From the moment I opened my eyes this morning I knew it was going to be a good day. We had spent the day before in Beira buying rice, beans and cornmeal for our brothers and sisters out at the Savane Church plant. The food would give them a relief from eating the food reserved for pigs and other animals. Today I was driving the CRI van because the power steering fluid had been continuously leaking into the crank case crippling my car from performing its duties. Although I looked like a chapa,* I didn’t mind using the van because we needed the room for a return trip to buy food for the people in Project Life.
I picked up Marilene, Simone and Carlos at the church thankful I was only a few minutes late. Shopping in Beira can be long and hot and we wanted to get an early start. After everyone had settled in the car and we were gaining speed, I realized much to my alarm like any chapa we had picked up another passenger. In front of my nose but through the windshield a pair of large beady eyes were staring straight at me! A foot-long lizard was gripping for all it was worth onto my windshield with every ounce of reptile strength. After recovering from the initial shock (doing my best to hide my fear) I reasoned that this uninvited traveler would certainly fall off the car the faster I went. However, the faster I went the more he was determined to stay on the car. I could almost see the G-forces on its prickly green face! Then it happened. In a split second he decided to join us in the car through my open window. I screamed (my fear became greater than my pride) and I began to lose control of the car. My friends started screaming and yelling too but not because of the lizard. Quickly I recovered and pulled off the road in order to get rid of our transient intruder. We sighed a huge relief and eased our tension with lots of laughter. Marilene volunteered to pray for our safety for the rest of the trip - chiding me not to close my eyes while we prayed. How little did I know that in a few minutes my eyes would really be opened.
In front of us a group of policemen were choosing cars to stop on the road. In the past, I had only been stopped once so it was quite surprising when they pulled me over. I mentally checked to make sure my documents were all in order and promptly produced them for the officer. He examined the car and rolled off in Portuguese what offense I had committed. Simone translated that the van had dark passenger windows and it was against Mozambican law. (I was relieved to hear that was my only crime!) At the police station the car and keys were confiscated. We were told to take a real chapa into Beira and not return until we paid our fine. It was sadly apparent that our shopping trip had come to an end. We could no longer drive the van until we scraped off every bit of the black film from the windows.
Phil and Manuel rescued us for the trip to pay the fine. On our return, we couldn’t believe it when outside of Beira the police pulled us over again! The officer examined the truck for any possible offenses. Although missionaries should pray for eyes to be opened we were praying for eyes to be blind. Amazingly, he already knew we had been fined earlier and that we were missionaries. He asked us if we had received the correct paperwork for our fine. Then with a smile, he told us we could leave. My one consolation in all of this is that God never closes His eyes...and especially not in Africa.
*any vehicle - usually a van - that is used here for transporting people. Often we see chapas (hope I spelled it correctly...) full of 30 or more people at one time.
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