Monthly Archives: November 2008

We Liked It So Much That We Stayed a Little Longer…

by Matt

Those of you who read this blog carefully will remember that the October 15th post made mention that we came back a couple days after we thought we would. And yes, there’s a story there…

Brian dropped us off at the Lilongwe airport on Saturday morning, all packed and ready to fly back to the States. When we handed the tickets to the clerk at the counter, he looked at them for a minute and then said “So, you were supposed to fly yesterday?”

“No, today.”

“No, yesterday.”

“No, today.”

At this point, all we could think was: This is not looking good! We’ve collectively traveled to over 40 countries, and this had never happened to either of us. Was he serious? Was our ticket for yesterday, for Friday?! Yes, it sure was.

The clerk was very kind. He pointed out that the schedule we had received was confusing, and he understood why we had misread it. But the fact still remained: we had missed our flight by 24 hours.

Airport 2

So off we went to the little office in the airport that services Kenya Airways customers. I should point out that all of our travels up to this point had been perfectly smooth – no lost luggage, no significant delays, and even good food! I was starting to wonder what the deal was with people talking about African time, about things not working, and about needing to adjust my expectations for a slower life. All of a sudden, beginning in the Kenya Airways office, all of the Africa-ness of our trip caught up with us, in a three-part adventure.

Adventure #1
We had definitely missed Friday’s flight, but it was possible that we could still get on that day – Saturday’s – flight. It would cost $50 apiece to change our tickets, and the clerk said that we would have to be on a waiting list for the flight from Nairobi to London. We thought about this for a few minutes. If we didn’t get on the flight out of Nairobi, we’d be stuck in the Nairobi airport for about 35 hours. Between the cost of a visa, the level of crime, and the general state of nothingness in the airport, 35 hours is a really long time to be in Nairobi. We decided to go for it though, to at least get a start on our trip. Twenty minutes later, between an ATM without internet connection and a full airline waiting list, we realized that we weren’t getting anywhere that day. I grinned and told Matt: “I actually like adventures like this.” He grinned back: “Me too!”

The clerk told us that we could get all the flights from Lilongwe to Nairobi to London to LA if we booked them for tomorrow and found a place to stay overnight. He couldn’t book them for us though, and told us we’d have to get to the Kenya Airways office in the city to do that, and the office was to close in 2 hours, at noon.

Adventure #2
Brian was our only hope for both of these problems. If we could get in touch with him, we could ask to stay another night and see if he could help us find the Kenya Airways office in town. Our first task was to get in touch with him. Brian had made sure that we had change with us when he dropped us off, just in case we would need to use the pay phone to call his cell phone. We confidently took off in search of a pay phone. We found one, but it only took phone cards. After a little investigating, we discovered that no one in the airport actually sold phone cards. Hmmm. Matt eventually found a nice lady who let him use her cell phone to call Brian. Brian, of course, was so gracious to turn right around and come back to pick us up. (Thanks again Brian!)

Adventure #3
Our last adventure was to make it to the Kenya Airways office in time to make the ticket changes. We drove straight to the city and eventually found the office complex. Brian loaned us the cash to make the changes, and we had it all taken care of with 15 minutes to spare before the office closed! All the changes had been made, and we were set to fly out on Sunday, only a couple days later than we were supposed to.

Airport 1

As embarrassing as it is to admit that we missed our flight by 24 hours, we’re so glad we did. We were able to spend more time with the Biedebach family, to go to church a second Sunday, and we had some of the best conversations and connections with people in those 2 days we “weren’t supposed to be there.” God knows what He’s doing, and we’re so glad He does. We’ll take those adventures any day.

Church Members

by Matt

Certainly the highlight of our trip to Malawi last month was the opportunity to connect with people. Over the course of the week that we were there, we were able to go to church twice, to attend a mid-week Bible study, to have lunch with a couple different families, to hang out with the church youth one night, to go to a community potluck dinner, and I got to go to 2 women’s Bible studies. We were soaking it all in as we went, so tried to interact as much as possible without being awkward and overly talkative. =)

Church members 1
Kondi and Patricia. Kondi has been a friend of Matt’s since 2001. Matt even went to take pictures of their wedding last December.

The variety of forums in which we got to interact with all the people – in International Bible Fellowship and in the community – reminded us of why it is so important for us to join the ministry there as soon as possible. While we were there, Brian preached in church, preached in chapel at African Bible College, taught 2 college classes on homiletics, led youth group, led the mid-week Bible study, spent time preparing for all these, and spent good and intentional time with his family. I was tired just watching him! But he loves it. He loves to preach and to teach. Matt and I are so excited to jump in and help with some of the practical, administrative, and discipleship aspects of this ministry, and to spend our time encouraging and training others in the church to be active in the ministry.

IMG_1540_2
Brian preaching on Sunday morning

And it’s all about people – the church is all about people loving Jesus more and more each day, spurring one another on to love and good deeds, learning to serve and minister to one another, and doing it in the context of biblical community. We got to meet these people! We got to see their love for the Lord and their desire to learn of Him and grow in their understanding of Him and commitment to Him.

Church members 2
This pic I swiped from the Biedebach’s blog. =) Click on the pic to see their blog.

I was speaking with one sweet lady, and she is just in the beginning of this journey. She was telling us that she has learned so much in the 3 months she’s been at the church, and that the Bible has the answers! God tells us things in the Bible! And we can read it – it’s right here! Her enthusiasm warmed my heart, made me want to love her and help her in any way the Lord would allow, and at the same time, made me want to cling to the truths that she had stated. This is ministry, being able to walk with people like this.

I am excited about many things about Malawi, but the people I met there are at the top of the list. I’ve been praying that the Lord would stir my heart to love them more each day, to pray for them, and that He would prepare me for whatever role He would have me play in their lives – whether that’s speaking the truth of God’s Word into their lives or encouraging their heart with a note on a heavy day. God is the orchestrator of all these things. I just want to be available and ready to go with whatever He has planned.

The Sour Cream Adventure

by Matt

During our trip last month, one of the things that I was able to satisfy my curiosity about was the grocery shopping situation. Anita gave us a great opportunity to check out the grocery scene. She’d gotten a phone call, and was very excited about it. Apparently the word was being passed around that Foodworth’s, a local grocery store, had just received a shipment of sour cream! There hadn’t been any sour cream in the city for over a month, so this was BIG NEWS! She asked if Matt and I could take their van (which in Africa is called a “combi”) and go to the grocery store for her, as she had a group of homeschool kids arriving shortly. We thought that would be a great opportunity to drive around and get a feel for the city, and of course we were delighted to help her. So we were off on the sour cream adventure.

Groceries 1
First we needed a good map. We had a tourist magazine that covered the basics, so we set off with that. You’ll notice from this picture that I’m sitting in the front seat, on the left side, and I’m definitely not driving. I was more than happy to let Matt show off his excellent right-hand driving skills.

Groceries 5
On our tour of the three grocery stories in the city, we ran into something familiar to anyone who has lived overseas: bagged milk. They make nifty pitchers that are designed to hold these bags. You just set the bag in the pitcher, clip off a corner of the bag, and pour.

Groceries 6
Looks like a pretty regular grocery store, doesn’t it? This is in the international section of Shop Rite, and if you have really good eyes, or a great sense of logo recognition, you’ll notice the Old El Paso brand in the sparsely stocked section of the shelves. A pack of 10 tortillas was about $10, so I think we’ll be using the tortilla press that my mother-in-law gave us.

Groceries 7
Fresh produce is readily abundant, fairly inexpensive, and will likely make up a majority of what we eat. Things like mangoes and papayas are easy to find. Celery: not so easy. This picture makes me laugh, because if I didn’t know it was Malawi, I’d guess it was a Wal-Mart here in California!

Groceries 2
Meat is a bit more expensive than the fruits and vegetables. One of these packages of frozen chicken breasts contains 4-5 pieces and costs about $6. That doesn’t mean we won’t be eating meat; it just means I’ll try to make it stretch a bit farther.

Groceries 3
And finally, we found the sour cream (top shelf). We bought plenty to last Anita for a while, and I realized that I’d learned a lot about shopping in Malawi during this trip. 1) There’s plenty of food and variety available. 2) Cooking from scratch is the way to go – they have almost all of the basics, and with a little creativity you can come up with a lot. 3) Shopping is an adventure. You never know what will be in stock, but it just might be sour cream!