Sunday Drive

Sunday, August 25

Today was a nice day.  I awoke with the sun but not with the monkeys this morning which was nice.  I went to check on my little patient and he is doing well.  

Melissa and Amelia invited me to join them for church in Lilongwe today.  We took a car and given our numbers, two adults are in the front and one adult and the four kids are in the back.  A bit squishy, but that seems to be how you roll in Malawi. In chapel and morning report I always feel crammed in the bench and then another person will come to the end of the row and we smoosh in more to make room.  The roads were not crowded and made the drive a little less stressful. Overloaded bikes and wandering goats tend to be the biggest obstacle in addition to the whole left side of the road thing.

We attended Flood church in Lilongwe and it was a nice service, more western than what I experienced last Sunday.  The message was nice and the kids went to children’s church which they seemed to enjoy. The message was from Nehemiah the third chapter.  A tough passage to preach from as it is a list of all the contributors to the building of the wall. The pastor made great points about all of us working with an understanding of a common mission, all of us actively working, serving in humility as part of a whole, doing our portion, and working with zeal.  It was a wonderful.

The worship leader shared about driving a few weeks ago and coming into an area with demonstrations.  People throwing rocks and lighting fires. They prayed for safety and just huddled down to wait. Eight of the windows in their car were broken but the only injury any of them had was a scratch on the hand.  Their little girl was quick to say that she had seen Jesus sitting right next to her through the event. We then sang “Another in the Fire” and it certainly had a more profound and current feel.

There are demonstrations scheduled for this week.  The people of Malawi have many issues with the President and other leaders.  Protests have been occurring over the past few months and this week they are planning to close border crossings and airports.  The president has been very outspoken against these actions. We are in a very safe place and don’t have safety concerns but that is not the case for many in the big cities.  We are all praying for a peaceful resolution.

We went and had a great lunch at a restaurant across the street and I enjoyed just happy interaction with the kids.  We made silly faces and animal sounds as they are improving their English skills. It was a treat to just play and enjoy for a little bit.  I also was able to get some grocery shopping done and FINALLY my debit card worked. I was getting a little anxious about having to really budget closely the money I had brought with me.  Now those concerns are gone-Wayne can continue to fund ambulance rides!!!

Back at the guesthouse, the students returned from their lake trip and it was fun to see pictures and hear of their adventures.  Again, the international conversation is fun. They can’t believe that we have guns at home and that killing snakes is something that we do.  They also were kind of intrigued with my study of the Bible and asked a lot of questions about how I do that and how I know how to find scriptures about certain things.  They had no idea about the different Bible apps on the phone. Not particularly deep conversations but maybe opening doors for later.

I am heading to bed early to prepare for the week!