Two Thanksgivings

We got to have not one but two different Thanksgiving feasts in the last week!  Kelli and Jenna planned out a menu and figured out what we would need for an American-style Thanksgiving, and our trips to Lilongwe to extend our visas last week were timed perfectly to get all the supplies we couldn't get in Salima.  But, all the other Americans trying to celebrate Thanksgiving in Malawi had bought up all the turkeys in Lilongwe already, so we decided to wait on the American meal and on Turkey-day we ate a traditional South African meal cooked by Johan, Gerhard, and Patrick.

Lots of peeling and chopping.  Allie loves cole slaw.

Building a fire for the poike (not really sure how you spell that...).

Happy Thanksgiving y'all!

Delicious.

This weekend the search for a turkey continued and when we saw the one Gerhard found in the village we decided to pass and stick to chicken...  Don't worry though, we still had a feast.  Chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, corn and apple and peach pie!

Kelli and Jenna were the Thanksgiving masterminds.

We also did a little light farming before our Thanksgiving feast.

I'm now an expert at homemade stuffing...I don't think I had actually ever made it before.

Our three little chickens.

Bean lunch anyone?

Gerhard built us an oven (and then pretended to be a tree?).

The whole feast!

Our whole Zehandi/Passport family!

Yesterday, I kept catching myself thinking "this is my life right now."  Particularly as I was dragging a bundle of elephant grass through the village and across a soccer game to the lake (that's just what happened when we went down to the village for ministry...).  How crazy is that?!  For two more weeks my life is this team and this place and then traveling to Dar Es Salaam to Amsterdam to Atlanta.  I have so so much to be thankful for: family and friends back home who love me and support me, great health on our team, a surprisingly cool day today, a beautiful view of Lake Malawi, a roof that doesn't blow away in the wind storms, and probably the best set of 13 girls you could ever ask to spend 4 months with.  So clearly we couldn't celebrate all of that with just one Thanksgiving meal.

Dear Chacos,

You were only mine for about 17 months, but you were on my feet every day for probably 8 of those months.  You went to 4 different countries with me.  I was so excited to have you re-strapped and re-soled when I got home.  I was so looking forward to keeping you forever.  And then yesterday, I walked outside to where you always were, every morning since we got to Malawi, and you were gone.  I guess the Chaco thief had big feet if he only wanted my shoes and Liza's.  Thank you for holding up through 2 months in Nicaragua, 9 weeks of camp, 3 months in East Africa, and more.  Wearing flip-flops from Wal-Mart for the next three weeks just won't be the same.

In the end though, you were just shoes.  I was am still sad you're gone, but yesterday I got to make friends with a little orphan named Hemzat and play games with the kids at the orphan care center for the day.  I got to hang out with my team and enjoy the Malawian sun for another day. Today I got to eat freaking pancakes for breakfast and have church with the Expedition Girls and our new South African friends.  In 24 hours this day will be gone.  In 2 weeks our ministry time will be over.  In less than 3 weeks I'll be back in Virginia.

As much as I’m looking forward to seeing my family and friends, eating American food, celebrating Christmas, and weather that isn’t anything like summer, I know that once this time is gone, I can’t get it back.

So Chacos, I’m heartbroken that you’re gone, but I would have lost my Chaco tan eventually anyway.  I’ll choose these moments, these days, these weeks with these people, these communities, these lives. 

And then maybe one day I’ll get new Chacos.

My last post didn't really tell you anything about Malawi, so here are some pictures to tell you a little about our time here so far.  If it seems like most of them are of pumping water, that's because that's pretty much our most constant activity (and one day I took my camera with me to get water...).  We have also been busy moving some bricks, making friends in the villages, watching some netball and football/soccer games, swimming in the lake, teaching and learning from a women's group twice a week, visiting a preschool, and learning a little bit of Chichewa.  Our team's lodging money while we're here is being used to put a roof on the Bible School here so it can open in February, so that's the last two pictures.  There's actually even more progress now, and it should be done by Friday!  The picture before those two is our house, complete with its tent additions.  I had some other pictures, but they're taking a year and a half to upload, so maybe another day...

This is Africa

I wrote most of this blog on one of our five (FIVE) travel days from Nairobi, Kenya to Senga Bay, Malawi a couple of weeks ago while our bus was stopped to fix the tire that blew out, and things have been so crazy that I haven’t gotten a chance to finish it up and post it until today.

Today is a day that I’ve had to tell myself over and over again that “this is Africa” to avoid quietly imploding.

This is Africa.

Where one day you buy bus tickets and agree to get to the station thirty minutes early to load your packs and the next day you show up and there’s no room for your packs and you get cheated out of an extra hundred thousand shillings (about 60USD) to fit them in.

Where “fitting them in” means they move a bunch of boxes from under the bus to the floor under your feet and then half of your packs still end up in the bus with you.

Where not only do the boxes on the ground in front of you make it impossible to put your feet on the ground, but the 7-foot-tall man in front of you tells you he’s “just going to lean his seat back a little bit,” leans it all the way back, and doesn’t move it for the whole ride.

Where the woman behind you pushes your seat back forward when you try to lean it back a little because she thinks you might crush her chickens.  Or maybe her chunk of raw meat that becomes the smell of everything on the bus.

Where the second 16-hour bus ride in three days becomes at 23-hour bus ride because the tire blows out three times, meaning you arrive at the border at 4am and have to wake up again at 9am.

Where your contact at the border charges you 400 dollars to take you two hours into Malawi to a place that isn’t even on a bus line.

BUT, this is Africa.

Where you can buy fresh mangos out the window of the bus every time it stops.

Where a five-year-old wakes you up on the bus to share his potato chips.

Where there are beautiful views and sometimes monkeys around every hairpin turn the bus makes.

Where the random place you get taken to is absolute paradise on Lake Malawi.

Where the owner of Hakuna Matata lodge, Willie needed you to stay the night because the amount you are paying is the exact amount that was stolen from him a week ago, and he volunteers to take you to a bus station if you only pay for fuel.

Where you finally arrive in Senga Bay and your contacts are some of the most wonderful people you’ve ever met and the Malawians make their country live up to its nickname “The Warm Heart of Africa.”

Where I share so many memories and stories of God’s goodness with such an amazing team through Kenya and Tanzania, and I know God will continue to be faithful and to stretch us all in this last month in Malawi.