Adventure!
A lot of driving...
South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi… Since our last newsletter, we have been on the move. The map above shows the 4 countries we have been traveling through in the past 3 weeks. We have lost track of how many hours of travel it has been. That may not look too far on USA highways but on African roads that is far.. |
and don’t forget about the hours standing in line at the border crossings! Tonight, Dan texted me that he just finished a 14.5 hour travel day. Whew, I am thankful to miss that one. Last Monday, our family divided and the children and I flew from Livingstone, Zambia back to Johannesburg and Dan continued on to Malawi for a ministry adventure with our dear friend Daniel Lilema. But let me back up… After we had been home 4 days from our Swaziland adventures with the Canadian team, we pretty much pulled the clean laundry out of the dryer and put it back into the suitcases to head up to Zambia. We traveled north through Botswana and stayed at our favorite place called Elephant Sands in Nata. They are located very close to the salt pans and provide a fresh water watering hole for the local elephants and we were SO blessed to eat dinner next to a herd of around 55 elephants for several hours. WOW! The next morning there were some curious elephants around while we were packing up. What an unforgettable time! |
We were exporting a trailer from SA to Zambia to pass along to our friend and this added HOURS to every border crossing, but we finally made it to Livingstone. We crashed at our friend’s home and our kids played happily with their children for the next week. We checked in on our containers at the storage place and they were surprised to see us. Our containers were boxed in by several large trucks. Truck number 1 rumbled out of the way, truck number 2 needed a pull start by a massive truck to get it moved out of the way, and number 3 was missing several very large tires. So they pulled tires off truck number 2 to put on 3 to get it moved out of the way. That took a whole afternoon!
When we were finally able to get inside and take a look at everything, we saw that there was significant insect damage inside. When the container was moved, there were two large punctures in the wooden floor (probably by rocks) and then the container was not set up on blocks, but rather on the ground so it was a invitation to the termites, burrowing beetles, and white ants to come on it and have dessert. Our containers have been sitting for 8 years. EIGHT YEARS…that is a loooooooong time. It was a filthy, dirty, hot treasure hunt. We were saddened that so many things were damaged (we threw away over 200 books that were chewed beyond repair), but are thrilled that we found some things that were precious and irreplaceable to us that were protected like our wedding photo album, my wedding dress, and all our baby books.
We sorted through a whole household’s worth of memories plus a full garage (a 40ft and a 20ft container) and had a sale simultaneously. Keep, throw, sell. Keep, throw, sell. We worked 14 hour days for a week and it was filthy and exhausting. It is currently winter in Zambia but we were dripping with sweat in the back of that metal box as we tried to sort through things that were in boxes that were completely chewed by bugs. We are so thankful for friends to help us and made enough money selling things to bring the 20 ft container back to South Africa. We sold 40ft worth of things and repacked the 20ft with the things we are keeping. Not too bad! Also, I am exceedingly thankful that most of the spiders were dead, there were no snakes inside, and we only found a dead scorpion.
In addition, we also attended church with Zambian friends and preached both Sundays. Whew. I am feeling tired just writing this!
Dan put us on a plane on Monday and then drove 6 hours to Lusaka. He officially sold our 40ft container there and then the next day, he and Daniel Lilema continued Northeast up to Malawi. It took two days of driving, and now they have been speaking at a conference 70km outside of Blantyre for the past several days. Dan preached for around 8 hours yesterday!! The previous evening he gave a gospel presentation and approximately 60 people were saved – glory to God!
Meanwhile, here in South Africa, yesterday was the holiday Women’s Day. Our church hosted a ladies conference and I was given a 15 minute slot after lunch. I preached what God laid on my heart and had a overwhelmingly positive response, glory to God. We are also super blessed to be hosting a dear friend from Zambia for the next two weeks. It is lovely to have another adult to talk to in the house!
We aren’t sure exactly when our family will be united again, we are hoping for within two weeks. Your prayers for safety, protection, favor for ministry, REST and refreshing, and whatever else the Lord leads you to pray for us would be amazing. Thank you!
Love, Janell for us all
Thanks for supporting us!
