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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: TRUST (07/21/16)
The Last Village

It was the last trip to a Mozambican village after an arduous ten days of travelling along dusty, pot-holed roads that lasted forever. Our bodies and minds were weary, our minibus had definitely seen better days, and our guides had promised a real insight into African rural life. It was to be a hard-earned break for a bunch of Westerners who had given everything.

Three hours into the trip the heat began to tell. ‘Not far now’ but the road seemed to go on and on. After leaving the main road far behind, the drama began to unfold. We had two goats trussed up and lying on the roof as an offering for the village. Halfway along the road one of them wriggled free, landed on its head and recovered quickly enough to realise that if it didn’t run, it was dinner.

Away it went, straight into the bush, with the driver and his companion after it, sandals discarded and bare-footed after the goat. As the rest of us stayed with the vehicle, we realised we were part of an entirely new experience; some of us hoping the goat would succeed in its escape, others wondering how long it would take before it was captured. It was all of about ten minutes. Another African had seen it running out of the bush to take the main dirt track again. Fatal error.

Safely back on the roof, the goats and the occupants proceeded along the track, but the time in the sun and the lack of water had taken its toll on one of the older women. She had been sitting gamely with the others in the second row of seconds, tossed about and uncomfortable during the journey, but enough was enough.

She began to panic and moved into the coveted front seat, weary from it all, crying, overheating. The driver jumped out and put trapped a towel in the passenger window to protect her from the heat, to little avail. Someone had a little water, someone else a battery-powered fan and the nurse of the group took over. Others prayed for the end of the road as much as for their suffering sister.

Seven painfully slow miles later we drove up the last hill and could hear the village before we saw them. Singing, laughing, dancing, unaware that their guests were experiencing an altogether different reality. The minibus slowed to a halt and our first priority was to offload the patient to the closest shady place and attend to her needs, but the crowd was bigger than the other villages. Over a hundred excited people, still singing. We asked them to give us space and make way. The patient stumbled off the bus and practically collapsed at a nearby hut. The song tapered off as they realised the situation and while about four people started throwing water on her head, legs and body, most of the others went over to the mango tree to engage in the other activities of greeting, introducing and hosting.

The lady with the Sunday Telegraph brimmed hat appeared with her friend from the crowd and began to pray for the patient. This was Africa and I was concerned, hoping that she was praying to the Lord and not invoking a curse of some kind. I needn’t have worried. A local pastor who had travelled with us was unperturbed. It was okay. She finished praying and disappeared as quickly and quietly as she had appeared. The patient began to recover sufficiently to be moved to somewhere more comfortable, still away from the crowd.

The afternoon wore on and there were some remarkable testimonies shared, the Lord praised, Bibles distributed and people prayed for. The patient and several others took the more comfortable and air-conditioned vehicle back to the base camp. It had been more than an eventful day. We realised that the Lord had had to intervene. If our sister had taken a turn for the worse, we were too isolated to get help. She might have died.

It is at times like these we reflect on the faithfulness of our God and preciousness of our brothers and sisters in Christ. It is at times like these, when everything is stripped away, that we learn that our God is good, and we can trust in His goodness. It’s all we have, but it’s way more than enough.
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Member Comments
Member
Date
Francie Snell 
08/02/16
Amen! Very interesting testimony of God's faithfulness.
Terry Lee
08/03/16
I enjoyed your telling of this story. You had a way of capturing my attention. Really enjoyed the episode and perspective with the goats.

My two cents: Though I could tell the older woman was not doing that well, I never really felt like she was in great danger, so when you mentioned at the very end she could have died, I was surprised. Maybe amplify her condition a little more for the reader? Was she sweating? Her breathing labored? Feeling faint?

But honestly, I loved this entry. I really felt like I was there.