Reflections from Austyn

I had an amazing time in Malawi this summer and learned so much! Our first night in Livingstonia we learned the extent of hospitality in Malawi. We arrived in the late afternoon and were dropped off at the house where we would be staying. We had no food, no water, there were no sheets or blankets on the beds, and we were all alone! For about half an hour we sat in the house worrying about what to do, but soon several men arrived and took care of everything for us. When our whole house flooded a few days later, I went to ask the neighbors for a mop and immediately entire families came over and cleaned the house dry much better than we could have.

One day in Ekwendeni, I went on a walk. One of the Malawian boys from the church found me along the way and decided to show me to the river. We walked along enjoying the water and the sand, and soon came across some women doing their laundry in the river. The boy I was with (named Gift) asked me if I do my laundry by hand in the US. I told him about washing machines and how I simply put my clothes in a machine and press a button; then when they are clean I take them out, put them in a new machine and press a button and soon they are dry. He was so amazed. Then out of curiosity, he asked me how we wash our dishes. I told him that we put them in a machine and press a button and soon they are clean. We both laughed. It seemed unbelievable how simple these tasks are in the US when we were standing next to women who were beating their clothes against rocks to get them clean. While in Ekwendeni I learned the importance of people over work. The people in Malawi will immediately set down whatever they are doing, without being annoyed at all, to visit with you. One day I went over to the treasurer’s office to collect our money out of the safe. I knew the treasurer was in the middle of something when I walked in, so I immediately got straight to the point and told her quickly why I was there. She clearly thought I was being rude but found it amusing. She said, “First, how are you?” And we talked and came to know each other a little bit. Then she said, “Now, what have you come for?” Silly American thinking that work is more important than people.

The final place we visited was Kwamba village about one and a half hours outside of Lilongwe. We spent a week here, where there was no electricity or running water. We went to bed soon after the sun went down and collected water from the well in buckets and carried it back on our heads. In this village we worked at the orphan feeding center with the Ministry of Hope and led a vacation bible school for the children of the surrounding villages. There are an incredible number of orphans in Malawi. Parents frequently die of AIDS and malaria. Orphans are seen as the responsibility of the community and are almost always cared for by family or friends. The village was an incredible experience. One afternoon we went to visit four different families in the village. At one house we met with a girl and two parents. The girl was an orphan. She did not attend primary school, which is the only free schooling in Malawi, because she did not have enough money to pay for a school uniform. A uniform costs less than five US dollars. The most crushing part was that all of the younger children in this family were able to attend school, because they had two parents who loved them and cared for their future.

I learned so much while I was there. I learned the power of presence. People we visited with would frequently tell us how much our presence meant to them and to the children, that they would never forget us, that they would much rather have us fly to Malawi and spend time with them than send all of the money in the world. I also learned that while there seems to be an overwhelming number of starving children and orphans and kids who need education, every little thing you can do to help really makes a difference. Paying for one girl’s school uniform changes her whole life. More importantly, I learned that we as Christians, me included, give a lot of junk to Jesus. We spend our leftover time going on mission trips and serving others; we spend our leftover money on tithes and NGOs; we send our old clothes and junk to places like Malawi where people are poor and they should appreciate whatever we give them. Jesus is not a dog begging at our table for scraps and leftovers. He wants our absolute best. Jesus tells us to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind.” Matt 22:37.

Please keep the people of Malawi in your prayers: the orphans, the Presbyterian Church, the Ministry of Hope and the Bandawe Orphan Care Center.

Reflections from Lizzy

I am not going to lie; I was really scared to tell my story about my experience in Malawi. I wasn’t really sure what things I was to tell and if I even knew what experiences had an impact on me. But as I have talked about it with friends and family it has become so much easier. Talking about it opens up everything in my heart and I can now begin to formulate a story.

Reflecting back on the two months we spent in Malawi, there are a few things that will stick with me forever. The first and probably most important is how faithful God is. Never in my life have I experienced the faithfulness of God like I did in Malawi. Praying and seeing my prayers answered. Knowing God was going to work out all of the crazy situations. Something the people of Malawi taught me was that you don’t put God on the backburner until you really need a miracle, you trust him to work out all situations, big or small.

The second thing I learned in Malawi was probably the hardest lesson to learn. I began to understand the importance of life only after really experiencing the pain of death. During my second week in Malawi, a little boy was brought into the hospital dead. This was the first time I had seen death so real and right in front of me. This wasn’t the last time I saw death in Malawi, but this particular experience will always be with me. To think that this boy had his whole life ahead of him, but it was ended by a preventable disease.

Whenever I had to face situations that I thought were horrible. Or whenever I had to do things I would never want to do. I thought back to what Christ said in Matthew 25. Knowing that by serving the people of Malawi I was really serving Christ changed my heart. It isn’t about how much I did to change these peoples’ lives. It is about how much I laid down my own pride to serve them and in doing so served Christ. That is a lesson I will hopefully continue to learn. And my hope is that God will continue to shape my heart into the heart of a servant.

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
~Matthew 25: 34-40

Thank you so much for your support and prayers. They really made a difference to me throughout all I experienced.
God Bless,
Lizzy

Denise’s Reflections on Malawi –One Week Later

Denise carrying water in Kwamba Village

Ekwendeni Girls School

Robert Laws Secondary school (in Embagweni)

After a week, I’m finally over my jet-lag and have had the opportunity to tell my story several times. Looking back on the trip, there are more memories, stories, and lessons than could possibly fit on one page, so I’ll limit it to the most important few. By going to Malawi, I learned every possible situation for using Yewo, ate enough nsima to be sick of it, got reprimanded for not greeting properly, bought a coke for 33 cents, tied a chitenje, lived in a village, slaughtered a goat, walked around like a celebrity because of the color of my skin, and sang Amazing Grace every Sunday.

The biggest hurdle for me personally was accepting the mantra of TIA – This is Africa. Rides were late, things didn’t always proceed as expected, and as leader for the group, I let it stress me out. The worst was our travel up to Livingstonia at the beginning of the trip. I had misunderstood where we would be living, our bags hadn’t arrived yet, we didn’t know how we were getting food, and after the long, hot car ride everyone was tired and hungry. The group could tell you I was really stressed because I felt I had no control of the situation. However, God took care of it. He used the opportunity to force my trust onto Him and in doing so, strengthened my faith and relaxed my tension. As evidence, Clay asked me what the plan was in Liwonde at the end of the trip and I replied, “Clay, there is no plan – TIA!” My hope is that my reliance on God can continue back in the American culture of self-reliance.

Going to Africa as team leader, I anticipated struggling with the stress of leadership. I did not anticipate the signs God presented me about my future. The first clue was in Livingstonia. We were walking somewhere and the topic of career came up. Everyone in the group affirmed that I would be a good teacher. Then, in Embagweni, I was given the chance to teach. I mentioned after church on Sunday to several townsfolk that I was looking for something to do the next week, such as teaching math or physical sciences. The next morning the headmaster of Robert Laws Secondary School summoned me and I began teaching physics that afternoon. Watching the kids grasp the concepts because of my tutelage, I felt a sense of calm and “rightness”. I could feel God weighing on my heart a calling to teach, even if it’s several years down the road.

At the end of it all, we realized that Malawians might need our money and financial gifts, but they prefer our presence and spiritual gifts. Although we didn’t always feel productive during the trip, we still performed God’s work making friends and building relationships across cultural boundaries. After all, Jesus reached to the Samaritan woman (John 4:1-26), Philip taught the Ethiopian (Acts 8:26-40), and Peter visited a Roman centurion (Acts 10). Such cross-cultural biblical precedents encourage spreading the good news through building relationships. The trip was more an exchange than a gift and for that I am so grateful. And I can do nothing more than praise God for this amazing experience.

“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power forever and ever.” 1 Peter 4:8-11

In Him,

Denise