Mills writes on August 25th......

So the trip to Malawi went really well, and I recovered from Malaria very nicely. I was able to actually eat at a restaurant in Blantyre, Malawi which was incredible. I ate a hamburger, and a real pizza!!! I know you may be thinking that is crazy to get excited about, but I am a teenage guy, and well I eat a lot. So pizza was nice to have after being away from it for so long. We got back in Mozambique on Thursday after 2 days in Malawi. We spent the night there and then Friday morning went to meet
the local transport in the market to get home. All of the transports gather in one area in the market so we wandered around looking for our vehicle. We found a truck that was going and it was only 100 meticas (aaround 4 dollars) so we decided that was the one. That was around 9am, and after an hour or two we finally left. Now in my email earlier aksing for prayer request I described local transport as 20 people in a 15 passenger van. I was very mistaken. This truck was a bit bigger than a normal
pick-up, but still only 4 wheels, and a small cab. In the back of the truck there were 50 of us, and all of the belongings. And a ton of cases of beer and cokes. I know your thinking, 50 no that is an exaggeration. I am not exaggerating one bit. There were 50 in the back. I counted and I was touching 10 people. 10 people and I were that close together. The thing is, the road isn't paved. It is a dirt road, and the driver is in a hurry so you are practically airborne the entire time except for the
fact that you are wedged in. Oh and a chicken, there was a chicken next to me, and it pooped on my foot. It is funny how we actually packed in. I mean I was just sitting there and more and more people started wedging stuff in and around me and then sitting down where they could. Then just as I though, "Wow this is all that can fit", someone would walk up with a huge sack of corn or flour or a case of coke. And then they would find room for it. It was amazing.

The thing about local transport is if you are overloaded it is illegal. Obviously, we were overloaded and so we took these back roads until out of town. Right as we were about to get onto the main road, we stopped. We were there for so long I thought we were going to sleep there and so I had already planned where I would sleep and then how I could get a good seat in the morning. Gabe and I couldn't really figure it out, and then with the little Portuguese I know I was about to figure out the police
were on the road and we had to wait till they left for the day. So we sat, and then a lot of the people decided to drink the beer we were carrying, Including the driver. Then after 5 hours or so we started up again, just as cramped as before. As we were making our way there was a transport pulled over (by the police), but no police in the road to stop us. So our driver sped through before they could step out to block the road. Then the truck behind us got stopped! It all happened really fast, we
just looked and there were the police, it was really good we didn't get pulled because then we would have had to walk 105 kilometers to get home. I know a lot of people are thinking that I am so wrong to do this, and that it was breaking the law. Well the police would just have taken money from all of us and sent us on our way, or thrown the driver in prison and left us there. When your are in that situation you rejoice that the Lord delivered you from the corrupt police officer. So we got to the
transport at 9, and then got home (eventually) at 8:30. I don't know how the driver made it, he was very nice though, he insisted to drive us all the way to our house after everyone else got off.

So all of that said, I appreciate your prayers. I am sure that they had a big part in the fact that I actually made it home. In my mind I keep going back to the fact that Paul was content in every situation. I really was thankful that we had that ride, I mean it really really could have been worse. It is easy to ask God, "Why?". Why is this happening to me, why did this "bad" thing happen. And the thing is, we can be so thankful. Yes it is bad that you got a speeding ticket, or that you got in a
wreck. But seriously you had the blessing of having a car! I was throwing the frisbee with some local boys last week and one asked me if I had a nice bike back in America. I kinda laughed at first. I mean what he hopes for is a nice bike, not a gear bike, just a nice bike like one that has brakes. So just think next time you have a trial, it really could be worse, but more importantly what is God using that trial for?