The past month I have learned what is means to live a simple life. The only things you truly need to survive is clean drinking water, food, shelter, great community, and the Lord. All of these things had been provided and anything other than those are great luxuries
I went a month without wifi. So hello world.
Before coming to Africa, I assumed I would have to give up some things, especially in Malawi one of the poorest countries in the world, but I did not expect to live how we did in Chintheche. Chintheche was a very small village in Northern Malawi. To begin with, we believed we’d be going to Nkhotabay, a fairly touristy area; however, we ended up taking a raggedy bus to an unknown house without an address. Sketchy? Yeah it kinda was at first. At our new home had two beds under medium-large mosquito nets that we were able to “fit” 3 on each. We had a lovely hole in the ground that we got to use as a toilet. You would walk outside, up a hill, and it thankfully had three sides covered (there was still one side wide open) but at least we had 75% privacy for our hole! We didn’t have running water but we were able to walk up a separate hill to a well that we could fill up buckets to take bucket showers and to hand wash our clothes with bars of soap! We had light and electricity about 80% of the time and we got to use that for light! We got to cook our food on concrete bowls that are filled with coals cooked right next to chickens who get some dinner when we do. We made many friends: spiders, malaria mosquitos, ants, lizards, snakes, and many many cockroaches! Drinking water was very expensive in our small town so thankfully we could boil some water and put the hot water into plastic bottles that may or may not have caused many illnesses. We were never cold since we were the northern most team, and the more north you go, the hotter it gets! That was very nice with 100ºF heat and 3 people in a bed! We were 4 hours from wifi and had nothing close that resembled ac, fans, or even a working fridge. So lets just say life was much different than what life was like before.
I learned life in the absolute simplest. We did not have much to pass time, no movies or tv or any wifi at all to communicate. Our meals became a regular 3 meals a day constantly consisting of rice, beans, pumpkin leaves, and an abundant amount of mangos… they fell from the tress everywhere since in was mango season…. we probably ate 6 a day. Not an exaggeration. Pastors from everywhere would just come up and hand us bags of mangos that we’d all get to eat. We had no snacks though, there was no place to get them, no ice cream, no chocolate, no chips, really no snacks. Life in every aspect became living in simplicity.
All of this stuff may sound like I am venting about our hard conditions, but I would not give up this life for the world. Our hosts were Pastor Yorrum and Mary and they had 4 children that we all grew very close with. Our ministry looked like going to different discipleship classes, door to door evangelism, giving sermons at church services, playing and loving on the local children, and praying over the community. Ministry took up much less time than in Asia, so we would have a lot of time for rest, but it was needed with how draining door to door evangelism was. With this free time thought we did get creative. We went to multiple soccer games (Sarah got hit in the head by a soccer ball and 1000 Malawians starred), played many card games (spoons with the pastors who previously played poker), arm wrestled, danced, went to the lake, worshiped with the ukulele, learned Tonga (their language), got in shape, read the whole bible, and became very intimate with the Lord and those around us.
The Lord and I grew so much because living in simplicity completely diminishes distractions. I’m not saying I didn’t miss my friends and family, but I was able to escape from the world around me and completely focus on our relationship and our intimacy. I learned so much more about the bible, our roots, and learned how to grow healthily with those around me and how to grow together in the Lord. I was able to have many revelations about myself, who God created me to be, how he wants me to live my life, and a lot more about who he is. We also had the opportunity to see amazing things from the Lord. We cast out demons, prayed over healing and were able to see physical, mental, and spiritual healing, and we got to see multiple people get saved and come to the Lord. All of this just strengthened our relationship and without distractions it all became deep revelations. But whenever things got really hard (which was quite often), I just kept reminding myself of the scripture the Lord showed me on the first night of the race “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.” (John 6:38). I had to keep reminding myself, although I did choose to come on the Race and it was my conscious decision, the Lord has called me here, and it is his will. I am no longer doing what I want to do at home, but what the Lord needs me to do here. It is for his will, not mine, and this always puta me at peace.
When Jesus sends out the Twelve to different villages to spread the good news, heal the sick, and cast out demons, he calls them to “Take nothing for the journey — no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt.” (Luke 9:3). Although we took a bag with us full of some stuff, our travels to Africa we practically brought nothing. Everything as Jesus said was provided for us from our hosts and although not a lot, it was living in simplicity as his disciples were called to do, and now I understand why. Jesus asked his disciples to do this to live completely devoted to the Lord and to his work. With us, we had none of these distractions and were truly able to live completely for him. Jesus claims “whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34). We denied everything we had in our life before and followed him into the wilderness of Chintheche. It was not easy, but he guided us through, and truly did teach us so many lessons.
My perception of life changed, our luxuries became mangos, sunscreen, a shower with only 3 cockroaches and not 10, peanut butter, bars of soap, and my family of 5 other girls. Simplicity was an amazing thing, it made me realize how little we truly need to be happy. In everyday life I become so distracted by what to wear, what I was going to eat, social media, who this who that, even the things we had that were good, if they weren’t the best, was it even good? Life is just distracting. It is nice definitely nice to talk to people everyday and has normal showers and toilets and snacks, but living without them for a month gives you an entirely new appreciation for everything. Joy no longer comes from a candy bar, but from the smile the little girl gives you when you play with her. Peace no longer comes from thinking you look good, but from knowing you just gave someone the information that might change and save their life. Entertainment no longer comes from Netflix, but from games that you enjoy with great friends and people you’d never expect to be with. Life is less focused on the “but only ifs” to the “what you haves” and you enjoy everything and keep a smile because you are content. Africa has been a whirlwind, but I have loved this time and loved my experiences tremendously. The Lord taught me many lessons here and if your curious about anything that happened, please please please contact me! I would love to share more about Chintheche and my life in Africa and details so please do not hesitate to text or email me.
