As a reward for your patience I have a nice, long update for you! I suggest grabbing a cup of tea and getting cozy, here we go.
Our schedules have recently been filled to the brim with classes, choreography, errand running, dodging sickness, and a weekend getaway. Two weeks ago I caught a nasty bacterial virus that had been going around campus.  When I first started to feel sick, I was urged to go to the clinic to be tested for malaria. I went to the clinic on an empty stomach (not a good game plan), so I ended up fainting after having my blood drawn. My nurse, Christine, and I laughed about it afterwards. Thankfully my test results came out negative for malaria, but my high fever wouldn't budge so I ended up going back to the clinic and had to be tested for a second time. My last test was negative once again and I was given antibiotics to begin my recovery. I was out for a week but was taken good care of by my roommates! Also, our housekeeper, Leah, came to work ill a few weeks back with severe tonsillitis and no money to receive proper care. I took her to the clinic on campus where she stayed overnight and received antibiotics. Carrie and I paid for her time in the hospital and thanked the Lord for providing us with the opportunity to give her the care she needed to get better.

Carrie and I have decided on songs to use for the Christmas production that we are directing and have started choreographing. We have 5 ballet dances to choreograph and are teaming up with the music and drama teachers here to get the ball rolling for the remainder of the Christmas production which will be performed the third weekend in December. Each of our classes have showed substantial improvement in their technique and each week it continues. I have students as young as third grade that come early to warm themselves up and ask me to stretch their feet before class begins. It is such an encouragement to have students that are truly eager to learn. For our younger classes we are still having to convince them that wearing ballet shoes is not optional and neither is putting their hair up!

 

Above: Half of my third grade class coming early to stretch.

Below: Our precious kindergarten class stretching their hamstrings while singing "Jesus Loves Me".

  

 Instead of assisting with kindergarten, Carrie has now moved to being a teaching assistant in the Reception class (Pre-K) in the mornings. We both love spending the morning with these kids!

 The mom of one of our students brought us homemade frappuccinosto sip on while teaching!

On the weekends, we have been experimenting with new recipes for dinner and dessert! Last weekend I made apple cobbler and homemade ice cream....and it was edible! One of our neighbors has a huge vegetable garden and they graciously share their fresh veggies with us. Nothing beats free and fresh vegetables!

                 Carrie had a "Sleepless in Seattle" moment while helping with the apple cobbler.

After leaving my family and friends in the States, I didn't like the idea of making new friends. The whole "getting to know you" process didn't seem too exciting two months ago. But once again the Lord has blown me away with His provision. Both Carrie and I are making new friends and getting plugged in here in Lilongwe. Jesus has provided me with a new friend whom I have already become close to. Her name is Jessie and she is the head swim coach here at ABC. Jessie is just out of high school and hails from Canada. We have so much fun when we are together, and we are also there for each other when homesickness kicks in. So thankful for this girl! 

 Carrie waited patiently for a month for a package her mom sent with lots of goodies inside! It arrived last week filled with things including precious Starbucks coffee and some chocolate chips. Big thanks to Mama Boudreau!

This past weekend a small group of us took a mini vacation and hiked up Mount Mulanje, also called the Mulanje Massif. The large monadnock is located outside the city of Blantyre and contains the highest point in Malawi called Sapitwa Peak. It has been said that the author J.R.Tolkien drew inspiration to write The Hobbit after climbing Mount Mulanje. We stayed at the Likhubula Forest Lodge for a couple of nights and then stayed in a cabin for one night on the mountain. The day before we actually went hiking up the mountain, we drove to a point at the bottom of the mount where we hiked for about an hour to reach a freshwater pool and spent most of the day swimming and exploring there.

 

On our way to the freshwater pool we passed over a bridge and under us were village kids swimming in the river below. We heard them even before we reached the bridge, because once they saw us their little voices began to call out, "Azungu, azungu, azungu!" which means foreigner or ghost.

On our way back to the car we passed through a village and once again we heard "Azungu!" called out before we could even see the children. These kids followed us all the way back to the car! 

On Saturday we made our way up Mount Mulanje in a little under five hours. I must say that I seriously underestimated the difficulty level of this hike! Most of the hike was steep and let's just say there was lots of praying going on. We were in good company though and encouraged each other when it got rough. We hired some porters to help carry some of our luggage up the mountain. These men are super fit! They hike up Mount Mulanje at least once a week carrying things like large backpacks, sleeping bags, and even ice chests! During the climb I was thinking about how this hike parallels with my walk with the Lord. In the midst of the "steep" seasons when sin seems to entangle me, my strength is lacking, and the battle appears too violent to bear, I must "consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted." (Hebrews 12:3) I cannot muster up enough strength to make it up the mountain on my own. He is the vine and I am the branch and I "can do nothing without Him" (John 15:5). "You do not sustain the root, but the root sustains you." (Romans 11:18). As I draw my strength from El Elyon, the Most High God, and endure the climb He blesses me with glorious mountain top views at the peak. But our relationship with Him must not be stagnant, once we reach the peak of one mountain we must eventually travel down into the valley and begin another climb with the knowledge that our Good Shepherd is leading us. "I have chosen the way of truth...:" (Psalm 119:30) where I must "keep a clear head about everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfill my ministry." (2 Timothy 4:5) Along our journey with the Lord there are precious waterfalls He provides to refresh our soul and renew our vision.

     We took a well deserved swim in this pool after coming down on Sunday!

The water was ice cold, but felt heavenly on our sore muscles.

                                               Here are a few random photos from the trip:

                                                           Dirty feet from the hike up!

                           "For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result,  people are without excuse." Romans 1:20

 

                            We found a KFC when we stopped in Blantyre! Grease abounds..

                                            Overall, our weekend was a beautiful experience!   

    Prayer Points:

* Wisdom for Carrie and me on how to manage our time as we choreograph and direct the upcoming Christmas production.

* Opportunity to volunteer here in the community.

* Homesickness. I've been homesick for a solid month. 

* Financial provision to continue.

* Pray against sickness for us and the rest of the teachers.

     Well, folks, that's all I have for now. I promise we won't go a month without an update again. 

                           As always, I miss you all. I love Skyping, Facetiming, Facebooking, Voxing, and other forms of communication. Sending love from Malawi! 

 Love,

Becca

  

                                    Don't worry, friends, this blog has not been forgotten!
With our ballet classes starting up on August 27th, assisting the Kindergarten class in the mornings, and the power outages I haven't found the time to sit down to fill y'all in on life. In fact, just as I opened up the computer to write a few mintues ago the power went out. Although it is normal for the power to go out every evening around 6pm, usually it only takes 15 minutes for the generator to kick in and we're back on. There is the occasion when the power is out for more than 24 hours and that happened to us a couple weeks ago. No power for almost 48 hours. This is what our meals looked like during that time:

Our ballet classes have been going for two weeks now and we are so thrilled to be teaching...finally! We have been busy teaching three classes a day Monday through Thursday. There are 7 classes starting with pre-K going up to 11th grade, each class filled with precious girls from all over the world...places like South Africa, Zimbabwe, India, Australia, the Philippines, and of course Malawi. Jesus has blessed us with 90 ballet students! 90 students to teach the art of ballet. 90 students to tell of Jesus' love for them. 90 students to just love. I am so thankful for these girls and am praying that the Lord would show me how to be a good teacher and mentor to them.
This last week we distributed the donated ballet shoes we brought from the States and each student now has her own pair of shoes for class! No more dirty socks and feet! Thank you to all who donated ballet gear, just know that your donations have put smiles on the faces of these girls in Lilongwe.

My mornings are spent in a classroom full of giggling Kindergartners. These kiddos have stolen my heart with their smiles, bear hugs, and childlike faith. Hearing them pray before snack time blesses me and I can't imagine how much the Lord loves listening to His children speak to Him. They don't try to use big words or attempt to make their prayer sound more "holy" than anothers, they simply bless the Lord, ask Him to heal the sick, bless the hungry, and thank Him for recess.
 "Let the little children come to Me. Don't stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." Mark 10:15

On a personal note, this past week I have been missing home and the people there like crazy. It could have easily been a week long pity party but instead I have had some of the sweetest moments with my Abba. "...in Your presence is abundant joy." Psalm16:11. He has drawn me closer to Himself and reminded me of His vast, unending love. In the midst of missing what I know, new friendships have begun to blossom.
Also, my nose has been stuck in two wonderful books lately... I recommend them both!
"Kisses From Katie" by Katie Davis and "The Hole in Our Gospel" by Richard Stearns. Both of these books have shed new light on living life in a third world country and dealing with the poverty that is now right outside my front door. I am asking Jesus for His heart and wisdom on how to love and bless my neighbors here. It's incredibly easy to see the need around and become discouraged that nothing you ever do will make it better so you should just not try. But those thoughts are not from the Lord! "There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhearted toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land." Deaut. 15:11
"Don't fail to do something just because you can't do everything." - Bob Pierce

                                       Here's a peak into my iPhone photo album as of late:

Traditional Malawian dancing. (We joined in at the end!)

 

A chance to visit an old, Ballet Mag friend, Taralah, who has been traveling the world and just so happened to be in Lilongwe for a few days!

Lovely gifts from Jesus on my morning walk to work.

"What is man that You remember him?"

 

Welcome to Lilongwe.

 Majestic African sunset.

 

Prayer points:

* Wisdom on how to be informative and loving ballet teachers to all our wonderful students.

* Finding a home church and small groups to join!

*More opportunities to get connected with the people here in Lilongwe.

* Refreshing and rest from the Lord!

*For the aching in my heart to quit already...just a little homesick.

 

I want to wish my lovely sister, Sarah, a happy 19th birthday!

 

"Pray but when you pray move to your feet."

- African Proverb

 

Well, the sun has gone to bed and so must I.

Goodnight, friends and family!

I love you all to the moon and back.

 

Sincerely,

Becca

 

Worshipping an Omnipresent God and Guacamole

Aloha!!

I know its been a few days since I wrote anything....my bad.  Becca and I have been developing our daily routine and are feeling much more at home here.  This past weekend was full of little adventures, small triumps, character building conflicts, and goodbyes.

I'll start with the challenges just to get it out of the way so I can talk about the fun stuff.  Simple put, as of right now there is only one working car that about 9 people are all trying to use.  Please please please pray for us all to be gracious, considerate, and loving as we are forced to change plans and work together until the other cars come back from the shop.

It was quite the sight on Saturday as Michelle, Nick, John, Becca and I all climbed onto one car to go "across the bridge" and to the market to grab some veggies.  Along the way we picked two huge old school sewing machines and for a short while two more people and of course our purchases.  It was a very cozy trip but we all had fun.  The guys ended up making lunch for the four of us and we made dinner. A sweet deal if you ask me.  Of course cooking isn't cooking unless it's by candle light.

Sunday was a BIG step for us...I DROVE to church. And it went without a hitch. Thankfully Becca saw the gentleman riding his bike that was in my "blind spot".  Let me tell you something, I don't think I will complain about driving in the states again.  We went to a church here called Flood, it is a college age church mixed with people from all over. We had so much fun meeting everyone. I think Becca and I can agree that our favorite part was when they started singing a Malawian worship song. Of course we couldn't understand the language but just to see people from another culture worshipping the Creator of the universe was the biggest blessing ever to us.  We truly serve an Omnipresent God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  The people here are worshipping and giving thanks to Jesus for what He is doing in there lives and I can do the same.  We can be united in prayer to see all the nations of the world redeemed, and we are praying to the one true Living Lord.  Now that is something to get excited about.

After church Chris, Pam, Becca and I went to a small cute place called Paypaya and had a massive wrap Chipotle style and a coke for around K1050 which is about $3.77.  That's my kind of eats...haha. We went ahead and lived larged with some soft serve ice cream as well.  It was yummy. Besides the fact that the company we were sharing was great.  We are meeting some really cool people down here.

Speaking of cool people, our friend Michelle left for the States today.  If you remember her mama had a stroke a few weeks back so she just packed up her whole life here to go home to Washington and help.  We fell in love with this awesome women and we are going to miss her.  Please keep praying for her and her family. She only has a flight as far as Canada right now so she needs a flight to be provided for the last leg.




That about sums up all the cool stuff we've done.  The rest of our time is mostly taking ballet classes, getting everything organized to start teaching, taking walks, getting to know our neighbors and making smoothies and lemonade.

*side note* I never thought I would say this but I am having so fun much learning to cook everything from scratch.



Things to be praying for-
*Car Issues
*Preparations  for classes
*Distractions
*Michelle

Today marks one week that we have been in Lilongwe! For the most part our week has consisted of unpacking, being taken around town by various missionaries here on campus, grocery shopping, and getting to know the people we will be working with in the year to come. The first four days we were here we had dinner at a different missionary home each night, now we have our own groceries and are learning how to prepare our own meals with the food here. Our official orientation doesn't start until next Monday, so til then we are getting to know our surroundings on our own. Also, Carrie taught a Zumba class to some of the women here on campus this afternoon and they all had a blast!

                            Learning to drive on the other side of the road, not the wrong side:

The fresh produce here is absolutely divine. At the local market Carrie and I picked up things like avocadoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, zucchini...Lilongwe size! Check out the size of this avocado and sweet potato (if you can't tell from the photo, just believe me..they are massive!):

                                        Here is a snapshot from a day of shopping in town:

                                        

One aspect of living here that is going to take us spoiled Americans some serious getting used to is the random power, Internet, and water outages. Sometimes the power is out for only a few hours, other times it can be out for an entire day. No power also means no Internet or hot water. Sometimes we have full on water, other times (usually right when you're about to take a shower) there is no water...only a small drip, drip from the spout. As I was journaling down my worries and what-ifs, I realized that I can either whine about it or be more teachable for the Lord. This is a little lesson about not relying on those things to be constant. In the States outrage and distress would have ensued these circumstances, but here it is a part of everyday life. The children here play outside all day long, no video games, silly cartoons, or iPads. Just their imgination and lots of dirt. Living with the knowledge that the power and Internet are not constantly at my fingertips I'm slowly letting myself be pulled away from my temporal comforts and things I hide behind. This lesson is forcing me to spend my time wisely with the Lord. My pride doesn't like the fact that I used the word "forced" but it's the truth. In these new situations Jesus is teaching me, in a completely new way, that HE is my source, my power plug, my living water, my connection. And whether the power is on or off, Jesus is always near.

Wisdom from "You've Got Mail":

Frank: Technology! Name one good thing we've gained from technology?"

Kathleen: "Electricity."

Frank: "That's one. You think this machine is your friend, but it's not."

Prayer points:

* For continued financial provision for Carrie and I.

* Wisdom on whether to purchase a car here or not.

*For us to be more teachable :)

*My computer to be fixed. (A few days ago my computer basically crashed on me, but I found a man on campus who is good with computers and am praying that, with his help, my computer will come back to life..and life abundant!)

*The Muslim community here in Malalwi. There is a mosque located somewhere behind our compound and five times a day we hear their call to prayer (yes, sometimes even the 4:00am). Pray that eyes be opened to the one, true God!

There you have it....week 1: complete! All because of Jesus.

Sending bear hugs and butterfly kisses,

Becca

Aloha!!

I am so excited to be writing today, its has felt like a high speed race these last few weeks to get Becca and I to where we are at right now.  And I would like to hand out another huge round of "thank you"s because we could have not done any of this with all of our supporters. (That's you guys reading this)

I have to admit Becca and I both slept in this morning and it was awesome. We need to catch up on sleep very badly. But....after our morning started we were both able to find our little corner of peace and share some alone time with our bible and Jesus. I don't have to tell you how refreshing that was.  I'm studying Philippians right now and the Lord has just been teaching me so much.

We had planned to spend the day unpacking and relaxing BUT our new friend Michelle Clark whom we had met last night popped by and offered to take us with her "across the bridge"(think inner city, very low income, street vendors everywhere, and tons of people) . So we climbed into her car and headed out.  Before I continue let me tell you a few things about Michelle, she has lived in Lilongwe for the past 5 years and she lived in Prague before that and another part of Africa as well.  So I would consider her a pro when it comes to getting around and the "know-how" to get things done.  In short Becca and I loved her from the get go.

So we started our journey "across the bridge" and Michelle was pointing out all the different buildings and tips about driving on the left side of the road. And as we came up to our destination she told us that another name for this particular street is "Coffin Row" and sure enough almost as soon as we started down the street we saw lines of vendors selling different sorts of coffins; it's because of the aids academic in this part of the world.

While we were down there it was an eye opening experience, I saw people from all walks of life and I could not help but notice how beautiful these people are.  Becca and I were able to barter down a price on a full length mirror for our house :) While the three of us drove around down these crowded streets I saw out of the corner of my eye a girl walking pass the car wearing amazingly a BALLET MAG T-SHIRT!! We couldn't believe it. But there it was. Brown. With Pink Pigs from Prodigal Son.  It was great.

After we left "Coffin Row" she popped by her house to show us where she lived. It was beautiful! She built her own place and has a grand garden from everything from tomatoes to lima beans to mango trees and everything in between you could think of.  Maybe I'll rent out a room from her next year ;) hehe.  We were also able to meet the head of another school here in Lilongwe, which was awesome.

We finally made it back to campus just in time to go have dinner with one of the families here.  Everyone on campus has been going out of their way to make us feel at home and comfortable.  It has really been good.

On a personal note I'm so proud of myself because I finally finished unpacking tonight :)

Well, I just this is enough for one night, I have to make sure I get enough sleep tonight because I want to learn to drive tomorrow!!

Prayer request:
*Please be praying for Michelle and her mother, who is in the States and just had a stroke. Michelle has dropped everything and packed up to go to Washington to be with her.  She leaves in just a few days.
*Becca and I are starting to plan our classes so please pray for wisdom for us.
*As far as driving goes...pray for safety!!


I am so thankful for the fact that I am here. It feels like home. Despite the random losses of power and water.  I can't imagine being anywhere else.


Love y'all!!

Carrie