The goat got stuck in the mudThe chiva had gotten stuck in the mud while they waited for a backhoe to come and pull it out.
In mid-November, we moved to a small town very close to the Ko’revajʉ villages.
We were encouraged because throughout the week the sun had been intense and it hadn’t rained. However, just the night before the move, a steady rainfall began—enough to damage the unpaved road leading to our new home.
In addition, something unexpected happened: the moving truck we planned to hire decided not to make the trip that weekend, and instead we were provided with a “goat.”
A goat or chiva is the name used in Colombia for a traditional bus from rural regions, used to transport not only people but also goods and even animals such as chickens and pigs. For this reason, in the region where we live it is called mixed.
From the comfort of the city, the chiva is often seen as a picturesque means of transportation, whose handcrafted replicas are bought by tourists.
However, in the place where we live, the chiva is not picturesque at all—much less something you would consider using to move your household.
The driver and his assistant managed to fit the entire move, although the tables had to be placed upside down on the roof of the bus. (Can you see the table legs?)
In this type of transport, the refrigerator is always carried on the outside; although we had wrapped it in plastic and covered it with cardboard, we were also advised to cover it with a blanket.
The plan was to travel on the chiva along with the move, but when we heard the drivers say that, due to the road conditions, the journey would take at least eight hours, we decided to leave them with the load and look for seats on the boats that make the trip in just two hours.
Although it is difficult to get a seat on the boat the same day, we managed to get two spots on the last trip. Thank God!
While we were traveling comfortably on the boat along the river…
… our move was facing serious difficulties on the journey by land.
In this short video, you can see one of the many times the “chiva” got stuck in the mud during its journey to the town where we are going to live.
Once we were already in the small town, we tried to find out what had happened to the chiva, since it had not arrived. In the early morning we learned, through a man who had been riding on it, that he had to walk at least two hours to make it there, because the chiva had gotten stuck in the mud while they waited for a backhoe to come and pull it out.
Finally, the chiva managed to arrive the next day at 4:00 p.m.; that is, it took 27 hours to travel 57 miles.
The driver told us that they got stuck seven times, and that on one occasion they nearly tipped over. Despite the heavy rain, only a few of our belongings got wet, and everything that was important to keep dry arrived in good condition.
We were able to thank the Lord for putting it in our hearts to travel by boat. We also gave thanks that, in spite of the circumstances, our belongings arrived safely, and that the Lord provided five young people who were on a mission trip to help us unload our things while the exhausted driver could rest.
For us, this entire process—from the provision of the house to the transportation—has been a testimony of how the Lord has guided us step by step.
The 27-hour journey on the chiva reminds us that we minister in a place that is difficult to access. Added to this are a culture and a language different from our own, which helps explain why this people has had so little access to the Gospel.
We have great expectations for this year, and we want to share them with you in this video.
Our PRAYER
REQUESTS
We thank God because, at the end of the day, everything went well with the move, even though it did not happen in the way we had expected.
We are also thankful for the time of rest during Christmas and New Year, and for the visit of our daughter, which allowed us to be together again as a family.
We ask for prayer for a good return and a smooth adjustment to the place where we carry out our ministry.
May the Lord grant us His grace to make faster progress in learning the language and in understanding the culture, now that we will be living closer to the Ko’revajʉ villages.
Finally, we ask for the Lord’s protection amid the insecurity that exists in this region of Colombia where we minister.
Mail:
A.A. 16569
Bogota, Colombia
E-mail:
hans_frank@nhcol.org
Our monthly budget is short $190 per month
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(To the order of Ethnos360 with a note: for Hans and Liliana Frank)
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