Leaving Malawi

Today we are getting on a plane and flying home to Texas. That meant yesterday we packed - deciding what to take home (not much), what to leave for our next trip (lots and lots) and what to give away. We also tried to make the rounds and see some of our friends for the last time this trip. We are blessed to have so many friends here - Malawians and ex-pats alike. This has been a great trip, we feel like we have perhaps made a difference in some people's lives, and we know they have made a difference in ours! If you haven't been keeping up with us on facebook, there are lots of photos there, too, and daily updates.

Again, thanks to all of you who have given of your money and of your prayer time to keep us focused and safe. Although there have been some pretty significant security issues in Lilongwe lately, we have remained safe on the ABC campus! I know some of that is due to our awesome guards, but I also credit the prayers of so many of you guys.

Jose will start college shortly after we return, please pray for him as he makes this transition. I will be back at work soon, and will need (as always) prayer coverage in my job.

Please pray for the people we leave behind. Many of them (ex-pats) are working to bring health and the gospel to Malawians. Many of the Malawians are ministering to their own people to bring them the peace that only comes through knowing the Lord, Jesus Christ. And ALL of the Malawians, and the ex-pats, live in a world where malaria, illness, death and lack of water and electricity are daily occurrences.

Now for some photos:

Caroline, our housekeeper at the Stoms. Since there have been as many as 4 people in this house, her job has been challenging! She is a sweetheart. Today is her birthday - she is thirty four, married with 4 children. Her birthday wish? Rice, chicken and coke for her dinner and maybe a new mosquito net for her youngest child (a 4 year old).

Next you see Jose and I with Charles, one of the guards who has become a friend. (All the guards here are ABC students). He came by for 'going away snaps' last night. He was getting ready to report for duty at a house on the upper campus. Notice his grab - he is dressed for the cold (50's last night). He has a wife and three children, but lives in the far north of the country. However, he applied for and got housing on campus, so soon his family will come and be with him. He served as Jose's translator in several village clinics. One of his classic lines as we are driving through town - 'In America, do they name the minibuses?' (the minibuses here are the main public transport, full to the brim with passengers and cargo, and with interesting names, like God Be With Us, etc.) Ummm, no Charles, we don't even have minibuses! He is a great guy and we will miss him!

Third picture is the two of us with Mr. and Mrs. Whiskas. We stopped by to tell them goodbye and found Mr. Whiskas suffering from malaria. Please pray that he recovers completely!

Lastly is Jose with a box of Orion-Pies - like little tiny Moon Pies that he found in a new store in town (we found yesterday, ahh, too bad so late in the trip) called Chinese Food Stuffs. haha. Actually, these things taste pretty good. (OK, maybe we have been here too long!).

Again, thanks to all who have been a part of this trip. We will be home Wed. afternoon (if all goes as planned).

Ntchisi and other stuff

We traveled to Ntchisi, up in the mountains, to visit Wezzie and Marie Maseko (two sisters to Anne, Eddah, Maggie and Mebble). We picked up the other sister, Angellah, and her little boy Tristen for the trip. Wezzie has a job at the district assembly and there is a house that comes with that post. A nice house! She very much wanted us to come visit her and see the house. We had a great time, even drove to the Ntchisi Forest Lodge to see it, also. Unfortunately, the weather was rainy, foggy and downright cold! We had planned on one last village clinic tomorrow (Sat.) but our contact has malaria AND turns out there is a wedding in that particular village. So, we are canceling our plans. We will leave our left over medications with the nurse at ABC, Becky, and she will pass them on to teams doing village clinics. A special thank you to all who helped in buying medications. We used almost all of ours, but were able to add to our supply from teams who were leaving.

Yesterday I gave a very brief talk to the new missionaries (arriving daily) on ABC campus about 'staying healthy in Malawi' - mainly - don't get bit by anything and watch out for cars! Jose and Becky taught a CPR course, and Jose has turned over those reins to Becky to continue after we leave. We then picked up Mr. and Mrs. Whiskas - he was our housekeeper whenever we stayed at the Assembly of God guest house, and he is retiring at the end of this month. We wanted to see the house where he will be living after retirement and to take them to dinner. He is a wise man, has two houses that he owns, both currently rented. He will move into the bigger house when he retires, and will be re-doing the kitchen and bathroom (both outside), repairing the joists in the roof (termites have eaten through the wood), and repainting the house. He was excited to show us his future home and discuss all his improvement / remodeling plans with Jose! Then we took them to Mama Mia's - the nice Italian restaurant here in town. They had not been there and seemed to enjoy it, even though they ordered chicken and chips, not Italian! Oh well, it was for their pleasure and they love chicken! We had a great time with them, as always.

Pictures: Wezzie's house in Ntchisi, with the girls and I on the front porch and Tristen in the front yard. Jose and Tristen playing in the living room of the house - looks like they are both having fun! Mr. and Mrs. Whiskas on the front porch (konde) of their retirement home, with the current renter and two of her children next to them. Lastly, Mr. and Mrs. Whiskas with Jose at Mama Mia's.

Pictures

These photos should have been with the last blog, but somehow I could not get them to all load. First photo - muffler pipe being held off the ground (so it doesn't drag) by sock. At the game park, Katie, Jose, Alick and myself. Alex and Lidson in the orphan village, and lastly, Katie with twins Jesse and Justina. Check out Youtube (search my name) to find videos of the visit to the crisis nursery, the Majiga clinics, and other interesting tidbits!

Zambia trip, Crisis Nursery, teen boys

On Sunday morning we left early for Zambia, South Luangwa game park. The first half of the trip is not bad - crossing the border is always interesting and time consuming, but the roads are OK until you get past Chipata in Zambia. Then you are on a dirt road for hours. The good news is that they are in the process of building a new road, with tarmack! The bad news: who knows how long that process will take? Enroute to the game park, on one of the bad stretches of road, we heard a loud bang and then a horrible noise from the car. Jose pulled off the dirt onto the grass shoulder and checked - the pipe attached to the muffler had come loose (weld had broken). Immediately a crowd gathered, including about 50 small kids who 'petted' the car, flipped the door handles (?trying to get in?) and literally licked the windows. Ladies with babies showed up and wanted to show us their babies, and a nice assortment of men, who offered to help fix the car. Unfortunately (according to Jose, who was out there with them, while Katie and I stayed safe in the car) they smelled like they had been drinking the local brew. We needed a rope... when Jose asked if anyone had a rope, one of the men went to the side of the road, pulled some long grass and started braiding one right there! (we are planning on carrying wire and rope in the future!) Jose ended up using a strap from Katie's bag, and we were shortly back on the road. Unfortunately, the strap melted through pretty quickly and we were once again on the side of the road, although not so close to a village, and we had made it to the tarmac leading to the park. This time we only attracted a few people, and Jose fixed it with a long sock.. it held!! The lodge in the park has a shop and they re-welded the pipe for a small fee. However, I was - and am- impressed with the sock fix! We spent Sunday through Tuesday in the game park, with Katie getting to see the 'animals' of Africa. The Texas group (Majiga clinics) came on Monday so it was nice to see them, too. The lodge and drives are always fun and it was a time for us to catch our breathe after the last couple of weeks. We had a very nice guide, Alick, who managed to find us leopard one night. Our trip home (to Malawi) was uneventful compared to the 'going' trip, and the weld held! Wednesday, Katie's last full day in Malawi, she did a little curio shopping, picked up Lidson and went to the orphan village, dropping off pictures to the teen age girls (from the last visit) and stopping by the see the guys. Only 4 were at home, the others either still in school or off on an outreach to nearby villages. I did get to see my other sponsored child, Alex. And of course, Lidson always enjoys a road trip in the car! In the afternoon, Katie and I went to the Crisis Nursery, where we got to feed some of the babies and spend some time playing with them. Katie had one set of twins, Jesse and Justina, and I had Shadrack - his twin Meshack was still sleeping. The Ministry of Hope is the organization under which Crisis Nursery operates. You might recognize Ministry of Hope as the group that does some village clinics, where Jose has gone several times. They really do good work here. The Crisis Nursery takes in babies that are high risk of death due to the death - or desertion- of the mother. These are generally village babies, where formula is either not available, too expensive, or there is no clean water to mix it. The nursery folks take them in, clothe, feed and get medical care for the babies. They stay at the Crisis Nursery until they can eat the traditional foods of the villages. If there is extended family (which is often the case), they are brought in to bond with the child, learn basic hygiene, etc. so the child has a place to return to when they are eating. The nursery then does follow up visits to make sure the child is thriving. I know of two cases where the child had to be returned to the nursery because of inadequate care in the village. If there is no extended family to be found, those kids become available for adoption. I know people are concerned when they give money to different groups if the money is really being used for the stated purposes. I have been blessed to see first hand what some of the groups here are doing. If any of you readers are interested in donating to a specific group (or missionary) mentioned in this blog, please contact me! The picture with this blog is of the village crowd we were leaving as we drove off from the first vehicle break down.