The beginning of December, I came into Africa with a lot of hope. I was glad to be back with my team and back on the race after I had been home for 2 weeks for health concerns. El Salvador had not been a good 3 months for me because I spent most of it not feeling well, but I had hope that Malawi would be great.
It did start out really well. Ministry was good. We spent the mornings in other villages playing games with the kids and teaching Bible stories through skits. In the afternoons we would play in the front yard with the kids in our neighborhood. We also had a great host family: Pastor Phillip, Mama Lilian, and the 6 boys, George, Phillip Jr., Chitemwa, Kenneth, Caleb, and Joshua.
On new years day we changed teams. I love my team now, but it’s still hard not being with my first team since we were together so long and they were my support when I was sick.
My team now and I are with Pastor Phillip and his family, who I was with the first month of Malawi. I was very excited about being back with them because they are great and I enjoyed the ministry.
After the first week or so of January I started to lose all the excitement I had originally had about Malawi. The food is very repetitive, I was tired of the kids staring at me and yelling “Azungu!”, and I was sick of playing the same few games over and over every day at ministry. I felt trapped and I hated being here. I especially loathed how everyone treats us like we are so different just because we are white and from America.
I lost sight of the reason I was here in Malawi and why I’m on the race.
At debrief, the beginning of February, they talked about not losing sight of why we are here and also that we need to appreciate the moments we have here in Africa. They told us to choose to be here, in Malawi, every day.
So that’s what I’ve been doing. I’m choosing to be here, in Bangwe, Malawi. I’m looking for the good things, and in doing so I’m learning to find them.
Several weeks ago my team and I went to Zomba for a day together and we ate a lot of food and just enjoyed sitting around and talking. This day helped me learn to appreciate the time I have with my teammates.
Two weekends ago we went to Liwonde National Park for a safari and a night at the Mvuu Camp. God showed me how to marvel at and be engulfed in His creation.
Now at ministry I’m trying to appreciate the small amount of time we have with the kids here. They have so much joy even though they have nothing else good in their lives. I’m trying to learn to have joy like they do.
I’m trying to find joy and good in everything I see and this is what the Lord wants for me here in Africa. I’m finding joy with my team, with our host family, and in the kids at our ministry.
And even those of you at home who are reading this, just because you aren’t on this trip like I am doesn’t mean you can’t be finding hope and joy in your life, too.
The Lord wants all of us to enjoy life, whether we are on a mission trip, at school, work, or just at home. He created so much for us and sometimes we just have to stop and look and learn to appreciate what we have been given and what we experience.
Romans 5:1-5
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
Isaiah 12: 2-3
Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
