Rejoice!

Sunday, September 29

I am adding these two pictures to add perspective to yesterday.  This is the view of Nkhoma I have each morning. It does not seem so far but these are the stats from the phone.

Today was a beautiful morning. It was nice to not hurry to get ready. I enjoyed a cup of coffee. By the time I was getting ready, the music of the birds and the chapel were filling the air. The video is just to let you listen. Melissa made eggs on the grill-our way of cooking without power. Great breakfast.

We are still having issues with water and power.  Point is our Sunday finest was not super great today.  But the attitudes more than made up for it. This video is the Malawian version of a blended family.  Three mamas, their kids (about half of them), and me. The singing on the way to church is great. I will tell you that the volume and energy decreases when I take video but I think you will still get the main idea.

The lady in the front driving is Nicole.  She is the director of the children’s home, Afrianna.  All of these children have known her as mom at some point.  Her strong work is what has made them the healthy, Jesus loving, English speaking, beautiful kids they are.  Most of them came to her with frail little bodies, broken families, and hurting hearts. How her heart rejoices as she sees them learn to love their forever moms but how it must grieve as well as they leave.  She is my HERO!

Church was wonderful as always.  The singing was great. I pulled out my camera when we sang Chichewa just in time for the last note.  However, you can see the words on the screen. The song is “There is no one like Jesus”. The words are: I walk, I walk here, there.  I turn around here, there. I’m searching here, there.  There is no one, no one like Jesus. There’s no one, no one like Jesus. There’s no one, no one like Jesus.  There’s no one, no one like Jesus.

The sermon was from Nehemiah 8.  It was passionate in the form of the preacher losing his voice as he preaches, passionate.  It was about finding joy in the ruins. We can find joy by finding God’s voice in His word, by understanding His heart for us through His word, and by choosing to celebrate and rejoice because joy is a response to the finished work He has done and an expression of faith in what is to come.

It was a great reminder to REJOICE in the LORD ALWAYS!

We ate at CoCo’s and had a great time with all the kids.  We got money and groceries and headed home.

In Nkhoma news, the potholes along the road to the hospital have all been patched this week.  They were felt to play a big part in the accident and the VP seems to have played a role in getting the repairs done.  It is funny to watch people still driving in their memorized routes to avoid the potholes. It will take awhile for people to get used to the roads being okay.  

The demonstrations are also starting up again this Tuesday through Friday.  Pray that this will not affect the embassy and the visas for Amelia’s kids.  

We are headed into another week-and I choose to REJOICE!