Greetings to all of you as we approach the end of our second week in Zambia. I've gone back and forth on whether to tell the whole story of our trip from South Africa to Zambia. But since we are "crash dummies" for HeartCry cross-cultural missions, Dr. Berry encouraged me to tell the story and the lessons learned. It's not a short story, so feel free to skip or skim as you like.

We arrived in Potchefstroom, South Africa the third week of April, anxious to get to Zambia, get settled, and get to work. Our gracious host, the Fuller family, was swamped with preparations to take a large group to a Christian men's conference. Poor Sidney was under great pressure to get the men's group ready while also helping us with final preparations. Each day new problems with the vehicles surfaced as the clock ticked down to our joint departure date on Wednesday April 22 - Sidney to the conference and us to Zambia.

Perhaps it was a sign of things to come that on Tuesday evening, as we tried to pack and load the vehicles, a strong thunderstorm struck and poured rain until after dark. Thus we had to finish loading on Wednesday morning and started the journey behind schedule.

After traveling for three hours, we stopped in Thabazimbi for a much-needed break. As we pulled into the parking lot, we noticed a steady stream of diesel coming from under my Cruiser. Our South African friend and guide for the trip, Jan, 'just happened' to have a former neighbor who ran a hardware shop just across the street. Jan's former neighbor quickly escorted us a diesel mechanic in town. After close inspection, we realized that the service station attendant that morning had over-filled the fuel tank, and the overflow tube drained into the chassis. Good news - no fuel leak. Not so good news - the muffler was rusted through and a protective plate was barely attached, and neither would survive a rough trip in the bush. The mechanic promised to repair both early the next morning if we could leave the Cruiser overnight.

So we went to find a campsite for the night, having travelled only half the planned distance for the day. Our campsite was in a national park with lots of wild game and we listened to impala bucks chasing each other through the camp all night. One trip highlight was a herd of seven white rhinos that walked past the camp the next morning!

The Cruiser was finally finished after lunch on Thursday. Turns out the muffler was fine - it was a protective shield around the muffler that rusted. So the only actual repair was the protective plate which cost us about $50 and a full day's delay. Finally, on the road we drove for two hours before we had to stop again and set up camp before dark.

On Friday morning, we cleared the border posts for South Africa and Botswana (our original destination for the first day). Our goal for the day was to reach Lekhubu Island campground in the middle of the Makgadikgadi Pans. The Pans are massive white salt flats near the Kalahari Desert, and Lekhubu Island is a hill of huge granite boulders and baobab trees overlooking the Pans. Sidney thought this would be a nice scenic detour for our families. The view is quite stunning at sunset and sunrise. Unfortunately, we didn't reach the pans before sunset. In the dark, we trusted our GPS as we navigated through the bush and across the pan toward what we hoped was the island. Driving across the pan felt like driving on the moon in the dark, but the GPS was accurate and we arrived at the campground at 7:30 pm, well after dark. As we pulled into our camp and exited the vehicles, we heard the hissing of air from Jan's tire.

Saturday morning started with breaking camp, unloading Jan's vehicle, changing his flat tire, then reloading. For the next few hours, we bounced through the bush on rough, dusty 4x4 tracks. The kids loved it; the drivers...not so much. We reached the town of Nata in the early afternoon, had lunch, and refueled. Then came the brutal 200K drive from Nata to Kasane on a paved road full of crater-size potholes. After perhaps 70K, I suddenly heard "PSSSSSST...WHUP, WHUP, WHUP" and nearly lost control of the vehicle. The right rear tire had blown. Time to practice changing a tire on a fully-loaded Cruiser. The spare looked a bit low with such a heavy load, so I drove cautiously the next 30K to a tiny town with a service station. But the station didn't have an air pump, and 20K later the spare tire blew. The on-board air compressors that are in our container will be quite handy!

As Shannon and I changed the second flat (third actually, counting Jan's that morning), we sighed with exhaustion and frustration, "God, can't we have a break? Just a little time-out in this lesson on patience and perseverance?" Something Jan said to Shannon earlier in the day struck home. Jan had been observing our frustration with breakdowns and delays for the past 3 days. He rightly observed that all these minor annoyances reveal our true beliefs concerning God's sovereignty. He said to Shannon, "Until now you knew a lot of things in your head. Now you are really going to learn faith!" Jan speaks from the experience of years in ministry depending totally on God in faith.

At first my proud flesh resented such a comment. Learn faith? Have I learned nothing in 15 years as a pastor? Have I not learned faith in the past 2 years of leaving everything to follow Christ to Zambia? Ah, but Uncle Jan is right. Until now, I've always had the safety net of family and American prosperity. Now we are completely dependent on Christ and His church. I can see now that my years as a pastor were my grade-school (primary) of faith. The last 2 years of preparation were my high-school (secondary) of faith. Now God has enrolled us in the university of faith, and though I'm not ready, He has not brought us here to fail the course.

The delays from changing flat tires were not only annoying and exhausting, but also dangerous. Now we had to travel 60K in the dark through an area heavily populated with elephant. We only saw elephant beside the road once and the Lord brought us safely through on my last spare tire (praise the Lord, Sidney equipped my Cruiser with 2 spares). We arrived at our camp in Kasane at 7 pm.

The next day, Sunday, was our only and much-needed day of rest. We slept in, spent time in Bible-reading and prayer and that evening our family enjoyed a safari river cruise into Chobe National Park. I think I enjoyed watching the kids' faces even more than the animals.

On Monday April 27, we entered our new home country of Zambia. First we had to clear Botswana border. After filling out our exit forms, the officer realized that we were exporting our vehicles to Zambia. We'd filled out the wrong forms. We had to spend the next hour in the hot office of a clearing agent to acquire the proper export forms. After clearing Botswana's border, we quickly got aboard the Kazangula Ferry with the help of a ‘runner' - one of many young Zambian men who cross the ferry while you wait and get a head-start on your paperwork.

After crossing the Zambezi River on the ferry, we spent the next 5 hours trying to clear our vehicles to enter Zambia. We thought we would just get a temporary permit and do customs' paperwork in Livingstone. Our clearing agent thought that we would know to get him all the vehicle info before we arrived at the border. We know now, in case there's a next time! After 5 long, hot hours, the paperwork was done and we entered Zambia. At the next junction, we were stopped at a police checkpoint. As the officer looked over our paperwork, he realized that our runner had conspired with the insurance office to cheat us. They had altered the forms so we paid 3 times the required amount. This news did not improve our attitude!

We pulled into our clearing agent's office in Livingstone at 6 pm, only to be rushed to customs. They were locking the gates and we were told to report first thing the next morning. We arrived at our new home around 7 pm, hungry, sweaty, tired, and longing for a meal, bath, and bed. The house was dark and dry - the last tenant took all the light bulbs with them and our part of town has no water from 8 pm to 5 am.

The next morning we reported to customs where our vehicles were immediately impounded until our work permits were finalized. Another unexpected complication! Without vehicles, how do we quickly get to Lusaka to collect our work permits and clear our vehicles? Jan was kind enough to stay another day and drive us as we attempted a one day trip to Lusaka and back.

Wednesday morning the alarm woke me at 5 am. I stumbled to the bathroom in the dark to wash up. I cleaned all the bugs out of the tub and ran cold water for a bath since the water heater wasn't working. I splashed myself with cold water, gasping for air and grumbling about the glamorous life of a missionary. Then, exhausted and apprehensive, we started the 7 hour drive to Lusaka.

Once we located the immigration office that afternoon, it was only a short wait and we were seated at the appropriate desk. The agent checked his records and, to our horror, told us that our work permits had been sent to Livingstone in February. In January, we had been told at least twice that we would have to report to Lusaka to get our permit. Pastor Michael Bwembya had just been to the Livingstone office on Monday to check on procedures, and they said nothing about collecting the permits there. After some necessary shopping, we started the 7 hour drive "home" at dark - tired, angry, and discouraged. Night-driving on the left (wrong) side of the road without any painted lines was nerve-wracking. By grace, we reached Livingstone at 1 in the morning.

It took most of Thursday morning to collect our work permits at the Livingstone office, then all of Thursday afternoon for the clearing agency to complete more customs' paperwork on the vehicles. As 5 pm came and went, I sat on the porch dejected. Friday was a public holiday and with so much to do we would be without vehicles all weekend. What a relief when our clearing agent, Danny, pulled up and drove us to customs to get our Cruisers! Little did I know that was only the beginning of clearing our vehicles to register them in Zambia. A week later we're still not done.

In the midst of all our trials I was comforted and challenged by Matt. 8:18-34. I saw something that had escaped my notice in all my prior readings of that passage. We tend to segregate stories under modern headings, and forget that the Gospel writers only recorded a few select stories in a specific order for a particular purpose. In Matt. 8:18-22, Jesus challenges prospective disciples with the extreme cost of following Him. THEN it says in v. 23, "and when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea. . ." The twelve counted the cost, chose to follow Jesus, and what happened next? A deadly storm! Even worse, their Lord was sleeping through the storm, seemingly oblivious to their danger. Hmmm, this feeling is familiar. . . Jesus awakens, calms the storm, the disciples are now more scared of Him than they were of the storm, they reach the other side of the lake, and what happens next? A screaming demoniac confronts them! I wonder if the disciples felt like I did while changing that second flat tire in Botswana, "Lord, can we have a break? Time-out please!"

So, here's the lesson I'm learning: when we count the cost and follow Christ we should expect storms and spiritual opposition. Why do these things continually surprise us? BUT, if we follow Him into the storms and spiritual attack we have the unspeakable joy of knowing a Savior who is sovereign over storms and Satan!

Those of you back home saying "I wish I was there with you" - be careful not to speak those words too lightly. I remember helpful people warning me that the honeymoon period would end after a while and reality would set in. The problem is I'm wondering when this honeymoon period begins. So far, there has been almost no fun, no excitement or adventure. Just day after day (10 days to be exact) of waiting in line at some office only to be told that first we must go to another office, wait in that line, fill out that paperwork, pay that fee then come back here, wait in this line, fill out this paperwork, and pay this fee. What takes 1 hour back home takes at least 1 day here, if not 1 week. Everything is longer and harder - grocery shopping, cooking, laundry. I thought with all our prior trips to Africa we were prepared for it, but we weren't.
I long to be done with the settling in stage and get busy doing what we came here to do. We didn't come all the way to Zambia to wait in line. But wait. . .we didn't come to Zambia primarily to preach the Gospel to the Lozi, either. Ultimately, we left everything and came to Zambia for the Treasure hidden in the field and the Pearl of great price. And HE can be known and enjoyed even while waiting in line.

By His grace and for His glory,
Sean