Pumpkin Season

 

I have had the WORST time cutting pumpkins here in Malawi.  They are SO tough.  I would poke a knife in the top, hammer it in with a meat mallet, and then smack the whole pumpkin on the ground until I could get the knife through.  Whew.  Blood, sweat, and tears.  Then I asked a Malawian friend how she cuts open a pumpkin.  She said – throw it on the ground.  Really??… OK.  So I tried it.

IMG_0953Ha!  Look at that!  It split in half perfectly, ready to roast!  And after my previous experiences with pumpkin here, throwing one on the ground with all my might felt very satisfying!  =)

 

Weather Report

Abi is learning about the weather, so every day she checks outside and posts our expected weather for the day.

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Apparently we can expect sunny with a chance of monkeys!

Crocodile for Dinner

We’re usually up for a good adventure, and tonight it was crocodile… for dinner.

Crocodile for dinner 1We’ve had crocodile at a restaurant before and it was so-so.  We were pleasantly surprised tonight, and actually enjoyed fixing and eating it at home!  It kind of has the taste and texture of a pork chop.  Two tips in case you ever find yourself cooking up some crocodile: cook it from frozen and use a fruity marinade, like a peach and apricot chutney.

This is one of the very few crocodile experiences we’d be happy to repeat!

 

“Real Missionaries”

This May we’ll round out a full 5 years as missionaries in Malawi.  And it’s starting to show.  =)  You know all those weird things you hear about missionaries… they’re starting to happen to us.  I re-use tea bags now, we don’t really have any idea what current fashion trends are in America, our daughter’s favorite animal is an impala and she has no idea what an escalator is, and we’ve started glueing our shoes back together.

Real Missionary 1

Literally glueing them together.  Matt ran the soles off his shoes.  Not the tread, the soles.  We don’t go on furlough for another 3.5 months, so they’ll have to do for now.

If all those weird missionary things are the price we have to pay the privilege of living and working in ministry in Malawi, we’ll take it!

Hedgehog!

Hedgehogs here in Malawi like to live in ditches and water drains, so when it rains, they come out of hiding.  Matt found one on the road on his way home from an elders’ meeting the other night, so tossed it on the floor mat in our car and brought it home.  The little guy decided to hide under the passenger seat, but Matt eventually got him out.  =)

Hedgehog 1This particular hedgehog was old enough that his spines are hard and spiky, so he wasn’t really a candidate for keeping as a pet.  He ended up just spending the night at our house, then Abi and Matt took him back to near where he was found.

Hedgehog 3

Once they put him down, he trotted off, found his little hole, and jumped right inside!  Quite a little adventure for him!

And it might be about time for us to read The Wind in the Willows

Rhinoceros Beetle

We went camping a few weeks ago, and Matt made a new friend…

Beetle 1

This guy was flying around as we ate dinner, and decided to land on Matt’s shoulder.

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He’s clearly a rhinoceros beetle, and quite a ferocious one at that…

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And very attached to Matt.  We couldn’t swat him off, but did eventually get him off with the BBQ tongs.  =)

 

That’s Cheating

I got a ticket.  A speeding ticket.  I have NEVER gotten a speeding ticket before in my entire life, in any country, ever.  I actually like obeying the speed limit!  But if I had to get a ticket, I’d much rather get one in Malawi than in America.  The traffic cops pull drivers over all the time here, so I’m used to being pulled over here.  Almost every time I drive.  Not that they have cars or sirens or anything – they just stand in the street and wave you to the side of the road.  Usually they just want to check your license and registration tags, but not this time.  I got caught in a speed trap.

Cheating 4

But this speed trap was not supposed to be there.  I was about 2 kilometers (1 mile) outside of town. The traffic laws say that you must drive 50kph (30mph) in town or in a market area, but 100kph (60mph) on the open road.  [But realistically, you can’t ever get up enough momentum to drive faster than about 80kph (50mph) while you try to avoid hitting people, bicycles, goats, cows, pigs, children, pot holes, etc.]

Cheating 2

The traffic cop pulled me over and told me I was clocked going 71kph (43mph).  Not possible.  I was following a slow, small truck packed with about 15 people in the back, so I was hanging back to make sure I didn’t hit anyone who fell out.  I was matching the small truck’s speed and keeping my distance, but the cops didn’t pulled over the truck I was following – just me.  I felt like I was getting a ticket because I was white, since many white people here just pay whatever as long as the cops will leave them alone.  This made me sad, and a little upset at seeing sinfulness and corruption multiply in this country I love.  I realized that sitting in my car being charged with speeding was not the place to argue with sinfulness and corruption, so I just left it.  Besides, there was another issue at play here.  I was on the open road, outside of town, and not near a market. Thus, the speed limit should be 100kph.

Cheating 6

Oh no, he informed me.  Just last month the city had moved the boundaries of town.  Now, town extended all the way to a corner 9 kilometers “outside of town.” I was in the “new part of town” that looked like open road and was still sign-posted as being outside of town.  I looked at him for a couple of seconds, not really believing this was happening.  And then I remembered I was in Africa.  I’m not normally so bold, but to my surprise I blurted out “You can’t give people tickets if you haven’t changed the road signs. That’s cheating!”

“That’s cheating! That’s cheating! That’s cheating Abi!” says Abi, the little myna bird in the back seat.

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Oh dear.  Thankfully, the officer laughed with me.

Cheating 3

I did pay the ticket and go on my way.  However, I will tell you that  everything above this current paragraph was written back in January when this incident actually happened.  I wrote it and set it aside, because I was still frustrated by the whole incident.  I felt like I couldn’t post this on the blog while I was still dealing with it in my heart.  My American sense of justice was irked by the obvious inconsistency and corruption I experienced that day.  But as a believer, I needed to step back and consider what my role really is at times like these.  When I have opportunity, I should do justice (Micah 6:8, Proverbs 21:3).  I am also called to submit to the authority God has placed over me (Romans 13:1-2), including policemen who aren’t practicing justice.  Doing justice feels good.  Submitting to corrupt authority doesn’t feel good.  But I am called to do both.  That’s what I needed to work out in my heart – how to submit to authority, even if they are not treating me justly (as long as they’re not forcing me to sin).  And that’s what I need to remember as I live in a context that frequently puts this dilemma before me.

It’s good for my heart to live here.  Situations like this help me translate my formal theology into godly behavior.

My Apples are in Mozambique

It’s not every day we see a sign like this, but we did see one last week when we went shopping:

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Thankfully the produce made it through customs, and we have apples this week!  =)