What The New Year Brings: Happy New Year (a little late)

It has been some time since we updated our last blog post but that is largely due to the

holidays and progress on the work we have been doing. Marcela calls it “Christmas and moving Chaos”.

There is much to inform you all with, so please pardon the formality; but I feel a good

comprehensive status update is in order. Let me go down the line:

School: Luke Greeley and Clara are back at RVA for their second term. Luke Greeley

made the JV basketball team, and Clara made the varsity field hockey team! Both were

extremely excited! We are sad that we do not get to attend their games; but we are so

proud of them for putting themselves out there and trying new things. Emma and

Wesley are struggling to get into the groove with homeschool as the new year starts. Please pray for patience and strength for us all. The new house offers a designated

place for schoolwork, and we organized a young lady to play with Bradley during the homeschool day.

Family Life: December was a delightful month. We were able to spend almost 5 weeks

with Luke Greeley and Clara as they made their very first visit to Malawi during their

school break. We moved into our “new” more permanent home here at Nkhoma. We

celebrated Bradley’s first birthday in our new house. These are truly gifts for our

Family. We also added some "family pets" or as Mark calls them live yard art. We have 2 goats and some guinea fowl.

Arial view of our new house with the new addition we are adding

The house: We were extremely blessed to stay in another missionary’s house for the

first four months. It was a lovely house, well decorated and full of colonial African

character. We greatly enjoyed it, however as the rainy season began, we learned of all

the leaks in the clay tile roof. It was a rainy and damp Christmas. Our new residence is

slightly smaller but has conveniences that offer relief from some of the daily struggles of life in rural Africa. It has a modern metal roof with solar panels and battery backup, a reserve water tank, the yard is fully fenced and we have Starlink internet for which we are extremely grateful. The house is about 100 years old and was originally the orphanage for the hospital. It has been updated over the years and we have also decided to make a small addition. Mark has used this opprotunity to work some of the local workers.

Wesley enjoying the new van in the driveway

Mark getting us "road ready" with a first stop at the Malawian Road Traffic Authority

The vehicle: On Christmas eve we confirmation that our “new” van had finally been

shipped and arrived in Dar Salam. We ordered it back in September and received

incorrect shipping confirmations three times! As always God answers prayers in His

timing and the van arrived January 26th in good condition!!!! It is a welcome addition and

provides the opportunity to go “into town” on our own for groceries, supplies and meetings, like a visit to the immigration office to renew our visas! 

The project: After months and months of back and forth with the power company,

struggles with payment, a minor dispute about line rerouting, cutting trees and pole

alignment; we have now completed the work to remove and relocate the existing power lines that crisscross the site where the new building will be built. The wheels are starting to run and we are gearing up to make some big strides soon. We are very excited to get the project up and running.

Praise and Gratitude that:

- The van has arrived!! (Please pray it is a blessing as sometime objects with

moving parts don’t work well in Africa)

- The power lines are finally removed and rerouted.

- Luke Greeley and Clara are really enjoying  boarding school and both on sports teams.

- Our new house can quickly become a home.

Pray For:

- Continued momentum on the project and that the new year brings a rekindling of

energy for the project.

- A good team of workers to be assembled as the project moves forward.

- Emma and Wesley’s homeschooling.

- For the upcoming visitors from U of Kentucky medicine; we have 3

  groups coming starting in February through March. They are bringing us suitcases and    supplies, pray with us they are safe and nothing is lost enroute. 

- Marcela and Bradley traveling to Nairobi in February to be with Luke Greeley and Clara during their short midterm school break and celebrate Clara’s 15th birthday!