Another work party - Carole's Post

One of the most satisfying things we do is participate in service projects with the missionaries.  It gets us doing something physical along with helping others in a fun way.  
Having a change of pace is rejuvenating and especially, after the office work that we do, it is "most welcome" (Malawian popular phrase as I've said many times).

So it was most welcome when an opportunity came up to help, once again, the Chikapa family with building their new home.  We had done this in the first month of our mission and now, about five months later, the home is much closer to being completed.  

 This is the home last November and 

 here it the home today.

What you can't see are the additional rooms that have been added on in the back.

President and Sister Chikapa have worked very hard to build their home, with Sister Chikapa probably going  over daily to either work or supervise some hired help.  President Chikapa, when not doing branch president's responsibilities (which seem to be all the time), is there checking out the quality and working himself since he is very skilled and knowlegable.

First of all, to reach the house, it is a difficult climb on a different side of Mount Soche.  In fact, the neighborhood area is called Chimakhunda but the house is high, high above the market.  George dropped the five of us (two elders, two sisters) off at the bottom and he went off for a meeting concerning a possible piece of property for building a new Zingwangwa branch meetinghouse (yes!).  I'm just glad I have finally been getting out to do some early morning walks to build up my stamina and since it was a lovely morning, the climb felt good as long as I watched my footing. 

Our task today was to gather rocks to fill in the top of the newly built retaining wall at the front of the house.  If we could find enough rocks above the house and bring them down to fill in, there would be more stability and less cement needed, cement being a high cost item in the building of any structure. Since being here, I have been impressed with how much the Malawians make do with what is at hand.  For instance, bricks are made and fired close to the site because the cost of transport is exorbitant.  So whereas at home, if rocks are needed, we would order a truckful;  here when rocks are needed, we go out and gather!  And that is with no work gloves or wheelbarrows.  We had a couple of plastic buckets among the six of us, since Sister Chikapa was with us all the way.

ROCK GATHERING

  

Sister Chikapa with Sister Browning.

Along with Elder Hiltbrand and Sister Griffus

Unfortunately, you can't see all of Elder Ngendabanka (from Burundi) in the background.  He provided the real muscle, carrying the bucket loads down to the workers who poured them onto the top of the retaining wall.  He is wearing a football (soccer) jersey because he was a serious player in his country.

It's obvious who the hardest worker is..and this doesn't even show the khasu (sort-handled Malawian hoe) that she wielded in digging the rocks out of the hillside.

Sister Browning would like us to believe she is as strong as the Malawians!  (don't think so!)

As it was getting late in the morning, George showed up to see our work and to check on the latest improvements to the house.  Being all dressed up is one way of getting out of the work, but actually it isn't that easy getting up the hill in dress shoes.  

Soon after he arrived, it began to rain and we huddled underneath the roof on the porch.

Nimrod joined us to add to the fun and Sister Chikapa offered bananas to everyone for their hard work.  Notice how the water is beginning to flow in the newly built drainage ditches surrounding the house.

This was not a light rainfall because within minutes we could see the small riverlets forming where we had just worked.  It poured ferociously for an hour until the streams going down the hill were filled.

As soon as we thought the rain was letting up, we headed down the hill.  It was a far cry from the climb on the way up, with streams to jump and lots of slippery red mud - the kind I had vowed to never try to walk in again!

I'm looking happier than I feel.

George is at least trying to protect his silk tie.

Trying to convince Sister Griffus to jump...  Hey, this stream wasn't here a few hours ago!

More wet feet..more soaked shoes...just another morning in Blantyre!

Welcomes and Good-byes - Carole's Post

First of all, we are celebrating tonight because the water has come back on after four days! Fortunately, we now have an outside tank so we don't actually have dry taps, but the water comes out of the taps with little pressure.  That is our clue that the city water is turned off. So we use water sparingly, not knowing when it will come on again.  Tonight it was back to flushing toilets and taking showers!

In the last few weeks there have been missionaries leaving from Blantyre.

This is Agness Chirwa standing with her sisters outside of the Ndirande branch.  

George set her apart and she had so much support from family and friends in attendance.  Here she is with her family.  Her father died a few years ago.

Then we all piled in two cars and headed to the airport to see her off.  Agness is headed to the London South mission.  What an experience it will be for her!

Her institute teacher says she will be a phenomenal missionary.  I am just sorry we won't be here for her return in 18 months.

Ownen Masiya came down from Lilongwe on the bus so that George could set him apart.  What a sweet spirit he had!  Here we are, along with the zone leaders, Elders Muangi and Sagers, and the Reynolds.

After the setting apart, he went off with the zone leaders to get a taste of missionary work and to spend the night with them at their flat.  After all, he is an ordained missionary now.

The next morning, they loaded his suitcase into their car and headed off to the airport.

Ownen is going to the  Johannesburg mission.

The biggest and most difficult good-bye for us was sending Elder and Sister Reynolds off after 23 months of mission service.  

George and I had been dreading this day ever since we arrived.  George and Elder Reynolds have spent hours and hours together over the last six weeks, as Elder Reynolds has been training him in all the office duties.  We know he is irreplaceable as he could fix just about anything and we have been warning the missionaries that it's not going to be so easy anymore!

How did they do it?  They came with four large suitcases and left with just three!









Sister Reynolds was the mission nurse so I hope I now don't get those late night calls from missionaries with the expectation that I will know what to do for their ailments!

Elder Reynolds won't be wearing that name tag much longer.  Before they arrive back home to Everett, WA (we're neighbors), they will make stops in Australia and Hawaii.

The next time we see them, they will be Ken and Ann.  I think they will be hearing from us quite often since we have so many questions about the office.  
Bon voyage!

A few weeks later, we sent off Elder Muangi -  another painful good-bye.  Elder Muangi, from Kenya, has been our zone leader for as long as we have been here.  

Here he is with Elder Barnard, who left a month ago and he is with Elder Sagers in an earlier photo in this blog.  He has been transferred to Lusaka where he will specifically work with obtaining visas for missionaries - not an easy job.  We will miss his easy way, quick smile, hard-working example, and spiritual depth.

Welcomes and good-byes - it's all part of missionary work.


  

A Malawian version of a Relief Society jumble "sale" - Carole's Post

We have known for five months that after the Reynolds finished their mission, we would be moving into their home in the Mandala neighborhood of Blantyre.  Consequently, in the flat we were staying, we didn't do much to make it feel like our home.  Now we are in our home for the next thirteen months so we are making it a place we can call our own.

The first thing that we realized is that several missionary couples have lived here through the years.  We hear the local members refer to these couples by name and it makes us realize again that we are in a long line of senior missionaries who are trying to give support to the members and missionaries of the Church here in Blantyre.  That also meant that the storage closets were full of things from the previous couples - some clothes, old curtains, office materials, and fabrics.  I kept pulling down boxes and finding more things that had probably been there for years.  I added foodstuffs in the pantry that I knew we would never eat.  It was impossible for me to know how I could best distribute these items among the members, so I sorted and bundled them up and brought about eight cardboard boxes of items to Sister Banda, the Relief Society president in the Zingwangwa branch. 

 I wasn't sure how the Relief Society could use them, but I knew and trusted Sister Banda's judgement.

I could see that Sister Banda was very excited, so George, I and Sister Banda carried the boxes up to the Bandas home on Mount Soche so that she could sort through them. 
George even attempted to carry the boxes Malawian style - on his head- and I was just sorry my hands were to full to take a photo.  Sister Banda really laughed and then easily put two boxes on her head and off she went! 

Some of the items could be used for sewing projects for the Relief Society so Sister Banda saved those. 

 The white shirts were all quite large so we decided that if we took them to Brother Sangala, a tailor and branch Sunday school president, he could take them in so they would more likely fit some of the men in the ward.

As for all the other items, they would be distributed among the sisters.  But, what seemed like a good idea at first, began to haunt Sister Banda.  A few days later, she told me that she was worried that the sisters would get mad at her if they did not think the distribution was fair.  I put my arm around her and laughed, telling her that is why I asked her to do it, because I knew they would not be happy with me if I did it!   

I suggested that we put all the items out for people to see and then each person would select a number out of a jar and each sister would go, according to her number, and select an item that she would like.  We could go around until all the items were gone.  She liked that idea and I thought the problem was solved!

President Chikapa announced on Sunday that there would be a Relief Society activity on the following Saturday at 10 AM (following Institute) and Sister Banda explained in Relief Society what the activity was.

A few days before the activity, I went to visit Sister Banda and to work out picking up the items to take back to the meetinghouse.  I could tell that she still had concerns.  She just knew that the sisters were not all going to be happy with the way we had organized it.  (I still didn't understand why, but when I had earlier told Sister Chikapa, the branch president's wife, about the project, I could tell she also had concerns.)  Sister Banda suggested that she go through the items and bundle them in thirty different plastic bags, so that no one could see what was in them.  Then the sisters would choose a number and according to their number, they could select a bag full of unknown items.  I was floored! How could this be better than getting something that each sister would want and use?  But I trust Sister Banda and as I have told her many times, she knows her sisters well.

She did not have enough plastic bags, so George and I drove home and brought back 25 plastic bags from local stores. Sister Banda went to work and tried to equally divide up the goods.  

We came back at 8 AM the next morning and carried the boxes containing the filled plastic bags back down the mountain to our car and off we all went to the church.  She also had the newly altered white shirts in a separate bag and I asked her how she would distribute those.  She smiled and said "Oh, there is no problem at all with the men.  We will just give them to those who need them on Sunday".

Hmmmmm.  "No problem with the men" I thought...

The meeting was set for 10 AM but did not start until 10:45.  Sister Banda was worried because we only had about ten sisters there and she thought there would be closer to thirty. She wondered if we should just wait awhile because some people do not arrive until noon for a 10 AM activity.  She made the decision to start anyway, because perhaps "they would learn that you have to come on time for the activities".

After singing "As Sisters in Zion" and an opening prayer, Sister Enita spoke about visiting teaching. It's always good to get a pep talk on that struggling program.

Then the moment arrived.

Out of the closet came the plastic bags, one box at a time, and Sister Banda placed them on the floor in the middle of the circle.

Sister Sandra (to the left) is blind and the sisters would select a bag for her when it was her turn.  

Every sister was able to select three bags.  

There was one bag left over and Sister Banda was perplexed as to what to do.  She looked inside to see if she could distribute the items but looking at me, she said "There are only four.  What should I do?"  All of the sisters sat until she brightened and said, "I know!  I will give it to Brother Magombo tomorrow at church!" and everyone seemed happy.  We all know Brother Magombo, who is 77, is very deserving.  The cardboard boxes were given to the sisters who wanted them.

So, how did everyone feel about what they got?  The next day at church I asked Sister Banda and she just glowed and said that everyone was so, so happy with what they received. I spoke with Enita who said it was a just perfect way to give things,  because no one could compare what they received with what someone else got.  There was no envy(!) and everyone went away so pleased.

The white shirts were given out in Priesthood meeting on Sunday and George said "there was no problem with the men".

Maxwell's New Plans--George's Post

 In my last blog (“What is a “typical” day?”), I talked about the struggles trying to get one young man—Maxwell Mbera--out into the mission field.  He is going to the Mozambique Mission, right next door to Malawi, but, because Portuguese is the language of his mission field, he must start off spending six weeks in the Church’s Brazilian MTC (“mission training center”), learning the language.  Late last night we learned his entry to the Brazilian MTC has now been pushed back to April 29^th  because the delay in getting a visa from the Brazilian Embassy.   He will be disappointed when he gets the news.    

What is a "typical" day?--George's Post

A week ago Seth, our eldest son, asked if we had a “typical” day, giving expression to a question many of you may have had when reading our seemingly random, unconnected posts.   The question naturally leads to other somewhat similar questions.  How much routine do we have?  Do we do the same things every day and at the same times?  Is there an overall pattern to our week?  How often is our week thrown off kilter by unexpected requests or surprises?  Do we find ourselves occasionally bored?  What can we do to break up the routine we do have?  Are we required to keep to the same demanding schedule the young elders and sisters are asked to follow?

 

I doubt I can discipline myself enough to answer all of these questions, but let me take a stab and try to give you a sense for our daily and weekly activities.  First of all, senior couples have much more flexibility than the younger full-time missionaries.  This applies both as to what we do and when we do it.  Our days are not as regimented as theirs.  We are not required to leave our apartments when they do, to be back in the evening by their deadlines, or to adhere to the same study schedule.  Most missionaries don't have cars or trucks, so a fair portion of their free time is consuming getting from place to place.  Life is much easier for us, having access to a truck to get around. 

 

From week to week, we certainly have some routine, but rarely do the days go as planned.  Something invariably pops up, often quite out of the blue, throwing off the schedule and plans, requiring patience and flexibility on our part.  Carole and I don't really think we have "typical" days--even though we do have some regular activities, which usually come off as planned.  While this keeps us from getting bored, and makes the time go by very fast, we yearn, on occasion, for a tad more stability.

For example, this past Saturday, at the last moment, I got a call from President Chinyumba, the District President, advising us that the Brazilian Embassy in Lilongwe had yet to issue a visa allowing Maxwell Mbera of our branch to attend the Brazilian MTC, to learn Portuguese, before returning to Africa to serve his mission in neighboring Mozambique. 

[This is the photo we took of Maxwell for our branch photo directory.  Maxwell has a twin brother, Benson, who claims to be an hour older.]

  
 

That delay threw a wrench into everyone's plans.  Maxwell was scheduled to catch a flight at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, from Blantyre, the first of two flights, on his way to Brazil.  With that schedule in mind, I had already arranged to set Maxwell apart as a new missionary on Monday morning, before taking him to the airport.  President Chinyumba thought there was an outside chance that the Embassy would issue the visa early on Monday morning, and wondered how we might re-jigger flights and schedules so that Maxwell could still get to the Brazilian MTC in time to join the incoming class of new missionaries. 

The belated news unleased a flurry of fanatic, last-minute calls:  President Chinyumba to his contact at the Brazilian embassy to get a better read on when the visa would really be ready for release; several calls to Sister Erickson, the Mission President's wife, first to see if the flights could be changed, so Maxwell could fly out of Lilongwe rather than Blantyre, and later to see what it really meant if we couldn't get Maxwell out until later  in the week; and lastly, several status updates to Maxwell. 

[Maxwell was one of the three young men who helped with the Chikwawa humanitarian project, here resting at the final stop, just before we started to distribute the food packages to the flood-displaced refugees.]
 

Three options were considered for getting Maxwell into the mission field. 

 

The first involved having President Chinyumba in Lilongwe first thing on Monday morning, in the hopes of being able to grab the visa right when the Embassy opened its doors at 8:00 a.m., then driving back to Blantyre, fast enough and without being stoped by the police, so that we could still put Maxwell on the 1:30 flight.  But in the end, everyone conceded the option was a high risk proposal not worthy of further consideration.  It's a 4 hour 30 minutes drive from Lilongwe to Blantyre and how likely was that the Embassy would really be in a position to release the visa during the first hour on Monday.  

 

The second option involved moving Maxwell and not the visa, driving him to Lilongwe so that he would be there first thing on Monday morning.  If the first leg of Maxwell's travel could be rescheduled, flying him out  of Lilongwe to Johannsburg, rather than from Blantyre to Johannsburg, we could buy a few hours on Monday morning.  Carole confirmed there was an South African flight from Lilongwe to Johannsburg, leaving at 1:00, that would get Maxwell there in time to catch the second connecting flight to Brazil.  This might have been doable, but for the fact we had no assurance the Brazilian Embassy could even produce the visa Monday morning, and we didn't know if we could book Maxwell on the Lilongwe flight, the Church's travel department being closed over the weekend.

 

The last option was really not an option at all.  It simply entailed asking the Brazilian MTC as to how much leeway we had for getting Maxwell to Brazil.  The original news was not encouraging.  We were told that if he missed the flight he would have to wait 6 weeks for the next regularly scheduled training session.  Sister Erickson however agreed to follow up with the Area Office, first thing on Monday morning, to see if there was a little more wiggle room than originally suggested.  Obviously, this has been stressful for Maxwell, and upsetting to his family, many of whom are not Church members.  We know everyone here in Malawi, and at the Mission Home in Zambia, is working hard to find a solution to the problem caused by the delay in getting the visa back from the Brazilian Embassy.  Similar delays in getting visas issued in a timely fashion for our prospective missionaries from Africa have caused endless headaches for the Church and much stress for the young members anxious to begin their missions.

 

This rather lengthy story illustrates how problems can quickly crop up, requiring immediate attention, and demanding our best efforts to craft makeshift solutions.  Other senior couples have frequently reminded us of the need of keeping positive and staying patient.  Many of our plans will not go as planned and we need to accept that with good cheer.  It doesn't help to get unduly exercised.

 

Below is a brief description of those activities that are fairly predictable during the week, but often even these commitments must be skipped due to unexpected developments:
 

Sunday: Each Sunday we have four hours of regular Church services, starting at  8:00 in the morning and ending just after noon.  Our Sunday meetings are an hour longer than most congregations, because the Zingwangwa Branch has two, not one, sacrament meetings. The reason for the two meetings is that our meetinghouse is not large enough to accommodate all of our members at a single seating.  Accordingly, the branch has split its members into two groups—the Soche and Chilobwe sides of the branch.  The Soche group has its sacrament meeting at 8:00, while the Chilobwe group has its sacrament at 11:00.  Between these meetings, we have Sunday School, Primary, Relief Society and Elders Quorum.  Because those are smaller groups, those meetings can be attended simultaneously by members from both sides of the branch.  Usually, Carole and I have people to meet  for an hour or so after Church, but otherwise the balance of the day is free from fixed commitments.  Once a month the branch hold a baptismal service, immediately after the four-hour block, for new members.

[Malawian children are well-behaved and attentive, love singing primary songs, are used to learning by rote, frequently memorizing long passages of scripture.  For reasons we have yet to understand, they  rarely act up or push the limits in class settings.]

 

[Two props Carole uses to keep the children's attention riveted in Primary: the first the "reverence zebra," the second, batons for leading music during sharing time.  Brother Banda, our resident artist, painted the faces.]

 

 

 [Sister Nancy is the newest member of our branch, a lovely young lady.  She was recently baptized by Elder Mwangi, who is from Nairobi, Kenya.  The branch has a portable baptismal font in the backyard of the meetinghouse.]

 

Monday:  Monday (or at least the day until the late afternoon) is the day set apart for preparation—doing shopping, answering emails, catching our breath, giving the Sisters rides, taking care of the laundry, getting haircuts, writing blog entries.  It is on Monday when Carole frets most about not driving, wishing she had more flexibility to go shopping on her own without dragging me around like an unwanted anchor.  Every other Monday evening, we get together with the other senior couples (the Merrills and the Reynolds)  for "family home evening."  Our little circle will get smaller in a week when the Reynolds return to the States, after two years of dedicated service.

[The Reynolds are standing in front of the Blantyre Chapel (far and away the nicest Church meeting in Malawi), saying goodbye to Elder Osman Njanji (in the suit), who was heading off to the England Birmingham Mission, the first from Malawi to leave Africa on a mission..  To the far left is Christopher Sitolo, who lives in the boys' quarters behind the Reynolds' home, and is a returned missionary,  the first counselor in the Blantyre Second Branch, and one of the stalwarts in the Church.]

Tuesday: On Tuesday morning, usually for an hour and a half, we participate in a district or zone meeting, conducted by the younger full-time missionaries. The elders and sisters use these meetings to give instructions, to share experiences and testimonies, and to motivate one another.  We work primarily with  existing members, while the younger missionaries devote their efforts to finding new members; but despite this difference in focus, we have learned much in these sessions.  It is inspiring seeing the younger missionaries and their energy is infectious.  

 

[Our district is small: Elders Hiltbrand of Orange County, the district leader; his companion, Elder Ngendabanda, of Burundi; Sister Griffus of Minneapolis-St Paul; and Sister Browning of Caldwell, Idaho.  They are standing in the small foyer of our building.  The thumbs up sign is the idiosyncratic greeting of our two sister missionaries.]

 

 

 

[Elder Sagers, to the left, is one of the new Zone Leaders, replacing Elder Barnards, when he returned to southern Idaho, about four weeks ago.  Elder Sagers is from the Provo-Orem area, and recently joined us from the Copper Belt area in Zambia.  Elder Mwangi has been serving in Blantyre since we arrived and we have gotten to know him well.  He is really as friendly as his smile makes him appear.]

 

 

 

[The Blantyre Zone has close to twenty missionaries.  Our last Zone outing, shortly before Christmas, was to Mulanje, Malawi's highest mountain, at about 8,000 feet.  Missionaries are constantly coming and going.  Two of the missionaries in this photo, Elders Barnard and Johnson, have now returned to the States, and at least five of the others are now serving in other areas within the Mission.]

Wednesday:  We have made it a practice to meet with President Chikapa on Wednesday evening for about an hour to review what is happening in the Branch.  We pick the President up in Limbe, at 4:30 p.m., after he finishes up at work, and give him a ride home, where we then spend about an hour reviewing our assignments and pending matters.  A couple of times we have just stayed in the truck, for our short meetings, but we have found that practice to be less than satisfying.   So we usually leave the truck parked in front of the Chilobwe Police Station, continuing on to the Chikapa’s home, another 15 minute walk.

[The Chikapas in their home in Chilobwe, together with Nimrod (age 2) and Time (age 12).  Time, Brother Chikapa's nephew, is being raised by his uncle and aunt, because his parents have passed away, taking care of the relatives of deceased parents is a common practice here.]

 

 

Saturday:  On Saturday morning we head over to the Zingwangwa Chapel for an hour or so to join with the other full-time missionaries in our district, the branch missionaries and the branch missionary leader, for what is called a “mission correlation” meeting.  This is when the full-time missionaries report on weekly activities and have an opportunity to ask for member help in teaching and fellowshipping those investigating the Church.   This meeting is held right after the seminary and institute classes, so we usually get a chance to see many of the members, even though they  do not attend the missionary correlation meeting.

 

 

 

But apart from these commitments, our daily schedule is flexible, each day taking a unique course, differing from the days before or after.   So far most of the uncommitted time has been devoted to visiting members in their homes, Carole’s working with new primary teachers, setting apart new missionaries, visiting teaching and home teaching, the unavoidable chores of keeping up a household, skyping with kids, and writing blog posts. 

 

One of the more time consuming tasks I have undertaken is preparing what I grandly call the “Blantyre Office Couple Handbook.”  Now pushing 35 pages in length (single spaced), it memoralizes the lessons learned from the Reynolds, who have been serving as the Office Couple here for the last 20 months.  Sister Reynolds is the Mission nurse, and Brother Reynolds is, as I have mentioned before, an incredible resource, keeping the machinery of the local mission effort going--from paying bills, working with landlords, maintaining the trucks, ordering supplies from the Area Office, interfacing with vendors, knowing where to go to purchase office supplies and hardware goods, and knowing what to do if there is a truck accident or a missionary needs to go to the hospital.  On March 23rd, in less than a week from now, the Reynolds head home, leaving Carole and me to somehow pick up the office couple functions for Blantyre.  It has been basically a full-time job for Elder Reynolds, his cell constantly ringing during our visits to their home.  Everyone knows, from President Erickson to the local missionaries, that I will never be able to replace Elder Reynolds.   Not my skill set.  

 

Our only hope is that the office couple function here does not totally crater in their absence.  But somehow we will muddle through; the full-time missionaries will no doubt be asked to shoulder more hands-on responsibility for their day-to-day affairs than has been the case in the past.  They could always count on Elder Reynolds to bail them out of virtually any scrape or to work around any household problem—getting back into locked apartments, towing a truck whose clutch has gone, hanging mosquito nets over twin beds, fixing a leaky faucet or spraying WD-40 on a squeaky door.   I can’t think of anyone less suited to tackling these day-to-day hassles than myself—either in terms of skills or interest.  Carole and I don't want to give up visiting members in their homes or focusing primarily on member and leader training.  So somehow we will need to find a way to balance these two roles--handling the office couple functions for Blantyre, while not losing our commitment to member and leader support.  Longer days and more efficiency will likely be part of the solution.