Kunyumba Kuli Bwino (Home is Well)

Mass and Welcome at Nkhuwka 

It’s hard to believe that we had already been in Malawi for two weeks! We have become much more familiar with the city itself. Where the different stores are for shopping for food and necessities. Who has the better prices on goods, and which stores to only go to if completely necessary. (Mainly because one store is out).  One thing we have definitely come to appreciate about the US after this short time is the general cleanliness and sanitation in the states.  Much of the city, especially the edges has an enormous amount of trash and litter. Once in a while you will see a section of it gathered into piles and then burned there on the spot.  This is even done in the middle of town where it is burned in the deep drainage canals that line the streets.

Even driving through the dense pedestrian and vehicle traffic is like second nature. Weaving around potholes, passing the minibuses and slowing for dozens of people trying to cross the road anywhere and everywhere is all just part of it now. In only about a week and a half, I have already gotten pulled over six times. When I say pulled over though, it’s really more of a wave over. The police stand at certain points throughout the city on M1, the main road through town, and wave cars over to the side to check your license and vehicle tags. All of the officers have been cordial and looked at whatever ID I have on me, asked me where I’m from, look at the tags and smile and wave me on. The police sure do like to check out the mazungu (white man). 

A couple of the most difficult challenges are the amount of people on streets trying to sell you whatever they can to make a living. They’re selling CDs, drawings, fruits and veggies, electronics, just about anything you would want and also things you wouldn’t.  The minute we get out of the car in many parts of the city, the salesmen swarm like bees. They can be a bit pushy at times but we just remind each other that we are all God’s children and try to be as polite as possible.

The other is the beggar on the streets. Many of them have a disability or have some one with them that does. They are typically at intersections and go from car to car looking for handouts of money. These occurrences are challenging spiritually and emotionally. Our hearts and faith tell us to give but unfortunately in these situations it is not the right choice to make. Giving there only reinforces the action and ultimately creates a dependency on the giving. So instead of giving money we have occasionally given a banana or something small to eat. It nearly brought a tear to Tonya’s eye this past week when she gave a cracker to a young man that was with a older blind man. The two of them had the biggest smiles on there faces as there shared a single cracker in the middle of a busy road as we drove away.

Last night we had a young man show up in our front yard looking for money. He was very polite and just sat in front of the house until Lily noticed him from the window and told us that he was there. I went out to greet him and asked him what he was here for and he said he needed money to eat. If we had not had the training we did, it would have been an even more difficult situation that it already was. Giving money to people, especially from our house can be dangerous and damaging to our mission here. So I kindly directed him to our parish where they could help.  

The girls are doing very well. As soon as they start to walk up the path from our house, dozens of kids come running out to play. We have loosened the reigns a bit and let them go out of eyesight to play a little closer to the church with the kids.  The other day, we were cleaning and I knew Josie had opened the front door and walked out. It was the middle of the day and I knew she wouldn’t go far on her own, a few seconds later I heard a screaming like I haven’t heard too many times in my life. I looked out the front door and here comes Josie running faster than I have ever seen here run and screaming for dear life because she had gotten spooked by one of the many chickens that hang around our yard. I seriously have not laughed that hard in a long time.

Learning the language is now our main focus (besides the girls of course). We will have language lessons three times per week and practice with neighbors and each other every chance we get. Please pray that we learn the language well.

The people of Malawi have really lived up to their motto “the warm heart of Africa”. We have been greeted with smiles and warm handshakes just about everywhere we go.  I couldn’t count how many times some one has said, “you are welcomed here”. These are very reassuring words for us as we fumble through our greetings in Chichewa. We thank God for giving us this opportunity to spread his love and pray that we will continue to see Him in those we meet.

One love,

Jacob

March 9, 2013 – Our first week in Malawi

Lilongwe, Malawi is an amazing place! We arrived near the end of the rainy season so everything is very green and beautiful. Poverty is everywhere, though there are some very wealthy people here also. There are a lot of vehicles in the city (almost all Toyota’s) though most people walk everywhere they go.

Today our family went grocery shopping and found a good place that meets our needs for relatively fair prices. One can find pretty much anything you need here, but of course many things come with a hefty price tag. We are able to get cheese, which is almost a staple since we’re from WI! At the store we saw fresh milk today, though it’s extremely expensive. We’ve been purchasing long-life milk, which tastes just fine and does the trick. Josie loves it! We’ve been trying to find a dish rack that doesn’t cost $20 (almost 8,000 Kwacha) for a flimsy piece of plastic.

St. John the Baptist Parish, Msamba is a vibrant parish. The Masses here are all in Chichewa and on Sunday’s last about 2 hours! Currently there are two Masses, at 6am and 8:30am. It’s amazing how many people attend Mass at this parish yet how few vehicles are in the parking lot. Many of the Malawians walk to church; some walk many kilometers even in the pouring rain. At our welcoming Mass last Sunday we were introduced to the community. The church was packed, many people were sitting outside each of the 3 doors! I bet there were at least 75 people sitting outside each of the doors! The men sit on the left, the women on the right. Many of the children gather in the front and sit on the floor in front of the Alter. And the children are quite and pay attention during Mass – all 2 hours! (I hope my children will follow this example!) It was humbling how warm and welcoming the community has been to us. In many respects it reminds us of our home parish, St. Ann’s in Stoughton.

The parish has a total of 5 churches that are all part of St. John the Baptist. Tomorrow we’ll attend one of the out stations. Our home is on the property of the main parish. Fr. Romando, one of the Comboni Priests here will pick us up and take us to this Mass. We’re looking forward to this experience as it’ll give us yet another flavor of what Malawi is like. The music during the Masses is amazing, it’s indescribable. Apparently Malawian’s also have dance as part of their Mass celebration however not during Lent. We have more to look forward to experiencing when it comes to Malawian Masses!

The church community seems to be very active and involved, which is so beautiful to witness! The main church has 3 choirs who practiced today for over two hours! I’m guessing but I bet there were over one hundred children here today, we think for Catechism classes. We look forward to learning more about this as it appeared they were having a blast and loved being here! They follow us as we walk by, trying to get in front of us for their chance to say hello! We’ve spent a lot of time greeting both adults and children as we walk from place to place. The kids love to touch mine and Lily’s hair, I’m guessing they don’t see a lot of blondes with long hair here! Everyone is so friendly and warm!

Lilyanna & Josephine are adjusting well! There are several groups of kids who call out “Lilyanna, Lilyanna” as we walk past. They also come to our front porch and call for her to come out and play. Its really awesome! Some of the children speak English which has made it easier for Lily to communicate, however she too is learning Chichewa!

Unfortunately, Lily had a little tummy issue which began Friday afternoon. She still had an appetite and no fever, but was uncomfortable until about midnight. The power of prayer is amazing. Her teacher in Il, St. Louise de Merriliac, gave her a prayer shawl that we brought with us. Around midnight, Lily was still struggling and was feeling cold. I grabbed the prayer shawl, laid it on her while reminding her of how special this blanket is due to all the prayers being said for her as it was being created. Lily didn’t wake again until sunrise only to find her tummy issue was resolved. We’ll be holding this prayer shawl as well as another my dear friend Tiffany made for me very close to us as we’re here. I’m so very thankful for these wonderful gifts, and especially for all the prayers that were said for us as they were begin handmade.

Prayer is an amazing gift, we ask you to please continue to keep our family in your prayers. We feel our strength and comfort are greatly supported by your prayers as well as God’s love for us. We will continue to pray for you as well and hope to update our blog every few weeks. We don’t have our own internet connection at this point nor are we any good at keeping up a blog! Though we know we’ll have moments of loneliness and miss our family and friends back in the United States. We’ll focus on communicating through the blog rather than email or FB. But, feel free to email us (kleven4@gmail.com) or write us a message on FB. Please, keep in touch and keep praying for us!

Peace and love,

Tonya

March 5, 2013 – Travels from Stoughton, WI to Lilongwe, Malawi

On Tuesday, Feb. 26 we began our journey to Chicago only in time for a snowstorm to hit! My parents, Brad (my brother), as well as Jason’s family (Jacob’s twin brother) traveled with us to the Comboni House in LaGrange Park, IL. Lilyanna’s wonderful teacher from St. Louise de Merriliac invited us to visit one last time before departing. It sure was awesome for Lily to receive a classroom of love, support and prayers literally hours before our plane would depart. After several good-byes at the Comboni House, it was time to head to O’Hare. By this time, the roads were getting really bad and the snow was coming down hard. We followed Paul, our Program Director. I can’t help but chuckle because a snowplow guided us from LaGrange Park all the way to O’Hare! It was like God sent an angle to guide us!

My parents, brother Brad and Paul helped us get our 12 suitcases into the airport. After a very difficult good-bye, we were ready to go through security. Lilyanna heard an announcement in which Jacob was being paged. We were bummed to find out the security took out our power converter from our luggage, saying it was a “mysterious item”. Big bummer as the wattage in Malawi is different than the states and we really need this item. Oh well, they could have taken much more than one little item!

The first flight was to London, it was just under 8 hours. Our plan was the last international flight to depart from O’Hare due to the snowstorm. Again, another angel! We had 35 hours of travel ahead of us and spending who knows how much longer in O’Hare would have been very difficult for all of us, especially our girls. The flight was smooth, the girls did fabulous! However, Jacob and I didn’t get a wink of sleep and the girls got very little. By the time we arrived in London, we were exhausted. Our plan was to venture out into the city and experience London to help break up the trip (we had to have a 6 hr layover anyway, so we expanded it to 10 hours). It was very cold in London and everything was extremely expensive. We took the transit to Buckingham Palace, which was the one thing Lilyanna asked to see. After that, we decided to head back to the airport for lunch, rest and get ready for the long flight to Johannesburg, South Africa.

The flight again was smooth! This time the girls slept quite a bit and Jacob and I were able to get a few hours of sleep ourselves! We hit a little bump in South Africa, one that we’re still not sure if it really should have happened but nonetheless, it was only a little bump. We switched airlines and South African Air demanded we paid for our luggage. This created a huge headache for Jacob as he had to go back through security multiple times to deal with the situation. I began to get nervous as he had been gone for 1.5 hours. Just as the tears began to fall, Lily told me not to be sad but to pray. So I did, and Jacob walked up less than 5 minutes later with just enough time for us to catch our connecting flight! The wisdom my 7 year old offered me during my moment of fear is something I will hold with me forever. Prayer is powerful, and makes one feel so much better! Its all about remembering that we are wrapped in God’s comforting touch, no matter how difficult the situation may be.

We arrived 20 minutes ahead of schedule in beautiful Lilongwe, Malawi. Fr. Dario, the Provincial Comboni Priest was there to greet us. Somehow he managed to get security to allow him to come into the area in which we entered the airport. He was the first person we saw as we entered, it was so welcoming! And then as we gathered our luggage, we found about 10 more individuals there waiting to greet us! Wow, what a warm, amazing welcoming! 3 of the 4 Comboni’s were there as well as several members of Msamba Parish Council. I can’t even describe how comforting this was to our family, we definitely didn’t anticipate this! One piece of luggage was missing however it was found the next day!!!

We were taken to the Comboni House in Lilongwe to share a fabulous lunch where our welcoming crew also joined us! Then it was time to rest. Unfortunately we all endured multiple mosquito bites our first night here in Malawi, and we’re still praying that none of us will develop Malaria. We are on an anti-malaria medication but had only taken one dose before being bitten. So far so good and we’re on day 9 from our first bites.

On Friday, we rested some more at the Comboni House. A family of Comboni Lay Missionaries who are finishing up their 3-year term met up with us that evening. They would be staying with us for the next week to help us get adjusted, find grocery stores and offer all sorts of wonderful tid-bits on Malawian culture. Andrea, Spence and Seth (McSorely) were another set of those Angels in which God placed in our path as we began our journey to Malawi as missionaries.

Saturday morning we were brought to the house which we will call home for the next 3 years. Fr. Dario and the McSorely’s took us grocery shopping in Lilongwe. We are so very thankful for this gesture, as you can imagine we have a lot to learn! Having food and the essentials was very comforting! Brother Patrick (a Comboni Brother) spent the last month getting furniture and other household items put in place for our home. He did an amazing job, we are so thankful for his kindness!

For our first week here, our family shared a bed that was a little smaller than a queen. The McSorely’s would be staying with us for the week, the 3 of them shared our two single beds. The good news is, we all were able to sleep under mosquito nets!

It took us a few days for our bodies to adjust to the 7-hour time difference as well as the heat, but we’re all feeling adjusted and well rested now! I have so much more I could write but I want you to keep reading our blog! I know this is a very long blog-post though at this time our blog is also our main means of communication with family. Thank you for being patient with my long entries! Please continue to keep our family in your prayers! Currently we’re asking for prayers for health, comfort and acceptance into St. John the Baptist Parish, Msamba (Lilongwe, Malawi).

Much love,

Tonya

January 2013 - Transition

The above picture is from our Commissioning Mass on December 16, 2012. Lilyanna participated by offering the gifts to the altar. And Josie celebrated in song of course! Many family and friends participated in the beautiful Mass and incredible reception to follow. 

After a wonderful holiday in Wisconsin, we have pleasantly landed back in IL. We’ll spend the next few weeks focusing on developing a homeschooling routine, helping out where we can with the Comboni Lay Program office and spending time in various ministry opportunities. We learned in mid-December there was a slight adjustment in our placement. Yes, initially we had a few thoughts of doubt and concern however very quickly we embraced the news as an opportunity. We knew from the beginning we need to be flexible and have definitely had our share of bending and shaping over the past year, especially the past 6 months. In the end, we find ourselves finding comfort in scripture and simply knowing that it will all work out just as it is supposed to. We have found numerous blessings since hearing of our change in placement.

Within the same breath of hearing the technical school in Lunzu, Malawi is not in need of a mission family, we were told of an opportunity in Lilongwe, Malawi. Our family would live on the parish property of St. John the Baptist in Msamba Lilongwe. The main needs brought to our attention were to work with women, children and small Christian Communities. This home would offer 3 bedrooms and would be located on the parish property.  Other opportunities were also discussed in our meeting with Paul, our program director.

Yes, we are excited to get started, to begin living our life as missionaries in Africa. Though we truly have found great blessings in the changes. Having extra time with family and friends has been wonderful, being allowed time while we have access to significant recourses to figure out homeschooling has also been incredible. Lilyanna and I (Tonya) will be able to attend Rockin Worship Road Show in Madsion and I’m also blessed to be able to participate in Christian Experience Weekend at St. Ann’s Church Jan. 25 – 27. And Jacob has the opportunity to attend No Regrets weekend with his brother, Jason. Jacob and I will also have time to dedicate to our program office as well as offering our time in various ministry opportunities in the area.

All in all, we are doing quite well! Lilyanna and Josephine sure are two happy and amazing little girls! They are getting excited to move and to explore a new area. Lily often prays for the people whom we will be living among and serving, it truly it beautiful to hear her offer these prayers. Oh yes, one last exciting note! Lilyanna will participate in the Sacrament of Reconciliation on Saturday. She’ll be receiving the Sacrament with her St. Louise de Merrilac class. Lily has been focused on preparing for this day; we pray that she may feel the warm, loving embrace in which God offers when we ask for his forgiveness.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support! We pray daily for the special intentions of our family, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ. God bless!

Tonya

Long overdue!

Greetings! An update is long overdue, thank you for being patient with us as we begin to explore this world of blogging and our new journey as a family of Comboni Lay Missionaries. I’m happy to share we celebrated a Commissioning Mass on Dec. 16! This means we have completed our formation training and will now pack up, tie up loose ends and head out to share the love God and be present for those in need.

Our formation process was full of wonderful learning opportunities, meeting new friends, celebrating Mass and a trip to the east coast in time for Hurricane Sandy to hit! Yes, we were attending collaborative training in NY, DC and visiting Jacob’s sister’s family in NJ and arrived in NY four days before the hurricane hit. Everyone did quite well, and enjoyed using flashlights and dressing in layers due to no heat for several days! All in all, it was fabulous mission training!

During formation Jacob and I attended various workshops, lectures and spiritual direction meetings. Through this process, we met many wonderful people who supported us, helped us and loved us! A very dear friend, Mary Ellen, watched the girls on Wednesday evenings to allow us to attend the Vatican II seminars at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. We offer a special thank you to Mary Ellen and her granddaughter who gave Lily a huge bag of summer clothing (exactly what we were in need of!). On Monday evenings we celebrated Mass in the Comboni Chapel, afterwards we enjoyed dinner with the Fathers and Paul, our wonderful program director. 

Lilyanna joined the Super Kids (2^nd grade) at St. Louise de Marillac during the fall. Mrs. Krajniak was a blessing for our journey. She welcomed Lily and incorporated Lily’s upcoming changes of becoming a missionary in their daily class life. Lily developed some incredible friendships, she was invited to some birthday parties and able to have a few play dates with her dear friend Katie. We’ll be staying in touch with Lily’s class and her new friends in the years to come!

Josephine attended a 2-year preschool at Kensington, which is about a mile from our apartment, and the Comboni House! Her teachers adored Josie, they enjoyed her fun personality and wonderful communication skills. Jojo too made several friends and enjoyed her time in a loving, learning, playful environment.

Several family and friends celebrated our commissioning as Comboni Lay Missionaries on Dec. 16. Many traveled some distance, we truly appreciate all of the support, love and prayers we received from all who attended!

We moved the remainder of our belongings to storage (thank you Uncle John for moving us and for the storage unit!) and are visiting with family and friends over the holidays.

Our dear Lord has offered so many blessings to our family. Each step of the process of changing our lives to become lay missionaries has been manageable. Don’t get me wrong; we’ve had some tough times though we’ve had much joy, love, happiness and thoughtfulness surrounding our family. We thank God for all of these blessings and for all the wonderful family and friends both new and old whom he has given us. We are thankful that during our formation process we were able to dedicate significant time to our personal faith journey's and strengthen our relationship with Christ. For this, we are truly grateful and feel incredibly blessed. 

We ask you to please continue praying for our family. The first six months or so we will more than likely be the most difficult. Please pray especially for a smooth transition for the girls! It was reiterated over the past 6 months that the girls transition smooth as long as we pray together and spend quality time as a family! The girls most recently love making up little skits to perform! We also enjoy listening to music and dancing! We too will continue to keep you in our prayers and thoughts! We love hearing from you, so please, email or comment when time allows! (kleven4@gmail.com) Love and peace to all! Tonya (and Jacob, Lilyanna & Josephine)