Friendliness – check. Hospitality – through the roof. Cultural differences – you betcha.
We have not yet spent a week at the Pentecostal Holiness Church of Mzuzu, our ministry site for this month, and teams Haven and the A Team are both falling in love with this part of Africa. Mzuzu is the third largest city in the nation of Malawi, following Blantyre and Lilongwe. The locals are aware of the differences between large cities in the U.S. and what a large city is to them. Though there are still groceries, open-air markets, restaurants, internet cafes, banks, etc. We are conveniently close to necessities. Not something we were counting on for Africa. Alas, there are many sights and experiences we have had already that remind us we are not in Kansas anymore.
Tumbuka is the local language spoken in Northern Malawi. Chichewa and English are the native languages. It has been fun to greet strangers on the street in all three to determine how much of a conversation can be had. Most all of the church members we have been living and/or working with speak fantastic English and have been patient with us trying our hand with their native tongues.
We have become part of a great loving family that is still so excited to have finally received us. Charity, affectionately known by all as ‘Mama Pastor’, and her husband Tonny are our main contacts. They are church planters in Malawi and have been in charge of their current site for the past five years. Being the first team of missionaries ever to minister in this town with this congregation has been an exciting experience for both parties involved. It was such a stretching experience for us to make it to Mzuzu, but we now see why God has brought us here, and the extreme honor it is to be a part of the first foreign outreach program with this congregation.
Community is a term that is not easily avoided here. We live in the church, take our meals in Mama Pastor’s house, and there is always a crowd of locals, no matter the day or time, participating in fellowship outside on wooden benches or a large bamboo mat. Chickens, soon to become our next meal, weave themselves in and out of the infants rolling around on the bamboo mat while the mothers and sisters sort rice and beans for dinner. There is always a fire roaring in the outside kitchen preparing the next meal of the day. Female Racers now, along with the local women, are clad in ‘shitonges’, sarong-type ‘skirts’ purchased from the open-air market we wear to respect their culture and expand our horizons. This is the simple kind of life we were expecting from Africa, and part of our favorite blessing for now.
