“Muli bwanji?”

“Ndili bwino! Kaya inu?”

“Ndili bwino! Zikomo!”

A simple conversation I have in passing with at least 20 local Malawian people every day. A conversation simply saying, “How are you? Fine, and you? Fine, thank you!”

Not knowing the language here is an extreme barrier. We don’t have a translator and so communication is very limited since most people here only know English if they are trying to sell me something or beg me for money. But what I do know is a simple phrase, a phrase that says, Hello and opens a window for communication.

Another question I hear a lot is, “What is your name?” A simple question one that can be brought up in simple casual conversation or the same question that can be heard from little African children as I pass by in a bike and they scream at the top of their lungs this question, after only seeing my face for a flash of a moment. There is a deep and desperate cry for love and attention here in Malawi and I pray that with more time, Jesus will intervene and bring about more conversations, more moments of love, and more moments of only Him with the people of Malawi.

I pray that as we continue to spend more time here, we will be able to really invest time in the neighboring communities and especially with the women at the well. Please be praying that as we continue to spend more and more time here that relationships would grow and build into something so beautiful that the Lord is nothing but evident in every single relationship.

Since arriving at our contact of Zehandi Ministries almost 2 weeks ago a lot has changed. If I had not mentioned already before, my whole squad is back together all of us staying at Zehandi Ministries. Our living conditions are anything but luxury. We will be tenting for the next 3 ½ months and we have no running water or electricity. Everyday we walk to the well about a mile down the dirt path, while passing a house inhibited by a witch doctor. We arrive at the well and hand pump our water and carry it back to the base another mile back. We do this at least two or three times a day. (Never have I appreciated running water so much.)

Each team has a different task or duty, the first week we arrived my team was on hygiene. Which basically consisted of us cleaning trash off the property, cleaning the toilet/shower, and hauling buckets of water from the well. This week, we’ve been switched to kitchen duty, where we cook all the meals along our Malawian cook Ever. We are also hauling lots of water everyday, and cooking food like vegetables, (cabbage, tomatoes, and onions), and either rice or sima. (Sima is the local favorite here and is served at almost every meal. Sima is to Africa as Rice is to Asia. It is simply flour, water, and salt made into a thick consistency resembling mashed potatoes…but tasting nothing like it)

Not only me, not only my team, but my entire squad is being pushed. Pushed out of our comfort zones more than ever before. We are in a situation now, more different than any of us have experienced in the past 6 months. So I just ask all of you to be praying for us. Praying for us in this last 3 months that we focus on God’s purpose in us being here and that all other distractions, feelings of homesickness, or feelings of hopelessness be gone. I ask you for prayer in encouragement and strength to rise up on my squad and that these last 3 months would be a time filled with growth, revelations from the Lord, and for miracles to come forth in the name of Jesus Christ.