Yes, we are still here - Thurs, Oct 23, 2008

I know we have not blogged in quite a while but that does not mean that we have not been doing anything. We’ve been in Lilongwe (capital of Malawi) the last two days. It is about a 4 ½ hour drive one way. We needed to register with the US Embassy and Bishop Stephano had business to do in Lilongwe so we thought we’d make a trip of it. Ray & I, Esther and Stephano went up alone and it was nice to spend time – just the four of us. We saw Joe while we were there and spent time with him and his wife. That was nice.

We took another child to the hospital today (Oct 23) to be diagnosed with malaria. Several of the kids are sick right now but most of them have headaches and overall body aches and pains.

God is working in Malawi – vaseline and soap – waterdrum

We went to a meeting for the wedding that is taking place on Nov 1. Wow – things sure are done differently here in Malawi when it comes to a wedding. The families on both sides have been meeting for quite some time to determine how the wedding will be executed. The bride and the groom don’t have a whole lot of say in the wedding preparations. The families planned the food, the venue and the program for the reception. I have been to three wedding meetings and so far the bride has not been at any of them – the groom was at one of them. This last wedding meeting consisted of about 35 or so people from both sides of the family determining who will purchase food, who will decorate and how much it will cost, the program for the reception, etc. We also filled out a slip stating how much we will each pledge so the wedding committee can purchase a joint gift for the couple. We have one more meeting to attend on Saturday morning because the wedding is the following weekend so we have to finalize everything. The bridal shower is on Sunday afternoon and my new dress for the shower is completed. The tailor did a nice job.

We have had two separate people deliver letters to us asking for help. The letters were delivered to us on the same day. The first is from a man named Frederick. He is our neighbor in Chilobwe and wants to start a travel business. He needs MK30,000 and wanted to visit with us to either help fund his venture and give him advice. He has 7 children, ranging in age from 14 to 2 ½. We explained to him what we are doing here and invited him to church with us last Sunday. Well, he came. He attended the service with us and even stayed for the men’s bible study afterwards. He said he enjoyed our time together and is a changed man. He said he would like to come back to church with us again this Sunday. Thank you Lord.

The second request came for either money or a bicycle from a neighbor of Esther & Bishop Stephano’s. He sees us drive to the orphanage every day and thought we could help him. He came to the orphanage today to see what our answer was. We told him the same thing we told Frederick, that we are there working with the orphanage and don’t have jobs to support us so we are relying on the Lord for help, just as he is. We also invited him to church on Sunday so we’ll see what happens. We are really surprised we have only received two of these requests. When they see white people, they always think of money and think we can help them.

Today we had another God experience. We mentioned in an earlier post about the water drums that were now going to be given to us from the company that manufactures lotions, soaps, etc. We were supposed to go back last Thursday and pick up the final drum but we got in a minor car accident the night before and had to have the car repaired. (Nothing major……Ray just backed into a pole and we had to have the back door fixed and the glass repaired to the tune of about $365.00.) Anyway, we went to the company today to speak with Mohammed, the owner. We did get the drum and while they (Ray & Esther) were waiting, they did some more talking about the orphanage and he told them he would like to help out the orphanage by donating some of the products that he manufactures at his plant. Mohammed told them that his 13 year old brother has been killed by a truck driver in April in Malawi and he had been looking for an orphanage to help – then we walked in. Before we left, he had given them his promise that he would donate once a month all the soap, body and laundry soap that we would need in the course of a month as well as all the Vaseline needed in a month. Not as a onetime gift but as an ongoing donation to the orphanage. He told his head man that we would be coming by at the end of each month and that he was to give us what we asked for with no questions and no charging us either. This is a huge gift for the orphanage. Not only because of the monetary value of the gift, but also it is only the second time someone from Malawi has helped out with a donation like this. Mohammed has been invited to visit the orphanage. Tell me God was not at work in arranging this gift.