Week Two Update

Hello Friends and Family! There are so many things to talk about. Here are the highlights...

Last Friday-We went into a village and had a mini-worship concert and showed "The Jesus Film." It's bascially a story about the life and miracles of Jesus. Then they do an invitation at the end of the movie. It was so neat to see about 1,000 villagers gather for it. One of our team members, Melanie lead the worship music before a couple of their staff workers took over. It was so much fun! I had a funny moment when a man came up to me and asked me if I understood the movie. I told him that I did and he started grinning and said..."English, Chichewa, English, Chichewa!" He thought I heard the movie in English and he heard the movie in Chichewa. I couldn't get the point across to him that I understood the movie because I knew the stories from the bible. I feel kind of bad that he thinks a miracle occured and really it was just a language barrier. Mr. Fullford later told me that the guy had been drinking...that makes more sense. :)

Last Saturday-We woke up early and went to a village to go "soul winning." I didn't quite know what this was and was a little nervous. When people in the states walk around trying to get you to listen to them tell about Jesus people tend to run from them. We just walked around the village and Mr. Fullford would stop every now and then and give mini-sermons. We helped passed out little bibles with the books of John and Romans. It was a great experience.

Sunday- Church at Njuli village then church in the evening back at the orphanage.

Monday- This has been the highlight of my trip so far. We went up to a village about two hours away and set up a make-shift medical clinic. We had a couple tables and boxes of medicine. Here in Malawi you don't have to have a prescription to purchase medicine...just the money. We treated wounds, colds, infections, worms, snails, malaria, stomach pains, headaches, and other illnesses. It was heartbreaking to see some of the things we saw. One person brought their son to Melanie wanting to know if she could do anything to help him. As best we could tell he was born with a mental condition. They said they had been to several doctors. The whole day just broke our hearts, but it felt wonderful to be able to be giving them something they needed. Many people we had to suggest to get to a hospital because their issue was too big for what we had available. There are many stories I could tell about this day....

Tuesday-Friday- We organized and taught at the orphanage and school. We are trying to get books and clothing that have been donated organized in a way that makes sense for the workers. At night we have been working on aligning the Malawi English curriculum with all the materials sent over from the STates. I am very proud to say that I have come across names like "Welle" and "Kaelin" written on books. Our JJ books arrived from two years ago...but they are just now getting to use them. That should make my JJ friends happy to hear!

Okay, time is so limited for the INternet. I love and miss everyone so much!

:) Karen