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Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Malawi!

As promised, here is a recap, mainly in pictures (and although there are a lot, I had to leave so many out!) of our time in Malawi. Well actually Kwacha is STILL there.
I will try to let the pictures do most of the talking.

First up, a lousy picture of downtown Lilongwe. I took it while driving through. This is very close to his sister's house whom we stayed with.

I didn't get any pictures of when we first got off the plane. I wanted to BUT....I fainted. Yes, fainted, two minutes after getting off the plane. Never fainted before in my life! I guess I was overcome by the beauty of Malawi.  Or it could have been a combo of being sick and very tired. 
Oh well, thankfully I felt much better after a shower.

The next morning we took a little trip over to ABC (African Bible College) where the Biedebach's live.  Below is the fun tree house in front of their house.


Brian and Kwacha.  :)
Brian was excited to show us his "new" old tire cover.  He traded a brand new one he had for this one with just the right acronym.


"Game" is a store from South Africa that has made it's way to Malawi.  It looks just like a Target or Walmart inside and has pretty much the same kind of products!


Spar is another store that hails from South Africa.  Kwacha's best friend, Kondi, is the one with the shopping cart.  This is, unfortuantely, the best picture I got of him.


And an outdoor market.  Yummy organic vegetables.

 

The sky is always interesting in Africa!


Another supermarket, Shop Rite, that has all the food you could want.


The next day we drove six hours north to Mzuzu to visit Kwacha's parents.  We had a beautiful drive up with many sights to see!
Below is a large brick oven.  Most villages have one of these.  They make bricks within these structures.  Apparently they will spend all night stoking the fire, then they put in the bricks and close up the holes for a week or two. (From what I remember.)


Is this really Africa?




We often found lots of men piled up in trucks.
Finally in Mzuzu!


Below is one of my favorite pictures I saw at Kwacha's parents house.  So I took a picture of a picture.  :)  It's of Kwacha and all of his siblings.  The order in age, from oldest to youngest, starts in the bottom right and moves clockwise.  Chance, Granger, Jellita, Evelynn, Kwacha, and Malumbo.
I love Kwacha's face.
I was able to meet all of his siblings, except Chance, who died about four years ago.


We spent the night at his parent's house and the next morning we took a short trip to Nkhata Bay, on the shore of Lake Malawi.  It was a breathtaking drive!



Believe it or not, our first real picture together.


Look at the fish!





When we got back to Mzuzu, we saw cars lined up at the gas station.  That meant fuel was available!  This is actually a short line.  But by the time we got to the front, it was all gone.


Kwacha's family. 
From left to right: his aunt, mom, dad, Kwacha, Jellita, and niece, Ruth.  (Or Ite, as her family calls her.)

That night, when we got back to Lilongwe, we had dinner at the Floreen's!  It was fun to see them in their nice home and enjoy sweet fellowship.  :)


The next day we took a trip to Lake Malawi.
On the way, we stopped at the Parliament building.  The Simwaka's have a cousin that works there.  ( He's on the left.) We actually sat in for a bit on a session.


Close to Parliament is a five star hotel that the Chinese built.  It's almost ready to open.


We passed a village and saw that it was market day.


We had lunch at a Sunbird resort.  Here you can see Lizard Island which is populated with large monitor lizards.



The local fish, chambo, and their staple food, nsima, at the very top.


Kwacha was a little sleepy.  Still fighting jet lag.




Monkeys!


Beautiful sunset from a beautiful Creator on the way home.




The next morning, our last morning, we visited a local village.  Kwacha and Kondi have visited there many times. 
On the way I snapped one of many pictures of a bike carrying a huge load of firewood!  I don't know how they do it.


The chief of the village.
Kwacha brought him sugar and rice.
This man was so nice!  He gave us a little tour of one of their thatched roof homes.


And now for the pictures I'm sure most of you readers have been waiting for, cute village kids!


This girl in pink made her way into many of the pictures!


The lady below specifally asked Kwacha if I could take her picture.

Beautiful!

I was trying to get a picture of the building but somehow Pinky snuck in there.  :)

As we left, the kids followed our car.  We had quite a trail running after us. 
(These really are just a smattering of the pictures I took at the village.  Most of the pictures were crowded with kids trying to get in there.  :)


And here are some pictures of Jellita's house.
The room Em and I stayed in.


The living room.

Kitchen.



Kwacha's sweet cousin, Agnes, who insisted on washing our clothes!

From left to right, me, Evelynn, Kwacha, Jellita.

We stopped by Kondi's house to say goodbye to his wife, Patricia, before we left for the airport.  They had us over for dinner one of the first night's we were there.  I really enjoyed their family!
Here is Kwacha with their oldest daughter, Karen.  This is right after we got her to say cheese.  I wasn't quick enough with my camera to catch a smile.  ;)  But isn't she so cute??


And here we are with Patricia and Karen. 
The trip went by way too fast!

 
We had such a good time with Kwacha's family and all of the people we met there.  They are so kind.
Someday, you really ought to visit Malawi!  ;)

Tuesday, December 04, 2012

Introducing...

Kwacha  :)
 
 
(This post is particularly for you Lauren Brown.)
 
For those of you who don't know, I have been dating this guy for about 6 months now.  His name is Kwacha Simwaka and he is pretty great.  ;)  He's from Malawi (where we just visited last week with Em...actually he is still there) and he does want to go back soon.
 
These are some things I like about him.

He is humble
He is kind
He is teachable (he puts himself under many wise people)
He is a servant
He is good with kids
He puts others before himself
He is patient
He loves God and His Word
He challenges me
He encourages me
He keeps me accountable
He listens
He shares
He hopes
He trusts
He is caring
I like his smile

Things Kwacha likes:
Soccer
Malawi
Peanut butter cookies
The Amazing Race
To laugh
Theology
Thai food
Learning about different cultures
Trying new things
Music
Rain
And many other things that I am daily finding out  ;)

Post about Malawi to come!

Monday, November 12, 2012

Today

I had a really long posting streak for a while there.
And then it just ... DIED.
I'm not promising anything different for those of you who have been waiting with bated breath.  HA.  just kidding.  (This blog has no comments for a reason.  Don't kid yourself Amanda.)
No but really, sometimes it is nice just for me to have an online journal of sorts to look back on and see some things that God has taught me, or brought me through.  He is so faithful.
I really drifted far away from the purpose I wanted this blog to have.  To recount God's faithfulness and to grow in thankfulness for who He is and what He does.
Not that blogging DIY projects and recipes is bad.  There is definitely a place for that.  It can be so helpful.  But this blog became way too much about ME.
Our days are numbered.  Life is about God. 
I was talking to a close friend (temporary family member) this morning and she was encouraging me that life should not look something like this, for example:
...where you're just trying to stick Jesus into the little cracks of other things that are taking up too much of your thoughts and attention.
 
But this:
 
Jesus is our life and all those other things fit in.  Of course we have to give them some attention, but in light of who Christ is.  They do not become the focus.
I don't know if that is helpful for you, but it really is for me.
This was brought up in light of a conversation about John 15 and what it means to abide in Christ.
I was reading somewhere else this weekend in The Practice of Godliness by Jerry Bridges, that to grow in godliness we need to have a:
 
fear of God
love for God
and desire for God
 
I certainly want those things to be true of me. 
 
This last quote was something that encouraged me today as I often find myself worrying about tomorrow.  It's from John MacArthur's book, Anxious for Nothing, which is actually free right now if you call in to Grace to You for your first time.


“Lack of joy is a sin for the child of God.  By worrying about tomorrow, many believers miss the victory God would give them today.  That is not fair to Him.  ‘This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it’ (Ps. 118:24 NIV).  God gives you the glorious gift of life today; live in the light and full joy of that day, using the resources God supplies.  Don’t push yourself into the future and forfeit the day’s joy over some tomorrow that may never happen.  Today is all you really have, for God permits none of us to live in tomorrow until it turns into today.” -JM

I hope these things can encourage you as they do me! 

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