Feb. 2 – The day God sent an angel
The best thing about the World Race is that we get to see God move, more often than not. I don’t think it’s because it’s the World Race, but because we have to rely on him for literally everything from money to travel accommodations. That’s the way it should be, of course, but many times we tend to think we have everything under control and don’t need any help. LIES. Life would be so much easier if we always just asked for his help, because he always comes through. I mean it says, “ask and you shall receive.”
Read on if you want a real life example from my point of view...
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Last summer, Melanie Stoll began her quest to go on an 11-month trek with The World Race, a missionary organization based in Atlanta. After earning the more than $17,000 she needed to provide pay for travel, lodging and food, this North Carolina transplant left Wyoming and the U.S. on quite an adventure.
You may read her blog at melaniestoll.theworldrace.org if you’d like to follow along and look at photos she has posted there. For those who don’t have access to the Internet, below are excerpts of what she has blogged so far. Once the column is caught up on the dated submissions, her blog will be run here as they come in so anyone who is interested can keep up with the young lady’s adventure.
This is Part 6 of an ongoing series chronicling Stoll’s travels.
Feb. 2 – The day God sent an angel
The best thing about the World Race is that we get to see God move, more often than not. I don’t think it’s because it’s the World Race, but because we have to rely on him for literally everything from money to travel accommodations. That’s the way it should be, of course, but many times we tend to think we have everything under control and don’t need any help. LIES. Life would be so much easier if we always just asked for his help, because he always comes through. I mean it says, “ask and you shall receive.”
Read on if you want a real life example from my point of view...
So at the end of the month in Zimbabwe, the whole squad met up for debrief, team change, and to travel together to our fifth country, Botswana. We have a great logistics team that spends endless hours researching travel accommodations that fit the budget. They always do their best to find something that isn’t miserable (African public transportation horrors).
We had an 11-hour drive time to get to Gaborone, Botswana, but estimated 16 hours to include getting across the border and stops along the way. There was a total of 22 traveling and our logistics team found us a 22-seater private bus with a trailer (to lug our bags) that could get us across the border. Two people ended up sitting on boxes because the driver’s seats were included in the 22.
We left Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, around 6:30 a.m.
We made it to the Zim/Botswana border around 3:15 p.m. and the whole squad got passports stamped within 30 minutes of arrival. All we had to do was wait for the bus drivers. We waited, and waited, and waited. Eventually one of our bus drivers finally approached our logistics team and told them that they were missing a paper for the bus and Botswana would not let them in without it. I watched our squad leaders, logistics, and mentors grab hands, bow their heads, and ask God to come through and show a miracle. A few of us others immediately threw up some prayers as well, asking the Lord to get us into Botswana. Within 20 minutes, an empty 30-passenger van, a trailer in tow, pulled up. Logistics ran over and asked if he could drive us to Gaborone. He said that he could arrange transportation for all of us! He turned to walk away, and on the back of his shirt, in large letters read, “ANGEL.”
Y’ALL! How amazing. God has a great sense of humor.
The new bus arrived, we dipped all our shoes into a nasty, unsanitary solution to ward off hand, foot, and mouth disease, crossed the border, and departed five hours later.
We arrived in Gaborone, Zimbabwe, at 6 a.m. and our host picked us up around 6:45 a.m.