We left San Angelo on July 18th at 6:00 am and began our journey to Mozambique. Everyone on our team had to check 2 bags that were all maxed out at 50 lbs. They were able to check all our bags all the way through to South Africa and we did not have to pay any extra for the 2nd bag since we were an international flight. Praise God!
Each of our flights went fine. The flight from Houston to JFK was delayed 30 minutes due to weather. We arrived in JFK at 4:00 pm to catch our flight to JoBurg that was scheduled to leave at 5:20. We came off the plane and found out that our connecting gate was only 20 feet away at the next gate. We couldn't believe it. In fact as we were checking in I had a voice mail from Erin at the church and she said South African Airlines called because they knew our flight from Houston was running late and they were going to hold the plane. (Last year our plane from Dallas was late and they gave our seats away so we stayed an extra night in Atlanta.)
On the flight from Houston to JFK Mark and I sat next to a lady from Brooklyn, NY. Her name was Naomi. About half way through the flight we started to talk. She asked us where we were headed and we were able to share with her about our mission trips to Africa. Mark pulled out the lap top and we showed her several pictures from last years trip. At the end she asked if I would give her the address of the church she could send a donation to for us. As I pulled out a pen she got out her checkbook and wrote us a check for $25.00 for our full time support! She also gave us $1.00 and told us we could exchange that. (I was sharing this with a friend the other day and she said that $1.00 was like God saying he would provide every dollar needed, just trust Him!) This was just another piece of confirmation God continues to show us along he way.
Our flight to South Africa was fine just very LONG, 17 hours! We arrived at 4:40 pm (South Africa time) on the 19th of July. It only took us1 hour to get off the plane and go through imigration. We went to get our bags and for the first time in five trips some of the bags did not make it to Africa. Nellie was missing one of hers and we were missing 3 of our 4 bags that we checked. The one bag that came was mine. Mark did not have anything except what was in his carry-on. Mark went to go make a claim and I started to pray for peace as we figured out what needed to be done. I was determined the enemy was not going to have any part of this trip. Our team circled up to pray and thank God for getting us safely to Africa and go before us as we continue our journey. As we finished praying a lady came over to us and handed us a business card. She said she noticed us praying and said she was with the ACSI (It was an assocaiton of Christian Schools.) Jill told her that we were staying an extra week to interview for Full Time Missions and that we were looking into a school in Polokwane. She told us to contact her if we needed anything. Amazing, another piece of confirmation for us!
We just got off of the pane in JoBurg, South Africa.Mark returned from the claim center and said that our bags never left JFK. Since we were going to drive 2 days into Mozambique we would not get our bags until we left Mozambiuqe. The airline would deliver it to the border. As we were leaving Mozambique at the end of the outreach, we stayed the night at the base camp in Xicumbani and when we arrived our bags were there. One of the guys from Samaria Mission came into Mozambique while we were in Chilefu and he took our bags to the base camp so we could have clean clothes when we arrived there.
Our 1 bag turned into a present. I had 1/2 of the clothes I packed for the bush. Our shower caddy and our lantern made it as well as some of the ministry supplies we packed. The rest we lived with out and made it just fine. Some of the guys gave Mark some clothes and we used one of Samaria Mission's air mattresses. (Thanks Rulof!) Packing on the last day in Chilefu didn't take us near as long sine we didn't have much to pack!
We were traveling from the airport in JoBurg to Polokwane and stopped for a bathroom break and as we pulled in to the parking lot something punctured one of the tires. The guys put the spare on and we were on our way again. We arrived at the Golden Pillow Hotel in Polokwane 12:40 am (July 20th). It was nice to take a hot shower after traveling for so long. We went to sleep at 2:40 am and up at 5:50 am. We left the Golden Pillow at 7:00 and headed to the Mission Farm to fix a tire so that we would have a spare going into Mozambique.
The guys tried this "new" way of putting a tire on the rim. (It was Sunday and nothing was open.) They used acetylene and matches. Kathy recorded a few attempts. Watch the video.
At 10:00 am we left the farm and headed for Mozambique. At 4:00 we crossed the border. (Border closes at 4:00 pm we were glad we made it.) We also had a heavy load and the weigh station on the way to Mozambique just happened to be closed when we passed by.
We arrived at Xicumbane at 8:30 pm. We set up the church with air mattresses, had a snack, made road food for the next day and went to bed.
This is the church in Xicumbane (Samaria Missions Base Camp in Mozambique).Monday, July 21st we woke up at 5:00 am. We cleaned up and loaded everything back on the bus and left Xicumbane at 6:20 am. We didn't have any real problems crossing the river. Some guys from Xicumbane have built a "bridge" and we were able to use it to get across for 100R. At the end we did break a few pieces so we paid another 200R for repairs.
I took this picture from the window of the bus.
Kathy took this picture from the window of the bus. That is what the "bridge" looks like.We arrived at Chilifu at 2:20 pm. Rulof, Logan, Derrik, Timbe and Isaac were there. They arrived early to set up camp for our team. We unloaded the bus and got our "home" in the bush set up.
The guys are unloading the supplies off the back of the bus.
Our home while inMozambique.
The guys are unloading the supplies off the back of the bus.
Our home while inMozambique.Check back in a day or two for another update.
1 comment:
I can't seem to fall asleep tonight so I was wanting to get onto yalls website, but every time I get kicked off. This has been happening a lot with my computer. So anyways, I'm stopping by to say hello!
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