June 18, 2007 - from Nkhoma, Malawi

Hello all!

We are finally able to get a message out to tell you that we made it to Malawi, and actually have been here since Thursday. There is so much that we can say, but for the time being a brief recap will have to do.

Thursday:
We arrived in Lilongwe (the capital) and were greeted by Steven Roberts who was already here. Going through customs was not a problem although the bag the officer wanted to look at had my Greek New Testament sitting on top. The officer looked at it and asked if this is all I had, and I told him I also had an English Bible and when he moved some other stuff he came across one of my English Bibles. He asked if I had another one and then said he would like to have an English Bible. So I gave it to him. After that he let everybody go through without checking their bags! I guess he was already looking at it!

We then went to Matapila where we were going to be staying for the next few days.

Friday:
We went to the "orphanage" which was really a feeding center for the orphans or those that only had one parent. We had a great time getting to know the kids and leading the first half of our VBS.

Saturday:
Another day at the orphanage and we ended up playing soccer with the boys for awhile. Mark's team won 2 to one! Michelle was hanging out with the girls watching the game.

Sunday:
We went to church at Mzusa Presbyterian Church which can be an e-mail in itself. It was great! Let's just say for now that we ended up moving outside with about 700-800 people in attendance all sitting on the hillside. Steven Roberts exhorted and did a great job (through a translater).

After church we left Matapila for Nkhoma which is where we are going to be for the next four plus weeks.

There is so much more to tell you, and hopefully we can do that soon. This is a really beautiful country and the fact that we stayed in a "real" Malawi village was a great experience and Lord willing, we will be able to do that some more at the very end of our trip. The food is another item we can share with you. We have only had one meal we would rather not have again, but we ate that by candlelight and that was a good thing!! Other than that we have really had some good food.

Alright. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers and we will try to give some more information and thoughts soon.

Take care and have a blessed day.

Mark and Michelle