we're home safe

We are home safe and sound. We didn't have internet very much the last few days... we have lots of blogs to post- we just weren't able to send them. Check back!

Fantastic Sunday

Brent preached a wonderful lesson and I taught 56 kids! What a wonderful day!

This Morning

Friends you don't need to worry about Wednesday- I am already there and it is fantastic. Here are some friends outside our room this morning... I took this picture and was very proud!

Bathing

we ended up having to stay in a hotel tonight... was excited to take a bath- until the water was brown. : / I just closed my eyes and jumped in- it was hot and it felt good.

Outside the hotel they had little stands where men were selling carvings- they didn't want money- they wanted our shoes! They are on a barter system here! We didn't get anything this time but there was lots of beautiful stuff!

The Food

The Food

If you know me well at all you know that I am a very picky eater. Well, looks like I am going to get over that here in Malawi. Daddy, you’ll never guess what I’ve eaten every day since we arrived- eggs. That’s right, scrambled eggs. I don’t want to offend anyone so I’m eating eggs. I hate every bite- but I am eating them. I also ate 3 different types of greens last night- I even like the pumpkin leaves! We had some fish last night that was the best we’ve ever put in our mouths! It only lives in lake Malawi and it is called Chombo. The only thing I haven’t eaten was an odd piece od “sausage”- I didn’t know what animal it was from and tried only one bite. It really made me nervous. The funny part is we are still in the capital city, so the food is somewhat “normal” to the American food. As we go out into the country I will update on the food and try to get some pictures.

Travel Day(s)

July 2, Indianapolis, IN

Today we left on the seemingly endless plane ride from Indianapolis to Washington D.C. and then to Dakar, Senegal for refueling and then on to Johannesburg, South Africa for an overnight stay before leaving for Malawi on July 4. Luckily all of the flights were without incident. However we did get to hear a word get spoken into existence. A man had maybe taken advantage of the abundance of drinks available on the plane and started speaking to Suzi and said that he knew that Dick was smart because he had the “fuzzicles” and he pointed to Dick’s beard as he said this. We all thought it was rather funny and have had a number of laughs since because of it. We also had a funny moment in Dakar as we were refueling when Molly noticed what looked like smoke coming from the vents on one side of the plane. She calmly pointed and asked me “should we be worried about that?” I told her that they were just getting some humidity into the plane and that the worst that would happen is we would need our Scooby Doo fog cutter. For our overnight stay in Johannesburg, we had the privilege of staying with a Christian family at their house. We had a wonderful dinner and breakfast and the best tea in South Africa. The Burke’s were the most wonderful and gracious hosts anyone could ever ask for, and we had a great time fellowshipping with them and getting to know their family. I had told Molly that I hoped that we could be as nice to the people that we know well as they were to us. After a wonderful and restful night’s stay at the Burke’s we set off for the airport to begin our journey to Malawi.

He listens to us

Evansville, IN July 1

Molly and I finally get everything packed (crammed) into suitcases and trunks. Not knowing exactly what to expect, I’m sure we’ll have more than we need. Both of us are a little uneasy as we stuff everything into our car to drive to Indianapolis by way of Louisville to drop off our dog. As we start our journey in the car, we’re both experiencing cold feet and we’re not entirely sure that we haven’t gone entirely crazy thinking that we should go to Africa. But God has a way of letting you know when He loves you and approves of your decisions. About a year ago when we decided that we might want to go to Malawi, we began praying and thinking about it all the time. As we’d drive along in the car, invariably thinking about the trip, the K-Love radio station would play a song from the band Down Here called “Here I am.” As we began to listen to the song, and what we wanted to do, we decided it was our theme song for our mission trip to Malawi because when they sing “here I am / Lord take me / all of my life / I give as an offering” we felt that it truly reflected our feelings about the trip; that we could offer our lives and our time to help His children in Malawi. Well, as we began our journey with our cold feet and I began fiddling with the radio, I came across K-Love and our “theme song” was playing on the radio. We both looked at each other, because we knew that God had sent us that song to remind us that we were doing what He wanted us to do – His work to help His children in Malawi. As we listened to the song and the part where they sang “overwhelmed by the thought of my weakness / and fear of failing you in the end / in this mess I’m just one of your pieces / I can’t put this together, but you can,” we both started crying. Not tears streaming down our face, but all out sobbing. Because we knew that God was talking to us. We knew that we were following His word and His will. And through that moment we realized that we shouldn’t have any fear and haven’t since.

Packing

Brent and I usually don’t fight. We are usually sickingly sweet to each other. As we both felt God calling to us to come to do His work in Malawi, we never fought. We just knew this is what God called us to do. But when we started packing, that’s when the bickering began. I want to put all the school supplies I had in our luggage. Brent kept lovingly reminding me of the weight limits and baggage restrictions. We waited very late to start packing (Wednesday night to be exact). So I had to finish packing when I got off from Summer school at noon(the night we had to leave) while Brent was still at work. I Well, managed to get everything I needed Into the trucks and suitcases. Sooooo, that means I had room for EXTRA things too. I packed over 1,000 pencils, 50 toothbrushes, 100 bars of soap, and 100 mirrors (to help teach women about sexual purity.) and 1 nice pencil sharpener to be exact. Now for the funny part- I promised Dick that we could save him some room in one of our trucks- well when got to Dick’s house getting ready to go to the airport I was informed that my backpack would not count as a purse. So after some rearranging and taking back the half of truck we got most everything we needed shifted around. There were a few things that had to be sacrificed due to the weight issue. Guess what the biggest thing was… you guessed it- the pencil sharpener. So now we have over 1,000 pencils and no pencil sharpener. Here’s hoping we can find a store that sells one cheap!!!!!!!J