The Journey

As I look back on these past days I can do nothing but praise God. On Saturday I had come to grips with the fact that I was not leaving the next day to go to Congo. I traveled to Jembo to attend the graduation ceremony of one of my very good friends. I met the Mazeza family there and explained the problem I had been having getting my letter of invitation. Evariste informed me that it wasn’t a problem because he could write the letter for me. After a few phone calls several of the missing pieces for my trip to work out fell into place. I was excited but a little stressed by having to be ready to leave in a matter of hours. This being Africa the graduation started late and lasted longer than expected. I had to leave at 4 to make it home before dark and sadly I missed the amazing Zambian food I had been looking forward to during all the boring hours of the graduation.
I arrived home to find there was no electricity. Normally that is pretty normal and doesn’t bother me too much but today I had so many things I wanted to do that all required electricity. I was also hungry and hungry for Zambian food since I hadn’t eaten anything all day. Then Eugin came by the house and after we talked for a few minutes asked if I was coming. I didn’t know what he was talking about and then he explained the birthday party from that morning was continuing for those who missed it right then. I was blessed because it not only satisfied my hunger and desire to eat Zambian food but also gave me an opportunity to saw good bye to a lot of my friends. I was sad that I hadn’t had the chance to say good bye to my pastor in Zambia because he was out of town.
I rushed to get everything in order to leave only to wait for hours at the bus stop because every bus was full. I finally caught a bus and made it to Lusaka. I had been trying for weeks to get a hold of a certain guest house in Lusaka but was never able to. I ended up staying at another place which turned out to be perfect because it was within walking distance to the bus station and the Congolese Embassy which saved me a lot of money in taxi fees. I was blessed to find the Mazezas had already been to the embassy and talked with the people there.
Early the next morning we went to the embassy and no one was there. An hour late some of the employees came in and we quickly had the receipt for my visa and were told at 2PM my visa would be ready. After that we bought our bus tickets for the next day then I rushed to the other side of town to go to the bank. I went to the same bank I’ve been to so many times located in a nice area of town where I expected to have a few hours to get a lot of last minute things accomplished and enjoy some of the luxuries of life in Zambia.
That definitely didn’t happen since the banks machine was broken and they recommended I try another branch. It turned out to be a bad day for the machines in banks because I went to 4 before I was able to get money. In the mean time I wasted plenty of time and money on taxis. Finally I went to the big bank where I stood in line for an hour but thankfully I was not only able to get money but also walk around the area and find all the things I was hoping to do at the first place.
Then I went to the embassy to collect my visa and they said I should come back at 4. At 4 we found the whole place locked up for the day. I was frustrated and worried because not having my visa would mean loosing the bus tickets and a great deal of extra expenses. We all prayed and then Evariste said he had met the boss who lives behind the embassy. We went to see him and explained our situation and he told us to come back at 8PM and we could get the visa. He allowed us to wait in his home until 10:30 when the visa was finally ready. I cannot even begin to explain to you what a miracle that is. First of all people from the embassies don’t tend to work late. Secondly, this was the firs Congolese government official I’ve met who actually wanted to be helpful. Thirdly, in Congo people invent these kinds of situations just to demand bribes. I was anticipating the give me $100 and I’ll get you a visa. For me to get my visa at 10:30 at night was such a miracle.
We left at 5:30AM to catch our bus which of course didn’t leave until 8 but you never know the bus leaves when it’s full. We traveled until 3PM then caught a taxi to the border. Anything can happen at the Congo border. They can create things to charge you money for or just refuse to stamp your passport until you give them money. God blessed us and we had absolutely no problems. We caught another taxi and finally arrived in Lubumbashi at 8PM. It has been a really long day. I thank God that He has blessed me.
So I’ve been wondering why did I need to come at this exact time and today I got my answer. It wasn’t that satan was attacking my coming here but specifically the timing of it. I met with Evariste’s brother-in-law who works for the office of the president and he came back from South Africa the day I arrived and planned to leave the day after for Zambia. If I hadn’t traveled exactly on July 28 I would have missed meeting him. I needed to meet him because he has friends in the immigration office and speak great English so he took me to the office and translated everything for me so I now know exactly what is needed for me to get the visa to stay here. I can’t even begin to express to you how difficult it is to even get the information necessary to get something leak this done. Additionally, because he has connections he says I will be able to get it no problems and in less than a month. I thank God for how he has provided this connection.
I arrived in Likasi to a heroes welcome. My house is great. There is so much security here I feel like I’m in prison but I’ve never felt safer in my life. When they were painting my house they decided to add color and now my house is a variety or pink (yes a whole pink room just for me), red, purple, green, yellow, black, and white. Oh course there was no electricity for my first day and a half here but at least there has been water in the afternoons. I’ll try to post pictures of my house soon
The National Conference begins on August 6 and I am really looking forward to that. It will give me an opportunity to meet church leaders from all over the country. I knew immediately that I was in Congo, the crazy driving, obnoxious honking, eating leaves and weeds, driving on the wrong side of the road, not to mention not being able to communicate but I’m back and I’m here to stay.