It Has Arrived!!!

Where as in the States, you can go to a car dealership, find a somewhat dependable vehicle, make a purchase and drive home the same day or a few days later, it is not the same here in Zambia.  Because cars driven in Zambia are highly unreliable (i.e. odometers are often set back several thousand kilometers in attempts to resale the car at a much higher price) , we had to go outside the country to purchase a vehicle.  So, we ordered this vehicle from Japan.  About 2 months later, it has now arrived.  

We just thought we would share a little bit about how it got here as it shows God's involvement and His answers to your prayers on our behalf.  When the car was in Tanzania, we asked several of you to pray that it would be cleared and unloaded from the boat so we could have a driver pick it up.  It just so happened that it cleared on the same day our carrier had a truck in Tanzania.  Meaning we didn't have to wait another 2 weeks to a month for our carrier to be back at the same port.  

Another hurdle was customs at the Zambian border.  We have had teammates who have had vehicles and vehicle parts stalled at the border for several weeks at a time.  This didn't happen with our vehicle.  The car was picked up on a Wednesday in Dar Es Salaam, transported to the northern border of Zambia, cleared and was in Lusaka in less than a week!

The final hurdle was Registration.  Typically after imported vehicles arrive in Lusaka, they have to sit in the carriers lot for another 2-3 weeks while they apply for clearing from the Ministry of Finance and get the proper papers filled out for registration and tags.  Our carrier told us that the paperwork provided at the border was enough to clear it through the Ministry of Finance (which is not the norm) and that we could drive it off the lot that day (Which is something we totally didn't expect)!

So, all of that being said, Kerri and I just wanted to say thank you so much for your prayers.  We are glad that we have friends and family like you continually lifting us up to the Father.