Long post from Monday

Monday August 30th 2010




Hello All!



I am writing this post while sitting on the floor of my room in Dzuwa and will save it to my flash drive to put up when I get a chance. Hopefully I will post it tomorrow (Tuesday) as I will be going to Kasungu for a meeting with another JTW staffer about the children’s feeding program. I am a little nervous about that meeting, as I am not sure what responsibilities I will be given. Today will be my 4th full day here in Malawi. I feel like I have been here much longer. Actually sometimes it feels as if I never left. Things are going pretty well. It has been so great getting to pick up where things left off with Gloria and Elliot (my hosts) and Gift and Esna (the family who just moved to Dzuwa who I stayed with last time). Tacondwe and Tawina, Gift and Esna’s kids, have finally remembered me after looking at some of the pictures I sent to them last year. It is so fun b/c wherever I go Tacondwe is always calling “Stephie, Stephie” and then talking away in Chichewa b/c he wants to talk to me or take me to play but so far I have no idea what he is saying most of the time. Hopefully that will change soon. I have had a blast playing with the kids here. Who would have thought?! Haha (that is a joke for all who don’t know me super well…I LOVE playing with kids!)



Oooo ok funny story (p.s. this is going to be a really random post b/c I am just typing when I remember something its not necessarily in order)…on the day I arrived after getting everything I needed in the market we stopped to put diesel gas in the truck before we left. However the first gas station we stopped at was out of diesel! As was the next one and the next one!!! So we drove around for about an hour stopping at 7 different gas stations all of which were out of diesel!!! Crazy! I was beginning to think we were going to have to sleep in Lilongwe for the night. Finally the 8th gas station had diesel BUT its power was out so you couldn’t pump it!!! Ha! And their generator was out of battery so they couldn’t even turn that on. Finally a man took the battery out of his car to put in the generator so that everyone there could pump gas. By that time basically the entire city was there trying to get gas as it was the only one that had diesel so there was a huge line to wait in but by 6:30pm we were gassed up and ready to leave for Dzuwa (some 2.5 hours later than we were ready).



I have also already had the chance to attend a Malawian wedding reception! This past Saturday afternoon I walked with Gloria and her niece down the road through the village to the wedding reception. It was a very interesting experience. When I first arrived Gloria went off to find someone and told me to wait in a certain spot. While I was waiting the entire village, who was at the reception, just stood there staring at me and the little kids surrounded me in a circle!!! Definitely the hardest thing I have experienced so far. Although I knew from my last trip that everyone always stares at the Azungus (white faced people) I was not prepared to be left alone to have an entire village stare at me and me not be able to do anything about it. I just wanted to be able to talk to them to tell them “listen I am exactly the same as you! I have hair, eyes, a nose, a mouth, and a beating heart just like you! My skin is just a different color!” but of course I am not fluent in Chichewa yet so I couldn’t. I tried to go around and greet some of them to show them I am human but it didn’t really break the ice much. It took all of my strength not to burst into tears!!  The rest of the wedding was pretty fun, lots of dancing and singing. It was interesting to compare different traditions. For example the groom wore sunglasses the entire time, and both the bride and groom did not smile the entire time!!! I couldn’t believe it! I think they were not supposed to smile to show that this was a serious commitment they were making. I don’t know. Gloria said that this isn’t the way it is in all villages just in Dzuwa.



Church. Church on Sunday was also very fun. I couldn’t understand any of it but it was cool to see the people of Dzuwa worshipping our God in such a different way and language. Very sweet! Hopefully before next Sunday I will be able to learn some of their prayers and songs in Chichewa!



I have been working hard to learn Chichewa and have made some progress. Not a ton of progress but some. I have to keep reminding myself that it is only my 4th day here. I think I sometimes have really unrealistic expectations for myself about how I should be picking up the language much faster. Both at the wedding and at church one of the things that struck me the most while I was sitting there listening to only Chichewa being spoken for 3+ hours was…how in the world do people who move into remote villages to learn the language to write it down for the people (like Wycliff) do it???!!!! How do they ever manage to learn the language without anyone there to be a go-between??? I am so puzzled!! I am praying that God really helps me to pick it up fast.



Some things that I have learned so far…

Nyumba- house

Mkhukhu- chicken

Ndi kutenga madzi- I am going to get water

Impela- ball

Ndi kuona- I see …

And some other phrases…stay tuned for more 



Last night for dinner I got to make grilled chicken!!!! Which was such a great treat that reminded me of home.  I explained how we always grill everything at home (shout out to dad and uncle van!). I am still trying to adjust to the time here and get acclimated to everything. Hopefully when I find out more about my job I will be able to get into more of a routine.



One thing I am really excited about is that on Sunday nights our JTW team meets for devotions together and on Wednesday nights we have bible study. Devotions last night was great! Gift lead it and we looked at 2 Cor 9:1-7 and how it relates to our name Joy to the World and what it looks like to take joy to the world. We also sang lots of songs and I even got to lead a couple of the ones I learned last time. We also went over some of the business stuff. It was really cool to get my first glimpse into the inside workings of our ministry.



Ok I think that is it for now…sorry it is so scattered!







Happy Birthday MOM!!! 



Tsalani bwino

Steph



p.s. They have solar panels here to power their electronics some of the time!!! So I am charging my computer right now from solar panels!!! Yay!!!!



Some things I have learned about Malawian culture…

-they like to throw their playing cards down when playing a card

-they like to walk very slow



Prayer Requests

-That I would continue to adjust to the time and general life here

-That my meeting on Tuesday would go well and that I would have a better understanding of my role here and that it wouldn’t be overwhelming.

-For family and friends at home

-That I would pick up Chichewa fast and would be patient with myself.