We just got back from Malawi a few hours ago. We had a really good time there. It took us about two days to drive there. We stayed at a lodge/resort place called Njaya. We had three little cottages, or bandas is what they called them. They are made out of bamboo branches or something, all tied together with a grass roof. You can kind of see through the walls. They were right on the edge of lake Malawi, which is soooooo nice. It’s like an ocean with no salt in it! We could see the mountains of Mozambique in the distance on the other side.
We took the first week for putting a church roof on for a congregation who has built their church four times now. Every time, it collapsed because the rains came and washed away all the mud that was holding the walls together because they had no roof to protect the walls. We finished the roof on Friday and on Sabbath we had church with them in the building. It was really neat because it rained that Sabbath! It gave them a lot to be thankful for. They said sometimes they couldn’t meet for as long as a month because it’s raining every Sabbath.
The second week we used for relaxing on the lake. We did a lot of snorkeling and swimming and camp firing and shopping at craft markets. We went on a boat ride that took us to a place to go cliff jumping, then we snorkeled, then we set up a volleyball net and played a few games, then we helped some fishermen pull in their nets. Then on the way back, we stopped and Bjorn swam through some sort of underwater tunnel. It was scary for those of us in the boat, waiting for him and Gary, the guy who took us, to come back up to the surface.
On our way home we stopped at a campground on a beach along lake Malawi for Uncle Alan’s birthday. There was an island in the water quite a ways from shore. About a 15-20 minute swim away, and the boys decided to be hardcore and sleep there that night. So they took nothing but flint and steel and their bathing suits ad they swam to the island. They built a fire and slept there all night and then swam back the next morning. Apparently they had a very rough night. I think they were cold and uncomfortable. Something to do with ants crawling out of their firewood and climbing all over them... anyways, they swam back the next morning and we were eating breakfast, and we look over at the island, and it is on fire! there were huge billows of smoke that made it look like a volcano, and we could see flames taller than the trees! We knew there was nobody else on the island since the boys had just come back (it was a pretty small island) so I guess they didn’t put out their campfire as well as they thought. It just burned all the dry grass and went out, but it was pretty cool to see, and they pretended that they had done it on purpose for Alan’s birthday.
Last night, (the day after the island burning) we were at another campsite and my ankle, which I had skinned on a rock a little bit on the second day of our trip, became really infected, it hurt to stand on it at all and it was really swollen. You wouldn’t believe it. So we put a charcoal poultice on it and it felt better this morning. It still hurts a lot and its still really swollen, but I think it will heal now that we are back at Riverside and I have time to actually take care of it. Oh yea, and I forgot to say; I got a really weird rash at Lake Malawi. Or maybe it was big bites. But they were all over my back and legs and arms.
I’m glad to be back at Riverside-- it’ll be nice to have a regular place to shower and a soft bed to sleep on. Every night that we were camping, Elena and I slept in just a small screen tent with see through walls and not even a floor, and we slept on just a tarp in our sleeping bags. So even though I’m proud we can do okay with hardly anything, my mattress at Riverside will feel really nice tonight.
We took the first week for putting a church roof on for a congregation who has built their church four times now. Every time, it collapsed because the rains came and washed away all the mud that was holding the walls together because they had no roof to protect the walls. We finished the roof on Friday and on Sabbath we had church with them in the building. It was really neat because it rained that Sabbath! It gave them a lot to be thankful for. They said sometimes they couldn’t meet for as long as a month because it’s raining every Sabbath.
The second week we used for relaxing on the lake. We did a lot of snorkeling and swimming and camp firing and shopping at craft markets. We went on a boat ride that took us to a place to go cliff jumping, then we snorkeled, then we set up a volleyball net and played a few games, then we helped some fishermen pull in their nets. Then on the way back, we stopped and Bjorn swam through some sort of underwater tunnel. It was scary for those of us in the boat, waiting for him and Gary, the guy who took us, to come back up to the surface.
On our way home we stopped at a campground on a beach along lake Malawi for Uncle Alan’s birthday. There was an island in the water quite a ways from shore. About a 15-20 minute swim away, and the boys decided to be hardcore and sleep there that night. So they took nothing but flint and steel and their bathing suits ad they swam to the island. They built a fire and slept there all night and then swam back the next morning. Apparently they had a very rough night. I think they were cold and uncomfortable. Something to do with ants crawling out of their firewood and climbing all over them... anyways, they swam back the next morning and we were eating breakfast, and we look over at the island, and it is on fire! there were huge billows of smoke that made it look like a volcano, and we could see flames taller than the trees! We knew there was nobody else on the island since the boys had just come back (it was a pretty small island) so I guess they didn’t put out their campfire as well as they thought. It just burned all the dry grass and went out, but it was pretty cool to see, and they pretended that they had done it on purpose for Alan’s birthday.
Last night, (the day after the island burning) we were at another campsite and my ankle, which I had skinned on a rock a little bit on the second day of our trip, became really infected, it hurt to stand on it at all and it was really swollen. You wouldn’t believe it. So we put a charcoal poultice on it and it felt better this morning. It still hurts a lot and its still really swollen, but I think it will heal now that we are back at Riverside and I have time to actually take care of it. Oh yea, and I forgot to say; I got a really weird rash at Lake Malawi. Or maybe it was big bites. But they were all over my back and legs and arms.
I’m glad to be back at Riverside-- it’ll be nice to have a regular place to shower and a soft bed to sleep on. Every night that we were camping, Elena and I slept in just a small screen tent with see through walls and not even a floor, and we slept on just a tarp in our sleeping bags. So even though I’m proud we can do okay with hardly anything, my mattress at Riverside will feel really nice tonight.
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