Needs, Wants and Making Preparations Happen

We were "Commissioned" Sunday. It was kind of cool. There were 5 questions we were to answer mostly about serving God faithfully. It was good to think of those things.It was good to talk to people first hand about the ways we have seen God working over the past months. It was good to talk to long time friends. I want to be faithful.

We have four more days to try to figure out the things we need. Do I want to get a power bank?
Should I pull my 8 cup pyrex measuring bowl out of the blue suitcase that is currently a few pounds overweight. How many skirts do I really need? My family have heard a lot about those skirts. I think I have a bit of a thing about clothes and shopping. Certainly I know that compared to most I will meet in Malawi I have a luxurious amount of clothing.

I think back to messages I heard from Ramesh Richard literally decades ago now. He talked about what God sees as enough. He felt that standard was food for the day at the beginning of the day and a change of clothing, might or might not have included shelter but I tend to feel that shelter should be included though a description of that would rise a whole further debate. I just know that I have wondered what I might eat often but never wondered if I would have food to eat on any given day. I have wondered what to wear but never if I would have something to wear. I have concerned myself with what the temperature of the place I would live or stay might be, would I be warm enough or cool enough depending on the season. I have never wondered if I would have a place to sleep.

In other words I am now and have been blessed to have all I need and much more. That makes it hard to narrow my belongings down to mostly needs and forget about my many wants. It's continuing to happen though.

Besides packing belongings there are numerous things to take care of. We live in an age of technology so making sure documents we need are on the laptops we will travel with and that our old technology is properly dealt with is a challenge. There is also insurance, phones, financial accounts and such. I am so pleased that my husband is taking care of most of this but. . .

I have spent days trying to make sure our phones are unlocked so that we can use them with African SIM cards when we arrive. If your provider is AT&T this is not as simple as it could be. It's a multi step process and then they send you a final email with three steps to complete the process. The steps fail to mention a couple of critical points and I for one am not convinced of the efficiency of their call in customer support staff. However after a number of issue we have unlocked phones.

I also learned today that my retirement account people think I was born  Jan. 1 of 1800. They also informed me that having this date was my mistake not theirs and that they could only change this date by me sending in a regular letter with my birth date and signature on it so they would know the appropriate time that funds could or should be dispersed with or without penalty. Some days I wonder.

I also am still trying to get our insurance settled. Not sure where that process is at but at this point they mostly seem more efficient then the others I have dealt with.

Maybe all this is good and I will be prepared for the inefficient systems I will undoubtedly encounter in Africa. Time will tell
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Final Preparations, Questions and Mopani Worms

We have reached 9 days and counting til we get on a big airplane with lots of luggage to fly to Malawi. Wednesday, I packed our 6 large suitcases with the things I am sure we are bringing. Four of the cases are just under the 50 pound limit somewhere around 45-47 pounds. One is just over 50 pounds and one is in the 32 pound range. I know that I have around 10 additional pounds to add with water filter cartridges and power converters when they arrive.  This feels like my packing is in pretty good order. We can still pack some things into our carry on luggage.

Now there is the fact that I still have 3 or 4 tote bags of yarn and a large storage bin, also a storage bin and two laundry baskets packed up with extra clothing, there are also some boxes with important??? Papers and random stuff. This next week it will be either gotten rid of or put in storage totes in our daughter’s garage or basement. The amount seems manageable to deal with over the course of a week.

People continue to ask me what our housing will look like. I just don’t have answers to that question. I know that our country director Mike Hammond has housing in mind for us and that it is characterized as Western style missionary housing. I am quite confident we will have running hot and cold water and electricity when there is electricity. I also know that there is wireless network available, unsure about the stability and the bandwidth but there is something. I don’t know what sort of configuration and square footage things will be or if there will be any existing furniture left by others or we will start completely from nothing. I realized that I really don’t know how to buy furniture and household goods in Malawi, and grocery shopping I know has a bit of adventure involved in finding what you need. What I do know is that as I Samuel 7:12 states, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.” We have emptied and sold a house, “getting by with a little help from our friends” as I am not sure the final move out would have happened without a good bit of help. We acquired work permits in a timely manner. We were able to buy a property in Sioux Falls which will be rented out while we are gone and will become our home when we return. My knee replacement is strong and stable and pain free a good bit of the time. We had screening tests that show our heart and vascular risk of disease to be very minimal. My thyroid tests showed stability on my current dose. We feel comfortable with where we are financially with the support we have received toward our ministry and start up expenses. We feel despite many questions the Lord is going before us. I know some of this is repetitive but I can't say enough about the continuing provision of our Lord.

So at this point my excitement to learn Chichewa and begin our new jobs is high, my heart for the Malawian people is strong, and my trust in God is huge.

I keep reading information about random things online. Last week I found a recipe for fried mopani worms with peanut sauce on the Shoprite website. I read the description about how you purchase them and soak them and rinse them before actually cooking them and adding the peanut sauce. I am not sure how I feel about eating insects at all but I realize that there is a chance that it will be something I encounter and may need to do. I understand it is pretty common to roast termites in the high season for them to show up in droves. I am resolved that if God could get us this far he can also help if the need to try culinarily challenging foods occurs.