Dear Friends and Family,
This is just a very brief update on our situation in Soddo. First, we want to say a very heartfelt thank-you for your prayers and generous donations. To say we are thankful seems so trite. We are overwhelmed and beyond grateful. At this writing, our hospital supporters have donated $15,000 to our fuel costs.
The fire at the power plant. The city of Soddo is in the background.
Our generator is running constantly. As I write this, we are in the dark but the computer is charged:) The Ethiopian government has been repairing the station as quickly as possible. Because there is a large dam being constructed within 100 miles of the hospital, they have brought in parts that were intended for that electrical station and put them in Soddo. They have also brought in large generators to run the government hospital and other parts of the city. We feel that they are doing everything humanly possible to correct the situation here and we applaud their efforts. The Ethiopian people are so resilient and we are humbled by their ability to adapt to this situation.
Because of your donations, we will be able to purchase some water brought in by donkeys for the hospital grounds. As you may remember, Allison spent the better part of last year working with the hospital gardeners redoing nearly the entire hospital compound. Everything was at risk of being lost without any water. One donkey load of water costs between 15-20 birr which is just around 1.00. It comes in four 20 liter containers. We are hopeful to be able to bring in donkey water three times a week until the short rains come or the city electricity is repaired so that we can use hospital well water again.
Donkeys bringing in water for the new housing construction
It is eerie looking out from our dark living room window and seeing the missionary housing area completely dark. The only thing lit is the overhead lights on our road and our six small solar lights that we purchased at Lowes for our walkway 
. But the hospital has power and that is what is most important.
Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts,
Mark and Allison
sending...