We’re currently finished with the last formal ministry week of our last month of the Race! We only have one week left of what is called “Final Debrief” which is where we will process our entire Race experience and have sorta like a mini vacation before going back home. It is so crazy to think that I will be home not this weekend, but next weekend! I will update you on what has happened since I last wrote. On Friday, my teammate and I as well as one of the Malawian staff women went out into the village. Before going out, I had prayed that people would be healed, come to know Christ, and then want to be baptized. I feel that baptism has been on my heart because in the Bible it says to believe and then be baptized, and it also tells us to go into the world and make disciples of the nations and baptize them. We went to this one home that had crops and had a brick house with a grass roof, and we talked to two women there. One of the women was reading the Bible when we got there- that was encouraging. We talked together and tried to encourage them to keep up their faith, and we invited them to Bible study on Wednesday.
We then kept walking, and the Malawian staff woman wanted to sit by these men that were just sitting there hanging out on the side of the road. The Malawian staff woman mostly talked to them. They said that they were all Christians, and so the staff woman asked if they were Christians just because there family is or if they were born-again, and only one said that he considered himself born-again. She then asked me to share, so I shared the Gospel in English, and she translated. After a while, people started to join our group, and I think one of the women who joined was Muslim. They all said that they wanted to pray to receive Christ, and then I asked if anyone wanted to be baptized if they haven’t been, and four of them said they did! That was what I prayed for! We were busy the next day, so we decided to set it up for Sunday. The fact that some of them already said that they were Christians and then said they wanted to pray to receive Christ makes me wonder what they think on receiving Christ because I think it’s something that you only need to do once for salvation. But since some of them wanted to be baptized, it seemed that some of them may have been receiving him for the first time. It was a great time going out to the village. Everyone in Malawi is so friendly, and always waves and smiles.
Later that night, we showed the Jesus Film again here since it didn’t work last time because of the wind we were told. Everyone assembled on the soccer field here. Our team leader gave the Gospel message, and then some people prayed to receive Christ. On Saturday, we had a day off, so we went a beach on Lake Malawi. It was so relaxing and peaceful! Lake Malawi kinda reminds me of Lake Superior. We took a truck there and back and sat on the back of the truck. The highways in Zambia and Malawi are really good which was surprising to me. Our truck started having a little bit of issues though, so we ended up taking a different vehicle back once we got into town. African sunsets are wonderful. They’re like what you see in movies and pictures of African sunsets with the reds and oranges. On Sunday, our team of six went to three different churches; two at each church, and we preached sermons. I preached a sermon from 1 Corinthians 12 about how we’re one body of Christ with many members. The church had really good worship and songs and dance. Later that day, I tried to put a water bucket on my head like I’ve seen the women do here so I could help them, but I couldn’t balance the bucket! It’s a lot harder than it looks. No one ended up coming to get baptized as far as know which was a little disappointing, but something may have come up. It happens a lot here where people say they’re going to go somewhere or do something and they don’t show up, and the times here seem to always be about an hour or two later than what people tell you too. I can get frustrated because in America, if we don’t do something we said were going to do, we always explain why, but I realized that circumstances here are different like not everyone has phones, and transportation is not easy, and things just happen. And so I think in general they’re just more used to things not going according to plan. They can’t just shoot me a text like they can in America especially since I don’t have my own personal phone here.
On Monday, we had a women’s conference for the staff women here at the ministry because they were going to have one, so they asked us to lead it. We worshipped in Chichewa and English, had a Malawian speaker, prayed for each other, and I spoke as well about finding your identity in Christ. We also had lunch and painted nails. I don’t think a lot of them have ever painted their nails before or maybe they’ve only done it a few times. For some reason, most of them only wanted it on one hand. It was fun!
Most mornings we have a devotional for the male workers at the ministry at 6am, and I led the devotional on Tuesday about being good men of God, and I was able to give each worker a water bottle and a banana. Then, we went to a secondary school, and our team leader spoke. The school had both Christian and Muslim students. It was noteworthy to me because you can’t really come to public schools in America and talk about Jesus in front of the whole school. Our ministry contact used to go to school there. They said that the students had to pay to go there. He had us sing Christian songs, and then he had the Muslims sing a Muslim song too so that they would feel included and respected as well. I had never heard a Muslim song before. I believe that Jesus is the only way and I don’t believe that all religions are equal, but I think that’s important to respect other religions and other peoples’ viewpoints. There was an American man teaching at the school who was in his 20s who was there with the Peace Corps and is finishing his second year teaching there.
Later that day, my teammate and I were planning to spend time with the kids, but no kids came. We didn’t know why because they usually come every day, and a few days before about 50-70 kids came. I feel like somehow the Africans usually know what’s going on like when to show up and when to not and how late to show up, but I never do haha. On Wednesday, we went into town, and we took bicycle taxis. It was so fun! I’ve never taken a bicycle as a taxi before. There’s two seats, but only one set of pedals. It was pretty funny because we only went a few feet before we reached a hill, and we had to get out and walk for bit, but it was only a little bit. I just thought it was so fun though! It was really cheap too. I got to get some new flip flops which was really nice because my feet were starting to hurt. Later that day, we had a Bible study for the women, and one of the women that we met the week before came which was encouraging because we had invited her to come.
On Thursday, we went to an elementary school to speak. We sang some songs, and one of my teammates spoke about a story in the Book of Daniel in the Bible, and she also shared the Gospel. There were so many kids there. In the afternoon, I played with the kids at our ministry, and I taught them how to play kickball. I was able to purchase a small soccer ball at the store. The younger kids didn’t seem to know how to play, but later the older kids said that they play the game, but they call it a different name. On Friday, I did laundry, and my teammate and I went down to the field and helped the workers shovel which was pretty tiring, and we only did it for a little bit, but the workers are out there all day in the hot African sun. We were supposed to go out to the village, but the person we were supposed to go with didn’t come until later. Then we were supposed to go into town, and we asked our ride pick us up at 11:30am, but at about 1pm or so, we were told that it had broken down, so we got another ride and then left at around 2 or 2:30pm. Transportation here is really not reliable. It seems that things are always breaking down. We then went to try to get internet, but it wasn’t working. The internet is another thing that is very unreliable here. It seems like it usually isn’t working. Sometimes it does though.
My teammate wanted to go to the doctor because she wasn’t feeling well, and she found out that she had malaria. Another one of my teammates has it as well. The strands that they have must not be very bad though or else they just caught it really early because they didn’t and don’t seem to be too bad. A lady at our ministry had it too earlier, and two of our ministry contacts’ children have it. I feel totally fine, so I hope I don’t have it and I do think I do, but they said it can be dormant for up to two weeks. I have been bitten by a lot of mosquitos though. They have free malaria testing and medicine here, so my whole team and I were planning to get checked for it before we left here since it’s free. I just found out that the area that we were in is one of the worst of malaria in Malawi. I feel really happy and blessed because I had diarrhea on and off all last month, but as soon as we came to Malawi it went away, and it would have been awful here at night because we have a grass hut hole in the ground that is a little walk away from our tent as our bathroom. I have felt very healthy this month which is good because I was anticipating to be the sickest in Africa, but I think this has been my healthiest month. In general though, I’ve been really healthy on the Race.
My camera started acting really funny and stopped working, and I got really frustrated and mad because I only have about two weeks left on the Race, and I just want to use it a little bit longer, and I had this camera sent to me only a few months ago because my other one broke. BUT on Friday, when we went to get internet, I asked the guy there if he had a worker who could fix it because our ministry contact said that he thought he could fix it. The place is really small, so I didn’t have my hopes up, but I left the camera there with him. He said that his worker would be in on Monday, but the next day, we went back there and the internet guy had already fixed it for me! I was so happy and surprised! He completely fixed it. I was surprised because he said that his worker wouldn’t be in until Monday, but then he was able to fix it himself. I was happy too because now I can take pictures for the last two weeks of this trip! I asked him how much he wanted for fixing it, and he just said to pay me what I wanted to. So I tried to pay him a good price for Malawi which was good for him and also good for me because it would be more expensive to get it fixed in America. It actually started doing the same problem a couple days later, but then he fixed it again, so hopefully now it stays fixed. Then on Saturday, we went back to the Lake Malawi beach for some rest. It’s so quiet and pretty there.
On Saturday, it was my little sister Kate’s college graduation ceremony. I felt so bad that I wasn’t able to be there. That was one of the reasons why I pondered not doing the race. My sister is really understanding though. I feel that I have a testimony to God now from it though, and I believe that he cares about the desires of our hearts because throughout the day I was praying that I would be able to talk to her, and despite many difficulties, God allowed me to talk to her. I was able to get internet in the morning which was about 3am in America, so I left a voice mail, but I still wanted to talk to her. Later, the internet didn’t work where we went next. I had already sent her a card and a gift card, but it was still sad and I cried at one point. We had already gotten internet, so I didn’t think that I’d be able to go again. But then, my teammate mentioned that she wanted to get internet again which was the first thing that worked out because I’d need to have someone go with me, so we were going to try to get it again. Later my team leader said that we couldn’t go together because one of us had to stay with someone else, but later that person changed their mind, so then we were able to go together after all. The next thing that worked out was that our Malawian friend was driving us back and usually a random truck drives us, so we could ask our Malawian friend if he could drop us off whereas it would’ve been more difficult or not possible to ask a random truck driver. The next thing that had to work out was that the place still had to be open because the sun was setting, and last time it closed at around sunset. I kept praying, and it was still open when we got there, and the guy actually said he will keep it open as long as we’d like. The next thing that had to work out was that the internet had to work because like every other day it doesn’t work. It was working really well! The next thing that had to work out was she or someone in my family had to answer their phones. No one was answering! I figured that at that point they were at the ceremony, and it was probably really loud so they weren’t answering their phones. I just really wanted to talk to them, and I knew that my brother and his fiancé had Skype on their phones, so I could see the ceremony if they answered their phones. I prayed again that someone would answer, I remember praying “God, this is one of the last things I’ll ask of you on the Race” haha, and then I called my brother’s fiancé, and she answered and put the ceremony on Skype, and I got to see some of the ceremony via Skype! I was so happy because it seemed like I was there kinda. It was very blurry, but I was so happy, but I still wanted to try to talk to my sister. She was not answering her phone because she was in the ceremony. The only other option would be to call later, and I had an internet stick that would work in my tent because we don’t have internet in the village, but for the past like 4 days, we’ve tried to use it every day, but it never worked. And guess what, that night it worked! And so I was finally able to talk to my sister to congratulate her! I could hear her very well, but she couldn’t really hear me, but I really praise God for answering my prayers and allowing me to Skype the ceremony and to congratulate my sister even though internet is so unreliable and hard to get here! Shout out and congratulations to Kate on her graduation!!!!
I really like the Malawian staff that works at the ministry. Everyone is really nice and has character. I like their vision and the ministry. I was finding it a little hard because at this point, it’s hard to stay present when going home is so close now. I found myself getting annoyed and frustrated easily with teammates. And it’s just really hard because I really like my alone time and doing things on my own which pretty much never get on the Race. I feel like I should be used to it by now and that it shouldn’t bother me, but it still does. Having our own tents has been really good though. Although, there are a lot of ants that get in, but we have spray. There are also flies swarming a lot around the ministry site. The flies here are nuts and like attack you. They attack your head and like follow you when you walk haha. There’s a little kitty on the ministry site that I love. The kitty likes to sit on my lap at night. One night, when we were all silent about to go to sleep, one of my teammates screamed, and it turned out a toad was hopping underneath her tent haha!
As the Race is ending, I remember that I had read a blog where a Racer had said something like “I’m so happy and blessed that I went on the World Race, and I am so happy and blessed that it is over.” And I remember thinking that I could see myself feeling the same way at the end of the Race. And well, that’s exactly how I feel! I’m so happy that I did it, and I’m so happy that it’s over. I’m feel so humbled and blessed to have this one in a lifetime experience, and I am beyond excited to go home.
This last Sunday, we went to three different churches again. I went to a church with a building structure that I’ve never been to before. It had a brick wall and then half of it had a grass roof. The ground was grass with a tarp under the grass roof with one bench and a few logs to sit on. It was pretty cool and reminded me that church is not a building, but Christ and the people- the body. It was pretty small too- about 15-25 people were there. We sang without instruments and did some songs with clapping and where one person sings and the rest repeat which is common in Africa. They usually have a Sunday School service with adults and then the main service and have offerings at both services. They also had a time for people to give testimonies. I preached again- I talked about the same thing that I had talked about at a different church the week before about the body of Christ and how we’re different members, but one body. Later that day, we went to a village meeting because one of the chiefs got promoted to oversee a few villages, and the chief had asked us to come. A candidate that was running for some position in Malawi was also there. We prayed, and I spoke for just a little bit about Luke 22:26 and being a servant leader. We were told that the chief was Christian and so is many of the community, but some of the people of the community are Muslim. It’s noteworthy to me to see how faith can be incorporated into town government meetings and schools here compared to how it is in America.
On Monday, we went into town, and I was able to buy clothing for children in the area at the market. I got about 24 clothing items of different sizes and for different genders. One of the needs that I easily saw here was the need for clothing because so many children have ripped and dirty clothing and some don’t have shoes. I noticed it in a few other countries too, but I really noticed it here. I was able to buy them because my brother had given me some money to buy things for them. It was fun picking out the clothes. I’m going to leave the clothes here and the ministry said that they will distribute them. I want to distribute them, but I think that it’s best that the ministry does it because it’s hard with deciding who gets them and I don’t want anyone to feel left out. The ministry is planning to start a school here, so right now their plan is to give them to their school children. Also with some of the money that my brother gave me, I was able to leave the ministry with money to buy some new Bibles (many people don’t have their own Bible here) as well as some money for one of the staff women to go back to school because she said she really wants to and has only completed 3rd grade believe. In the afternoon some women came for our Bible study and then some teenage male youth came to fellowship as well.
On Tuesday, it was election day in Malawi. They get this like henna tattoo on their finger after they vote that doesn’t go away for a while so that they can’t vote at other polling sites. We were listening to the updates a little on the radio. We had heard that the current vice president was found with ballots in his home right before election day or something trying to cheat the system to get the current president re-elected, so now the current president is out of the running. We also heard that some of the polling sites didn’t have the materials yet when they were supposed to. We saw some people from the European Union here to help make sure the elections were going smoothly I believe. They still haven’t announced a winner yet.
On Wednesday, I led the morning devotion, and I talked about prayer. I was also able to give some bread with butter and peanut butter to all the workers, so that was fun. We had a final Bible study that’s normally with just the women, but this time it was with everyone since it was our last one. On Thursday we went to get tested for malaria, and I didn’t have malaria! I’m really glad since I wasn’t taking any pills and had gotten bit by a lot of mosquitos. God has just been protecting me!!! Today, we’re going to try to make some Americanish food for the staff here and then they’re having a little going away party for us. Then it’s off to debrief! Thanks for reading!
