austraLasia #1842

Timor missionary has much to thank the Lord for

DILI: 12th May 2007 -- Fr Rolando Fernandez, long-time missionary in East Timor, is still thanking God for his and others' miraculous survival last Sunday (6th May) when their vehicle plunged into a ravine.  It was 10th May before he was able to circulate a few details of the event - in his letter he does not indicate the place where the incident occurred, but he does give sufficient detail of the event itself.
    'After the Mass in a village chapel, I took a car (he was not driving) along with some of the faithful whose house was along the way.  As we were going downhill from the chapel, the driver almost missed a curb which would have plunged the vehicle into a deep ravine. I called his attention and he turned sharply to the other side.  The car hit the upper slope, overturned and plunged into the ravine. Fortunately a small tree stopped our fall'.
    Fr Rolando goes on to describe how he pulled all the people from the vehicle, including the driver who was unconscious.  They climbed back up to the road and were taken to hospital by a construction truck.  The children on board were unscathed, as also a woman in late pregnancy.  Fr Rolando and another woman were detained at the hospital for further observation.  He points out, wrily, that 'they x-rayed my head and found nothing there'!  He and the other passenger were kept overnight, then released the following morning.
    One week after the event, Fr Rolando says he is still very sore and bruised, but there are no broken bones and the medical prognosis is that he will heal quickly enough. Indeed, he is hoping to return to the chapel tomorrow for the Sunday Mass.  Fr Rolando, who has done much translation work in recent years, had just completed the translation into Tetum of The Little Catechism, and had only several days before consigned it to 'Aid to the Church in Need' in Germany, for publication.  He had worked from the Portuguese and English editions to do the translation. As he put it, 'I thought that with this work, my job is done. But on being told in the hospital that everything is ok, and that the pain is normal after such accident and will subside in time, I see that the Lord still has some work for me to do, and I pray that I may be able to do it to the best of my ability. Please join me in thanking the Lord for this “new” lease of life'.
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