Grace, Gratitude, Gratefulness and Generosity: Our first full week in Nkhoma

Our "new" home for the next few months

Grace:

So apparently, I messed up the mailing list settings and left some of you off from some of our previous blog posts. My bad. I told you I wasn’t good at communication. It should be fixed and much easier moving forward. Despite my mistake we still had over 150 views on our last blog post. Please feel free to share with others who maybe interested or if you want to be removed, I understand too. Some posts will be more about the project and other will be about our family and life in rural Malawi. Just one more email to read. Just let me know.

Aerial view of jobsite for new surgical building

Gratitude:

This week has been and emotional ride to say the least. In short TIA (This Is Africa) where the emotional highs and lows are extreme and often happen close to each other. In some ways it is hard to believe that everything that has happened was all in one week. We dropped Greeley and Clara off at boarding school at RVA last Saturday and said goodbye to them for the next 3 months. It was bitter sweet, it had taken so much for us to get to that point and when it was finally happened it just all felt so right. Every part of RVA was a beautiful representation of the Body of Christ. People from all nationalities, came from all over the world serving in many different capacities all across Africa. All united as on family.  When it was time to say goodbye, we literally let them walk away from us; to go hang with friends, and finish getting settled in their dorms. Marcela and I both cried but it was tears of joy, our hearts were so full of gratitude for what it took to get to that point and what the new experience held for them both. They both have new WhatsApp number feel free to reach out them. Greeley +254 702 930 878 / Clara +254 701 513 505

Gratefulness:

Upon our arrival at Nkhoma we are working to get settled in our new home and life. The community here is delightful. We are stepping in to a long history of missionaries from South Africa and Europe. Those who have work so hard to plant and grow this place into what it is today. We held a ground breaking ceremony for the start of the new surgical project. It was a joyous occasion which has been over 5 years in the making. It was attended by The Minister of Health. Mark and the kids were able to go through the museum of Nkhoma to learn about those who came before us, what life was like when the hospital first started. Fun fact that the hospital is older than Malawi itself. Malawi was part of modern-day Rhodesia until it was granted independence in 1960’s. The hospital dates to the early 1900’s and the museum still had meeting minutes from 1903! We are so grateful to apart of place with such a rich heritage. We are just a small piece of a great history here at Nkhoma.

Generosity:

Over the past 3 months as we said goodbyes, you all have filled our hearts with encouragement and have supported us in both word and deed. Your financial support has all come in so fast I actually lost count. We are so grateful to have GSN (Global Service Network) to keep track of it all for us. As of today, we are still a bit short on our monthly support but the one-time gifts are covered. It has been your generosity that has allowed us to take these steps in faith and lead us here. We are so humbled.

Marcela shopping for vegetables at the local market

Please pray:

-       For our continued gratefulness. We are so grateful for the first week here but it’s been very African. We’ve had water shortages, electricity outages and both the President of Malawi and the Minister of Health visited the hospital and were witness to the struggle so maybe something but we are not holding our breath.

-       For the kids to make good friends both at school and the littles here. We caught Emma and Wesley selling fruit on a nearby road, that they picked from a tree in our yard. They were so proud when they brought us back money.

-       For the power company to show up and move the needed power lines so we can get equipment on site.

-       For minimal tension between Mark and the hospital staff as he proposes many changes starting the project and will cause a big disruption with the job site.

-       For Bradley to get rest, he is doing well overall considering but is cutting his top teeth and struggling to sleep consistently

-       For the little kids’ (Wesley and Emma) safety as they climb trees, chase monkeys and hide from bees.

-       For Marcela and I as are focusing on getting our family situated to be able to serve the best we can during out time here, we are in temporary housing and will soon move into our long-term house in November.

-       For our offer on a used car. We put in an offer for a car, pray it’s a good one and our offer gets accepted.

Wesley and Mark have enjoyed exploring the local hiking in what they call "our backyard"