God is good, all the time

so we made it to Zimbabwe!

We arrived late last Tuesday evening after a very long journey from Blantyre. The bus set off 2 hours late (kind of standard for African travel), which meant we arrived in Harare later than expected. We managed to fill out our Malawian exit cards smoothly&spend out last remaining kwacha on their toilet facilities. As we were part of a big bus full of people, us tourists were advised to hop on the bus infront of ours leaving our bags on our existing bus, in an attempt to speed up the Mozambique visa application forms. This should have been a simple exercise.......Andy hopped on the proposed bus&off it drove, only to find that lui had not gotten on the bus!! so lui watched andy drive off on the bus whilst she remained behind, you can only imagine the fear beginning to creep in as lui realised andy had her passport on him&she had no money to her name-stuck in no mans land! yikes. so many prayers were prayed at this moment, how we needed God's safety more than ever.

Lui tried to get back on the existing bus&cross the border that way, only to find that strict passport checks were being done upon entry to the bus. Two officials denied bus access to lui, claiming that with no ID on her she could not get back on the bus. Praise God for his provision - another official appeared, listened to her pathetic story of how her husband had got on the bus without her. This official then miraculously gave Lui enough money to get a taxi to the Mozambique border. A sigh of relief here, but still totally dependendant on God for his protection, as this then meant going through further guards explaining the story&getting into the back of an old small car, with 6 big men in the back, with nothing but Lui&Jesus!! The trauma lasted a little longer as they drove along the sandy stretch, only to find Andy with his hands on his hips pacing up&down searching for Lui-big big thanks to God!

From this traumatic separation, the border crossings were very smooth, we received our visas easily enough and they worked out cheaper than we had anticipated which was a nice surprise.

Whilst on the journey, we were starting to get concerned as we knew that we would be arriving in Harare in Zimbabwe later than originally planned-everyone had warned us not to be out in an African city at night, especially if you don't know your way around! Praise God again for his provision as the bus journey was so long we ended up chatting to half the people on it. It just so happened the only other muzungus were some nurses who are volunteering for an NGO in Harare...it was amazing because they said they were being picked up from the bus station, and that the house where we were planning on staying was in the suburb just before theirs so they could organize for another 4x4 to pick us up as well, this was permitted because one of the nurses just so happened to be the manager of the team so she could ok this decision! We were totally overwhelmed by God's provision; incredible. It meant that we didn't have to get a taxi, or walk around the city on our own as we could get a lift directly to the place we were staying. Not only did we get a free lift, but a mega four seasons pizza from pizza inn-trust us, having had a 17 hour bus journey eating battered bread&biscuits, a big fat pizza has never tasted so good!

Our hosts in Harare were waiting up for us when we arrived (around 6 hours later than expected) and then we had a lovely few days relaxing by their pool and enjoying our surroundings. It was really interesting spending this time with this couple, in their 70's &them teaching us about Zimbabwe times. They had a little tea party in the morning, with cheese&marmite crustless sandwiches whereby a bunch full of widows planned out the exact school andy could thrive in with his music talent&then a side job for lui to use her therapy with the children-we were keen to hear all the plans in more detail!!

Our hosts were quite shocked by the modes of transport we had been used to, so arranged our luxury coach journey to Bulawayo. What a treat for us - a high coach, with a toilet, toilet breaks, air conditioning, tv screens, soft drinks on request, leg space.......all of what you expect we were only to happy to have. But believe it or not, we actually both ended up feeling so travel sick-our bodies must have struggled with the lack of motion.

We have only seen Harare&Bulawayo we are really suprised at how built up the towns are, with big colonial buildings&wide streets. We have timed Zim very well as their stunning Jackaranda trees are in full purple bloom-the streets are covered in beautiful purple petals, which will all be gone in a week.

We have been truely blessed&currently have the best internet connection so far, so hold on to your seat belts&look out for the soon to be uploaded photos.....!