The Journey:

As I sat next to one son covered in vomit, trying to work out whether to pull him off the bus in the middle of the midnight traffic jam or whether to stay in the hope that traffic would start moving, I was momentarily (but vehemently!) regretting our decision to visit some village friends for Easter Sunday. “This is why we don’t travel out of the capital that much anymore”, I thought. I consciously tried to alter my expression from accusing to supportive (it wasn’t Clay’s fault he was sick!).

The 4.5 hour trip had turned into a 7-hour trip when our first bus broke down on the outskirts of a small town early on. After 1.5 hours on the roadside, it became clear that the drivers could not fix the problem, and a mob of very angry stranded male passengers started fighting with them. At that moment, I decided that Zeke, Clay and I were going to abandon our front row seats to this drama, and rickshaw into the town’s bus stand. I regretted I hadn’t asked John for more money before we’d parted with him earlier. We eventually found another bus, and by 9pm, we were heading into the capital once more. That’s when Clay quite suddenly and violently fell sick just before we entered the traffic-clogged capital (why is the capital clogged at midnight???). The bus trip was topped by the small 3-wheel automobile driver getting us stuck between the closed barriers on a rail line while a train was coming, just 15 minutes after getting off the bus. My panic-struck brain could not remember how to open the doors, and I had to yell at the driver to let us out. Thankfully, my local language did not desert me!

 The Lessons:

On the first leg of the above-mentioned trip back to the capital Zeke, Clay, and I (Fi) had been talking about thankful attitudes to God. Our boys hadn’t wanted to go to the village, and we were reflecting on things they could be thankful for. At the trip’s end, we tried it again. These were the things we were thankful for:

1. A shopkeeper next to where the bus broke down, who organised a rickshaw into town, paid the fare, and then followed us on his motorbike to make sure that we got bus tickets.
2. The ticket counter staff bought soft drinks for the boys while waiting to board the second bus.
3. The ticket counter staff who helped the boys find a toilet.
4. Zeke’s and Clay’s amazing sense of humour. We had to use Zeke’s clothing to do some mop-up on the bus! Zeke’s expression led to a bout of uncontrolled giggles from all of us!!
5. Clay’s maturity. He was such a trooper walking off the bus and walking through the jammed traffic with gunk dripping off him to find transportation.
6. Zeke’s kindness. He could’ve made fun of Clay, but instead, he walked next to him the whole way, trying to help.
7. Amazing conversations with the boys – see next section.
8. The laughs we had telling John our adventures the next day. Particularly, Zeke’s wisdom on how to manage squat toilets that have lots of spiders and cockroaches!

The Conversations:

It was not easy to convince our kids to take this trip with us. They live in an international community, and it isn’t easy to adapt to local culture anymore, particularly rural culture. We agreed to limit our stay to only one night for them. At one point, we were going to give up the idea!

God was faithful to all of us:

• Our kids asked us why it was so important to us to see the families we visited. This was an excellent opportunity to teach our kids that our believing brothers and sisters matter and that we should care about them struggling, even if it costs us our comfort.
• Our kids did NOT overly enjoy themselves. This was because their language isn’t fluent. In the return trip, Clay asked if we could help him to learn the local language properly (what a breakthrough)! Zeke is also interested in doing this. I am so thankful for the local kids who tried so hard to play with our kids on this trip.
• Clay asked if he could be baptised on the return bus trip, and Zeke quickly affirmed he wanted to also. He has been thinking about this, and we can see he has been growing in his faith. Listening to a girl’s desire from one of the families we visited to be baptised was a prompt for Clay.

Give thanks for God growing our kids and us in the tricky times!