one very fulfilling week.

By: Shaila on 8:09 AM

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One word to describe this week: WOW.

Usually, everything in Africa moves slow. This week we actually had a busy schedule planned, and yes of course some plans were changed and some canceled completely but the week still turned out really full.

Sunday, we went to church at Thyolo Baptist Church, this church was meeting in the missionaries front yard, but now is meeting in a local school room. Usually, when we visit a church, they make us sit on the stage facing the audience, which can feel kind of awkward, but when we are at Thyolo Baptist we are treated like family and sit among the congregation. This Sunday I shared a small school bench with a girl named Linda who is in her teens and a nine year old named Margaret. It was neat, because usually when I am at church I sit by someone else (my teammates) who are also struggling to pronounce the Chichewa words. But these two girls could sing, and while I sat there and tried to mimic the sounds they were making, my heart and soul rejoiced.

Monday was supposed to be the one day that was uneventful, but of course everyday is a new experience in Africa. Monday was a very new experience. We attended our first funeral; it was the funeral of one of our friend’s nephew. And to say the least, it was completely different than any funeral I have been to before. It was an experience that everyone said we needed to have while we were here, and it definitely won’t be easily forgotten. While we couldn’t understand anything that was being said, you could feel the hurt of the family and surrounding village. Everyone in the village and even the chief said that they thought it was very respectable that we attended the ceremony. I hope that in times like these, people will see the hope and love of Jesus through us.

Tuesday was a very important day. We went into Blantyre and renewed our visas for another 30 days. We just renewed it for 30 days because we are traveling to Mozambique on a trip soon and will get an extension. I know this is a small event in the scheme of things, but it is something that if it had not gone smoothly would put a huge rut in things.

Wednesday was a big day in the ministry we are doing here. It was the first bible study we did with our friends at TAYO (Thyolo Active Youth Organization). I had the opportunity of facilitating the bible study. The study was over the parable of the sower found in Mark 4. I collected rocks, thorns, soil, and concrete to help illustrate the 4 types of soil. It went well and we discussed questions afterwards. We are going to continue to have bible studies with them and halfway through, we are going to encourage them to begin leading it themselves so that it will continue on after we leave in May. Wednesday evening we invited Aaron, a peace corp guy from Boston, over for dinner. We thought he might delight in some American conversation after already being here for 6 months. I feel like this is going to be a great opportunity to minister and serve Aaron along with the nationals here is Malawi.
Thursday this week was our team day, which is usually on Friday but was moved due to plans we had made for Friday. So for team day, we decided to go fishing. For those that know me I’m not a great fisherwoman. My goal was to catch one fish. I was told that this would easily happen, because everyone always catches lots of fish here. Well imagine this…I didn’t catch a single thing. I don’t even get a bite, at least I don’t think I did. Because of my lack of success, mid-afternoon I decided to go take a nap on a picnic table nearby. It ended up much more gratifying than that of not catching any fish. As I was having a lack of fish-catching, I began to look at the story in Luke 5 with a much better realization. When Jesus tells them to let down their nets on the other side, and they said they have fished all night and caught nothing, and then obeyed and the nets were so full that they were about to break. I could identify with the frustration, at least to some degree, that they might have had. And then to think about the excitement and belief that came when they realized what had happened.


Friday is probably the best memory I have of Malawi thus far. Friday evening (actually afternoon) at 2:30, our friends from TAYO were suppose to come and make and have dinner with us.
We have this little girl, her name is Funny, she always want to hang around our house. She always talk to us in Chichewa and I try to explain that we only know English, but she carries on anyways. She was here again today and kept coughing. After trying to communicate for a while to see what she wants, the missionaries’ son stopped by and was able to translate for a little while. He said she wanted some medicine. And you know what, incase you have forgotten, I use to not be able to swallow pills, and because of this I brought along some liquid Tylenol. Its amazing to see that God uses even something like that my inability to swallow pills to minister to children in Malawi. As I was giving her medicine, less than the recommendation because she is underweight for her age, it took her a while to swallow it, because she wasn’t a fan of the flavor I guess, so I gave her some water to follow the medicine. Afterward, I used one Chichewa phrase I have learned and that is “let us pray”. I began to pray for her, and after one line, she said AMEN. And then I continued on one more line and then I concluded with an AMEN.
2:30 came around and no one from TAYO was anywhere to be found. We didn’t worry, but come 3:20 we started to question whether anyone who should up or not. At 3:40, they arrived, we shouldn’t even have worried this is the African culture, and we are trying to get adjusted to it. When they arrived, they began to show us how to prepare local Malawian vegetables. They also showed us how to make their staple food, ensema. We had already had chili made and showed them how to make Snickerdoodles. They enjoyed saying this word, making the cookies, and devouring them. We had an amazing time cooking with them, eating with them, fellowshipping, and just living life with them. When we sat down to eat we had a ton of food, and when I did a head count, there were 11 TAYO members, 3 of us HANDSon Missionaries, 2 little girls from our village that had hung around all day in hopes of some food, and we invited our night guard to eat as well. Towards the end of the meal, I noticed a couple of girls sitting on our porch and peering in through the window. I had more than enough food left on my plate and was satisfied, so I took my plate and two forks out to them, and the smiles that came across their face were indescribable. By the time they had finished, one of my teammates had some leftovers as well, and a little boy had showed up to see what was going on as well. Around dusk everyone started to leave, and we were so thankful for the time that we had gotten to have with our friends. There was only a little relish and two ensema patties left, we thought that we came pretty close to just the right amount of food. Not even 10 minutes later, our guard’s wife and daughter had stopped by and our guard wanted to introduce us to them. We were also able to give them the leftovers that we had. When the night was concluded, it was amazing to see the provision of God and how amazing He is. When I looked at the 11 TAYO members, 3 of us, our guard and his family, and the 5 kids from the village being able to share a meal together, I thought to myself: this is what the body of Christ looks like, this is what loving each other and living life together should look like. The body is not made up of people who look alike, who have the same talents, who are the same age, who speak the same language.

Thank you so much for all the prayers. This is an update (sorry if its too long and you stopped reading long ago) that finally gives you more of a look at what is going on here in Malawi, Africa. Also, I just feel as though I should add this as a disclaimer, I don’t know how much I will be able to update this. I have been able to get on the internet once, sometimes twice a week, but I’m going to try to even cut that back. I do enjoy the emails and comments that are written and though I may not always or ever respond they mean a lot to me. You guys are the best and I thank God every time I think of you. Thanks for the prayers, keep it up.