Travel days are usually really enjoyable for me on the race. This one was a combination of both. This is the account of our most recent travel day/week…call it what you want. I recount this for you to share in the protection and faithfulness of God moving and getting us where we need to go and because some of you wonder what we do when we travel. Not a moment of this week went by without us being able to tell that God’s hand was in everything and that he really wanted my team in Mozambique.
Monday, January 5th
5 am – I have now been awake for a little over 3 hours and working on 3 hours sleep. Our mini Busses arrive (for anyone needing to know what a minibus is, it is a van with 4 rows that need to sit 4 people in each row and a bus conductor and our bags always take up at least the back row and all the floor space), well 3 of the 6 that we are supposed to have for 43 people and our bags which are like additional humans
5:30 am – Mini Busses are being loaded when one gets stuck in the mud
Now we wait and pray and enjoy our river view while the guys push it out
6:15 am – mini bus is out of the mud and an argument with the bus drivers ensues over the lack of busses and our lack of faith that it is even possible to fit everyone in the 3
6:40 am – 1 more mini bus arrives and the drivers insist on rearranging the already packed bags instead of just piling people in…my driver insists that we are doing it because of policeman every though ten minutes earlier it was completely acceptable.
7 am – we are finally pulling out of the hostel parking lot
7:15 am – we are stopping for gas and praying that our driver isn’t about to buy the fish he is looking at…my butt is already sore from the lack of padding on the seats
7:30 am – we finally get back on the road
8 am – we stop to pick up a backpack from a strange person…maybe that is why we are trying to avoid the policemen
8:45 am – bathroom break on the side of the road…people in my minibus can’t decide if the rain is worth the effort
9:30 am – We arrive in Blantyre where we will be changing busses to move on to the border crossing.
9:30 am – 10:15 am – we drive around to 3 different bus stops and begin to think our bus driver does not know where we are supposed to be
10:15 am – we arrive at the bus stop and change all of our bags over to an even smaller minibus and pay 15 cents to use the bathroom
10:30 am – we continue to wait for the other bus of our people that broke down on the side of the road and argue over the prices they want us to pay for the busses
11 am – we are all finally in our mini bus and I am more comfortable with my head hanging out the window and my hips are bruising.. We stop at the bank and a little grocery store and wait
12 pm – on the road again
2:00 pm – Arrive at the exit station to leave Malawi – YAY! Fill out all the paperwork to leave and get stamped out.
2:15 pm – drive through “no man’s land” (the biggest one yet) and wonder what country all the people living there are residents of…Malawi or Mozambique.
2:30 pm – Arrive at the Mozambique border crossing and pile all of our bags on the sidewalk in the rain. Then we fill out the paper work we need to try to enter Mozambique. The first team gets in a silent single file line, not blocking the door to go through.
2:45 pm – The first team is through the line and on to Mozambique and so they load their bags and wait for the rest of us. My team is next and border crossing guy is agitated that we are going to a different location than the first team. Takes 20 minutes to process our paperwork.
3:15 pm – Team Audacity is free to enter the country! We load our bags into our new mini bus.
3:30 pm – Find out that 3 teams going to the same location have been denied due to “illegal stamp” even though we have all received visa’s from the embassy with that paperwork. All while this happens, Malwians and Mozambiquans enter the country with passports that are on notebook paper.
4 pm – Our mini bus is being attacked by a swarm of bees and a man that wants us to come to his house. We get rid of the bees and pray. Three men show up with what appears to be bags with dead bodies…the smell suggests rotting fish. The last team going to a separate location tries to get through but the agitated man says no…probably because he is angry with the previous 3 teams
6 pm – Still not allowed to cross and the decision is made that the two teams with stamped passports will continue on to Tete while the rest of the squad will try to go back to the Malawi. Unfortunately, the border is closed so they have to sleep in no man’s land.
6:30 pm – On our way to Tete, we get stopped by our first police stop and need to present our passports. We have a couple more before arriving in Tete.
7 pm – try to sleep but unsuccessful…I need a big comfy pillow for my butt on travel days
9 pm – finally arrive in the flooded Tete and stop at an ATM. Some teammates try to find a bathroom which happens to be at the bus station and arrive back to the bus with poop water on the bottoms of their pants so now the mini bus smells.
9:15 pm – Drive around until we find our “bodyguard” H who is supposed to be waiting wiht the bus we are going to get on to continue 8 hours to our next bus stop. We unload our stuff, use the 5 star hotel bathroom that you don’t have to pay for and find out that since the squad was supposed to be travelling together and H is the middle man for all the we will be sleeping on the bus for the night.
9:30 pm – Find a lovely restaurant to eat at called “Amore” (future racers take note : if you ever find yourself in Tete, eat at this restaurant – cheap American food!) and meet the Lebanese brothers Reign and Ehab who own the place. Explain our plight about needing a place to stay other than the drippy, leaky bus and Reign calls his friend who owns a hotel and explain that we are very poor church people and not to question how many people are going to be in the rooms.
11 pm – arrive at the hotel and find out that instead of twin beds, we actually have double beds that we get to sleep in (no one is on the floor!), we have AC, hot water, free breakfast, free laundry, free wifi and Jesus protecting us. Feeling a little bad at this point that the rest of the squad is camping in the rain in “no man’s land”. We also find out that the squad has made national news and not in a good way. Turns out the entire country now thinks that there is a large group of Americans trying to enter the country with illegal passports (why anyone would want to come to Mozambique illegally is beyond my comprehension). We also find out we need to try to wait for the squad to get across the border before continuing on so we get to sleep in!
Tuesday, January 6th
8:30 am – wake up and make it just in time for free breakfast.
10:30 am – Supposed to be leaving but we find out that we get to stay another night to see if the squad makes it that day.
11 am – Leave to run errands and get money with Kelsey and Jesus blesses us with FREE transportation!
11:30 am – Head back to Amore for lunch and to thank Reign for his help and we get free tea and dessert!
12:30 pm – leave to run more errands in the pouring rain
1:00 pm – can’t get a hold of our taxi driver to take us back to the hotel…head back to Amore to have Reign call for us all while looking like wet dogs. Find out the driver will be 20 minutes.
2:00 pm – Driver takes us back to the hotel to relax
7:00 pm – Dinner time!
8:55 pm- arrive at grocery store which is closing as we walk up…beg them to reopen for 10 minutes so we can get some food for travelling
9 pm – find out we are leaving the next morning at 5 am
Wednesday, January 7th
5 am – Bus departs with 2 teams to Beire. It is almost like it is raining in the bus. The leaky roof and wet seats make for an enjoyable ride.
11 am – In the words of “H” our bodyguard, the bus is sick.
11:15 am -change busses and go to the grocery store to find a delicious lunch…pay 30 cents to use the outhouse and have first class service with a bucket of water wheeled outside to wash our hands
2:30 pm – arrive at the other team’s ministry location and get to use the bathroom in a sweet little tree house looking building
3:00 pm – arrive at the bus station to catch our 15 hour bus ride to Maputo
4:00 pm – our tickets are purchased and we are told the bus leaves in 2 hours.
4:30 pm – Dinner at the bus station – Cheeseburger supreme that tastes funny so I pawn it off on another teammate when she finds a chicken feather in the meat – Why did we think ordering a cheeseburger at an African bus station bar was a good idea? Pray for no food poisoning while we wait.
6:00 pm – It has been 2 hours and the bus hasn’t arrived
6:30 pm – Find out the bus actually won’t depart until 2 am
7 pm – set up little beds with our African skirts next to the Christmas tree and broken windows and decide to get some sleep
7:15 pm – the bar music gets super loud and the clubbing next to it begins.
7:30 pm – no sleep will come so we decide to worship
8:00 pm – can’t even hear the guitar next to us so we quit and Beth and I watch Catching Fire
10:30 pm – computer dies so sleep it is
1:30 pm – alarm goes off and it is time to get ready to go
Thursday, January 9th
2:00 am – we begin to load the bus. We drop our bags off and find seats.
2:15 am – apparently we are not allowed to sit in the seats we are in but we never saw our tickets so didn’t know. A big commotion is caused and the men on the bus are extremely mean.
2:30 am – Find out that we actually only have 2 assigned seats and everyone else has to sit on plastic stools in the isles. Also find out that we paid more for our tickets than anyone else on the bus. Three team members move to the isle. “H” tells me not to move from my seat by the window. I am sitting next to a lady with a 3 year old on her lap and another man in the aisle seat (the busses are like airplanes with rows 3 seats across)
2:48 am – finally departing the bus station
3:15 am – stop for black market fuel
3:30 am – time to take extra doses of dramamine to try to sleep
8 am – time to enjoy the beautiful view of Mozambique and it is gorgeous! Sometime in there 2 teammate got to sit in regular seats. Another teammate who will not be named has also already made herself comfortable first on the shoulder of the guy to her left as well as later putting her pillow in the lap of the guy on her right on the stool in the isle and laying her head there. (That is what the dramamine will do to you).
8:30 am – sleep again until around 11 am missing all roadside bathroom stops
12 pm – 3 year old is awake and wants to play with me so I take the opportunity to play with her for an hour.
1 pm – Mom decides she is tired of holding her child so she gets placed on my lap and mom goes to sleep.
2 pm – I have been peed on by the child…really an unfortunate event
6:15 pm – finally arrive in Maputo
6:45 pm – leave the bus station
7:30 pm – arrive at our contact’s house for the next few weeks
I know that this was slightly long as you read, but it is a lot of what we experienced this week. What was supposed to be a day and a half or so travel day turned into more than that. Though this was the most exhausting of travel weeks yet, it is undeniable to us that God was in everything. He protected us and allowed us to feel safe in His presence when we probably were not in the safest of places. As an all girls team, we had a few things against us from the beginning. The fact that we are women in a male dominated society and the fact that we are white in a culture where white people are a target, especially when most people have heard that we tried to enter the country illegally. The Lord allowed us to meet friends who a lot of people might consider enemies and provided for all of our needs. We are all really glad to be here and know that God has something really amazing in store for this month with the amount of trials we were faced with on the way. My team is working with Angie Wheeler at Beacon of Hope Ministries. It is a home for boys to come and be mentored and schooled.
The four teams that were unable to cross the border are now back in Lilongwe for the month to continue their ministry. We will leave as a squad for Philippines on January 30th.
