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We have arrived! And I’m experiencing the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of Zimbabwe. We made it without complication, but two bags were missing of personal items – Rick’s and Melissa’s. It could have just as easily been me since we checked in together and the person at the counter was just randomly slapping tags on the bags. We even looked at the tag stubs and pointed out to her that we had two stubs for Kim and Chrissie, but neither of them were coming on the trip as they had to cancel their travel plans. The checker said “Ahh, it doesn’t matter for the bags. They will get there regardless.” Hmm, we should have known better, but live and learn…

Martha, Fanny, and his brothers were there to meet us at the airport with two vehicles. I’m wondering if the missing luggage was a partial blessing in disguise because there was no more room after we loaded what we had in the small trailer and vehicles (plus ourselves). I’ve been riding with Fanny in his Isuzu Bighorn (suburban). Last night Martha went in the other vehicle when we went to a local church member’s house in Harare. Fanny thought he was lost at a few points, but still considered it best to lead. The first time he stopped to check with Martha, she said we were on the right road. The second time she said we should probably go a little farther. Sure enough, we soon came to the road he was looking for, but after traveling for a while, we eventually found that we had gone too far, so we turned around at a dead end and finally arrived at Dave Mange’s place. It was dark and all the tall grass growing along the sides of the dirt roads makes it difficult to find places. Also, there was no electricity when we reached Dave’s.

I dug out both my small flashlights that I brought, but when Rick brought out his, it turned out to be much brighter, so we were able to visit for a while with the family. Martha was tremendously excited about the college degree certificate and frame that Irene brought for Fanny. And Fanny donated 50 million Zimbabwe dollars to Aaron, ostensibly for helping with the church projects back home in the U.S. ;-)

11:40pm – We ate a meal with the family (our 2 nd supper).

12:10am – Had a time of devotions with everyone which Aaron led and our hosts sang/performed several songs.

12:35am – getting ready for bed

1:35am – Still getting ready for bed. Rick and Aaron attempted to string up mosquito netting, which I think sort of worked over their beds. I had a cot between them and brought out my sleeping bag, but decided against the full net which looked too difficult to configure in my location. I slept with a head net though. Wish someone had taken a picture of us three – fairly amusing sight.

I rose at 7:15am and did a “sponge down” shower. The boys in the family are always so helpful. They brought in a bucket of warm water to use, and are always carrying our bags, etc. I had a breakfast of bread, boiled eggs, and Nesquick hot chocolate. The water is actually safe to drink at this house (so we are told). The daylight revealed the true scale of the house – quite mansionesque proportions. The pictures don’t really reveal too well, but it is something to see. Dave works for the Delta Beverage company (a local bottler) and the house is still under construction. They are a real blessing for the local church in Harare and the Nyamutora’s are doing their best to continue encouraging them in that way.

Dave’s wife, Sakile, has done quite a bit of gardening around the house – plants and flowers are everywhere. She wants to start a nursery to sell more things to local merchants and grocers. Sounds like a good idea since there is apparently no food on the shelves.

Well, it's time to load up. Initially, we'll go to the Bible college in the capital. We can't fit all the luggage in the trailer and vehicles, so we strap some on top.

Windows Media Video clip(s):

Fanny's Certificate 0:38