Miscellaneous Missionary

On the return trip home, the adventure got more exciting. One of the last days in Maputo, a fellow came up to the window and offered to sell us a bunch of obviously illegally procured items (stolen goods). I guess that is part of living in a city. We had to go to a coastal city named Beira to check on something, and the bonus was meeting a fellow who has done some good survey work in the north. His wisdom was a great source from which to glean. The same day a fellow came up and claimed to have a chunk of gold to sell us, I am dubious as to the legality of that racket. I am keeping a list of crazy things people offer to sell you at the car window. We made an otherwise good and uneventful trip northward. We arrived at the banks of the Zambezi River as the last ferry arrived and started unloading. This meant that we would have to spend the night.
That night turned out to be very eventful. We parked at the gate and made preparations to spend the night. We really did not have enough space to sleep in the vehicle, so I decided to be the first outside, while we all slept in shifts. I really did not feel like I was in danger, because of the presence of guards in all the trucks that were there. Also, the wind was blowing pretty steady, and there were really no mosquitoes. I was just in awe as I stared at the famous Zambezi River in the moonlight, and then, just the streetlights, since clouds covered the moon. All of a sudden, there was a noise across the way next to the tent of the military outpost. Someone was apparently bothering others, and when the guard tried to stop him, he resisted. There was only a mild shoving match, and all returned to quiet. I was tired enough that I actually started to sleep. I do not know how much time passed, but I was stirred by the nouse of someone passing on foot. I never saw the person, but I assume he or she was heading to use the bathroom. All of a sudden, the person ran by in the other direction calling for help. One of the guards came and asked what was wrong, and I heard, "Is that a person, please tell me that's a person." The guard explained that it was a person. "But it's white!" The guard explained that the color came from the shirt that I was wearing. "But it's white! Besides, you never looked over there." They came and looked closer. The guard said once again that I was a person, and I too repeated that I was a person. The scared individual ran off saying that I could not be a person, and that was the end of it. I woke up just before dawn and realized that I had slept enough that we never traded places. The wind died down, and the mosquitoes rolled in, and so did I. When the sun came up, some people stared to point out as they came back from bathing in the river that there was a hippo in the river. I could not see anything. Later, when the smaller boats started taking foot passengers across, a motorboat ran across the back of the hippo, and the boat sped away, everyone in fear. What was neat was that the boat's wake exposed the hippo, which was larger than the boat! As the hippo swam away in fear, it too left quite a wake!
The next day went by with little incident, and we arrived in a little village to spend the night with some of our team members who are studying the local language in preparation for evangelism. It was great to see how they are coming along and the good relationships that they have built along the way. That night was more interesting, as none of us had mosquito netting, and the mosquitoes were bad. Fortunately, none of us has contracted malaria, but all of us were bitten several times.
The next day, we took off, with an extra load of things that some people from the village wanted to sell once we came to the nearest city. I spent most of the day driving, which was quite an experience for me, since the roads and terrain are new. I am sure that God was protecting me, since nothing serious happened, despite the many times that people on foot or bicycle cut in front of me, and I had to do that while learning to drive on the British side of the road. This was a real challenge as night fell, and people were hard to see, and we came into the city. However, I am safe and a sound as I ever was, thanks to God's protection.