As crazy as our travel day to Tanzania was, I was
surprisingly not stressed out at all. Truly by God’s grace alone.
4:30am Wake up. Taxis already waiting
for us outside. (I prayed to God that the taxis will come on time the night before
because the person at the hostel wouldn’t give me the phone number to the taxis
and if they don’t turn up the next morning I’ll be screwed. And then guess
what, the taxis came super early the next morning, when it was supposed to come
at 5:00am. A first for Africa.)
7:00am Bus left from Nairobi, Kenya,
for Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Our ministry site this month is in Morogono and we
were told that the bus will pass by there on the way to Dar Es Salaam so we
could just hop off there. While loading our bags, we found out that the bus
does NOT pass by Morogono and we will have to either stop at Chalinze before
Dar Es Salaam and then catch a bus to Murogono, or go to Dar Es Salaam, spend a
night there, and then catch another bus the next morning.
9:00am Border crossing at
Kenya-Tanzania. Asked the bus conductor again to confirm that the bus does not
in fact pass by Morogono. Turns out that the lady who told us earlier about how
to get to Morogono was also going to Morogono herself and she said she’ll be
able to help. Called our contact to see if he could possibly pick us up at
either Chalinze or Dar Es Salaam. He suggested that we spend a night at Dar Es
Salaam and then catch a bus the next morning because by the time we get in to
Dar Es Salaam it would already be around 8:30-9:30pm.
Now we are at a dilemma. Firstly,
where are we going to buy bus tickets for tomorrow morning? Secondly, where are
we going to spend the night at? Considering that we are 7 ‘white’ women, we
have to be extra careful.
Plan A: Kaity Grace quickly jumped
in to ask another passenger on the bus if he knew of places we could stay in
Dar Es Salaam that would be safe and within our budget. The Irish gentlemen
kindly pulled out his phone to get online and find hostels for us.
Plan B: Hope thought about her
friend who lives in Dar Es Salaam but she didn’t have his phone number on her. So
we asked the Irish gentlemen if she could use his phone to get on Facebook so
she can find his number. He kindly agreed and we got the number.
Plan C: Call the main AIM contact
in Africa, Pastor O, to get the phone number of the pastor whom the other 2
World Race teams are staying with in Dar Es Salaam.
We went with Plan C first. We
tried calling Hope’s friend but to no avail. Plan B. Tried calling Pastor O.
Couldn’t get through either.
1:00pm Quick stop for toilet break.
Tried calling again. No luck. Turns out the phone was out of call time. Great.
Borrowed a phone from a missionary family from Japan who was also on the bus
with us. Called Hope’s friend, but it turned out that it was a wrong number.
Couldn’t call main AIM Africa
contact because it wasn’t a local number and the borrowed phone could only make
local calls.
4:30pm Bus stopped to drop off a few
passengers. I saw some shops on the side of the road and thought that we might
be able to get a Tanzanian SIM card. I asked the bus driver if we could go get
it real quick and hopped off the bus with Vanessa.
We
found a phone shop but there were many people there. We pushed our way through
and finally got to the front of the counter. Since there were many different
phone companies, we decided that Vanessa would subscribe to Vodacom while I
would subscribe to Airtel. Turns out that getting a new phone line required
filling out this long form and registering. I was a little worried because I
knew that the whole bus was waiting for us but I couldn’t help speed up the
process. As soon as the form for Vanessa’s phone was filled up, the bus
conductor came up behind us and started yelling at us to go back to the bus.
Behind him, 2 more bus passengers came running to tell us that we need to get
back to the bus now. We quickly grabbed Vanessa’s phone, paid, and went back to
the bus.
Apparently
the bus driver didn’t know where we had went and he sent people out to look for
us. People on the bus were really upset for waiting and the whole bus was in a
big commotion. As soon as I got on the bus, the Japanese missionary told me
that I should apologize to the whole bus. And so I did. First to the driver
then to the whole bus. Humbling experience. Haha.
And
so we got a Tanzanian SIM card but we didn’t manage to buy any call time
minutes. So we still couldn’t make any phone calls. I just decided that we
could try and buy some minutes when we get to Dar Es Salaam and then figure out
from there.
6:30pm The Japanese missionary family
asked me if I had managed to contact anyone and figure out a plan for tonight
yet. I told him that we have not been able to contact anyone because we didn’t
manage to buy any call time minutes earlier. He asked me what phone company I had
subscribed to and I said “Vodacom”. He then pulled out a Vodacom call minutes
card and gave it to me. I was so surprised that he would have a spare one on
him.
So we added
minutes to our phone, managed to call Pastor O, who then connected us to Pastor
M in Dar Es Salaam. Many calls and text messages later, we finally had the
pastor pick us up right before Dar Es Salaam.
9:00pm Got off the bus right outside
of Dar Es Salaam and was greeted by Pastor M. He then brought us to a hotel,
drop off our bags, then brought us to his house for dinner.
9:40pm We were greeted by sounds of
worship as we pulled up to the driveway of Pastor M’s house. 2 other World Race
teams were there and it was so good to see them. We ate dinner and then joined
them in worship. It was such a blessing to worship God together.
10:15pm Left for the night back to the
hotel.
At 9am the next
morning, Pastor M sent us off on a bus to Morogono.
After
this long and detailed account of our travel day, all I want to say is God’s hand of
protection and guidance was over us the whole day. Let me recount it
back to you.
1.
The only lady who was going to Morogono on the
bus happened to ask us where we were going when we were loading the bags and
informed us that the bus does not pass by Morogono like we thought it would.
2.
She offered to help us find a bus to Morogono if
we got off at Chalinze with her.
3.
The Irish gentlemen had a phone with internet
access and was helping us find hostels and get on Facebook.
4.
We were only able to get one SIM card and we
chose Vodacom over 3 other phone companies for Vanessa’s phone.
5.
The Japanese missionary had an extra Vodacom
call minutes card.
6.
I had a good conversation with the Japanese
missionary family before the whole big bus commotion and so when they told me
that I should apologize to the whole bus, my flesh did not retaliate because I
really honored them and trusted their wisdom.
7.
We managed to get a hold of Pastor O who then
connected us to Pastor M. Managed to arrange everything with Pastor M only 1
hour before we were supposed to get off the bus.
8.
An unexpected worship session with our
squadmates.
9.
Pastor M’s hospitality and generosity. His
church decided to pay for our night of accommodation and our bus tickets to
Morogono because they wanted to bless us.
10.
Throughout the whole thing, I was not one bit
stressed at all, which is very unlike me.
This
whole incident reminded me of the times when I used to backpack travel on my
own, the many people who really went out of their way to lend a helping hand.
God sent angels. Truly He is watching over us, protecting and guiding us.
Exodus 13:21-22
21 By day the
Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by
night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day
or night. 22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night
left its place in front of the people.
Psalms 71:7
7 My life is an example to many, because you have been my
strength and protection.
GOD’S GOT MY BACK!
Are
there angels in your life too? Open your eyes, they are all around you!
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