After a meeting with Espanor representatives which went on until 10pm we had a late start. A 5star breakfast was laid on by pastor Cobus' wife Nana who reside at the mission station in Milange.
We bade them and Tony (who is persisting with his language training efforts) a fond farewell and Cobus promised to mail the diary which I left behind in Ile to England.
Our attempt to find some trousers or shirts in Milange market ended with the realisation that they must be receiving Oxfam rejects in rusty containers and then hang these out for sale. So our visit to the "famous gents outfitters" of Milange were unsuccessful.
Four border crossings later we are now in the beautiful accomodation of the Hefsiba bible college at Vila Ulongue.
The border formalities were pretty uneventful, only our last re-entry into Mozambique was noteworthy. At 3:30 pm we were the first car that passed through his checkpoint and we chatted for a while.
Malawi is very green in this region and living standards are higher than in Mozambique. There are many more cars and the roads are tarmaced. There were various military checkpoints during our transit and at one of them Dani thought he had been waved on when he hadn't. This resulted in a bit of a tense moment when the soldier said: why are you in such a hurry? As in all situations Dani remained calm and friendly and we got on our way without having our luggage searched.
We had several rain showers during the day and by the time we arrived at Hefsiba the temperature dropped to 24 degrees. The college looks like a tropical botanical garden. Tomorrow we are getting the guided tour.
The welcome from pastor Samuel Matunda was unlike anything I have ever seen. He greeted me and the others like a long lost son/daughter. We are staying in a lecturer's house which is empty this week and will be occupied again from next week.
Pastor Samuel is going to the local restaurant for dinner with us in a few minutes.
We are thankful for safe travels on the boggy roads of Mozambique. We also thank Cobus and Nana for their hospitality.
We pray that the efforts of Espanor will come to fruition according to their plans.
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