to witness to some of the staff.

Just before 10:00 a.m. on Friday they came to get me to go and get the CAT scan done. It took about 20 minutes to get it done.

The bone surgeon specialist came up to my room about 12:30 p.m. to tell me that they may not have to operate, but that he would study the CAT scan better before making a final decision.

Throughout the morning and afternoon I received some visitors. My wife and sister Debra came in the morning and stayed with me the rest of the day. Finally at 7:10 p.m., my doctor came to give me the good news that there were no broken bones and that the femur bone and hip looked real good. He had me do some exercises to see how much movement I had in my legs. Then he said that I could go home to get a lot of bed rest and recuperate. Praise the Lord!!

This accident could have been a lot worse. I could have had head injuries or several broken bones. Praise the Lord for his protection and answers to prayer. Thank you for your prayers.

Now I am at home trying to rest. I still have back pain. I may have some strained back muscles. I walk with help. Praise the Lord for his goodness. My body is wonderfully made!!

I will stay home for the next week and hopefully recuperate completely. I need to go and see the doctor next Tuesday.

The work at the church is going forward. The dry wall work is almost complete. Hopefully the drop down ceiling will be done next week. There is lots of work to do yet, but by faith it will get done in His timing.

We praise the Lord for all the funds that came in to help pay for the electrical work, drop down ceiling, plastering of walls, and the dry wall. This is an ongoing project but by faith we will pass the city inspection and the building will get approved for public use. Thank you for your prayers.

I will send you a report in a few more days with pictures. Also we will write a report about the starting of a new church in Belen, Catamarca. Praise the Lord for 283 souls saved in Belen during the evangelistic campaign.

Phone: 1-319-248-9736 (Vonage -

USA

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