July 3 - Zebedee

Me, Jenna, Zebedee, and Jayme

You know how the Bible says that we entertain angels unaware? I'm pretty sure I did today.

Jayme, Jenna, and I were in town today doing some shopping and were going to catch a minibus back to Teethsavers. An empty bus pulled up and it didn't have a number on the dash, so Jenna asked if the bus went to Area 47 and the attendant replied that it did. So we got on with our groceries and paid our K100 fare.  In a few minutes though, nothing outside looked familiar. A few minutes later, the bus pulled over by a clump of trees with a foot path, opened the door, and the attendant shouted "Area 47!" This stop was not our Area 47 stop.  When we showed some confusion, the attendant looked a little annoyed, closed the door, and told the driver to pull into the filling station across the street so we could figure out what we were doing.  We didn't know where we were, none of us had a cell phone, it would be getting dark soon, and we were getting nervous.

A young man (maybe 20-25 years old) leaned up from the back seat and tried to figure out where we needed to go.  Finally he said, "Get off the bus. I'll escort you." We didn't really know what to do, but we decided to trust him, and we got off the bus. He introduced himself as Zebedee and we started walking. I walked with him and Jayme and Jenna were behind us.  Zebedee and I talked the whole way. He found out that we were American college students serving as missionaries with Ministry of Hope, what each of us was studying in school, and what we were doing in the city.  He is a student at the Malawi Polytechnic college and is a Christian.  When he found out that I wanted to become a doctor, he said, "I think that a doctor who is a Christian must be a very powerful doctor.  Not only will you be well-trained in medicine, but you can pray for your patients."

He ended up walking us all the way to our street, even though he was originally headed in the completely opposite direction and the walk lasted half an hour.  He refused any payment, even just K100 for a return minibus fare. He told us there was no charge for goodwill and that he was glad to help people who were serving Christ and others here in Malawi when there were so many other things we could have done with our summers.  He gave us his phone number in case we ever got lost/needed help again. He let us take a picture with him and then he took a picture of us with his cell phone so he could remember the three girls he walked home. He even asked to write down our names so he wouldn't forget. I gave him a hug, we waved goodbye, and we walked our separate ways. I turned and watched him disappear over the hill. Right at that moment, we saw Laita walking to the market across the street. We were home.