A few weeks ago on a Saturday morning we went out to the Domboshava Branch to see the baptism of the son of one of our friends, President Mutize. Mutize until a few months ago was the Branch President of the Domboshava 1st Branch. Their branch is about a half hour's drive from Harare.
Brother Mutize comes to the mission (and church) parking lot every Monday and washes any of the mission vehicles that President Mkhabela will let him do (usually 4). He's paid $5 per vehicle. He and 2 teenage helpers spend about 5 hours doing inside and out and vacuuming. Susan and I also have him wash our little Toyota for $5 plus a little tip and he's just thrilled.
There were also 5 convert baptisms happening that same day. Elder Brooks baptized them.
They set a plastic chair next to this big plastic font and the people just climb up on it. They put another chair down inside the font and people step down onto it. It works just fine. Who needs steps anyway?
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| Brother and Sister Mutize with their son. |
On another Friday afternoon, the six of us senior missionaries borrowed the mission van and drove to the Great Zimbabwe. It's a fortified village and mountain (hill) top about four hours from Harare near the town of Masvingo (machine-go).
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| Walt and Susan, Tom and Gigi Davis, Debbie and Todd Neilson |
We stayed at the Great Zimbabwe Resort just a couple of miles away. The rooms weren't so great (our hot water didn't work) but the restaurant for dinner and breakfast was OK.
Until its independence from England in 1980, this country was known as Rhodesia, and the capital was called Salisbury (now Harare). When the people were deciding on a name for their newly independent country, they finally decided to name it "Zimbabwe," after the name of this pretty amazing place.
The Great Zimbabwe is the ruins of an old civilization built around 1200 AD and occupied until about 1500. The most important thing about the Great Zimbabwe, is that it's about the only place in sub-Sahara Africa where the people built with stone, and consequently one of the very few places where something this old is still standing.
You can see that the builders didn't have any concept of arches, so doorways and windows are held up by wooden supports.
These people did not have iron tools but we were told that they would get granite boulders very hot and then pour water on them. The stone would then crack and break evenly along natural seams.
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| Walk-way between 2 walls |
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| Beautiful old tree in the middle of the ruins |
The proceeding photos of the Great Zimbabwe were down in the valley portion of this ancient city. This next one is up on the top where the king lived.
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| This "Indiana Jones" rock is about 8 feet tall |
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| Down in the valley again |
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| Back up on top |
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| From the king's fortified hill and looking down at the valley structures |
After our adventure at the Great Zimbabwe, we stopped for gas and then headed out of town. We only got a couple of blocks when the van began to sputter and then stop. We suspected it was the gas and when we opened the gas cap, we knew immediately we had diesel fuel instead of gas. Walt and Todd walked back to the station and returned with one of their mechanics. The guy that pumped the gas argued with them that we had asked for diesel.
So we all got behind the car and pushed it back to the station. Luckily, they had a repair shop in the back. So they jacked up the van and started to drain the gas. It was a very slow process. Someone asked the mechanic if he had ever done that before and he said, "It happens all the time."
After the gas was drained, he worked on cleaning out the engine. It was about 4 hours before we were able to leave.
Our plan was to get back to Harare before dark but it had all changed.
The road we had to travel on was narrow and it was very dark. Almost none of the roads in Zimbabwe have street lights or painted lines to separate the lanes. Because Walt drove down there on Friday, Todd offered to drive us back. There were lots of big trucks coming towards us and the road had lots of potholes. About 40 km from Harare we had a blowout on our left rear wheel.
After spending some time looking for the wrench and jack, we got the owners manual out. It said the wrench was under the front passenger seat. After standing on his head looking for the box, Walt realized that the book was for an American car and the passenger seat was actually the driver's seat in the van. With the men all working together, the tire was changed.
As we got close to Harare, we got in the middle of a traffic jam. Cars were passing on each side and the two lane road turned into a six lane road. It took us about an hour to get through it. So our 4 hour drive was 6 hours and it was 11 p.m. when we finally arrived home. All in all, it was quite an adventure.
Tomorrow, Saturday September 24, Elder and Sister Steve and Karen Selcho (from Holladay) arrive in Zimbabwe. We now know we will eventually be able to come home. Our 18 month mission has turned out to be a 22 month one, but we've surely loved being here in Zimbabwe and for the chance to get to know and work with the young missionaries here.
