Chapter 29

 Back to Africa

    In December of 1995 Linda, our daughter Carin and I returned to Zimbabwe, Africa.  It had been a little more than one year since we had left and we had many, many people to thank. My first trip to, and subsequent accident, in Africa in 1994 had been a major turning point in my life and I felt led to share some of the experiences with the people who were instrumental in caring, and praying, for me.

    Again, like the first trip, the Lord confirmed his leading to us with a song; As the Deer, and it was something that we took to all of churches we visited and gave our testimony in. Fortunately for me I had my wife and daughter to sing with me. My voice, poor before, is even more gravelly because of the damage which took place while I was in the coma. This song, like In Moments Like These, was very well received by everyone who heard it.

    One point I tried to make clear on this trip concerned the testimony I gave during the first trip. If you will recall on the first trip I talked about love.

The thought came to my mind to sing a song,  In Moments Like These. If you haven’t heard it, it is a beautiful song about the love between a son (or daughter) of God and God himself.

    I also talked about the love that families hold between themselves - mothers for fathers, parents for children,  etc. What I had neglected to mention was that special love that Christians have for fellow Christians. It was that love and concern that was so vividly demonstrated to my wife and I in the time of our greatest need,  and it was for that reason alone that we decided to return to Zimbabwe to thank as many of the people as we could get to.

    We gave our testimony in five churches and it was pretty humbling to us. When we entered Bro. Jeremiah’s church everyone responded by giving us a standing ovation. In Bro. Godwin’s church, Bro. Godwin introduced us by saying, what a wonderful testimony our coming back was, throwing Satan’s defeat right back in his face, right in the place where the challenge took place. We were all uncomfortable with this acclaim because we knew, and tried to make clear, that it was not Linda and I who were victorious, it was Jesus Christ who overcame and was victorious.

    We also tried to make it clear that my standing, and walking, before them was a visible manifestation of how effectively their prayers had been answered by God. I found out after my recovery that people around the world had been praying for me and,  if I do nothing else with my life,  I would like to share the reality that prayer does work -  I am living proof!

    Three incidents highlighted this trip and I would like to share them with you. The first took place in Hwange shortly after our church service ended. I had gone to Bro. Paul Tafirenyika’s church to give my testimony alone because Carin and Linda were pretty tired from all of the traveling. It was a dark and rainy night. (sounds like this is going to be a real scary story huh?) Anyway, it was a dark and rainy night and I was in the process of driving back to Victoria Falls where Linda and Carin were staying in a hotel. As I was driving out of the area where the church was located two policemen, on foot, flagged me down. When I stopped they just got in the car.

    Needless to say I was a little shocked,   but then they grinned and said, "If you would drive us to the station it would sure save us a soaking."

    Of course I said, "Yes", but then I said, "but you have to promise not to give me a ticket. "

    The senior of the two started to look serious but I continued with a grin, "I’m from America and you people all drive on the wrong side of the road. You’ve got to promise not to give me a ticket if I make any mistakes."

    He smiled and said, "I promise", and off we went.

    We had no more than left this high density housing area and turned onto the main road then we found ourselves behind this very erratic driver. We followed him a mile or so and he was a real menace on the road. Very erratic speed and swerving all over the road. It looked to me like he was drunk. In one case he came very close to hitting an oncoming vehicle.

    The senior policeman asked that I get right up behind the car and flash my lights a couple of times. I did so and the driver pulled over to the left (remember they drive on the opposite side of the road). The policeman got out of the car and started to walk up to the other vehicle. As soon as the driver saw that it was a policeman walking up to the car he sped off. The policeman ran back to my car and told me to follow that car. I did and the chase was on.

    Here I am driving in a rental car, on a very dark and rainy night, on very slick roads, in an area that I am totally unfamiliar with. Incidentally, they don’t have very many white lines painted on the pavement and there are no little reflectors outlining the sides of the road. I’m not sure those policeman knew how much danger they were in! Anyway,  we continued the chase up the surrounding hills into the city proper of Hwange. Fortunately for us the driver pulled into deserted service station and got out of the car as we drove up. The policemen jumped out of my car and apprehended the man. Fortunately,  there was a phone booth right there and they called for backups from the near by police station.

    Before long there is a crowd of people,   including Bro. Paul and some of the people from the church. They couldn’t figure out why I had turned the way that I did (they didn’t see me pick up the policemen) and they didn’t know why I was driving so fast. We all had a good laugh over that one. We had a bigger laugh when the senior policeman came back and asked if I would testify at this guy’s trial.

    I told him, "I would be pleased to,  but you will have to pay for my round trip airfare from the United States."

    He grinned and said, "Well,  it looks like we will have to do it ourselves."

    He thanked me and I returned to Victoria Falls without further incident.

    The second incident was much more serious and potentially deadly. When Linda, Carin and I flew to Victoria Falls Bro. Ron (our pastor) had flown to Kariba to preach at Bro. Peter Mataka's church. Two days later we also flew to Kariba so we could give our testimony to that wonderful group of people.

    The process of giving our testimony was, I’m sure, pretty humorous to all of those people. Bro. Peter holds church services in, what I believe is, the town hall. It is a large building with fluorescent lights in the top of a high pitched roof. There are no screens on the windows and the lights attract lots of bugs (big African bugs)and the bugs attract other creatures.

    As I was giving the testimony, swarms of bugs were flying around the heads of myself and my interpreter. A couple of times as I was speaking they even flew into my mouth. My self-control was tested to the limit  . . . and beyond. Linda and Carin,  who were sitting in the front row,  had it just as bad. A lot of these bugs were flying ants and so many of them started landing on the floor, rolling over and over to shed their wings and then they started crawling up the nearest things they could find, like people’s legs. The ladies also exercised extreme self-control. After the service Carin asked Linda, Did you see those birds?  Linda replied, Those weren't birds Sweetie, those were bats! The life of a missionary is anything but routine and far from being dull.

    The next day Bro. Peter took all of us - Linda, Carin, Bro. Ron and I - around the town and part of the lake. As we returned to the hotel,  an amazing event took place. The Kariba Breezes Hotel sits right on the lake and somewhat away from town. Because there is a great deal of wild game in the area the hotel is surrounded by a fairly high chain-link type of fence to help keep the game out of the hotel compound. There is also a guard at the gate of the hotel.

    As we drove past the gate and into the compound we noticed a herd of water buffalo grazing about 50 yards from the road we were on and next to a side road that headed off to the boat docks (still inside of the compound) Bro. Ron asked Bro. Peter to stop and we watched the buffalo grazing for a couple of minutes. Bro. Ron pointed out the male that wasn’t grazing but was instead keeping watch over the herd. A young man came around the corner obviously,  on his way to the boat docks. He didn’t see the buffalo at first but when he did he seemed to be startled, but that didn’t stop him from walking along the road about 25-30 yards from the animals.

    Bro. Ron said to us, "That boy had better be careful."

    He no more than said that than the buffalo that had been watching charged that young man. The young man saw this but was rooted to the spot.

    Bro. Ron cried out, "Jesus help that boy!  HELP THAT BOY!"

    That water buffalo running at top speed put on the brakes and stopped no more than three feet from the boy, turned around and trotted back to the herd.

    Bro. Ron quietly said, "You’ve all just seen a miracle."

Acts 2:21
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

    Bro. Peter echoed that and told us that the African water buffalo kills more people than any other African animal. People, like that young man, think that they are just big cows, but they are far more deadly. They have a murderous temper and once they have something down all of the males join in to trample it to death. We had indeed just witnessed a miracle!

    One of the things that I wanted to do while I was back in Zimbabwe was to visit the site of the accident and the hospital that I spent eight weeks in. Shortly after we arrived back in Zimbabwe Bro. John Pierson took me back out to Rest Haven. It was, for me, a real eerie feeling when we arrived right at the accident site. I got out and looked around, finding marks still on the trees, where the vehicle had stuck them. I also found pieces of chrome from the side of the car where the door had been ripped off. I spent a bit of time reflecting, praying and thanking the Lord for sparing my life.

    It was only about three days before we left Zimbabwe that we were able to make it to the Parirenyatwa hospital. We had called and found out that Matron Connie was working the late shift so we got there late one night. Surprisingly the guard didn’t hassle even though we were far outside of the normal visiting hours. We just plowed right in. Maybe they still remembered Linda from the first trip!

    They took me up to the area where my room was and again, it was such an eerie feeling to walk through the corridors that I had been wheeled through so many times. We stopped at the nurse's station and I didn’t recognize anyone. We explained why we were there and in doing so I got to meet one of the nurses that had taken care of me. She was so excited that I had come back to say thank you. We asked that she take us Matron Connie’s office,  which she did.

    Connie’s door was open and the nurse went in first. We stood outside and heard her say, "There is someone here to see you."

    I came around the corner and she let out a scream that probably woke the entire hospital. She ran around the desk and grabbed me and hugged me and both of us started crying. When Linda and the Piersons came into the room she grabbed them all up and hugged them as well.

    About that time the phone started ringing and she had to answer it. The lady on the other end was one of the matrons that had also watched out for me and so Connie asked her to come to her office. Later that evening she took us on a mini tour of the hospital, many of the places that I had only seen from my gurney as they had wheeled me from place to place. A pretty emotional moment for Linda and I.  They all were amazed that we would come back to Zimbabwe just to say thank you.

     Other Voices - Simplicio Shamba     

   When John was in the hospital [on my first trip] just before he left we made an agreement.  My wife Beatrice was expecting and I told John that if the baby is a girl she will be called Linda.   If it's a boy he will be called John.  Finally my wife gave birth to a baby boy and he is called John.

    Our trip drew to a close with all of our brothers, sisters and close acquaintances saying goodbye to us at the airport. A very real part of us remains in Zimbabwe and we long to return. We have loved ones in that far off African country, and they are part of our family.