fun flight facts

total air miles traveled from june 2009 to present: 30,080

most surprising inflight movie selection: summer catch [starring jessica biel and freddie prinze jr.]

best airport food find: nathan's corn dog nuggest for $2.50

annoying airline that doesn't give you a snack even when you're flying across the country: united/u.s. air

most exciting airport for landing: tegucigalpa, honduras

Read more

africa the sequel

we finished up our vbs and headed out of town for our two day safari at mvuu camp. our first day there we went for a game drive, during which you are given strict instructions to stay inside the jeep. twenty minutes into the drive our jeep broke down, so we all had to climb down in order to switch vehicles and gallivant around with the animals a bit. the drive began in the afternoon and lasted until evening so we could also see the animals at night with a large spotlight one of the guides had. once night fell and it was good and dark...we got a flat tire. out again we went, into the wilderness. thankfully there were no elephant stampedes passing by at the time.

round two of ministry was working with save orphans ministries in ntcheu. we spent some time loving on kids at an aids clinic. there are about fifty kids that spend friday, saturday and sunday at this clinic getting medicine, nutritious food and learning about the love of Jesus. the kids don’t look any different than the other kids around, but all of them have tested positive for hiv and most won’t make it past the age of fifteen or twenty at the most. but they were just as happy as can be singing, playing and laughing. we gave out lots of hugs and were able to encourage them by just reminding them that there are people out there who love them and care about them…they are not forgotten.

my girl zondiwe

Read more

three days in africa and so much to say

in the mornings we've been doing a vbs at the african bible college for the children of the missionaries and the kids that live in the city [as opposed to villages]. these kids are educated, well fed and have families. not the sort of kids you generally think of people going to serve in africa. but whenever teams come they want to help with orphans and these kids are often overlooked. it's been great to see how much they've been looking forward to and enjoying this week. and many of the parents have expressed how much it means to them for someone to come do something for their children too.

monday afternoon we took an authentic trip to the market. we hopped on malawian public transportation [which is an adventure all by itself] with our shopping list, which included a chicken. that's right...a live chicken. which we carried home. on the mini bus. and ate for dinner.

tuesday we walked about thirty minutes into a nearby village to help feed orphans their afternoon meal. it was like a parade. all the kids would yell "azungu" [white people] and run after us waving. it was so cute. the kids we were feeding and playing with all loved to get their pictures taken...all together i think our nine person team left the village with approximately one gazillion pictures. thank goodness for digital.

wednesday we spent a couple hours at a crisis nursery holding and feeding babies. if malawi allowed international adoptions to people other than madonna, we would have had a few more passengers coming home with us for sure.

Read more

the best welcome ever

after spending an obscene number of hours on an airplane, i am really in africa. it's a bit surreal still...we just arrived at the african bible college in malawi this afternoon, so i haven't had too many adventures just yet. [unless of course you include the countless times we've loaded, unloaded, checked and claimed our seventeen pieces of luggage] but we've already seen why malawi is called "the warm heart of africa". as our plane from johannesburg to lilongwe was taxiing to the terminal today, our nine person team [all conveniently located on the left side of the plane] looked out our windows to see this...

in case it's too small for you to read, the banner on the right says "welcome calvary church . vbs 2009 . abc malawi". the funny part was that i had just remarked earlier that day how fun it is to be greeted at the airport with a sign...and there it was! it's really nice to be loved.

Read more

give out grace

the african adventure officially begins in thirty six hours and i am ready to go.

it is becoming abundantly clear that the major theme for me on this trip is grace. both accepting grace for myself and giving out grace to others. a month or so ago i was reading "what's so amazing about grace" and had the idea to write the phrase "give out grace" on my hand as a reminder of what i'm doing on this trip. sometimes it's hard to see the point of traipsing halfway around the world for a few weeks on a mission trip. couldn't the money be better spent on supplies rather than travel? but it's not about the money or the time, it's about being the hands and feet of Jesus. maybe sometimes that will be a very practical thing, like building a house that stands long after you're gone. but other times it's less tangible things...giving out hugs, smiles, and reminding people that they aren't forgotten and that someone cares about them.

the funny thing is that today, i got a little lesson in accepting grace. i met missy and sophie for lunch at pei wei. i was a little early and they were a little behind, so it ended up that i was waiting for about twenty minutes. no big deal. i had brought my computer in and figured i'd just play around while i waited. the workers were apparently very concerned about me and after asking a few times if there was anything they could get me they brought over some water and lettuce wraps on the house! since that was what i was planning to order anyway, i tried to pay them for it but they refused. a little later in the afternoon i went to my appointment to get a henna tattoo on my hand, and after having to wait awhile due to a scheduling confusion, they refused to let me pay for it...not even a tip! it hit me as i was driving home that this was a perfect example of grace being given to me.

Read more