Ducks can be Quite the Detour!!

On Monday, Sept. 10th, I drove to Quelimane ("Keeleemanee") with the Hendersons' partner, Francois ("Franswa") to buy some supplies for our project. Of course, we filled the truck with Mwinika guys who had reasons to come along. One of the guys was gonna help us find DUCKS. Francois had built a pen for 6 ducks, and we needed 5 more. So instead of going to the market in town, one of the guys had a connection...a guy "just outside of town." In other words, we spent 4 1/2 hours just looking for ducks!...a wild duck chase that led us WAY outside of town. Seems frustrating, so why would these missionaries do it? Because right now building relationships with their Mwinika friends is more important than "doing things our way." These missionaries have a message to communicate, and if they aren't sensitive to the Mwinika's culture and how they do things, they may not have an audience to share with some day. What a great lesson this was in flexibility.

Since it took so long to get the ducks, we didn't have time to do the rest of our supply-buying. We had to stay overnight, since it is very dangerous to drive that highway at night. We had mini-pizzas at this Italian restaurant. Francois made some phone calls and got us a place to stay with a pastor and his wife in town.

The next day, we had to put some of the supplies up on top...
...since the ducks took up space in the back.