Oh my oh my oh my!! So much has happened since the last time I posted anything. My last month in Malawi was a whirlwind of experiences and emotions. Perhaps I'll back track a little later with pictures and fun stories on what happened. :) Then of course I was home for about six weeks, the details of which I think I will also save for a later date. But here and now I want to share a few fresh thoughts upon my return to The Warm Heart of Africa.
As is expected the day leading up to leaving were crazy and stressful and a bit emotional at times. Visiting people, raising funds, spending time with my family, packing, enjoying a last deli sandwich or two... all of it makes for very very crazy days. Our travel was SMOOOTH all the way and I am so glad. The thought of packing up and heading to the airport causes nothing but anxiety and knowing that days of travel are ahead.. ahhh! I can't even think about it. I met Ogles in NYC and we spent the night there, and got up early the next morning and headed for Malawi. We had a wonderful? 14 hour flight to Johannesburg and despite being hassled by an airport employee looking for money we caught our flight to Lilongwe and arrived save and sound. We waited for, what felt like forever, our luggage and were very warmly welcomed by Jeremy and AJ Kyser. IT was so great to see familiar faces and hear familiar sounds and smell familiar smells!
I am so excited to be back. We spent the first few days unpacking and getting settled in our new house, the we just jumped right in. We went shopping (a bigger adventure than one might think). We started getting our classrooms ready (not that we had much other option, school starts MONDAY). And now, we just write lesson plans, decorate our classrooms, write the names of my Kindergarten students 19,000 times and prepare for the beginning of the school year.
So theres that, we're back. I'm back in MALAWI! I love it. I didn't realize how much I had missed it. Of course there are things that I didn't miss like, the ants (I don't think I will ever miss ants), and inconsistency in power and water. But I missed the people, the simplicity of life here, the sounds, the smells. I missed my friends and my students. It's so good to be back. It's so much easier already the second time. I have practically no anxiety about starting school on Monday, I know people, I know how to shop and what to cook here. I know what struggles I may face and what things are going to be difficult for me personally. But I also know that I can handle it, that my strength comes from God and that I don't need to do anything on my own. HA! Wow! fabulous.
The year will be tough, I still have a lot to learn in my time here, but I'm excited and I have faith that
I will learn and grow through everything and I do and learn from everyone I meet.
Until next time...
"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us." 1 John 4.7-12
