Kyms Korner

Christmas Tree Biscuits

2010-12-28T15:09:00.000-08:00

For Christmas our friends The Crocketts gave us biscuit mix. Now for my British friends...this is American biscuits not cookies. And the directions said to use a biscuit cutter to make the biscuits (or a cup) but I decided to use the tree cutter. And this is how they looked before cooking...man did they rise and they were huge and yummy!!! We very much enjoyed!!

The story....

2010-12-06T18:11:00.000-08:00

Adam and I met almost 4 years ago. We both helped in the wedding of our good friends Butch and Sandra Bradley. I met Adam and remembering thinking that he was a great guy. He was really easy to talk to, funny, and he was active in the church we both attended. But..... I was leaving for Africa soon and had just recently broke up with someone to so that I could get on the field. So I was not thinking about a relationship by any means.

Fast forward to about 8 weeks ago. I went to see my friend Kevin speak in Oklahoma City and I called Butch and Sandra and told them that I would be in the area. They told me I better stay the night. It was a Sunday night and I went for pizza with Butch and Sandra after church. And Adam came in...he looked familiar but I couldn't totally place him. Sandra leaned over and told me it was Adam Coe and that we should re-meet. So Adam and I sat down and chatted away. And it went from there. We started writing emails and calling each other everyday. And then I went back the next weekend. The thing that impressed me the most was how Adam interacted at church. How he was respectful to those around him as well as them being respectful of him.

I spent the holidays with Adam and his family and while we were there his mom mentioned that my ring should be coming and maybe I will get it when we get back home. Adam kind of looked at me and said he was hoping it to be a little bit more a surprise than that. We came home on Sunday after thankgiving and sure enough in the mail was the letter from the post saying he had a parcel. So Monday morning we went to the post office...(yeah I was with him when he was picking up MY ring) haha. So he gets in the car and opens it...turns it sideways so I cant see it and proceeds to say, "I think you are really going to like it, but I am going to wait until Christmas," with that I laughed and said... uhm no. So from the post office we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Side note....when my parents came the first week of november for a family reunion, Adam asked their permission at breakfast at Cracker barrel..haha. So we are at breakfast at Cracker barrel, when we finish eating Adam goes to the bathroom and when he gets back he tells me that he doesn't need to sit down quite yet and gets down on one knee. It wasn't too busy, but we did have 3 or 4 couples watching and smiling really big. Adam said a bunch of really really sweet things that I cant quite remember, but ended with the fact that he knew the Lord gave him his soul mate and his heart belongs to me and he is so thankful for what the Lord has done in our lives. Oh...I did say yes. =)

So nothing crazy and extravagant, but something perfect for me. And even though I knew he had the ring in his pocket at Cracker barrel, he still managed to surprise me when he popped the question. Thanks so much to all of you that are praying for our new relationship and the next steps. Our wedding will be June 18th, 2011.

The first picture is the day Adam asked my parents permission and then ofcourse the other picture is the day of the engagement.

Swaziland

2010-08-19T23:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I arrived in South Africa, and then today I drove almost 5 hours to the cute kingdom of Swaziland. I will be here for the next 10 days. I am looking forward to meeting new people and seeing what is in store for Swaziland!

1 Day...eesh! Dedza and thanksgiving in July!

2010-07-31T23:39:00.000-07:00

Today Kim, Jeff and I went to Dedza. Janet (my boss, friend, mom.. you name it) needed me to pick up and order and since Kim and Jeff had never been I thought it only appropriate that they come with!! We had a wonderful time! Then tonight for dinner the baptist threw a Thanksgiving in July dinner. It was DELICIOUS!! The Pumpellys, Farmers, Colliers, Lawrences (it was their party too), and the Cearleys were there to send me off. And Jeff and Kim got to come too!!

Thank you Baptist family for making Malawi feel like home! For loving on me unconditionally and also being so fun.. and Amazing cooks!! whoop whoop. I love you all lots and lots. Jeff really wants a big giraffe.. he tried to take this one from the Farmers. hah

2 days..Dinner with two of the coolest people!

2010-07-30T23:32:00.000-07:00

Over the past two weeks I have been blessed in meeting Kim and Jeff Witte(they are brother and sister). They are here working with Children of the Nation (same organization as my roommate Annie). They are just awesome, fun people!! I look forward to getting to know you guys even more. =)

3 days..Mensers Fairwell

2010-07-29T23:19:00.000-07:00

Tonight we said goodbye to a very sweet family, the Mensers. We will truly miss you guys!! This message is just short and sweet to give a shout out to them!

4 days...Oh Lake Malawi

2010-07-28T13:11:00.000-07:00

So I am going to combine two days because I messed up a little on my countdown. I was one day off. whoops! Yesterday we left for the lake and spent the night. We had a wonderful relaxing time. It was awesome! The team was great to be with. It was my last trip to the lake for a very long time, so it was a bittersweet trip. I spent time with Phillip this amazing drum maker. He is a deacon at the Baptist church. He is so passionate about Jesus and a blessing to spend time with. He wanted to give me this gift.. and it was a cute little minni drum. I love it!!!

Mat and Janet Lawrence are one of my adopted parents here in Malawi. They not only love on me and treat as one of their own, the are dear friends. We are sarcastic and pick on each other like regular family members. I love them lots and lots!!

Here is the sunrise that we watched..

on the way home from the lake we stopped and bought mice..and I definetely ate a mouse! Whoop whoop!

5 days...Fairwell with CPET

2010-07-26T14:12:00.000-07:00

Today was our fairwell with all of our translators. The team "CPET" means Church planting evangelism team. =) It was an awesome afternoon. Many speeches and words of wisdom and many many telling me next time I come I will have a husband to introduce to them. Very funny and sweet. I think the part that blessed me so much is one of my friends, Gift, shared that even though I am leaving I have a legacy and when people ask about me they have many good things to share. It was very nice and I felt very loved and touched!!

Then this evening I had dinner with two of the lovliest people. Jeff and Kim Witte. They are here for the summer and I have truly enjoyed spending time with them and they are from Washington. Whoop whoop!! You guys were great, thanks for the company!!

6 days, Sweet Anita

2010-07-25T13:44:00.000-07:00

Today one of translators came by the house to say goodbye because she is unable to come to the fairwell tomorrow. Anita has become a dear friend to me. She is so talented and uses her gifts to glorify the Lord. I am so thankful for getting to know her!! Anita took some material to her taylor for me and she brought me the skirt today. After I tried it on, she then gave me a necklace, earrings, ring, and bracelet that matched my skirt. So cute!! Then I gave her some earrings, so here are some pictures of our earrings and my skirt. I love it!

7 days...day with the roommie!

2010-07-24T13:13:00.000-07:00

Today I had a day with my roommie!! We first started our morning at Mat and Janet's for breakfast. We had yummy cinnabon cinamon rolls...wowzers. Then Annie had an appoitment for a hair cut, then we went to our friend Lori's house for a visit, then to the office to pick some items up, then off to Henry's house for a visit, then home where we had about an hour, then our friend Sharon came over. We had tea and cake and it was delicious! Then we went to the Farmers for dinner and a lovely time of visiting and laughing really really hard!!! I love you Farmers and Annie.
This picture is our 4th attempt with Sharon. =) I like it!!

8 days...Last day at COTN

2010-07-23T12:55:00.000-07:00

Today I had the opportunity of going to Children of the Nation where my roommate Annie is a teacher and I have been one in the past. Although it was a very emotional day for Annie, it also showed her how much those kids love her and she loves them. The students did some dancing for me and I hope that I captured some of it for you. They are such amazing talented students!! They will surely miss their Auntie Annie!!

9 days... part two of Soul care

2010-07-22T12:31:00.000-07:00

Today we had a second day of our souls being taken care of. In the morning we talked about where we were from. We also were given some goodie bags with makeup. So...Lauren and I of course decided to get some bold colors and put them on!! This would be the end product of that!! And.. it looks like Im glowing.. I am! I couldn't figure out the buttons on the camera I borrow. =) The team that is putting on the soul care is from Virginia so what more to think of but the beach... So Janet had to try on the beautiful shades. Lastly the team had Lauren over for dinner and they surprised her with a belated bday present and some extra loving. It was a great day!!! And my evening included dinner with Annie, Kim, Jenn, Jeff and the wonderful people in Mtsiliza. My camera was missing at the dinner, but it was so amazing to see how much the people in Mtsiliza just love Annie!! Annie Brown, you rock!!

I apologize... pictures are a coming!!

10 days..Soul Care day!

2010-07-21T12:20:00.000-07:00

Today and tomorrow we are being spoiled. Some American friends have come here for a mission trip and part of their trip is to provide two days of "soul" care for us. This could be anything from sharing our testimonies to having our hands washed by each other. It varies each year. In the morning today we had a time of sharing and this afternoon we had a great time rewriting great songs into songs to Jesus. It was fun!! Here are some pictures from the day. This is the first group and they sang "do you love me?"

This group sang...Im a believer

My great friend Florisa is so cute and so pregnant, I felt I must have a cute picture of her! here is the cheezy one.. Then the cute one. =)

11 days...Chiwengo and my sweet friend Kat

2010-07-20T22:13:00.000-07:00

Today Annie asked if I would like to travel about an hour and half north to Chiwengo. This is where there are homes set up for orphans. Annie wanted to say goodbye and get to play with the kids. And our friend Kat came so she could meet one of the kids and see if he could come to school with her. We had a great time. I would just like to brag on Kat for a minute. She is amazing! She has been in Malawi now for 5 years, she loves it and is here indefinetely! She is beautiful, witty, funny, honest, loving, etc! She is transparent with you and I think that is so important! When you see her in action with the kids, your heart melts. I love you Kat!!

12 days...Explorers of Tomorrow

2010-07-19T13:13:00.001-07:00

Today I went to visit Explorers of Tomorrow for the last time. Last week I met with the director and his wife to say goodbye and he then asked if I could come and speak to the teachers. This school was the very first school that Johanna and I taught at. So it has been so neat to see how much it is growing and what the Lord is doing in the lives of the students as well as the teachers. The sweet little man in the middle is the new dean of students and he is precious!! The school also presented me with a wrap and a beautiful painting! It was such a great time with all the staff!!

13 days...area 3 Baptist

2010-07-18T13:02:00.000-07:00

Today I went to Area 3 Baptist for my last time. What a wonderful day filled wiht great music and fellowship. The pastor had me come forward and share a few words and then they presented me with a gift. Then the choir came forward and Gome led the choir. Gome is my supervisors helpers son. He is 8 and he did a great job! It was so cool to see!! I did make the silly mistake of remembering the camera, but forgetting the SD card that was sitting in my computer at home. And sure enough I don't have anyway of retreiveing those pictures. So all that to say, I did take pictures!! just wont get them. But here is an awesome picture from the drive home from Karonga.

14 days..Great times with Mary

2010-07-17T14:39:00.000-07:00

We drove home today from Mzuzu to Lilongwe and it is so good to be home!! Nothing like a shower and my own bed. =) I was blessed to get to spend the week with Mary Polglase and she is just a sweet great lady!! Mary you are awesome! And then this morning Lauren cooked us pancakes and bacon. Thank you friend, it was wonderful and thank you so much for my AMAZING chitenjes. I love love them!

15 days, wow!

2010-07-16T12:46:00.000-07:00

Today we drove halfway home from Karonga and stopped in Mzuzu. We had a wonderful lunch(twice baked potatoes, salad and brownies..yum!!) and afternoon with the Laffoons and then a wonderful evening with Lauren. She took us to have awesome Indian food, then we watched Persuasion and enjoyed a great night together! Tomorrow I head home and am looking forward to being in my own room and seeing my roommie!! It was an awesome week!
Here are two different scenes we saw on our drive home today! So pretty!! And there was fish everywhere! haha

The Laffoons dogs had puppies..4 of them and this is one of them that will belong to the Pumpellys. I thought I would take a picture of their new puppy! they were quite cute!

Lisa and Anna Marie Laffoon. Two of the sweetest gals!!

16 days...Day 3 of training

2010-07-15T12:11:00.001-07:00

Today was our final day of training. And today is the day they get to go out and teach what they have been learning and studying. They did an AWESOME job! They are now traveling back to their home villages where they will group up and share this information with the youth in their areas. I’m excited to see what God is doing and will do through these youth that were trained. They had such an excitement and passion to share. =) This one of the schools that we shared at. There were lots of students, but not many who signed the cards. This was very discouraging to my crew. I think they wanted to see many make the decision to abstain until they are married. It was a very cool time to share that its not about number but about the sincerity of the students.
This is the other school that we shared with. They were so rowdy and got the giggles alot, but we had a amazing response. It was very cool!!!

This is the whole crew with their certificates. You can see everyones faces, but they were all smiling. =)

Need I say anything about this cute little man?!! He hung out with us most days.

17 days... day 2 of training

2010-07-14T10:36:00.000-07:00

Today was another long great day. WOW! Everyone practiced their parts in the presentation and got used to being in front of each other. Here are some pictures from yesterday and today..Here's a picture of the church that the training was at. It was cute, small, and quaint.

One of the things I like to teach everyone is to make the youth feel at home. And there is nothing like singing a silly dumb song to get the youth warmed up. Here we are singing doodie bop. Fun Fun!!

The crew responding and singing along! love it!

Here is the crew studying and preparing for their presentations. They were great great students!!
After the training today we were invited to the Mphande's home. We had a delicious meal including rice, meat, greens, and bananas. I was very full and this was my first time to have beef liver served in Malawi. She put some amazing flavoring on it. It was yummy!!

Here is the family, they were so giving and so inviting. I had a wonderful time!

18 Days...Training and more

2010-07-13T21:26:00.000-07:00

Today was our first day of training. We had the training at Karonga Baptist Church, old town. There were about 23 that came for the training. The training consists of me presenting the material with two other guys helping (sky and Jonathan), then by afternoon we distribute the manuals and everyone gets to start studying the materials. I can not get the internet to stay connected long enough to add pictures, so please be patient with me. But we had 23 students just excited to learn more and full of questions. It was a long, but great day!!!

19 Days...Karonga

2010-07-12T10:59:00.000-07:00

Today Mary Polglase and I traveled to the North. It was about an 8-9 hour drive. We had company along the way. I drove mostly, so I did not take any pictures. But dont worry, there are some to come! I will be here for about a week and we are right off of the lake. Its beautiful, but we also have mosquitos and heat that come with it. ugh. this week I am doing a true love waits training and I am looking forward to seeing how many come and are interested in learning more. Pictures will arrive tomorrow.

20 days....Flood

2010-07-11T11:57:00.000-07:00

Some Sundays I get the opportunity of going to Flood, which a great Church. The music is wonderful and the pastor is a blessing.He always challenges you! And the members of the church are so nice to fellowship with. Here are some of my former students from Children of the Nation. These boys ask to go to church almost every sunday. So sweet!!

Sean is the name of the pastor and his wife is Tapiwa. They have two beautiful children and are a great example for the church!! Here is Tapiwa with their newest addition, Jordan. Beautiful!!

This last picture is Edith and I. Edith has the gift of speaking and teaching. I have been blessed to see both of those things. She is also a part of our tuesday night girls and I truly enjoy her fun sweet spirit!

21 Days, The Basikolos

2010-07-10T13:41:00.000-07:00

Today I had a lovely brunch with my sweet friend Kat. It was so nice to have a relaxing morning with a good friend, and I got to bless her with lots of clothes as well as lots of spices! Funny story, I am putting the spices in the box for her and I drop the whole tray...whats in that tray you ask? A bottle of red food coloring. It went everywhere, the best part though was that it looked just like blood all over the kitchen floor. You could look at the situation two ways and we chose to laugh.
After brunch I went to Chinsapo to visit with the Basikolos. They are a family that I have gotten to know over the years. Mr. Basikolo is the head master at the very first school we taught at called Explorers of Tomorrow. The school has continued to grow and develop. We had some great tea and biscuits and a lovely visit. Here is Mr. and Mrs. Basikolo.

Mr. Basikolo had to leave the room and Mrs doesn't speak too much English so I got out the camera and showed her pictures then we took this one. She just loved it and so do I!!

They have 7 beautiful children, this is just one of them. Isn't she just gorgeous!!!

Pizza & the Mensers, whoop! 22 days

2010-07-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

Today, I cleaned out my house..I know, really exciting, then I cleaned some more. =) Charles our gaurd, gardener, and house cleaner was excited because my give away pile just kept growing and growing. I went over the Lawrences house in the afternoon to drop off some clothes and I took an awesome picture of Gome...but I had taken out my SD card, so its on the actual camera and not the card... and ofcourse I dont have the chord for it. Haha. So this blog is pictureless, and I do apologize. In the evening I also had the priviledge of having dinner with the Mensers. They are a sweet, fun, awesome family. They will be heading back around the same time as me. We had pizza and good fellowship. We are baptist, we know how to eat and visit with the best!! =) Tomorrow, there will be a new picture, sorry about that.

Driving...Driving...Driving, 23 days

2010-07-08T13:00:00.000-07:00

So this picture may not be as exciting to you as some of the previous, but I think its kind of cool. Yesterday we drove to Blantyre, then today we drove back. Yesterday Janet and I were together, so it was quite nice, but today she had to drive another car back to Lilongwe...so it was about 4 hours in the car and I forgot my Ipod. Yeah, I know! But I found it kind of cool that that there are some kids running in the shot, you also get a great side view of my truck in the mirror, then there is the fact that I didn't roll my window down all the way, so it makes the picture kind of two toned. Yes, its the little things, and I love that you can really see the contrast of the grass.

This is what I get to see when I am driving, but its really way better than what I can catch on camera. Imagine when the sun is setting!! Wowzers!

Blantyre and the Browns...24 days

2010-07-07T23:07:00.000-07:00

Today we (Janet and I) traveled to Blantyre. Blantyre is about 4 hours away. It’s another big city in Malawi. Here in Blantyre Janet needed to go to the Assemblies of Blantyre to pay property tax on some houses the mission owns, go to immigration to file TEPs (temporary employment permits), Malawi housing authority, and MRA (Malawi revenue office). Today we arrived around noon and we unloaded our truck and went straight to immigration. First mission…accomplished. They were closed at first because it was their lunch (cant mess that up). Then we went to grab a bite to eat…we ordered our meals with chips, but we asked for masala chips, which just means that they were flavored…well the waiter brought out a huge plate of chips.. and that was all. =) So we were figuring we either get just chips or he will then bring out meals and they will have chips too… sure enough that is what happened. But good all the same. After lunch we made it to the assemblies of Blantyre, got everything paid, and it was going very smooth, but the guy that needs to sign the documents is not in and we should come back tomorrow. We then went to the grocery store, I bought a wedding present, and then we headed to John and Claudia Brown’s house. We had a wonderful wonderful evening with them. Laughing, crying some, and just enjoying each others company. Here is a picture of the crew in the living room. Love you John and Claudia!!

25 days...Farewells and reunions on the same day.

2010-07-06T12:39:00.000-07:00

Today I went to the Jawads home one last time. As I am writing I just realized that it was the last time I will see them. (Unless I take a trip to Lebanon) They are a sweet, amazing family that welcomed me into their home. The girls really liked playing games so when they came over we played skipbo, phase 10, and some other card games. They also showed me all the games that are on my computer. who knew? =) I let them take the games with them. This is another beautiful picture of the girls along with their little cousin. Johanna and I had the opportunity to watch a really cool wedding, then we met the couple, then I have got to watch their little girl grow. She is going to be a year at the end of August. Too cute!! I pray that one day our paths will cross again. Sarah and Batuul, if you read this.. I love you so much and it was so wonderful getting to know your family!!

Then as you may know Tuesday night is girls night and the family who started girls night is the Moffetts. They moved to Ghana, but since then we have kept the tradition going. Well... Matt Moffett was in town and we got to see him again. Whoo hoo. Because it is summer and also alot of our girls have moved back to the states or other countries.. it was just Matt, Annie and I. But here is a great picture taken by my timer. (good job timer) and I had to included the awesome Malawi clock/map in the background. Matt it was delight getting to see you!! Love ya!

26 days...Birthday parties and game night

2010-07-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

The mission family got together and celebrated Ethan's 6th birthday. Here he is getting ready to blow out the candles. We had a blast!! I love this family! I truly have been blessed to get to know the Pumpelly family. They make me laugh and I enjoy their company!! Chad and Mariam you are wonderful friends and I look forward to seeing you on my many trips to come! The Pumpelly's have been so fun to get to know and the kids have been a blast to watch grow. I will miss you bunches!!

Then that night the Colliers had The Farmers and I over for dinner and games. We played dominoes and giggled a lot. Thank you Colliers for hosting us and always making me feel at home when I come over! Love you guys. Betty and Lloyd I just smile when I think of you!! You bless me. Thank you for making me feel like one of your own. I truly could not ask for a better set of extra parents(with Mat and Janet) and friends! love you guys!! Betty I just love your smile in this picture!! (I love it always, but you are smiling extra big!!)

27 Days

2010-07-04T00:19:00.000-07:00

So Yesterday the Jawad family had me over for tea/coffee and biscuits. I was prepared to say goodbye but then they asked me to come by again on Monday, so it made the visit easier. I just hung out with the girls and their mom. Their cousins and aunties were in town, so I got to meet alot of the family. There were moments that I truly wish I could speak Arabic so that I could of communicated. =) But then it didn't feel awkward, they always make me feel at home. This is Beautiful Sarah and Batuul. =)

Batuul and I...

This is Sarah and I.

Then Amal, the mom was serving this very strong coffee in these beautiful cups from Lebanon that I compliment every time, and as she is serving it she asked me if I would like to keep the cups. How sweet!! Here is a picture of the beautful tea set.

Countdown to America. 28 days

2010-07-03T01:13:00.000-07:00

So I will start with things that are going to be a little bit easier to say goodbye to. This is my precious dog, Kiyara. Although I will miss her lots and lots, she is going to my friend Kat. Kat will love on her and she will protect Kat from robbers just the same.

This is my truck. And I know you are already laughing. But come on, its old Blue. She has gotten me on some back roads that you wouldn't of even thought were roads. Before coming to Malawi I had a little honda civic and loved it, still do, but then......I got this!! Its been very realiable and just great!!

Promise pictures will be more exciting as we go. =) well maybe and if I can keep borrowing someones camera, because mine is not in kahoots.

Volunteers =)

2010-06-28T23:21:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from my most recent update. =) If you don't get my emails and want to, just let me know.
This is the whole crew. There were two different teams. We had a great time together!

This is Lydia and me in the village of Tchale. She became my buddie within minutes!!

This is people lined up to be baptized in Kumalindi Village.

Here is the beautiful sunset that we saw on our game drive.Wow!

I love elephants!!

Enjoy!!!

Kumalindi Village, take 4

2010-06-20T12:02:00.000-07:00

I had the amazing opportunity of working in villages over the past month with two teams. One from Oklahoma and one from Lousiana. They were a blast. The best part though is going out in villages and sitting and talking with people. One of the villages that we went to was Kumalindi. Now if that sounds just a little familiar to you, it should. This was my fourth time back and it was such a blessing. We had some discipleship classes at the church and then the rest of the team went out hut to hut. There were many new church members that joined us doing the door to door ministry. It was so exciting to see their excitement for Jesus. Another cool thing....One morning we arrived at a house and the man started asking questions. Now mind you I do read my Bible, but when it comes to knowing where things are..I don't know diddily (new word) =) and so when he started asking I just really asked the holy spirit to help me in finding answers for this man. Sure enough as he was asking, I looked down and my bible was open to a story that answered the questions for that man. I mean...how cool is that!!!!!!!!! The picture attached is this stinking cute girl that I fell for! She couldn't help but melt your heart and make you smile. Hope you enjoy!!

The coolest kitchen staff Ever!!!

2010-05-20T02:23:00.000-07:00

This is number 5 40/40 for me, but for most the kitchen staff it has been even more. They are the sweetest, kindest people!! They are ready to serves us with amazing smiles and they never complain. (well maybe they do in Chinyanja, but not in english. haha) I have had the opportunity of getting to know them over the last 2 years and its truly a delight! I love them to pieces. Ethan, the cook was not a believer when I first came to 40/40 but at mine he became a believer. So it has been so great to see him grow in the Lord. He was Muslim and his name was Imran, but he has asked to go by Ethan. Every morning if you go into the kitchen early you will find him reading his Bible. It is such a blessing to see. From Left to Right... you have Matilda (she makes some amazing food and this girl can sing!!), then you have Enawas, and she smiles at you as she brings out tea and biscuits, just precious!! Then Esnart, she has just recently really really warmed up to me. She started to joke around with me alot and making sure I was always in the kitchen serving with them. If I didn't show up she would tell me I was fired. =) Then me..then Mwaka. Mwaka's smile is absolutely contageous and you cant help but want to be around her! then there is Benson, he is new to the team and was great. He helped with the dishes. Then Ethan is on the end. What a great crew!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bush Camp

2010-05-10T02:02:00.000-07:00

So the sweet girls and I had really really gross feet! Most days we looked to see who's was the dirtiest!! On this particular day I decided to let them all soak their feet outside my tent, then we painted our toes. Quite a great little girly afternoon that we had together. The other picture is when we went to town to get a coke and a fritter. We had fun!! Two of the girls are sisters and will be serving in Uganda and Olivia will be in Malawi, and Hannah is in Zambia. =) They are great fun girls!!

Sleepover

2010-04-02T14:00:00.000-07:00

So my neighbor wrote me a letter and told me she loved me very much and she would like me to be her mom. Now I have received many letters, but was not quite sure about this one and exactly what that meant. So I met Chisomo one day at the gate and asked her what she meant. She told me she would like to come and stay the night. Who knew? So if you ask someone to be your mother, it really means that you would like to come over to sleep. So she planned on coming 2 weeks later. I decided to invite Vetu to come as well (she is Mat and Janet's house helper's daughter)Sweet girl. So the day is set, I go to pick up Vetu and her brother is crying and is very sad that he does not get to come, so I tell him he can and then call another couple in our mission and see if their son and daughter would like to come so that Gome is not the only boy. So we know have Gome, Vetu, Anya, Ethan and Chisomo, but Chisomo brings her little brother as well. So Annie and I went from having 2 girls to 6 kids. Here is the picture of them all brushing their teeth. It was precious. Gome had never used an electric toothbrush, so I let him use mine. He thought it was the coolest. I had so much fun!!!

children of the Nation in Chitipi

2010-03-03T04:20:00.000-08:00

I am teaching right now at Children of the Nation. The kids would be in the 9th and 10th grade in America. Children of the Nation has orphanages all throughout Malawi and one of the homes is in Chitipi. I have been to Chitipi twice now and you cant help but fall for these kids!! This is one of my favorite action shots from our water balloon fight. I mean really, how fun does that look? Times it by a few and that is how much fun we had! Then there are some girls playing bowa, which is kind of like Mancala if you have played that before, and we have Stevie posing for us, and then there is sweet sweet little Esnart! And if you are wondering, we gave them some stickers.. and sure enough they put them all over their face! fun!!

Explorers of Tomorrow

2010-02-26T03:40:00.000-08:00

Just before Karen came to visit, Lauren and I went to Explorers of tomorrow to visit and see how the students were doing. While Karen was here we had the opportunity of going back to Explorers of tomorrow. This was the very first school that Johanna and I taught at. When we arrived, they were having closing ceremonies and we were surrounded by tons of kids. Among the students that came was Mercy. Johanna and I had her in our Standard 8 class. She had grown probably another 6 inches. This picture does not give her justice because I am standing on a huge step. =)

Samuel and his family had us over for lunch. Samuel is the director of the school and him and his wife have 7 children. He is passionate about the students and the school is growing more and more. It was so cool to see how much it had developed.

CPET: Church Planting Evangelism Team

2010-02-10T04:06:00.000-08:00

This is the youth team that I work with on a regular basis! They are so sweet and amazing. They are all holding certificates from a True Love Waits training. I am truly truly blessed to say that they are not only my friends by my family. We joke around and just really enjoy each others company. Here are all theirs names from left to right.

Anita, Majudo, Leiter, Dalitso, Phenneley, Japhet, and Peter. The second row is Sibisiso, Melify, me and little Lean (who belongs to Leiter and Anita).

What an super group!!!

Last Tuesday with Johanna

2009-12-20T05:10:00.000-08:00

This is our Tuesday dedicated to Johanna. It included an awesome video that Lisa made. So great! We had about 2 weeks of lunches and goodbyes. I was truly blessed to have Johanna as my teammate. She is a great friend! love you lady. Included in the this picture is: Top Row, Cheryl, Me, Annie, Lisa and Jessica. Second row is: Johanna, Kat, and Edith. Let me just tell you a little about these ladies. They are amazing and I love that the Lord put us together.

Cheryl: She grew up here in Malawi. She has dual citizenship with Canada and the US. She is an amazing lady who happens to be one of the coolest Mks ever. She works at one of the schools here as the accountant. and does many other things as well!

Annie: She works for Children of the Nation (COTN). Works with about 15 orphanages, helps get them started and their education grounded. There are about 15 orphanges that she helps out with. Wow!

Lisa: she is a teacher at ABC (African Bible College). She teaches 6th grade and is an amazing teacher! I have seen her in the action!! She brings out all the energy in us! Love it!

Jessica: She is a nurse here for Partners in Hope. As well as working in the clinic, she goes out villages as well to check on the wellbeing of others. She also is my walking buddy, I wouldn't be at all healthy if I didnt have Jess!

Kat: She works with special needs students here in Malawi and has been here quite a while now. And I have to give a shout out to the UK, she would kill me if I didnt. I just love to listen to her talk!

Edith: She is a Navigator, that is she does college student ministry. She gets our humor and still wants to hang out with us. =)

All these ladies are super awesome and are here working for the Lord in many different areas!! Im truly truly blessed to have them in my life! Just thought you would like to see who I get to spend most Tuesday nights with!! And Jo, you arent in here, you left right before the picture. I love you too!

Johanna...we miss you already!!!

Zambian home visit

2009-10-27T12:16:00.000-07:00

Johanna and I are back in Zambia for the next month. We have a much smaller group of kids this time. They are very sweet and funToday as a field trip the students went to visit a Zambian home. In this home Bambo taught us about Zambian games and also gave us a Zambian snack. The children really enjoyed themselves!!

South Luangwa Park

2009-10-24T13:14:00.000-07:00

So before we arrived for duty in Lusaka,Zambia..we stopped at a game park. It was quite nice. Some interesting things... it took about 5 hours to get there from Malawi and about 2 and an half hours of that was on a washboard board.. ugh. I was greeted by 4 baboons one morning while going to the bathroom in my tent. The elephants were so close that I didn't even have to get out of tent to touch one of them. And.. drumroll. We saw at least 21 lions. They had attacked a momma and baby buffalo and were chowing down when we arrived. =) AMAZING!!

Two of the coolest ladies come to Malawi...

2009-10-14T03:04:00.000-07:00

During the first week in October my friends Sandra and Ruth came to Malawi for a visit. We spent 5 days in the village of Zidunge. We had an amazing time. The church there was planted about 4 years ago, so we were there to help encourage and disciple. We had lessons in the morning and afternoon. While working in this village I was given a new name from the kids. I taught them a silly song called Doody bop and all the days following that, they called me doody bop. Fun times. In the morning and afternoons we had lessons with the children and ladies of the village. Along with the ladies there were 4 men that joined us everyday as well. Ruth and Sandra came very prepared and were ready to be lead by the spirit. It was a wonderful time of seeing discipleship. One of my favorite things that happened this week was when Sandra shared with me that the 3-5th grade class at her church had saved money and sent it with Sandra to use how she felt lead. The money was the amount that was needed for tarp for the roof of their church. I don’t know about you, but I think that is stinking cool!!!!!!!! Here is us with our awesome interpreters. Chifundo and Melify did a wonderful job and we had a lot of fun with them!! The middle picture is of the whole gang, without Chifundo, sorry, he was taking the picture. and last is a picture of the girl I fell in love with instantly. She taught me a rock game that I was horrible at and she was laughing right here when I couldn’t catch one of the rocks. Is she not beautiful!!!!!

Language....

2009-08-31T00:09:00.000-07:00

So some of you may be wondering why in the world I am doing a post on language when I have been in Malawi now for a year and 8 months. Well, when we first arrived within 3 days we started our job. We tried to have language lessons after teaching. Note for all: Language at 4 in the afternoon after working 7-3:30 doesn't work. So the past week in a half we have been in language. Since I am staying for another year, I thought it would be very beneficial, and Johanna wanted to join as well. We had Chichewa lessons for about 3 hours everyday. Although my head was spinning by the end, it was great. Our teacher Dyna was awesome. She is a natural teacher and she loves her job, so it made it fun for us to learn!!! The picture turned out fuzzy, but here we are with Dyna. We finished our lessons on Friday with a story that ended up being almost a page long, I was impressed with ourselves!

The Best Wedding ever ever!!!

2009-08-20T10:24:00.000-07:00

This past Suturday our friend Floresa was married to Innocent. Floresa is Italian and Innocent is Burundi. (not sure on spelling)It was one of the most beautiful weddings I have ever been too. (and not because of how it looked, but how it was put together, if that makes sense) There were Burundian drummers for the reception. For the wedding itself when the pastor preached it was in English, then it was translated into Italian and Swahili. It was so cool! Its Amazing how God brings two families from two completely different cultures and unites thems. Even though the families could not communicate to each other without Flo and Innocent, there was the beautiful acceptance from both sides. Flo and Innocent are passionate about the Lord and it shows in their relationship to each other and to the people around them. That was awesome to see!! And there was some really really fun dancing!! whoo hoo.

McCall in Malawi

2009-08-15T10:09:00.000-07:00

We were blessed to have a team of 7 from South Carolina. We went to two different villages. Kumalindi and Nkoko. At Kumalindi the guys had discipleship classes in the mornings and then went out for evangelism in the afternoons. At Nkoko they stayed for 3 nights, and the last day they helped mold bricks for the building. Here's a fun picture of the crew.

Chichewa literacy 101

2009-07-25T09:53:00.000-07:00

In my August update I shared that we helped with a literacy class. The ladies first started not being able to read any Chichewa. By the end there were 15 ladies that graduated. It was so awesome to see!!

My sweet kiddos for a month

2009-06-02T09:00:00.000-07:00

So here is my crew. This was our third time back to Zambia to help with 40/40. Instead of 2 preschoolers I had 6. The three boys were very much boys, and the three girls were very much girls. We had so much fun!!! I couldn’t of had a better group. The only really hard tasks were painting with that many and bathroom time at bush camp. (Bathroom time was sometimes difficult because it was a ways to get there and it was a big hole). But... they did a great job! We did lose a shoe down the chimbutzi, but it was because Micah (the blond right next to me) was trying to kill a bee for all of us. He kicked the bee and his flip flop hit the ceiling and then fell down the hole. Wish I had a picture of the 6 kids and myself leaning over looking down. They really thought we could save that old navy camouflage flip flop but it was a sad day for Micah’s shoe. Luckily mom and dad went to the Boma (town) the next day and picked up Micah some new flip flops. All is well.

Meeting the family

2009-06-01T08:35:00.000-07:00

We took a trip to the village and we went to see my Zambian Family. This is the family I stayed with my very first time. This is the kitchen where they do all their cooking. The kids thought it was very cool that you cook in a completely different place. The second picture is my mom Agnus and I. It was such a sweet visit. It was a blessing to see her and her children and to know that everyone was doing quite well. I look forward to seeing her again in October.

Big Birthday Bash

2009-03-21T02:20:00.000-07:00

Today was the official day for Jessica and my party. And wow were we amazed and feeling loved! Our day started out with breakfast at Pams. So nice and relaxing. Then we had notes to open each hour. We opened out next envelope and it was a pedicure and manicure. So great. When we finished at the saloon the ladies had got so excited for us, they wanted us to read out next note which was lunch at the restaurant next door. We had an amazing chicken salad and pizza. Then we opened our next envelope, we found ourselves heading back to the saloon for a back massage. Ok, do you think we are feeling pampered? Totally and very special!! Then after the massage we received a text message to go to Jessica’s to relax and wait for our next visitor. So we watched a movie, than our friend Kat arrived and she said she was hair and make up. After we were dolled up we opened a bag with clothes for us to wear. There were two outfits: one really cute dress and the other was a very Malawian outfit that you would wear out in a village. Kat said we could choose… I wonder which one we picked. Then we hopped in the car and headed to our house (Johanna and I). When we arrived we were welcomed by an overwhelming amount of our friends and family (our adopted family). Then they had dinner for us with menus, the restaurants name was “Trattoria 1979”. Can you guess what kind of food we had? On the menu was sweet notes to Jessica and I. Then after dinner we had a video from our friends in England, then a slide show with pictures from our friends and family. It was so so wonderful!! I was overwhelmed with how much love I felt. Our two friends Lisa and Johanna worked so hard for us!! Thank you for making my day so special! And Jess I was so blessed to get to celebrate our days together!

Music and Art extravaganza

2009-03-19T09:55:00.000-07:00

Today was our music and art day at our school. It was so great. The parents were asked to arrive at 5pm to come and look at their students work then there would be a music program at 6pm. I was worried at first because parents were dropping their students off and not sticking around… and I frustrated thinking we had become babysitters. But then the parents started piling in and I was so excited. Then we heading to the hall at about 10 till 6 and we walked in the it was completely full. There was about 200 parents that came. It was very smooth and most of the kids came. It was noisy and crazy as well, but the kids had a blast and so did we!!! The pictures are from the art room. These girls in both pictures are just the sweetest ever!!

Sweet Retreat

2009-03-12T09:45:00.000-07:00

So about a week ago I found myself getting to have this as my scenery. I know huh!! I forgot I was still in Africa. It was our annual prayer retreat. You never know you need something until it happens. For many weeks the Lord had been laying many things on my heart and asking me to give it up to Him and I was really trying to hold on. I wanted to be able to make decisions on my own. This weekend here I felt the burdened just completely lifted and such amazing peace. And I was blessed with seeing this beauty while asking for extra guidance. Thanks to all of you for always praying for me. Many days I can feel those extra prayers!

Chakakala Village

2009-02-22T09:36:00.000-08:00

I spent three days in the village and had a wonderful time. Along with me at the village were our supervisors Mat and Janet, the two new hands on guys, Steve and Bryce, and two translators, Chifundo and Laiter. One of the pictures here is some of the kids playing peek a boo. Later they came and hung out with me. Through out the 3 days we showed the Jesus film and four videos about True love waits and Aids. Both nights we had such a wonderful turn out. The second evening I had an opportunity to share with the village. I was able to tell the people why I am here in Malawi and how I have chose to save myself until I get married. It was a great time to show the women in the village that they can do the same thing.

Art and Music funness!

2009-02-14T09:50:00.000-08:00

Here are some great pictures of my students. And yes I know that funness is not a word, but I like it. They are really enjoying art and music and I think I am loving it just as much!I asked the younger kids to paint shapes and they turned out so cool. The older ones are making paper mache drums, and standard 5 is dancing in music. And Johanna is teaching PE and the nursery. Here are the kids doing some stretches. Love it love it!!Cuteness!!

2009-02-09T10:58:00.000-08:00

So during the raining seasons we have massive amounts of snails and some of them are bigger than my foot. They are quite gross!! But as we were leaving the airport, we found this snail. No, we didn’t put the flower on him, it already was there and we just had to take a picture! So for the first time we thought this snail was way cute.

One the coolest pictures I think I have ever taken..

2009-02-07T11:21:00.000-08:00

Im diving in...

2009-02-01T11:40:00.000-08:00

Today we were asked to drive some of our fellowchurch members to be baptized at the Lilongwe river. Pastor Urgent baptized 10 people today. It was so great to see this many people show others that they are part of the family of God. What a blessing!! I hope you enjoy the scenery, not everyday do you get to see baptisms in a river. I also find it quite entertaining that if you went a little bit farther in, I’m pretty sure that you would go right on down stream. The waters were very strong. There are five pictures for you. One is of the river, the second one is one of the girls being baptized, the third is Pastor Urgent praying as we ended the baptisms, the fourth is everyone getting a ride back to church in our truck, and the fifth is one of the girls accepting her certificate. What I enjoy about the fifth one is if you look in the back on the chalkboard it says “please all phones on silent” and then there is Habakkuk 2:20. This verse says “But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.” Enjoy!!!

Three Amigos

2009-01-27T10:44:00.001-08:00

These are three of our sweet students. Sarah and Batoul are sisters and then Fatima is their cousin. We also found out that these girls are our neighbors. We are now teaching at Mt. Sinai International school. I am teaching art and music. (Music with the help of Johanna). We are in our third week or school and I am really enjoying it. God has blessed us with many opportunities to share and we are blessed to have awesome students!These girls come and see us everyday almost twice a day and they bring us sweets. They are the nicest students we have ever have. Are they not the cutest ever!!

Jelly Belly Christmas

2008-12-25T01:09:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my aunt Judy I received a package with wonderful pictures of my family. Included in this package was also these lovely jelly bellies!! I was so impressed that she remembered that these are my favorite. So I shared with some of the friends here and we decided the mixture to make candy apple was good and pink lemonade. Thanks Judy!!

Hmmm

2008-12-18T02:28:00.000-08:00

After a long trip and much entertainment, this is what turned out of my suitcase. Hmmm. So I started at the train station to go from Seville, Spain to Madrid. When I got up to the counter to purchase a ticket my card would not work. So I went to the ATM to get cash. The first machine didn’t work, the second machine didn’t work, the third and last one… you guessed it, it didn’t work. So here is when I freak out just a little bit. I don’t have the numbers of anyone in Seville and I have no other way of getting money, so I am just completely feeling quite scared that I may be stuck here, I pray and apologize to God for getting so frustrated and saying something I should not have, then I go up to the ATM one last time and it works. Hallelujah, praise Jesus! I get onto the train with about 5 minutes to spare. Some of you may think that is no big deal, but I don’t mind being an hour early. I have about 2 hours to relax and I do. I arrive in Madrid at about 12:30 and my flight is at 3:30, so I am pretty sure I am going to have plenty of time. I get my suitcase off of the train and one of the wheels breaks. Not off completely, but enough that every few feet I have to fix it. From the train I have to take the subway, or here they call it the metro to the airport. I have to take 3 different lines to get there. I make it on the first one just fine, but I head down the escalators to get to the second and my wheel breaks off completely. The guy behind me trying to be polite hands the wheel to me, I say gracious and move on. I then have to go down another set of escalators and this time I wish you all would have been there because it was like watching Elf, but in real life and I was going down and not up. I got to the escalator and since I have a wheel missing I carefully pick up my suitcase and I am about to put it on the escalator. What I don’t realize is that my left foot is already on the escalator while my right and suitcase are not. So my foot just starts going down and down. So I try not to panic, and the guy behind me is trying not to laugh, although I would have been in hysterics. He kind of helps me, but in the process the other wheel pops off. Hah. I couldn’t help but laugh and tell him gracious as he hands me the wheel that I don’t have any idea what to do with. =) I am finally on my last ride. I could get off at terminal 1, 2, and 3 at one stop or terminal 4 at another stop. Well, you would think this would be where I look at my ticket, but no not me. I thought since I arrived at terminal 4 last time, that its probably where I should go this time. I get off at terminal 4 and look at screen and my flight is nowhere to be found. So I get out my ticket and sure enough it is at terminal 2. I get back on the metro and get to terminal 2. I get to the counter and my arms are quite tired by now since I was carrying my suitcase and it is now 2:30. The lady is so nice and gives me the sweetest smile and a bunch of tape to fix my suitcase. Boy did it look trashy by the end. But I made it! and my beautiful luggage did too. Now everyone breathe. =)

Columbus sailed the ocean blue in....

2008-12-05T23:34:00.000-08:00

My first day in Seville was spent going down town and walking around. We started our day at about 11 am and ended taking a bus home around 10 and bed didn't happen until who knows. One of first stops was one the largest cathedrals ever!! It was the Santa Metropolitana Patriarcal Iglesia Cathedral de Sevilla. I literally had my mouth open for the remainder of the visit. I was in awe. I had never seen a confessional before and these were very beautiful and elaborate, there was a room that the walls were made completely of gold, you could walk up to the top of it and see the view of all Seville. The first picture is from the top of the cathedral, second is from outside, and the third picture here is Christopher Columbus' tomb. How amazing is that? Hope you all enjoy.

Family Reunion!

2008-11-27T04:33:00.001-08:00

Upon coming to Zambia a second time I had a wish and that was to get to see the family that I stayed with my first time coming. I had planned on taking a trip to see them, but before that happened I ran into my sister at the camp. I had the opportunity to give her all the pictures that a friend developed for me in the states (Cody, they absolutely loved the pictures!!!) and then tell her I was going to come see them.

A few days later I am walking through the market and I hear "Angela." Now you would think that I would just keep walking, but if you remember that is my Zambian name that this family gave to me. I look over and it's my Zambian mom, Agnus. We had a brief moment to catch up and her tell me she has showed the pictures to the whole family! It was wonderful!

Field trip to the Farm

2008-11-20T04:41:00.000-08:00

One day we took all the kiddos to a farm down the road. This baby goat let everyone hold him. We also saw rabbits, chickens, cows, pigs (a dead skinned one too), Guinea fowl... and a fun ride in a ox cart. This is Madi and Justin. We had a blast.

The Fantasic Four

2008-09-25T10:55:00.000-07:00

So here in Malawi we have come up with our own fantastic four and they include plastic, metal, wood, and straw. In these photos we have the amazing women with plastic buckets.. water women, then wood man, which his pile is kind of small compared to some that we have seen. Third we have metal woman, and last straw man!!! These men and women carry things on their head or on their bikes and its just amazing to me!!! Please enjoy our very own Malawi Fantastic four.

Sorry for the delay....

2008-09-13T00:41:00.000-07:00

Hey friends. I am using someone elses computer for the next 2 weeks, so I am without pictures for a while. But fun ones are coming, I promise! And all is well with me!!

Goat slaying 101

2008-08-31T07:00:00.000-07:00

I bet you were expecting a horrible picture! No worries. On this particular day, I was very busy. I had to go to the market with the team, we picked up a goat, headed to the village, drop people off for ministry training, drive to the house where we were having lunch, help kill a goat (yes, you have it correct), then we headed to the market to buy produce, and we ate the goat for lunch (it was quite tasty), then lastly after all the meetings I got this great picture with these boys. You can't see, but I was blessed with goat blood splattered on my shirt. I do have video of the goat, but I hear some people would prefer not to see it. If you do want to see pictures of me killing the goat, you can email and I will send you a pic. To make this story even cooler, we saved the skin so that our friend Phillip can make a drum from the skin. I'm taking it to him tomorrow. Awesome, very awesome!!

Chinkoswe

2008-08-20T06:37:00.000-07:00

A few Saturdays ago we had the opportunity of going to our first engagement and taking the two volunteer teams with us. So there was over 20 white people at this party. The two soon to be married were Lewis and Thokozani. Lewis was our language teacher and also one of the interpreters for our group. Here an engagement is like a wedding. When they get engaged, they have to get divorced to end the relationship. So… what is fun about this party you ask??? There are a few things! The groom comes out with another man with their faces covered and the uncle has to pick which one it is. Then the groom holds a basket and the DJ has everyone come and give the groom money. If you have brown hair come give money. If you are pastor, come give money. If your are an mzungu (white) come give money. Then, the bride comes out with 2 other ladies with their faces covered and you have to guess which one is the bride. The aunt has to pay to pick the right one and if she picks the wrong one, she pays more. What was tricky, was the bride was not even in the first group of 3 girls, she ended up being in the second group. So we gave money lots of times! It was so much fun!!! And some of the guys broke out into some great dances including the worm. I got a lot of ideas for my friends and when they get married.

Birthdays.. birthdays

2008-08-15T07:27:00.000-07:00

We have been celebrating Johanna’s birthday throughout the month of August. You should never only have one party!! At the new school that we are teaching at the head mistress said that she wanted to meet with both of us. I thought… I sure hope that after only a week of teaching here that I am not in trouble. So we sit down in the conference room and the other two ladies sit down next to Mrs. Beatrice and then they break into Happy Birthday. It was great. Surprised us both. And they got her the wood carving of Malawi. On top of having cake now at least 3 times, we are planning a trip to the lake with the ladies and one more dinner to celebrate Johanna turning a ¼ of a century. Whoo hoo for birthdays!!

Gule Wamkulu

2008-08-05T05:37:00.000-07:00

From what I have learned the Gule wankulu consists of a secret society based on animism. Most of the costumes represent animals. These men are usually tribal dancers. They often are used for entertainment, such as weddings or celebrations. When a new chief comes to a village they are hired to dance. Their meetings are taken place in graveyards. This is where they initiate new people and where they all get dressed and prepared for meetings. They almost always have a group of women following them. They dress as different characters or different animals. When they put on the costume they are no longer human, they are the type of animal they are wearing. One of the pictures I have taken looks like the men are wearing my grandma's aprons. Quite amuzing. Although most of them are just for entertainment, some are also used to call spirits. We have seen some while driving and instead of wanting to laugh, I have felt a need to pray. They made me feel very uncomfortable. Some like the ones in the aprons.. we just laugh at and try to figure out what kind of animal they are trying to be. What do you think these men are???

Happy Birthday MOM!!!!!!!! (and Johanna!)

2008-08-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

On Thursday night we had a girls night. We had great food and we watched Hairspray. I made this lovely sign for my mom and then since we had just watched the movie, we felt like there needed to be some great poses. We took two and this one was my favorite!! Mom, I do love you and miss those great long phone calls. The bottom of the sign says "love you and miss you." My supervisor is in pink, that is joviel Janet. Then we have the adorable Anna Marie on the end in the striped shirt, Joyful Johanna is next to Anna Marie, then there is the lovely Lisa in blue, who happens to be Anna's mom. And then there is Spontaneous Sam in black and her mom Marvelous Mary on the other end. Just fabulous ladies!! just fabulous!! And happy birthday roomie!!

Red Light, Green light (Aka:stop, go)

2008-08-01T03:49:00.000-07:00

After a week in the village, the last day we spent the afternoon playing with the ladies and their children. While many of the men were setting up for the Jesus film I was having a blast. They taught me a few great games where there was a lot of running, dancing and laughing!!! After many of their games they annouced that they wanted us to teach them some games. This would be red light, green light. Here I am trying to show the ladies to run when the leaders back was turned. It was quite entertaining because I met some of the most competitive women that day. These ladies kicked some tail on duck, duck, goose. We renamed it duck, duck, chicken because they didn’t have a word for goose. Duck is “dnima,” so you say “ndima, ndima, ….koo koo. Man those ladies can run and the children, but most of the ladies were carrying their children on their backs and still running with all their might!! I lost a few calories this day!!!!

Our bathroom after a summer of teams...

2008-07-31T03:36:00.000-07:00

Throughout the summer if we are lucky the volunteer teams leave us goodies. These goodies include things such as granola bars, fruit roll ups, cheese crackers, pop tarts, vanilla wafers, real Fritos, sunglasses (for me), and many skirts from all the ladies, or at least I think only the ladies gave us skirts. But the one of the best has been the shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and lotion. Although many of these bottles are almost empty we enjoy them ever so much. They are ridiculously priced here!! And I was recently introduced to "love spell." No, no one tried to trick me into falling in love with them.. although I have that effect on many. =) Anyway, Its like any many miney moe (never actually spelled that.. don’t know if that’s right) in the shower. Our guard that cleans our house once a week organized them and I think he might of color coordinated them as well. Way to go Charles.

Mozambique Bound

2008-07-28T06:06:00.000-07:00

This past month has been busy with all the volunteer teams, and once they left we went to see some friends. I'm sorry it has been a month since an update. I will try my best to update away. We spent 4 days in Mozambique and I was blessed with another stamp in my passport and having the feeling once again that I don't understand anyting. It is a Portuguese speaking country. Where we went you spoke Portuguese or yao. It was funny when I did actually have a conversation with a man, it was in Chichewa. Never thought that would happen. My chichewa was very broken, but I was able to tell him where I was from and where I was going. First breakthrough in Chichewa 101. My teacher will be proud.

2008-06-27T05:37:00.000-07:00

We were very blessed to spend time with the secretary at Dzuka and she is precious. She was so hospitable towards us and cooked us lunch everyday. Her sweet sweet smile is contagious. She asked us many questions about God, and knew all the right things to say, but she does not know Jesus. I love spending time with her and already feel so blessed to have met her. She and her husband are building and new home and have invited us to their house warming party. I am really excited about continuing a friendship with her!! and..Sandra, I shared my playdough with her and she had so much fun with it, maybe more fun than her daughter.

Definetely a hair no no: cornrolls

2008-06-25T05:20:00.000-07:00

So we only taught at Dzuka girls school for two weeks, but we had a blast. A few of them really wanted to play with our hair and here is the results of me letting them braid my hair. And you may be fooled… it almost looks decent, but check it out in the next picture. =) They fixed Kelly’s and my hair… we were styling and I had a pretty nice headache later that day to show for it. A few days later another girl really wanted to play with my slippery hair and she put it once again in a side ponytail. I don't know any of you can say that you looked like Napoleon's girlfriend twice in one week, but I sure can!! I am guessing that the 80s are back in... or at least in Malawi.

Funky Monkey

2008-06-20T23:11:00.000-07:00

A

At the end of out trip to Zambia we went to Livingstone to see Victoria Falls. While we were there we went to a pizza place about 2 minutes from the place we were staying at. It was good food and we had milk shakes that were ALMOST thick. It was awesome. I just couldn’t help myself I thought I would drink from all of them. =) They were actually all empty when I took a drink. And no I didn’t get bit by a baboon on my nose, just a sunburn gone bad, but all is good. And just in case you were wondering, my nose has fully recovered!

Home Sweet Home

2008-06-12T07:12:00.000-07:00

This was my house for 4 days. It was really cute and cozy. We did have a few friends, but found it easiest to just name them and not think about them at night. One of the mice, maybe rats.. I don’t know the difference (it was pretty big) I met him face to face. He was named Charles. At night we had mosquito nets and they were called our happy place. And believe me, it was. With all that said… I did absolutely love my village stay and am so glad I had the opportunity and would jump on it again in a heartbeat. The extra critters just made it really fun for stories later. Try going to the bathroom and a cockroach fall down your shirt, which happened to one of the girls staying with us. Fun times!! The ones (cockroaches, not people) that were with me in the chimbudzi (bathroom) just fell on my head or ran across my foot, I was very thankful one didn’t land in my shirt!!

Agogo

2008-06-08T04:49:00.000-07:00

I never did learn this lady's name because everyone called her agogo (grandma) or Amayi (mom). I love this pictures because you can see so much detail. To Agogo's right is where we washed the dishes and then placed them on top to dry. Next to the drying area is the bath house. Every day Agnus would heat water for us and put it in a bucket and put it in the bath house for you. If you look closely, this was made out of straw and there were many gaps. Talk about feeling a little bit vulerable!! And, you stepped up into the house, so it was just about as tall as me. Not that planes ever flew by, but if they had and they probably have in the past, they would of got a pretty nice show. Then to her left is a storage bin. It is full of maize. We picked the "corn" with her in the field, then they store it in these bins. Every morning Agogo came to visit us. It was such a blessing. We didn't share much because there was a huge language barrier, but just knowing she wanted to come and sit with us, brought a smile to my face!! Philipians 1:3 says "I thank my God upon every rememberance of you!" That is what I feel when I think of all my friends and family. And now.. that is what I think of when I see pictures of this village and my Zambian family.

Introducing..Angela Phiri

2008-06-07T04:38:00.000-07:00

I bet many of you were wondering if you were ever going to get a new update from me. Well, here I am. Thanks for patience. After over a month in Zambia, we are home. While I was there I was given a new name. My new name is Angela Phiri because Kym is a boy name. I knew it was in China, didn't know it was in Zambia as well. So here I am with my family in Zambia. Agnus was our mom for the week. When she asked me to pray in church, she said she wanted her daughter to pray and asked "Angela" to stand. It was very sweet. She is in the back with the Tommy sweatshirt on. The sweet older ladies were like the grandmas of the village, they came to see us each morning. The babies name is Katy and they had me hold her many times just to see her cry because she never did get used to us. =) It was such an awesome visit and I know if we were able to go back to visit, they would be waiting with open arms.

Thako Village

2008-04-14T06:11:00.000-07:00

Today we went to a village for church. When we arrived, there was a funeral in Thako village, which is the neighboring village, so everyone was gone. We decided to walk there to give our regards, which ended up being about 2 kilometers, maybe a little bit longer. After walking through 2 streams in flip-flops, up some shady rocks, (and no that does not me we went under a tree, these rocks were slippery and steep) and many maize fields, we arrived. The funeral is usually all day, so when we got there, the procession had already started. Everyone walks by and sings and then sits down and waits. Since we were not formally invited, we didn’t have to stay the whole day. We met many of the deacons, and the chief of the village. We sang a few songs, and then started walking back. It was really hot and with the altitude, we were all having a little bit of a hard time except for Chifundo. He thought it was quite entertaining that the white people were out of breath. This is the path that we took. If you look at the top of the hill that is the road we were heading for, when you reached the top of the hill, you were then about half way back to the village. It was a really neat experience because many women were carrying food or water on their heads and traveling on this path. I met some very sweet ladies.
Here is the entertainment, or what I thought was stinking hilarious. In Chichewa, would you like to know what Thako is?? Our supervisors shared with us that you don’t ever want to invite someone over for tacos because… taco or thako means your buttocks, or dairy ere, or you know whatever you want to call it. Also a volunteer team had done really well with not saying anything wrong in Chichewa, but at the very end of their week they were riding in the back of a truck and started saying taco bueno (which most of us would just be thinking you were talking about a restaurant), but that means nice butt in Chichewa. They got some really weird stares when they said it to other men in the streets. =) So when someone asked us where we had been yesterday, I was able to say we went to Buttville. I bet you can’t say that everyday. Hopefully none of you took offense to that…if you did, my apologies. I couldn’t resist, found it quite amusing.

Pens and Flat Stanley

2008-04-09T13:16:00.000-07:00

So a very sweet girl by the name of Courtney

in Alabama sent me a letter. If you guys know about flat Stanley, then just ignore the next few sentences. Courtney’s class read about a boy who became so flat that he could go on vacation by traveling anywhere in a envelope. Well Courtney named hers’ flat Carly and Carly was sent to me here in Malawi.

When returning from South Africa I was blessed with some packages, one of them had pens in it from my church the others had m&ms. We handed out the pens to all of standard 7 & 8. The students were so excited. Then we gave all of the preschoolers and standard 1-6 a few m&ms each. It was there first time to ever have one. Try to remember when you had an m&m for the first time?? I bet you were a lot younger than any of these kids. If you look in the back there is a kid with his tongue sticking out, he has a blue m&m in his mouth. The other picture is with our standard 8 and flat Carly. I am pretty sure Carly had a very fun time. Courtney, if you read this, thanks for sending her our way!!

We love to see you smile...

2008-04-05T09:46:00.000-07:00

So what is the saying?? “it’s a small world.” You bet it is. At our singles retreat in South Africa I walked into the home and looked a girl and she looked at me and we realized that we knew each other. Turns out that we were in a crazy beginning guitar class at OBU. So across the world I run into a fellow OBUer. SO cool!! and all of you who would appreciate this, yes we did go with KaRip. It was such a great time of reconnecting and …we got to have McDs. The French fries are still as good as I remember. And who leaves mcds without a picture with Ronald himself? We definetely had to.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURYN!!!!

2008-03-31T08:38:00.000-07:00

Today my sweet cousin Lauryn is 9 years old. I miss you and our great sleepovers sista. Hope you had a great one!!!

2008-03-28T08:59:00.000-07:00

So the last day with the kids we were taking lots of pictures, here is one of the many. These are some of the standard 8 students. The one on the bottom looking like he is throwing up a gangster sign is Watson. He is really funny. Most of the time he enjoyed making gestures that he thought looked American. It was quite entertaining. The girl that is actually shorter than me, she is Charity. She was the smartest in our class. Very impressive, and so polite. The guy smiling right by my ear is Dennis. He was always willing and ready to do anything we asked and one day when we played hangman he picked Jet Lee for me to put on the board. Nice! The girl in black is Mercy, and she is 6’1. She is funny, smart, and a very good netball player. We have decided we need to find a recruiter to come to Malawi. The guy sticking his tongue it is Lupakisyo. (lu-pa-kiss-e-o). I always wanted to call him Picasso, so he laughed with me all the time and by the end of our two months there, I did actually get his name right. The guy in blue and orange is Ishmael. He has the most beautiful smile, and he was such an actor. You couldn’t help but be entertained by him. The guy right behind me is Yorram, and if he could be in the army he would. One of the strongest and tallest guys ever. He was also the “popular” one. He could easily get everyone’s attention. The other girl with her tongue sticking out is Apatsa. In Chichewa apatsa means, to give. And Apatsa lived up to her name. She has the sweetest, giving spirit. Next to Apatsa with the blue shawl is Naomi. Anytime Naomi saw us she greeted me with “what’s up?” I taught them that phrase the first week and from then on, she always asked me. It was so sweet. On the very bottom chilling out is Andrew. Andrew was I think by far the hardest worker. Even when he didn’t understand something, he kept trying and trying. If only all students would do that. Last is Charles in the white shirt in the back. Charles was an entertainer just like Ishmael and Watson; together you could have had the three amigos. What a great crew.

Nough Said!!

2008-03-25T08:35:00.000-07:00

Are you nkhuku? (koo koo)

2008-03-21T06:24:00.000-07:00

What you are looking at if you didn't figure it out is a a chicken foot and in chichewa a chicken is called a nkhuku. Which is what I was feeling when I ate that thing. Here's the story....our teachers threw us a going away party because Thursday was our last day at the school. When I was fixing my plate I grabed what I thought was a leg, and then I noticed after it was already on my plate that it was a foot....YIKES. So what is proper etiquette here, I have no idea. What do I do??? I asked one of the other teachers how to eat it and she gets one and procedes to eat the feet, finger nails and all. WOW!!! What in the world do I do?? I picked that thing up and ate it. "She ate it bones and all!" Fun times.

Wheres Kym???? Oh wait…she’s the mzungu (white person)

2008-03-08T04:55:00.000-08:00

So everywhere we go in the village, even though we have been going there now for 2 months, they yell mzungu, mzungu. We find it quite entertaining. I feel like I am in a parade everyday. I have perfected the beauty pageant wave and now I will have to find a year round parade or something when I get back. I wont know what to do when people don’t wave at me when I drive by. =) Ok, so on this particular day, we were waiting for our class to start with standard 8 and these sweet kids surrounded me. OK, so I admit it, I know you are not supposed to have favorites, but I love the kid on the end in yellow. The first day we met, I didn’t mean to but I scared him pretty bad. We actually didnt meet, I was running around a building and when I reached the other side he was there and when he saw me, he screamed and went running. I didn't know I could have that kind of affect on kids, but it happens here quite often. But, then the next day he thought it was a game and we have been playing chase ever since. I LOVE IT and I don’t know, I may be wrong, but I am pretty sure he loves it too!!!

Hand stacks... Is that what you call it???

2008-03-05T04:26:00.000-08:00

This is one of my favorites. Johanna took it for me. I love how the little girl has leaned forward at the perfect time for the picture!! So cute. I really wanted a picture of my hands surrounded by all their sweet hands. The contrast in our skin color I think looks so cool. I am gradually getting darker from the sun, but I still get burnt, and the teachers here laugh at me regularly. The first time I started peeling, one of the students told me I was like a fish with scales (this was right before I peeled and my skinned was kind of bubbly), and then when I started peeling they told me I was like a snake. Pretty cool that I ended up being two different animals in one week. And the teachers helped peel the skin off of my arms. I know, kind of gross, but they were very helpful.

Hope you enjoy seeing the picture as much as I did playing the game with them. If anyone can tell me the real name of this game, that would be great. Hand stack was all Johanna and I could come up with.

Cheeze it up!!!

2008-03-02T13:16:00.000-08:00

This is our standard 7 students. They are the most well behaved students I have ever had. The one if the front raising his hands in the air is Chefoma, he is so funny. Would definitely be the class clown back in the states. The tallest boy in the back is Isaac and he loves to smile. And his favorite song is baby shark. He especially likes when we have a “shark attack.” Down towards the front in the middle with the red shirt is James. He is I think maybe the most polite student I have ever met. He always wants to help and has a smile on his face all the time. (he is very good in math too). Last, I want to tell you about one more student, he is in front with a plaid shirt on and is not looking at the camera at all. That is Chembekezu (chim-ba-ga-sue). He is so smart and a really good speller. He really likes it when you give him challenging words, he also tries to teach me a Chichewa word everyday. Pangona pangona (little by little) I will have it down. Thanks for reading a little about my students that I love getting to work with everyday!!

Mail Call....and new hair

2008-02-22T00:15:00.000-08:00

So I received my first package ever and it was by far stinking exciting. I must brag on my aunt for a few sentences because she is the one who sent the first one.( if you send one I just might brag on you too) My aunt Linda is awesome. (I miss hanging out with you tremendously Linda!!). When I moved to Conway I had the opportunity of getting to know her on a friendship level and not just “family” level. I am so very blessed that she is part of my family, but even more blessed that she is one of my friends!! We often watched movies together and just enjoyed each other’s company. Along with being my movie buddy she was also my hair stylist. I would stop at Sonic and get her a regular coke and me a diet and then head to her house and she would cut my hair. She has cut it many many times and I am so thankful. So, now I am in Malawi and Linda is not here…. Sad sad sad. The other night after having an attack in our house of fleas and mosquitos I was feeling very itchy and when I got out of the shower I had an “I need to cut my hair moment.” Now usually these pass and Johanna a few times had reminded me that my hair is very cute long. But this particular night I was combing my hair and I grab some scissors and cut. This is the result of my hair cut. I must say…its not too shabby for being cut by myself. After I cut it I had Johanna check the back to make sure it didn’t look ridiculous and I am guessing that it must look ok or Johanna lied to me to make me feel ok. If by chance you cant see my address or haven’t seen it yet in an email….here it is. And if you send something in a padded envelope it is much more likely to get here. =) Thank guys!!! Miss ya and would love to hear from everyone.

Kym Pennington

Baptist Mission
P O Box 1001
Lilongwe, Malawi
Africa

Just around the Corner

2008-02-20T00:49:00.000-08:00

So last week we were invited to escort one of the other teachers home. On this particular day the headmaster had told us that they would be preparing lunch for us. So we told the teacher we could not be gone very long because they were going to have lunch for us. She told us no problem and we were off. We started walking and she told us it was just around the corner and it was not far. We kept going another 5 minutes and we went around another curve and through another neighborhood and she said “we are almost there, just a little bit farther,” so we walked about another 5 minutes and she tells us it is just around the corner, so another 5 minutes have passed and now we are in the middle of the village and have made so many turns I couldn’t tell you even if a lion was chasing me how to get out of the village. We finally walked by another home and she tells us we are in her neighborhood. We left the school at noon and arrived at madam’s house at 12:35. On any other day, this would have been ok, but like I mentioned earlier, they were preparing us lunch and actually it was probably waiting for us. (sure enough it was). We arrive at madams home and were greeted by her squealing mother who is so very pleased to have us. It was the best bear hug I had had in a very long time!!! We go inside and have a seat in the living room. While we are sitting there…the true Malawi or African thing happens. All of madam’s neighbors start coming and sitting down. They don’t say anything, but they all find a seat. It was quite a quotable moment because Johanna and I read a book that talks about this exact moment. Fun fun fun. They are all there because they don’t want to leave us alone. Malawians believe that you dont ever want to be left alone. So although the ackward silence was almost unbearable for me, it is completely normal there. After about 8 people coming in a sitting down we had some introductions and I was able to say she had a very nice home in chichewa, and then we told Madam that me might need to go. She said she just needed to eat really quick and then we would go, go. Yes this is a great term here. There is go and go, go. and there is now and now, now. When they say now now or go go, it is really that minute, but otherwise, not so much. So madam ate quickly and we were on our way. We arrived back at the school at 1:10. So the few minutes we thought we would be gone turned into an hour. The headmaster was very understanding and we then ate our lunch.

Need a gardener, landscaper, housecleaner, ironer, dog walker, or guard?????

2008-02-18T00:42:00.000-08:00

This is Charles. He is our day guard that watches our house. But he is also all the things mentioned above. In the picture he is cutting the grass. Yea, you got it right, cutting the grass. If you ever thought you had it ruff with mowing the lawn, think again. So, one Wednesday we decided to ask him if he would take our dog Kiyara to get dipped (if you don’t know what dipping is except for a really bad habit, let me explain, because I had no idea what it was either. If you do already know, just humor me). There is a veterinary clinic down the road from us and every Friday they have dipping for the animals. They are put in a huge bucket and cleaned to get rid of fleas or any other gross insects that might be infected on their body. When we asked Charles to do this, he was so excited because he gets really bored during the day. Then when we asked him if he would do our dishes on Fridays, he was even more excited. This past Friday we went out and when we returned our whole house was clean and he asked if he could iron clothes next time. I could not believe it. I was in heaven. I did not realize how incredible of a feeling it is to come home to a spotless house. We had a pretty clean house, but spotless….no. It was so great!!

Suffering for Jesus…..the sacrifices we make

2008-02-16T00:22:00.000-08:00

So this past Friday we went to the lake. I must say this is by far one of the hardest things I have had to do so far in my ministry here. If the Lord needed me to go every Friday, I just don’t know if I could handle it. I would really have to pray about that decision. Man, it was hard work; especially the part where we slept under the umbrella and did absolutely nothing. Being a missionary is such a hard life!! Ok, ok, so of course its not hard work. After being on the field for a month our supervisors thought it would be nice to go to the lake for the day. The everyday easy things that you can do in America… like driving, grocery shopping, getting your mail, cooking, and teaching, are magnified here and can be quite stressful. I have students who kind of give me blank stares sometimes and tell me I am talking way too fast. I hit a bicyclist the other day; actually according to Johanna he hit me. You constantly have to keep your eyes open for random objects in the road. Our mailbox is not at our house; it is down town, which is entertaining because everyone is always at the post office. You would think there was a party there. (oh wait, I was there, so there was a party) =) Grocery shopping takes about half a day because there is never everything at one store and the store you saw an item at last week, well it just might not be there this week. You never know, that is what makes it even more fun. Which secretly…don’t tell Johanna, but I enjoy shopping. And a really like it when I remember that something was cheaper at one store than another and we get a bargain. I love bargains!!! After over a month of busyness, we got to take a mini-day vaca. So…. the lake was absolutely incredible. There were not motorized anything on the water, so all you heard was pure waves…nice!!! And there weren’t very many people on the shore, just as quiet as can be except for the waiters coming to see if we would like anything to drink. The coke light was almost heavenly! I was sitting there reading my Bible, listening to the tide come in and drinking my coke light. Wow!! I am so thankful that God blessed us with a day off and we were able to enjoy his beautiful scenery with no interruptions. Awesome, awesome!! We also saw 15 baboons, or like I have been saying Ba-boons, but also I called them bamboos, and baboos, and baboobs. I know I just couldn’t get their name right. Pretty entertaining for Johanna. And she reminded me that actually we saw a lot of baboobs at church in the village on Sunday. But something that was absolutely incredible was 35 baptisms, yes you read it correctly 35. And I held a baby that didn’t cry, it was a miracle. Us white people can be pretty scary to those sweet village babies. We left the village on Sunday and had sloppy joes for lunch and I was blessed to have a Sunday afternoon nap. Thank you Lord!!

Pizza Pizza

2008-02-12T10:51:00.000-08:00

So besides teaching and learning about the culture Johanna and I are trying to learn how be domestic. I thought I could cook decent in the states, but here its completely different. So the Laffoon family invited us over to make pizza. It was very fun. And.. Janet if you are reading this, we made a wheat crust, you would be very proud. On top of having to make your own crust, you make you own sauce too. And did you know that cheese doesn't come shredded... you have to shread it yourself. Who knew??? We had so much fun. I think the best part about this picture though is sweet Jeremy in the back ground with his droopy drawers!!! very nice. Our pizza turned out incredible. And last night I learned how to make tortillas and I made chips for salsa. It was by far a highlight. If you didn't know, chips and salsa are my favorite food, and now that I know how to make them it has been sure delight at our house.

Super Bowl African Style

2008-02-10T10:43:00.000-08:00

So here is the crew that got together and watched the superbowl. We all promised to not check the news…which wasn’t hard for Johanna and I seeing as we don’t have a tv and we don’t check our email but once a week. We watched the game the Monday night after and this was by far the best superbowl game I have ever watched for a few reasons. One, it was recorded the night before so we watched it in half the time. (I know the commercial are one of the best parts, but they are not shown here, the commercials would have been a bunch of advertisements for African soap operas and food. Although I love to hear about cheese, fanta, and drama drama drama, I must say the fast forward button was awesome!!! )So every one of these men had something to say about what was going on. If there was a bad call, “that is allowed now,” or “this is going to be the most important play of the whole game.” I learned those two phrases pretty quickly. And way to go Giants. The underdogs got it again…whoo hoo!! We had a blast!! And something you dont get to see very often...the cute couple with the little girl. We had a tea party during the superbowl. The dad, his name is John, he had a necklace on, was holding a teddy bear, and drinking tea while getting very excited about the game. It was aweswome!!

In Christ alone

2008-02-03T05:16:00.000-08:00

Last sunday we sang this song in church and it was such a blessing. I don't think I had truly understood these words. I was surrounded by people that danced and sang to the Lord and they didnt worry about the people they were around. How much I wish I was like this all the time. This morning we went to a church out in the village and although I didn't understand but maybe 10 words, I felt Gods presence more than ever. WOW! Go God. Ok, here is two of the verses from this song.... enjoy. Just soak in these words. Sing it out loud!! Who cares if you have a good voice or not and if you don't know the tune, just make one up. =)

In Christ alone my hope is found;He is my light, my strength, my song;This cornerstone, this solid ground,Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.What heights of love, what depths of peace,When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!My comforter, my all in all—Here in the love of Christ I stand.

There in the ground His body lay,Light of the world by darkness slain;Then bursting forth in glorious day,Up from the grave He rose again!And as He stands in victory,Sin's curse has lost its grip on me;For I am His and He is mine—Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

What can you fit on your bike?

2008-02-01T05:32:00.000-08:00

So I apologize for the blurryness of the picture, but we were driving by so I got my camera out quick. We have seen many many things on bikes. I have a challenge for all of you. Try putting one of the following things on your bike, which by the way, these are all the things we have seen.

A huge pig, goats (seen them riding in front on the biker like a person as well as on the back), chickens, wood, umbrellas, brooms, boxes, corn, mangoes, and up to 3 extra riders. So I don't recommend trying all of these at home, but hey maybe one or two. And don't do them all at once. =)

Play or Pray

2008-01-31T05:05:00.000-08:00

So the other night when we got home Johanna took some coffee to our night gaurd. When she was getting ready to leave she asked if there was anything else we could pray besides his house. He kind of hesitated and said no. Well, Johanna started walking away and Nota asked "when?" Johanna ofcouse confused by this asked him what he meant. He then asked her "when are you and Kym going to come to my house to play?" So Johanna after saying "yikes" in her head had to quickly tell him pray... not play and she added motions.

With all that said, try to make sure you are being understood. Here in Malawi play means many things that we wouldn't really want to be associated with. =)

Say Cheez!!

2008-01-26T01:23:00.000-08:00

On Thursday after lunch we were hanging out with some of these sweet kids and I asked to take a picture. If you look on the end (left side) there is a girl with a brown purse over her shoulder. That is Ellizah beth. She is the nicest and smartest kid. In this picture she wanted to hold my purse and be like me. I know.. can you believe it….a cute precious girl wanting to be like me. She hasn’t seen the krazy Kym yet. Are these students not beautiful?? The girl in the middle with the big smile and braids, her name is Kathy, and she has the best laugh. Very loud and contagious!!! The guy looking off to the side (there is always one in a picture), he throws the best paper airplanes. We made a really good one today and played catch with it. Don’t worry, I am taking Frisbees tomorrow. =) The other girl in the middle with her hand by her mouth, she is so shy, but one of the brightest students. I could go on and on, but just want you to enjoy these smiles I see everyday.

Fried Bananas...yum yum

2008-01-24T01:14:00.000-08:00

A couple came down to Lilongwe for a visit. This is Susan and her husband is eating fruit by the foot in the blue shirt. After dinner at this great restaurant we were served fried bananas. On the plate it look just like donut holes (which I was secretly really excited thinking that that was what is was). I am glad someone warned me or I would have been completely surprised and possible disappointed. Anyway…they were awesome. If you cant tell we are really enjoying them.