On the road to Ilha...day 2.....

Quick update...what you're reading is several days behind.  The area we went through that I am getting ready to describe has been under rebel attack.  The town we spent the night in was attacked by rebel forces the day after we left.....

We left our nice rest and stay at 4:00 a.m.  Before I go on, let me say that my beach front room cost $45 per night.  There we other properties that charged considerably more, but this was a great deal for a great location.  There are very few hotels close to the highway because the highway goes through desolate and remote parts of the country.

The goal was to drive to Beira and spend the night with one of Rodger's co-workers, have a nice dinner and leave the next morning.

We first had to drive through an area known for rebel activity.  The day before we got there, 7 soldiers had been killed in a small weapons fight with the rebels.  We drove for about 4 hours and came to the bridge where the military escorts take a caravan of vehicles through the danger area.  

We arrived at the check point to find out the caravan had just left a few minutes prior to our arrival.

The soldier at the guard post told Rodger we could go on through because everything was OK.  All the fighting was in another area.

I did not think we could possibly drive through any area more remote than what we had been through, but I was wrong.  We drove for another 3 hours and saw maybe 12 people other than the 6 people on the highway with us.  Eventually we came to a town that was the staging area for southbound traffic and drove on through....for about 15 minutes.

 As we were driving on up the road, I was still "admiring" the scenery, when, BOOM....the right wheel of the trailer snapped off the axle!  I watched as the right side of the axle hit the road and Rodger managed to pull off to the left shoulder..they drive on the "other side" of the road, British style. I somehow managed to keep my left eye on the trailer and not run into Rodger, and my right eye on the tire as it bounced along the shoulder and into the brush.  WOW!

We stood on the side of the road and then quickly began looking for the tire.  Two men on bicycles came by and helped us look and fortunately found the tire, wheel and hub.

 

Of course Rodger took the truck and headed back to town to look for help and left me with the van in the middle of Mozambique by myself!

He found help and the short version is, they unloaded the traile onto a flatbed truck the then we all lifted the empty trailer onto the truck as well.

On the road to Ilha...day one...

Do you remember the old Bob Hope and Bing Crosby "road" movies?  Well...Rodger and I just lived through one of the most amazing true to life road movies you can ever imagine! 

We left Maputo at 3:00 a.m. on Wednesday...that's 3:00 A.M.!!!!

After loading some items from storage we were on the road on Mozambique N1, which is the main road connecting southern and northern Mozambique. Actually, it's the ONLY road connecting southern and northern Mozambique.  I would like to tell you it is a highway connecting the south and north but even the word "road" would be generous for significant portions. 

Anyway, we started our journey north and began interacting almost immediately with the Mozambique equivalent of the Highway Patrol. Well, Highway Patrol/local Cop and a soldier with an AK47, sometimes several cops & several soldiers.  We traveled about 475 km the first day and we're stopped 9 times.

We also began a journey back into time.  As we rolled along the Mozambique countryside, we continuously saw the small groupings of mud huts and saw the people walking along the highway going about their daily lives.  Some were fortunate enough to have bicycles and it was fascinating to see how much stuff or how many people could be on one bike.  It is amazing how you can leave a capital city like Maputo and in less than 15 minutes see people live like their ancestors did 1,000 years ago.  Mud hut, no electricity, no running water and cooking with wood and/or charcoal.  

We drove until 2 p.m. and then left the main highway to get our hotel room for the night.  We had to leave the main road because their were not any decent accommodations on the main road.  We travel about 60 km on a road that led to a couple of towns on the seaside. I will post those photos.

We were snapped back into the 21st century when we arrived at the hotel and had a very restful night.

The area we stayed in was beautiful!  I finally got to see the beach area that every one raves about in Mozambique.  And to think it only took us 9 hours of driving time! Whew!

And then we started day 2.......

Writings from Lynne

I am copying the text from an email that Lynne posted.  This tells a lot about our dear friends and why we feel so strongly about the work they will be doing on the Ilha.  Diane

I write this from the guesthouse lobby on Mozambique Island.  

After weeks of preparations, catching up with ministry partners, annual meeting with our teammates, visiting national pastors and friends, in Maputo, field leader meetings and time with Stephen in Kenya, the time has come.

I(Lynne)arrived on the island Wednesday evening.  Rodger and our friend Mike are currently making the drive with all of our personal belongings; a four day drive on some rough roads.

Once they arrive, we will complete the last work on the house and move in!

We anticipate the next few months being all about getting our feet under us and starting Makua language study.

We covet your prayers now more than ever before.  Life will be very different for us here than in Maputo.  Here are a few differences that we know of:

No local body of believers with which to fellowship for the first time in our lives.

Less availability of goods.  The nearest grocery store is two and a half hours away.

Adequate medical care is two and a half hours away. Good medical care is a 2 hour flight away.

Living conditions, especially water, is more of a challenge.

The society as a whole is walking in spiritual darkness.

The words of the Chris Tomlin song keep repeating in my head: 

"I know who goes before me
I know who stands behind
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side
The One who reigns forever
He is a friend of mine
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side."

We appreciate your prayers and support.  We could not do this without you.

Blessings and love,

Rodger and Lynne

Road weary adventures

This is actually being written by Diane.  This October 2013 will be my first time to Ilha de Moçambique so I guess the new blog should be Mike and Diane on the island.....but we will leave things as they are!  😄. I am going to paste the text here of an email I just sent out.  Asking for lots of prayers for Mike and Rodger.  

Hey friends.....I am sitting in my hotel room in Johannesburg...thankful to have these legs of the journey easily behind me.  Mike and Rodger have not had as easy of a time on their drive.  Day 2 turned out to be when they should have had the military armed escort.  However, it left without them so they proceeded on their own.  No trouble with bandits but in the afternoon on Friday, in the middle of nowhere Moz, the trailer axle broke and the tire fell off.  I don't know the whole story but they did make it to a town which then brought a truck to load the trailer on.....it was unloaded and repaired, better than ever, but cost them an unexpected $400 plus being behind schedule.  
And I guess they have been stopped at least 20 times by police, checking their paperwork.  When I woke up from napping this morning, I had missed a request for immediate prayer but I think many warriors had them covered.  Police that stopped them this morning claimed that Rodger's driver's license was not correct so they were going to lock him in jail until Monday.  But by the time I could reply, Lynne let me know that they had ended up letting him off with a steep fine....5000 metacais....about $168. 
Mike just called me here at the hotel.  They have stopped for the night (Saturday evening here).  They plan to start again about 2 am and hope to be able to make it to the island tomorrow.   Mike said some roads are ok but many times they are driving on the shoulder dodging potholes.  
Please pray for an uneventful and safe final day of travels for them.  They are both exhausted. 
Mike Hagar, the other guy meeting us here, should be somewhere in the air over the Atlantic.  I will meet him at the Joberg airport tomorrow morning for the final leg of our journey to Nampula and then the island.  

We're off.....almost!

We did a ton of last minute errands today to get ready for our drive!

We will leave Rob and Heather Banks house at 3 a.m. To start our northward journey.

I will try to post photos of our trip if I can figure out how, because we will go through some beautiful country.

If you follow on a map, we will go up the Mozambique coast to Inhasoro, Beira, Caia, Nampula and then to Ilha de Mocambique.

Between Beira and Caia we join a military escort in a caravan for protection....

It's good just to get this far!

Well, here I am at the Girassol Hotel in Nampula, Mozambique.

God was protecting me all the way here...well, watching out for me would be a better phrase.
I got to ride in First Class going to JFK which was a treat, since I knew what I was facing next!
I had 2 seats to myself in coach on South African Airways which was cool because it is a 15 hour non-stop flight.  By the time we landed in Johannesburg my rear end was numb! But I sat across the aisle from a young missionary couple who were going back to Madagascar and that was nice. I picked up my bag and checked in for my 2 hour flight to Nampula and my bags and I all made it safe and sound...kinda.

You see, I was told I could get my visa at the airport on arrival in Mozambique for $25.  Well, you can do that easily enough in Maputo, the Capitol city...Nampula is like flying into Fresno but not quite so nice.  The nice man took me and my visa-less passport up to the immigration office to call his boss.  While we waited for an answer he suggested I would have to go to the Embassy or maybe even back to the USA!  What a scammer!  His boss finally called back and said for $85 I could get a visa.  Now $85 is a far cry from $25 but what are you supposed to say?  No thanks?

Anyway, once it was established that I was fleecable, the lady turned on her computer with the camera and fingerprint scanner and viola!  I had  a super duper visa all ready to go.  I did get a receipt for the money but, who knows.  Maybe they all will have a nice dinner.

Speaking of nice dinner, I am going to go eat and then go to bed...I am very, very tired.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers,

Baboo

Well....I am off!

It's almost 10 p.m. and here I am at SFO waiting to standby for my first leg of the trip to MOZ!
I will fly to JFK on American Airlines (hopefully) and then fly standby on South African Airways to Johannesburg and then on a confirmed South African Airways flight to Nampula, Mozambique.  I will start my return journey on Feb. 19, and it already has an element of uncertainty as to how I will ultimately make it back...but that is what makes life an adventure!

I spend Wed. night in Nampula and wait for Rodger and the 6 other members of the group to arrive Thursday morning.  Then a 2 hour ride to Mozambique Island or Ilha de Mocambique.

If you not done so before, go to Google and look up Mozambique Island or Ilha de Mocambique, and you will get an idea of what the place is like.  The pictures make it look more inviting than it really is, but it does have charm.

Internet access on Ilha is spotty, so I will provide updates the best I can.  If you are a Facebook friend, I will try to let you know I have a new post.

Please pray for me while I am gone.  This is not an easy trip by any stretch.  We have a lot of work to accomplish and I am praying the weather is not an issue.  Mozambique has had a lot of rain and we are forecast to get rain...just don't know how much.

God Bless,

Baboo