Mini Bus

Here in Africa, most people travel by mini bus. Basically a mini bus is a 15-passenger van that will take you anywhere you want to go. Until recently, there were no laws about how many people could be inside a mini bus at a time, so there were tons of people crammed into mini buses that were zipping all over town. Now, there is a new law in Malawi, so only three people can be in each row of the bus. We’re thankful for the new law because the roads are much safer now. Katie and I just had our very first mini bus experience the other day. We went to a Women’s International Prayer Day at a church that was about an hour long walk away from our house. We walked there, but it took much longer than we expected it would (most things in Malawi do), so we were in a rush to get home. Along the way, we got on a mini bus for the last half of the trip. We decided that travel by mini bus is great, and that we will use it in the future to take short trips to town.

TEP

Today, we got a HUGE blessing from the Lord! My TEP (temporary employment permit) finally came through. I applied for this permit in September last year, and it just now came through. Because of the immigration laws here in Malawi, we were having to go to the immigration office every month to update my visa, and I even had to cross the border in Zambia because my visa expired. Anyway, my TEP is good for two years, so I don’t have to worry about that any more. YAY!

An Answered Prayer

My biggest struggle here in Malawi has been not having strong friendships with like-minded people my age. I prayed for many months for God to provide someone into my life. After six months of living here, God in His perfect timing, brought us to Capital City Baptist Church (an international church here in Lilongwe) on a Sunday when we didn’t have anything else planned. The first six months gave me a chance to really adjust to life with the Bartletts and to Malawian culture before I added any more to my plate. At CCBC, I got connected with Kathryn (the leader of the youth ministry) and became involved with Zion Youth Center. Zion is a ministry aimed to provide a place where the youth (both Malawians and ex-pats) can go to have something to do; a place without alcohol, drugs, or tobacco, with a non-threatening Christian environment. I help out with the youth group (the first Sunday of every month), and I will be starting a small mentoring group with three or four girls that will also meet once a month. Kathryn also introduced me to a few of the people at CCBC who are close to my age, and I have begun to build relationships with them as well. One girl, Sarinah, is from Germany and is also homeschooling some kids. It has been such a blessing and answer to prayer to get involved in this new ministry and to begin new friendships.

Electricity

About 97% of Malawians don’t have electricity. We are reminded of that fact every time our power goes off (only once every few weeks). Last week, our power was off the longest it has been since I got here- about 30 hours. While we were using the generator to keep our refrigerator cold and getting ready for bed using candles and oil lamps, we had to remember how blessed we are to have electricity at all. Over the past 7 months, I think that God has changed all of our attitudes about the power, internet and water. We are much more grateful for all we do have, and have learned that we really CAN live without some of the things that we all take for granted in the US. Anna and Lydia have even said, “I want the power to go out again so we can have a candlelit dinner!”

Teaching in Chichewa

Katie, Ryan and I have Chichewa lessons every weekday afternoon for an hour. Our Chichewa teacher, Abambo Banda, is the principal at a small private Christian school across the street from our campus. In order to challenge us, our teacher invited Katie and I to come to his school to tell Bible stories to the children. So Katie and I translated Davide ndi Goliati (David and Goliath) and Yoswa ku Yeriko (Joshua at Jericho) into Chichewa. On Friday we went to the school and told our stories. We discovered that we still have a lot to learn, but we have made a lot of progress since we came to Malawi. Keep praying for all three of us as we continue to work hard in our language learning. Tikuphunzira Chichewa pang’ono pang’ono. (We are learning Chichewa little by little.)