September was a month of major transition; good changes, new revelations, warm weather, lots of combi breakdowns and tons of Braai’s!
Now to write about our combi.. it has given us a huge amount of grief this month. Three Tuesdays in a row it broke down and we weren’t able to do our regular Tuesday schedule. The first Tuesday we broke down a few miles away from the church so we ended up waiting around at the church for 4 and a half hours while the guys tried to fix the problem. The second Tuesday we were about to leave for the hospital and the combi wouldn’t even start so we were stuck on the farm. And the third Tuesday we ran out of gas and were stranded in the middle of know where for over an hour while we tried to get the situation worked out. Now these are all just minor break downs compared to what we experienced this past week. We wanted to visit Bulembu last Sunday (take a day trip out to visit some friends) but some of us had to get our passports stamped so we went to Bulembu via South Africa. So, when we were about 20 minutes away from the border (which is in Bulembu) to enter back into Swaziland the combi broke down. So, we were stranded on this mountain in South Africa going up to Bulembu, and it was 3:30pm (the border closed at 4:00pm.) Praise the Lord a friend of ours, Andrew who lives in Bulembu (and happens to be Canadian) drove by 5 minutes after we broke down and was able to take Molly, Annie and Allan and Annie’s 1 year old Judah with him and across the border (those Canadians, so friendly The rest of us were stuck on this mountain, watching Clever try and fix it and thinking that this could really be the scene of a horror movie. We had just passed a sign with a big paw print on it (apparently there were leopards and lions around the area because some had escaped a game park nearby.) We were talking about who would be the first to go.. haha. How could your imagination not run wild in this situation? So, for about 3 hours we were trying to get our combi going. Finally, Clever was able to get it going and we drove back into Barberton (small South African town at the bottom of the mountain) because we could not get into Bulembu as the border was closed. So, now we have Molly, Annie and Judah in Swaziland, Katie, Clever, Aaron, James, Allan and I in South Africa, and a combi that is in rough condition. We were committed to working at the Luke Commission the next day but we knew that was not going to happen. We ended up staying the night in Barberton at a place called the “Just Chill Inn” – nice name. They only had 2 rooms left, one with 2 single beds and one with 4 single beds. Just what we needed, the Lord is good! Because we were highly unprepared for this overnight stay, we had no toothbrushes, deodorant, extra clothes or anything else you may need in a situation like this one. (Katie, Molly and I were all wearing the dresses that we wore to church that day..) If I knew we were going to be stranded for 24 hours, I would not have chosen to wear a dress. The next day we tried driving up the mountain again. We made it half way and.. another break down. So… we drove back down to Barberton. We must have broken down at least 3 more times on that Monday. Finally, someone came in from Nelspruit and gave us the part we needed to fix the combi. Clever put it in and we were on our way to Bulembu! (By the way – if it weren’t for Clever’s mechanic skills, we would be spending a lot more money on all of these things. Praise the Lord for the gift of mechanics that man has.) At the border we met up with friends of ours whose car just broke down.. what are the chances? So, we helped them out. When we found them broken down near the border it was 3:30pm.. and it took us about 30 minutes to get it all sorted. We ended up crossing the border which closed at 4:00pm at 3:58pm. Praise the Lord, we made it. It was quite the unexpected adventure! That is for sure!! So, the combi is in working condition now but clearly, it is not very reliable! Allan and Annie are in the process of trying to buy a new vehicle for Africa Revolution. Transportation is a huge deal in ministry and this program cannot run without a reliable vehicle. They are praying for funds to come for a new vehicle so, if you feel at all like this is a cause you would like to donate money to, we would all appreciate it greatly!! ( http://www.africarevolution.org/ar-projects/ )
God continues to teach me a lot about his character and I have learned a lot about who I am in Christ and my passions this past month. During our times of discipleship Allan and Annie are helping us get prepared for what comes next and how we can serve our communities back at home and where God can best use us and our passions. It has been great and I am excited about everything that He has revealed to me.
In other news, my brother proposed to his girlfriend a couple of weeks ago (as I am sure a lot of you already know!) I am very excited about this and cannot wait to return home to help them plan their wedding.
So, as things are winding down here at the farm, I am beginning to have mixed feelings. I am extremely excited to return home but I cannot imagine how hard it will be to say goodbye to my family here. I would love it if you would continue to pray that God would prepare my heart for going home and open doors for me as I start a new season of life in 2012. Thank you all!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 5th, 2011 at 1:10 am and is filed under Amy Doiron. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.