To the Lake

Last Saturday one of the cottages (geographic areas) of Limbe church made plans to go to the lake for the day for fellowship. The plan was to leave at 5 a.m. on a chartered bus. It is a 4 hour ride, so they wanted to get as much time at the lake as possible. The organizing committee had planned a breakfast stop about half way and had arranged for a lunch at a resort at the lake and a cookout in the afternoon on the beach before returning to Blantyre. They had prepared food for breakfast and to supplement the cookout food. They had devotions planned and all the recreation equipment packed. Everything seemed to be in place for a great day.

I was at the church before 5 a.m. but there was no one else there. About 5:10, the session clerk came speeding into the parking lot. He jumped from his truck when he saw the empty parking lot and asked desperately, “Did we miss them? Have they gone already?” I told him no one had come yet. We were met by the pastor as we were talking. He lives on the church grounds. He said he had been waiting in his house. He invited us in to wait with him. He reminded us that this was Malawi and people do not keep time well. We all laughed. At 6 a.m. we called the chair of the area to check on them. She said there was some confusion with the bus company but it was being resolved and they should be there in about half an hour. We called again at 7a.m. and they finally arrived at 7:30 a.m. We greeting the chair lady and loaded our things on the bus. We boarded the bus, offered prayer and were ready to head off. But the bus driver did not get in. The chair lady got off the bus and entered into a discussion with the driver. Then she instructed the committee members to distribute the breakfast items for everyone. We ate and waited. And waited and waited. Finally she got on and announced that we needed to unload everything because they were sending a different bus. So we unpacked the bus. The session clerk opened up the church for people to be able to sit and wait.

The senior pastor and I met with her to learn of the problem. The bus driver was insisting that the bus we had was not to make the trip to the lake. First he said there was no fuel then he said the bus was unfit. After several calls to the bus company, it was decided they would send another bus, but it had to be fueled and that would take time with the fuel shortage we are experiencing in the country. The committee thought of cancelling the trip but they would have lost all the money they had invested and the resort had all the food already prepared. That would cost money, too. The children were upset about missing the opportunity to enjoy the lake. (So were some of the adults.) We urged them to push the bus company and to go ahead with the trip. At 10 a.m. the new bus arrived and by 10:15 we were on the road. While we were late in leaving, at least we were going.

The driver sped as fast as was safe, to make up for lost time. Spirits were high again on the bus. Some of the ladies led us in songs. Everyone was having a good time, late in leaving or not. When we came to the first traffic stop (a routine in Malawi), we were singing “It is Well with My Soul.” The police officer looked at the bus, listened for a moment to the singing and waved us on, without asking the driver for any paper work, which is against the routine. At every traffic stop thereafter, the women began to sing “It is Well,” hoping for the same response. It worked until we were about half an hour from the resort. This was not a routine stop. We had been caught speeding. The driver was trying too hard to make up time. The ladies continued to sing, regardless. It was well with our souls, speeding or not.

At the resort, the staff had lunch waiting for us when we arrived at 1:30 p.m. and the fun began. The food was delicious, the devotions inspirational and the games great fun. The kids loved the lake and even got to take a small boat ride. Everything that was planned happened, just in a shorter time frame. At the end of the day, everyone had has such a great time that they forgot about the delay and frustration of the morning. It was well with our souls.



On the lake