Cold Weather - Warm Hearts

(Friday, 8pm, Malawi)
Wow, it has gotten cold here, really cold. I always think of Africa as HOT. But we are officially entering the dry and cold season. Today was overcast, windy, and cold. I'm guessing low 50's, maybe high 40's. You should have seen the Malawians. They were bundled up! And a few of them wore hats making them look like Eskimos. For Malawians, they just are not used to this kind of cold weather. But I will admit that it was even a bit cool for us.

We went today to a church that was way off the main road. We traveled there by winding dirt roads. Bumpy dirt roads. Rich said he would "rather have a root canal than ride again on that bumpy road." Marla assured him that it was not that bad and reminded him of 100 degree heat when they lived in Côte d'Ivoire years ago.

The church today was packed. My interpreter was Pastor Kalolo and this was his home village. Kalolo is a very energetic one, and he always brings a lot of animation to the translating. We made a great team together.

We are gaining proficiency with each new program. I think this group today learned the material better than any group in the past. We gave them time to break into small groups for practice and they got the hand motions down! It was quite a kick to watch.

This was also our largest group. There were over 110 people there today, and more than half were women! Pastors, Sunday school teachers, church workers of all kinds. And as usual, a very diverse group of denominations. That's one of the hallmarks of Action Ministries - they work across denominational lines. It is such a great thing to see.

We also had our best meal today. Pastor Kalolo invited us into his home. We ate with two of the pastors from neighboring churches. We had rice (a special treat) along with goat meat, cabbage, potatoes, peas, and eggs cooked a Malawian way. And then there was a special tomato sauce that we had never tasted before. We drizzled it over everything. Wow, the whole meal was awesome.

It was cold today, but the group had a warmth. As usual, their worship rocked! On one song, they took the inflated globe and passed it around during worship. We could not tell what the song was saying, but at one point they also passed around a plastic chair on their heads! These folks are not inhibited. I think that's why I like their worship so much. And all of them have rhythmic clapping that is simply infectious.

This group really learned all the hand motions well. And they are quite eager for us to return next Friday to enter the Promised Land and pick up with the book of Joshua.

We left the village by pushing Chet's truck to get it started. It is having some electrical problems. But it was another chance to trust God and be in it together!

We arrived home to three eager children, and a wonderful meal of homemade pizza. Rich is reading the Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe to the children. He has all kinds of special voices for each character. Peter, Silas, and Elsie just love this. In fact, in an upcoming blog entry, we will tell you more about these kids. We have grown very fond of them.