Finding Faith in the Battle

The word is officially in...Lake Malawi is AWESOME! Chad's mom was here for a brief 5-day visit so we managed to make it to the Lake for an afternoon. It's about 2 hours away, not too bad for a day trip. We weren't sure what it would be like, and I was afraid to get my hopes up too much. But I was speechless to think that we're so close to such a relaxing, wonderful place! There is a hotel right on the beach, and they charge to swim in their pool but use of the beach is free. The sand is soft, the surf was impressive and gave Chad a good hour on an ocean kyak trying to ride the waves, they let us use the beach chairs and umbrellas to lounge under, and they brought us freshly brewed coffee. I can not tell you how good it felt to relax and sip coffee in the sun, watching the kids play on the beach! It helps me handle the ups and downs of life just to know there IS a place we can get away to if we need. So if anyone wants to come visit... =)

I've picked up a few pointers since we've been here. I'm not sure this will be of help to anyone else, but let me share anyway... 1. Tins of baking powder and bags of flour actually CAN get used up! I never knew that. When we left the US, I think I gave my mom the same tin of baking powder I bought 10 years ago when I got married and thought any respectable home owned the stuff. But when making rolls, biscuits, cinnamon rolls, cakes, cookies and tortillas from scratch, you actually use it!!! 2. I love debit cards. Really love them. And I miss them. I am not sure I will ever get used to using only cash. Especially when the biggest bill is worth $3.25. That means my shopping trip today, which came to 9000 Kwacha, ($60) was paid with 18 bills. We have to use fanny packs to carry a week’s worth of money, because it won’t fit in a wallet! 3. Always have at least a week’s worth of money in above-mentioned fanny pack, because you never know when you’ll be able to access th...

Relative deprivation: the term used for how all of us feel like we’ve got less than other people. Well, I’m having the opposite problem. I’m doggy-paddling to keep my head above the relative-wealth pool I’m in now! Our crates arrived last week, so all Friday and Saturday we unloaded them and carried in boxes, bags, and garbage cans full of our stuff. Our house-helper, gardener, and night guard were all here to help carry things in. As we opened the first crate, we realized it must have been dropped at some point. The book case came out in pieces. The desk was splintered in several places. Plastic containers were shattered, and the freezer door was dented so badly the seal is compromised. Our missionary friends were all so sorry for us, seeing our broken things come out one by one. I didn’t shed a tear. I was too caught up in the knowledge that our 3 Malawian helpers were carrying in more stuff than they will ever own, combined. Every load of laundry Musa helps fold makes me aware that ...

http://picasaweb.google.com/pumpellys/WeReInAfricaNow# Click on this link and you should be able to see a slideshow of our recent photos. We'll see how this works!

We're still processing all that we experienced and learned over the past month, but I wanted to let you all know we're back and we're well. There's no way to describe all that we did, but I'll do my best without boring you too much. For 12 days or so we spent the mornings meeting with whoever would talk with us in the market-places and inner-city neighborhoods of Lusaka (the capital). We were assigned a different topic each day, (like health-and-medicine, witch-doctors, life-stage ceremonies, etc) and in teams of 2 with a translator, we just talked. Africa is like that...you can go to a neighborhood and perfect strangers have the time to sit down and talk for as long as you want! It was a great chance to "pick their brains" on how they experience life, how they think, etc. In the afternoons, we had lectures and forums from Zambian church leaders on different topics to prepare us. We rode the local transportation, ate local food in the markets, and attended...

We left the US 2 weeks ago today. It's hard to imagine how so much change can fit into 14 simple days! But life is good, and we're still having fun. No tummy-illnesses yet, full adjustment to the time change, and I've even cooked several meals and made a chocolate cake from scratch! I mean, that's MAJOR! We worshiped today in a local Baptist church. The simple structure (dirt floors, plank-board benches) was surprising, but the singing was out of this world. The Malawians can sing, let me tell you! And the songs were local, not American songs translated. It was truly beautiful, and even the kids did well for the 2 hour service despite it being in Chichewa! We leave at 6:30am on Wednesday for Zambia, where we'll have another month-long adventure completing cultural tasks in the capital and in the village. In some ways it will no doubt be challenging, but we hear good things about all that we'll learn. We return May 22nd, and then we'll fully settle in to our ...

I wrote last week that it was time to get some keys on my poor key chain. How God loves to answer the prayers of your heart with more than you can ask or imagine! We are now in Lilongwe, moved in our own house after 10 months of transitional living. As we arrived from the airport, they handed us our own set of keys...all 21of them for the house, 2 for the gate, and 2 for the car! That's 25 keys, all different, all necessary, and no master. My key chain runneth over! Malawi is beautiful, full of birds and tropical plants and sunshine. We're adjusted to the time-change, doing ok driving on the left side of the road, and still struggling to eat much more than peanut butter and jelly, but we'll get there. When we got off the plane last Tuesday, Anya stood on the tarmac, turned in circles, and sighed over and over again, "Home, sweet home, sweet home!" Ethan collapsed on the ground, spread out all limbs, and sobbed, "I just can't do it anymore!" Chad and ...