So our adventure really began on June 1st back in South Africa…
The entire squad (all 8 teams) stayed in the Sleek hostel in Jo-Burg for two nights. Then we all headed to Nelspruit to stay at a ministry house we were blessed to come across. We stayed there five nights. We were living in luxury. God really blessed us! We were actually living in a real home with bathrooms and bedrooms and living rooms and kitchens, etc. The staff was amazing. They made sure we all had an overwhelming amount of food each day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We were living like Kings and Queens with huge feasts! It was amazing and a huge blessing!
On the 6th day, 7 of the 8 teams hopped into three different vans and drove 18 hours to Vilunculos, Mozambique where four of the teams were going to stay to do ministry for the month in the bush. Three of the teams (Bling, Tikvah and my team, the GWs) set up tents temporarily for the night and headed out at 3am the following morning to drive 10 hours in two different vans to Beira. We all stayed at the Iris ministry in Dondo (just outside of Beira) for the evening. We cooked pasta for all three of our teams to eat and enjoyed each others fellowship for the evening.
The next morning, I woke up abruptly to Tonya pounding on our door telling us we had 20 minutes to get our stuff packed so we could leave and head to Zimbabwe. We all instantly woke up and scurried to pack up our belongings in preparation for another
long bus ride. Well, come to find out.. the 20 minutes turned in to 3 hours. The motto here in Africa is “hurry up and wait.” And we have done nothing but live out that motto since we landed in Africa. The original plan was for the GWs to head to Zimbabwe and for Bling to stay with Tikvah until they got ahold of their contact in Gongola. However, Carla and John (our contacts here at Iris), made some quick phonecalls and last minute plans trying to get us to where we all needed to go. They arranged for both Bling and us GWs to take public transport (which is a minivan) 3 hours to Chimoio where there was another Iris ministry location. We
would drop off Bling there and then us GWs would continue on across the border into Zimbabwe. So there were a total of 19 of us that piled into this minivan with all of our luggage on top. It was just as ridiculous as it sounds. It sounds impossible and we all stood there looking at the van in disbelief but low and behold, we ALL fit..including ALL of our luggage (which is 2-3 bags per person). It was insane. We were packed in there like sardines. Carla and John also called a pastor friend of theirs and arranged for him to ride with us for the day to make sure we made it safely to the locations thatwe all needed to go. He was also there to help us get across the border safely. What a blessing this was for us!
After about 3 1/2 hours we finally made it to Chimoio where we dropped off Bling. They were going to stay at this ministry until they heard from their original ministry contact. And if they never heard from him I think they were just going to stay there for the month. I’m not sure what ended up happening with them yet. The minivan then headed to the border and after about an hour we reached Zimbabwe. Pastor David helped us through the entire process and it went very smoothly. He was such a God-send! Praise God! Pastor Brian and Winette (our contacts here in Zimbabwe) were waiting for us outside the border when we arrived. So we did a smooth transition and piled all of our luggage into their car and went with them to what would be our home for the next two weeks.
You can imagine our shock when we finally made it to the house we are staying at here in Mutare, Zimbabwe. We pulled up the
driveway which is up a mountain (the driveway reminded me of my parents steep driveway in Hawaii). We walked up these steps to the front door and there is a huge dining room, a huge living room with several couches, several lazy boy recliners, a
huge entertainment system with a TV, stereo, DVD player, Play Station, etc! Who would have thought that our first time having a TV and couch on the World Race would be in Zimbabwe!? Amazing! There is hot water, electricity, showers, toilets and we can flush toilet paper! We are staying with this family that has 3 children: 2 girls and a boy. By the end of the first night I was already best friends with the little boy, Kennedy (6 yrs old). He is just precious. There are two dogs and one cat. I simply find it amazing how God specifically gives each one of us on my team the desires of our hearts. Tonya loves cats. Renee loves dogs. I love little boys. We all love nature – especially stars and stargazing. And here we are living in a cozy home on a mountain top with millions of stars. God is amazing!
How dare I think that He would ever give me less…
