Today I went out into Mangobo Commune to visit with Pastor Andre. The day started with a strong thunderstorm and I knew the roads would be wet (translate: sloppy mud). But when my friend John showed up at about 2:30 I knew that he’d made a significant effort to come into town to fetch me and I knew that Pastor Andre would be waiting to receive me. In the last month our vehicle has been stuck in the mud a couple of times and that possibility did cross my mind as we set out.
It’s always fun driving out into Mangobo because some of the roads are little more than footpaths and the trees hang over the road and the kids wave and smile at me. And it was fun today except for the two times that the landcruiser was stuck in the mud! The tire treads were completly caked with clay and I was fishtailing even through mildly sloppy stretches of road. I felt like I was driving a boat. And then there were bicycles passing close by in the opposite direction. Even though I was rolling slowly, it wouldn’t take much for the car to slide into a bicycle and send it’s rider into the mud or worse, under the tire. Thank goodness that didn’t happen.
Both times we got stuck John was able to rally help from neighbors who brought out shovels to move mud and dry tree branches to put behind the tires. I had the landcruiser in and out of four wheel drive. I’ll tell you it’s pretty frustrating when all of your life (post 15 1/2 years old at least) you’ve been accustomed to pushing the accelerator and moving either forward or back… not sideways! I don’t know whether or not it takes a village to raise a child, but it took a village to push that car out of the muck. Once the area behind the wheels was sufficiently doctored, every man and boy around grabbed a piece of the car and gave it everything they had… and she took hold, rolling back onto terra firma.
The visit with Pastor Andre was a good time. I was able to thank him for the rooster. We talked some about church next week when Peter will be here and I’ll be giving the Bible lesson. We talked about the history of the Church of the Nazarene here and I shared some ideas about compassionate ministry projects. Come to think of it, it’s nice that we did not talk about politics one bit! Pastor’s wife started a big pot of greens but unfortunately I needed to get on the road before the sun sank too low. I told Pastor that sitting stuck in the mud at mid-afternoon is one thing and being there under darkness quite another. He understood my logic and we prayed together to end my visit.
Hi Brother, It sounds like you are getting some good offroad experience. Take care