The journey to Mozambique was amazing. It was the culmination of 8 months of raising funds and preparing as a team. I know I speak for the team when I say we were not disappointed. The journey there was long and included an overnight stay in Johannesburg. We got to our hotel by taxi since we could not track down the hotel shuttle. After settling and and having a nice dinner at the hotel we prayed our way into the night.
The morning came early and we were back to the airport to catch our flight to Beira. It was nice that this was a short flight. In Beira we would be meeting Jacob and Jaynie Michael, missionaries with Good News for Africa. They would be hosting us and leading us in ministry for the next three weeks. We arrived and as did our luggage PTL. The lady in charge didn't want to let one bag (filled with yarn) pass through Customs because we didn't have the receipt. Another group was having a similar problem so there was a lot of waiting around. Didn't really matter though because we were still waiting for them to do all the paperwork for the Tourist Visa that we purchased. Jacob came to the Customs office and talked with one of the ladies (the main one was still working on the other group). They seemed resolute in having both of us pay a tax on what we had brought in. The first group stayed in discussion with her and explained that all the supplies were for the people in Mozambique. After awhile she let them go and left the room. We asked the girl we were talking what to do and she said we should go on. I was thanking the Lord for getting us over this little hurdle. After all that was finished with the man in the Travel Visa office came out with all of our Passports and our receipt. Now that all this was done we could meet casually with Jacob and Jaynie and begin to load up all of our luggage and team.
It was an interesting start to our three weeks in Mozambique; I was sure that more was to come. I will write about that tomorrow.
The morning came early and we were back to the airport to catch our flight to Beira. It was nice that this was a short flight. In Beira we would be meeting Jacob and Jaynie Michael, missionaries with Good News for Africa. They would be hosting us and leading us in ministry for the next three weeks. We arrived and as did our luggage PTL. The lady in charge didn't want to let one bag (filled with yarn) pass through Customs because we didn't have the receipt. Another group was having a similar problem so there was a lot of waiting around. Didn't really matter though because we were still waiting for them to do all the paperwork for the Tourist Visa that we purchased. Jacob came to the Customs office and talked with one of the ladies (the main one was still working on the other group). They seemed resolute in having both of us pay a tax on what we had brought in. The first group stayed in discussion with her and explained that all the supplies were for the people in Mozambique. After awhile she let them go and left the room. We asked the girl we were talking what to do and she said we should go on. I was thanking the Lord for getting us over this little hurdle. After all that was finished with the man in the Travel Visa office came out with all of our Passports and our receipt. Now that all this was done we could meet casually with Jacob and Jaynie and begin to load up all of our luggage and team.
It was an interesting start to our three weeks in Mozambique; I was sure that more was to come. I will write about that tomorrow.
The trip to Chimoio didn't start right away because we had to wait on Dale's flight to arrive. Dale would help translate for us. We knew he wouldn't be in for a bit so we went into Beira for lunch. After ordering we went for a walk on the beach. We knew that we had plenty of time because it takes time for the orders to come out of the kitchen. We had a good time walking on the beach and taking pictures. We returned to the restaurant and waited a bit more time. This allowed for good conversation with Jacob and Jaynie. Lunch finally arrived and it was great.
Dave finally arrived later that day PTL. We then began the two hour drive to Chimoio in the Landrover. It was a good ride but it was even better to arrive at the house. It's always fun to arrive at a new place. See the town, neighborhood and house. The dogs greeted us upon our arrival. They were so excited. We unloaded everything off the Landrover and got settled in. By this time it was time to go to bed. We we so happy to finally be there.
