GOD’S TIMING

We spent a few days as a squad in Romania to say goodbye to our squad leaders. On Saturday (Oct. 30), we were split up into 2 separate flight groups. One group left the house at 6am. My group left that afternoon. We loaded up the bus and headed to the airport. Arriving at the airport we had to wait awhile before we could check in. Went through security and everything then had lunch before loading the plane. Had a short plane ride to Istanbul where we didn’t have much time before catching our next flight to Dubai. We made it to Dubai early morning. They had places we could take showers for free… so of course I took one! Then hung out in the airport for awhile. It was surprising to see all the shops that were open and how busy the airport was at 3am. The flight to Johannesburg was a longer flight… and I wasn’t really able to sleep (like normal). Arrived at the airport and met up with the rest of the squad where we were to catch the bus to Malawi. When we arrived, we were informed that things fell through with the bus and they were working on finding another bus to take us. We spent the day in the airport or laying out on airport grounds in the sun. Later we were informed that because it was Sunday we weren’t able to get a bus and that we would leave on Monday. They were able to arrange for us to stay in a hostel for the night.

The hostel was really nice and it was great to be able to get some sleep. It was a relaxing day. We were told to be packed up and ready to leave at 2pm. 2pm came and went. The time got pushed back and then we were told that things fell through again and we would be staying another night at the hostel. This was time for us to get the rest we needed and truly prepare our hearts for the new season in Africa. We had a time of worship that night and were to be packed up at 2 on Tuesday. Again we had some time to relax and get things done before leaving. We went to the store and got food to take for the “14 hour” bus ride. 2Pm came and and we continued to wait for the bus…the bus finally arrived and we were told to load up. We had gotten on the bus but then realized our bags wouldn’t fit. We then unloaded and the bus went to get a trailer for our stuff. When it got back we loaded up again and were ready to leave when we were told we could leave then and would get stuck in traffic or we could leave in an hour – eat the food we packed and not get stuck in traffic. So we unloaded again and ate dinner. Afterwords we loaded up for the 3^rd time and finally set off at 6pm on Tuesday.

Everything was going along fine and reached the border of South Africa and Zimbabwe around 2 or 3am. Zimbabwe required us to get visas even though we were just driving through so it took awhile to get 65 people through. The workers were slow paced and practically falling asleep at the desk. It took 5 hours for us all to get through. After we got through we were able to use the bathroom and eat the breakfast we had packed. This was the first indication that there was no way this was going to be a 14 hour bus ride as it had already been 14 hours and we still hadn’t even crossed the border through Zimbabwe let alone Mozambique or Malawi.

Once everyone had gotten through we all piled back into the bus. The scenery was beautiful… trees, stones, mountains, monkeys, etc. We stopped at a small store where we were able to buy stuff for lunch and the next couple meals we might need. We piled back onto the bus and ate lunch on the road. We continued to drive and reached the exit border of Zimbabwe around 9:30pm. The border was CLOSED. The good news was that it was safe for us to wait there until morning when it opened at 6am and there was a bathroom there. So we decided to sleep at the border… or attempt to, at least. It was very hot and stuffy and after 27+ hours on the bus it was going to make for a long night. At some point, I finally fell asleep. Didn’t feel like I slept very long. Everyone was awake by 5am – ready to get off the bus. My feet and ankles had swollen over night as had many other peoples. We ate our breakfast and by 6am we were ready to go through the border.

We made it through without much complication to head to the Mozambique entry border. They also required that we get a visa to drive through their country and both countries wanted to make us pay a lot of money. Mozambique’s worker had us go through the line and then held onto our passports while they did the visas so we could go chill. While waiting, we made ourselves at home. Those of us with swollen feet and ankles laid down on the ground and put our feet up on the walls and did exercises to get the swelling to go down. Some people fell asleep. Others exercised among other things. The workers were VERY slow and taking their time with completing our visas. Luckily, people were selling water and crackers that we could have while waiting. Things were not looking good. We were told that if we didn’t have our passports back by 2-3pm we wouldn’t make it to the exit border before it closed. The squad leaders were trying to communicate with the US embassy and people back in the states. The squad gathered and began to pray and then broke out in worship. Some people gathered around us to listen. After much prayer and worship, the squad leaders joyfully announced to get on the bus because we had our passports! Time- 2:30.

Back on the bus, the leaders announced that it was still possible to make it through the border; however, there were going to be a few possible obstacles. It going to take about 6 hours to make it to the border and the border closes at 8pm but there is a bridge under construction and it might be closed. If it is closed, we will not make it. We also won’t have time to make a bathroom stop but could stop quickly to pick up more food and water. We stopped at a store and team leaders hopped off. 2 minutes later, they were back. The store did not take Visa or any of the currencies we had with us. No place to change money. So for dinner, we had whatever leftovers we had. We made it to the bridge and traffic was crossing in one direction only. We had to wait for a bit before we could cross. People were on the street selling water!! So we were able to buy some there.

We crossed the bridge and made it to the border at 7:30 so we were hopeful that we could exit Mozambique and enter Malawi in time. Good news: the border doesn’t close until 9pm! Bad news: the electricity went out during the thunderstorm and they had already closed. We were going to be spending another night at the border. Many teams had run out of water. Some only had a little bit left. Thankfully, the squad leaders were able to find a place to buy 8 bottles of water for 65 of us to share. Everyone that had water passed it up and it was split up for everyone to share. Talk about learning to live in community. This time instead of everyone crammed in their seats trying to sleep, the girls slept inside and the guys slept outside – in luggage compartment, on top of bus, or under truck. It still wasn’t a good night of sleep but it was better than the night before. Again everyone was awake at 5am. Ate couple crackers with peanut butter for breakfast.

Leaving Mozambique wasn’t as difficult as entering was. We made it to Malawi and it seemed like a breeze to get through their border! Once we were in Malawi we still had a little ways to travel to make it to the city Blantyre. We stopped at a store and team leaders and finance people hopped off to get food for the teams. It was like a race to get through the store and back out to give them food and water. Back on the bus everyone was passing food back and forth to teammates. Some people were coming to the end of their rope… 60+ hours of riding on a bus – little sleep and being surrounded by people – were starting to get to them. We reached the city bus station at 2pm, where all the teams’ contacts were meeting them. My team and team Abundant Life is paired together this month. We are stationed in the city working with Great is God International Ministry. We loaded up and were at our destination within the hour. Other teams still had much longer to travel.