Sunday morning was good, we had devotions led by Rev. Nehimia. He gave us a message from Mathew 31:31-41where Jesus said whatever you do unto the least of these you have done unto me. It was a message that stuck because we had discussions about it earlier in the week. It doesn't matter if were in North America or in Zambia we have a responsibility to help the less fortunate. No excuses.
Then we headed off to Mufuwe and the national game park. Rosa, our bus made her way there without missing a beat.
We sat around and relaxed preparing for our game drive in the morning. That evening we turned in around 9:00 pm. Around 11:30 I awoke to the creaking of our door and said. Paul! Paul is that you? But he answered from the bed beside me. Jerry I'm here. So I called out who's there ? And jumped up, while I was by the door trying to see who opened it or what, I stepped on a stone in the door way and then turned on the light to see. Paul looked up and said Jerry, my bag is gone! Now what? Paul says my passport was in there! Oh no! I looked around for any thing else missing and my phone was gone. It was plugged in across from my head only 5' away ! We called out in the dark , too scared to walk to the office for fear of the wild animals. Soon one the two night watchmen came and we explained what had happened. Naively I asked could it be monkeys? But we knew the answer: we had been robbed. Sleep was difficult after that since we couldn't do anything in the middle of the night.
Paul already had been challenged because his luggage never made it when we arrived and he had been using the clothes in is backpack. We were unsure how to proceed in the morning , but due to advice from the owner and our hosts, Paul came on the game drive and the camps owner and staff would search for his bag in the bush as they were hoping that the perpetrator would discard it when they didn't find any valuables. Half way through the drive Moffat received a call and they had found some of the contents and Paul's passport!! We were overjoyed!
What we observed as a team is that Paul stayed calm through several trials and was content with his luggage and with out. He set a real example for us all and God was faithful. We were able to retrieve his 2 bags this morning that had been lost earlier and the team is happy and laughing. We have had some great experiences and a few good stories to tell when we are home. We will post some pictures when were back in Canada. Zambia is a safe and friendly country and one girl we met from the American Peace Corp said she felt safer here than in her home in the U.S.
Thanks for all your prayers and support in the last 2 weeks!! We arrive Wednesday afternoon home.
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