Out and About on my own!

Well today marks a very exciting milestone for me! Today I travelled to Kasungu all by myself!!! I woke up at 5 this morning, left the house by 6am, rode 45min on the back of a bike to Santhe where I caught a minibus to Kasunu, and finally arrived around 8:30.  :-) Yay!!! Not that I don't like travelling with my co-workers but so far it has been great to get out and be a little independent! It has been hard for me to have to be so reliant on everyone here. It also has been very hard feeling like I am with people all the time becuase I am a very introverted person and love alone time and the ability explore things all by myself.

Hmmm...so what is new? There is actually not too much to report. Things here are very much the same. School is still going well, although I now have between 80-100 kids coming on a regular basis. This makes it SOOO hard to keep everything under control and to teach. The kids all like to talk and play instead of listen to me teach, so it is quite a task keeping their attention. They are still doing very well though and learning a lot! I actually got a chance to compare my standard 1 kids with the standard 2 kids this past week as I was teaching BOTH classes for 3 days. The standard 2 teacher was in the city so they asked Timo and I to teach both classes! That is between 150-200 kids! The first day I combined both classes in one room. Big mistake! That was just too many kids in one small space! But it allowed me to see that my standard 1 kids are lightyears ahead of the standard 2 kids in terms of knowing and recognizing their letters and shapes. So that was encouraging. The next 2 days I just had to dance back and forth between both classrooms. I felt bad because I wan't able to give my full attention to either class. Please be praying for patience for me with the kids and that I would really be able to show them God's love for them. Also please continue to pray for the funding for our feeding and cultivation programs. We are currently borrowing money from other departments to help fund our programs. Pray that God would provide!

A huge blessing this past week was the arrival of a package from home!!! At the end of September my water filter here broke! But by the grace of God there just happened to be a team of Malawians from Blantyre in Pittsburgh!!! So my parents were able to send a new filter, my Ipod (which I worked so hard to organize all of my music on and then proceeded to forget it in the car at home!), and some other surprise goodies back with the team! So now I have clean water and music from home!! Wahoo!!! :-)

Finally a chichewa update...I am slowly learning more and more. I now have a handful of key phrases tucked away in my pocket which is very exciting! I can officially greet anyone anywhere at anytime of day (b/c the questions are all different depending). This is HUGE because greeting people here is a bid deal. The general rule of thumb is that if you can see someone you have to greet them even if you don't know them. So for example if you see someone working in a field some distance away you still must greet them because you can see them! Haha it is very different than the US and you are considered very rude if you break the rule. Sometimes me being able to greet someone turns into a hilarious situation because then sometimes they assume that I know chichewa and just start blabbering away and I just smile and laugh and say "Pepani ayi chichewa" (sorry no chichewa). Hahah its very funny. Most of my phrases I know have to do with either teaching, cooking, or coaching. One of my favorites is "Osma pinda kashuihushuihu" or "Don't bend your elbows"! :-) All of you volleyball players out there should recognize that one in terms of passing! The kids find this one particularly hilarious too!

Alright that is it for now I think :-)

Thanks so much for all of your prayers!!!

Please continue praying for
-Family back home
-Funding for our programs
-Patience with the kids
-Absorbing God's word (I am getting to spend a ton of time in the word here which is soooo great but pray that I am really working to put what I am learning into action!)

p.s. I posted some pictures on facebook so check them out! Here is the link to the album
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=558628282564&set=a.558627608914.2078334.28304486&ref=fbx_album#!/album.php?aid=2078334&id=28304486&page=2
if you can't view them just friend me :-)

p.p.s. Note the change in address again! Still trying to figure out the best way to get mail. Still haven't received any from home! So trying a box in a bigger city and hoping that might help a bit. Don't worry though to anyone who sent something it might still get here its just taking FOREVER!

Is it October already??!!!

Wow! I can't believe it!!! October?! Really?! Well I have officially been here for a little over a month now and am definitely started to feel way more at home and used to everything. I feel like I am finally starting to get into a semi-routine (as routine as you can get in unscheduled Malawi) and have a better handle on all of my responsibilities. Teaching and the feeding program are going pretty well. It has been really fun to see how my students are actually learning what I am teaching them! Crazy! We have had a few meetings with the school teachers and feeding committee since my last post and it has been great to hear the feedback they are giving. They say the program is really helping the kids to learn better and giving them an incentive to come to school. The program has also helped increase enrollment in the school from around 400 kids last year to almost 900 kids this year!!!!!!! Wow!!!! We even have over 40 kids (and the number is still climbing) that have transferred in from outside the Dzuwa School boundaries just because of our program! Please be praying for all of these kids, that they would be really seeing this meal as a gift from God and from JTW. Also pray for continued funding for the program so we can keep feeding and loving these kids!

My absolute favorite thing that has happened since my last post was helping to host a team that came to visit Dzuwa from the High Desert Church in California. They were such a HUGE BLESSING!!!!!!!! (all caps and many exclamation marks still doesn't even begin to describe that either). They were in Dzuwa with us for about 4.5 days getting to see some of the different programs JTW has a hand in. On the Saturday they were here we held a vacation bible school for the younger kids at the school. Over 300 kids showed up! We had such a great time playing, singing, drawing, and acting out a bible lesson with the kids. The HDC team really did a great job! On Sunday one of the pastors from the group preached in our local village church. It was such a blessing getting to hear preaching in my native language and to be able to understand what was going on! I kind of had an "ah ha" moment thinking that "wow this must be how tribal people must feel when the gospel is finally translated into their language!". It just hits you straight to the core of your being!!! Sunday we also got to visit with some of the microfinance women Gloria works with which was so fun. Monday they visited Kasungu and then Tuesday they headed back to Lilongwe. I had such a great time getting to know the team and fellowship with them, especially the women on the team! They spoiled me with some great American meals including spaghetti and meat sauce, some yummy boneless chicken breast, pancakes, and even SMORES!!!! Oh boy!!! They also helped catch me up on my lack of hugs as people in Malawi don't hug! For all of the HDC team reading this...THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU SOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!! God sent you guys right when I really needed some American loving and encouragement and you guys really went above and beyond adopting me into your team!!! You guys really helped me to feel like I can survive the year here!

As I am typing this I am sitting in Lilongwe on my way back from Blantyre (a city in the south of the country). Gloria, Chico, and I travelled down there for one of Gloria's best friends weddings and got a chance to stay with her family. The wedding was very interesting. Very different that an American wedding and even a village wedding. Lots of dancing, throwing of money, and waiting around. No free food or cake. If you want a slice you have to pay for it!!! Crazy! Sorry I am running out of time so can't give you more details. It was awesome getting to meet Gloria's family and stay at their house and explore the city of Blantyre. The markets there are HUGE with TONS of people! Might be able to post a picture later. Travelling there takes forever though on public transport. 13 hours!!!! oh boy! be praying for the rest of our trip today as we have maybe 4 more hours to go.

Ok one last funny story! Well funny depending on how you look at it. So one night in Dzuwa I woke up and felt something on my leg. I looked down and there was a RAT!!!! About the size of my hand on my leg!!!! I laid sooo still and was thinking to myself "ok stephanie what are your options? You could reach down and grab the rat...NO I don't want to get bitten and get rabies...so your other option is to slowly sneak out of your bed and get Elliot"...So the rat jumped down into my bed off my leg and I slowly snuck out from under my mosquito net and quickly tucked it back in to try to trap the rat and went and woke up Elliot asking him to "Come Save Me!"...we went back into my room and looked all over but the rat had escaped! Booo!!! I have no idea how it managed to get into my bed under my mosquito net! But the story ends well as we killed the rat a couple nights later...bye bye Charles (yes I named it!)...now I sleep with a cloth under my door so nothing can get in :-)

Well darn...I had just hoped to upload some pictures but the computer I am on won't let me! Boo!!! Maybe next time!!

Thank you soooooooo much for all of your prayers!!! I am really doing much better...although I still have some tough days (as is to be expected). Keep praying for perserverance, for continued adjustment, for my chichewa (I am starting to get a little better with some key phrases...especially with my teaching), for my family at home, and for continued communion with God. He really is the only thing that has been keeping me going here!! I can't imagine being in a foreign country without him!!!!

Stephan (this is what people call me here b/c apparently the IE is too hard to add to the end of my name? ha)