We hadn’t on planned on our weekly visit across the border this week, because we had been told last week that the aid groups were going to show up on Thursday to do their handouts and free clinics for the refugees. Wednesday night we got a call to go, as the refugee team visit wasn’t going to happen. We went, and it turned out that the men were aware of the change in plans, but the women hadn’t been informed. Kim Cone shared afterward about a very good discussion with the men – about how we aren’t here to promote religion and customs but the fulfillment of God’s promises of love and life. Anyway, all that to say that since I didn’t have a women’s meeting, I was in the market, early, buying supplies for the hospital’s nutrition center, when who should I run into but 3 tourists from Shanghai!!! That was sure some surprise!! There were 2 men and a woman, and they had been functioning by speaking broken English (the woman only) in that mostly French speaking country, and using US dollars in their travels thus far. Interesting. Their rental car (I didn’t even know that was possible!) had broken down in a city a few hours away, and they had borrowed another car just to come to the little border town. I translated for them to try to see if they could exchange money in our little dirt road town with no bank or post office. It does have a gas station (which has fuel MOST of the time) and a Western Union office, though! I invited them to our mission for a meal, but they didn’t have visas to cross the border. They had been to Ethiopia just before this. Curiouser and curiouser, you never know who you’re going to run into.
