A lot of things have happened since my last blog. This report is about our big weekend. There are certainly other things to share, and when we get home, we might have an opportunity to share some of them. But the highlight of this week was the trip to Mozambique. Let me begin by saying that that country has not really been on my list of places to visit. It is a bit of a wild place, poorer than Zimbabwe and doesn’t have many churches I would be teaching in. Last year, the idea of Mozambique came up. This year, to is now a place we have been.
The trip from Chiredzi (where we stay most of the time) to the border was four hours or so on some rather ‘interesting’ roads. At one point the guys who had been there before, one many times, got a little confused and we asked directions a couple of times. I used my GPS once which had us turn around. After asking a lady along the road, it was confirmed. The route took us through the game park, Gonarezhou. It is a park we have been through several times, though not this part. I was watching, but we only saw a few impalas and one elephant. Still, I’m not used to seeing an elephant on the road going anywhere. (Wednesday we are going back through a different part of the park with some friends and we expect to see many more animals.) The road also took us past Damarakanaka where there is a clinic. In the future you will hear more about this clinic so stay tuned.
We finally arrived at the border. We first went to the Zimbabwe immigration station and checked in there. It involved the registration of the car, and passports. No real issue, in and out in a few minutes. Then we went to the Mozambique immigration station. There is where it got a little interesting. It seems they wanted Sherry and me to have eVisas which require applying via the internet and cost $75 a piece, which we were prepared to pay. But we hadn’t applied as we didn’t know when we were going exactly and had been assured that they were available at the border. There was a half an hour discussion by Alone and Simon. Simon used to preach in Mozambique and spoke the language. At first, they wanted to refuse us entry. We said (well, Sherry and I were sitting on a bench watching all this) it wasn’t that important that we go (it was, but gray is sometimes an acceptable color). More discussion. Finally, the man said, OK, and wanted to know if we wanted the $75 version of visas which would get us anywhere or the $10 visas which were only good in Chicualacula area. Since that is where we were going anyway, we chose to spend $20 and not $150. Then came the ask. Since he was so helpful, did we have a gift for him. Sure, no problem. And off we headed.
I didn’t get any picture, but as we first entered the town, we saw building with old bullet holes in them, reminders of the war days long past. I admit that I have never seen such reminders before and it was sobering. We made our way through town, using some back route to meet the Church of Christ members living there. We did get stuck in the middle of the road in some rather deep sand. A quick push and we were off to our location. Once we arrived, we were greeted warmly, and lunch was served. It was the first of several meals of sadza, rise, and goat. Under a tree we made fast friends and then loaded more of them than should fit in the pickup.
The road to our destination reminded Sherry and me of roads in Haiti. We started (once we found the way out of town) along the border with Zimbabwe. It was rough going in places and we were tossed about on a regular basis. There were several areas where the road worked through riverbeds and up over rocky terrain. It took a couple of hours, and we arrived at Mahatlane, Mozambique. (Don’t bother to look it up, as I could never find it on any make. I did pin it on my app so I know about where it is.) It was a small community with a few hundred people living there. The church was very unique (see the attached picture). It had an iron frame with wooden poles for walls and a metal roof. The construction made for good ventilation and light during the day. For our evening sessions, we used a room in the school which was across the road. For three day and two nights we lived, ate, slept, met with leaders, and worshiped out Lord and Savior. It was a blessed time.
My part of the weekend started on Saturday morning. I have been spending lots of time talking stewardship and this trip is no exception. I shared for a little over an hour. After I finished there was a time of group discussion concerning the topic I presented. This was scheduled for three hours, but didn’t take that long. Then the groups reconvened and for the next three hours reported what each group discussed and then had a major discussion on the preachers need to teach giving in their churches and churches needing to support their preachers. It was a very important time, and some decisions were made as to how significant the topic was to be going forward. That morning session made the whole trip worthwhile. The afternoon was dedicated to ordaining three preachers for churches in Mozambique. Our friend, Alone, was the facilitator and he made sure each candidate was qualified. Each pastor’s wife was brought to stand behind their husband and affirm he was the faithful husband of one wife. One wife was not present, so they called her on the phone and with the speaker on, she was asked the same question. (All answered in the affirmative, though they did a bit of hesitation in answering with a wry smile.) That was followed by members of the churches they have been training in asked if they had any reservations. None did. So we ordained them. I was privileged to be a part of the laying on of hands.
Each evening, we had a time of singing, dancing (yes, we danced in church) and preaching. It was a great time and we were blessed by our time in God’s presence.
Sunday morning, we had an early service. I was the preacher. We had more singing, and dancing, and communion, as well as an offering. We had lunch and hit the road for Chiredzi. The border crossing was smooth this time. We took about thirty minutes to get through both check points and were off on our way. Through the park we didn’t see any animals. Well, one impala crossing the road quite a ways from us. We arrived home a little after sunset, showered, ate a bit of food, no rice, no sadza, and no goat or chicken. We like those things, but after three days, something else was a welcome change.
I have spent Monday mostly writing this blog, struggling with a computer that is temperamental, and a slow internet connection. This has been too long, but it was such a full and rewarding weekend. This a short version of what I could write. God bless. We are almost done in Zimbabwe. On Friday, we head to Harare and on Saturday about noon our time, board a plane for Nairobi and eight days of sharing in Narok. Prayers are always welcome. If you got this far, thanks and God bless.