I saw a bumper sticker today and it instantly made me smile.  It was securely stuck on the back of a beat up sedan and it read: "Relax, God is in control".  How often I find myself in need of being reminded this lately.  I get so caught up in thinking and planning, and planning and thinking(and I know that God puts this drive in me), but I so quickly switch to the thinking that if I don't get something done, that particular door won't open, or if I don't do this, what WE want to happen indeed will not happen...
I heard a great sermon on AM 640 a couple of weeks ago.  The speaker made a great point- he said that our body and soul are so close together that sometimes they catch each others diseases.

God is in control.

"But I trust in you, O Lord, I say, "You are my God."" Psalm 31:14

"For as the soil makes the spout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up from all nations." Isaiah 61:11

For Sunday worship, we drove not far from the ABC campus where we were staying.  We arrived at Church of Central Africa Presbyterian fairly early.  "Africa time" did not deter us on this day... we made sure we were there on time, for this was a big day for Ryan (blog post to come soon about that)!  What an awesome experience to be able to worship God together... two different cultures, two different color skins, two different languages but ONE GOD!!!!!  The sights and sounds of this church were not of the sights and sounds of our church back home.  CCAP was open air, was filled to the brim with people- men on one side, women on the other side, children on the floor for most of the service, voices ringing so loud it could have been heard for miles, electric guitar(!), chickens and goats were offered for tithes, a fundraiser spectacle (blog post to come next) and we learned that some of their congregation walked for hours to get there.  Walked, for hours.

Coming home I felt that there is so much here we take for granted.  We are blessed, yes, but we use our blessings as creature comforts for ourselves.  We spend our money (God's money) on big huge gas guzzlers with brand names, huge houses, more clothes than we need and fast food that is horrible for our health.  We spend our money (God's money) on vacations and "toys" for ourselves.  Would we walk to church, for hours, just to hear the gospel?  Would we walk for hours to worship God and sing praises to Him?   I'm guessing for most of us here, the answer would be no.

We could not have gotten by without our translators: Fauna, Umodzi, Leo and Dyton.  They were a necessary and integral part of the mission.  There were many people living in the villages that spoke good English, but on the whole, they understood everything better when spoken to them in their native Chichewa tongue.  Fauna and Umodzi mainly helped out with the medical mission, but also lead the centers in song.  Leo did the majority of translating with the bible stories and crafts and Dyton helped with the medical mission as well as with scripture reading with the secondary kids.  All four of them were going to school at the African Bible College at the time and were such a delight to work with and be around.  Everyone the Lord brought us into contact with made some impression on our lives.


Our driver was Amos.  He never spoke unless spoken to.  He was an excellent driver I might add- he went fast and furious over the paved roads, slow over the bumpy dirt roads, and was 5-stars when it came to dodging and swerving around pedestrians and bike riders.  He knew what he was doing.  I made sure to tell him "thank you for getting us here safely" after he delivered us to a MOH center!

Our cook was Davidson.  He rode his bike to and from work every day.  At noon he would break and go home to have lunch with his wife.  He also never spoke unless spoken to.  He was an incredible cook and after our long days away, coming home to his meals was such a blessing.  He made us spaghetti, french toast, and hamburgers to name a few.  He cooked from a Betty Crocker cookbook left by one of the missionary families.  But his breads that he made were some of the best I have ever had.  You can't find those recipes in a cookbook!

Josephine cleaned, helped cook and even did some laundry.  She worked on the ABC Campus with many other missionary families and we had the privilege to get to know her while we stayed there.  She was such a sweet lady who took her work seriously.  Clean clothes had never smelled fresher, but that red African dirt never would come out of our socks!

I'll be honest.... I at first felt horrible about the idea that we came to Malawi on a mission trip and here we were being pampered with a cook and a maid.  This was too easy.  I should be completely dirty and smelly and hungry while traveling through and working in a third world country.  I have always been the kind of person that thinks "if you have to have someone clean your house for you, you shouldn't have the house to begin with...  downsize."  And having someone cook for me was even worse.  I don't know, maybe it's a pride thing.  Nevertheless, I came to realize that they WANTED to be there, they NEEDED work, they needed money to be able to provide food for their family.  And all my insecurities about having people do things for me clouded the knowledge that God had them there for a reason.  It was such an incredible blessing after being gone all day, to come home exhausted, and have a shower, clean clothes and a hot meal waiting on you.  God had it all worked out, all these things, before I was even thought of, before I was even born.  All the people and the circumstances that He brings into our lives are there for a reason.  He brought the team there to do His work, just as much as he had all these people working with us and for us doing His work.  He showed me so much there in Africa.  He had to take me thousands of miles away to open my eyes to many things.

Here is a video (used with permission) that was shot at Church of Central Africa Presbyterian that we visited on a Sunday morning for worship.  It was an incredible experience and I have two other stories to post next about that morning.  But first, here is a short video of the women singing.  I cannot explain to you the absolute joy in their faces and voices as they sang.  It was one of the most beautiful spectacles I have ever seen and one of the most profound experiences that I will NEVER forget.  I had chill bumps the entire time they sang.

Here's a couple of funny shots... as most people know, those pesky insects by the name of 'mosquito' carry malaria, a disease that makes people very sick, and can ultimately lead to death if not treated. The mosquitos of Malawi do carry malaria. Luckily, we travelled there in their wintertime, when mosquitos are on the low side, BUT, we still saw plenty of them. We did have to sleep under mosquito nets and we made sure to put on repellant with DEET if we went out at dusk or after dark. Here is one shot of the bed Ryan and I used, and one of Ryan with his 'hat-net', which was more of a joke than anything. We all got a good laugh out of him!

A day of rest and relaxation. Lake Malawi is absolutely beautiful... sand, water, lots of blue. Good food and even better fellowship. I walked around while everyone was waiting for our food to be served and took a few images of these two guys and their fishing boat.