We are in Atlanta. It’s 9:22 am here, 6:22 am where you are (if you are on the west coast). We are as Mike K puts it, “just chillaxin…” So we are so looking forward to seeing all your shiny smiley happy faces. See you in about 6 hours.
Love,
The Team.
So we are back from Chiwengo, we all loved being there, and it was a great last reminder of the lessons God taught us while we were here. Most of us miss you all, but don’t really miss home (being the endless shopping malls, constant noise, and hectic schedules). That’s a good thing, we are starting to see a different, and more simple side of life. God has definately moved and worked. We thought God would neatly arrange our lives in a somewhat different order, and as most of us are discovering, he tore the whole thing down and is starting a totally new re-build. We’re messes, in a beautiful way. Hopefully it carries through.
We do miss all of you and the people we love. We leave early tomorrow morning, and will be home Wednesday afternoon. We will see you then. Pray for safe, and quick travel.
We love you and will see you soon.
Kerry
Hey everyone, sorry no posts in the past few days. We were out poking lions, taunting leopards, punching Baboons, and making fun of the Hippo’s weight. There was no internet at our remote safari lodge, so well, we were without ways to update you. We had a great time, after what was entirely too long of a bus ride. We all were absolutely floored by the majesty and blessing of the place God put us in, it was a truly memorable experience, but it pales in comparison to the kids we’ve met and the people we’ve served this past week. Although we enjoyed the blessing and marveled at God’s handiwork, I think we all couldn’t wait to get to see our friends at COTN and get out to a village again. But it really was an incredible time. Ill let your kids share the details.
The truly good news is that everyone is safe and relatively healthy. There are a few bugs, but mostly just coughs and tummy aches. God has truly had his hand on us in this time. We head out to Chiwengo village tomorrow to be with the kids there, can’t wait. Pray for continued safety and health. I will update tomorrow night before our journey home (pending power and internet access).
We love you all.
Team Mzungu.
Wow, so this whole time change thing is really messing me up. I don’t even know what day it is. Add to that the fact that Malawian time isn’t exactly “prompt”, so that adds to the confusion. So over here right now it’s 3:50pm on, I think Thursday. Good thing the wonderful COTN staff is so incredibly on top of things, or we may end up being here for months! Just kidding.
We were working in the village of Chilombo this week, the guys learned to build thatch bathrooms while the girls helped with everyday chores and getting the kids ready, mudding floors, etc… It’s been great building relationships with the people and with the kids. I think our students are ready to adopt an entire village so make room at home.
We also had a time of sports and games, we played a team in Chilombo village in soccer and we escaped with 2 wins, with some help from the National interns with COTN of course. I can’t put into words how proud I am to see your students taking the most of every opportunity they are given to love. I see them holding hands, laughing, smiling, playing, crying, praying. It’s really quite something to witness. Last night we went back to Msilitza village to the church there and worshiped at their mid week gathering called “Get Together”. The locals of the village all brought traditional Malawian food, Nsima (ask about it), Fish, Beans, Rice, Eggplant, etc… All the kids ate something. Quite a miracle there. Then we spent time in worship there with the local church, all the students realized what it the Global church could look like. They were all very touched and loved being able to worship the same God in different ways. To hear them sing in Chichewa is an amazing thing, especially when we know the song and are singing along in English. The entire group sang Amazing Grace for the service, Brooke and Jordan were put on the spot and asked to sing solo’s, which they did, incredibly well may I add. And Kerry was asked to give another small message. For those of you counting along at home, adding last year, Kerry has now preached 5 times in Africa, that still blows my mind! It very difficult, but God is good, and I trust He used it.
Today we visited Chikudzulire, and got to witness all that SSCC has been doing. Teresa Malila visited with us and it was an incredible time. They truly do view us a family, there was a huge greeting and after the welcome program it was like a carnival. There was singing, dancing, drumming, soccer (yes they call it soccer here too), visiting, it was a lot of fun. We got to see the boreholes, the feeding center, and visit the site of the new Childrens Care Community center they are building. We watched them making the bricks and we all got to try our hand at it (they need 80,000 to complete the job you know), so we did our part making about 12, well way to go us. yeaaaahhhh.
Okay, so the power just went down again, we’ve been having some power outages throughout the day, the government limits power to certain areas at no annouced time so it’s pretty interesting for most of the students to experience a temporary loss of power at the most inopportune time (like in the middle of your shower in a dark bathroom). I will wait for the power to come back on to post, if it comes back on soon, I hear sometimes it can take a while.
Okay, back to the update. We just got back from Chikudzulire and have some down/rest time before we head into town for dinner (if they have power i suppose). Tomorrow we leave pretty early for our Safari. Honestly I think that God really put this trip together perfectly, cause one more day may just overload the students. There has been so many tears, so much heartbreak, and so many deep lessons learned, that a break for a day or so will be very good for them. Then we will come back go to a few more villages, and head home. Everyone says it will be so hard to leave on one hand, but on the other we all miss you and look forward to sharing what God has shown us and all of our experiences with you.
We love you, thanks for the comments. We read them ALL out loud at our nightly debriefings. We all smile and laugh alot, so thanks, and keep them coming. We will see you in less than a week. Please continue to pray for us and for our safety and our health (a lot of us are coming down with some lil colds and coughs).
Love you and see you soon.
Kerry
P.S. It’s now 5 till 8pm and Im just now posting this as the power came back on as we left for dinner at 6.
LOVE WINS.
Today we spent the morning serving in the village of Chilombo, the village that we will be working in this week. We split into 4 different teams, 2 girls teams and 2 boys teams. The girls teams worked with some of the village women, doing tasks such as fetching water (carrying it on their heads), washing clothes, mudding floors, and other things that needed doing. The guys teams began building thatch bathrooms, today we dug holes for the posts (no shovels here, we used machete’s), sunk the posts, and framed the walls with bamboo, and then began laying in the grass for the walls.
After that we were able to go to Msilitza to see the feeding program in that city (we arrived a little too late to participate), and visited the boys and girls homes there. We love playing with the children there, they are so full of joy and so loving, it’s pretty amazing.
Tomorrow it’s back to Chilombo for more work and then in the afternoon we will be playing some sports and games, and possibly doing some arts and crafts. But for now, it’s time for dinner. Ill be letting all the students see the comments you all left tonight, so keep them coming, they are a big encouragment to us all.
Khala, Chikondi, Kuotcha (live, love, burn).
Kerry.
Well, day one in Malawi started with TOTAL immersion. We were broken into teams, and given an local guide (one of the COTN Staff), some Kwacha (Malawian money), and a grocery list in Chicewa (the Malawian language), and then let off at various stops around Lilongwe. We then had to find our way to the Lilongwe Market, find out what all the items were and purchase them, then get ourselves back to Njewa village where we are staying. It was pretty stressful and crazy, but God saw all of us through safely, and we are more aware of the people we are serving, and their daily life, because of it. Ill let your students fill you in on the details.
Then we went off to Chitipi Farm and Childrens Home for a visit, and a welcoming program by the children who call it home. It was the first opportunity for the students to really meet and spend time with some Malawian kids. Hearing them sing, seeing them dance, and feeling so welcomed left many in tears. We returned home that night for some debriefing and team time, all went to bed and got some much needed rest and refreshment.
Today (Sunday) we spent the morning in Msilitza village with a local church. We were asked to prepare a song, so the group all sang “God of Wonders”. Brooke S. gave her testimony and did a phenomenal job. Kerry was asked to preach and was mediocre as usual (HEY, speaking to Malawians through an interpreter on a few hours notice is a ROUGH thing! Gimme a break!). We spent most of the early afternoon there playing with kids and sharing smiles. After a lunch stop at Njewa, we went out to meet the people and kids of the village that we will be working in this week, Chilombo village. We were welcomed by a small group of women singing and a big group of kids looking absolutely frightened and bewildered. Im sure many of us looked the same way! After warming up to each other, we toured the village, and then played some games. Some played soccer, some played Netball, and some tried to teach the kids duck duck goose. We are looking forward to working in and with the village of Chilombo this week, I know God is going to do great things in us and through us.
From there we were able to go to Flood Malawi. A church plant of Flood San Diego. It is a young church with a Malawian pastor named Shawn. It was a very modern church service in a very different place, so we enjoyed it very much. We are now back at our home away from home in Njewa village. We’ve had our dinner and now we’re settling in for some more rest. Tomorrow we go back to Chilombo and do some long hard work!
Please pray for the students to be bold, to not set on the sidelines, and merely watch, but to get involved and put themselves out there, and take risks.
Please also pray for energy and strength as some of the team is felling pretty worn out already, and we’ve only been here 2 days! I know they are still adjusting, and it’s emotionally and physically draining, but we’ve got a long week ahead of us!
We love all of you and feel your prayers. Keep them coming.
I will try and give you another update soon,
Kerry.
Okay, for some reason, I can’t send emails from this connection, so Parental Units, just keep checking here!
Yes, I can receive them if you need to contact. But may only check in once a day or maybe two.
Kerry
We arrived in Malawi this evening, after another long day of traveling. Boy travel in Africa can sometimes be quite the experience! Waiting, more waiting, changes, whatever… But God is with us and we are safely here at COTN headquarters. We are full and happy, and settling in to our chalet’s very nicely. Everyone is very upbeat and happy to finally be here and get to work. You should all be so proud of the students, they have been so amazing and joyful. They are encouraging and helping one another out, it’s pretty cool to watch as their youth pastor. They also enjoy hearing or seeing (when they can) your comments, so keep em coming!
Okay, well that’s about it for tonight. We love you all and we will update again when we get the chance!
Kerry
We arrived safely in South Africa last night, and everyone caught up on much needed sleep. Everything has been so smooth so far, God has really had His hands over us. We had no glitches, no hiccups, not one problem that cost us any time or stress! We got off the plane in Atlanta 10 minutes earlier than we were supposed to land, so we arrived at our gate to South Africa just as they were beginning boarding. Talk about good timing. Every bit of our luggage made it with us here, hopefully the same thing happens in Malawi.
We have had a great overnight here in S.A. Had a great dinner, relaxed, got a good nights sleep, and had a wonderful breakfast. Now we are packing up and heading to the airport to continue on to Malawi. Pray for safety and that our luggage continues to follow us so faithfully! We will arrive in Malawi later today. We love you all and will keep you posted to the best of our ability during our time with COTN in Malawi!
Kerry
We leave from church in just 3 hours. Pray that we have plenty of time to make our connection in Atlanta, Pray that all our luggage and supplies make it onto the plane, pray for safety in travel, pray for rest, pray for Kerry who isn’t feeling good.
OH YEAH!!!! By The Way… You can leave comments, so come on, do it already!
Burn Student Ministries Malawi Trip 