Photo Shoot and Other Fun!

We just finished up class with the women and Mel and I are walking away with huge smiles on our faces.  We asked our friend Molly to come in and take pictures while we were teaching and afterwards we got a few pictures with the whole class. 

At the beginning of class I had asked Clara, one of the better English speakers, to ask the class if they would mind of a friend came in to take pictures.  Some of the women just got huge smiles on their faces, others replied with “Okay…”, and yet others started fixing their hair and clothes already.

Molly arrived during the middle of class and got some great action shots of the women playing a vocabulary game.  Mel had the women split into two groups and each group had to work together to spell the said vocabulary word.  The groups each had a set of alphabet cards and were to find the correct letters to spell a word and then arrange themselves in the correct order at the front of the classroom.  Women were running around, yelling, and letters were flying everywhere.  We have yet to look through the pictures but I am sure Molly took some amazing actions shots!

After class we took a whole class photo with the women.  Mel and I sort of stepped back and let the women arrange themselves however they saw fit before we jumped in.  It was quite humorous to watch them help each other fix their hair, fix their clothing, and check out one another’s poses.  After a few minutes of rearranging we all settled in to our first of several arrangements.  As Mel and I were smiling, we quickly glanced and realized that some of the women were posing reading their Bibles or looking off into the distance.  Lucy, one of the women who always brings a little comedy to the class, had her Bible open and her finger in it like she was following along with a reading. 

As we finished arrangement number four or five, several of the women shouted “Again, again!” as they wanted more pictures to be taken.  Molly assured them that she had taken many great shots and they all gathered around to see.  Picture 18 women gathering around the tiny screen of a camera to view the photos.  There was cheering and laughing as they all took a quick glance.  All of the women were requesting to get a copy of the photos which Mel and I think will make a good gift for the last day of class. 

Church, Food, and More Food

Yesterday was a great ending to a fun-filled weekend! We started off our morning with a church service at Good Shepherd. Kelsi, Molly, and I agreed after the service that our favorite part was when the choir (really just a quartet) sang. The lead singer was AMAZING. I was in awe; I thought she sounded just like Beyonce! The other three singers harmonized in the background, and I found myself wishing that she would perform a concert for us after they finished. We attended Margie Wendland's Bible class for women after church, and as always, it was an uplifting and edifying experience. Margie is extremely knowledgeable about God's Word, and she leads interesting discussions every week. It has been a blessing to study with her and the other women in the congregation during our time here.


We went swimming at Susan’s school after Bible class, and after splashing around for about ten minutes, I laid by the side of the pool to catch some sun. What a wimp! (The pool water was quite chilly, in my defense.) The others swam for just a bit longer, because Lisa had arrived to take us to the International Food Fair at the Intercontinental Hotel. An event centered on food?? We were all on board!


The Intercontinental Hotel is one of the fanciest places I've seen in Lusaka, and it reminded me of a very nice hotel in America (though the decorations were African sculptures and paintings). We walked outside to the "backyard" area, complete with a large pool and a bar. A lot of people were already there when we arrived, including gobs of children jumping like maniacs in a bounce house. (The bounce house was NOT an option for us after snacking for a couple hours....puke city!)


We spent about fifteen minutes walking among the various stands and surveying their selections. Some countries that were represented included Egypt, Angola, Italy, Palestine (they had fantastic falafel and hummus), Senegal, Zimbabwe, Greece, Ethiopia, Ireland, and Mali, among others. So many new foods to try and not enough stomach space! Anyone who knows me knows how much I love food, so I had way too much fun at this event. After a couple of hours of browsing and sharing food (lasagna, chicken skewers, quail eggs, salads with peanut sauce, eggplant, stir fry, cake, and several items with names I've forgotten) among each other, we headed home - stuffed and happy.


Kelsi and I cannot believe that our days left in Africa are in the 20s! As excited as we are to see our friends and families, we are so blessed and thankful every day to be here, spending time with the wonderful people we've met here. God is good!

Eventful Saturday!!

Eventful Day!

Yesterday was a packed day of so many exciting things!  The day can be summarized in three major events…

1.      Dutch Reformed Market.   As Mel and I wrote about back in March, we had another opportunity to go the market to pick up some souvenirs from our time spent here in Zambia.  Although it was the same market, it seemed as though there was so many different things! 

2.     Munda Wanga Environmental Park.  After a couple of hours at the Dutch Reformed Market we headed to Munda Wanga, a wildlife sanctuary and botanical garden about 30 minutes from Lusaka.  We were invited to the park by Pastor Sargent because it was the annual family fun day there for all the WELS pastors, their families, and the missionaries. 

Mrs. Birner, Molly, Mel and I arrived just in time for devotion and the lunch.  We were told it was a potluck with very delicious African food and so Mel and I thought we would contribute apple slices and a peanut butter dip… Unfortunately not many took the dip most likely because they weren’t quite sure what it was or what it was used for.    

After lunch we met up with a tour guide who walked us through the park and shared some educational facts about the animals.  We enjoyed many sights such as baboons, monkeys, zebras, bushbuck, bushpig, camels, caracals, crocodiles, tortoises, dik-diks, duiker, rabbits, porcupines, warthogs, mongoose, lions, and much more!  The lions were a huge hit and we even saw two of them being fed a nice fly-infested slab of meat.  After watching some lionesses munch on lunch, we walked down to see a few more in a different cage.  As we watched the lions basking in the sun up on a large platform, the tour guide gave us survival tips if we ever game face to face with a lion in the wild.  I thought this might be extremely valuable information to share!

1.       Make eye contact with the lion and never ever turn your back on it.  It will take the opportunity to pounce!

2.     Make yourself look bigger than you are.  Raise your arms above your head and wave them.  You can even hold up a jacket, blanket, small child, anything to make yourself look big and intimidating.

3.     Make loud, confident noises to show the lion you are not afraid. 

4.     Back away slowly until the lion is no longer in sight. 

5.     I personally thought he missed one strategy and that would be PRAY! I sure would be saying a lot of prayers for safety and contentment if I came face to face with a lion…

Although the environmental park was nothing like the Milwaukee Zoo, we enjoyed seeing the animals so up close!  Most of the animals were eating within five feet of the fence and we were able to get some close-up pictures.  It was a beautiful day that we were able to spend with some pretty amazing people!     

3.     Lost IN Lusaka.  We left the park around 4:00 and headed for home.  We had no idea how bad the traffic would be or how long it would take us to get home.  Mrs. Birner was doing everything in her power to make sure we didn’t get stuck in a traffic jam.  We tried every side street after side street to find a way around the major traffic-congested areas but we couldn’t find our way around.  We drove and drove until we realized we were pretty lost.  This is when the giggles started… Here is just a few conversations we had with either ourselves or some of the locals. 

-           Conversation within the car: Hey, the sun sets in the west so we know that is the west! (That helps us in no way because we don’t know which direction we are supposed to be going!)

-          Asking a local walking along the road:  Excuse me, where are we?  Can you tell us how to get the Lusaka?  Local woman, “Bahaha you are in Lusaka!”  Well, can you tell us how to get to Crossroads Mall?  (Blank stares and confused look)  Is it that way?  Local woman, “Yes, yes!”  Begin driving “that way” with no idea where, when or if to turn.  Not very helpful…

-          Asking another local brother and sister:  Excuse me, can you tell us what compound we are in?  “Avocado”  (At this point I had lost it in the back seat with Mel because they were selling avocados)  Molly’s response was, “Oh, avocado…”  The two smiled back with great delight and we tried asking again.  Needless to say it wasn’t a productive conversation. 

-          The last woman we asked was very helpful and pointed us in the right direction.  Unfortunately we were so turned around that we stopped listening to her instructions after her first suggestion to “take a right”.  We had to giggle because we realized after taking that right that we should have listened because we ended up right where started! 

All in all it took us about 4.5 hours to get home after getting lost.  Ok, we stopped at an Irish Pub for some appetizers so celebrate knowing where we were.  We had so many laughs, happy tears, and another great day in Lusaka.  Molly and Mrs. Birner are both heading off on different adventures starting next week.  We are going to miss them dearly!  They have been so kind in letting us tag along and inviting us places with them.   Thanking God for the kind people here who have made this opportunity possible! 

            Today was another adventure and Mel will be sharing about the amazing foods we were able to try today!  I think America needs to try this sometime… If you are intrigued check out the blog tomorrow!  Have a wonderful rest of your Sunday!

Eventful Saturday!!

Eventful Day!

Yesterday was a packed day of so many exciting things!  The day can be summarized in three major events…

1.      Dutch Reformed Market.   As Mel and I wrote about back in March, we had another opportunity to go the market to pick up some souvenirs from our time spent here in Zambia.  Although it was the same market, it seemed as though there was so many different things! 

2.     Munda Wanga Environmental Park.  After a couple of hours at the Dutch Reformed Market we headed to Munda Wanga, a wildlife sanctuary and botanical garden about 30 minutes from Lusaka.  We were invited to the park by Pastor Sargent because it was the annual family fun day there for all the WELS pastors, their families, and the missionaries. 

Mrs. Birner, Molly, Mel and I arrived just in time for devotion and the lunch.  We were told it was a potluck with very delicious African food and so Mel and I thought we would contribute apple slices and a peanut butter dip… Unfortunately not many took the dip most likely because they weren’t quite sure what it was or what it was used for.    

After lunch we met up with a tour guide who walked us through the park and shared some educational facts about the animals.  We enjoyed many sights such as baboons, monkeys, zebras, bushbuck, bushpig, camels, caracals, crocodiles, tortoises, dik-diks, duiker, rabbits, porcupines, warthogs, mongoose, lions, and much more!  The lions were a huge hit and we even saw two of them being fed a nice fly-infested slab of meat.  After watching some lionesses munch on lunch, we walked down to see a few more in a different cage.  As we watched the lions basking in the sun up on a large platform, the tour guide gave us survival tips if we ever game face to face with a lion in the wild.  I thought this might be extremely valuable information to share!

1.       Make eye contact with the lion and never ever turn your back on it.  It will take the opportunity to pounce!

2.     Make yourself look bigger than you are.  Raise your arms above your head and wave them.  You can even hold up a jacket, blanket, small child, anything to make yourself look big and intimidating.

3.     Make loud, confident noises to show the lion you are not afraid. 

4.     Back away slowly until the lion is no longer in sight. 

5.     I personally thought he missed one strategy and that would be PRAY! I sure would be saying a lot of prayers for safety and contentment if I came face to face with a lion…

Although the environmental park was nothing like the Milwaukee Zoo, we enjoyed seeing the animals so up close!  Most of the animals were eating within five feet of the fence and we were able to get some close-up pictures.  It was a beautiful day that we were able to spend with some pretty amazing people!     

3.     Lost IN Lusaka.  We left the park around 4:00 and headed for home.  We had no idea how bad the traffic would be or how long it would take us to get home.  Mrs. Birner was doing everything in her power to make sure we didn’t get stuck in a traffic jam.  We tried every side street after side street to find a way around the major traffic-congested areas but we couldn’t find our way around.  We drove and drove until we realized we were pretty lost.  This is when the giggles started… Here is just a few conversations we had with either ourselves or some of the locals. 

-           Conversation within the car: Hey, the sun sets in the west so we know that is the west! (That helps us in no way because we don’t know which direction we are supposed to be going!)

-          Asking a local walking along the road:  Excuse me, where are we?  Can you tell us how to get the Lusaka?  Local woman, “Bahaha you are in Lusaka!”  Well, can you tell us how to get to Crossroads Mall?  (Blank stares and confused look)  Is it that way?  Local woman, “Yes, yes!”  Begin driving “that way” with no idea where, when or if to turn.  Not very helpful…

-          Asking another local brother and sister:  Excuse me, can you tell us what compound we are in?  “Avocado”  (At this point I had lost it in the back seat with Mel because they were selling avocados)  Molly’s response was, “Oh, avocado…”  The two smiled back with great delight and we tried asking again.  Needless to say it wasn’t a productive conversation. 

-          The last woman we asked was very helpful and pointed us in the right direction.  Unfortunately we were so turned around that we stopped listening to her instructions after her first suggestion to “take a right”.  We had to giggle because we realized after taking that right that we should have listened because we ended up right where started! 

All in all it took us about 4.5 hours to get home after getting lost.  Ok, we stopped at an Irish Pub for some appetizers so celebrate knowing where we were.  We had so many laughs, happy tears, and another great day in Lusaka.  Molly and Mrs. Birner are both heading off on different adventures starting next week.  We are going to miss them dearly!  They have been so kind in letting us tag along and inviting us places with them.   Thanking God for the kind people here who have made this opportunity possible! 

            Today was another adventure and Mel will be sharing about the amazing foods we were able to try today!  I think America needs to try this sometime… If you are intrigued check out the blog tomorrow!  Have a wonderful rest of your Sunday!

Eventful Saturday!!

Eventful Day!

Yesterday was a packed day of so many exciting things!  The day can be summarized in three major events…

1.      Dutch Reformed Market.   As Mel and I wrote about back in March, we had another opportunity to go the market to pick up some souvenirs from our time spent here in Zambia.  Although it was the same market, it seemed as though there was so many different things! 

2.     Munda Wanga Environmental Park.  After a couple of hours at the Dutch Reformed Market we headed to Munda Wanga, a wildlife sanctuary and botanical garden about 30 minutes from Lusaka.  We were invited to the park by Pastor Sargent because it was the annual family fun day there for all the WELS pastors, their families, and the missionaries. 

Mrs. Birner, Molly, Mel and I arrived just in time for devotion and the lunch.  We were told it was a potluck with very delicious African food and so Mel and I thought we would contribute apple slices and a peanut butter dip… Unfortunately not many took the dip most likely because they weren’t quite sure what it was or what it was used for.    

After lunch we met up with a tour guide who walked us through the park and shared some educational facts about the animals.  We enjoyed many sights such as baboons, monkeys, zebras, bushbuck, bushpig, camels, caracals, crocodiles, tortoises, dik-diks, duiker, rabbits, porcupines, warthogs, mongoose, lions, and much more!  The lions were a huge hit and we even saw two of them being fed a nice fly-infested slab of meat.  After watching some lionesses munch on lunch, we walked down to see a few more in a different cage.  As we watched the lions basking in the sun up on a large platform, the tour guide gave us survival tips if we ever game face to face with a lion in the wild.  I thought this might be extremely valuable information to share!

1.       Make eye contact with the lion and never ever turn your back on it.  It will take the opportunity to pounce!

2.     Make yourself look bigger than you are.  Raise your arms above your head and wave them.  You can even hold up a jacket, blanket, small child, anything to make yourself look big and intimidating.

3.     Make loud, confident noises to show the lion you are not afraid. 

4.     Back away slowly until the lion is no longer in sight. 

5.     I personally thought he missed one strategy and that would be PRAY! I sure would be saying a lot of prayers for safety and contentment if I came face to face with a lion…

Although the environmental park was nothing like the Milwaukee Zoo, we enjoyed seeing the animals so up close!  Most of the animals were eating within five feet of the fence and we were able to get some close-up pictures.  It was a beautiful day that we were able to spend with some pretty amazing people!     

3.     Lost IN Lusaka.  We left the park around 4:00 and headed for home.  We had no idea how bad the traffic would be or how long it would take us to get home.  Mrs. Birner was doing everything in her power to make sure we didn’t get stuck in a traffic jam.  We tried every side street after side street to find a way around the major traffic-congested areas but we couldn’t find our way around.  We drove and drove until we realized we were pretty lost.  This is when the giggles started… Here is just a few conversations we had with either ourselves or some of the locals. 

-           Conversation within the car: Hey, the sun sets in the west so we know that is the west! (That helps us in no way because we don’t know which direction we are supposed to be going!)

-          Asking a local walking along the road:  Excuse me, where are we?  Can you tell us how to get the Lusaka?  Local woman, “Bahaha you are in Lusaka!”  Well, can you tell us how to get to Crossroads Mall?  (Blank stares and confused look)  Is it that way?  Local woman, “Yes, yes!”  Begin driving “that way” with no idea where, when or if to turn.  Not very helpful…

-          Asking another local brother and sister:  Excuse me, can you tell us what compound we are in?  “Avocado”  (At this point I had lost it in the back seat with Mel because they were selling avocados)  Molly’s response was, “Oh, avocado…”  The two smiled back with great delight and we tried asking again.  Needless to say it wasn’t a productive conversation. 

-          The last woman we asked was very helpful and pointed us in the right direction.  Unfortunately we were so turned around that we stopped listening to her instructions after her first suggestion to “take a right”.  We had to giggle because we realized after taking that right that we should have listened because we ended up right where started! 

All in all it took us about 4.5 hours to get home after getting lost.  Ok, we stopped at an Irish Pub for some appetizers so celebrate knowing where we were.  We had so many laughs, happy tears, and another great day in Lusaka.  Molly and Mrs. Birner are both heading off on different adventures starting next week.  We are going to miss them dearly!  They have been so kind in letting us tag along and inviting us places with them.   Thanking God for the kind people here who have made this opportunity possible! 

            Today was another adventure and Mel will be sharing about the amazing foods we were able to try today!  I think America needs to try this sometime… If you are intrigued check out the blog tomorrow!  Have a wonderful rest of your Sunday!

Back in the Swing of Things

Muli bwanji?

Kelsi, Molly, and I quickly caught on to the basic Chechewa (the Malawian version of Nyanja, one of the most common languages spoken in Zambia) greetings/pleasantries while we were in Malawi. Here in Lusaka, virtually everyone speaks English in the city, so our attempts to learn the language have been feeble. In Malawi, however, many people greeted us in their native tongue, and we began to answer back enthusiastically. (Muli bwanji? Bwino!) Kelsi pulled that out in class on Monday, and our ladies thought it was hysterical. Hopefully they were laughing with us, and not at our bad pronunciation!

Here's a quick wrap-up of our trip to Malawi:

We spent Friday night at the Holtz's (enjoying homemade soup, ice cream sundaes, and smoothies made from mangoes, berries, and passionfruit, among other delicious treats) before heading back to Zambia. Like I said last time, the Holtz's were fantastic hosts! We only traveled a few hours on Saturday, and we spent the night at Pastor Sargeant's old home in Chipata (a town in Zambia very close to the border of Malawi). We finished up the journey on Sunday, and we were relieved to be home after another eight hours on the road. As tired as we were, the trip was worth every minute of travel and every bump and pothole. We are so grateful that Pastor Sargeant invited us along to experience the different culture in Malawi. We really enjoyed our time, and I would love to go back someday to explore other parts of the country.

Monday morning was a bit rough as Kelsi and I tried to remember how to teach. Anyone who has been a teacher or a student coming back from vacation knows what I mean! However, I'm happy to report that after a couple of days, we are back in the swing of things, and we are extra motivated to make the most of our final weeks. We are feeling a bit frantic lately; there is so much to teach and so little time! We pray that our lessons help the ladies and their children improve every day, and that they will continue to learn English after we are gone.

It was a lot of fun to be reunited with the kids and the women this week. The children were especially joyful to see we had returned. Kelsi and I have been attacked with hugs and cries of "Teacha teacha!" as we walked around campus the past few days.

We were relieved to hear that we missed quite the storms when we were in Malawi. It rained 10 inches in less than a week! We heard that the whole campus was completely flooded, and there are still some muddy areas to prove it. It has only rained a bit since we've been back, but it has been markedly cooler as we in the southern hemisphere move into the winter months. I was bundled up in a sweater and jacket today, and Kelsi can tell you that I complained more than once about the cold! How quickly we've adjusted to the 80 degree days....

We hope that we can put some pictures up soon. We can't wait to share some of the sights from Malawi!

God's blessings and good night!

Mua Mission and More Adventures!

Mua Mission and More Adventures!

The next few days consisted of so many answered prayers and blessings.

After spending Thursday morning at Senga Bay, we hopped onto yet another minibus and headed to Mua.  After discussing how to get there with some of the extremely helpful Cool Running’s employees, we were told to get on a minibus to Blantyre and ask to be dropped at Mua along the way.  Besides putting our trust in complete strangers to get us where we needed to go and being squashed like sardines in the hot minibus, the trip wasn’t too bad!  All three of us were asking at every stop, “Is this where we should get off for Mua?”  Every now and then people would just nod their heads, “Mua, yes, yes.” But they weren’t too convincing.  It wasn’t until several stops later did we actually feel confident when several people said we should get off at what seemed to be the middle of nowhere…  We were looking for a guest house Mel had found in one of the information guides she was reading as a part of the Mua Mission.

As we got off the bus, the only thing we could see around us was the paved road in both directions and a gravel/dirt road intersecting it.  There wasn’t much else around us other than the endless rolling hills and mountains.  We couldn’t stop chuckling and smiling because we had no idea where we were going or even if we were in the right place.  Along the gravel road were people hosting markets but there weren’t really any houses or buildings in sight.  We stopped to ask a few people if the Mua Mission and guest house was down that street but several times all we got were smiles on nods.  Although we think they had no idea what we were asking for, we took their nods as “Yes, right that way!”  Finally we talked to someone who’s English was at least a little more present, he told us “Yes, on the right.” 

As we hiked up the road, the flat surface began to turn into a hill that got steeper and steeper.  There was still no buildings in sight and all we could think about was having to walk back down to the main road to try to hitchhike to the next town--and by this time it was beginning to get dark.  After a good 30-45 minutes on that gravel road, we started to see some smaller houses and eventually a sign for the Mua Mission.  We had arrived!!  We still had no idea where to go but after asking around we found the reception and they led us to an extremely nice room.     

At the mission we ventured around for a little while, had dinner and went to bed fairly early as we would be headed out to the next town (Dedza) early in the morning.  We still couldn’t believe we found this get-away hidden way up on the side of mountain in the middle of nowhere.  It was such a beautiful place and although our time was short there we really enjoyed it.

Early Friday morning we woke up for breakfast at the Mission and headed back down that gravely dirt road to try to find a ride to our next destination, Dedza--a town known for an adorable little pottery shop with delicious cheesecake.  The cheesecake was motivation enough to go visit, let’s be honest.

On the way to the main road we tried to inquire more on how far away Dedza was from Mua and how one would suggest we get there.  We were told it was about 20 kilometers this way and then 45 kilometers that way and then several more kilometers to find what were looking for.  We knew walking the entire way was out of the question and minibuses through this part of Malawi were extremely scarce.  This left us pretty much one option--hitchhiking!!

We were so blessed to have the nicest South African men pull over and offer us a ride.  We sat in the bed of their truck and enjoyed the scenery.  Molly, Mel and I all agreed that this drive was surreal.  We drove over a mountain, along winding roads, with the most unreal view we have ever seen.  Mountains to left, right, in front and behind as we drove higher and higher, getting colder and closer to the fog covered tip.  At one point we stopped at the side of the road about half way up the mountain just so we all could enjoy the view.  Molly has a very nice camera and captured some amazing photos of the view.  Those will be shown soon!

The smiles we so big on all of our faces because we couldn’t believe this adventure we were on.  We constantly were saying, “I can’t believe this!”  and “This is so amazing!”.  We all agreed this was one of our favorite parts of our trip to Malawi. 

After almost two hours of driving we arrived in Dedza.  The men not only brought us to Dedza but they drove probably about 10-15 minutes out of their way to drop us off at the gate of the pottery place we had told them about.  We were so thankful for them as finding our way from the main road to the pottery place would have also been an adventure. They definitely were an answer to our prayers!

Pottery and cheesecake!

We spent a good portion of the day looking at the different pottery at the shop as well as enjoying an early lunch after all the traveling we had done.  We sat down at the restaurant across from the pottery shop and enjoyed some chicken curry and sandwiches, as well as some delicious coffee.  We were all pretty stuffed after eating but the moment we had all been waiting for had finally arrived. Time for CHEESECAKE!!  When the cheesecake arrived we couldn’t believe our eyes and the taste was even better than it looked.  It was a beautiful piece of cheesecake with super thick graham cracker crust, and youngberry jam and whipped cream drizzled over the top.  It was fantastic. 

After extreme overeating, we wobbled our way back over to the pottery shop to make a couple purchases just in time to head back to the Holtz’s in Lilongwe.  We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Dedza and Mua and we thank God for the safety he provided us during our trip.  Malawi is such a beautiful place and it definitely made all the necessary traveling all worthwhile. 

Thanks for reading and God bless your day!             

Malawi Adventure

Kelsi and I are back safely from an amazing experience in Malawi! We are so grateful that Pastor Sargeant invited us to tag along with the pastors and missionaries travelling to Malawi this past week. It was such a blessing to have the opportunity to explore a new country in Africa!

The drive to Lilongwe (the capital of Malawi) usually takes about 10 hours, but it took us 12. It was a long day, but we passed the time by talking and snacking and bracing ourselves for the bumps. (I hit my head on the ceiling of the car a few times on some especially rough roads!)

We stayed at Pastor and Mrs. Holtz's house our first night. The Holtz's were so generous, and they went above and beyond to make us feel welcome. Even though we didn't arrive until after 8:00 pm, they waited for us to arrive before sharing a delicious dinner of lasagna, squash, and brownies. As if that wasn't enough, we woke up to homemade yogurt, cinnamon rolls, and passion fruit from a tree in their backyard. As amazing as the food was, we really loved the time that we spent with the Holtz's because of the great conversation we had around the dinner table. We couldn't have asked for better hosts!

I went for a run that morning, and it was one of my more interesting jogs. I ran down a dirt road full of people walking, selling on the side of the road, and children running. I saw a few of them flying kites made out of garbage bags - pretty innovative! Bikers carrying wide loads of wooden beams or furniture were a common sight as well. I was definitely the only muzungu (white person) in the area, and I received a lot of stares and comments. “May I join you?” (People just started running with me at a couple points.) “Sistah sistah!” “You are very fit!” and so on. Although Kelsi and I find it somewhat amusing to hear the comments we get when we walk around Lusaka, and we can’t say that we will miss that very much when we head home!

The pastors were attending a conference all week, so Molly, Kelsi, and I set off to explore Malawi on our own. That morning we took a bus to Salima, a town near Lake Malawi. It usually takes an hour and a half to get there via bus, but it took at least four for us. The drive was beautiful, though, so we hardly noticed. (Especially after the 12 hour drive the day before. Four hours was a piece of cake! :) ) We drove through beautiful green hills/mountains and got a glimpse of the villages populated with goats. (We still aren’t sure why our drive took so long, by the way. I think we just picked a geezer of a bus. The fact that it needed a push start to get going should have been a tip-off…)

When we exited the bus in Salima, we were attacked by minibus drivers. “Senga Bay? Come come! 400 kwacha!” We didn’t even have to barter; the bus drivers fought over us until the price came down to 200 kwacha. (The Malawi kwacha is different from the Zambian kwacha. $1 = 450-ish kwacha)

It is always an experience to ride in minibuses. They are notoriously stuffed to the gills, with every inch of space taken up by a body part or piece of luggage. Unsurprisingly, they are also typically stuffy. Thankfully, the ride from Salima to Senga Bay (20 km) was quite pleasant because the sliding door was open! Three people hung halfway outside of the vehicle as we drove. At one point, we pulled over to pick up another passenger. We were a bit nervous when we saw that she was holding a pile of fish. Minibuses have enough smells without the addition of anything fishy! But the man in charge of taking our money took the fish and tied them to the windshield wipers. Ingenious!

We spent the night at a hostel right on Lake Malawi. The sand was soft and white, and the water was really warm - hard to believe that we weren’t by the ocean! We opted out of swimming because of the prevalence of a disease called bilharzia (caused by parasites in the water). Instead, we kayaked out to Lizard Island (an island fittingly named because of the monitor lizards living on it) the following morning, and we had a nice view of the beach and surrounding mountains from the water.

After spending a night and the morning in Senga Bay, we headed south to Mua. I will let Kelsi fill you in on the next part of our journey. As fun as our first couple of nights in Malawi were, I think that the next couple were even better. So stay tuned… :) (Some great pictures are coming as well, if you need extra motivation to check in!)

Have a wonderful night! God’s blessings!

Off to Malawi

Big adventure number 2 for Easter break begins tomorrow at 7:30am!  Mel, Molly and I are riding with Pastor Sargent and several others to Malawi.  We will be spending five nights in all away from Lusaka and will have many opportunities for adventure! 

We have spent the last two days preparing for the week after we return from Malawi.  Several of the women we teach are originally from Malawi so it was exciting to see their faces light up last week when we mentioned we would be spending some time there.  We also made a couple of trips to the store to get prepared for our five-night trip. 

What’s on the menu for use backpack travelers you may ask…

·       Tuna in a pouch and crackers

·       Peanut butter and carrots

·       Oatmeal breakfast cookies

·       Fruits and veggies

·       Hard boiled eggs

·       Cheesecake

Ok, maybe we aren’t bringing cheesecake with us but Mel discovered a place known for its delicious cheesecake so that is also on the menu.  We will be bouncing around quite a bit to see as much as we can in such a short amount of time.  We hear that Lake Malawi is absolutely gorgeous with all the tropical fish that can be seen there!

Mel and I cannot say thank you enough to everyone who continually reaches out to help us no matter what.  The Holtz family from Lilongwe is opening their home to us for two nights, and several other missionaries from Malawi have offered us travel tips and suggestions.  We are so grateful and feeling extremely blessed to be surrounding by such thoughtful, welcoming people.  They are really helping us experience so much more than we could have ever done on our own. 

We will have many updates and pictures upon our return either Sunday night or Monday.  Enjoy the rest of your week!

 God bless,

Kelsi and Mel  

Kafue Adventure Part 2

Like Kelsi wrote yesterday, we had an amazing adventure at the game park, and the time passed way too quickly! The trip didn't have a promising start, however. Torrential rains hit our windshield as we drove from Lusaka to Kafue, and the four of us were not feeling too optimistic. Thankfully, when we rolled into camp, the rains allowed us a brief respite as we set up our tents. Better yet, the weather cleared up significantly that evening, and we had two beautiful days on Wednesday and Thursday to view the game. 

Rain storms over the past two weeks led to tall grass, which was unfortunately an excellent camouflage for the animals we so desperately wanted to spot. Although the animals were few and far between, we saw everything that we had hoped to see: lions, elephants, zebras, warthogs, impalas and other antelopes, many monkeys and baboons, as well as glimpses of hippos and crocodiles. (The only thing missing was giraffes; we learned that they don't live in Kafue because of the lack of acacia trees.)

The beautiful baobab tree. And who knows how many animals are hidden in that grass? :)

Three years ago, my sister Erika taught English here as well, and she also went with Susan to Kafue. Thankfully, our trip was a little less eventful than theirs...their car got stuck on a muddy road while they were on a game drive, and they weren't discovered until the next morning. (Read her blog post about the event here: http://laetezambianadventure.blogspot.com/2012/05/camping-in-kafue-wild-dogs-lions-and-19.html)They spent nineteen hours in lion territory, but they lived to tell the tale. As much as Kelsi begged to be stranded (mostly jokingly), Susan was very cautious not to drive anywhere too rough this time around. 

Believe it or not, the road leading to our campsite was by far the worst we encountered. Susan expressed her concern about getting stuck to one of the workers, and he happened to be one of the people who found Susan, Erika, and the other two girls after nineteen hours in the mud three years prior. We had a good laugh about that, and then he expressed his faith in Susan that she would make it through the muddy gulleys just fine. (Which we did - although we had some close calls!)

Wednesday was our most exciting day. After a couple of hours and some elephant and zebra sightings, we saw three animals walking our way on the dirt road. We assumed they were monkeys or impalas - the animals we sighted most often. All of a sudden Kelsi cried, "Those are lions!" We frantically shushed each other as we rolled forward cautiously and confirmed Kelsi's declaration. Three female lions were walking along the road! We followed for them as long as we could, inching closer and closer until they disappeared for good into the thick grass.

Not a great picture, but you can see the three lions if you look closely!

As we continued our drive, we were still gushing about how happy we were that we got to see lions when I did a double take. "Lion!" We abruptly put the car into reverse as I pointed excitedly to the lion perched in a tree. Although leopards love sitting in the branches, it is really unusual for lions to do the same. (I think that God sent the lion up there as a small gift for us since the grass was too high to see the lion otherwise. :) ) Upon closer inspection with Sue's binoculars, we realized that the lion had three small cubs with her! We watched the mom balance awkwardly on the too-small branch as her babies crawled around or straddled the branches for a cat nap. It felt surreal to be a stone's throw away from the majestic creatures, and we were extremely fortunate to see them!

We also had an encounter with a large bull elephant on Wednesday morning. As we drove up to him, we all rolled down our windows and started to take pictures. All of a sudden, though, the elephant started waving his ears and aggressively approaching us. Susan quickly put the car into reverse and gave the elephant his distance; elephants can be dangerous if they feel threatened! We backed up for at least a half mile with Mr. Elephant following the whole way. Finally he stopped trying to intimidate us and went off the road. We quickly drove past him, happy that we "won" the battle against the elephant.

What a bully!

One of the nicer elephants.

Kelsi and I had a blast camping with Molly and Susan this week. Besides getting to see the animals, we had a lot of fun talking by the fire, playing cards, looking at the stars, and roasting marshmallows. The trip brought back great memories for both of us of sleeping in tents and summer nights.  

Our former selves never dreamed that we would have seen the animals we saw this week outside of a zoo. We are so grateful for the experience, and our memories of the past few days will last a lifetime! 

God's blessings and good night! 

P.S. We are over halfway done with our time in Africa....how is that possible??