Today, as another team leaves, headed for Malawi, I am reminded of how much the people there changed me. I haven't really sat down and wrote about my feelings and how much impact my journey had on me. I guess I have been holding off so that I could think about things, really have time to process, you know, but that could take months or years to process and I probably still wouldn't do my experience justice by putting it into words.
Flying into Malawi, it was what I imagined it to look like, it was barren, laid with brown soil and random fires scattered the area. I remember getting off the plane in Malawi and looking into the sky to see the sun parting the clouds with it's glorious, radiant rays. I knew it was God's way of saying, yes, I do have my hand on Malawi. Do not worry. I care for the people here like the people in the United States.
We were greeted at the airport warmly by several leaders from Capital City Baptist Church (CCBC). It was a pleasant surprise and it made me feel welcomed in a place that I knew I was going to be an outcast, so to speak. However, not once did I feel like an outcast, even though I was probably 1 of 100 white people in a land of thousands upon thousands Africans.
I planted myself on the front seat of the van, as I wanted to soak it all in. I wanted to see everything that I could and not miss a thing. As we drove to our lodge, the roads were saturated with people just walking. I couldn't help but wonder where they were walking. Were they going somewhere or coming home from work? I wish I could know all of their stories.
Even though I kind of had an idea of what the village that we were going to work out looked like and heard stories from previous teams, I still really had no idea what to expect. The anxiety of going to Adziwa (the project within the village we worked in) kept me awake most of the night. I took a sleep aide, but within 3 hours, I was up. Laying in bed, with all these thoughts going through my head. I didn't have a watch, so I had no idea what time it was, and since this was our first night in Malawi, I didn't have a clue what time the sun came up. I laid there battling my thoughts, trying to go back to sleep, but to no avail. I don't know if it was God keeping me up to prepare my heart or Satan trying to take my joy away and replace it with grogginess. Well, if it was Satan, he didn't win. Once we arrived at Adziwa, the smiles on the faces of the kids erased any thoughts of sleep, and I was overwhelmed with jubilation.
I enjoyed every second I spent with the children. The first day was the toughest as I didn't know what to expect and neither did the kids. Sure others had gone before us, but with each group, I think the children have to warm up to the azungu (white people) and really see that they can trust us. The first day, there was this toddler, Mikey, who wanted to come and sit in my lap. Her sister, Sara, kept pulling her back to her. Sara didn't want Mikey to come to me. Finally, we had a break through moment and I sat close to Sara and Mikey and Sara allowed Mikey to sit in my lap, but Sara's eyes were on us every few seconds. I reassured Sara by smiling at her and talking to her. Within a few days, Sara realized that she could trust me. One afternoon, Sara had Mikey bundled in on her back, she found me, leaned up against me, untied Mikey and placed her in my lap and she went off to play with her friend, never looking back. I have to admit, I became really fond of these sisters.
The way Sara and her best friend played brought a smile to my face.
How protective Sara was of Mikey was comforting as well. The children in Malawi seem to grow up fast. It was a really hard to see a 5 or 6 year old toting around a baby/toddler on their back, but I know with hard times, comes great responsibility. My prayer is for these children to be able to know their childhood and experience it to their fullest, but that prayer might change a culture. I know God knows what's best.
Prayer walking was an experience that I will never forget. The first time I went, we walked through the village and came upon a house, we went on in and then the 4 of us just looked at each other. We were all newbies and we didn't take our opportunity to ask James (our guide and translator) what we should ask or talk about, so here we are staring at each other. Finally James told us what we should ask, and thankfully the lady didn't speak English, whew. After speaking with her for a while, the question came up about knowing Jesus. She told us that she knew who He was but never had asked him into her heart to be her savior. I was honored to pray over her. I can't tell you anything that I said, as it was all a blur and I know that God gave me all the words. We really enjoyed visiting with the families and learning about their lives and the struggles they face and how they trust in God.
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Rick, our pastor at The People's Church, said in a sermon a few weeks ago that our society struggles most with materialism, that's what keeps us from God. I believe it. These people have nothing and they totally rely on Him to supply their needs. While Americans have this can do attitude, I "CAN DO" it for myself. We often forget God is even in the picture much less the whole picture. While in Malawi, 10 people whom we talked with accepted Christ as their savior. It was kind of funny how God worked it all out. The first day, the one woman whom I told you about accepted Christ. The second day of prayer walking, 2 people accepted Christ. The third day, 3 people and on the fourth day, I said, oh we are going to have 4 people today. We did the prayer walk and no one....everyone already knew Him. We had the women's program later that day, and Mary (our team leader) told the women the gospel and gave the invitation, 3 ladies came forward to receive Christ. Just as we were huddling around the women and laying our hands on them, a fourth lady came up. I couldn't help but smile and fight off a tear. God gave us the 4 that I joked about earlier in the day and at the last second. He always amazes me.
After coming back from the trip, people have asked what I got out of it. It's really hard to pin point one thing, there were so many. I realize that there are things that we have or do that some people in Malawi may never experience. I look at life in a different way. It's really hard to first go to a grocery store and have all these choices and second to spend $50 and think wow, that's 2 months salary for someone in Malawi. To know that someone may never experience a shower or drive a car, things that we don't give a second though to. I think I really got to see how life should be. I mean the people of Malawi wake up with smiles on their faces. They are warm and compassionate. Here, we could pass 100 people and maybe 10 would look at you and maybe 5 would greet you. There, everyone looked at you (in a good way) and smiled. They exemplify the fruits of the spirit so fully - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. I learned that we don't need stuff to be happy. I think about the things that I have at my house and the things I saw in Malawi. I don't need 99 percent of what's in my house. It may be nice, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't serve any purpose and some of it (TV, computer, etc) only gets in the way of my time with God. I learned how big hearts are in Malawi. I met women, who are widows, who have taken in orphans along with their own children, so that the children can be in a loving environment. That's a big sacrifice for the mother/care taker and her kids as their are more mouths to feed. Most importantly, I learned how much we are needed in Malawi. Not just from a financial standpoint, but from a emotional standpoint. The people there need to know that they are not the only ones facing trials and battling demons. We are all God's children and we need to stand up for one another, to lend a hand to help with a child, to be a shoulder to cry on when someone is grieving the loss of someone dear and to be the voice for someone who can't speak up for themselves.
I want to go back to Malawi one day, to get my heart back, but I know I will come back empty handed. It will probably always remain in Malawi. Many of you know that I have always wanted to adopt a child. I wanted to do so from Asia, but now, I think I have my heart set on Africa.
Who knows, maybe we will live their some day. I have prayed to God that if He wants that to happen, He will have to make it pretty obvious to me and open doors in a big way. The first night I prayed that, I dreamed that people came up to our door and wanted to buy our house, it wasn't even on the market, so if thats they way it goes down, then that's pretty obvious. I wish I was going with the team that is leaving today, to see my dear friends and laugh with the children . I hope one day, we will meet again.
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