It has been pretty exciting since we last posted.
First, in mid-July, our container arrived. Our clearing agent arranged to have the
container trucked from Nacala, the port city, to Nampula where it would be
opened and inspected by customs. When
customs arrived, the truck driver got the tools to break the lock and after
banging on it for a while, the customs officials said that the lock wasn’t made
in China or it would have broken already! In the end, we had to cut the lock off. After customs saw the shipment, they told us
to unload it and that they would be back in a couple of hours to inspect it. We unloaded our belongings, items that
belonged to six or seven families, tools for the hangar, and about a gazillion
boxes of Bibles. Fortunately customs was
very reasonable on the amount we would have to pay for the shipment. Once unloaded, we sorted everyone’s stuff and
began trips back and forth from the hanger to the house. It has been since June 2011 that we packed up
our house in Wichita Falls and since December 2011 that we said goodbye to our
carefully selected items to ship to Mozambique, so we were like kids on
Christmas morning opening our tubs to see what we had packed ourselves so many
months ago.
Top Five Items We Missed:
- Oven/Stove: It is wonderful to be able to use an oven to bake in after so many months cooking on a little single burner.
- Dave’s tool box: After all of the car problems that we have had, not having to borrow tools or MacGyver-rig something has been great.
- Martial arts gear: My taekwondo classes were super excited to have some equipment and I already have some kids sparring!
- Tie for fourth place – Printer/Blender
- Our beloved couch: We were so excited to get our old, but well-loved and very comfortable couch, but sadly, the wooden frame broke in multiple places while in transit. L Perhaps, it will be a project for later (fortunately we still have a couch available to borrow for a while).
Shortly after our container arrived, we had the pleasure of
having someone from MAF headquarters come and stay with us for a week while
making a routine visit to our program here in Mozambique.
Towards the end of July each year, our program joins
families from Lesotho and Kenya in South Africa for a family conference. Because there were some things we wanted to
have done to Grover, the Land Rover, which we could not have done in
Mozambique, we decided to drive rather than fly. What better way to see the rest of the
country than to spend three days driving south.
Before leaving, Dave spent several days getting Grover ready and we met
with some seasoned travelers who have made this trip many times to get advice
because there are limited places to stay and get fuel.
Things we learned on the road trip in Mozambique:
- You can make a plan, but good luck keeping it!
- Bring every spare car part you have. Bring motor oil….lots and lots of motor oil.
- BYO TP… if you can find a restroom, it will not be provided. The side of the road will work, if you can find a spot where there aren’t people walking!
- See a doctor and get rid of it before you leave.
- Mozambique is a beautiful country with beautiful people and wildlife.
- The Lord will provide… the right people and places when you are in need.
Read on for the rest of the story:
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| Driving consisted of dodging pot holes, other vehicles dodging pot holes, and people walking |
Our first day went pretty smooth, except for the roads,
which were anything but. Late in the
afternoon, shortly after refueling, when I shifted gears suddenly the engine
revved, but we weren’t going anywhere. We
slowly coasted to a stop on the side of the road. When we got out, we heard the hissing sound
of a flat tire and decided to tackle that problem first. After the tire was changed, a small group of
Mozambicans came out of the bush to see what was going on. An old man carrying a baby began to point to
our rear driver’s side tire. We discovered
that the gear that transfers power to the wheels was stripped out. We also realized that cell phone coverage was
not good in this area. Dave climbed up
on top of Grover and texted a friend back in Nampula to see if they knew anyone
in the area that could help us.
Meanwhile, the Mozambicans were trying to figure out a way to help us
get the part, except we were about 7 km (4.5 mi) from the nearest town, the
stores would already be closed and it was starting to get dark. Then the old man mentioned the name James
White. We texted back our friend in
Nampula to see if he could contact James White and found out that he contacted the
lodge where we were planning to stay and they were going to send James White to
tow us. We were actually only 8 km (5
mi) from the lodge! While we were
waiting, we learned that the men talking to us were Christians. I asked them if they needed Bibles and we
were able to give out six Bibles to the group.
As the sun was going down, another vehicle stopped to see if we needed
help. They were staying at the same
lodge we were and were willing to tow us.
We quickly bolted the piece back on and threw on the tow strap and off
we went. About half way there, James
White found us and took over on the towing and we made it to the lodge. The lodge operates a sawmill, where a bush
mechanic is employed, so early the next morning we met with him. He didn’t have the parts we needed, but was
able to weld the shaft to the gear so that we could complete our trip and have
it properly repaired in South Africa. He
even sent us with some tire weld since our spare could not be repaired. And the total cost for his labor: $4.
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| Very interesting to see how the construction of huts changed as we drove south based on available materials |
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| Dave working on one of the car problems...thank goodness I married a tinkerer! |
With our repairs, we got off to a later start than planned,
meaning we would not make it to our next planned stop. We quickly made some calls to find out
another potential place to stay that was a
reasonable driving distance. As it got dark, driving became more difficult
to miss potholes, and just kilometers from our hotel our headlights began to
flicker. Fortunately we made it there
safe and sound. The next morning we drove to a gas station and Dave decided to
check the oil again. We were about 3
quarts low (that was after adding a quart the day before). As he investigated, he saw that it was
dripping from the vacuum pump and because that part was riveted shut, he couldn’t
even open it up to investigate. So, we
spent about $40 a day on oil to limp it along to South Africa. The next day, we needed to stop in the town
of Xai Xai to drop off some tools that came in our container to a missionary
down there. We were planning to make it
a long day and go all the way to Nelspruit in South Africa, however, we
realized that our lights had all together quit working. He told us the name of a good electrical
mechanic in Nelspruit and we found a place nearby to stay before it got
dark. The next morning, Dave tinkered with
the lights, but we didn’t have the part we needed to fix it, so we waited until
daylight to leave.
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| During our hour long fuel stop waiting for the fuel trucks to finish we watched some goats wander by. |
On our fourth day, we made it to the border. We realized
this wasn’t simple like crossing the border into Canada. We had to stop and get out on the Mozambique side
to get our passports stamped and to get a vehicle permit. Interestingly enough, Dave met a customs
agent that is interested in flying in Northern Mozambique with MAF to show the
Jesus Film. Then we crossed into South
Africa and started the process over again and after an hour, we were on our way,
excited to be where we could get the car fixed and find a doctor. Shortly after crossing the border, the weld
on the gear broke. Fortunately, the bush
mechanic showed us how we could drive on the front wheels only, so we were not
stranded this time.
Why a doctor you ask?
Before we left, Dave had a spot on his leg that looked like a little swollen
bug bite. As we traveled, it became
obvious that the spot had gotten infected and was very swollen and
painful. We already had an appointment for
a routine checkup with the doctor the next week, after the conference was over,
but we decided to drive straight to her office to see if we could get worked
in. She froze off the bad spot, cleaned
out the sore and packed it, put him on heavy antibiotics and told him to come
back the next morning to make sure it was getting better and not worse. Then we found the electrical mechanic that
the Xai Xai missionary told us about.
This man said he could fix our lights and said he knew trustworthy folks
to handle all of our other problems. He
took care of ordering all of the parts and moving the vehicle between shops
while we rented a car and went on to our conference just north of Pretoria.
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| As we went south the roads got better and vegetation started to change |
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| Bart, a paramedic from the States who was at our conference helped redress Dave's leg |
After all of our troubles, we made it to our conference only
one day late, but had a great and restful time there. After the conference ended, we came back to
Nelspruit to hit the doctor, dentist, and eye doctor since it will likely be a
year or so before we get the opportunity again.
We shopped quite a bit for supplies that we (and other families) needed
but couldn’t get in Mozambique and by Friday (a week later) our Rover was well
again. We now could take it to have the
work done that we originally planned for, which has delayed us several days
from our return trip to Nampula.
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| These guys were our wake-up call at the place where we stayed in Nelspruit |
All in all, the trip has been a good experience. We got to experience parts of Mozambique that
we otherwise might never have gotten to see.
We learned we can survive police stops and border crossings. We learned that the Lord puts people in our
paths to help us when we can’t help ourselves and must rely on Him! Hopefully
the return trip will be a little smoother!
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