Installment 5 of THE JOURNEY: Our Trip to Northern Mozambique – 23 June to 16 July, 2009

July 2– We were up at 4:30am this morning and aiming to get on the road by 5:30am. We didn’t quite make it, but we were out the gates of the Catholic compound before 6am. It was still dark but the town of Gurué was already coming to life. We made a quick stop at bank with its ATM machines and were able to restock our supply of cash before leaving town.

Our destination was Cuambe, the principal town in the south of Niassa Province, where we were to attend the first of eight district assemblies. There were two possible routes. The long way around was estimated to take between 4 and 5 hours due to road conditions. The other was a possible short-cut across the Lúrio River separating Zambézia from Niassa. We had heard that some missionaries had used the short-cut several weeks before and so we were going to try it. We missed the turn off – it was only a dirt road after all – and only realized it when we arrived in the town of Lioma and had to turn around and go back to try to find it. When we got there it was obvious, but when we’d passed the first time a truck was stopped in front of the sign. Oh well.

The road had been recently graded and the sign had indicated that a new bridge across the river was being built. We made good time and covered the 30 some kilometers in about 20 minutes. The closer we got to the river, the road got more and more narrow and winding and then we came up short as we rounded a curve and there was the new bridge! The only problem was, there was no way onto or off of the bridge. There had obviously been a ford below and beside the bridge where vehicles had crossed, but the people of the area had made a small dam to make the water deeper for washing clothes and taking baths. They had taken into consideration that some missionaries on their way to district assembly might want to try to cross their bathing area! There was nothing to do but turn around and back track the way we had come and then take the long way to Cuamba.

The highway, although dirt and gravel, was not all that bad. After all, it was the main route to the northwestern area of the country. It was bumpy in places and the pick-up started acting up a bit so I stopped to check and sure enough, the battery cable had come loose. I tightened it back up and we were back to normal and on our way, passing beside a range of huge granite monoliths that rose dramatically from the savannah land of northern Zambézia. The landscapes were beautiful and so impressive. The sky was a deep blue and the sun shone off the granite slopes adding to the majesty of the scenery. There were also large, impressive trees growing on the slopes with tall, straight, pale yellow trunks, topped by a large dark green canopy of leaves. They were reminiscent of the classic fever trees that we have in southern Mozambique and South Africa, but these were much taller, with straight trunks. There were surrounded by other trees and bush which added to the beauty.

We finally came to the village of Mutuali and turned toward the west and Cuamba. The road deteriorated rapidly and we had to poke along to keep from damaging the pick-up, and ourselves! The road seemed to go on and on forever until finally we came to a long bridge over the Lúrio River, the border between Nampula and Niassa Province. Once on the other side, the road widened out, had obviously been graded recently and we were able to more than double our speed, except when we came to the numerous railway crossings along the way. This road parallels the main railway line from Nacala on the coast to Lilongwe, Malawi. It was still about 40 kilometers into Cuamba, but we wouldn’t be as late as we thought we’d be.

Finally we arrived in the town of Cuamba and were able to phone our area coordinator, Rev. Bonifácio Mirashi, who was to chair the district assembly. We got directions to a meeting place, and then the local district superintendent, former student Júlio Carlos Américo, met us on his motorcycle. We followed him a short distance, but with numerous turns, to the church where a number of the pastors and some lay delegates had already arrived for the assembly.

The church was made of plastered mud bricks and it had a typical dried, thatched roof. Inside the floor was dirt and but there were a number of wooden benches to accommodate the members. We had chairs on the platform and after greeting a couple of our former students, the assembly began. The total attendance was only about 25 or so, and that was including the children that wandered in and out. Bonifácio preached the opening message and called the assembly to order and various persons were called on to give their reports – district superintendent, district secretary and district treasurer. We were introduced as the representatives of the Seminary and after Rhoda and Mama Uate gave their greetings and testimonies; I proceeded to give a report from the Seminary and to speak about the need for pastors to be trained for ministry, either by coming to Maputo to the Seminary or by studying through the extension program. Once we were finished, the local pastors began to give their reports – district licensed pastors first, followed by lay pastors. This was to be our regular routine for the next 10 days.
After the assembly was over, we spent some time visiting with former students. Two had come from Lichinga, nearly 300 kilometers (190 miles) to the north of Cuamba where the assembly was held. It had taken them about six hours to make the journey and it would be another six hours back. I gave them a ride to the place where they were to meet their “taxi” back to Lichinga and they told me they would be lucky to make it home by 11pm that night. We returned to the home of the district superintendent for a meal together with the pastors. We had rice and chicken as well as xima (she-mah) – a white starch porridge - made from millet. In the south, our xima is made from corn, or maize, meal, but here in the north they use millet as it is more readily available. There were some other dishes as well, but the main part of the meal was the rice and chicken.

By 5pm things were winding up and it was time to get on the way to Malema where we would stay the night. We bid our farewells and before leaving town filled up with diesel fuel. This tank of fuel would have to last us until Sunday and take us all the way into Nampula, about 300 kilometers to the east. One of the pastors who lived along the way asked for a ride and so we squeezed him in with the ladies in the back seat. By the time we got back to Mutuali, it was dark and we still had another 60 kilometers to go. It was almost easier driving at night because the holes in the road were picked up by the headlights. During the daytime, you couldn’t see the potholes until you were right on top of them, but at night they showed up with the dark shadows. We finally pulled into the town of Malema around 7pm. This was where we were to have the first half of the assembly for the Nampula West District. The district is so large that they divide the assembly into two sessions, one in the western area of the district, at Malema, and the other in the eastern part of the district near the town of Ribaué. When we arrived at the church, there was a large number of pastors and their wives already there, along with people from the local church. While dinner was being prepared, everyone sang and had a good time crowded around the cooking fires. It was a good way to keep warm in the chill of the early evening. Once again we were cared for with gracious hospitality. We were served a lovely meal of grilled chicken and rice and millet xima and chicken curry. We met our district superintendent here, Rev. José Zacarias, as well as one of our recent graduates, Heroi Naconaca. He surprised us with the news that he was to be married in a month’s time! Finally, with dinner over and arrangements made for the next morning’s assembly, we made our way up the road a short distance to a “complexo turístico” where we would spend the night. Never having been in this area we weren’t sure what to expect, but we were pleasantly surprised to find a place with very comfortable and clean accommodation. There was running water, but we had to heat water ourselves by putting an electric immersion coil into a basin of water. It was a bit risky, though. If you put your finger in the water to check the temperature, you’d get a shock! We quickly learned to remove the coil first before checking the water temperature! The room was also furnished with a mosquito net which we were very glad to have. I thought it would be rather claustrophobic, but in fact it was more like being in a tent, only indoors. We were glad to get cleaned up and to stretch out and get some rest. It had been a long, but a good day!

July 3 – We needed to be at the church by 8am for breakfast so we were up at 6am to get ready for the day and to get the car packed. Having been on dirt roads for a couple of days now, it was surprise to come out of our room and discovered that the pick-up had been washed! The man who did it had done his work in faith that the grateful owner would find him and “thank” him for his efforts, and we did thank him appropriately before heading off to the church. When we got to the church breakfast was nearly ready. Some of the best bread rolls we’ve ever eaten, some fried eggs and hot water. They had no tea bags or coffee, but we did, so we shared it with the others at the table and we enjoyed our breakfast together.

Around 8:45am we adjourned to the church to begin the assembly. The church building in Malema was much like the church in Cuamba – plastered mud bricks with thatched roof. The “benches” here were plastered rows of mud bricks and spaced about a foot and half apart. There was no concern about benches being stolen here! The assembly was called to order and welcomes were said and introductions made. We followed the same format as the day before in Cuamba – sermon, district superintendent’s report, secretary and treasurer’s reports, Seminary and pastors reports and then adjournment and lunch. All was concluded by about 3pm, and with Rev. Zacarias now traveling with us, we loaded up and then we headed east to Ribaué.

It was another plus or minus 100 kilometers to Ribaué and with road conditions as they were, we estimated about two and a half hours driving time. This was the main east-west highway across Nampula Province and when we asked Bonifácio why the road was not in better condition, he told us that the railway carried the major part of the passenger and freight traffic so there wasn’t a real sense of urgency on the part of the provincial administrators to do much about improving the highway (I’ve since learned that there is a plan underway to rebuild the whole highway from Nacala on the coast to Lilongwe in Malawi, and on to Zambia. Environmental and social impact studies were done early this year).

On the way we were entranced by the many large rock formations that seemed for form a chain all along the route to Nampula, and extending to the north as well. These inselbergs (granite projections from rolling plains) projected several hundreds of feet into the air and dominated the surrounding countryside. On the way to Ribaué, we made a stop at our church in the area of Natete. We greeted the lay pastor’s wife and some children. Neighbors came to see who these strange people were stopping late in the afternoon. While Bonifacio talked with the lay pastor’s family, Rhoda and Mama Uate and I looked in the church – dirt floor, mud-brick construction including the “benches”, rather thin thatched roof, and chickens coming and going through the door openings on either side of the building. It was obvious to us that the people in this area were extremely poor, and the condition of the children who gathered around us confirmed our assessment.

We arrived in Ribaué, a substantial town, around 5pm. A new church is being planted in the town and we made our way to see the progress being made. At present they have built a very nice parsonage that has a room large enough to hold services. Once they have sufficient funds, they will build a church building next to the parsonage. There is a good-sized piece of land and they are already making mud bricks which will be fired and then used to build the church. By the time we were ready to leave there, it was dark. We headed on down the road another 15 kilometers to the home of the district superintendent in the town of Namigonha. As we arrived at the church, the people who had gathered erupted into song to welcome us. We greeted the superintendent’s wife, Mama Carolina, whom we hadn’t seen since they graduated in 2003. The ladies of the church were preparing a meal for us and we waited and visited while the last arrangements were being made. We were a little bit concerned because no word had been said about where we would be spending the night, and it was getting late. Never mind, first things first! Dinner was served – roast chicken and rice, millet xima and chicken curry. It was starting to get familiar. Finally dinner was over and we were told we’d go and find a place to stay. The district secretary would go with us and show us where the place was. Only about a kilometer up the road into town we pulled off and stopped in front of a shop. It didn’t look like a place with accommodation, but we were assured that this was the place and that they had rooms for visitors. Unfortunately, we needed three rooms and they only had two, and the bathrooms were in another building. We asked the district secretary if there was another place in town and he said there was, and we headed for that place.

When we got there, it didn’t look like much, and not very appealing at that. Bonifácio and I went to inspect the facilities and the secretary assured us that this was the only other place in town. I won’t go into details but it will suffice to say that floors were the same color as the dirt outside. They had beds and sheets and pillows, but we couldn’t attest to the cleanliness, nor how many people had used them before we got there. The beds were only ¾ size; that was fine for Bonifácio and Mama Uate, but we were a bit squeezed. Still, we were glad for a mattress and the mosquito nets. We didn’t risk opening our suitcases there and it’s the only night on the whole trip that we didn’t dare turn the light off to go to sleep. We’d seen too many creepy-crawlies escaping when we turned the light on! The bathrooms didn’t merit being called that – they were little more than closets with holes in the floor. There were no windows anywhere and only one narrow doorway into the central hallway from the veranda. As our Field Strategy Coordinator would describe it, it was “condições minimas” – or minimal conditions. Had it been a jail, and a delegation from Human Rights Watch had seen it, they would have raised one royal protest about the terrible conditions under which prisoners were being held. But since it was a “guest house” – well, we didn’t have much of a choice. At least we knew it would be better the next night – we’d be with Bonifácio and his family at their home in Nampula.

July 4 – We were up around 5am this morning, pulled on our clothes from yesterday, washed our faces and brushed out teeth using the bottled water we’d brought with and got out of that place as quickly as we could, hoping that we weren’t taking and hitch hikers along with us. We returned to the church for breakfast and again we shared our tea bags and coffee and powdered milk. The assembly began around 8:30am and by now we were accustomed to the format – and we could almost repeat the sermon with Bonifácio, even with it being in the Macua language! This was a larger crowd than the previous two assemblies and there was more special music and celebration in addition to the reports being given. The district was experiencing good growth and they reported a better than 50% increase in membership over the previous year. Fantastic!!!! That’s not to say that there weren’t problems – some areas of the district were not growing nor were they participating in the budget giving – but the Lord was obviously blessing!

At the close of the assembly Rev. Zacarias announced that it was time to take up the offering. Actually, it was the first assembly where they had bothered to take an offering – good Nazarenes, these! People began to sing and to celebrate as the table was placed in front of the pulpit and people began to bring their offerings to the Lord – a 25kg bag or rice, 20kg of peanuts, a couple of sags of beans, two large branches of bananas, pumpkins, a bag or oranges, and coins and some notes placed enthusiastically on the table. Other items were also presented, all with singing and enthusiastic praise being offered to the Lord for His blessings. Once all the excited had settled down, Rev. Zacarias called us to the front of the congregation and thanked us for coming to be with them at their assembly. We were completely dumbfounded when he then told us that as their expression of thanks, they were presenting us with the offering that had just been given! We were speechless! I must confess, the first thought that entered my mind was, “How are we going to fit it all in the back of the truck?” What gracious generosity! And what a humbling experience to be the recipients of such gracious and loving kindness by God’s people who have next to nothing themselves! We can only pray that the Lord will bless them in the measure that they were a blessing to us!

After lunch of – you guessed it: roast chicken and rice, millet xima and chicken curry – we packed up the car, said our farewells, and set off down the road heading for Nampula, about 80 kilometers to the east. The closer we got to Nampula, the better the road conditions, and the more traffic we encountered. The highway was still a dirt road, but it was graded and we were able to make better time than previously. It was just after 4:30 pm that we entered the city of Nampula and pulled onto a tar road – the first we’d seen since July 1st when we left Milange. Now we were in city traffic and contending with other drivers. Thankfully, Bonifácio was with us and knew where we were going. We arrived at his home just a bit before 5 pm, just as it was going dark. Busi, Bonifácio’s wife was anxious for our arrival and we were delighted to see her and the kids – Khosi, 13; Buhle, 11; Paula, 8 and Lindane, 6. Busi had a lovely dinner prepared for us – not chicken – but homemade pizza! She’d got the recipe from Rhoda when they were here in Maputo and Bonifácio was teaching at the Seminary. After dinner a hot bath as heavenly and a clean, fresh bed was delightful, especially after what we had experienced the night before. It was good to have an early night, but Sunday would be another busy day, with a service in Rapale, about 20km back down the road in the direction we’d just come from, and then a 450 kilometer (280 miles) trip to Montepuez in Cabo Delgado Province for an assembly on Monday.

Installment 4 of THE JOURNEY: Our Trip to Northern Mozambique – 29 June to 1 July, 2009

29 June – Monday was the day to continue our journey and today’s destination was Milange in Zambésia, across on the other side of Malawi. We had a quick breakfast and got the last few things loaded into the back of the truck and then, after our words of thanks and farewell, we climbed into the truck and headed for the bridge across the Zambezi River and the road north.

We’d had word that our church in Zobué, right on the Malawi border with Tete, wanted us to stop on the way for a brief visit. Pastor Efeti Cebola, one of our graduates from last year, would accompany us to show us the way. It was about a two-hour drive to Zobué, and we had to deal with our exit at the Mozambique border post before we even got to the church. The border there passes through some rough mountains and so the border posts are about three kilometers apart, and the village of Zobué is between them.

We got to the church at 10:30am and the pastor met us with a warm welcome. We told him that we really needed to be on the way by noon at the latest because we had to get across Malawi and get to Milange for a pastor’s retreat in the evening. His reply was, “No problem.” He escorted us to his home a short walk up the hill from the church. It was a bit of a wait before everything was ready and around 11am we were served a lovely meal of rice, chicken, corn meal porridge, meat curry and fried potatoes. I kept looking at my watch and the time was passing, and at 11:30am we headed back to the church that, by now, was full of people waiting for the service to begin. I figured we could leave by 12:30pm and we’d still make it OK, so I tried to relax. Rhoda kept telling me, “This is of the Lord so just relax. Everything will work out just fine.”

We started our with a hymn and a prayer and another hymn, then the pastor introduced us. We gave a report of the Seminary and Rhoda and Mama Uate gave their testimonies and I was getting ready to get up to give an abbreviated sermon, but then the pastor called for the ladies choir to sing. About 15 ladies stood up and promptly left the church. Outside they got organized and then began to march back in singing. They were dressed in white blouses the traditional capulanas – wrap around cloths used for skirts – with the Church of the Nazarene emblems printed on them in blue. They were very attractive! Once on the platform, they presented their three special songs, and then they marched out singing again. I got ready to get up to speak, and the pastor announced that they young people from a neighboring church were going to give a special. About 8 young people dressed in matching purple shirts stood up and left the church. Again, once outside, they got organized and then began to march back in singing. They came up to the platform and also sang three specials before marching out singing. Again I got ready to speak but yet another singing group was announced, so I tried to relax and enjoy the music, all the while the hands on my watch kept moving forward. By the time we had finished the service, had said our farewells and were ready to leave for the Malawi border post, it was 2:30pm! The pastor went with us to help us negotiate the Malawi immigration and customs process and it’s a good thing he did. As it was, we didn’t finish and leave the border post until 3:30pm. It took a full 45 minutes just to process the temporary import of our vehicle, and that for the 250 Km (150 miles) trip across to the other side of the country!

We got into Blantyre around 4:30pm and headed for the offices of SIM - Serving in Mission - a sister missionary organization. Missionary friends in northern Zambésia where we would be staying on Wednesday had asked us to stop to pick up their mail there in Blantyre, and we were glad to help them out. We figured it would be a bag with a few letters – no big deal. Little did we know! The missionary greeted us with, “We sure are glad you’re here. We’re running out of space!” In the end, there were about 25 medium sized boxes with books, a couple of mail bags, other parcels and a bag with a few letters! When we pulled out of there 15 minutes later, the back of the truck was packed tight!
We had thought about stopping to get some more bottled water and biscuits (cookies) for the journey, but time was passing and we were in the Blantyre rush-hour traffic so we forgot that idea. By the time we finally left Blantyre behind, it was past 6pm and it was dark already. And Malawi has almost no highway direction signs so we were trying to remember which route to take from our trip through there four years ago! Finally, we came to a police traffic control and I asked him, “Is this the highway to Milange?” He confirmed that it was. We breathed a sigh of relief and continued on our way dodging bicyclists on our side of the highway and cars and trucks with their high beams bright coming at us on the other side of the highway. Then it started raining!

Fortunately, the farther we traveled, the lighter the traffic and with the rain, heavy at times, there were fewer bicycles. We came to a small town and since I had about 3000 Malawian Kwacha in my pocket, I wanted to spend it before we crossed the border. I pulled into a filling station to get some diesel and spend my Kwachas and I asked the attendant what time the border closed. He wasn’t sure but said he thought it was 7pm. We had less than an hour to get there, and it was still about 80 kilometers (50 miles) down the road, IF we could believe the road sign we’d seen a short while back. We continued on toward the border, passing among the famous Malawian tea plantations which we couldn’t see at all. After about 40 minutes, we pulled up short at another police control post. The officer asked where we were going and I told him, “Milange.” He said, “Well, you won’t make it there tonight. The border closed at 6pm. I suggest you go to the lodge up the road on the right and see if they have room, or you could go back to the last town where there is a motel.” Ugh!

We discussed it among ourselves and decided we would go to the lodge and see if we could phone our district superintendent in Milange and get his advice. We found the lodge and the night watchman opened the big steel gates to let us into the parking area. The place was not much to look at really. I found some people in a meeting room and asked where reception was, and they pointed me in the direction of a little run-down office on the edge of the building. I asked if they had any rooms and the guy said they did and the cost would be 2500 Kwacha. I asked if he took credit cards or dollars (I’d spent my kwacha on diesel about an hour before), and he said they didn’t, only Kwacha. Then I asked if they had a telephone, and again he said they didn’t. I went back to the car, through the rain, to discuss our options.

The ladies figured that the worst that would happen would be that we’d sleep in the car at the border, and there would be able to access the Mozambique cellular phone network and talk to our district superintendent, Rev. Benjamim Banda. So we set off for the border figuring it would be another 30 minutes or so. Well, 10 kilometers later we came to the Malawian border gate – closed! It wasn’t as far away as we thought it was.

There were some guards there and I got out to talk with them and they confirmed that the border closed at 6pm, BUT, they said, “If you want to go and talk to the chief of customs, maybe he’ll authorize us to let you through.” So, off into the nighttime darkness we went, down a little lane and to the home of the chief of customs. I explained our situation, that we needed to get to a pastors’ meeting in Milange, etc. He said, “Well, it is out of the ordinary to open the border after hours, but if the chief of immigration will deal with your passports, you can just leave your vehicle permit with the guards and we’ll process it in the morning.” One down; three to go!

Next we headed to the home of the chief of immigration. The guard knocked on the door and as it was opened, the smell of dinner cooking wafted into the night air. I thought, “Oh no, we’re interrupting the guys dinner! There won’t be a positive answer here!” But no, after telling the story yet again, the chief said to head on over to the immigration office and he’d be right there. Just a few minutes later, he and his assistant arrived, escorted us around to the back of the building, unlocked the door and ushered me into the immigration offices. He gave me some forms to fill out and I presented them with our passports which he stamped and handed back to me. He told the guards that all was now in order, he could open the gate and let us pass through. Whew! Now we had to deal with the Mozambican authorities!

It was about a half a kilometer through a sort of no-man’s land to the Mozambican border post. Lights were still on, but no one was around. We’d phoned Rev. Banda from the Malawian side and he said to call again if we got out of Malawi, so we phoned him once our passports were stamped. About ten minutes after arriving at the Mozambican side of the border, and after talking to the night guards, we heard motorcycles approaching through the darkness, and saw two headlights coming around the bend. Rev. Banda and Pastor Leonel Saimone, one last November’s graduates, both with a pastor riding behind them, arrived to try to help us get through the border.

Rev. Banda went to the home of the Mozambican official and explained the situation and to see if they would let us pass through on to Milange, but they didn’t want to be bothered and told him that the chief had gone home and took the keys with him and there was nothing they could do. However, they did say that we could go on into the town of Milange for the night, leave our truck at the border, and come back the next morning to deal with the passports and bring the truck through. We had decided that we’d just stay with the truck all night and sleep there, but Rev. Banda wouldn’t hear of it. He had reservations for us at a pensão (like a little hotel) in town and he’d take us there and some pastors would stay with the truck. So, Rhoda and Mama Uate got the few things that we would need for the night, then they awkwardly climbed onto the back of a motorcycle, and off into the darkness they went leaving me at the border with the two pastors, both of whom could speak Chichewa, but no Portuguese or English. We communicated the best we could and waited on the porch of the border post out of the rain until the two pastors returned on their motorcycles. About 40 minutes later, we heard the sound of the motorcycles returning and then it was my turn. Three pastors stayed and slept in our truck for the night and Rev. Banda took me into Milange, about 5 kilometers from the border post, where I met up with the ladies at the pensão. By the time I got there, I was freezing cold and half wet through from the rain, but soon warmed up. Rev. Banda brought us some supper and hot water to make tea, and we finished our supper around 10pm. We had missed the service for the pastor’s retreat, but we had made it to Milange. It sure was nice to snuggle under the blankets and sleep in a warm and comfortable bed. We felt bad for the pastors who would spend the night in our pick-up, but they wouldn’t hear of anything else. What an adventure!

30 June – Tuesday morning dawned rather cloudy and foggy. I was up to meet Rev. Banda at 5:30am for the ride back out to the border to get the truck. The border opened at 6am and I was there when they opened and was the first one to process through. They asked me rather bewilderedly, “Are you coming in or going out?” I told them I was coming in and then the penny dropped, “Oh, you’re the one with that truck that spent the night here!” Things were done quickly and soon I was taking the pastors to the church to drop them off before going to get the ladies. By 8am we were all at the Banda’s house having a nice breakfast of bread and tea and boiled manioc. The service started at 9am and there must have been at least 200 people there for the service, some having come by bicycle from 150 kilometers away. The back of the church was full of bicycles, parked there for safety and to be out of the rain. There are 252 churches on this district, but not all of the pastors were able to make it for the meetings. It was a great time of celebration and praise. Everyone was so enthusiastic and excited to be there together to worship and praise the Lord, and to learn something new about serving the Lord. It was humbling, really, to be the one they had come all that way to hear speak.

Though it was chilly and rainy outside, there was a warm spirit in the church as we began our time together. The Lord blessed our worship time and then we began the teaching session. Rev. Banda has asked me beforehand to prepare to teach on the Manual of the church and in the end I opted to do a teaching session on the Articles of Faith. I needed to keep it fairly simple because it all needed to be interpreted into Chichewa, and yet I wanted to give them some “meat” to chew on as well. I taught from 10am to noon, and we took a brief break. Rev. Banda said we’d just go on with the session till about 2pm or so without breaking for lunch. We’d have lunch at the end and then some of the pastors would prepare to return to their homes, the rest planning to visit and then leave at first light the next morning. So, we kept on teaching until about 2:30pm, and then had a question and answer session till about 3pm.

After our late lunch we had a chance to just visit with the Bandas and also with Leonel and his wife, Argentina. They were only married last December and are sort of “missionaries” there in Milange. Leonel is originally from Nampula and Argentina is from Gaza. Both speak different languages and come from different cultures, so they are having to adapt to life among the Chichewa people and to learn their language. It hasn’t been easy for them, but the Lord is helping. It was nice to be able to be with them and to encourage them. Argentina especially appreciated having Mama Uate there as they are both Shangaans and speak the same language.

It was about 8pm before we finally finished up our visit, had a little snack of bread and tea and headed back to the pensão. I was able to get the bill paid and we got some hot water for a bit more tea before turning in for the night. It had been a long day, but a wonderful day of sharing with pastors and with our former students and seeing how the Lord is using them to build His kingdom in this corner of Mozambique.

1 July – We were up at a fairly early hour this morning and got packed up for the next leg of our journey to Gurué in the northern part of Zambésia. First I headed for the filling station to fill up with fuel and to see about a tire that appeared to be low on air. I found a mechanic’s workshop and they pulled the wheel and checked for leaks, but pronounced it fine with no problems, so they just checked my tire pressure all around and I was finished. From there I picked up the ladies at the pensão and we headed to the Banda’s home for breakfast and to say our farewells. We weren’t in too much of a hurry today since we had no meetings scheduled and the drive to Gurué was estimated at about 5 hours, even though it would all be over dirt roads. In the end, we got away from Milange around 9am, heading northeast out of town over a narrow dirt road passing among cultivated fields and small homesteads scattered across the countryside. This was new territory for all of us – we’d never been this way before – so we were anxious to find out what this part of the country was like.

The rain of the previous few days proved quite helpful on this leg of the journey. The road surface had been packed down and for a dirt road, was relatively smooth. Also, there was no dust to speak of as we traveled along. It was still somewhat cloudy, but it was a bit warmer as we had frequent breaks in the clouds allowing the sun to shine through. There were quite long stretches where there were few houses, and those we did see were mostly made of fired mud bricks with thatched roofs. Now and then the houses would start to get closer together and then we would find ourselves entering a little village with a few stores, a primary school, a government office and maybe a clinic and a couple of churches. There would be little “barracas” – small, rudely built stands made of branches, boards, some sheet metal or plastic – set up along the road from which vendors sold their wares – soap, cookies, canned goods, plastic ware such as bowls, basins and buckets, garden implements such as hoe heads, shovels, and rakes, used clothing, capulanas, even bicycles and imported Chinese motorcycles! There were also a number of weighing scales suspended from trees or from the porches of a shop where people would bring their produce to be sold – beans, peanuts, corn, sweet potatoes, and tobacco. We saw many of these weighing scales along the road, even outside the village areas. Buyers in large trucks would traverse this section of road buying up the produce and then taking it to the nearest town or city to sell. We passed through several of these small villages, none of which were indicated on the maps we had. We did come to one larger village, a small town really – Molumbo - nestled in the shadow of a soaring granite monolith. The buildings were similar to most we had seen, and there were a number of buildings in various stages of disrepair that were left over from the Portuguese colonial period. It was all very interesting to see and experience.

In Molumbo we headed east running parallel to a series of these granite monoliths that rose suddenly from the plains that we were crossing heading toward Gurué. They were quite high and extended for some distance off to the east. The road following the gently rolling countryside and there were occasional little streams along the way. Most of these we crossed with concrete culverts but we came up short when we crested one hill and there at the bottom was a “bridge” about 15 feet across to the other side. It wasn’t a real bridge, but a challenge! Actually, it was composed of four steel beams about 6 inches wide. There were two placed side by side to the left, and two more placed side by side to the right. However, the distance between these two steel spans was equal to the track of a small truck, and about a foot wider than the track of our Toyota. In between these two steel spans were placed about 12 tree trunks or large branches, up to about 8 inches in diameter. Some were larger than others. None were exactly straight. There were sizable gaps in between them. And none of them looked like they would support the weight of a loaded pick-up! We walked across the steel beams and judged the distances between our wheels trying to figure out which trunk would be the most stable and the sturdiest. None of them looked to reassuring. Some young guys who appeared assured us that people crossed here all the time with no problem at all. We could just picture one of those tree trunks breaking under the weight and leaving our vehicle resting on his frame with the wheels dangling in mid air, and us wondering how in the world we would get it out of there.

When in doubt and you don’t know what to do, you pray. So we prayed and asked the Lord for guidance, and we asked Him to put His hand under those tree trunks! I lined up the left wheels on one of the steel beams, and the right wheels on what appeared to be the sturdiest of the trunks and slowly edged my way onto the “bridge”. Rhoda couldn’t bear to watch. Mama Uate said that the tree trunk sagged noticeably when I drove onto it. I didn’t notice from my position behind the wheel but I just kept it moving and in seconds I was on terra firma again. With a sigh of relief, the ladies climbed back in and we continued our journey on to Gurué.

A couple of more hours later we began passing through the low bushes of the Zambésia tea plantations and we knew we were getting near to Gurué, famous in Mozambique for its tea. Gurué is a district administrative town in the north of Zambésia Province and is quite an old town. The Portuguese developed the area considerably during the colonial period. It is near to a mountain range with a great view of the mountains. The climate is unique to that area of the country which makes it possible to grow tea around Gurué. We were headed there to visit the Fosters – Stuart, Sindia and Luke – SIM missionaries working among the Lomwé speaking people. Stuart is a linguist and is working on the translation of the Bible in the Lomwé language. The New Testament was translated nearly 100 years ago and it is being revised, but they are also working on the Old Testament which has never been translated. Stuart was not home when we visited as he was in another part of the province working with the translating committee. The Fosters rent a small house on the grounds of a Roman Catholic technical school. The Catholics also have guest accommodation that they make available for a reasonable price. We had made arrangements to stay there and funny enough, it was right next door to the Foster’s house. Sindia Foster graciously received us and provided us with a lovely dinner, and we were also able to unload all of the mail that we had collected for them in Blantyre. Gurué is surrounded by high mountains and the tallest, Mount Namuli, has become fairly well know lately in conservation circles as being a place where numerous new and previously unknown plant species have been discovered. We had a comfortable nights sleep and made plans for an early departure the next morning. We were to head to Cuambe in Niassa Province where we were scheduled to attend our first of eight district assemblies. It was to prove to be an interesting day!

Installment 3 of THE JOURNEY: Our Trip to Northern Mozambique – 23 June to 16 July, 2009

June 27 – We were up at 4am this morning as we were told to expect poor road conditions and that it would take a long time to reach Fingoe. The total trip, there and back to Tete again, would be about 550 kilometers, and about half of it would be on rocky dirt roads. We departed Tete around 5am and it was still an hour and a half before the sun would come up. We crossed the Zambezi River again and followed the road toward the west and the Zambian border.

It wasn’t long before the three ladies in the back seat had gone to sleep, and Rhoda as nodding a bit as well. I must confess, I had to really concentrate to keep my eyes opened and the cool air helped on that account. After about an hour, the ladies woke up and Agnes Banda, our guide, was not sure where we were along the highway. She was afraid we had gone past the turn-off to Fingoe. I assured her that we had not passed any roads leading off to the south, but she was still concerned. As we continued on, there was a man walking along the highway and as we passed him, Agnes said, “Let’s stop and ask him exactly where we are!” So I braked and stopped and then proceeded to back up down the highway. As we came next to the man, Agnes opened her window to greet him and ask where we were, but before she could say anything, the poor guy screamed and took off running as fast his legs would carry him! I’m sure he must have thought that we were kidnappers ready to snatch him up and make witchdoctor medicine out of him. As silly as that may sound, Agnes assured us that it is an all-too-frequent occurrence.

We continued on down the highway and soon came to a small village along the road. Agnes recognized the place and we continued on for another 30 minutes or so until we came to our turn off, the ladies laughing periodically about the poor guy who ran screaming off into the early morning darkness. By this time the sun was coming up and we were on the dirt road. It was terribly rocky and bone-jarring and we were only able to travel at about 40 kilometers per hour (25mph). The road was not nearly as bad as the road to Macanga, but it was just terribly rough. About 25km from Fingoe we came upon a pick-up truck broken down along the road and the driver frantically waved for us to stop, which we did. He asked if we had any oil, and when I said I only had a couple of tins, he asked if we could give him a ride into Fingoe to see if he could find some there, so he climbed into the back of our truck, crowded as it was with all our stuff and a pastor, and we continued on to Fingoe. As we came into town he spied a place that sold oil and we dropped him off, and then there just across the street was our district superintendent, Rev. Tiago Missu. Evidently, there had been a mix-up in communication as he was surprised to see us! We had thought that word went out several weeks before regarding our visit and we were hoping to see a number of our former students, but as it turned out, we were only able to visit with Rev. and Mrs. Missu, and our pastor and his family, the Ciricas. What was nice for Mama Uate was that she had taught Mrs. Cirica and they had name their little girl born while at the seminary after Mama Uate. We spent several hours with them and were able to share a simple meal at lunch time (some poor chicken was sacrificed for us) before it was time to start the long trek back to Tete. Before we left, the Missus wanted us to see their home across the little valley, and when I went to start the truck, it was as dead as a door nail! Oh no! What’s wrong – way out here in the middle of nowhere? Well, I opened the hood and low and behold, the battery cable had become disconnected. I stuck it back on and tightened it up, and the engine turned over just like normal. So, off across town we went. We had a nice visit and a word of prayer with the Tiago and Cremina and then headed back to pick up the rest and to farewell the Cirica family.

While we were there, the guy with the oil problem spotted our truck and asked for a ride back. I also noticed that my fuel gauge was down below the halfway point, so I thought I’d better look for some more fuel. Evidently, the pump attendant hadn’t topped off the tank the night before, and I knew we’d not make it back to Tete unless we found some more. Rev. Missu know a guy who sold safe fuel, i.e. not mixed with water, from a barrel at his house, so we went there and got a couple of gallons, just enough to get us back to Tete. We loaded up with all our passengers and the one extra, and set off down the road again – with a couple of pumpkins, a live chicken and some other gifts that had been arranged to thank us for our visit.

Along the way we dropped our extra passenger off with his gallon of oil. His passengers’ faces lit up when they saw us arrive and stop to drop him off. They’d been sitting there all day, and they still had about 150 kilometers to go to their destination! We continued on with our rattling and jolting. As we did, the truck started acting funny. The anti-lock brake light started coming on when I shifted down to low gear. Then the windscreen wipers would suddenly make a swipe across the windscreen. Then my window suddenly started to go down all by itself. We got to the tar road and the antics of the car continued as it got darker and darker. I turned on the headlights and the engine seemed to lose power, so I turned them off again and sped up a bit to race the sun to Tete. We finally made it to the turn south to Tete City and I turned on the lights and everything stayed normal, so I kept them on as we headed to the bridge. Traffic was backed up waiting to get across but we finally made it to the toll booth, paid our fee and crept across the bridge with the rest of the traffic. First stop into town was a petrol station to fill up. We put in 58.7 litres; it’s a good thing I was able to find some back in Fingoe or we’d have been sitting along the road out in the middle of nowhere with an empty tank! I went to start the engine to go on the Banda’s house and no power. Once again the battery cable had come loose and putting it back in place solved the problem. What a relief it was to get back to Banda’s, have a nice dinner, get cleaned up and stretch out for a good nights sleep.

28 June – Today we didn’t have to get up so early as it was only a kilometer to Tete Central Church were we were to attend the service this morning. We had some breakfast and then headed to the church about 9am. We got there in the middle of the Sunday School session and were greeted by the district superintendent, Rev. Bonga Laiton. Between Sunday School and church, we put up our display of pictures of the Seminary and then prepared for the service to begin with a time of prayer with the pastor and some of our former students. The church was packed for the service and people had come in from some of the surrounding churches. There were about 15 of our former students there as well, most of them serving as pastors in local churches, the farthest about 25 kilometers from Tete city. The total attendance for the service was 625! Quite a crowd! There was a lot of special music from various groups, and even a children’s choir did a special number.

After the service we had a nice lunch with all of our former students, plus the pastor and his wife of the local church, the district superintendent and the former district superintendent – Rev. Matias Beta. Altogether there were about 25 of us that had lunch together, and then after the meal, we just sat and visited and got caught up on what everyone was doing. It was a wonderful time of sharing, and we didn’t finish up until nearly 4pm. After we got back to the Banda’s, they had a mechanic come by to look at our truck and found that the main problem was the loose battery cable; it just wouldn’t tighten down enough on the battery post to stay connected with all the rattling and shaking we had been subjected to. He removed a little spacer in the connector and put a couple of small lead strips between the connector and the battery post and it snugged down really tight. The rest of the evening we just sat in the yard around the cooking fires and visited until supper time, then we got things packed up and ready for leaving in the morning before going to bed.