I am sitting at the backdoor of our home here in a VERY
rural village in Malawi. It is like we have stepped back in time… things are
very conservative here, we can not even be in our house without a long skirt on
because the children are constantly standing and staring at the windows,
waiting patiently all day, soaking in everything they can about us. I am sure
they find us very odd.
There are many things going on in my spiritual journey…
I have part 2 of the ring on my finger coming soon… but we have to
travel 3 hours on the back of the truck to share internet with 12 other people
once a week… so I wanted to just write this briefly and let you all in on
what I am doing this month and also just let you know that I am alive and well!
We are partnering with Joy to the World Ministries this
month. A few of our teams actually stayed in Malawi… but we are in a
different region with a different contact and things are very different. This
will be month two for us to be living very basic. No electricity… No running
water but we do have a roof over our heads. There is no complaint though… I
find it quite humbling to have to walk to the well and work up a sweat to draw
the water I have to bathe with… and have enjoyed the ten hours of sleep I get
every night because we go to sleep with the sun. It is also rainy season so the
rain dictates much of what we do for the day.
The ministry is literally all encompassing. We have done
feeding programs at the school where they feed over 500 children there only
meal for the day. We have gotten a chance to help with the kindergarten
classroom, plant crops (for the feeding program) and go and visit and pray for
local believers. It has only been a week and I am looking forward to coming
alongside the great things that God is doing here and serving with my hands and
feet this month!
As for me I have been in really great health, Thank you
Lord! The only bugs I am still afraid of are cockroaches just because the
thought of them crawling on me still just makes me wiggle uncontrollably, YUCK!
God is really working on me heart, purifying it, manifesting more of who He is
inside of me… which means more of me is dying every day, OUCH but AWESOME!
Our team is doing well… we have been choosing joy everyday and have been having
a lot of fun together.
I am struggling with how to explain the lessons I am
learning from being in a nation so poverty stricken but yet full of people with
so much love for life and huge faith…What I do know is that my life will
forever be changed after being here… the way I spend my money will be
drastically different… the way I use the word NEED will be changed forever…
A few things for food for thought…
Would you walk on bare feet for hours to meet with your
congregation to sit in an unairconditioned building on a dirt floor to hear the
word of God because it is that valuable and precious to you?
– people here wake up early to walk miles and miles to
get to church on time for a few minutes of hearing the word because they either
cant afford a bible or are unable to find one… wow… I have three at home in
a box waiting for my return home
Today a woman was at church that had triplets… a
miracle and a blessing as it is viewed here. The church decided to bless her
with blankets and dishes… enough for her entire village… 6 plates, 6 cups,
3 pans, 2 blankets, a bucket to do her wash and carry her water in…
An entire village in Malawi shares and survives on less
dishes than I normally have in my dishwasher, dirty. Wow…
Could you imagine eating the same thing everyday your
entire life? People thank god with overwhleming amounts of praise if they are
blessed enough to have one simple meal a day… a simple meal that consists of
boiled water and flour mixed together…and this is all they eat, every day,
once a day… if they are blessed. I used to be discontent eating the same
thing for breakfast a few days in a row… wow.
I am not writing these things to make you feel bad for
what you have, I dont think. But mostly to get you to realize that we live in
abundance… life can be so much
simpler and you can bless so many people around you. I am learning that
everything I have has truly been given to me so I can love other people. Are we
really living our lives this way!? With our hands wide open, eagerly waiting
for someone around us to have a need because we have so much access that we are
dying to give it away… are we being good stewards of what we have? I am
challenged now and will be processing and praying about how to live life when I
am done with this race.
Thank you for hearing my heart. I wish that all of you
could be here with me… see what I see. Shake the hands of the people that
have nothing but yet have so much… more life and love for God than I have
ever seen. I wish you could ride on the back of the truck with the mother that
hasnt eaten in days because she loves her children and her neighbors children
more than herself… I wish that you could be with me as I pray for the people
that walk all morning to come to our door for prayer because they are very sick
and have no resources to fix the problem but instead have faith that they love
a God who heals…I wish you could walk down the road and pray with the 12 year
old girl who asked for my shoes because she knew I had a second pair… I wish
you could see how thankful every child that was given a bowl of porridge was,
and how they shared with their friends because they couldnt afford a bowl…
but instead I can just try to share with you, try to find the words even though
it will never do the reality justice… and pray that God touch your hearts in
the similar ways.
Thank you for your continued prayers! God hears every
single one and I know that I am alive, healthy, full of joy, protected,
provided for and sustained because of them. Know that I miss you all very much.
I am so thankful for each on of you.
I should have a chance to come back and write before
Christmas one more time… lord willing!
Shalom (it means health,wholeness and peace)
