We awake early yet again, load the vehicle, get fuel, and head slowly
down the road. Our research tells us several things. There is a good
mechanic in Doba who can probably fix our brake issues. Also, there are
reports that another road previously closed by flooding is now open and
that it might be better than the road between Lai and Doba. We ask God's
direction and continue down the road.
The paved road is as good as some I have seen in the States. It is
amazing. I'm not sure who funded it, but I think European Union and
maybe the Chinese oil drillers.
At Doba the brake problem is fixed. We fill up on fuel and continue.
After Mondou, we leave the paved road and begin the last leg of our
adventure. The road slowly gets worse and worse. At one large mud pit,
the locals had cut branches and logs and demanded a fee before allowing
us through. I gave them 100cfa, or about 20 cents.
When we were just about 20km away from home, the road widened into a
massive spread of black slop. I chose what looked like the best route,
but got stuck in the mud. We had made it through so many obstacles and
so much deep mud, and now we are stuck in a shallow slop? I am not
feeling well. Melody takes my temperature and I am 100.7 degrees. I just
want to get home at this point.
We pray earnestly to God to help us and for the angels to push and lift
us. We dug ramps and put a board under one of the tires. Spinning and
slinging mud, I barely pulled out and got the vehicle back onto some
more solid ground. Thank you, Lord!
We arrived home, tired and exhausted, but awed by God's protection and
help on our long journey. We had passed over 500 kilometers on African
roads, about a third of that over mud and sand, and we are safe. The
vehicles arrived safely. And we left behind a happy congregation who I
ma sure worshiped joyfully last Sabbath for the first time in their new
church building.
P.S. My fever was caused by malaria. I am currently on treatment.
Good morning how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because trough them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately it’s impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Chad? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Chad in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Avenida Juan de la Cierva, 44
28902 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez