Hello from Senga Bay! After a very long and very interesting 5 days of travel, our team finally did make it to Malawi. We are loving it and are so thankful for the week and a half that we have spent here so far! And for a little update on what we have been up to…
The 14 of us are living together here in our small brick room that has so quickly become home. We don’t have electricity or any power, but oh do we love it. The compound we are staying at is on a hill that is surrounded by some more rural villages, and thankfully within walking distance and within sight of beautiful Lake Malawi. We are here working with an incredible missionary and some likewise incredible interns from South Africa who have been living and serving here for quite some time.
The missionaries here have a huge vision and ambition for this property and for the nation of Malawi itself, and it is so exciting to be a part of that. They have been working towards opening a Bible school/college, which has exceeded the planning stages and is now under construction! I am happy to be living here at such an exciting part of the process.
Our ministry here has been unlike that of any of the other countries that we have been in thus far. In short, it has been about an even mix of physical labor, and ministry/outreach to the surrounding villages. We have worked a whole lot with our hands while we have been here as we have been helping as they are preparing the property to start classes in February. We have been learning a lot and helping with some of the construction work, usually in the earlier part of the day, and then head out into the villages for the latter part. It has been awesome to reach out to the people who live in the surrounding areas, and though there is a major language barrier here, it is awesome to see the ways that God works. A lot of the work we are doing as far as outreach is more going out and planting seeds, knowing that they will be watered in the future as the school opens and students and missionaries continue to come through.
Life here is very disciplined. The days are long, the weather is sweltering hot, the work is tiring. We as a team though are absolutely loving the time that we have spent here and are excited to finish our final month out on the field strong. Best of all, we do it all in skirts all the time! It has been such an encouragement to live alongside our contacts, who being such incredible missionaries have given so much of their lives to what we are doing here. I love working all together towards such a physical and tangible project, as well as growing and learning and stretching ourselves spiritually. Life in Malawi is so good, and I am so excited to see what God has in store for this place and for our team in the coming weeks!
Thank you’all for your continued prayers!
Love, Rachel
