Hi, my name is Katie and I’m impatient. (Yes, I’ll admit it. I lack patience).
A few days ago my team and I, P.31, received word of where our first ministry site was going to be- Harare, Zimbabwe! Of course I wasn’t packed. (Duh, do you know whose blog you’re reading? BUT you should be proud, I started organizing and rearranging my life into my 65-liter bag about 4 and-a-half hours prior to departure time). Originally the taxi was scheduled to pick us up at 1pm, but came a bit early and we set out for the bus station at 11:30am instead.
P.31 and Fierce Pursuit, an accompanying team, arrived at the bus station in Johannesburg around noon. Our bus was scheduled to head to Zimbabwe at 3pm. We each hauled our daypacks and backpacks in the direction of our specific bus.
As we waited for the bus to come we received word from a local woman that the bus was 2 hours behind. At this point, we were scheduled to head to Zimbabwe at 6 instead of 3. Here’s what the next few hours looked like:
6pm: No bus.
7pm: The bus is now 3 hours late.
8pm: You guessed it, no signs of our transportation.
9pm: The bus finally arrives, 6 hours late.
10pm: We set out for Harare, Zimbabwe. By this time we had been waiting at the bus station for 9 and-a-half hours.
Our first stop was about a half hour out and by the time we unloaded and re-loaded passengers, another hour had past. By this time it was around 11:30pm and we had gone about 15 miles, maybe. I dozed off for what may have been 20 minutes and I woke up to police lights flashing against a picket fence on the side of the road. Apparently there was a complication with one of the tires and it needed to be fixed before proceeding on our trip. To make a long story short, in total, our 16-hour bus ride turned out to be a 27-hour bus ride. Mind you, this was no ordinary bus ride; there was literally no personal space.
Through all the madness of our day and trip- being stuck in one of the most dangerous cities in the world with all of our personal belongings for 9 hours, crossing the border, eating inconsistently, holding our bladders until they were about to burst, sweating, freezing, not showering, encountering some uncomfortable and inappropriate situations with people along the way, feeling afraid and uneasy, crying, losing our patience, questioning why God had called us to this- God was covering us in protection and grace through our entire journey.
What I was able to learn throughout this experience was that life is not always going to go my way. The plans that I make, the schedule I rely and depend on, and the safety and reliability that I envision will not always unfold according to my plan, but it will according to God’s plan. Rest assure in that!
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” –Isaiah 55:8-9
