Don’t act like you didn’t sing that title.
Also, SO to my best friend who I miss so dearly and who I think of every time I hear that song. I love ya, girl!
If you haven’t read my blog before (or in awhile), I’m currently doing a short series recapping my Race so far month by month. Sometimes in the day to day life, giving a general overview can seem impossible, but, because of that, I think I’ve missed out on sharing some of the interesting and practical parts of my life.
So, here we are.
Malawi.
Ministry: Harvesters
Location: Zomba, Malawi
Currency: Kwacha (727 K= $1)
Language: Chichewa
Overview:
Though national language is Chichewa, many people speak English, and throughout the rural areas, individuals will only know specific tribal languages. This month our host gave us a small house to live in. We had a real bathroom and shower, three bedrooms and a living room with a couch. It was wonderful and so much more than I had personally expected as I thought about what our living conditions in Africa would be. We lived in a tiny town called Zomba, which is in southern Malawi.
Here’s a video of where I lived in Malawi:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rPhgIOgwaP4
What types of ministry did you do in Malawi?
In Malawi, we worked with a ministry called Harvesters. Harvesters is a ministry that is located in over 50 countries worldwide. It is a Bible school that trains pastors and encourages church planting. In fact, every graduate is charged with the goal of planting at least three churches in their lifetime. We worked with Pastor Isaac and his wife Ruth, who are the regional coordinators of Harvestors. We spent our time here doing solely one ministry- preaching. Pastor Isaac would take us to churches that had been planted by graduates of Harvesters each day and two to three of us would preach. Sometimes we would sing, as well.
On this particular day, I preached at Pastor Isaac’s church.
How did you get to ministry?
This month Pastor Isaac drove us to ministry in his car each day. Since most of our ministry was in rural areas, typically an hour or more away. This was so nice.
What did a typical day look like?
8am: Breakfast
8:30am: Leave for ministry
10am: Arrive at church- preach, sing, etc.
Noon: Return from ministry
1:30pm: Get back home/Eat lunch
3pm-5pm: Go to town for wifi- Call home, update expense reports, post blogs, etc
5:30pm: Team time
6:30pm-8:30pm: Prep time for a new sermon
8:30pm: Dinner
9:30pm: Bed
11 Lessons From Malawi:
1. Malawi is known as “the warm heart of Africa”.
2. Almost a quarter of this country is taken by Lake Malawi. (During my time here we were actually able to go there. It was incredibly beautiful.)
3. The two main religions here are Christianity and Islam. Though historically, and currently, in many parts of the world, these religions do not peacefully coexist, this is not the case here in Malawi. The two exist almost without incident.
4. The largest Kwacha bill is a 2,000. That’s around $2.75 USD. (Imagine buying a tv in $3 bills.)
5. Dress code is stricter here, as women do not show their knees.
6. Women carry their babies on their backs using large pieces of fabric. We’ve seen girls as young as five and six carrying their young siblings on their backs.
7. Most individuals in the rural areas farm to make a living.
8. Many individuals in rural areas will live in small homes made entirely from grass. Some will have brick walls with grass roofs.
9. The main food eaten in here is rice with chicken, which we had every day. Our host also made us French fries every day, and sometimes multiple times a day, but always for breakfast at least.
10. Malawi has many large markets in which individuals will sell clothing, shoes, animals, rice, fruits, veggies, chargers and a wide variety of other items. (We lived about a mile from one during this month.)
11. The realest lesson I learned: Always have a can of Raid at home. Our record for number of cockroaches killed in one evening was upwards of 12. (Not to mention they’re about four inches long and can fly.)
This is one of the congregations at a church we preached at.
