A Year Ago..

Jonathon and I had dinner with my friend Adam and my stepsister Jill tonight. It was awesome to catch up with both of them. Jill brought a gift for me. It was a copy of all of her journals she kept on the Malawi trip. Exactly a year ago we had been there for just over a week. She has written in journals consistantly for a long time, but this is the first time she has ever let anyone else read them. She typed her journal entries and had them bound for me. I began reading them on the way home and couldn't bring myself to stop until I had finished the entire month's worth. It's amazing all the little things I had forgotten about. I giggled wildly at the remembrance of some things. I also had tears in my eyes at her recollections of others. It is definitely one of the best gifts I've ever been given.

I tried to keep a journal while we were there, but I'm not as observant as Jill. The closest thing I have is a bulleted list I made on my computer of what we did each day. While I was there, I did keep in touch with a lot of people here through email messages. I thought maybe some of you might like to read them so here they are....I hope you enjoy them or get something out of them. I just feel the timing is right since it's been a year. If you want to know more about the place I visited, be sure to check out the Heart 4 Malawi link on the Blogs I Read list.

June 5, 2007

Hello to my friends and family! (Kathy says hello to the people she had me add to this list!) We found our way here through many obstacles. Paul Loy, a member of our team, had his passport/money/credit cards stolen at the airport in London! After an afternoon at the US embassy he was back on the plane and headed to Africa with the rest of us. Yay! We were exhausted when we arrived but we managed to have our first meal at a restaurant in Blantyre. It was pretty good. You just have to be sure the water in the bottles they give you are sealed. Nothing scary! The past three days have been amazing in so many ways. We are all feeling a range of emotions at once. The church service on Sunday was powerful. The people are so hungry to hear about Jesus. I couldn't even count how many people went up to the alter at the end of the service. If you can imagine all the pictures you've seen of villages on television, I can only tell you that you have no idea until they have come to life for you in person. The people just kept thanking us for coming. I keep thinking it's crazy for them to thank me because I didn't feel like I had done anything. We just visited the village. They are such humble people. The orphanage and school have touched our hearts. It's truly amazing what the staff there gets accomplished without any resources. My classroom only has one light and the kids have little paper. They share one reading book per 4-5 students. I will never complain about a "lack of resources" in my teaching in the US EVER! That's all for now. Other members of our team are waiting to use the computer. It's VERY slow here! Thanks for the prayers you are sending out. I love you guys!! :) Karen
P.S. Thanks to those who have sent messages to me. It helps with the homesickness....but there's not enough time to answer right now. Thanks so much!

June 13, 2007
The past week has been AMAZING! I don't know where to begn! Last week the orphanage had their monthly day of fasting where they stop and have a four-five hour prayer service. (Talk about dedication to God!) We attened the service and got to see how wholehearted their prayers were. They asked us to share some music of our own so I played them some Third Day and Casting Crowns. We also sang a chorus of Thank You from our church. At the end they put our mission team in the center of a circle and prayed for God to bless us. Can you believe that? We need nothing and they need everything and they prayed for US to be blessed. We all cried! It was wonderful. We got to visit Mount Malanje and climb part of the way up to a beautiful waterfall. So beautiful! Did I say that already? Tandy (The orphanage director) and Lloyd (Our faithful driver) both enjoyed showing us the beauty of Malawi. They were so proud. I have pictures. (By the way they won't let you hook anythng up to the computers here so you'll have to wait.) We have spent some time here visiting different types of schools to compare them to the orphanage. We went to a private school where the average class size was 60 kids per room. They were all squeezed into classrooms about one fourth of the size of mine. ALL the kids were well behaved and ALL showed a desire to learn, learn, learn. They use a lot of rote memorization in their methods, but with the lack of resources and the number of kids it seems to be working for them. By the way...I sat in on a French lesson. I got to have a conversation in French with an African man. How cool!!! We went to a national park a couple hours from where we are stayng to take a safari. There were lots of elephants.....and other animals.....but the elephants were the coolest. One got angry at us and charged a little....don't worry we were totally safe....then he would turn away and charge a little more. He was so cute!! Oh, I have so much more to tell.....but time is so short. Just know that I can't wait to share everything with you when I get home. Tomorrow we are going to the orphanage to play with the kids all day. They are having a holiday so there will not be school. It should be so fun! Love you all, Karen
P.S. Small prayer request....I have tonsilitis. Yeah, I know! I'm totally okay, but just say a little prayer that the medicine works fast!! The good news is that when they tested me at the hospital they automatically test for malaria as well. Two weeks in Africa and I'm Malaria free! (Kristen-they totally used clean materials....quit worrying....you too Chelli and Jill....there were no germs, seriously!) Thanks to Kathy for being my mommy on this trip!! I'm 29 years old but I still like for someone to hold my hand at the doctor!

June 18, 2007
Hello Friends and Family! I miss my other mission friends.....five members of our team went home no Saturday. They should be back safe and sound. I hope you guys are all getting some sleep! This week has been full of fun. First of all I stayed in and rested for a couple days and I'm feel 99% better. Yay! On Friday, we showed Finding Nemo to the kids and gave them popcorn. They seemed to really like it. Well, some of the teenaged boys left after a while, but who can blame them? The others were totally into it. You should have heard the room when Nemo was finally reunited with his father. It was touching! On Saturday, we drove our friends to the airport and said our goodbyes. Jill is still crying....JUST KIDDING! My step sister has a soft side. He he! We do miss them though. It's been quiet in the Gentry house. After the airport trip, Jill and I took two of the guards at the Gentry house to see the "football" game in Blantyre. That's soccer for all you american football fans. For $9 we got to sit in the VIP section behind the Minister of Sports in Malawi. When will we ever be able to afford VIP again in our lives???? It was so fun. Malawi lost....better luck next time. On the way home from the game we had to walk a little through the Malawian crowds. We got our first taste of that cultural experience. Until then, we've been driving around in cars. It was only a little scary, but mostly fun!!! Sunday was fun because the church we attended was local to the house and it's the church all the guards attend. They were very handsome in their Sunday clothes! It was neat to be there in the worship service with so many of our new friends. This morning, Brother Gentry's car was not running so Rodney from the orphanage came to get us. The van also broke down on the way. Jill and I sat in the van by ourselves for about fifteen minutes. I wasn't scared though....Jill is pretty tough! We finally got to school and taught all day. It is sooooo challenging. NO books, little paper, the language barrier....but they soak it up. It's very rewarding as well. Well, I better go. I'm taking up a lot of time. I love you guys!! I"ll be home soon!!
:) Karen

June 27, 2007
I just tried to send an email and I don't think it went through....there's no way to be sure....so I'm going to do this again....If it's a repeat...just hit delete....
School- The lessons have gone well this week. I've been working on the concept of the "Family Tree" with one grade level. Try explainging that to a group of orphans who call all the women workers "mother" and all the male workers "uncle." It was hard to say the least but they finally got it!! I also had a girl make me sad this week when we were working on the word-hungry. I asked, "What do I want if I'm hungry?" She said, "to die"....wow....that's all I have to say.
On a happy note, Jill and I taught all the toddlers the Hokie Pokie and The Chicken Dance. They were adorable. We also had a Billy Blanks/Jazzercise inspired workout session with all the girls. It was so fun!
Malaria has been an issue this week. Mrs. Gentry came down with Malaria but she recovered in time to fly back to the states this afternoon. Also a teacher had it this week...and sadly, one of the teacher's 6month old baby died of Malaria last week. We attended the funeral services in a nearby villiage. It was very powerful. They watch and sing while the men completely bury the casket.
I had a bad blunder this week....I left a faucet turned on when the water was not in service. The water came back on in the middle of the night and we woke up to two inches of standing water in the living room and kitchen. Jill and I spent the day cleaning it up along with three other workers and Mrs. Gentry. The Gentrys were so nice about it. Apparently it's happened twice before. I felt HORRIBLE!! You can still smell the mildew in the house now. It's going to take a while to clear up...
Here are some Malawian ways of life that I've learned here: -Never make plans....it won't happen they way you want it to. NO BODY is in a hurry here....seriously...-The malawians have amazing strength in the neck and back. They carry HEAVY loads on their heads across miles and miles...with a baby or two attached to their bodies. It takes five men to dig a ditch....one to do the digging and four to sit and watch. It's pretty funny. Okay, I better go now. Time is running short again. I love you guys and I'll be home on Sunday. I can't wait to see everyone again.
:) Karen

July 2, 2007
Good Morning, Everyone! Well, I made it home around 9:00 Sunday evening. Every single one of our four planes to get home was delayed in some way partly due to the London terrorist stuff going on. Jill and I were like walking zombies at the airport. When I got home last night I crashed into my bed.....but for some reason I was up at 6:30 this morning and couldn't go back to sleep....I can see a long mid-morning nap coming this afternoon!! Thanks to everyone who has read and responded to my messages. I couldn't respond to all of them due to time.......but I enjoyed reading them very much. It kept me from getting homesick. This is my last update email on the Africa trip, but I wanted to pass along some of the things I learned....
1. You can't out give God: From the moment I arrived in Africa I realized that no matter how hard I would try working or caring or loving those kids and the people I met....it would never be "enough" because God blessed me far more than I feel that I helped them in any way. I really mean that. There is absolutely no way that I could repay God or the people of Malawi for the blessings I gained in my heart. In my "good-bye" speech to the kids, (which was in a little dancing and singing ceremony we had on our last day that was "rockin' awesome" and made me cry) I told them that my intention was to come all the way to Africa "to help the kids" but that they have helped me so much more.....
2. Take More Time for Life: One of the things I was most frustrated about in Malawi was the slower pace. They don't worry or hurry about anything. I NEEDED A DOSE OF THAT! Those that know me best know that I live my life going 100mph without stopping. I need to slow down and not worry or hurry so much.....we all do.
3. Trust in God More: When you look in the face of poverty and see joy coming from their eyes because "Jesus will supply their every need," you realize that with so little, He is all they have. Sometimes, American life makes it so easy to rely on yourself to get through your problems......It makes it easier to overlook how God is in everything.......They can see it so much easier than any of us.....
4. Kids are Kids Everywhere- I knew going into this that the kids were well behaved and really appreciative of any time you could give to them. I almost started to think that they were going to be so different from our "spoiled" American kids. (No offense to any parents out there....I'm just comparing our kids here to kids in third world countries.) BUT.....kids are going to be kids.....that goes across all cultural boundaries. They like to play and cut up, they had great imaginations, they were sneaky when adults weren't looking, they like playing rough and getting dirty.....kids are kids!! They were also very appreciative like I thought they would be.....It was so GREAT to be around them.
5. Don't Stop Giving- At one point in my trip I began to have this overwhelming feeling of "There's so much that has to be done to make a difference here....I'm only one person and I can't change the world....How on Earth can this change?".....Well, after long talks with Jill (my step-sister who went on the trip in case some of you were wondering who she is), we decided that anything you can do no matter how small can change the world to the people you are able to help. So, if there's anything you've been thinking about doing for any worthy cause....just do it. Don't ever think "what could that small thing do?" It might change one person's world.....the person it would help. Besides, remember important lesson #1-You can't outgive God.

Okay, that's it for my African adventure. I may send out some pictures or try putting them on one of those online albums or something. Thanks again for the prayers that were coming my way. I love you guys and gals so much!!!
:) Karen