We have heard the owls the last few days, but finally saw one roosting this morning.
It’s a barn owl, and apparently there are a couple in our palm tree, and several more in the neighbor’s trees. Unfortunately, they’ve taken up residence in our neighborhood because our neighbor’s stockpile of maize has drawn “hundreds” of mice. The owls are here for the mice, and I hope they have quite the feast! Meanwhile, we’ll enjoy hearing and spotting them in our backyard!
Down to the last ships!!!
It’s hard to believe, but this year was our 7th annual church camp! These are treasured times of fun and fellowship within our church body, and this year was no exception.
We were able to hear the testimonies of the church elders and from each of them a devotional from a passage that has had an impact on their walk with the Lord.
During our free times, we piled into vehicles to go look for zebra, nyala, sable, and giraffe.
While some of us took a quieter walk through the woods looking for birds.
And just in case we missed the wildlife on our drives or hikes, it often came right into camp.
The kids had a whole week’s worth of VBS – Bible stories, games, memory verses, crafts! – in the three days of camp. The girls LOVED it! And, of course, in good camp tradition, they were completely dirty by the time camp was finished!
It was a fantastic 3 days of sharing life together with our precious church family. These opportunities for sharing meals together, having long talks, and playing together are priceless!
I’m not sure who is more excited for Dad to get home today: Samson or Naomi. It doesn’t matter if he’s gone for three days or half an hour – these two take their watch duty very seriously!
I sent Abigail and Naomi out with a butterfly net to catch a butterfly that they could observe and draw. Five minutes later they came back inside quite proud of themselves: “We caught something!”
Yes they did! But not a butterfly! They caught a DRAGONFLY!
If you’ve ever tried to catch a dragonfly, you’ll know they’re fast! It’s no small feat to catch a butterfly, and even more impressive to catch a dragonfly!
So they grabbed some paper, colored pencils, and their friend Rejoice and started drawing their dragonfly, just as though it was the most ordinary thing in the world to catch a dragonfly. I love sharing life with these girls!
On April 19th, CAPA graduated its first class of Masters of Divinity students. These students had studied hard for 3 years, and it was a joy to cheer for them as they crossed the stage to receive their hoods and officially finish this arduous course.
Matt has walked with these men, not just on the finances and IT side of things, but also as a prof, teaching their counseling courses and many discipleship labs and round tables over the years.
Many of these men are our friends, some we count as very dear friends, so for us this graduation carries with it not only the distinction of being the “first MDiv class,” but also of being a major milestone in the lives of our friends.
Years of friendship, discipleship, and growth are represented by these few pictures of men in black robes.
Years of partnership, preparation, and desire to see men trained to study, apply, and preach God’s word.
Please pray for these men as they pastor churches in and around Lilongwe, that they would remain faithful to the accurate handling of God’s Word. Pray also for the next classes as they rise through the ranks. Thank the Lord with us for his good work!
It’s time to catch up! There has been a lot going on the last couple months, so much so that blogging has been the last thing on my mind. So hold on, dear reader, we’re about to fly through a couple months of life in Malawi!
