The Shire

Tuesday - the day of Leila's return.

I have six days left before I leave Malawi, so I have to get a ton of things done in that time. One thing that was on my list that I have been meaning to get done was going to the Shire River with Gifti.

Riding the classic bike.

 After awhile, Gifti decided that I was bad at driving with a passenger, so I got the seat on the back.

We went over and chatted with Kelvin for an hour about Lake of the Trees Bible Camp and a ministry that will be in the works to start hopefully in the next three months. Photo credits to Gifti.

A different bird, a different color.

Refilling up the wheels.

Now on the way to Shire River.

Everytime I got within four feet of the water, Gifti would grab my arm and hold on super tight. I know there are crocodiles in there, but I wanted to get a little closer, so I could see the water better. I kept on telling him that God is in charge and whatever happens is what God planned, but he say, 'Oh no, if you fall in the water, the Goverment will arrest me.' (Editors note: If the crocs don't get the boy, his mother would deal with him for taking such a risk!)

We were going to go across the river in a boat, but I forgot my money, and Gifti didn't have any, so we just viewed everything from land.

On the way back, Gifti wanted to stop at the well to get some water. Here all the women are filling up their containers so that they can use it to cook their foods, drink it, and wash themselves.

There are still ditches and dips in the land here that are covered in water from the rain that fell yesterday morning.

For the rest of the noon, I blogged and ate lunch. At five PM, Leila arrived all excited to see us. She managed to get everything done that needed to be done regarding her father. So that was nice that that business was all completed in her time there.

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A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall

This morning, I bolted awake as a light bolt hit the Earth nearby and made the loudest bang I have ever heard from a lightening strike. It must have been within a kilometer distance. It was extremely loud. The rains poured the hardest I have ever seen so far here in Malawi. But as Darren said, it isn't that much. He says in the rainy season's you have to yell to each other to have a chat.

All the rain coming down to refresh this dry Earth.

Here the backyard is flooding from the continuous rains.

But I still like my sleep, so I headed back to bed. I walked over to my bed, sat down, lay down, and fell asleep. It is really rare for me to 'jump into bed.' I thought for a second that I would be working this morning, but at eleven it cleared, and I worked outside after lunch.

A Day of Sorta Peace

Saturday:

Today Darren took Keiran with him to Blantyre to go shopping for food since we were running low on the needed foods. Mostly milk for tea. Lol. Darren is a tea and milk drinker haha. Well, I guess I am too if the milk is there. 

I decided to stay to do my blogging in peace. Haha. I need quiet from people usually to make sure I get my posts done as the voices distract me. I usually plug in my headphones when people are around. 

Well anyway. With Darren letting me stay back at the house, he had a few chores for me to do: Dishes and cleaning the living room. Since Leila has gone, I have become the main dish-cleaner. Darren the main cook, with me helping out where I can.

The power came on at noon, so I started working on and off with doing dishes and blogging since I was about twelve days behind. Darren and Keiran came back around two, so I barely got any of the blogging done. So with them done, I had to fully complete the dishes, as I was going back and forth between my jobs, but it was needed to be done, so I got back to blogging around three PM. For the rest of the day, I blogged away.

Louis resting on Darren's couch. Don't worry Darren, I swatted him off.

I blogged and blogged as the day got darker and darker, and finally it was time for dinner. I stopped blogging for the day and ate dinner. We decided to watch the last Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. It was my first time watching it, and it was probably the best one I watched. Not counting There and Back Again, since all of those ones were really good, too.

Gandalf the White.

Dirt Flinging in a Country of Dirt

I was up at six again upon request. After eating breakfast, Darren suggested I go get on the tractor to go help them. So I slung my camera over my shoulder, threw on my flip-flops, ran out the door, and jumped into the passing tractor. We drove to a near-by sand pile and started flinging it into the trailer.

George showing us his dirt flinging talents.

I got this weird photo of George on the tractor. Yes, that is me showing off my chin hairs. Lol. Just kidding. Well, I guess you guys already know that. My eyebrows are in the front and hair is in the back.

Here George is fantasizing about driving the tractor. He has never driven it, but at noon he got his chance, and he drove it. He was pretty happy.

George and Solomon.

For the rest of the afternoon, I was busy washing the dishes, so nothing to write about. I will soon post a facial of all the people I met here. In one weeks time.

It was another black-out, so Keiran and I decided to walk around the village. And as soon as the power came on, we were over watching Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. It's a pretty good movie.

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Kittens, Scripture, Climbing, and Japchae

This morning I decided to help out out Tom in his shop. Upon arrival, I noticed that there were some very small kittens. Tom said that they were about a week old. This one I have in the picture below is the one that Tom wants to keep. Tom was away in Blantyre for his sisters funeral. She had a coma and didn't wake up. Please pray for him to get emotionally healed and to feel better. On the day he came back to Hope Village, he found all these kittens. (Editor: Quite possibly, God blessing him in his time of grief. Something sweet to focus on.)

 

There are four of them. Another black one is hiding behind the black one.

And the one responsible for all these. AKA 'The Missus.'

I will show you a few things in the shop. These are thin razors, but they are very good at cutting things. I have seen the Malawians using these to cut their toenails. Just hoping that they don't cut off their toes. Haha.

Some of the plants that the Malawians grow in their garden.

'Sweety' as the children call it.

Powder drinks -  just add some water.

The soap.

I decided to make a few water balloons to throw at the customers. They found it fun. 

Feeding time.

From left to right: Tom, Petro's child, a girl from the Henry Home, and Chimbekezo.

Petro's daughter.

In the afternoon, I studied up for the Bible study that was happening tomorrow (Friday). Here I am getting my lessons together on Blue Letter Bible. This weeks talk: Baptism.

An hour or two after I finished studying a large storm came. The wind was quite rough and made the power lines touch which turned off our electricity. I got the feeling that we wouldn't have power for a week or two. I immediately ran inside to turn off my computer to save power.  

Although, cup half-full, I thought about all the good the power-cut would bring with not having to blog as much: I could be a bit more free. Haha.

So I went over to the Luca Home and invited Herold, Intindeli, and some other guy to go climbing on the Gill's house. They agreed. They mentioned this on the way over to the house, "You only ever hang with us when the power is off." I guess that is true, cause when the power is on - I blog, and if not, then I am free.

Herold leaping up the wall

Photo credits to Herold.

The group minus Herold who is taking the shot

I don't actually remember what I was doing here. Photo credits to Herold.

Or here. ahah. Photo credits to Herold.

Photo credits to Herold.

The new guy. Sorry, I forgot his name.

Photo credits to Harold

Photo credits to Herold.

After getting busted by Darren, I went to make some Japchae. He was okay with Keiran and I climbing the walls, but he didn't want it turning into a jungle gym for the kids since it was the Gill's house and also since it is really kind of dangerous. 

So back at the house, I made this Japchae Stir-Fry. Here is the recipe if you want to try it. It is really good. This is my third time making it.

Ingredients:

 
Instructions:

I had to change the recipe a bit, due to not having all the ingredients, so it doesn't look the same.

Just because zooming in and using the flash makes it look neat.

The final product.

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