And now for the final words. Saturday was a rather busy day, due to getting packed and last bit of laundry as well as finish some of the stoves with little touch ups. Sunday morning came around and before we left, Dionisio came over to the house and visited for a little bit while we were loading the car and getting everything ready for our big trip back to South Africa. We had prayer and said our goodbyes. I told Dionisio that the next time I see him will be in America. It will be a long time before he could ever afford that, but still it was fun. We went through the gate and we were on our way. Once we got on the main 2 lane highway, it was smooth sailing from that point on, at least the road conditions were alright. About a little over 2 hours later, we came up to the border post of Mozambique and Zimbabwe. We enter the Mozambique building and we handed over our passports to be checked out of the country. It was a little nerve wracking for a moment due to the guy handling my passport didn’t recognize my visa and had never seen it before and so there was some hold up. Thankfully there was someone there that knew what it was. We got stamped and was handed a gate pass and we were on our way to the next stop. We went through the gate, drove up about a quarter mile and then stopped at the Zimbabwe border post. I knew that I was in a different class, due to the building and the dress of the people were in much better condition. Plus since they handled dollar currency as well as speak English, it was easy. One thing that was interesting to me was that my visa for Zim was only $30 for 6 months and when I went to Moz, my visa was $80 for 90 days. Jacob said that normally the cost is determined by how the country has relations to America for American citizens. After about a half hour collectively, we were back on the road again. After driving several hours, we came to the town of Masvingo. There we met up with some native Hoosiers, and stayed the night in their home. It was the first night where I didn’t have to sleep under a mosquito net. The next day was going to be our biggest day. We got up the next morning and we headed for Johannesburg. While driving through Zimbabwe, we of course had to be alert, but we could feel the comfort and protection of God the whole way home. We did travel through a gold mine area and there were several police slow points. We did have to stop at one point where the police asked us for our paper work. It was a little nerve wracking since it was the one stop where they had the most police and the most guns. One never knows what might happen. It’s one thing being here in America and thinking of survival stuff and being able to go about it more correctly, but being in a foreign nation, not knowing where anything is, and not knowing how to survive there, of course it was a little more intense, plus if our car broke down, who knows what trouble may present itself. After a few hours, we finally arrived at the border post of Zimbabwe and South Africa. It was huge and it reminded me of the border post in Buffalo and Niagara. However we still had to get out of the car. We got through the border post quickly and we then had to drive to the South African post, almost a mile up the road and over a river. I was then informed that this post was a rather difficult one. Not because I couldn’t get in because of my visa, but the way in which the people are handled is completely chaotic. We arrived to the building and inside a courtyard area, there was a huge line of people waiting to go through and get their stamp. There were no medians to direct people, it was just a line that was formed by the people. Sometimes the line would move in not the same way, so some people were cutting in line and bus lines would continuously just move on through holding up families or individuals. It was hot and the people were push and push and shove and shove. Needless to say if we were in America and people were acting like they were, the riot police would be called. On top of the people acting the way they were, the border post employees operated on their own time. They would talk to each other or eat and just completely ignore the fact that there were hundreds of people outside waiting to get in. After 2 and half hours, we finally made it through. I said that I had to get one last big taste of Africa before I left. It sure taught me patience. We finally made it to Jo-burg that night and we met up at the house where I stayed when I first arrived in Africa. The next day, Tuesday, we went to a mall and a traders market to get some last things that I wanted to take home with me. I didn’t get much, only because I was not sure how much my bags weighed at the time. Being back in Jo-burg and going to the malls felt so surreal and odd due to me living in a poor country for 3 months. Wednesday came around and it was the big day for me to leave. I did the last of my packing and I came just under the maximum weight for both of my bags. I was rather elated. We drove to the airport that afternoon and Jacob and Jaynie walked me as far as they could. I dropped my bags off at check in, said my goodbyes, and I was on my way. I went through the normal airport procedures and it was a waiting game. Thankfully it didn’t take too much time for me to get through it all, but it was good when I arrived, because one never knows. We boarded the plane a while later and we were on our way. The flight from Jo-burg to Atlanta was a little over 16 hours of flight time. We arrived in Atlanta early morning. We went through immigration and baggage claim. I delivered my bags to the connecting flights area and then went to my gate to wait on my airplane. Thus then began many phone calls to very close friends and family. I was on the phone all the way until I left for Indianapolis. I arrived just before lunch and there to meet me was my parents, as well as two of my closest friends Jake Hoeing and A.J. Bolyard. I knew that before I got home, that I needed Pizza King in my system, so before I even got home, we stopped in Rushville for lunch. We then came home and of course it was good to see the furry family. I stayed up as long as I could so that way I could rid of jet lag the best way possible. I was awake until a little after 6 and then I had to go to bed. If we were to go on the time in Rushville, I was awake at 3 a.m. Wednesday morning, and stayed up until 6 p.m. Thursday. I stayed awake the whole time on the plane and watched movies. Needless to say I was done with movies for a while. Being home is really nice. However it has taken me some time still to adjust to jet lag. It also seemed very surreal to be home, and now I finally feel mostly like I am back. I have learned so much over the past 3 months. Even though my blogs were lengthy, I still had to leave out many things that I learned as well as did. I’ve changed in ways that I don’t understand yet. Africa was amazing and I wouldn’t replace it with anything else. It was amazing to feel a part of God’s plan every day. We obviously all are, but when you learn so much every day, it literally feels like the Lord is so very present in your life. I can’t say that Africa is a future mission field for me, but one never knows 5-30 years from now. I enjoyed my time and I am more than willing to sit down and talk with anyone wanting to know more about Africa. Thanks for all the support, prayers, and the love while I was gone.
Posted on: Mon, 19 Aug 2013 15:41:51 +0000
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