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.

GAME

Game is a store in Africa. To the best I can understand they are some sort of subsidiary of Walmart.
Nothing says Walmart on the exterior but the staff wear Walmart name tags.

It's pretty much what you have for a big box department store. From the pictures I have found online tthe one in Blantyre is more well stocked then others I have seen. This store and shop rite are the main store we will have to shop in for everyday things.
The reality is that it looks pretty western with different brands and the prices are marked in Malawian Kwatcha in the thousands so everything looks to be exorbitant. However the exchange rate is about 725 Kwatcha to 1 USD so that is not always true. Food seemed to cost similar to a little more then what we pay in the US and depends a bit on what brand you buy. US imports are always very expensive. local brands more reasonable.
The SIM Malawi director sent us a link to their online ad and yesterday I checked it out. They do sell American brand computers but at a pretty high comparative cost, also printers which was what we were really looking to check prices on. There are so many decisions to make about what is important to take and what we can buy locally in country.
However, and this might be the main point of this whole blog because I am a little food centric. 2 things in the ad caught by eye. Nacho Cheese Doritos where on sale at a price that might be just a little more then you would pay here when they are not on sale and brown sugar was listed in the ad. I had been told brown sugar would not be available and planned to convert recipes by using Molasses.
Looks like that wont have to be the case.
Today I am struggling with very first world thoughts and ideas. As most of you know we sold our house and today we closed on a townhouse here in Sioux Falls, which we plan to rent out for the duration of our service in Malawi.
It's pretty new and shiny, though not brand new and my mind's eye was busy decorating it and thinking about colors and furnishings that we are not in the market for.  I know that I will have some time set aside to "nest" so to speak when we get to Malawi. My house there will not be the same but it will have decor and furnishings and I will get to select them.
I need to remember the phrase; This world is not my home.
 

Expectations Refined

Today it is great to know we have airline tickets reserved!
It is great to know that electricity is on a 4 hour rotating outage schedule!
It is great to know I can purchase the meds I need in Blantyre Malawi!
It is great to know that some sort of exercise facility is available in the area!
The leaders of the SIM Malawi team have a house for us to live in!

In other words their are many amazing pieces of information we have acquired of late.
Many questions still remain.
What will our house look like? How many creepy crawlies will be able to get in to it to live with me?
Will there be some furnishings in it or will we start completely from scratch?

While there are quite a few things we don't know we have seen God provide through the quick sale of our home, safety in our random travels, timely processing of our Temporary employment permit, and some great times of fellowship with family, friends and relations. We continue to believe we are called to this ministry and that God is in control.

At this point we have been living out of suitcases for over a month. I feel like my clothes are always a mess from being packed and unpacked and tossed around what ever room we are staying in. The idea of a dresser and a closet that my clothing can be hung and stored in seems like a luxury. It is good that I am starting to long for and appreciate simple things as we move forward, knowing that our lifestyle will be much simpler in Malawi.

 

We spent some time in Colorado enjoying the beauty of Gods Creation. This is a picture from what seemed like the top of the world. It was a good reminder that if God could create these majestic mountains and the many and varied things we saw he can surely handle my life.

 

Expectations

This is Malawi, a rented household of some sort in the city of Blantyre will be my next home.
Right now we are at SIM USA headquarters in Charlotte, NC participating in SIM Sendoff and Security Training. This is our final real training requirement. The remaining to do list is a couple of online lecture based classes on theology for me and a list of books to read for both of us. Beyond that we wait the mechanizations of Malawian Government to process our temporary work permit. As soon as we receive that which could come at any point we can set a departure date and book tickets to depart.

All this means that I have started to think about what to expect in this new home. I am not really sure if I will be working a regular office schedule of 8 or 9 to 5 in my position as personnel coordinator.
I don't know what my new "house" will look like, space, furnishings, what it will take to make it a home. I don't know what my language training will look like. I know we need to learn some basic Chichewa, but not a lot about how it's going to happen, except that it's not a formal language school. I also have realized this week how important it is to learn a little more about the culture of Malawi before I get that. Is it appropriate to wear my hair down or is up more acceptable, how do you handle greetings, how do you act around people of the opposite gender. I have a few more things to explore beyond the wearing of long skirts.

This week I have talked to a few people who have visited Blantyre fairly recently. I got a few tidbits of information to add to my meager store of knowledge. One piece is that I will probably only have access to about 8 hours of electricity a day. I was hoping and believing it might be more like 20 hours a day. I can deal with that but it's an adjustment to my thought process.

I also am adjusting my thoughts about laundry. I believe I will have access to a washing machine. I have very minimal hope of a dryer. I have heard differing reports and am wondering what the true story is about bugs laying eggs in my wet clothes while they are drying. This is a real issue and they supposedly hatch and burrow into your skin. Not a pleasant thought. Some say drying clothes indoors prevents this completely, some say no no no you must iron everything to include socks and undergarments if you don't dry in a machine. Humm this seems like something I need to know.

Trying to wrap my mind around all this is a challenge. However this weekend I have been reminded that my identity is in Christ. Lacrae performs a pretty striking song about this. The chorus is

I'm not the shoes I wear
I'm not the clothes I buy
I'm not the house I live in
I'm not the car I drive, no

I'm not the job I work
You can't define my worth
By nothing on God's green earth
My identity is found in Christ, is found in Christ

However I have to dig deeper and rest more securely in Christ then just my shoes and clothes. . .
I have to define my whole self in HIM in a way that cannot be shaken by my new culture, my diverse work mates and team or anything else I come up against in my new home.

I'll Get By with a Little Help from my Friends

The refrain from this Beetles classic has run through my mind a lot in the past week or so. I need somebody to love and someone to love me. However I don't get high with my friends except on life.

I have been overwhelmed by the love and support, help and hard work of many friends and my practical and giving sister-in-law this past week. It seems that I needed a lot of support to get through the remaining stuff in my home. What do I really do with the 7 boxes of open kleenex throughout my home. Why did they even exist. How many potentially usable items can be thrown away when I know I am going some where, were there is little if anything available to waste. And how do I really cut down my belongings to a minimum and know what that minimum is?

Friday evening we were able to enjoy food and fellowship with many friends from our life and small group bible study which has evolved over the 20+ years we have been involved with hosting it. I truly felt loved and cherished by the people that shared food, fellowship, and prayers with us.

Saturday was to be the last day of our life in our home. 7 braves souls ventured to my home not knowing what they were getting into. I honestly thought that I had things in pretty fair order and not that many decisions left to make. Thought we could be done and out of the house by noon. These good friends worked hard to help us finish packing the final items from our home, cleaning a few more areas, washing out cupboards and often telling me to finish every last item in a random pile of things I didn't know how to decide on a fate for. Coming at 8 in the morning and working til 4 in the afternoon is a very very long day and I don't think I can even begin to express how very thankful I am for the service they did for us.

We made it to Sioux Falls around midnight last night. I was able to get a decent nights sleep, remarkably in my own bed which is now in my daughter's guest room. I was able to attend the dedication of my granddaughter Lydia this morning and enjoy church.

My thoughts and focus have not quite caught up with reality right now but I was challenged by  pastor Jeff Wheeler's sermon today which was profound enough to cut through my deeply embedded brain fog this morning. He preached on the story of Rahab the Harlot. How many years I have taught this story and the story of the fall of Jericho which follows this to countless Sunday School classes. I have never thought of Rahab as an evangelist before. Rahab believed in the God of the Isrealites. She put out the scarlet cord, but I have never considered that she had no real time frame of when the Isrealites would return to take Jericho. It could be in a day, or 3 days or 3 weeks. The pastor's estimation was three weeks.  She got her family there. She had to tell them coming to her house was the only way (like Jesus is the only way) she had to convince them this God she now accepted was for real and they must do as she bid.

I can think of this on so many levels and ways. My friends came at a time when my need was urgent this week. Jesus came to me when I was so lost in myself. God is sending me at a time when I feel there is an urgent need in Malawi. But the most urgent need of all is for people to know Jesus and God the father who sent him so that their lives might be saved into eternity.

No pictures today but picture someone you know who is lost. We don't know when Christ will come. Share with the urgency Rahab must have felt.