So after I posted the last blog and we were making our final attempt home to Gitega…more stuff happened.

We woke up the next morning after a freezing cold night (yes…it gets cold up in the mountains…even in Africa!), packed up to leave, and looked down at our back tire and it was flat…again. So the hotel manager drove to town and brought us a repair guy who patched the tire up. After all his hard work, he pumped the tire back up and a new hole blew! They sold us a bad inner tube the night before. So he went back to town and bought us a good quality one.

Once he installed it, we hopped back on the bike to leave and sure enough, the wheels didn’t spin. We called our trusty mechanic friend and he thought that maybe the chain needed to be loosened…so we walked the bike to town, had it loosened, but the problem persisted. The problem could only be fixed in Bujumbura. We then walked the bike back to the hotel and asked if we could leave it there over night.

We walked back to town and we stood waiting for a taxi or a bus, but of course, none came… at this point it was 6 PM and dark! But we had no money to stay another night and just enough money to get home! So we hitched a ride with a Tanzanian truck driver in his massive semi-trailer. Josh and I held each other’s hands tightly and we prayed for dear life as we turned each corner (on almost every single one of our travels, we have seen a semi-trailer tipped over on the road)!

God protected us…we arrived in Gitega at 8PM and were picked up by one of our drivers and taken home…home sweet home…but as we walked into the house, it was literally the plague! Hundreds of termites infested the floor and walls! Oh rainy season! So we swept them all up and went to bed.

The next morning we had our business training session, then hopped in the truck and drove back down to Bugerama to pick up our bike at the hotel. On our way down to Bujumbura…there was a landslide, so instead of a 1 hour 45 minute drive, it took us 4 hours! After that week on the road and having accomplished nothing, we decided to stay in Bujumbura for the whole week and work on tasks for the clinic…and NOT drive that road again for a while!

The evening ended with us attending (late of course) a young professionals dinner with friends from our church…we were received with warm hugs and encouragement! A good end to a really bad week. God is good.

But I know you are all wondering how Josh’s knee is doing. He has been in contact with his physiotherapist from Canada and saw our friend here who is a doctor. We don’t think the injury is as bad as we originally thought…maybe just a sprain. Time will tell. Please continue to pray for strengthening and complete healing of his knee.

God Bless,

~Nadine