MERRY (late) CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Well I am sitting here on the internet in my little village. Sooo crazy! I still can’t believe it! Its officially 2011 both here in Malawi and back at home! I actually got the chance to watch the ball drop in NYC with my sister Darcy via skype! How Amazing! It was so great as I was a little disappointed last night that instead of getting ready to watch the ball drop or bang pots and pans to celebrate the New Year I was sitting in my bed working on a report that I had to finish. What a great surprise to wake up to!

December feels like a blur to me. It went by soooo fast! How is it that I am already starting into my 5^th month here?!!! The major highlight of the month was the presence of the World Race Team (WRT). God seriously poured out His blessings on me through them this month!!! It almost leaves me speechless. He answered so many of my prayers through them and I am sooooo grateful. Going into the beginning of December I was really struggling being here. Really missing home and family, and just feeling like there was no possible way I was going to make it. When they arrived they took me in as one of their own teammates basically, loving on me and encouraging me, which was exactly what I needed. It was so great getting to know each person on the team and getting to hear all about their experiences in the other countries and how God has been working. Hearing their stories really helped to continue to grow my faith and teach me more about God’s power. Its really easy for me sometimes to fall into the trap of totally limiting what God can do in my mind and not praying with total confidence knowing that God is totally capable of anything. They helped to show me what praying with complete trust and faith looks like on a whole new level. Everyday we had devotions together too. It was so amazing to be back in Christian community with people of my same age group, culture, and language! Although we are a community here within JTW it is very difficult to connect deeply with people whose culture is just sooooo vastly different from mine and who speak another language. It was also so great to just “be” with them. To be able to walk over to their house and just hang. To read by myself if I wanted to, to play cards with them (learned a super cool new card game called 13), to listen to someone playing the guitar, to talk with them, or to just sit quietly and enjoy being in the presence of others. They were just sooo welcoming and caring. I even got to make two trips into the city with them to first, run some errands to the embassies in preparation for their next month and second, this past Wednesday, to see them off as they were leaving. It was so great to be able to escape with them on a mini-retreat to a super cool hostel in the city and to be able to again just “be” with them exploring the city and fun restaurants. Some special treats during the two trips include: a chocolate milkshake and grilled chicken, tomato, & cheese sandwich for dinner one night, yogurt and granola and fruit salad for breakfast, movie night with the girls (we watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding), getting to witness one of the hostel staff members come to Christ as a result of the World Race Team loving (they had also stayed at this hostel as an entire squad 65+ people before coming to Dzuwa and other teams going out to other places so they were continuing to build on relationships during our 2 stays there), and homemade secret recipe Italian ice cream at an Italian restaurant run by a man who moved to Malawi from Rome. Well I could go on forever about how great the team was and how much I learned from then but overall God just totally used the WRT to minister to my heart! Thank you sooooo much team A-mor3!

Christmas in Malawi:

As much as I missed my family, all of our Christmas traditions, Christmas decorations, cold weather and snow, and just the holiday spirit that permeates the air this year, it was super cool to be able to experience Christmas in such a pure way. No commercialism to pollute the true reason for celebrating Christmas- the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! J The whole advent season was really sweet as I was able to go through an advent reader I had in my bible. It was sooooo amazing to be able to go back and read through many of the different prophecies made about Jesus and then to be able to see how they were fulfilled in His birth! I learned a lot! Christmas Eve night there is no church service here in Malawi so while I was cooking dinner that night out on our front porch I sat and sang all of the Christmas carols I knew and had my own little church service. After dinner I went over to hang with the WRT and we sang more Christmas carols and watched ELF. Christmas day is very simple in Malawi. You go to church in the morning and then come home and if you have the money make a Christmas meal. So that is what we did (or tried to do) here in Dzuwa. The Christmas church service bell rang around 9am but church doesn’t usually start until 10am so all of us (JTW & WRT) didn’t start off for church until around 9:45am. When we arrived we made it just in time for the closing prayer and for announcements. Whoops! We missed the entire service! Oh Malawi time…you never know when things are going to happen! So we headed back to the house.  We had our own little devotion when we got back and then hung out until we started cooking dinner around 3pm. Well dinner took longer to prepare (as is always the case) so we didn’t end up eating until around 8:45pm but everything was delicious!!! We had rice, nsima, tomato “soup” for the rice, 3kgs of goat, 6 chickens, and vegetables. On Christmas Eve Rachel and Christal from the WRT and I decided we were going to make some Christmas dessert surprises. J So for dessert we had plain and strawberry rice krispie treats (they don’t just sell plain marshmallows here in malawi), peanut butter fudge, chocolate and peanut butter no bake cookies (compliments of Alexandra), and vanilla cake with caramel sauce topping (which we baked on a little grill!!! similar to a webber but a much cheaper version). Everything was soooo delicious! We were very excited since we did everything from scratch without measuring cups or spoons or a real oven! Ha! It was also very hilarious to watch the Malawians try to secretly pass off their desserts to one another since they didn’t like them!!!!! I guess its because they just haven’t grown up with sweet tastes like what we made! Hahaha very funny! Anyway Christmas was overall very nice and fun and just a great time of fellowship celebrating the birth of Jesus.

Our New Sets of Wheels!!!

JTW Malawi is now the proud new owner of 2 motorcycles and an SUV!!! It is crazy to see how God is providing for our ministry. Transportation has been a struggle here with lots of money being poured into public transportation and lots of time being wasted travel on that public transport. Thanks to an amazing donor we were given the money to buy our new wheels to help alleviate this problem! I got to take our new SUV for a ride yesterday (just a 2 min drive down to the school and back haha) and am super exited! It was really weird though driving on the right hand side of the car while having to shift with my left hand instead of right! Oh boy! Something new to get used to! The SUV will be especially helpful in ensuring that I have clean water to drink as we can now take it to town and load it up with water. I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to get clean water here in Dzuwa since my water pump died so this is a huge answer to prayer!!!

Prayer Requests:

-Safe travels for the World Race Team: Praise the Lord they arrived safely in Johannesburg after a 36 hr bus ride, one team still has to make the drive to Swaziland so be praying for protection for that drive, and pray for renewed strength and energy heading into their 7 month

-School starting back up here in Dzuwa: Sadly I am really really really really not looking forward to going back to teach, I am so excited to see the kids but teaching is sooooooo hard and exhausting and I just feel soooo inadequate! I also just found out that the guy that has been helping me teach and translating for me (my co-head of the Feeding program) got accepted to college in Uganda and is leaving mid-January! So I am really not sure what is going to happen and how I am going to teach by myself. Pray Pray Pray

-My Health: I am just getting over being sick. I got sick this past Monday while in Lilongwe. I think it was dysentery (whatever that is I am not really sure). One of the girls on the WRT had it and my symptoms were very similar to hers so that is what I am guessing. I started on a course of Cipro and seem to being doing fine now. Pray for continued healing and that I wouldn’t get sick again. Praise the Lord I got sick in town where there were toilets!!!

Okie Dokie…that’s all for now J Thanks for hanging in and caring enough to read to the end! 

The Day the Azungus made Pala!!! :-)

Well the World Race Team (WRT) has finally arrived here in Dzuwa! J They arrived safe and sound Dec 6^th and have been such a blessing already! One of their first activities here was making pala for my Dzuwa school kids. The Wednesday after they arrived the women who were supposed to be cooking that morning didn’t show up because they were too busy working in their fields (this is something that will be a constant battle during the rainy season). So Esnart, the WRT, and I decided that we were going to try to tackle the task of making pala for the kids. What a feat! I am so amazed by the women who cook everyday because it is a ton of work! It took 15 of us to do what 2-5 village women do every morning. We carried all of the supplies to the school, started the fires, and filled the 2 HUGE cooking pots with water (making multiple trips to the water pump). Then once the water was hot enough we added the maize flour and then took turns stirring until the pala was thick enough to serve. The smoke in our cooking shelter is ridiculous! We have 4 windows and a door and yet standing in the shelter for 5 minutes is an almost impossible task with all of the smoke. It literally feels like your eyes are going to fall out they are burning so much and it is very hard to catch your breath. But we managed to complete the task thanks to everyone’s hard work. Both the kids and teachers reported that our pala was delicious! Wahoo! J We even had requests for us to be the permanent pala cooks! Ha! The WRT also helped me put on a game day for my standard 1 kids the second to last day of school. This was a BLAST! We did a bunch of different relay races and all the kids got candy when we finished. We have been practicing the concept of a relay race the entire year so it was so great to see how much progress the kids have made to actually be able to have a game day!

Holiday Break:

Friday Dec. 10^th was the last day of school for term 1. In total I tested orally one-by-one question-by-question 84 of my standard 1 students (which on the one hand is sad to me that more didn’t show up but on the other hand I don’t know if I could have handled any more kids!). I handed out my homemade report cards on the last day of school for the kids to take home to their parents. Who knows how many will actually make it home but I at least wanted the kids to be able to see their scores.  One of my fellow teachers whose son I have in class actually came up to me and gave me a HUGE thank you which was a huge surprise and gift of encouragement. I think that many of the teachers had tons of doubts about my ability to teach the kids so it was VERY cool to hear him thank me for how well his son did on his exams and how much he has learned. Yay God! Overall though I am sooooooo thankful for a break from school!!! Pray that I would get good rest these next couple weeks and that I would be able to prepare well for the start of Term 2, which starts January 3^rd.

News Flash:

As of about 9pm Malawi time on December 15th 2010 my little village of Dzuwa entered into a new era. We now have internet access!!!! OH MY!!!! Yes it is still true that we don’t have running water or electricity but we have internet! Hahaha! When running off of solar or generator power we are able to turn on our router here and have wireless internet so I am actually posting this sitting in my room in the village J Its not as fast as internet in Kasungu but it will allow us contact with the outside world during the worst months of the rainy season when we are basically trapped here in the village. Praise the Lord for providing the money to make internet possible!!!

Well I can’t think of any more super exciting things or random comments to share so I guess this is the end of my post. Thanks soooooo much again for all of your prayers and support. I am completely blown away by all of the messages I receive from people giving encouraging words and saying you are praying! Even people from other countries that I have never met!!! God’s kingdom is just sooooo amazing!

Finally I think my 2 biggest prayer requests right now are for continued protection from sickness (there have been some bugs going around here…1 JTW staffer is down with malaria and 2 WRT girls have been diagnose with dysentery)…also for prayers for Christmas and being away from home…I am excited to be able to be here to experience a Malawian Christmas but I am very sad to be away from my family…pray that I would really be able to be present here and soak up every minute of Christmas in Malawi.

P.S. A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS TO MY LITTLE SISTER JAMIE FOR GETTING ACCEPTED TO FURMAN UNIVERSITY!!! WHOOT WHOOT!!! If you see her give her a big hug and say congrats!!! J I am soooooo proud of you Jamie!!!!

P.P.S. Check out new pictures on my Facebook!   

Its Raining Its Pouring the Old Man is Snoring!!!

Rain: 
Yep its true...the rains have officially started in Dzuwa. For the most part they have just been small rain showers so far but we did have one HUGE storm that flooded our entire yard! It was pretty incredible! Our house has a tin roof and rain on a tin roof sounds soooo crazy...especially when it is pouring! Its so loud you can't hear the person next to you talking!!! So fun to experience (from inside though). It will be interesting to see what happens in Dzuwa once the heavy rainstorms are more consistent. From what I hear you wade through like 2 ft of water going anywhere! Oh boy! I have my rain boots ready! :-) Since the rains have started that also means that everyone has been sooooo busy in their fields cultivating and planting their crops. So busy in fact that some of the women haven't even showed up to cook for our feeding program! Grrr. I have never lived in a farming area so all of the cultivating and planting techniques are very fascinating to me. Oh and there are no big farming machines here (shocking I know! *sarcasm*) so all of the work is done by hand with one hoe! So a family will prepare acres and acres of land all by hand! The people of Dzuwa grow tobacco, corn, soybeans, peanuts, and beans. Its very exciting to see how everything is becoming so much greener and some of the plants are already growing! I can't wait for the day when there are huge corn fields for me to run through (it has always been one of my lifelong dreams to run through a corn field...yes I am weird). Also since its raining you might be wondering about our cultivation program...well we now have all 6 acres committed to us! Praise the Lord!!! One acre has been prepared for planting. Today is the deadline we gave the chiefs for all 6 acres to be cultivated and planted so they should be working as I type this. We'll see what I find when I get back.

School:
This Friday Dec 10th is the last day of school for term 1! WAHOOOOOO!!! I am so ready and excited for a break! This past week and continuing into this week we have been giving our kids final exams. Yes that is what they call them. Can you imagine final exams for kindergartners!!!  I was very surprised by this. I don't even remember taking tests in kindergarten. Does anyone remember taking tests in Kindergarten?? Anyway administering tests to all of my kids has been quite a task!! We don't have the resources to produce actual tests (I don't think the kids would understand them even if we could) so we have to administer oral tests to each student!!! So far I have tested 80 students!!! Their test consists of writing the letters we have learned so far (A-K), numbers 1-10, shapes (circle, square, triangle, rectangle, diamond), questions in English like "what is your name?" and "how are you?", and some simple commands like jump, run, touch your head...Testing each kid individually is soooo tiring and frustrating...especially since the kids are so young you have to prompt them to do everything saying "write A" like 5 times before they actually do it. OH MY! Going into the exams I was a little nervous because in a lot of ways I feel like I have failed these kids. There are just so many of them I feel bad I can't give them the individual attention they crave so much. I can't even learn all of their names (not yet at least)! I feel awful I always have to ask the kids their names. And I can't speak their language! Gosh I just want to be able to communicate freely with them soooo bad. I was very nervous to see the results of the tests because felt like the kids may not have even learned anything and would fail in all subjects. Well the tests have turned out better than I was expecting! I knew I had a group of like 5-10 kids who were really learning but I didn't know what to expect from the rest of them. I have been surprised that many of the kids who I thought didn't pay attention in class are really learning. They could write and recognize many of our letters, numbers, and shapes!!!! I couldn't believe it! There are still a handful that got zeros though. Most of them are the younger kids who really shouldn't be in school anyway but just come for the food. So overall God has really blessed me with good scores and has encouraged me that maybe I am teaching these kids something.

Immigration Papers:
I have turned in my application for my work permit and am now just waiting to hear back from the office in Blantyre to see if it has been approved! I also finally got a return flight (I had to turn in a copy of my ticket with my application and was having great difficulty with my travel agent). I leave Malawi on August 1st and  officially return to the USA late August 2nd 2011. So for now I am living on an extended visa until my papers get approved. Please pray they get approved.

Frogger:
I now understand the concept of the frogger game. While driving home late at night from Lilongwe after turning in my immigration papers I felt like I was in a real live game of frogger...except I was in the truck! There were soooooooo many frogs out on the road!! Oh my goodness I couldn't believe it! Everywhere you looked there were frogs! I was sad though we couldn't really dodge them so I think we were responsible for quite a few frog deaths! :-(

If you don't move you will be hit!:
This is a statement I have learned is absolute truth here in Malawi. Whether you are walking, riding a bike, crossing the road, or driving if you don't move out of the way you will be hit!!! Here is the hierarchy Trucks>Cars>Bikes>People & Animals...during one trip into town I saw a truck hit a biker b/c he didn't get off to the side of the road fast enough...and my minibus today ran over a goat because it didn't get out of the middle of the road fast enough...I think the goat is still alive for now at least...so you have to be super aware of your surroundings at all times!

The Finger Snap:
Ok remember the finger snap that all the guys at Furman did all the time?? (sorry for those who didn't go to Furman) They would shake their hand in some way that their fingers would snap...ok well I was waiting outside of my classroom the other morning and one of my students started doing it!!! I was so surprised and excited and starting laughing. During my time at Furman I learned how to do the snap a little...I am no pro but I can do it...so I did it back at the girl who did it and all of my students who were watching were awestruck! They were shocked I could do it and started talking among themselves "Ahhh Ahhh Madamu Madamu" (They call me Madamu) It was soooo hilarious! Who would have guessed they know the finger snap in Malawi!!!

New Internet!:
Well I am writing this post using the new internet system here in JTW's Lighthouse Internet Cafe. December 1st they installed a fiber optic system!!! and it is so fast! It is really almost as good as internet in America! I am soooo thankful for the new system! I was even able to post more pictures in my facebook album! Here is the link:  http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=558627733664&set=a.558627608914.2078334.28304486#!/album.php?aid=2078334&id=28304486

Ok well I will end this post with the 4 responses to seeing an azungu I have experienced here so far and some prayer requests. Thanks for reading!! :-)

The 4 responses to seeing an Azungu (white person):
1. Complete Terror- this usually comes from little children who have never seen a white person before and burst out screaming and crying acting as if their life is in mortal danger
2. Utter Shock- mouths wide open & speechless frozen still where they stand
3. Total Indifference- could care less and won't acknowledge your presence just walking right past you with a mean look
4. Absolute Excitement- frantically waving and screaming "azungu azungu" and cheering when you wave back or greet them

Prayer Requests:
-The World Race Team: there will be a team from the Christian program the world race living here in Dzuwa for the month of December. They arrive on Monday :-) I am very excited for their arrival and for the chance to spend some time with other Americans my age!! Pray for safe travels for them and  for their time in Dzuwa that God would be preparing the way for them and work in great ways through their time here.
-For Family back home
-For me and homesickness here...especially as Christmas is approaching...It was hard to miss Thanksgiving with my family and will be even harder missing Christmas...
-Pray for health during the rainy season: protection from Malaria, Cholera, and other diseases that explode here while there is lots of standing water.

Standing Inside a Tornado!

Yep! Thats right! I have stood inside a tornado (or Kavumbu in Chichewa)!!!! Now mind you the tornadoes in Malawi are much smaller, less powerful, and less dangerous than the ones back home...but still its kind of cool to say I have stood inside a tornado! :-)

Thanks for all of your prayers these past two weeks. I finished my perspectives paper last Friday. I spent the entire day (8am-5pm) researching and writing and managed to get it finished and sent just as the internet cafe I was in was closing! Praise the Lord!!! I was sooooo exhausted after but so thankful I finished. As for the meeting with the chiefs...it happened! But we are still waiting for them to give us all of the land we need. Right now we only have 2/6 acres promised to us. Pray that we get the remaining land before it starts raining!  And my immigration papers...well I am still working on them. I "expire" on Nov 25th so I need to get them turned in before then. I need to provide them with a copy of my return ticket which I am still working on getting right now! So please be praying that I am able to get a return ticket home so I can turn my papers in!

Now for a bunch of random comments...

Airplanes: In Pittsburgh an airplane flies over my house about every 30 seconds (I timed it once when I was laying outside looking at the clouds)...In my village of Dzuwa we might see a plane fly over once a month! The other day I was sitting outside journaling and heard an airplane...I immediately jumped up and ran off the porch where I was to try to see the airplane. After I had watched it until I couldn't see it anymore I sat back down to continue journaling. I started laughing though thinking how HILARIOUS it was that I had just ran to see an airplane!!

Skirts: In the village all women wear skirts. You would never ever ever ever see a woman in pants because it is soooo against their culture. In the city pants are becoming more acceptable though. Anyway skirts...although they are great at keeping you cool in the over 100 degree weather and make using the chimbutzi (the hole in the ground bathroom) super easy...they are sooo impractical for so many other things!!! Like playing sports! All the girls love to play netball here and they are pretty rough with each other (in a loving manner of course). Girls fall in the dirt all the time...but who would have thought that the first thing you should do when falling is to hold your skirt closed instead of catching yourself!!! So sometimes these girls fall straight up flat on their faces because they are too busy worrying about flashing someone! HA!!! Also they are very impractical for riding motorbikes and bikes! I mean really who even rides a motorbike/bike in a skirt! Malawians that's who! I was riding a bike in my skirt down the main street of Kasungu the other day and a huge gust of wind came and blew my skirt up! I shrieked and tried to pull it back down without crashing. Needless to say all of the Malawians around me were laughing at me not only because of the skirt thing but because I was riding a bike too (Malawians in my experience don't think Americans are capable of anything like riding a bike, carrying things on your head, doing your own laundry, cooking...I think they think we just sit around at home with people serving us).

Growing Creativity: Yesterday in my standard 1 (kindergarten) class we had art day. I brought in crayons and glue and told the kids that they could do whatever they wanted (color on paper, on rocks, pick flowers or leaves to glue...). When asked if they all understood they said yes. I told them they could get started and they all proceeded to sit and stare at the crayon boxes!!! I had to go around and open the boxes and continue to tell them over and over to draw a picture. Eventually they got the hang of it and started coloring. But while I was having a blast coloring a rock and then gluing leaves and flowers to it they just sat and colored with one color. Most of them just drew one stick figure person. A few really had fun with it gluing and coloring rocks but that is only like 3 out of my 90 kids! I hopefully will continue to have art day occasionally hoping to encourage their creativity and teach them how to color pictures with more than one color crayon!

Mangos: Its almost mango season in Dzuwa. They are just starting to rippen on the trees!!! Very exciting! There are so many of them that you can just pick however many you want from whatever tree you want (without paying!!) as long as you don't ruin anyone's growing crops. Its funny...before coming to Malawi I didn't like mangos dried or fresh...but now I LOVE them!!! I can't get enough of them :-)  All of the kids at school know this too. This past Tuesday I climbed the mango tree at school (I love climbing trees and had sooo much fun...sooo refreshing!) to try to shake some mangos down. All of the mangos close to the ground had already been picked so I had to climb up pretty high. Despite all of my best shaking efforts (while the kids watched and laughed at me) none fell down! :-( But no worries one of the boys was nice enough to climb up a little higher than I was willing to go and picked me one! :-) The kids love to give me mangos. The super funny part though is that most of the time the mangos they give me are already half eaten and covered with dirt!!! Now who would want to eat that?! But I smile and gladly accept their gift (its very rude in Malawian culture to turn down any gift) and sometimes eat the mangos (after washing of course) and other times I regift the mango to my little sister at home :-) Haha  Mangos!!! YUM!!

Poverty: I continue to grow more and more disgusted with the poverty here in Malawi as time goes on. As I have been told the hungry months here are Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar! 6 months out of the entire year!!!!  But as I am told and as I am beginning to see Dec, Jan, & Feb are the absolute worst. Kids are continuing to come to school more regularly and my class continues to grow everyday. We are even having to use extra pots to make enough food for all of the kids. Working with the feeding program at school is VERY frustrating some of the time because the kids just don't like to listen. Especially when it comes to time to get seconds if there are leftovers after all of the grades have been served. The kids push and shove and fight to get in line first to make sure they get more pala. The even lie to me to try to get in other shorter lines (they line up by grade) to get food. It makes me soooo mad that they are so disrespectful and don't listen! But then when I take a step back and really think about it...if I was starving and trying to get enough food to survive then I would probably be doing exactly what they are doing!!! Ahhhhh!!!! Grrrrr!!! Lord why does it have to be like this?!!! I am sick of hearing about women having miscarriages because they are just too malnourished for their bodies to support a baby! They are so common here in the village! I am sick of watching the students I have grown to love continue to waste away to nothing. There is one girl here in the standard 7 class who literally is just skin and bones and it hurts soooo bad to even look at her! Please be praying that the Lord would continue to provide for our programs here so we can sustain these kids through the worst months.

Slow Internet:  Grrr I hate slow internet. I am sooo thankful for the great access we have in the US. I tried posting more pictures to facebook but the internet is just too slow here today! Sorry maybe next time.

Hope everyone reading this is doing well. Thank you so much for following me here and praying for me!!!! It is so encouraging to know I have such a solid group of people praying and routing for me at home!

The Illegal Immigrant!

Well things are still progressing here in Malawi...ITS NOVEMBER!! Crazy!!!

Today I am just going to share the 3 main things that are weighing heavily on my heart right now that you can be praying for...

My Work Permit/Visa: Well I bet the title of this post caught your eye and you are wondering what it is all about! Well it is true! I was an illegal immigrant!!! When I arrived in Malawi I was under the impression that I was given 3 months to live here before having to have my work permit. Apparently I was only given 30 days! So my travelers visa expired on Sept. 25th! Oops! I visited the Malawian immigration office this past Monday which is where I found all of this out. The Malawian immigration officers at the airport really need to do a better job explaining things when you arrive. How was I supposed to know a little scribble-scratch on my passport stamp meant 30 days?! But it did and the officer at the immigration office questioned me harshly as to why it was expired! The whole process was a little scary because they had every right to deport me! I got shuffled along to the big boss and was questioned again. I explained why I was here and for how long I was planning on staying. Finally he granted me an extension on my visa if I payed an extension fee. So I am legal until November 25th. He also gave me the papers I need for my work permit. So I have to have all of those filled out and turned in before the 25th otherwise I will be arrested! And he made sure to stress the arrested part will all seriousness! Oh boy! So I am very nervous about getting all of this paper work together and getting it turned in on time because you never know what problems you are going to run into in Malawi! Please be praying that I am able to get all of the paperwork together and find a time to get to the immigration office again without running into any major problems.

My Perspectives Paper: Before leaving for Malawi I took a week-long perspectives class at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary called "Perspectives on the World Christian Movement". I managed to finish all of the homework before the class actually started (as I left 3 days after the class was over) so I wouldn't have to worry about it while I was here in Malawi. The only thing I have left to finish is the final paper which is due on Nov 22. I have made arrangements to stay in the city where there is internet for my research but some JTW meeting rescheduling is shuffling that date around. Paper writing isn't my strong suite and I have a very limited amount of time so please be praying that I would be able to get it done. Also that I would enjoy doing my research and learning about my topic.

Feeding Program Meetings: This past week we were supposed to meet with the feeding program committee as well as the 15 village chiefs to discuss some of our program specifics, most importantly the land for the cultivation program. There have been 3 scheduled meetings before this that no one showed up to. The meeting was supposed to take place this past Wednesday but again no one showed up. We rescheduled for Friday sending out personal letters to all of the chiefs and again none of them showed up!!!! I had suggested just driving our JTW truck around and picking each one of them up to get them to the meeting but I was told that would be considered very rude in Malawian culture. I AM VERY FRUSTRATED!!! Coming from a culture where people show up early for meetings so that they start on time waiting for meetings that start 3 hours late is already hard enough. Now the people are not even showing up! As the rains are quickly approaching we need to get all of our land in order so we can plant. We can't do this though without being given the land by the chiefs. And we can't get the land from the chiefs if they don't show up! Grrrr...I am still having a very hard time adjusting to working in this kind of Malawian culture and feel very helpless as to know what to do to try to solve these problems as everything I suggest seems to get shot down. Pray that the meet happens this week and we can get our land in order in time to plant.

Other Prayer Request:
-Family back home
-JTW relations-improved communication & organization
-That I would stay healthy while feeling a bit stressed

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)