A quick trip to Malawi

This past June, we were blessed with the opportunity to return to Malawi before returning to the States. The point of the trip was to sort through our personal belongings and to say good-bye to Malawi and the work there. The trip turned out to be a tremendous blessing.

Two days after arriving, Bill and I got busy sorting through the many boxes that had been packed up to go to Mozambique. It was a HUGE job and took us nearly four days to go through everything. Thankfully Nora was able to help us and watched the girls so Bill and I could focus on the work that needed to be done.

After going through boxes we decided to have some fun and went to a few game parks. We visited Liwonde park, Lengwe park, and Nyala park. We saw all the big animals including elephant, giraffe, wart hog, buffalo and much more. The girls had a blast looking for animals and they got pretty good at it as well.

We also spent a day travling around through the villages, driving past Mount Mulanji and visiting Pastor Lusio. We stopped in to see Pastor Liwonde and had a nice nsima meal. Bill was thrilled to have nsima again. We went to the Zomba market which I enjoyed tremendously and took lots of pictures. We also want to church at Our Saviour and saw many of our old friends from church. It was nice to worship with them again.

We had the opportunity to see our old house and visit with our friends. Our good friends Tamsin and Steve threw us a party and many people come out to say farewell. The girls were able to ride horses and see some of their old friends. What a great way to connect again and say good-bye.

Our house had had some remodeling done on it and was looking very nice. The wooden shelves had been torn out and replaced with concrete shelves that had been painted white. The ugly tile had also been replaced with beautiful stone tiles and were polished to a shine. The kitchen had been remodeled and the porch wood had been painted white. It was the same house, yet different, making it easier to say good-bye.

We even found some time to visit George and Davison, our old gardeners. We were very excited to see them and their families. They took us to their home in the village and spent the afternoon with us. We need to keep them in our prayers since neither of them have found work since we left two years ago. They both now have children starting high school and need to come up with money to pay for school fees. It really puts everything in perspective when they tell us they only need $60 a year to send their children to school and can't come up with the money. How blessed we are in America.

The mission had a farewell party for us and a nice service on Sunday. We are truly going to miss the fellowship and friendship we had with the missionaries in Malawi. They were more than co-workers and friends, they were our family. What a blessing to have been part of the team of dedicated workers spreading the wonderful news of Christ to the lost.

We loved Malawi so much that Bill even considered finding a job there, but in the end it didn't work out. Part of our hearts will always be there and we will miss it dearly. It was most difficult saying good-bye to Nora. She was more than our house lady, she was our "Auntie" and family member. We will always remember her and what a dedicated woman she was to our family. May the Lord always bless her and keep her close to Him.

We thank the Lord that we had the opportunity to return to Malawi, the place our family first had a home. We thank the Lord that we were able to say good-bye and have closure. Malawi will always have a special place in our hearts.

The next step

It seems like a lifetime ago that we were overseas, but we have been in WI for just under two months. There is no doubt that our lives have made a big change in direction and I believe we are ready for the next step. Bill had been tirelessly hunting for a job since the beginning of July, and this past Tuesday he accepted a position with Hahn Finantial. He will be working with WELS called workers on the 403(b) plan (401(k) for non-profit organizations) and selling insurance. It is a relief to know the next step is in our lives and where we will be living. We are currently living with my parents in Watertown, WI, and we will be her until we can afford to live on our own. It is nice to be near family and see so much of them, but I wonder how long we will be here.

The summer has been busy, but not nearly as hectic as furlough years are. We have been able to see much of our family and friends, but we have also relaxed alot down at the farm and in Green Lake. There are still many people we would like to see and we will pace ourselves so we don't wear ourselves out.

Besides seeing family and friend, and Bill looking for work, we have focused much of our summer getting Elise and Audrey ready for school in fall. Since they had been in Portuguese school for over an entire school year, we knew they would be behind in reading English. Audrey was not so far behind since she is starting kindergarden, but Elise is about a year behind her peers. We had them in summer school for four weeks and a reading teacher assessed Elise's reading. She has been working with my Aunt Sue for about four weeks to get caught up. She has made huge improvement and we believe she will be ready for school on September first.

When our mission position was cut in May and we were devestated, we knew that we could trust on the Lord to take care of us, and that will continue to be our focus. We do not know how successful Bill will be at his new job or how long it will be before we are living in our own home, but we do know that the Lord will take care of us and provide for us. What a blessing to be able to trust in the Lord rather than rely on our earthly abilities to see us through.

We pray you all had a blessed summer and hope to see you all sometime in the near future.