Early Friday morning, Katie and I loaded up the car with 6 Malawian women, 2 babies, tons of katundu (luggage), and even a live chicken. After we crammed into the car, we began our 4 hour journey to Sharp Valley (one hour of which is on an extremely bumpy road with washed out bridges and a small creek to cross). Once we got to the church, the women immediately started cooking lunch—they cook nsima (porridge made out of maize flour) over small wood fires right next to the church. Women continued arriving, some in the back of a huge truck, some in an ox cart, and lots on foot. There were over 100 women from 16 different churches- it was a very full church. When it came time for worship, we all stood up and started clapping, singing and dancing. We listened to our speakers over the sound of crying babies and squawking chickens (they were tied up in the back of the sanctuary, being saved for dinner). The women slept on mats on the floor of the church, and they took bucket baths in the morning after warming up dozens of buckets of water over their small fires. This may not sound much like a typical women’s conference in the US, and admittedly, there are a lot of differences (you just have to look around and see all the women nursing their babies in public to know that). But, at this conference there were heartfelt prayers, devoted songs of worship, and times of teaching from the Word. There were women who love the Lord, who are hungry for His Word, who want to meet together and encourage each other. So, despite all the differences, the hearts women here in Malawi are pretty similar to those in America. After all, we all love Jesus; what more would we need to have in common?
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