Our journey from Capetown to Beira was the longest travel journey we’ve had thus far and it was met with anticipation and even anxiety. Africa, on the world race, has a reputation of being the hardest months for some.
Our journey would begin Wednesday morning at 8 am, boarding a bus with our entire squad from our house in Capetown to drive the thirty hours to Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. While this was a long journey, having a bus with only world racers on it was like living in luxury. We could relax and not worry about our surroundings for a while. (When traveling the world you get used to being on guard constantly)
From there, our teams would disperse to their various ministry locations. At that point, our teams along with two others were only halfway through our journey. In Maputo, we were met with a warm welcome from Dave and Ann Dedrick. Dave and Ann Dedrick are friends of my family from our church in Pittsburgh, Peters Creek Baptist. I was in youth group with their daughters, and we have known them for quite some time. Around the time their youngest daughter was heading to college they felt the Lord calling them to a season of missions. Mozambique was placed on their hearts and now, through One Mission Society, they have lived here for 4 years working with a local seminary to establish branch throughout the country. Their goal is to love the people of this country and raise up men and women who love the Lord and long to multiply themselves among their own people.
After a thirty-hour bus ride, even fresh air feels like a treat. The Dedricks welcomed 21 of our racers to their home. They made dinner, gave us towels to shower with, bought us Coke (what a luxury item!), and helped the leaders arrange tickets for the bus the following day. They went above and beyond what they needed to, and we’ll never be able to thank them enough! We were unsure as to whether or not we would see them in Mozambique and this was undoubtedly a divine intervention because without them, we would have had no place to stay for that night. I wish I could convey what having 21 world racers invading your home would be like, but I’ll just suffice to say invading is the correct term in this case.
The Dedricks were an abundant blessing to us just as I know they are to the people of Mozambique. We pray that the Lord will bless their obedience by maintaining their health as well as multiplying the fruits of their ministry.
