Let me set the background for you. It was day before I left to drive to JFK and instead I was headed to Washington, D.C. to visit the Embassy of the Republic of Mozambique to get visas for John, JoLene, and myself. You are probably wondering, why did we wait until the last minute? We had over a month to do this. Let me introduce those of you who have never been to Africa with a little acronym from the movie Blood Diamond: TIA, This is Africa.
After consulting the local missionaries in Mozambique, the Hawbakers and I planned to get our visas at the airport when we arrived in Beira (pron. "bay-ra"). Early Monday morning (the 25th), I checked my email before heading to work because it was snowing and was supposed to snow a decent amount. I didn't see any emails about work closing or being delayed, but I did see a few from missionaries in Africa regarding the retreat. I didn't think much of it since I was now in the mindset of getting ready for work.
It wasn't until I got to work and read the emails that I realized why there were so many about the retreat. Apparently, Mozambique had been having some trouble with foreigners entering their country and disappearing to stay and work in the country illegally. Because of this, Mozambican officials were refusing to grant visas at the border and even turning some people back at the airports. Since all the missionaries were planning to obtain visas at the border, there was a scramble to try to obtain them prior to the retreat.
It still shouldn't have been a huge ordeal for us. All we needed to do was to go to the embassy with passport, visa application, a letter of invitation, and money to get a visa. But remember, TIA. We needed a letter from Steve inviting us. It so happened that that same day, the internet in Beira went down. Somehow an underwater cable got cut so the entire city was without internet. At this point, I knew I had to give everything to the Lord and prayed, “Lord, if you want me in Africa, you’ll get me there.”
Long story short, Steve made the four hour trek to Gorongosa Adventures where they still had internet on Tuesday and was able to email letters for John, JoLene, and myself. So on Wednesday morning, my alarm went off at 4:30 am so I could beat the D.C. traffic and arrive at the Mozambican Embassy when they opened at 9:00 am. I made it safely to the embassy with only one close call on the beltway. The girl working at the desk was approximately my age, so I did my best to throw on a little charm (or at least the best I was capable of with my Jeremiah Johnson-esque beard) and somehow it worked! I only had to wait until 12:45 pm to pick up the three passports with fresh Mozambican visas in them.
Maybe it was my charm, but more likely it was the Lord. I’ll leave it to you to decide :). Reality check #1 that the Lord wants me in Africa.
The Jeremiah Johnson beard definitely helped. :)
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