june 15: family, fun, and witchcraft?

Sorry guys, I know its been a couple days….

My family I am staying with is precious. They are so kind, welcoming, and godly. The mothers name is owns 3 shops: 2 tailor shops where she makes traditional dresses skirts purses and pillows, and 1 hardware shop. The dad is an engineer for a tobacco company but i havent had the opportunity to get to know him closely yet. they have 3 children. the oldest daughter is 21 i think,  works in Blantyre, a four hour drive away. She came in town last weekend but we wont see her again for a long time. The oldest and only son is 24 and goes to college in south Africa. He is home on holiday for a month and is helping his mom with the shops and such (today he is salima helping to furnish the cottage they are building by the lake… score!) he likes to drink and party some, but is very funny and respectful to his parents and guests. The youngest daughter is 17 and goes to boarding school. She is also home for holiday until august. She has been very quiet the whole time but last night we made popcorn on the stove and had girl night. We talked about boys culture and danced around the room… it was really fun. Tonight we are planning on teaching them to play spoons, estes style:] which can get a little crazy ha.

On Sunday, we had youth service at CCBC. We discussed the difference in career and calling. Career you are chasing the money and calling you are chasing what god wants for you. I kinda disagreed with them because they said they could be similar but not the same. I gave the example of mom and praying with her patient… I think that if you have a career where god has given you talent and you carry him with you wherever you go,  you could be following your calling. Its all complicated. They only have youth service once a month, which in my case is not frequent enough to really get kids excited for god. The teens have gone to the same church with eachother since birth and do not know eachothers names, what they each like or dislike. Its ridiculous. I think we have to start teaching the lesson starting next Sunday and im nervous:\

The Awana program has flourished since last year. They get involved with eachother, and learn several bible verses and seem to be going deeper. We are in charge once again of planning the lesson each Monday and wed. I suggested doing a series on the ten commandments. Anyone who has any object lessons or creative ideas at all please let me know(mom and mrs amy mmhhmm)

We have not been working much in the school yet because they are preparing for exams. However, we helped in the nursery today. They are SO cute:] we are doing a bible camp when the july team comes, and while that is going on morgan is going to help with training teachers. Then in September, we are brainstorming doing 30 minutes a week with each classroom to help with English pronunciation and reading comprehension. The problem is that the way Malawi has always been taught is memorizing, so their thinking skills never develop. Many adults here cannot do a simple puzzle…

Each Friday, we go and visit the caregivers in the adziwa gardens. We help them with any chores that need to be done. So far, we have only done dishes and mopped a little. One house we went to brought out more dishes than ive ever seen and looked like they had not been washed in a week. When morgan and I began to wash, hundreds of cockroaches ran everywhere. I thought I was about to lose it because it would have been very insulting to not finish or to comment so we had to act as if nothing was going on… the were running across my toes and up my skirt. I started sweating and light headed and pale. It was awful.

Each day after school we go and help with the feeding program. At 11 oclock, anyone who went to school that day can go and stand in line to get porridge(soy flour, corn four, and brown sugar boiled) our job is to wash the plates before hand, hand each of the hundreds of kids a spoon and a plate and then wash the dishes again when they are finished. The water gets so gross, and we wash for a solid hour and a half. Its so good that they have a somewhat nutritious meal because that is all some kids get to eat all day!

On Thursday afternoons, we are in charge of a youth program in adziwa. This is 14 to 19 year olds that get together for bible study. Last week was the first time and we played a name game. When the july team comes we will start a girls guys and godliness study hopefully:]

On Tuesday afternoons we do a womens bible study in adziwa. Morgan has kind of taken lead of this one seeing as I am only 17 myself. They  get together and sing so beautifully. This past Tuesday we talked about grace and what that means in gods eyes. That they should forgive the unforgivable. One lady,  told us that her husband used to be an alcoholic and abusive. For instance, one day she was taking a shower and he came and threw a brick at her.. and here the bricks are really large. One day, he got really sick and could not walk anymore or do anything for himself. She chose to forgive him for everything and took care of him for 9 years. Then one day his relatives came and took him away from her and he died a few weeks later, she to this day has not seen where he husband was buried. If that is not grace I don’t know what is! Its crazy to think what I can hold on to and hold over peoples heads… if she can have grace to that awful man I can do anything you know.

Also, apparently witchcraft and voodoo is largely used here in Malawi. There was a girl in her yard casting a spell  one day… harry potter makes it seem non-threatening, but it is not a joke.  I have seen 2 kids that I am pretty sure are possessed. One of them, is 4 years old in the nursery and will be so sweet one minute and then will start muttering, get the crazy eyes, and then start hitting and punching anyone around her. I immediately pick her up each time and say I love you jesus loves you over and over again. I sing jesus songs to her and pray… she calms down for the moment.

As you may have noticed through my blogs, alcohol is kind of a theme over here. Also a lot of men in kauma drink all the time. They are able to grow their own at their house and its very very strong. The girl,that I just told you about in the previous paragraph so walks around pretending to drink, rolls her eyes in the back of her head and stumbles around the playground. There is also a boy that I just absolutely love, who does the exact same thing. ive noticed a correlation with those kids: they are all violent. It seriously breaks my heart.

Prayer requests right now… relationship with my family over here and back home:] strength, wisdom and guidance while we plan all these bible studies, the youth at CCBC, fat baby, lonely, Pricilla, my health, patience for me and Nicole and morgan, understanding, and unconditional love.