This Is Africa

This Is Africa

Hello again, friends! Since my last post I have left the Philippines and arrived in Malawi, Africa. We ended the Philippines strong on the island of Mindanao working at a children's home, visiting houses in villages, and ministering to young adults on a college campus. We saw people accept Jesus as their savior through the message of hope and love of the gospel and shared adventures like crawling through a cave and riding on top of or hanging on the side of buses on the way into town. I am sure to remember all my days in Asia until the day that I die.

We arrived in Africa on Feb. 1 with no idea what this amazing continent and the country of Malawi had to offer us. When I first heard we were going to Malawi I thought I would be living it up in Hawaii or something. I am so thankful we are here instead. Malawi is known as “the warm heart of Africa”, and it lives up to its name. The locals are all so very helpful and genuine in their kindness and whenever I ride by on my bike, (I bought a pretty messed up second hand bike for transportation), I get all kinds of shouts and points and thumbs up. My new name is “Azungu” meaning “white man”. Its kind of like being a celebrity even though no one knows my name and I don't have as much money.

I am living in a village on a hill top in a tent working with Zehandi ministries. (www.Zehandi.com) I wake up to a glorious sunrise over lake Malawi and end the day watching the sun set behind the mountains to the other side of Malawi. I have to walk a mile to the well and a mile back with 22 liters of water on my shoulder for safe drinking water. All of the surrounding villages are Islamic communities and Zehandi strives to give Jesus to those communities through a Bible school that offers Biblical truth about Jesus and how to work his love for us into our lives and love for each other without human made doctrine or theories. It just teaches the Bible from front to back. They also strive for community development, teaching the communities how to farm, dispose of waste, raise animals, etc. Our outreaches involve serving at an orphanage with kids with special needs and walking through the villages building relationships and being a tangible expression of the love and freedom of Jesus in the Muslim villages. I have also been riding my bike to a market a few miles away to hang out with some Rastafarian drum makers to help them make drums and to pass the time playing their traditional board games. It is always a blast as we make music, they perform traditional music and dances, and we get to share with them who Jesus is in the process. Its also nice having locals as friends so no one tries to rip us off with the white man price at the markets haha.

There you have it. This is Africa. It is amazing. It is beautiful. I love it here and I cannot wait to let yall know what is happening here! Thanks for reading. Here are some pictures!

Here is an African sunset. They are indescribeably beautiful.

Home sweet home. My tent on a hill top overlooking villages and Lake Malawi. That yellow container is what we use to carry our drinking water from the well.

Sorry for the bad quality, but here is a traditional meal of minnows and ndsima. Ndsima is a mixture of corn flour and water. Kind of like grits but really bland and about a pound a bite. The minnows taste like old fish and gasoline. 

Me and some kids at the special needs orphanage. I can't remember the name of the place right now, but we go there to serve and love on the kids every tuesday and thursday.