New Friends

Making new friends is always fun, and here in Malawi it’s really easy. So we’re making a lot of friends, but some of them stand out above the rest. Meet the Banda family.

Bandas 1
We first met Bright, on the far right, at our church where he helps lead worship every week. He’s a senior at African Bible College, and it’s been so great to get to know him over the last few months. About 2 weeks ago, he took us out to his village, Moya, and we were able to meet some of his family. One of his younger brothers is standing next to him, and his mother is next to me. Have you ever met someone that you immediately liked and wanted to spend more time with? Bright’s mom is one of those people for me, and I’m looking forward to getting to know her better.

Bandas 3
The purpose of our visit, in addition to meeting Bright’s family, was to meet with the chief of his village about making door mats and area mats for our house. He makes the mats out of sisal, so Bright and his mom introduced us to the sisal plants around the village.

Bandas 2
We bought a couple mats while we were there and put in an order for some more, larger mats. Then we took a look around the small village and met quite a few of the people who live there. This is the chief’s house and backyard fence.

Bandas 4
Before we left that day, we took a tour of the Banda’s farm. It was fascinating! Bananas and rice in the boggy area near the river, tomatoes, lettuce, guava, maize, sweet potatoes, and so much more over the rest of the area. It’s all farmed by hand, machete, and hoe by 2 or 3 people. It was beautiful! They sent us home with lots of lettuce, tomatoes, and bananas, and they were so good! I was going to take a picture of them, but the electricity went out, which is not uncommon around here. So I made dinner in the dark and we ate by candlelight that night.

Bandas 8
This last week, we were back in the neighborhood with Bright. After we confirmed a few things about the mat making process, Bright showed us another, larger variety of sisal. Some of you may recognize it as “mexican agave.”

Bandas 5
He also showed us the sand mine that is a source of income for many people in the surrounding villages.

Bandas 7
We’ll be back to this village many times over the coming weeks and months, so it’s fun to get to know some of the people and places. Please pray for us and for the Bandas, that we can encourage one another in the faith. And pray for us as we get to know the people of the village Moya, that we can be a testimony of God’s truth and salvation to them.

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