Mission Malawi: Car, Charles, Larry Brown and Buchanan's

Today was a non-clinic day. We spent most of the morning with car issues - paid a previous bill and then had two new tires put on the car. Cars here are hard to maintain and EXPENSIVE to maintain.. but is still beats trying to rent one for 5 weeks!!

Of course, we made a run to the pharmacy, Intermed, to get more meds for tomorrow's clinic, which meant, especially after the car issues, that we needed to go to the forex to exchange more money (I am sure you are seeing a pattern here!).

We were invited to Charles for tea and sweet potatoes, but it turned into lunch and the girls got a little taste of some traditional Malawian food with the rice, greens, beans and village market meat. It was good! Thanks to Charles and Erita for having us over for lunch. Charles helps run the prison ministry. Look closely at the photos of his house. It is very small - he has actually downsized to help save money. Many people in ministry 'take care of themselves first' (I am thinking of American ministers, TV evangelists, Malawian ministers, etc) but Charles struggles just to get by - he has been loaned a car for the prison ministry, to help take people and things to the prisoners, etc and he struggles to keep fuel in the car and keep it maintained - like he says, people will give to a project, but don't seem to think about what it takes to keep the people running the project 'running'. Anyone with an interest in helping out this great guy, let me know!

In the afternoon, we met with Larry Brown at ABC and he gave us a walking tour of the campus. I saw parts that I had not seen before. The girls got a nice, close up view of all the facilities there. The pool looked good enough to swim in but it sure wasn't warm enough! Remember, it is winter here - the days are in the 70s and the nights in the 50s.
Larry Brown has been in Malawi since 1993 and he has a real heart to teach the students at ABC. He is another missionary that is giving up his pleasures in this life to reach the young people of Malawi, to train them to be Godly men and women and change their country. The only real, lasting change will come through Malawians. If you are interested in directly supporting a long term missionary, this man is worth it!

OK, all for now but continue to pray for us as we leave in the morning for Jollyn's village project to see if we can be of service to the vulnerable women and children.

Erita, Ruth, Charles, Praise and me in Charles's living room.

Larry Brown, Emily and I at the ABC Academy.

Dinner at Buchanan's - eat your heart out, Joseph Maenner!

Praise (in the green shirt) sharing his lunch of rice with some friend, in the shade of a car.

Ruth, getting a bath after playing in the dirt!!

Charles's house - the 'kitchen' is a charcoal burner outside, the toilets / bathing area is outside, the water tap is outside (at end of house), Erita is coming out the door, Innocent (Charles' nephew in the green shirt) also lives there, and little Ruth with the blue bowl in the front yard. I don't think Benny Hinn, TD Jakes, Joel Olsteen or even I would want to live like this! We forget the difficulties so many of God's workers live under!