It's been a while since I have been able to post, especially since I have been able to share pictures. The last couple of weeks has had its mixture of emotions. And tonight, I am particularly anxious... tomorrow is the day I have been dreading. Tomorrow! The past 8 weeks have gone too fast. On top of this sadness... we have spent our last two days grieving the loss of one of our own, Anny. Yesterday, I woke up due to tapping on my window. It was our watchman, Dadly. When I answered him, he informed me that we had visitors at the gate- it was a couple of relatives of Anny. Dadly went on to explain that she had passed away during the night. My heart sank... once again. I went to wake Cindy and we were just in shock for a good bit of time. We went right away with the women to the hospital. After waiting on the director of the mortuary, we then escorted precious Anny's body back to Madzanje. The Esther's House vehicle is a lot of things- holds a lot of roles... Ambulance, taxi, hauler, etc. The role I hate the most is its use as a hearse. Unlike the funeral of an infant, there is a period of time used for organization; therefore, the funeral wasn't until today. We spent most of today preparing for and attending the funeral. All of our kids put on their Upward's soccer shirts (their E.H. apparel) and proceeded with us to the ceremonies. Belinda, one of Anny's closest friends, led the group carrying a picture of Anny. I was SO proud of all of our kids... they sang with a certain joy and hope as we proceeded that was missing from the wailing family members and friends. As we entered the home where her body was being kept, our orphans grieved the loss of their friend greatly and it tore. me. up. Dealing with death is one thing, but comforting children who are dealing with death is tough. There were parts of the day that were very difficult... you just don't look at these happy, smiling faces, and think that they will possibly not make it to next month. However, there were also parts of the day that were hopeful and happy. Anny is now being held by her Savior. She is finally free from disease and sickness and pain. She is being loved in the best way possible by her Father.

Here is a picture of Anny at Esther's House a few weeks ago. Both of her parents are deceased. She grew up in a "child- headed household," raised by her elder brother and sister... just the three of them. Anny had such a hard life here on earth- it is comforting to know that she is no longer suffering. She trusted Christ through Esther's House. She will be missed.

After all of the ceremonies were finished, we headed back to town with all of the Esther's House team to have a farewell party. I love spending time with my friends here and tonight was wonderful, except that I knew the reason for the occasion. We have been packing all night and are trying to stay awake as long as we can so that we might be able to sleep on the plane tomorrow. I have a feeling that it is going to be miserable. We are departing Ntcheu early tomorrow morning in order to say all of our goodbyes and be in Lilongwe in time for our flight. The guys at E.H. will accompany us to LLW. Tomorrow is going to be so painful so I would greatly appreciate your prayers.

Anyways, here are some picture highlights of the last couple of weeks. Hope that you enjoy. The next time I post, I will be on U.S. soil! I am so thankful for all of the support I have been given. The family of God is really incredible.

Madzanje Baptist has started construction (brick making) on a new church building. Here is Joe next to the bricks they have made so far. So proud.

We are going to miss our Malawi mom so much.

Uncle Bruce with Z :)

I know this picture isn't so great, but it represents something so great. Every Sunday, after the adults have had their Sunday School lesson, the kids return to the worship center. They stand at the front and answer questions about their lesson they have just been taught. It is SO cute.

I have become Malawian now... carrying things on my head. I could do without the awkward stares and laughs, though :)

I have gotten way too attached to this precious baby.

One day, I will live here. How cute is this little place? I love it.

Yes. Mice. On a stick. Also known as a mouse-kabob... delicacy in Malawi. No thank-you.

I am going to miss her so much. She is one special lady! Please pray for Cindy and support her as she continues her 2 year journey!

Can it get any cuter? They are wonderful.

Getrude and I last Sunday. Today, the day of Anny's funeral, marks one month exactly to the death of their baby boy. Please continue to pray for Bruce and Getrude.

This is one of my favorite pictures. My favorite boys!

Bruce and Joe are very special to me. Their hearts for the ministry are so very incredible. The way that they care for Esther's House and our kids is awesome.

Here are our orphans with new Upward t-shirts. So happy!

A week or so ago, we received word that one of our girl's was very sick. We took her to the clinic and it turned out that she had a very bad case of the measles... there is an outbreak in our area currently. Patrick, the clinician, told us that she needed to be admitted into isolation at the District Hospital. When we arrived at the D.H. we were directed behind the main building to "measles isolation." You could say that we were a bit frustrated when we found that this was where they were being kept. Have I said that the hospital conditions are awful?

The tent was packed with patients- all laying on a thin piece of foam that was placed on the floor. Here is Cindy with Tandiwe... the staff thought it was hilarious when we explained that we were her guardians. She was so sick, but is doing much better now. Just another testimony of how God is using Esther's House.

I hope that you have been able to see at least a little piece of what has been going on this summer. It has been a life-changing experience that couldn't have been possible without each one of you. Thank-you so much. I have learned so much and a part of my heart will remain here forever.

I am not sure why, but I have been unsuccessful in posting pictures the last couple of days. It is quite frustrating because I have so many wonderful pictures to share! Hopefully, I will be able to get it working soon... since there is only 7 days left in my trip! Can you believe it? The pain of leaving this place has already begun to sink in. As we were leaving Esther's House tonight it really hit me. It doesn't help that our Malawian friends are always reminding us that the end is near. They say the sweetest things which I love to hear but hate how it sharpens the heartache. I have made some wonderful, life-long, friends this summer... family really. I can't believe I have to leave them.

Anyways, we have had some very good days since the last time I wrote. Yesterday, we had our last "excursion" day- just Cindy, Derek, and I. It was nice and relaxing. We did another safari and saw so many wonderful things... so many more animals than in our last experience. We also visited the lake- which is quickly becoming our favorite spot. It is absolutely beautiful. We have had great day today as well. We started the morning with a not-so-good phone call from Bruce saying that our watchman's daughter was very ill. She is somewhere between 8-12 months old and had a bad case of Malaria. However, we got her to the hospital and she has now started treatment and is feeling better. Afterwards, we headed back out to Esther's House to meet with the staff along with one of the local baptist pastors here. We had a prayer meeting that was greatly needed and was such an encouragement. We have already experienced answered prayer and been given exciting opportunities as the day has progressed.

Tomorrow we have plans to travel to Blantyre after a meeting and an appearance at the Madzanje Secondary School graduation. There is some business we need to get accomplished, but we are looking forward to time with our missionary friends there as well. Please pray that in this last week we are able to get much accomplished. Pray for me as I try my best to keep my mind off of the sad end; I want to enjoy each day to its fullest. Thank-you, once again, for your prayer and support. It has been so evident and comforting.

Ok, I am back! We have had a dreadful time with our internet lately, but I hope that you enjoy the picture post. They aren't really in any particular order, but you don't know the difference, ha. This past week has been wonderful. I love this place so much. People keep asking me if I am counting down the days to come home and my reply is yes... but not because I am particularly looking forward to going home. I am counting down the days because it is going to tear my heart into pieces to leave this place and these people. I try to remind myself that I can come back and at the same time steer clear of reminding myself how much each visit will cost :)

I love Zach so much. He is such a great/sweet baby. We have become great friends.

These boys are in our non-residential program. They are so fun... Esau is on the left and I love talking with him- he has the best english.

The guys at Esther's House got a soccer team together last Sunday. It was so much fun watching them play. Derek played the entire 90 minutes and the Malawians were quite impressed.

Anybody want a baby antelope? Only 500 Kwacha!

This last Friday, the kid's english teacher wasn't able to come to Esther's House for their lesson and so Derek and I taught the kids about nouns, verbs, and punctuation. I quickly became aware that it had been a while since my last english class!

Here are some of my favorite guys taking a sugar cane break :)

We all got together at E.H. to watch the final World Cup game. There were bats. I don't like bats. The boys caught them for me and threw them outside. It was quite hysterical.

Stanley :)

Cute girls at the soccer game...

This is a game that all of the kids in the village love to play. Don't ask me how they do it, but they run along the roads trying their best to keep their wheel rolling. I think they use some sort of cane to keep it going...

We were able to take a day last week for some site seeing. It was a fun and busy day. We went to the top of a very tall mountain in Malawi- Zomba Mountain, we went through the Liwonde National Park- a drive through Safari, and we also visited Lake Malawi (3rd largest lake in the WORLD). It was more like an ocean... it contains fresh AND salt water. Weird. It has wonderful sandy beaches and you can't see the other side of the lake at all. We arrived at this resort just in time to watch the sunset. We ate a wonderful meal before heading home. It was such a fun day, but I definitely missed being in Ntcheu with our friends.

Here is Lake Malawi again...

I was definitely not expecting to have my toes in the sand this summer!

This is a picture from the game park. The only two elephants we saw, but so cool. We broke the rules and got out of the car to chase them down.

Chief Kwataine! He is the T.A. (Traditional Authority) for our district and lives about 100kl from Esther's House. This is at the top of Zomba Mountain. We visited a beautiful hotel at the top of the mountain.

I feel like we travel so much every week! This is from one of our MANY trips to Lilongwe (the capital). Jo is such a joyful man. He is so much fun and is a wonderful addition to the E.H. team. He definitely has the joy of the Lord. I will miss his encouraging friendship greatly.

Ok, so Precious didn't quite get the "make a funny face" thing. Ha. I love this boy.

Bruce and Getrude :) They are so special to me... such a sweet couple. G is recovering well. The Lord's hand is so evident in their lives.

Here is another picture from the soccer game. It was a tie this week- but Jo and Bruce are convinced we will win this week. Derek has promised them a red bull before the game on Sunday- they are quite excited.

Bruce and I on Malawian Independence Day.

Good friends. So sweet.

I love this picture. These are our non-res girls. They are so much fun. Get the word out- we need more sponsors! Visit puremission.org for the details.

Last but not least, Cindy and I up a tree. This was at Club Mak- the resort on Lake Malawi. This tree was so big, perfect for climbing.

Hopefully, our internet connection will become more consistent, but then again, I have been hoping that for the last 6 weeks :). I will do my best to post again soon. Thankful for your prayers always.

Alyssa

Yes, your eyes are seeing correctly! Two posts in two days! But don't get too use to it ;)

Happy 4th of July to everyone at home! I'll have to say I am extra appreciative of our wonderful country this year... of our healthcare system especially. (Hopefully I'm not speaking too soon Mr. President.) We have had a wonderful Sunday here, in my second favorite country. We went to Madzanje Baptist again today, because our very own- Stanley- was preaching this morning! I have been looking forward to this for days. Stanley has already become a very special friend. I am going to miss seeing him! Anyways, no time for sap. (Even though somehow, someway we have passed the HALF way mark to our trip a few days ago. Sad.) Stanley did an awesome job. He spoke in Chichewa, but every few minutes he would look over and summarize in English. We missed Bruce and Gertrude, but it was a good morning worshipping with our friends.

We have had a lot of down time today due to no electricity. This is part of the reason I have been able to write so much. I am the worst at using spare time to my advantage- I will admit right now. But I enjoyed my down time this afternoon by watering our yard :) We have LOTS of plants, but no one to keep up with them. I found it quite peaceful. It also gave me an excuse to let my face soak up some sun rays. I have yet to wear sunscreen and I have yet to get any sort of sun. They weren't kidding when they said it was winter over here. Most days, my attire involves my fleece jacket, if not more (It's quite stylish paired with my ankle length skirts. HA.)

Later in the afternoon we were able to walk over to the hospital to see G. I was SO happy. Because we have been sick, we didn't want to risk spreading anything. So today, Cindy and I are feeling much better and had to get over there to check on her. She is doing so much better. There is absolutely no way a person could come this far from such a tragedy without the hand of God. It is so evident. We are so thankful for all of the prayers and support. Anyways, we watched her walk around and had such a good visit. Her sutures were taken out today, so Lord willing, she will be released to go home tomorrow. I can't tell you how excited I am that she won't have to stay in that room anymore, so you know she is probably more than ready.

This evening we were invited over to Chet and Leigh Anne Burns house. They are missionaries from Washington that live down the road. We had a nice dinner and visit with them and then they even surprised us with a fireworks show! It wasn't Fireworks At the Crosses, but it was so nice. They had invited some of their Malawian friends, which was very funny to watch. Most Malawians have never experienced fireworks before--- the babies cry, the mothers run, and the men mostly just ]clap! Just about how Americans react!

I love these pictures from today. They are so special. Today made me miss my home, but my emotions are hard to explain. I am excited to see friends and family when I get home in August, but it is going to be bittersweet. Being there means I am not here...

I am going to miss my team

Stanley and I before church

Jo!

Soon after church was over, Stanley asked why I hadn't taken a picture of him preaching... I, thinking it would be highly inappropriate, refrained from flashing my camera in the middle of the service. We had a quick reenactment after church :)

Isaac with Derek's backpack. The boys love Derek. He is their futbol buddy.

Evelyn, Zach, and I... I get upset just thinking about not seeing them everyday.

This is from my visit with Gertrude today! She has a special place in my heart.

Look at her! She is doing so good! Praise the Lord...