central-lutheran.org Blog

Home!

Administrator — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 20:37:51 +0000

We all arrived home, safe and wearily sound! Thank you to our drivers on this end and to everyone for their prayers and support. We are heading home for warm/hot showers and some needed rest. We are still on Malawi time so it feels like 10:30 p.m. to us, so naps are in order and early bed times. We will be posting pictures as soon as possible and will supply a link so all those interested can view them.

Amsterdam!

Administrator — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 05:32:57 +0000

We just landed in Amsterdam after a wonderful flight through the night! We checked the flights and it appears we are good to go to the Twin Cities, and will arrive there a little after noon CDT. We are all rested, well fed and a few are heading for the McDonalds. First on the agenda after arriving home is a warm/hot shower, leaving our bags out in the garage so the ants and other various parasites we have carried home can escape and then some quiet time away from the crowds, the noise and the worries. But over all, we all agree, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! See you all soon!

Tuesday

Administrator — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 15:52:34 +0000

Well, we are in Nairobi, Kenya! We arrived at the airport in Lilongwe and all the wheels had come off… we were not sure what to do and when to do it, but, like every step along our journey the right people had been provided by God to make things happen. Diane and Gretchen talked to the right people and we were able to get on the plane to Nairobi. After a 2 hour flight we landed here and were guided to a wonderful Kenyan man who worked with Diane and Gretchen and found our luggage that had been lost, booked us tickets to Amsterdam and then to Minneapolis and allowed us all to breathe a sigh of thanksgiving and relief. Now… we still don’t know whether the flight will actually leave for Amsterdam… as of now it is still scheduled, but it is an hour by hour thing. If it does not leave, we will have a long night in a very hot airport with a major shortage of chairs. But, God will make a way, when there seems to be no way. He works in ways, we cannot see… God will make a way!
The goodbye at the Malawi airport was a tearful one as we had all become so close to our drivers and our guide. They were so good to us, and we felt like family.
Continue to pray us home… your prayers are more powerful than you know, and God is good, all the time! We will keep you posted.

Tuesday

Administrator — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 07:18:44 +0000

We had a beautiful sending service this morning and listened to the wonderful Malawi voices singing in the native tongue: What a Friend We Have in Jesus; Amazing Grace and May God be with You Till We Meet Again. We are still awaiting news on our flight(s) out of Malawi, but whether it is today, or tomorrow or next week, we are well, and the people of Malawi are teaching us the gift of patience. We are so thankful for all of the comments left on the blog, and found out this morning that our, and your, mission was on channel 18! Some of us watched it on the internet. May God be with you ’till we meet again.

Sunday

Administrator — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 16:45:16 +0000

Not much new here… we all went to church this morning on the ELCM campus. Had a very relaxing afternoon, reading, resting and repacking. We have a half-day clinic tomorrow on the church campus, but one never knows… there could be either 100 people or 700 people. Either way, we are ready to anxious to get back to work.
Travel plans continue to occupy our minds, for we are ready to go back to our families. All of you probably know more than we, but we know our flight plans have not been changed by our airline… so we wait and pray. Please continue to pray for us, and that we are able to fly home on Tuesday.

Saturday

Administrator — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 16:47:51 +0000

We are back in Lilongwe at the Lutheran Church campus… but the important issue is our travel plans back to the U.S. We don’t know, as of now, whether we will be able to fly out of her to Kenya and then to Amsterdam, or not. From Amsterdam to the U.S. is also unclear. We will post a blog as soon as we know more for certain. We completed our clinic on Friday. It again was very hot, but we say a little under 300 people so we were done earlier than normal. Our hotel was not fancy, but it was on Lake Malawi so that was relaxing. The clinic on Friday was notable, because the doctors said they saw more diseased eyes than they have seen in their careers. It was very sad that we could not help so many people. But, we had to focus on the smiles of those we did help. Tomorrow we worship at the Cathedral (sounds fancier than it is) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malawi and have a send off for the women of the church who are hopefully traveling to Wisconsin this week. Please pray that the 4 women who have been denied visas may receive them this week. That’s all from this end. Pray us home!!!!!!!

Thursday

Administrator — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 11:05:34 +0000

How to begin? We missed a day on the blog because there was no internet during our stay at Lilonde National Park.
Wednesday morning we left Zomba for the trip to the park, knowing in advance that because of heavy rains the journey would be adventure, and it was. After leaving the paved road we headed down a rough, water soaked rough road towards the place where we would take a boat across the Shire River to the park. On the way our bus got stuck twice. The first time we were able to pull it out with our Land Rover and the second time a few of us got on the back and pushed her out. In between there were several places where we all had to get out and walk through the mud, surrounded by corn and cotton fields as the bus wound it’s way through the mud and potholes. Each time we were met and escorted by Malawians who were walking and riding the bicycles, who knows where!
Our stay at Mvuu Camp, which is the “resort” where we slept in the park was a delight. Upon arrival we enjoyed an excellent meal and even ate salads because the water there is safe to drink… a rare treat. After moving into our chalets which featured hot water, toilet seats and both generated and solar electricity we went on our safari where we saw a variety of animals, birds and reptiles, including elephants, impalas, water bucks, baboons and monitor lizards. We ended the safari with a rare treat of refreshments and Doritos (go figure) on the shore of the river and watching the sunset. When we returned to our chalets we sat on the porches and watched the millions of stars overhead, including the Southern Cross.
In the morning we had a delicious breakfast, all the time watching our food so no monkeys would jump on the table and steal our toast! Then we left for our water safari on the river and saw an amazing assortment of birds, along with hippos and crocodiles. One of our group spotted a very rare Fishing Owl, which our guide told us that people from around the world come to the park in hopes of seeing one.
Then it was back on the bus. Fortunately, the road had dried out a bit and we successively made our way back to the pavement. We then traveled 7+ hours through a remote part of Malawi. It was rare to go 100 yards and not have to slow or swerve for people walking along the road or riding their bikes. Often we had come to a stop to wait for goat herds to move off the highway or dodge an errant goat. Although our bus is comfortable, it was long, hot, wearing day.
We arrived at lodging on Lake Malawi in the early evening after sunset, so although we could hear the waves from the lake we couldn’t see it yet. We ordered our evening meal, which often takes 2 hours to be prepared and enjoyed some good food before heading off to beds. We are staying in a place called the Pottery which has its own pottery operation and when the store opens today we may have the opportunity to purchase some for our loved ones back home.
This is being written just after a beautiful sunrise over the lake, but occasional breaks need to be taken to brush off the hundreds of ants which keep crawling on to the computer.
Today we are off to a full day clinic in a small church and we are expecting 400 plus people again and it looks to be a very hot day. Assuming we have internet tonight we will fill you in on the adventure.

Happy Birthday Lavane

Don — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 01:45:19 +0000

We have another birthday that is being celebrated in Malawi! Add some comments to the “online” Birthday Card for Lavane.

Leave some comments to wish Lavane a Happy Birthday

Tuesday

Administrator — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 17:47:07 +0000

We are back at our hotel after serving almost 500 people today. We were told to expect 200, but in Malawi, counting is an inexact science. Our day started early this morning with God’s own alarm clock. Out hotel has a metal roof and we were awakened by monkeys running back and forth across the roof… strange sound, but quite effective. Tomorrow we get a well deserved break and will travel to a national park to see Malawi’s native animals and go on a safari. The bad news is we are not totally sure we will get there yet.Because of all the rain the last two days the roads to the park are very bad so we cannot take our bus all the way to the park so we will have to travel in shifts in our Land Cruiser that has been used to haul our glasses. Everyone is doing great, and all of the adjustments we made in our procedures from two years ago have worked great. Each clinic we hire about a dozen Malawians we do a lot of the work and they are doing a wonderful job. Their greatest reward is at the end of the clinic they each get a pair of sunglasses which are a very valuable commodity in Malawi and they are very, very proud of them. Continue to pray for us and our mission and we will do the work we have been sent to do!

Monday

Administrator — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 18:37:49 +0000

What a day in Malawi! We served close to 400 people at our clinic today. We were able to rent a large hall built by donations from an organization from Ireland. It was a great facility that allowed us to help a lot of people. Today is Kathy Mehls’ birthday and half way through the clinic she said this was the best birthday she ever had. He were done a little before 4 and were looking forward to a relaxed evening at our hotel but it rained in the late afternoon so on our way back on a rough clay, slippery road our bus slid off the road! We were able to hook a rope up to the land rover that hauls our glasses and with the help of many, many Malawians who came out of the corn, we pulled, pushed it back onto the road. What an adventure… we were sure we were going to spend the night on the bus, because there is no AAA in Malawi. We got back to our hotel and had a romantic candle light birthday celebration meal for Kathy, because the electricity went out and has been out for the past 3 hours… this is being typed by candlelight. Tomorrow is another clinic close to here and we expect to have fewer people, but one never knows… We have been blessed every step of this journey and trust that the blessings will continue. God is good… all the time!