MALAWI!

So the last time I talked to you all on this here blog I was getting ready to leave Kampala! Its been almost 2 weeks since then and I have since then traveled to Malawi, seen my beautiful girlfriend Rachel, rendezvoused with Adam and friends for the first portion of my time here in Malawi, wined and dined with the Flood Malawi staff in Lilongwe’s finest, retreated to the shores of Lake Malawi with the Flood Malawi leadership for some vision casting and rejuvenation, and now am exploring and researching a potential intern exchange program between Flood San Diego and Flood Malawi.

I don’t think I understood how different this experience would be compared to what I have become so familiar with in Uganda. I tried my best to not imagine what I thought it would all be like, feel like, look like, feel like, as to give it a fair opportunity to be just what it is and nothing more or less. It’s not a bad difference at all. I really enjoy how unique this experience has been. Here in Malawi I live with an incredible funny and sweet young British couple, Tom and Jo, and their adorable 1 year old Sally Jane. They house 3 other Brits that are visiting for various amounts of time and 2 young Malawians, Funa and Guise. It’s a lively house. I spend most of my time with them and the rest of the staff at Flood on the African Bible College campus, compared to a typical day in Uganda where I would spend long afternoons and evenings at childrens village playing and laughing with those lovely kids. There was a day that my team and I went out to Msalitza, a COTN village partnership, to help out with the feeding program that feeds over 350 kids. The kids welcomed us with some songs and I couldn’t stop smiling. Helping the woman feed them was insane, and the smell of a vat of boiled fish was not pleasant, but there is something so sweet about just being with kids. My time here in the capital city of Malawi (quite quiet and mild compared to Kampala) has allowed me to connect to a whole other side of life in Africa, the life of the young urban Malawians striving to make a name for themselves in the warm heart of Africa. More specifically I get to spend time with those at ABC that are trying to rise above that western dream of individual success and instead care about educating themselves for the sake of the love of Christ and their communities. Some have a heart for the villages just outside of the city, for training up leaders that lead with integrity and courage, some have a heart for hip hop in the city and for brining hope and light to those stuck in bars.
This last weekend Adam and our team from Flood lead a 2 day retreat for the Flood staff at Lake Malawi. That’s when it hit me how unique and unreal this experience is to be along side Shaun (the pastor of Flood Malawi) and his staff who are on the front lines of the kingdom expanding it in ways the church here has historically said it should not and could not be done. So what exactly does this young movement of Malawians need me for? Well, they don’t need me actually. So I feel honored that they invite me here to what God is doing in their city and in their lives. I did come to help give some tools that could help refine and focus their vision as a church but other than that I am just exploring ways for us to partner with them by exchanging interns for a cross cultural, cross everything experience in ministry.

To do that Kyle and I are tagging along with the staff asking questions, doing work, going places, etc. This Friday Kyle and I are joining a group from Flood that spends every Friday at Kudoko village spending time with the elders and leaders of the village teaching and training them in discipleship, bible study tools, and every day life stuff. They also just hang out with kids and help with AIDS/HIV education stuff too. No big deal. These guys are legit!
I’ll try and let you know when we get back how it went! Internet is really spotty but ill post something asap.

kampala

kyle and I are currently plucking feathers off some slaughtered chickens at our friends edward and caitlin olara's house.

we've had a really relaxing time here in kampala getting ready for our 5 am flight to nairobi then malawi.

back to the chickens
peace

so full

I never knew two weeks could feel so full. Kyle and I plunged into our time in Uganda right as we stepped off the plane, getting into a car and driving straight up to Lira. It’s about a five-hour drive after two days of traveling with no sleep. I also never knew I could be that slaphappy. It was such a dizzying drive, falling in and out of dreams, waking up to red dirt roads and the blurred green peripheral. Deep breaths reminded me this wasn’t a dream.
After dropping off our stuff at the guesthouse we headed over to the new children’s village. My nauseous stomach was filled with a flood of excited emotions. I couldn’t contain the joy of seeing the boys again and all the COTN staff. I wondered how Solomon had grown this year and how the kids had adjusted to life in another new home. But all my questions and curious thoughts stood still as I ran into the circle of beautifully built brick homes and saw their bright eyes heading for my arms. I wept… to say the least. And then to add to the joy I see the intern team, all comprised of good friends of mine (Elena, Chris, Tyler, Hanna, Ashley, Maci, Alex). I was so full.

There began a very busy two weeks of venturing out with the interns to serve at schools, hospitals, a babies orphanage, and just spending time in the village. Each place has had its challenges, its joys and adventures. I don’t think you ever get used to seeing extreme poverty. The pain of watching death wait at the edge of a child’s bed in the halls of the malnutrition ward never dulls. But there is a very different way of processing it when you have spent more time sitting with these realities with the people that live them. Death, sickness, new life, and joy are all very present at most parts of the day it seems. That being said I felt such an odd mix of celebrating and mourning throughout the two weeks here. God has done miracles with these children living in our new village as he has opened up the way for COTN to take in more kids. We have seen incredible change in their broken hearts. It’s very hard to just feel like I am stopping by on the way to Malawi, driving through this beautiful country in my dizzy dreaming. I want to slow it down and keep my eyes open but its time to leave… for now. There is much work ahead of COTN and much ahead for the people of Lira, for the people of Uganda. I am praying about the ways that I may make my return to walk alongside these people for an unknown amount of time once I graduate this upcoming fall. I am so full.

Kyle and I are in Sipi Falls with the interns till Thursday for a beautiful debrief and then to Kampala for 2 days until we fly out at 5:00am Saturday to Malawi! Pray as you feel lead. We are ready for this next adventure as both of us have never been to Malawi and are excited to work with Flood Malawi, start creating our intern exchange program and future human rights clinics.