Until We Meet Again

I will be the first to say...I hate goodbyes.  With my family living in three different time zones they happen often, and I am not good at them.  I am not a "crier" and I am not typically affected in that way.  I am easily touched and as much as I don't like to admit it, I am very sentimental just not emotional.

This week has been a lot of goodbyes.  We have said goodbye to water as there was a pipe that burst in town and were out of water for three days.  We became very creative and basically just treated it like we were camping.  We say goodbye to our power at some point throughout the night every day.  That is a common occurrence here.  We have become good at that and truly don't even think twice about it anymore.  Someone gets the candles, someone turns on the emergency light and we are set to go.  Today also was our day to say "goodbye" to our first VBS group.

Yesterday we had about 240 people and it went great.  We did a lot of songs with them, they could sing for hours.  Then we did a craft and the story. (Pictures at the bottom)  It is fun to see how excited all the kids are when they are there.  I won't lie, it is really hard with the language barrier.  I am very much a person that loves to interact with the kids and goof around and be playful with them.  This is hard to do.  You have to talk to them in phrases, many that I have asked translators and then I am able to communicate with them slightly.  When you are able to do that they light up and are so excited.  Normally after they laugh and process that I am actually speaking to them in their language.   Some boys were complaining because I didn't take their picture so they told a translator that they wanted me to come over and look at their projects and take pictures of them.  It was so funny.  It has been great.

After we got back we relaxed a later then went to the field managers house and played games, had snacks, had a devotion, and sat around the fire and talked about our first week in Malawi.  We discussed how things were going, good, bad, etc.  It was nice.  We got home and went to the grocery store and got bread dough (they sell already made ((and rising!!) bread dough, this was so fun for us and we look forward to using it with other things in the future.  The "and rising" is because we set it in the fridge and it doubled in size QUICKLY.) and used that for homemade pizzas and we made cinnamon rolls with them as well.  They were both amazing. We have become quite the chefs while being here!  Then we watched a movie and headed to bed.  

Today VBS was similar. We had 250 children.  Since it was raining outside we kept every group together which was actually really great to be able to tag team and help out other groups as well.  The kids were so fun since they were getting more comfortable around us and it was so fun to see them interact with us.  Some will just talk and talk and they know you have no idea what they are saying.  There was a group of men that helped out as translators and crowd control (good thing with 250 children!) that put together a "Thank You" song for us before we left.  It was incredible.  There were also women that helped us with crafts as well and they all gave us hugs as we left.  It is such a blessing to be able to say "God be with you until we meet again."   One of the songs they kids sang to us as we left, obviously in Chichewa, was saying, "We do not know you, but since we believe in the same God, we do know you and we will see you again."  The meaning of these words starts hitting closer to home when you are saying Goodbye to people you have started to form relationships with, despite the language barrier and it only being three days.  Such a cool experience already and I am looking forward to starting the next church in the morning.

After our VBS we went a couple places around town and got to see a couple shops that have African made art, furniture, jewelry, etc.  The talent here is wonderful!  When we got home we all crashed after a long day and took naps.  We also went out to dinner tonight to a place called "Grill 21".  We were all saying we hadn't been to that nice of a restaurant in the States.  It was beautiful! It was the spot for tourists and business people we noticed.  We had a wonderful dinner and then walked home and finished with some prep work for tomorrow.

May God continue to bless the work being done in Malawi and at home!

The sweetest boys!

Organized chaos of tying string

Kids with their crafts.

So proud of their work. 

These were the boys who wanted their picture taken

Flexibility, Flexibility, Flexibility

Day 1 - Check!

It is hard to know where to start.  If you have done a Vacation Bible School in the states, there are so many things you could compare it to.  I laughed at my dad when we were discussing it, "How many kids were there?", "How did you advertise?", "Did you get to talk to lots of the kids?", "How was it different from the USA Vacation Bible School?"  Such pastoral questions.  The thing is, the traditional American Vacation Bible School is thrown out the window and we start from scratch.  It was a discussion we had while leaving the village today that is an interesting thought to keep in mind while I share our day with you today.  We discussed that in America, we are often trying to develop a faith. They have the seed planted from early on, we teach the stories they may or may not have heard before, but we are establishing that seed and helping it grow.  The difference here is that we are the ones planting that seed, and we are doing it in a completely different language and format than they are used to.  Our group definitely learned to do things on the fly and figure out things on the go. 

VBS was split into three different groups.  Singing, crafts, and the story. The story obviously plays into the other couple stations and all are fed off of each other.  After a station, they rotate and go to the next station, etc.  Everything is worked through with translators.  I was in the craft station today.  Majority to none of them know English so even small things like good job, do you need help, different color was all foreign to them.  Also, many of them do not know what a crayon is or what it done.  We physically had to hold a crayon to the piece of paper to show them that it colored and made their white paper colorful.  It was very very basic.  Also amazing to me was that we handed out one crayon to each child.  We explained to them that they could switch crayons with their friends to get more color.  They shared AMAZINGLY well.  They would switch with each other and were so happy just to be able to color.  Again, the incredible simplicity of it all.  It was such a blessing to know that we were there teaching 175 children about the Savior, and the same Savior we teach about all the way across the world.  There were about 175 children today and the pastor said to expect more tomorrow since people will tell their friends and more will come.  

Music stations are hard with a language barrier. Not are you only dealing with language, but also melodies.  American melodies and African melodies....not even remotely close.  Rhythm was slightly thrown out the window.  But the kids enjoyed learning something new and it was great to get them to experience something new.  

The story today was The Good Samaritan and the story was told sentence by sentence, and then translated into their language.  We had comprehension questions at the end. Since of the language, it is hard to understand what is going on all the time.  But it is so cool at the end when you are doing questions and they are all so excited about what they are doing, they are all excited to answer questions, and when they get them right it is such a neat feeling to feel that you instilled that in them, despite the differences and that we maybe feel like we are struggling or not doing as well as we could be.  

If some of you really do want to know the answer to some of my dads questions.  

-There were 175 children.  

-Advertising is not something that happens here.  It is word of mouth through the village, or they see a person driving a car, follow it, show up and see they get to do crafts and sing.  This is why they expect more people tomorrow since the children will tell their friends and other people they see.

-Talking to the kids was difficult. They do not know much, if any, English.  I did ask the translator simple phrases and was able to tell the children, "good job", "do you need help", "different color?", "cross", "heart", etc.  This was so great and the kids were much more comfortable when you were speaking with them in a language that was familiar to them.  Even if it was basic.  

Overall, it was a great day of VBS and i'm excited to see  how it goes again tomorrow!

Children listening to devotion at the beginning of VBS

Our booklet we colored today.  We put a Cross and Heart in the middle for Jesus' Love
1 John 4:19, "We love because He first loved us."

Told you they were into the coloring!

These boys told the translator they were disappointed we were not taking more pictures.
They were so proud of their work!

Half the group showing their finished booklets. 

Dreaming the Impossible Dream

Those of you who know my Malaria prescription is supposed to give me hallucinations and bad dreams...No, that was not what my title was describing.

I can easily say that I have wanted to come on a mission trip to Africa since I was in about 4th grade.  It was because of a WELS Connection (These are videos our synod does that  keep our congregations in the loop with activities, events, programs that are going on in the synod, both in America and around the world.)  video that I had seen of an African church worshiping, equipped with all the drums and singing and dancing.  I was hooked.  Even in high school when my choir would do African songs with drums and actions (a very American version :)) I would get goosebumps.  I have always loved it.  Needless to say, today...my dream was fulfilled and I was overwhelmed at my love of Culture, the Word, the unity of Religion miles away from home.

When many people think of African they think of what they see on TV...poor, dusty, and dirty.  What I have already learned even in these first couple days is that it is all relative.  To them, we are rich.  We drive in with cars, we have clean clothes, and bluntly...we are white.  However, the point comes in saying that although they think we are rich.  They do not consider themselves poor.  They are happy as can be with what they have.  That is such an incredible atmosphere to be around.  Not with everyone wanting more, demanding more, they are content having their ladies day of washing clothes in the river, talking away with their friends.  It's amazing.

The church service was incredible.  It was all in Chichewa.  Definitely interesting to sit in a three hour service not knowing what was being said.  However, we were able to pick up some melodies and did recognize the song, "What a Friend we have in Jesus".  Our field manager also went with us and was able to describe when some things were happening.  They had told us before we went that the service would be long, people walk in and out, people walk around, very laid back, but by the end the service would be packed, and it was.  They also mentioned that on any given Sunday there could be baptisms, new memberships, etc.  We were lucky that we got to witness everything.  Baptism is such a moving thing to me.  Which I probably get from my mom because she tears up every time there is a baptism. Granted, she is not the only one.  It is touching to be able to be able to be a part of something that that little child will keep with them for the rest of their life.  We were also able to see a new member be installed which was very similar to ours at home.  From what I could understand at least.

Communion.  My dad was my Catechism teacher so I have to acknowledge him in this statement, but communion is described as exactly what it sounds like, "Common Union".  This takes on a whole different meaning when you are in a new culture, new church, new language, new continent, new clothing, new everything.  Nonetheless, the word "common" is still present.  The passage from 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 comes to my mind, "just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.  For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body."  We still share the commonality that we are one body in Christ and we are all brothers and sisters in Christ.  We have that union in him and although our clothes and culture and customs and skin color may be different, we share that communion with them.  It was such a blessing to be able to partake in communion with them today in their church and it is something I will never forget.

Alright my favorite part.  Like I said, they do not have a lot of money.  This being said, their social gatherings consist of singing.  Considering this is the reason I was drawn to Africa I was not surprised that I loved the service.  I had goosebumps the first time they sang.  They had 3 different choirs who we are told practice often, they sing every week, and sing many many songs.  They sang such beautiful harmony and danced like they were loving every second of it.  The age range varies as well.  There was a youth choir who sang at the beginning, and afterwards was the women's choir.  They had a variety of ages probably spanning from 20s to 50s.  They all are so animated and do actions and are so beautifully loud.  

Videos do not upload well from here, the connection takes too long.  But I will try to get it uploaded when I get home.  

Writing about it gives zero justice.  But take my word that it was incredible....I'm pretty sure I've said that word about 5 times. 

Those who have Facebook, I have uploaded the video to my page. 

Baptism

Singing and Dancing by small youth choir at the beginning.  You wouldn't believe how loud even just these 6 were.

Words to "What a Friend We Have in Jesus"

VBS starts tomorrow! Pray for our work. Goodnight from Malawi!

Nyala Park

Well, I can officially cross off seeing a giraffe in the wild off my bucket list.  It was truly incredible.  Even just the first one we saw we were giddy and so ecstatic.  We realized we needed to turn down our excitement when we were starting to scare our driver because she thought something was charging us, or we were falling off the vehicle we were sitting on top of.

I will start at the beginning, we were picked up early in the morning.  Took a gorgeous drive to the "valley", since we had to drive all the way down the mountains they call it the valley, stopped at an overlook that truly looked as huge as the Grand Canyon just with trees, then continued to the park.  We got there and everyone got out and went on top of the vehicles and in the back of the pickup truck they own.  I, being the adventurous one I am, asked if we could pet the giraffes.  Apparently that was a dumb question being that they were in the wild.  Who knew.  

The first thing we saw was a Giraffe and we were all so excited and wanted to take pictures forever.  They must have thought we were hilarious because they knew we would see so much more and kept saying, "Okay there is more to see." None of us wanted to leave.  Little did we know much more was ahead.  At the park there was Impala, Nyala, Water buffalo, Wilderbeasts, Zebras, Monkeys, and Giraffes.  Giraffes were the coolest thing to me because they were so active.  The Impala looked exactly like a deer, they just have stripes.  The field managers told us that this was as active they had ever seen the giraffes.  The Zebra were awesome too because they are Zebra, but they just stand.  The monkeys were so tiny and they just jumped like crazy from tree to tree.  The Wilderbeasts looked way scary and were REALLY fast.  

We spend a good three hours out driving, stopped for some lunch, then continued another 45 minutes looking around.  Afterwards we left and went to a restaurant just for ice cream and coffee.  If you haven't gathered yet, that's what they do early evenings.  We then got pizza for dinner and tried some "crisps" (which is the name for French Fries here) from "Steers" which is essentially Burger King/McDonalds  The pizza was really good.  We had a relaxing night at home, edited some pictures, watched a movie, then we all headed to bed pretty early so we could get up early for church.

I will update on church today at the end of the day.

                                         

Sorry I went a little crazy, and yes, there were other animals. I liked these :)

Muli Bwanji!

Muli Bwanji! (Hi, How are you)

Today, although home a lot, still seemed busy.  This morning we met with a man from the church in town who is in charge of a "company" (they aren't really companies here, but loosely that is what it is) that makes wood carvings of things.  INCREDIBLY talented. They organization has a lot to do with the orphanage and homeless shelters around and much of the profit goes there and they help in some way/shape/form.  We were with him at our house for about two hours.  Such beautiful pieces he made and it was really neat to be able to talk to him about his experience.  We are able to go see the shop where they work sometime this week.  It was be amazing to see how they are able to make the things they do.

After he left we relaxed and enjoyed the weather.  It seems like we are relaxing a lot.  I know.  We are doing prep work a lot too.  Our VBS (Vacation Bible School) starts on Monday and that will be every day for the next two weeks.  Right now is prep and getting situated.  We played a lot with the neighbor Naomi who is just so cute and LOVES repeating everything you do and say.  

Our Field Managers came early afternoon after we had made our lunch and we went through a lot for VBS.  Many phrases we would use in the villages with the people, practiced some conversation; Hi, how are you, very well thank you, and you, I am well thank you.  God bless you.  Good job.  Things like that.  It was really neat to get to learn but it is a hard language to catch onto.  I however am one of those people that struggle with languages anyway.  I memorize, I don't remember long after that.  Not so good here unless I practice so I tried it out at our restaurant tonight and around the town exchanging money and things.  Many of the people in town here do speak English so they laugh when we try to use their language.  Politely of course and they do appreciate it. 

We spent a lot of time talking to our neighbors.  They asked questions about America, helped us with translations and learning how to use a translator, and just had normal conversation.  One question they asked about America is if we can see the sun.  From what they know is just what is on TV, Los Angeles, New York, etc.  Therefore, they thought the buildings were too high to see the sun unless it was directly above you in the heat of the day.  As amazing as it was to hear that question and reassure them it was very similar to Malawi it was really sad that that is how we are stereotyped and almost like we are robots who just have all this "stuff".  We also ventured into making banana bread muffins.  They turned out so good!

We then went into town and went to the grocery store to pick up more food.  It is amazing how fascinating the grocery stores here are compared to home.  We were so excited when we found American things called different names.  I have pictures of so many I won't show them all, but it was a hilarious experience.  Then, we went to a cute little cafe for coffee and cake.  It was such a beautiful place.  The places we are at now are very Americanized.  We are in town and it definitely is geared towards travelers.  In the village where we will be doing all our mission work, that is very "African" and a different culture. Those stories will be very different than "we walked to get coffee and cake today."  To be honest sounds like i'm in Europe...

Outside the Cafe

Group out to Cafe

Iced Coffee, I don't remember the other drink, and Spice Cake

I think they need more "Sobo" - Essentially Orange Juice

Afterwards we came home.  We experienced our first power outage.  That is a typical thing here.  Normally they pick sections of the city that the power gets turned out for a couple hours at a time and then everything goes back on.  We were much prepared with candles and emergency lights in that event.  Nothing scary and we did just fine.  However it did happen as we were cooking on the stove.  Good thing it is gas!  Finished dinner, relaxed a little, and finished the night with some "Bananagrams" and "Phase 10" with the team. 

Off to sleep and to see giraffe's in the morning! :)

Tiwonana! (See you soon)

Learning the Culture

Quick post just as we are in between activities today and enjoying the beautiful gazebo outside.

This morning we enjoyed getting up leisurely and then ventured to town.  We were able to exchange money, go to the market, go to the grocery store.  Everything is a close walk and we are able to get to almost everything we need with just a 15-20 minute walk.  Everything except the market.  Which is good because otherwise i'd go crazy....Everything is so reasonable here!  I ate lunch today (sambousas and ice cream) for $2 total!  And I was full and it was delicious!   Sambousas are basically just fried dough with meat and vegetables inside.  No wonder we like it.  The view and weather are gorgeous as it is about 70 and clear with zero humidity.  Thankful no MN weather!

The process of everything is so unique here.  There are no addresses, no credit cards, no IDs.  Vendors are constantly trying to sell to you and get you to buy things.  We asked if it was rude simply not to answer, his response, "they are being rude to shove things in your face!"  Too funny.  Today was just a briefing and being able to see where everything was.  Before we left for the vendors we were taught that some will try to hand you a "5000" quatra but only show that it is "500" quatra.  This is the same bill that is made fake here so you always have to check to see that is is real.  We also were followed many times by people who asked for money.  And as we walk by many people shout "Azungu, Azungu" which means "white person" or "stranger".  It is not a negative term.  That is simply just their term for international person.  There are incredible wood carvings here and we were also told that some are real wood and some are made cheaper and just put shoe polish on them to make them look darker and then colored in with sharpie to get the deep lines they want.  Obviously very nice to have some experience around us.

Pictures are worth more than words.  Here are a few from our walks around Blantyre today.

Ice Cream at the "Food Court".  Gorgeous view of the mountains and city of Blantyre (p.s. Ice cream was $1!)

Sambousas - Fried dough with vegetables and meat

This lady posed for me to take a picture of her with her basket of bananas.

Caesar's Palace.  Almost like Las Vegas

Getting some produce from the market

View from the "Food Court" in Blantyre

After we got back we relaxed a while.  A couple of us read from the back deck, some took naps, etc.  It was beautiful yet again.  After this we spent some time briefing over a couple phrases we could use as greetings, going over VBS materials (which starts on Monday), and doing lots and lots of cutting and hole punching.  This of course was all done watching "When in Rome" and the TV show "Friends."  Those of you who know me know that those travel with me wherever I go.  Thankful to a wonderful boyfriend who bought me the whole ten season series :)  (He is going to be so happy he made this post).

After some cutting, we made dinner.  I think I mentioned in a previous post that it gets dark here around 5:30 which means that it seems late VERY early.  We took a break from working around 6 and we all thought it was 11 and realized we hadn't eaten dinner yet.  We decided it was time for a night on the grill.  We grilled some potatoes, chicken and vegetables.  It was delicious.  However, it started off as grilling, then took forever so we decided to lay out and star gaze.  The skies here are incredible.  Well, it's the same sky everywhere.  But the sky is so clear since there are not many lights from town, etc.  Something I SO miss from Menomonie!  Anyway, I ran inside while we were grilling and grabbed rugs, blankets, and pillows and made everyone come outside and watch stars with me.  We established none of us knew what anything was so we downloaded "Google Sky" (truly one of the most amazing apps) and were able to see all the constellations and plants.  If you don't know what it is, look it up.  It was great.  We laid outside a while and did that. Probably almost as long as this post....sorry!  Nonetheless, we got done and our chicken still was not grilled.  So we went the boring way and finished them in a frying pan on the stove with onions and carrots, and threw the potatoes into the oven.  Our meal was awesome, and still got the charcoal taste which is my favorite!

Finally, we finished some more cutting, finished some more Friends, and now we head to bed.

Goodnight from Malawi!

P.S. I am going to a Giraffe Game Park on Saturday.  I'm psyched!

Our setup for star gazing.  It doesn't look as awesome as it was. 

Trying to get the right angle. I think Saturn was where I was pointing. 

Our Feast.  Sorry for being that person that puts up pictures of their food. 

Crafting table! Needless to say we did not eat dinner here. 

Up, Up, and Away

Travel day arrived! Last day with my kiddos and then I was off.  After waiting in line behind the couple who was convinced their dog was considered a child, or thought their dog was a child...(they weren’t from America), either way they wanted their dog on their lap on the flight.  Yikes.  After waiting patiently, and entertainingly behind them, I got my tickets.  Met up with Nicole before security and were quickly chatting and catching up.   Security was a breeze and no one/nothing got searched.  One airline security down.  We waited about an hour and a half and were on our way to Chicago.  Short flight.  Again we chatted, read a little, talked with the couple behind us who surprisingly enough was from Ethiopia (where our connecting flight is in Africa), and we were on the ground.  Searched through the HUGE Chicago airport and got to our shuttle to our hotel.  We met up with the rest of our team and were making all the typical WELS connections.  Cheryl and Melissa headed to bed while Nicole and I finally decided to eat some dinner at 10! Surprise to us, nothing was open at 10 to deliver.  Except...Giordano’s!  They took my order and said they would be here in an hour! Oh my.  Food came.  We ate.  It was great.  I had never had it before but Nicole had and it was delicious! Then we headed to bed for our 3 hours of “sleep” before we left on the shuttle back to the airport to head to D.C.

Morning came early at 2:42.  We got ready and got onto our shuttle to the airport.  Security took long in Chicago even at 3:30 in the morning.  Our group opted against coffee before that flight in hope that we were able to sleep some.  Luckily most of us were able to even on just the 2 hour flight to D.C.  We landed safely and awaited our next flight out to Ethiopia.  Our flight was full.  All except the seat next to me :)  Talk about luck.  If you want open seats...you want it on the 13 hour flight! That seat quickly became the sleeping chair and we were able to enjoy the luxury of two seats.  We were also seated next to a couple student/athletes from University of Kentucky. One of the guys happened to be on the team that just won the national basketball tournament.  Some were in gymnastics, and swimming and diving  Although, none of them were quite Michael Phelps :)  They were also going on a mission trip for a week in Ethiopia.  The flight was equipped with lots of movies, music albums, games, etc. on the flight over.  That was much different than my flight to China (school trip a couple years ago) and made the trip go much faster!  I was also able to sleep a lot while of course reading Nicholas Sparks and watching a couple (or more) episodes of Friends in my down time.

The arrival in Ethiopia was smooth and everyone clapped after the plane landed from the long flight.  From there we ventured to Blantyre where we went through customs.  However, they made three of us wait to pass through since we didn’t have the Yellow Fever vaccine.  Which by the way is not required no matter what they say.  We did a little talking and convincing and they let us in with saying that they would call us in three days to ask if we had symptoms of Yellow Fever.  We met with our family that is hosting us and they said that was common and that they never called.  Glad we made it through! Driving through the villages and towns to get to our house was incredible.  I definitely feel that I am in Africa now!  

No I do not know this lady.  But this greeted us off the plane from D.C.

Now time to unpack and eat some dinner! Oh my. It’s 9am at home!

Not in Kansas anymore!  Landed in Malawi to a gorgeous view :)

Stranticipation

Wow.  The time has come! After a weekend in Milwaukee, I am a day away from my trip to Africa!  At this point, I can't say it has become real yet.

In the weeks previous to this, my group, 4 other WELS ladies and myself, have been discussing crafts and music and stories, etc. via web conferences and emails.  It is been incredible to get to know all of them already and I cannot wait to meet all of them soon!

Stranticipation is the best I can describe my feelings right now.  A little bit of stress with a LOT of anticipation.  Much of my packing is done.  Finishing up some homework (summer classes), some smaller items that will be packed, and double checking to make sure everything is in order and I will be set.

The song I am constantly singing in my head these last couple days is "Word of God Speak" by MercyMe.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTY-UKgLlXs.  This song has been my prayer as I go into this journey with so much excitement and readiness  I pray that He give me His Words and use me. That I may BE STILL and know, that He is in control.

Malawi, Africa.  Seems so surreal!