One night during our encampment in Africa, we all sat around the campfire drinking bush tea and listening to stories from the missionary, Kerry, who was stationed in Zimbabwe. He and his wife had been there for their entire married life and raised two boys who were currently in college. Kerry had traveled all over Africa and met many people from different tribes. He regaled us with tales of train rides, Swahili tribesmen, and floods from the monsoons. I marveled at the stars in the Southern Hemisphere. I never thought much about how we only see certain stars from where we live. I had seen the same stars my whole life, but now the sky was filled with a new set. I could see the Southern Cross, Scorpius, and the phenomenal Milky Way. Pollution is a lot less in the Southern Hemisphere so some stars are more visible there as well. The Milky Way was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. It was like a swath of white pixie dust straight through the sky overhead – like a glimpse through the Hubble telescope into the heavens. I felt blessed just to be seeing it.
After we were so tired we couldn’t sit up anymore, we retired to our tents. We had about seven tents encircling the campfire, and the village huts surrounded us. The guides were on the truck parked off to the side. I am a light sleeper and being that I was in the middle of two women in a two person tent, sleep was challenging. At some point during the night, I awoke to the sound of footsteps around the tent. I listened to see if it was someone getting up to use the bathroom, but I soon heard zipping and unzipping of our luggage in the adjacent tent. We had put the luggage in another tent so one of us women wouldn’t have to sleep alone. I woke up my tent mates and asked them to listen. We decided to call out to Jeff, another guy in our group, who was in the next tent. When he answered, we told him we heard something. We heard the footsteps again, and then we all stepped out of our tents. As we were all discussing what we had heard, suddenly, shrill screams came from our translators’ tent. They were screaming for help. As everyone else roused, two men suddenly ran from the translators’ tent. It was dark and faces could not be seen. We stood there in shock. Who were the men, and what did they want? Guns in Zimbabwe are against the law, so I was never really all that afraid. If a person is reported to the government as even being suspected of having a gun, they are carried off to jail. These men couldn’t be armed with guns so should we be afraid? Everyone in the group was a little shook up and our African translators were terrified. They had awakened to find two men in their tent, standing over them.
The next morning, the chief/pastor told us it was the work of some drunk men who were looking for money. He said they were going to carry out their own system of justice in the village. The missionary, Kerry, said the men would be beaten for their behavior. For some reason, I felt sorry for them. I wondered who they were, and if we would talk to them on our way around the village and not even know it. How would they feel about us after they were beaten? It was out of my hands as was most everything else about the trip. I had to believe that God had a purpose for all the things that happened there.
– And we know that in all things God works for the good of those that love Him, who have been called according to His purpose – Romans 8:28 NIV