Two Contradictory Blogs For The Price Of One

I'm really enjoying the shop names here in Malawi -
here are my top 3 so far besides this one:
3^rd – GOD IS LOVE BARBER SHOP
2^nd – GOD IS WONDERFUL HARDWARE SHOP
And in first place,
the very best example of this
bizarre marriage of theology and marketing
– GOD IS ABLE PHONE CHARGE

We’ve arrived now in Domasi Mission (where we’ll be working for the next seven months) and I don’t really know where to start! The good-news-guilt has subsided and been replaced by simple gratitude for how well looked after we are, and how beautiful the place is – just in case anyone still thinks I’m in any way a hero for coming here, the three of us have a kitchen with microwave/hob/oven/fridge/freezer, lots of working toilets/showers, and this is all in a guest house nearly as big as my house back home, easily capable of housing all 28 volunteers if it needed to. And we’ve got a view of a forest covered mountain. And today we got a lift in the back of the school pickup truck into Zomba[1] to get ourselves various foodstuffs including jelly. This is a good place.

The other big news is that we were introduced to the kids at the secondary school today in their morning prayers. Morning prayers is basically a mini church service that they have every weekday[2] - but the really cool thing is that it is led by the kids! A team of them tell everyone what songs to sing, lead the prayers, read the bible readings, and then one of them does a short talk – and this morning it was really good! Somewhat appropriately it was about confidence in God, and given by a guy called Michael. Can’t go wrong with a Michael. Anyway, I really enjoyed it, the only downside is that it’s difficult to join in with the awesome singing because the songs are in Chichewa! But maybe we’ll learn a few before we go.

And just in general I am really very happy because God has just been so kind in this last week - it still absolutely blows my mind that it’s only been a week since I left. I wrote down a list in my notebook of Good Things God Has Done So Far and it didn’t fit on one page. So many answered prayers, even a couple that seemed impossible, and I just keep marvelling at His creative genius – not just in the landscape of this country but in the other volunteers that I’ve got to be friends with. So, as they say here in Malawi, ‘God is good, all the time.

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[1] The nearest town, most famous as the birthplace of Latin-American fitness dance classes

[2] At 6:30am!

....OK, so that was the blog I wrote on Thursday evening. I didn’t manage to put it up until now but in the meantime quite a lot of stuff has happened. I got a call from my mate Sam (another volunteer) telling me that he is going to leave his intensely rural placement (we’re talking genuine mud hut) and go somewhere else, and he was wondering if any of the three of us here wanted to swap with him. So obviously I’ve been praying about that a lot, and talking to various wise people, and it’s pretty certain now that I’m going to go. Sam’s now worked out a few ways that he can leave even if I don’t swap with him, so my original hope of him taking a bit more time to try and get settled into his place is not going to materialise – so my choice is basically stay here so that there are four volunteers here and one (Sam’s partner Michael) left out there, or make it three here and two there. And it seems that the primary school in Chimbowe (that’s where the mud hut is) really does need a lot of help. So at the moment it seems pretty clear to me what the right thing to do is.

Obviously it’ll be a fair bit tougher out there but I’m not too worried about that, Michael and Sam tell me it’s an incredibly welcoming and generous community, and a pretty nice mud hut as mud huts go! And even when it is hard, I’m not too worried – genuinely because, as it says above, God is good, all the time (and for that matter, Jesus Never Fails). I heard a quote once from a Christian who was persecuted under communism in the eastern bloc – he said, ‘Christians are like nails, the harder you hit them, the deeper they go.’ So I’m actually pretty excited about what this adventure could do for my faith and my trust in God.

So obviously I would appreciate all your prayers, and please send me emails and things – I have no idea how the signal is out there so I can’t promise I’ll reply any time soon!

Cheers for reading!