Back In Malawi

So, I have officially been in Ntcheu for 8 days! I love this place. It is hard to describe what I think of the time that has past so far. On one hand, it feels like I have been here forever. But on the other hand, I feel like it is flying by. Things are busy right now and we are getting a lot accomplished (I feel like anyways). We took Josh and Kristen to the airport yesterday and I think that is all I am going to say about that- sore subject. I wish they could stay...

In other news- we arrived back in Ntcheu yesterday from a short trip to Blantyre (biggest city in the country). We had a couple of meetings to show up for and also had to get some things at GAME, which is the closest thing to Wal-Mart… We were able to stay the night with Daniel and Natalie Gregory who are in Blantyre as independent missionaries. They are from Oklahoma and so we definitely enjoyed each other’s company. We had a nice lunch before heading home this afternoon.

So much has happened since I last wrote, so I will try to give a quick recap with pictures.

We were able to meet the widows this past week and were greeted with a VERY warm welcome. There was a lot of dancing and singing taking place! They are such sweet ladies- many of them care for multiple orphans each (including some of our non-residential orphans).

Here are our kids! These children are in our non-residential program and are so happy. You can definitely see the impact Esther's House is making in their lives.

We were able to go out into the village with our kids one day and I thought this was a good picture of what we saw.

One of the highlights, for me, of our trip so far was being able to visit our local feeding centers. When I say local... I don't necessarily mean local. Some of our feeding centers are in very remote areas so it was pretty cool to be able to see. My idea or expectation of these feeding centers was quickly changed when we arrived- it is simply a large pot over fire in each village. The community is responsible for providing the pot and then each child responsible for bringing their own bowl and utensil. They are fed vita-meal from Feed The Children. It is fulfilling such a need and it was wonderful to see these children being able to eat something substantial.

Here is a picture of some of our kids in the non-residential program! They are wonderful. They LOVE taking pictures. We have already taken 5 children to the doctor (Kristen hates when we use the term "doctor" I should say "men with a 'degree' in clinical medicine") However, it is so much more than most kids get. Two of our girls tested positive for Malaria this week and now, because of receiving medicine, they are back to normal!

And, last but not least, here are a couple of pictures of Isaac and Precious.

I love this one :)

Good-bye for now! My teammates are calling me names for taking up too much internet time and our electricity can't decide what it wants to do :)