Matt and I met this really big, intimidating looking guy named Power. He must have spotted us from a distance because he made a purposeful bee-line towards the Americans obviously in need of some help. We needed a combie for the 6 of us + our stuff that would come pick us up at the Brown Sugar in an hour in Joburg and take us to Nelspruit. There, we would pick up Michael’s truck (one of our SA contacts and spiritual fathers)… then begin our journey to Malawi together as 2 teams. Power was the man. He took care of getting our combie, and 3 hours later, we were heading towards Nelspruit, driven by a guy named Emmanuel…… ha… go figure.We arrived near dusk, and entered into The Emkay House, a rest stop for missionaries who are traveling and just need a place to recoup before heading out again. This place is special for two reasons: 1) Matt’s team ministered here for the last month, so coming back was like walking into their own house to their own family, and 2) There is a piano there. (There have been no pianos so far on the World Race… they are kind of hard to pack…) I zoned out and played for an hour…. until we headed over to Michael’s house.
Michael is one of the most loving individuals that you could meet… he just has this warmth about him that makes you feel safe, and peace that reminds you that you are fine and lovable just as you are. He welcomed us in, and began working on getting us the paperwork that we needed to get on the road. We chatted for a bit and then went home to sleep… we’d be getting up EARLY tomorrow.
Somehow I found myself back a the piano for another 5 hours before going to bed…. then Sarah and I stayed up for about 2 hours talking about angles, and manifestations of them, and praying for a deepening of faith to be able to see the unseen, and live more in the spiritual realm than we do in the natural. Somewhere in our conversation, we both drifted off to sleep…
…Only to be woken up at about 4 am by my little alarm clock egg that I have named Bob. The 6 of us packed, scarfed down breakfast and headed out on the open road towards Malawi. I was so excited to share this journey with Matt’s team… for them to see the Malawi I had seen. Their team is one of prayer and encouragement, the kind of people that help you to love who you are; I knew that Malawi would be blessed to have them, and they would be blessed to have Malawi.
We drove through the South Africa border and into Mozambique, praying for the Lord’s favor as we went… we all remember what happened last time Kelton and I were in Mozambique…
The diesel engine roared to life around 5am, and I woke up just in time to see the sun rise, and stayed back there until we reached Caia… Oh yes… Caia. Remember that place? The seemingly abandoned shipyard that we stayed in on our way through Mozambique the first time? Yep, same place, but the other side of the river (or Indian Ocean) now…
Caia was hot. H-O-T. Seriously, it was HOT. So to get our minds off of ourselves and onto what God had for us to do there while we waited for the ferry (a 4 hours ordeal to ride 4 minutes), we started praying that He would show us what we could do
here in Caia… and He spoke to Caroline.
About 20 meters away, a blind woman sat with her two children under the shade of a semi truck, tenderly eating a piece of bread. She was coughing badly, and it sounded like she was in a whole lot of pain. Caroline went over to the semi, sat down in the dirt alongside of her, and began speaking with her. The woman didn’t understand anything she was saying, but had the biggest smile on her face. Caroline asked if she could pray for her, and the woman said yes. The rest of the time we were there, that woman didn’t cough once.
I drove us all the way to the border of Malawi that day, through many potholes and bumpy dirt roads. We arrived at the border around 11:00pm, and it was closed, so we all got comfy to sleep in the truck again… except me, because I have a night time routine, which required that I get a bunch of stuff out of the back where Matt was sleeping, and I kept waking everyone up. By the time I finally got somewhat settled in the drivers seat, I was wrestles because I couldn’t stretch out… so I said, “We should just pitch our tents…” …the end of my sentence trailed off as I saw a bunch of mangy looking stray dogs around the car… “…pitch our tents on top of the truck….”
They laughed, thinking I was kidding. But I wasn’t kidding. Caroline pipped up, “I’ll sleep up there with you if you do it!”
So we did.
