Oopsie Daisies!

So, I haven’t written in quite a while. My bad. I’ve been off to the races with the recent things that have been happening at the clinic. Our new OBGYN unit will be up and running by the 31 of October. While I’m not in charge and have no clue about what to set up for the OB unit I’m still a part of getting things ready. We have vamped up our operating theatre (British terminology, UGH!) to get ready for c-sections that will take place every Tuesday and Thursday. The first delivery will happy in about 3 weeks, so we’re cutting it close, but are confident our OB unit will be completely ready by then. The everyday happenings of the clinic are always changing. In Malawi, it is culturally acceptable to miss many days of work because you are attending a funeral. Death is such a common part of life here that people can miss many days of work d/t the amount of funerals they are attending. Not only is it culturally acceptable to attend the funeral of your close family members, but your neighbor and second cousin’s as well. Basically, they attend a lot of funerals. If you do not attend the funeral, then you are considered to be happy that the person has died. I know what you’re thinking give me a break, right? But that’s what they’ll think, so I’d rather just go the funeral to make someone happy than be accused of being GLAD someone died, wouldn’t you? Anyway, so the days that we’re really short staffed I am the only nurse on the private side of our clinic to do triage.  Which I absolutely love, of course.  

Room 2

donated items for the theatre

Room 1

I wanted to include some pictures of the rooms Becky Epperson and I cleaned out. I’m going to post before and after pictures, so here’s the before pictures. These rooms are the delivery rooms for the private paying patients at the clinic. All the equipment is donated and some of it is from the Vietnam War.  Becky and I had a grand time cleaning these rooms out.Also, these past few months I’ve stumbled across some “Malawian-isms.” Some of them drive me crazy, but some of them just make me giggle:

1. Apparently if you ask a yes or no question a proper response is yes or MMmm. For example:

Me: Is that where the paper goes?

Malawian: MMMMmmmm(with a single head nod)

Me: Is MMmmm yes or MMMmmm no?

Malawian: MMmmmm

Me: Wait, so was that a Mmmm yes or Mmmm no?

Malawian: MMM mmm sure

2. It’s near impossible to out-thank a Malawian. I’ve gotten in a few thank you wars already, but the Malawian is always victorious.

3. Malawians don’t say no. This is how they respond with a no:

Me: Can you do this?
Malawian: Of course because I cannot do that.

ME: So the answer is no.

Malawian: Of course I cannot.

Me: Oh, right, of course….

4. Doing something now and doing something now now is 2 different time periods.

5. Malawian’s don’t understand sarcasm. I’ve been accused of being mean to someone because I was being too sarcastic. That’s a constant struggle for me to NOT be sarcastic

6. A few of my Malawian friends at the clinic think America is the land of milk and honey. They think if they just step onto the soil they will be rich and have no problems. I’ve tried to explain to them that the single difference between America and Malawi is that America is full of more options. They do NOT believe me that cheese comes in packages already grated, there’s about 15 options for what type of cheese you want, and that it’s about $3 a bag.  They don’t believe that nearly everyone has a car, that gas is cheap, and nearly no one rides a bike to and from work because that is their only mode of transportation.  They refuse to believe that almost everyone has a computer, a lot of people get to go to college, and that minimum wage is $7.25/hr. It’s fun yet sad to hear all these things that they refuse to believe.

Crisis Nursery:

I’ve been to the Crisis Nursery sparsely throughout the past few months. We work 7:30-4:30 5 days a week, so finding time to get to the nursery has been a little hard. Backston went back to his home village. I was really sad that he left, but I know it’s the best thing for him. I would much rather him be placed back with his family (assuming they take good care of him this time) than be placed in a foster home. Mwawi, the director of the nursery in Lilongwe, is going to check up on Backston in the next few weeks and I will get an update on him then. Meshach and Shadrach are getting so big! Meshach is crawling and sitting up quite well by himself, and Shadrach is starting to make the sweet baby sounds and sits up on his own. Lately Meshach likes to use my phone as a chew toy. If you take it away from him he starts crying and screaming, so I just give it to him and wipe the drool off when it’s time for me to leave. It’s kinda gross but if a green cell phone is tasty to chew on and makes him happy then I’ll oblige. They are some of the happiest babies at the nursery. Their smiles and giggles are always a great reminder to me that these children really ARE His children. 

Meshech

Chewing on my phone


Mateyo

Gule Wamkulu

This past week we had a beautiful young girl came into the clinic to have her hand cleaned and a dressing placed on it. When I asked the nurse to ask her why her hand looked so bad and was infected, the nurse told me the patient said that the kids in the village stabbed her hand. They hurt her hand because she’s in the gule wamkulu (gang dancers) group in her village. The girl didn’t want to be in the group, but was forced in the group because her older brother is in it.  The agogo(grandmother) of the child also proceeded to tell us that the girl was told by the group to kill her agogo because it’s part of her “duties” she’s assigned, and her reward would be an airplane.  The gule wamkulu is a gang of dancers that perform at ceremonies and are clothed in animal skins, grass skirts etc. They are said to be the spirits of the dead ancestors from the underworld sent to roam the earth.  In The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, the writer talks about them in better detail. Basically at night this particular group of people go around and try to find young kids to take back to the graveyards.  The kids are tempted to be in these groups because the group tells the kids if they eat this meat then they’ll go to heaven. Only after they’ve eaten the meat do they find out that it’s human flesh they’ve really eaten. I guess if they eat human flesh then they’re cursed because the evil is already inside them. Then, at night they fly around on “airplanes” that are said to be capable of taking the kids to London in a second if they wanted, to rival gule wamkulu clans.  The kids are sent to other “wizard’s” houses to perform their powers. If the children are killed while “performing” then the wizard will then know how to develop something stronger against his enemy. There’s apparently a secret football match between the rivaling clans where the match is played with human heads and the winners get cups of human flesh. Obviously this is all nonsense, but their belief in these tales is real.

So I’m assisting the nurse in taking the packing out of the girl’s wound to clean it and dress it before she left the clinic. I asked the nurse to ask the girl if she’d ever seen any other child’s airplane they receive from doing these awful assignments. The girl said no, so I asked her if she still planned on killing her agogo. She said no. The nurse told me that if she had wanted to kill her agogo then the agogo would be dead already. Oh, did I mention this little girl is 10 years old? Yah, 10. Imagine dealing with these issues as a 10 year old. Before the girl and her agogo left, the agogo told us that the girl is in standard 5 (5^th grade) and is extremely smart. The teachers at the girl’s school are scared that the girl will be killed soon due to this gang and their activities. The agogo said she wants to take the girl to Faith Orphanage to get her away from the awful things that go on in the gang. So, this agogo would rather send her granddaughter away to an ORPHANAGE than have her live with her. This statement tells me something really awful is going on in that village. Something awful is happening to this girl and her agogo thinks the only solution to the problem is sending her beautiful granddaughter to an orphanage. The agogo didn’t ask us to personally take the girl to the orphanage, but it got me thinking about what I should do to help. Should I take the girl to the orphanage to get her away from these horrible things that are happening to her in the village? Should I just send her on her way with her grandmother to deal with it? Should I take her home with me? The girl will be back in the clinic on Monday to have her hand looked at again to make sure it’s healing. I still don’t know what to do for the girl though. I know in Malawi there are millions of stories like this one, but I believe in helping Malawi one child at a time. As Janine Maxwell from Heart for Africa said once, helping one child has to be enough for you, because if it’s not then you get so overwhelmed you don’t know how to help.

Included below are some pictures of people I get to work with everyday. They keep me smiling and laughing.

Felix

Chrispin


Rosemary Honde

Oh, did I mention Jeff went to S. Africa? You can read about his trip in the previous blog posting.  He brought back some goodies from S. Africa though. He brought back 2 area rugs (can’t really buy those cheaply here), a huge package of mentos (my favorite! And they don’t sell those here), a hair straightener (so I don’t look like a Duggar anymore), coffee (Malawian coffee isn’t all that great),  some trail mix which is hard to find and expensive here, and a flashlight to use when the power decides to shut off. I was super excited Jeff brought all that home! Oh yah, and that he got back safely!

So, I think I’ve posted enough for now. I’m going to hop back on the bandwagon and post more often.  Thank you for your continued support and prayers. We love and miss everyone!

It’s ALL about You, Jesus,

Carson

Rezolution Conference, Johannesburg, South Africa

I took a trip to Johannesburg, South Africa, from October 12-19 for a conference with John Piper and Conrad Mbewe. I went with Pastor Brian and 8 college students. We drove from Malawi through Mozambique and Zimbabwe before arriving in South Africa. I will give more details about the road trip but I do not want it to overshadow the power of God working in my life.

            John Piper focused on finding joy in the glory and majesty of God and sharing that with others. He puts it like this: I exist to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples. I have heard this and read this many times but God really reminded me that my passion should be for God’s supremacy and finding my maximum joy in Him. Again, Piper says that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. Like I said, I have known these truths but God reminded me in a big way that He is supreme and I am commanded to find joy in Him (Psalm 37:4). Sitting under the teaching of Piper and Mbewe for 4 days was a refreshment for my soul and I am excited once again to seek my joy in the supremacy of God and spread that to others. This is the most loving thing on the planet that I can do. I was also struck by the fact that God is uppermost in His own affections and it is not idolatry because He is God and is the highest treasure. I could go on and on about the greatness of God and how I have a renewed passion to seek Him and show that He is my supreme treasure in everything. The urgency to share the gospel and disciple others has once again captured my heart and I am praying that God would lead me wherever He wants and that I would be willing to follow. Thank you for encouraging Carson and me as we seek to follow God in Malawi. I pray that we would be faithful to God in everything we do.

Conrad Mbewe

Piper & Me

Piper & Us

Mandela Statue

Skywalk

So now for the road trip part of our journey. We left at 5 am on October 12 and were through the Malawi/Mozambique border by 7 am. About 200 km into Mozambique the van broke down. Brian worked on it for a while (thinking it was a fuel problem) and we were on the road again. We broke down 3 more times within about 60 km and worked on it each time. Finally, someone towed us to Tete, Mozambique, and a mechanic worked on it also. He did not find anything wrong with the van, so we headed out again. It was about 5 pm by the time we got through Tete.  We were cruising pretty good for about 50 km and then broke down again. We were in a town so we pulled over by an outdoor bar and Brian worked on the van again. We spent about an hour working on it this time. The van started and we took off again. We made it about 100 km and the van shut down again. We were not in a good place on the side of the road to work on the van, so we waited for a bit, turned the van back on, and headed down the road. We made it all the way to the Mozambique/Zimbabwe (Zim) border at Mutare and spent the night at the border in a tent. Since it was not a safe place to set up a tent, the students took 30 minute shifts sitting outside the tent to keep watch. After sleeping for about 4 hours we were up again to cross the border and head to South Africa. We made it all the way to Masvingo, Zim, and stopped at a mechanic shop because a tire was low on air. When they aired up the tire it blew which was okay with us because it was better than being in the middle of nowhere. After spending a few hours in Masvingo we were on the road again. We made it into the border of Zim/SA that night, ate at KFC in Musina, SA, and headed to Polokwane, SA, to stay the night. Brian has friends who teach at Christ Seminary in Polokwane and they had a few extra dorms for us to stay in. It was a blessing to not have to drive 3 more hours into Joburg that night. So you are probably wondering what was wrong with the van. We are pretty sure it was bad tank of fuel that clogged the fuel pump and filter which just shuts the van down. We made it to the conference in Pretoria on Thursday and then traveled to Joburg that night to stay at host homes. I actually stayed with Brian at his in-laws house (he married a South African woman about 7-8 years ago).

Breakdown

Towing

The Guys

The Guys 2

Moz/Zim Border

  South Africa is very nice and it made me feel like I was in the States in many ways. Although I have only been out of the States for 3 months, it was very refreshing to have some “normal” things.

Texas T-Bone 

 Now for the trip home. We left Joburg at 4 pm on Sunday after the conference was over. Our goal was to make it an hour into Zim and camp at The Lion and Elephant, a lodge and tourist place. We made it through the SA/Zim border by 1 am and were headed to our campsite. An oncoming 18-wheeler was coming at us and there is not a shoulder in Zim and it is hard to see when oncoming traffic is approaching. We hit a pothole that extended about 3 feet onto the road from the side and the rim got bent and the tire went flat. When I say a pothole, really there should be a sign that says, “Road washed out ahead” because it was that deep. We had a spare so changed the tire and headed down the road again to get to our campsite. Within the next km, we hit another pothole (road washed out) and bent another rim and the tire went flat. It was now about 3 am and we are stuck on the side of the road in Zim. We decided to throw up the tent and sleep for a while on the side of the road. The next morning Brian caught a ride back to the Zim border to get the rims repaired and tires put on. By 11:30 am we were back on the road and headed toward Mozambique. We made it past Harare, Zim about 8 pm and came to a police stop about an hour east of Harare. Brian asked if we could set a tent up and sleep close to them in order to have some safety. They directed us to the police station, so we went and inquired about sleeping there. They were gracious and let us set up a tent at the police station which was actually really nice with green grass (better than the dirt and rocks on the side of the road the night before). We got up about 4 am to hit the road again so we could be home on Tuesday. We made it to the border and the guys at the border held us up longer than necessary because they just wanted to be difficult. Once we got through the next obstacle was going to be crossing the bridge at Tete (it crosses the Zambezi which is similar to the mighty Mississippi). The only problem is the bridge can only have one way traffic so they let one side go for a while and then switch. When we arrived in Tete, we did not have to wait because traffic was flowing our way!!! That was probably the biggest answer to prayer on the whole trip (other than us being kept safe of course). We finally made it to the Mozambique/Malawi border and one last obstacle stood in our way. We had brought a lot of stuff back from SA for the house and other people and stuff, so the Malawi border could have us unload everything from the top and back of the van to inspect it and possibly charge duty. Well, Brian started driving to immigration and went through the gate, the one he isn’t supposed to go through, because there were cones out but the gate wasn’t shut. The border officer got very angry and told him to reverse immediately. Brian complied and we parked and went to get our passports stamped. On the way out, Brian went and smoothed things over with the officer and told him how he was sorry for not following the rules and became “friends” with the guy. When we pulled up to the gate, where they can ask us to unload everything, the officer simply waved us through as he sat in the shade!!!! We made it home Tuesday afternoon about 5:30 for a trip of 49 ½ hours! I really enjoyed it, but I think if I go next year I will take a 2 hour flight from Lilongwe to Joburg.

Zambezi

As always, thank you for the prayers and support! We love you guys more than you know! If you have questions feel free to email or facebook us at anytime.

Because of Jesus,

Jeff

Glorifying God, John Piper, and Champions

Last Wednesday night at Bible study for all the ABC missionaries we discussed the Parable of the Sower and the Seeds in Matthew 13. The part that stuck out to me was “the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful” (Matt 13:22). I thought coming to a developing nation (one of the poorest in the world) would help me not be so enticed by the cares of the world, but with globalization, Lilongwe has plenty of things that can detract my attention from the God of the universe. I long to have a single passion after God through Jesus Christ, but it is a daily struggle. Please pray for a focus on bringing glory to God and not being drawn away by the cares of the world.

Now for what has been happening at ABC and in Lilongwe. The football team played in the championship game of the Don Boscoe Cup. It is the first ever championship game that the football team has played in at ABC. We played in a stadium rather than on the ABC field and it was quite an experience. The coach, Kellen Hiroto, was out of town on a trip with some Academy students, so he asked me to fill in for him. The other team went up 1-0 on a questionable call. The ABC Lions fought back and scored to make the score 1-1 at halftime. ABC then went up 2-1 midway through the second half, but Don Boscoe scored to even the game up at 2-2 a few minutes later. It looked like the game was going into shootouts to determine a winner until Cosmos received the ball at midfield, raced past a defender and beat the goalkeeper with about 3 minutes left in the game. The players and crowd went wild (video to come soon). We celebrated the victory for about 30 minutes and the team and student supporters sang praise songs as a part of their celebrating. I think it is the first victory I have been part of that the winning team sang praises to God on the field!

I have a week long break from the Academy this coming week. Pastor Brian asked me to attend a conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, with him and 8 college students this week. We will leave Tuesday morning and return the following Tuesday morning. The conference is from Thursday to Sunday. Oh, John Piper is the main speaker for the conference and it has been planned for 2-3 years.  Piper is one of the leading pastor/theologians in the world right now (and maybe one of the leading ever). This is a true blessing that we are able to attend and take 8 college students. You can check out the conference website at http://www.rezolution.co.za/HOME.html. I also did not mention that it will be a roadtrip in a van that seats 10, and we will travel through Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa. We will camp in a tent somewhere in Zimbabwe. I am totally excited about getting to spend some quality time with some of the college students and feel blessed that we are all getting to sit under Piper’s teaching for 4 days. If you would like to help with some of the student’s expenses, please let me know. It will not be crazy expensive since we are driving but it will be a few hundred dollars per person. It is an opportunity that the students may not have again in a long time, if ever.

Things are going well here. We are both adjusting well now and feel like we are having an impact in what we are doing. Carson is starting to figure out her role at the Clinic and is being a great example of how to actually care about patients and not just do a job. It is exciting to hear stories and other talk about the work she is doing. I am starting to build relationships with the college students as well as the Academy students. Classes are becoming less stressful to prepare for and I feel like I am actually influencing the students in a positive way now rather than trying to keep my head above water.

Prayer Requests:

Travel to and from Johannesburg

Carson as I am gone

Money for the students tuition which is due for the semester

Money for the 8 students going to Johannesburg

God to be glorified through Carson and me in everything we do

Thank you for the prayers and support! We love you guys more than you know!

Because of Jesus!

Jeff