ADJUSTING TO MALAWIAN LIFE

Well......I have been here for over 2 months now and am adjusting to my life in Malawi.

It is still very hot here (upper 90's to 100 by day and 80's by night), but rain season has come in full force. The storms are amazing with so much power behind them. The massive amount of water that is dropped in a quick time frame from the skies and flows among the earth is baffling. The lightening, wind, and thunder that accompanies this rain is intense.

I have been studying and practicing the language (Chiyao) and learning more every day...but far from knowing the language. It is a challenge, but am excited to understand and recognize a few more words each day. I have a language helper that comes at least twice a week for a couple hours each time to keep me going forward. I met her back in 06 when I was here and she speaks better English now....so that helps a lot!

In general, the people here are friendly and kicked back. Most of the people that live in the Mangochi city area speak Chichewa though (Chewa are the main group in the country), so it is harder to practice the Chiyao as I get around.
As I have chances to go with others to the villages, I am able to hear the language more and practice what little I do know. I may have to go and stay in a village in the future for a while to be able to practice enough to get a better base of understanding and use. I am not ready for that yet, and would have to find a chief that would allow me to do this as well as find one that I feel safe enough in..... Others have done this in the past. I would have to sleep on the ground with the critters.......and I am still getting to know the ones here in the Mangochi area that I'm not quite ready to be that close to.

Just the other day I walked across the kitchen floor and felt something beneath my foot that I stopped myself from fully stepping on........it was a scorpion and I had to chase it down to squish it. That was one critter I was hoping I would never get to meet!!
I of course took many pictures of him.

A couple of weeks ago I was sitting at a desk in the little room I was staying in and I saw a very large critter run across the floor. I did notice that it had many legs and was a very large black spider the size of a small rodent. Sooo....of course since I was in a small room and it was me, the bed, and the spider......I had to take him out too....BUT............... my worst nightmare on this one......when I hit it to stop it from running under my bed, a mass quantity of little baby spiders jumped off her back and ran all directions...........AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! So I was jumping all around trying to step on all of those and trying to remain calm...haha...riiiight!
So I ran for the bug spray and had to spray that nasty stuff all over to make sure they weren't going to visit me that night in bed right above them all.

Soo......I am meeting all kinds of critters here...many I just look at and take pictures of...as long as they are not in my bedroom or poisonous. The rain storms bring all kinds of cool critters right to your doorstep. GREAT photo ops.

I am currently renting a house and house sitting for a family that has gone on home assignment until June. This is a blessing..and I have a full kitchen, a clothes washer and a bath tub...woohoo! They even have two cats that keep me company...well they bring me company too....last night was a large bat that the male cat had to tell me about for about 30 minutes at 3:30 in the morning......he finally took it away from my bedside after I acknowledged his catch with a light and talking to him.... Then the call to pray speaker blasted out at 4 am load and clear. I was way to awake for that time of day!

I put in a raised bed square foot garden in the lot next door to me where my friends the Steiner's stay, since I do not have a permanent place to stay yet. Their worker/gardener Ganizani has been a blessing in helping me build these beds with bricks. We have 8 4 x 9 beds and 4 4x4 beds. I was able to buy a bunch (hundreds of packs) of vegetable seeds at the end of season before I left the states. Most seem to be doing really well! PTL! He (the gardener) has learned a lot, and many missionaries and their workers are watching this closely to see if they can be encouraged to do the same. A couple of the missionaries have asked if Ganizani would be willing to show their workers and village friends, how to do these.
This would be AWESOME...as many only grow Maize (corn that isn't sweet) and sometimes beans. The main issue is access to water and being able to get them to germinate if they don't have rain (this is the way they grow everything in the rural areas...as water is not piped to them and they have to go get it somewhere). So we will see how this may work.
I also put in a large sweet corn patch is another area. It is looking really good!


I have grown a nice bunch of Moringa trees and have given out many seeds (both vegetable and tree seeds) to many people.


I will try to update more often, but the internet here is very unpredictable and extremely expensive! Many days no access.....one week with out access even.

Please pray that I will keep pushing forward and be excited about learning the Yao language no matter how difficult it is.

Also to know when certain people here are being really friendly, to be able to tell if they are just looking for friendship or something more. Discernment!

Also for my son, as he is in California in his new school (Wyotech) and learning many new things..... as well as adjusting to a very different lifestyle around him.

And for my daughter as she is also adjusting to her brother and mother being so far away.

Thank you for your prayer support.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!