We're Alive!!!

Since our last post we have received many blessing and have encountered a lot of change. Some of our closest neighbors have moved out, we celebrated the death and resurrection of our Savior, climbed some trees, met and had lunch with the new Arch Bishop, delivered much needed goods to a family in a nearby village, built a wall fence and said goodbye to good friends, just to name a few of these blessings.

Lily and her good friend Monica who moved away

Our neighbors, who we have had a very good relationship with and of whom Lily had been building a strong friendship with their daughter, suddenly said, “we are leaving tomorrow”. We responded with “what, for how long”.  They had been building a house for a while, about a half hour walk from here and were now ready to move in. Our family was first sad that we would not be able to see and spend time with them anymore but soon realized that this was a great day for them. They had worked hard, doing their job and spending every available moment building their own house literally from the ground up by hand and could now have their own space and adequate room for their growing family. We spent the evening with them, playing and laughing and made them a bit to eat after their transport was VERY late. We will miss them very much but are proud of their accomplishments and pray that God will continue to bless them.

Tonya and our friend Mary

Giving our blessings to the lady to the right of Tonya

We’ve become actively involved with CFM (Christian Family Movement) in our church. The group has been wonderful to us; ensuring translation during meetings when we don’t understand, inviting us to participate and treating us like members rather than strictly “missionary providers for various projects.” We organized a charity effort to provide various items to the most needing and vulnerable in one of our outstations. The outstations are located in the villages outside of Lilongwe. Items our group donated included chimanga (corn), sugar, soap, salt, clothing, and money. On Easter Monday, we spilt up into 4 groups and set out to visit and deliver the items our group gathered. It was a blessing to see the smiles of appreciation and gratitude on the faces of the families who we were helping. We hope to be able to do more of these works of charity in the near future.

Easter celebrations were no less wonderful this year as they were last year. The members of our parish came out in the thousands for the 4 mile way of the cross and the rest of the weekend celebrating the death and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ was a strong reminder of why we are here.

Easter celebrations with the Bishop, there has to be a goat

Our new Arch Bishop, nice guy

The biggest change in our daily life is the new wall fence we now have around our property. The security of our family has been issue since we arrived and through the understanding and generosity of the Comboni Fathers both here and especially from the North American province, we now have sufficient security for our home. A big thanks to you our Comboni family!

Saying goodbye to our good friends Nicky and Travis and fam

Something that we have come to realize that is a great blessing and also a difficult challenge in mission life is, we get the pleasure to meet and get to know different people from many parts of the world. Unfortunately, many times the time is short and goodbyes are a common occurrence. At the end of the school year, we said goodbye to many people and families that we had built strong friendships with. Although this is a difficult thing to do, we are thankful to God for bringing them into our lives however short the time may have been.

We are sorry for the long time between entries. We all had hit spiritual, emotional and some physical low points in recent months. Through prayer, reflection, and the support of all of you, we are once again sturdy and strong.  May Almighty God send His Grace and Blessings on all of you. 

Jacob and his ladies.

Dirty face girls after having our first campfire
 and as close to smores as we can get

Cutting down a big tree with a machete, top down,
yes, those are the power wires