Trip 6 (June 2013)

This trip came out of some interesting circumstances God put us in on the last trip to J-life. You will need to have a little background information to really understand why we decided to travel to Malawi.

As we were driving to O’Hare to board our plane for our last trip (Trip 5 – February 2013), we stopped at a bookstore and each of us grabbed a book for the 18-hour plane ride. The Insanity of God By Nik Ripkin was a book that was highly recommended, so I grabbed a copy and Rob ended up taking it from me as soon as we got on the plane. The book is very challenging, at so many levels, but it also talked a lot about a small country in Africa, named Malawi. Oddly enough, neither of us had ever heard of this country but this wouldn’t be the last time we would hear Malawi.
While traveling back from Johannesburg (on the same trip) we stopped at a petro station to fill the van. All of us ran in to grab snacks while Rob waited. In South Africa, you don’t fill up your vehicle, someone is always there to do it for you. While Rob was talking to the attendant and telling him what we were doing in Johannesburg the attendant asked Rob if he would pray for him. And then he said, “Would you pray for my country?” And then he said, “No, you need to go to my country….I am from Malawi.” Rob half heartedly said, “I would love to go see your country sometime.” While the guy adamantly said, “No – you really need to go to my country!!” Rob shared this conversation with no one else until later.
The next day Jim was telling Rob about a conversation he was having with one of the J-life Malawi staff about the orphan crisis in that country. Jim looked at Rob and said, “You know, we should visit Malawi sometime and look at what they are doing to help their orphans.” Rob was beginning to realize he was a slow learner, but the final icing on the cake was what happened next.
The day we were leaving J-life to come home, we got to spend a little bit of time with John & Lorna to discuss where the money would go that we were giving J-life from Eggs4africa. After discussing that, Rob asked John, “If we were to join J-life where would he see our family fitting in?” And John said, (as I am sure you all see a theme now…) “I think you guys would fit in well with a country like Malawi.”

Five months later we arrived in Malawi. I can’t even being to explain all of the emotions, that go along with this trip. Before we left for Malawi, we were excited to see what God was going to show us there. At the end of the trip, we were so overwhelmed with everything we saw, it was hard for us to sort through all of it.

Our time in Malawi was very emotion-filled, Anthony and Regina and their kiddos were an amazing host family for us. They were gracious to let us sleep in their home, and feed us more than we could ever ask for. We loved experiencing a different culture, and getting to know their family.

One funny thing we were able to experience were boiled mice. On the way from the airport to Blantyre, the location we would be residing in the next five days, we stopped on the side of the road and bought boiled mice (which were really hairy, black mice (all different sizes) dipped in boiling hot water) to eat. I could barely contain myself from the smell, but was just praying I wouldn’t actually have to attempt to eat one of them.

Yes, we witnessed a few of the guys attempting to eat them…yuck!!

We also traveled with two other men from the North Carolina area. Our group consisted of John, Jeanie, Rob, Robbie & Robert. Yes, we had three men in our group, all with the same first name. I think everyone in Malawi assumed most men in the states are named some variant of Robert.

The other two men were there to look at some construction opportunities for their church to help build the J-life Malawi training center.

Lastly, on the way to the airport we also got to see the baobab tree (Adansonia digitata). As you can see how small we are in the picture, compared to how big the tree is, it was such an amazing sight!!

Like I said before, it was hard for us to sort through all that we experienced. God gave us the right people to share this with, and the loving people of Malawi really lived up to their name, “the warm heart of Africa”. As we go to South Africa to train with J-life for a year, we continue to pray that God will give us our next step in our journey.