Okay, I did find a one-year-old double-cab Toyota trucks which looked great, ran well, was shiny and new with very few miles on it for $33,000 . . . but when I ran the VIN and engine numbers to Maputo they didn’t match and in fact showed other errors in the registration.Something shady was going on, so I dropped that one only to find another one even newer for $500 less.Cami and I were excited, prayed ad checked the car out, the numbers were good and documents were pretty much in order but the purchasing was a bit weird (importer had sold it a guy who would sell it purchasing was a bit weird (importer had sold it to a guy who would sell it back to us but the importer wanted the money…). We drove it and told the man we would give him a decision the next day. We didn’t feel right about and slept on it that night. The next day neither of us reported any confirmations from God and still felt ‘unright’ about it so decided to tell our colleague who was an acquaintance of the importer we were not going to buy only to be told the offer was withdrawn. Apparently the owner wanted more money from the importer…Ha, confirmation and peace. We then decided after much talk and brain picking of other missionaries and phone calls to Maputo (the capital), I should go and look there as there would be more selection. Another missionary said he would go down with me (Dave), help me find a car and then drive it back with me the two days if I paid his airfare! I jumped on that as his Portuguese was better than mine, he had friends down there that could help us out and lastly….he was a mechanic! So we flew down on the 25th a Wednesday am and spent the afternoon perusing 5-6 used car lots and a few new car dealers only to find a selection of cars I didn’t want. Let me remind you, in the rainy season (nov-april) much of the country is impassable due to mud and poor road conditions, so a four wheel drive is a necessity. The other thing is gasoline in Nampula is dirty, I mean it will clog-your-carburetor-and-you-will-replace-your-spark plugs-every-few-weeks-dirty. Did I mention if you want you new fuel injection system cleaned you have to either drive 3 days to South Africa to get it serviced or possibly find a mechanic who could do it in Malawi (only 15 hours away)? anyway, all this means for the north of Moz, one really needs a diesel. I had also been riding in a toyota doublecab pickup and honestly it was REALLY bouncy (forget having a soda while you drive that car). So I was looking for a diesel, 4x4, wagon, a little bigger and heavier than a normal toyota truck. Specifically a Toyota Lancruiser or a Mitsubishi Pajero (Montero) like vehicle. Can't buy a Nissan or an Isuzu because there are not spare parts. So I looked all day Wed. Found a few. Some examples, 1999 Landcruiser with 150,000 km $45,000. Yup. How about a 2000 Landcruiser with 120,000 km. . . $50,000, yes US dollars. found an older one, 1992, 150,000 km . . . $34,000. Yikes, that is what i said too. Now these ars are coming from Japan, the 4x4 has probably never ben abused and they are in really good shap opposed to a Moz driven vehicle, which most likely has been rolled, in one or more accidents and the frame and suspension are pretty, well, broken in. We got a price of around $20,000 for each and left knowing we had found something. Spent the rest of the day tracking down other leads only to find out the dealer failed to mention the car wasn’t diesel or was in really beat up condition. Was offered a new mazda double cab but had no confidence it would hold up after a year. In fact I had spoke with a Food for the Hungry mechanic who said the suspension was fine as long as you stayed on pavement! Ha. We returned to our lot with the 4 cruisers and began to dicker. They also had a Prado which is the baby cruiser but it had 150,000km on it and wasn’t built as tough. Everyone I had talked to said the cruiser is the best 4x4 ever built for ride, durability and capabilities. So, after much talk I picked a 1994 Landcruiser Vx turbo diesel 4x4 with 90,000km for $22,500, (fulltime 4 wheel drive, center diff locks, adjustable suspension, cruise control, traction control, abs, cd/tape player, sun/moon roof, roof rack, bullbar, fog lights and more…. Got good tires off one of the other trucks switched onto rims from yet another and put them both on mine. Yikes.
<o:p>The car drove great, took some getting used to a big 4x4 diesel but it ran great. We rolled through the tolls, were pleasant and received equally pleasant treatment back and entered SA with a sigh of relief making a list of things we both needed to do while there. I needed to get the truck checked over, the suspension aligned, vaccines for the kids, shopping for the house…So we hung out and headed back to Moz on Wednesday am at 6am. We cruise again through customs with them not even asking if we bought anything, nor inspecting the car! Maputo greeted us with terrible traffic and hot temperatures. We had discovered along the way that the truck rear passenger door electrics didn’t work nor the cd player so I mentioned them to the dealer and he responded with ‘well take it over to my shop and they will fix it’! I was shocked, I figured he would so, tough luck buddy, but he didn’t. He had the rest of the documents I had asked for and was really helpful saying call him anytime if we had problems. Wow. Unfortunately his shop was only able to fix the window as the cd player had an internal problem—oh well, and the door locking mechanism he did not have a spare part to replace it (still locks just not with the central locking and now I know what to get and how to fix it!). Then after 3 hours in the repair lot we left to do some quick shopping to buy Cami a WASHING MACHINE (among other things like pots and pans). Well I called her and she added to the list. So, again with my indecision---at this point I am really sick of shopping---we were too late to leave the city and head north without some real danger with road conditions...ect. We stayed another night with other friends of Dave and headed out the next morning at 3:30am for what turned out to be a 15 hour driving day.</o:p>
<o:p>Now, let me say how much I love being back in Africa with its police check points, roads which vary from three lane wide highway to dirt track (both being the national highway!), but man, Africa sure is BIG! We drove (on the left side remember) and drove and drove…we talked we listened to our MP3’s we got sick of each other…and we made it to a ‘motel’ around 4pm. Both of us decided to keep going and press our luck with a ‘heard about but never visited’ guest cabins 3 hours further down the road. To give you an idea of what the raods are like imagine driving down your local highway at 65 mph and all the sudden there is a 8 foot pile of dirt in the middle of the road and one beat up sign with and arrow to its immediate left, so you IMMEDIATELY hit the brakes and swerve to the left onto a dirt track through a village which has established itself as the road work has promised work and pay for the locals. In this village you dodge chickens, pigs, goats, and children and if you are within 50 miles of a ‘major’ city or town you have to keep tooting your horn so the bicycles move over. Oh, and forget it if there is a bike and a car coming the other way. The bike ends up in the dirt ad both cars straddle the road edges as they pass. Oh, oh, and if a big rig comes by you are blinded by his dust for the next 3 minutes. If you happen to be traveling on part of the road that is ‘paved’ you can rest assured at some point you will hit some serious potholes, like 6 feet wide (that is your entire lane), two feet wide and a foot deep. Enough to break an axle or rim if you hit them fast enough. Again I was thankful for Dave as he knew the bad areas and also thankful for the Cruiser as it has big old rims and tires which help A LOT!
So, we traveled through countless towns and villages, police check points and had not one problem, NOT ONE. Fifteen hours in the car and we were neither sore, road weary or biting each others head off! Praise GOD. It was a wonderful way to get acquainted with the vastness of the country and really gave me perspective on the conditions in which people live their everyday lives. Outside of the towns there was neither electricity nor running water. People walked everywhere and in fact there were very few cars parked anywhere outside of the towns. It appeared if you had a car, you used it, almost constantly. Little pickup trucks were always loaded with either cargo or 15-20 people. I had been talking to another missionary the other day who as lived here a long time and he mentioned how the churches in the bush appreciated his visits even if all he was doing was showing up for a service. It makes since now as even along the ‘highway people’ are isolated. I look forward to going into the bush and visiting churches but will wait until our ‘life’ is normalized a bit after our move into our house this coming week.
Toward the end of the first day we had reached a particular motel at 4pm and decided to go another 3 hours to the next rest stop which had a restaurant and cabins to rent. We were driving near the Gorangosa National Park, which is one of the only game parks in Moz and situated around a large 5000ft mountain. As we traveled around this mountain for over two hours I was struck by the beauty of it and how fun it would be to climb and thought about the people who lived in its shadow. The day after I arrived home at the SIL campus where have been staying I attended a seminar/discussion about hard to reach areas in Moz which were either hardened or outright resistant (threatening your life) to the gospel and learned that the Gorangosa Mountain and the area around it is very resistant to the gospel, in fact there is not one church in its shadow. It really struck me how such a beautiful area can be so far from knowing the freedom of Christ. It was strange to travel a country I know so little about but each kilometer brought me more understanding for which I am grateful.
We found the restaurant/cabins after some trouble and sat to a succulant steak meal and nearly fell asleep in our food. The next morning we arose late (6am) and headed for the ferry to get across the Zambezi river. We checked in again with the police and made it onto the second ferry of the day and compared to the stories of trucks falling off and having to drive through part of the river the crossing our crossing was fine with no problems whatsoever and we were officially ‘north’.
Much of the road was under construction and we found ourselves going from paved, beautiful road to side tracks through the fields over and over again. We arrived home in a quick 10 hours, tired, a bit frazzled but very happy to be home. Toby had made me a big welcome home sign and Ben had big grins all night! It is NICE to be home.
It was a great trip. Tiring, long and definitely eye-opening. A closing note. We have heard of stories of many missionaries having accidents due to rapidly changing road conditions and routing as well as missionaries hitting bicycles and kids who run out into the street or swerve into car traffic as they look to see what is coming. I am thankful for such a quiet trip and definitely think we were guided and watched over. Please continue to pray for us (honestly, especially me) to slow down. Much of Mozambique forces one to think and act slowly, but good roads are dangerous here and it is a constant effort not to go ‘the speed limit’. Another closing prayer request would be that we can find the parts we will need in the future as nothing is guaranteed, although the cruiser is popular enough to have a much better chance than a Mitsubishi, Ford or anything other make for that matter, Toyota is predominant here.
Thank you for your prayers. When you come to visit I will surely give you a ride!
Kevin
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