Lodging: We are spreading our time between two different locations. In the first location we had a standing shower, an indoor western toilet, and tented in their backyard. In the second we are sleeping inside on our pads, have buckets showers (Eddie is a sweetheart and warms the water for each of us every time we want to shower. Such a servant!!) and the SHOD-squatty house of doom. It makes my life interesting. I am now fully aware that I am a full blown city girl. I may or may not have freaked out the first night in the second location. I refuse to use the SHOD at night. It’s just too scary. We have all found lots of other places to relieve ourselves. I also freaked out last night when a two-three inch cockroach crawled on me while I was sleeping. Again, it is now glaringly obvious that I’m a city girl through and through. But on the race you learn to roll with anything.
The second house and the amazing Eddie and his family.
Food: We are having the woman of the house cook for us in each location. It is amazing so far. They make us big meals with all of our favorites- greens, tomatoes, avocados, rice, beans, chicken, squash, and salad. Plus some boiled eggs, bananas, melons, or oranges for dessert. Basically these woman are amazing and they spoil us. They refuse to serve us the cheap local food called “Nsimi” (pronounced ‘seema’) even though two of our girls love it and beg for it. This month our contacts have show me what being a servant looks like unlike ever before. Eddie and his family and Pastor Aubrey and his family are absolutely incredible people.
People: The people of Malawi are also really friendly. They are also really open and receptive to the gospel. The response we have been getting on our house visits is amazing. I am sure I will cease to be surprised when people actually want to except Christ at the end of our discussion at some point, but for now, still crazy. And our contacts/translators are amazing. Their English is very good which has made these the easiest house visits we have done so far on the race. And it means that we can sit and chat with them during our down time. I have loved reaping wisdom from the men here. Our main contact, Eddie, has an amazing story-on that could have been written in DC Talks’ “Jesus Freak” book- and is a huge encouragement and example for us. We are incredibly blessed to serve alongside him. I wish he would go everywhere with us so we could continue to learn what a sold-out servant’s life looks like every day.
Ministry: According to Eddie, our contact, this month we are “preaching Christ wherever we go.” So we go around doing door-to-door but also seek to find other opportunities to share Christ. Like when the kids gather around to gawk at us, we go play with them, teach them bible stories, and share the story of Christ. We will also be talking to some pastors in the area and some various other things Eddie has put on our rather full schedule. So far this is the first month where we have had to rely on God’s strength to just physically get through the day, but it has been so sweet.
Prayer Requests:
– Continued boldness for our team in sharing the gospel especially in the context of our own stories. Pray that we would all learn more diving into and preaching the Word.
-Pray that I would learn to seek God in new ways and always be obedient when he wants to stretch me in new areas.
-That my teammates are fully funded by the end of the month. If you want to support some super awesome racers- contact me and I will tell you who is still in need!
-Pray for our travel at the end of the month. It will be another good 36+ hours on a bus with 2 border crossings to get to the next country. (The last one was 38. I actually kind of loved it) Pray again for peace and sound minds for our logistics people, and patience for the whole squad. And pray for a good bus that doesn’t break down.
Thank you all for the love and support!!
