We're Back!

            We’re back! We landed in Lilongwe on June 1^st and hopped right back into things. This past week has actually been super busy—good way to get over jet lag though.

            On Friday we went to the office where I could pick up the new cash register and we got to catch up with Julie and Chimwewe. After the office we spent most of the day running errands and trying to somewhat fill up our cupboards. However, having no food in the house did give us a good excuse to go to our favorite restaurant—Old DC!

            Our week didn’t get any less busy over the weekend. Saturday was the Sabbath then we observed Pentecost on Sunday. After services on Sunday we had a nice Q and A Bible study and lots of fellowship time. Overall, it was a great and uplifting weekend!

            I feel like I need to explain the Lifenets office and shop a bit. Lifenets is a non profit organization that built a shop and internet café to supply jobs and be a service to the community. Half of the building is an internet café that offeres computer services, photocopying, and a few other office services like lamination and binding. The other half is a mini shop that sells some essentials like body soap, laundry soap, exercise books, and some drinks and food. The Kubiks, who run Lifenets, recently bought a brand new cash register for the shop half to use since the old cash register broke. On Tuesday I finally got it set up and ready to use. Now we have a proper register that even prints receipt—soon we’re going to look like a Shoprite!

            This past Friday we drove down to Blantyre to spend the Sabbath there. We stopped half way between Lilongwe and Blantyre to visit an older couple in the church. Talking with them is always so interesting. They were alive during Malawi’s first president and remember a very different Malawi than the one they live in today. Dr Chilapora studied to become a doctor and the president at that time, wanting to better Malawi, started sending educated people overseas to study more. He lived in France for a couple years and his wife was sent to England to better study nursing. It’s interesting learning about how much Malawi has changed in the past 80 years. The Chilaporas were born in the 20’s and 30’s, over 30 years before Nyasaland gained its independence from England and became the Republic of Malawi. I love getting to visit the Chilaporas—they’re such a loving and wise couple.

            Blantyre was really nice! We were spoiled with our usual Blantyre Mugg and Bean coffee J. Services were great and we had a lot of socialization, snacks, and then a meeting about the soon coming summer camp!

            Sunday morning we drove back to Lilongwe and stopped in Dedza to visit some friends and catch up.

            We had a great week and are back into the swing of things! I've been bad about taking pictures so I'll try to upload some more later.