Our 1997 Toyota Avalon served us marvelously for years. We be bought it from Duane, my brother, in 2002. He had it from new.

Well, on Friday night when Anna Ruth and I were finding our way to Erb Mennonite Church I pulled into the lane of an oncoming car and that was it. Our car, poor thing, was totaled! Anna Ruth had some leg bruises and I had a wound on my head. The bags did not distend. We praised God as we walked away from the scene.  We found that no one in the other car was injured.

That was how our evening began. We enjoyed our time with some members of the congregation and this lovely family of five children around delicious East Africa food. It marked the first-year anniversary of the arrival of this family in America. The congregation helped them to settle and find employment., aided by Church World Service.  The father is Malobi Emmanuel and the mother is Antoineti Busi.

Since the family, Congolese, spent several years in Uganda they spoke Swahili so we could converse with them easily. What they went through as refugees touched the heart. I found no bitterness in them, just praise that God led them to America, eventually.

We got in touch with Jane and Glenn who appeared to take us home. What a night.  Glenn dressed my head wound as a wonderful doctor.  There was a nurse at the gathering. She was super helpful, had all the bandages, etc.

Goodbye to our Avalon and welcome to a lovely Congolese couple.

We spent the evening around the table with their host family, Congolese but residents in Uganda for a dozen or so years as refugees. The husband is employed handling chickens. We enjoyed getting to know the parents and their five children who were first hosted by this congregation a year ago, to the day.

A night to remember.  Even though upset a bit by the accident.