Visas

Visas can be a scary thing. To legally be allowed to stay here and teach for the year we need to have a special visa, a TEP (temporary employment permit). Though it can be done with a visitors/tourist visa that gets renewed every month, it’s better to get the TEP.

Laurel and I were in difficult locations this summer. She was at Rosario with bad service, and I was in Alaska with no service half of the time, at least. Needless to say, we got our paperwork mailed in no more than a month before we arrived - in other words, late. Not exactly ideal. We got here and our passports were stamped with the visitors visa, valid for 30 days. Okay, no problem. Everybody else who has come doesn’t get theirs until AT LEAST December, and not even always then some never get them.

The doctor in charge of the school (in other words, our boss) sent somebody with our passports to get the visitor's visas renewed. He came back and announced that both of our TEPs were approved. What?!?! It was only the end of September, and we were approved to stay the whole year. We don't even have to think about Malawian visas any more!! Our boss told us that in her twenty years of living in Malawi and working with the government for TEPs, she had never ever seen it come through so quickly, or even both of them at the same time.

I have no more words. I am humbled. I serve an incredible God. Absolutely incredible. 

Mother's Day

I was told in a preparatory class for this year as a student missionary that when living in a different culture I would find things about that culture that are better than my home culture. Though I can not articulate most that I’ve found as of yet due to the slow brain processing of culture shock, there is one that I can: Mother’s Day. Here in Malawi, Mother’s Day is national holiday. Yes, it’s a national holiday in the United States as well, but here in Malawi it isn’t necessarily on a Sunday. October 15 is the official day every year. And, there’s no school. Malawi has it right - mothers deserve this much celebration - plus more. So please, fathers, bear with me as I rant and rave about how wonderful mothers are. Fathers are wonderful as well and do a lot of the same things as mothers. However, it is Mother’s Day today, not Father’s Day. So though I have no favorite between the two, this post is celebrating mothers.

Mothers are one of God’s greatest gifts to us. Can you imagine a world without mothers? For one, it would be less populated, very much so. But other than that obvious fact, I imagine the world would be very bleak. Whose heart will swell with love when their baby wakes up in the middle of the night, screaming, for the second time that night? Who would be proud of a 4-year-old’s picture she colored that resembles nothing in this world? Who would gently wipe tears away and kiss the imaginary boo-boo that has caused a world to fall apart? Who else would be your best friend and play dolls with you even when no one else wants to? Who else is going to read Christmas stories to you as you and your siblings sit around a lit tree sipping hot chocolate? Who else is going to come into your room and put all of the toys that are still on the floor hours after she asked you to pick them up in a big garbage bag and keep them until you earn them back? Who else is going to quiz you over your science material before a test the next day? Who else is going to ground you and make you ask permission before you read a book because you just HAD to keep reading and completely overlooked your ridiculously simple chores for far too long? Who else is going to make you your favorite food or dessert when you’ve had a terrible day and are in need of some encouragement? More importantly, who is going to love you always even when you most definitely do not deserve it?

Yes, mothers are definitely a huge blessing and an incredible way through which God shows His love for us - by providing earthly parents that can dry our tears and laugh with us, hug us or spank us when we need it, and scold us when we need to learn a lesson or listen to us when our world is falling apart and we need somebody to rant and complain to.

Now, I would like it to be known that I, unarguably, have the best mother on the planet. No question about it. Not only did she, along with my dad, raise me to be the person that I am today, but she has always been patient with me and some of my crazy ideas and a major encouraging support in my life. She has taught me many, many things: from to not leave your dirty panties on the floor and to not leave your church clothes in a heap on the floor to get all wrinkled, to the importance of responsibility, manners, and modesty, being thorough, and how to be thankful for everything I have. I cannot imagine all the stress and difficulty I have caused for my mother over the years, and I feel bad for all the times when I have not treated her like the queen she really is or when I did not do anything to be helpful when she really needed it and there was a boat-load of things I could have done. Thankfully, my mother is a forgiving person and loves me anyway. I do not know what on earth I would do without her.

Thank you Mommy, for being the wonderful mother and godly example that you are. You are the best mother ever and I am SO GLAD that YOU are MY mom. And to every other mother who reads this, you ARE appreciated and loved - thank you for your love and commitment. Happy Malawian Mother’s Day!!

Familiarity

“Hello!!”
I looked up and saw somebody walking towards me that recognized me, and what’s even more exciting, I RECOGNIZED HER TOO!!! Laurel and I have gone with some of the doctors and nurses when they go out and do free medical outreaches in nearby villages where evangelistic meetings are also being held. This lady was one that had been at both and I worked with her taking people’s blood pressures. Though we really did not talk to each other besides, “Hello, how are you?” we knew who the other was. As I saw her on the street she gave me a very warm, Malawian greeting, and it felt so great. SO GREAT. 
Another day we was walking through town to a store to buy butter and a lady in a car was driving down the street and waved at us, and I knew exactly who she was!!!!! Yes, we did wave back, rather enthusiastically.

Reading what I just wrote, it sounds like no big deal at all. Come on, Talea, get over it. That’s no BIG deal. 
NO!! It IS a big deal, it IS exciting. More than five weeks ago I arrived in a place where I knew nobody - not a soul - besides Laurel. We know our students and their families and a few other people from the hospital here, but not a lot of people. So finally recognizing somebody when we were were merely walking down the street? I was so excited one might have thought it was Christmas morning and it had just snowed two feet. As we’ve been adjusting to the culture over here, it has often felt like everything about every moment of every day was something completely new. But now I’m starting to know what to expect in certain places and EVERYTHING isn’t quite so new. Some things are becoming familiar. Familiarity is a powerful thing. It makes living easier, it makes interactions more meaningful, and it just helps life overall. It is so wonderful.


Yes, I still am finding many, many things that are not familiar to me at all due to still more culture shock, but at least bits of life are becoming familiar.



These pictures are from the second free medical clinic that we helped with. It was in Khola, a village about 45 minutes from Blantyre. At the medical clinics, the doctors assess what the problem is and prescribe medicine for whatever they need. We provide the medicines too. This particular day we served around 200 people (we don't have an exact number, we served a lot of people that did not sign up).

Waiting for the Medical Clinic to begin

Taking blood pressures!!!

The Many Moons of Africa

On Sabbath, for the first time ever, I had a chance to gaze upon the natural beauty of wild, African animals in their wild, African habitat. The Sandoval family took Laurel and I for the day to Majete Wildlife Reserve here in Malawi - a Sabbath WELL spent among some crazy-awesome animals, to say the least. Sure enough, down the road we drove until we saw an animal, where we stopped so Laurel and I could snap a few shots. Everybody in the car experienced my excitement as I sprang across the the backseat of the car and those sitting in it to take a picture. We drove on and came across a waterhole with A FAMILY OF ELEPHANTS!!!!!!!! Oh my word. They are SO SO SO SO COOL!!! And photogenic - that’s always convenient. As we kept driving through the park looking for more animals, we would stop to photograph when we saw some, and more often than not the animals would turn and head into the brush. It very quickly became a joke in our car that we could get some great pictures of animals’ cabooses (not the photogenic part I was referring to). Toward the end of the trip we came to a lookout tower that was nearby a waterhole. We heard elephants in the bushes, so we waited for them to come out and drink water. Another detail from the day: it was about 110 degrees farenheit. And now we were watching animals drink. We left our water in the car. BAD IDEA. Now, the car was only 15 feet away, but when you need to be as quiet as possible as to not scare away the animals before you can get a good shot, 15 feet and the noises that the trek will add are just not motivating enough to go grab a water bottle of warm-almost-hot water. As we were silently waiting, as to not scare off the elephants or other animals, this wonderful breeze rushed past and caressed my sweat glistening face. I breathed in deeply. The air smelt of adventure, of life, of beauty, of joy. In reality, it was probably only good, African air, but I refuse to believe it.

When we got back I looked through the thousand pictures I took and reveled in the fact that I actually got to observe these animals in their natural environment (not in a zoo) and up close! I got to watch the elephants splash water on themselves and pull branches off of trees. I saw baboons running across the road and climbing trees and baby baboons chasing each other’s tails. I got to see the hippos napping in the river, and I got to see those black and white stripped “horses” (according to my childhood associations of animals). Zebras are beautiful.

At home it wasn’t uncommon for me to google pictures of animals I longed to see and places that I would only dream of going, and then sit and desperately wish I could go see the world with my own eyes and take pictures with my own camera. Though Malawi is not the whole world, it’s a start - and it is SO EXCITING!!

My pictures are not that great. My camera is not the best and my photography skills have not exceeded too far past the “Sports” and “Automatic” modes. But I got to take them myself and am experiencing a whole new world over here in Africa. I am so incredibly blessed. 

Our list of animals for the day: impalas, kudus, water bucks, wart hogs, guineas, cute little baby ducks, other birds, one unidentified animal, BABOONS, ZEBRAS, AFRICAN ELEPHANTS, AND HIPPOPOTAMUSES!!!!!!!!!!! 

Mosquitos, cockroaches, and geckos - Oh my!!

EW GET IT LAUREL!! KILL IT KILL IT!!! GET RID OF IT!!! GET ‘IM!!!! EWWWWWWW!!!!!

There I was, 21 years old, huddling in one end of my mosquito net staring in horror at the mosquito that had made its way inside as I was setting it up. Of course, somebody had to keep track of the mosquito, and since I saw it first….  And Laurel is good with killing bugs. After a summer in Alaska, camping with mosquitos and no-see-ums, among other insects, one would figure that I could easily deal with the mosquitos here in Malawi, especially since I have the protection of a mosquito net here. Nope. 

There, I got it Talea, you can calm down now.

GO WASH YOUR HANDS!!

Not as if Laurel really needed reminding, I’m just paranoid. If only we had caught that moment on camera; I’m sure you all would have a good laugh over that.

Another night I was heading to bed and saw something move on the floor near the door. Cockroach. I stared in horror at it and told Laurel, calmly this time. She’s a dear and got rid of it for me. Our resident lizard-salamander-gecko-I-really-have-no-clue-what-it-is-and-I-don’t-particularly-want-to-know thing is taking some getting used to. I’ve only seen him once, but it was enough to become super paranoid. Laurel named him Jeremy, but I prefer to call him Germy. I feel like it’s more fitting. Whether he eats bugs or not. He’s not doing the best job, though I’m sure he’s eating his fill. You can tell by looking at him. Anyways, I was putting dishes away and opened the cupboard door to put something in it. As my hand was moving in to place the object on the shelf inside, I saw movement. Bug movement. Backward deeper into the cupboard. Cockroaches. Needless to say, my hand quickly returned to safety and I closed the cupboard. If they’re stuck in there they can’t get out, right? Probably not, but it comforts me to think so. I have Laurel open it and get something for me if I need it, but terrible need for stuff from that particular cupboard does not arise very often. Laurel graciously offered to clean it out, to which I did not oppose. The cupboard needed a good cleaning anyways, but this encounter has made that need incredibly urgent. However, at the moment we are not very motivated. We seem to be putting off this terrible task as long as we can.

I keep reminding myself that this happens to everybody in third-world countries, that it’s common and won’t kill you Talea, but I still don’t like it. I’m sure I’ll get use to it though and miss Germy when I get back home - that’s what I’ve heard from others who have gone as student missionaries. 

I did not come here to be comfortable. I came to get out of my comfort zone and meet others where they are, not expect them to meet my level. I came to be of service to others and make a difference in somebody’s life, God willing. And God is with me and has a plan “which is good and pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:2). Knowing and reminding myself of this brings me comfort and makes the bugs and other creatures a bit more bearable.

Stipends...

I have never ever had to budget my money before. I was always a saver with money I earned or was given for Christmas or my birthday, etc. But making a specific amount of money for groceries and other essentials last a whole month at a time? I’ve never really had to worry about it. I always had money when I needed it, since I was always saving and never needed a lot. Now I’m in Malawi, living off a stipend, and not wanting to spend my entire savings on food because I did not use my stipend wisely. 

So we went shopping. We needed a few food items and such to last us a few days until we could go to another store with better prices. So there I was, standing there looking at the shelf of toilet paper, searching for the best deal. Money-wise I got it. And boy did I get what I paid for. Honest to goodness sandpaper. Okay, that’s an exaggeration, it’s actually not bad. What was I expecting to find in Malawi? Charmaine super soft 4-ply, complete with the picture of a cuddly bear on the package? Haha, not quite!

Coco Pebbles? Never again. There was nothing “coco” about it. It tasted like a bland cereal, like really bland - so I added hot chocolate powder to it. Chocolate milk just helps everything. :)

Getting to know the currency here, kwacha, has been difficult. I have a difficult time converting to US dollars in my head and then decide whether or not it’s a good deal without taking FOREVER. So far Laurel has dealt with most of the cash part of shopping and whatnot, but I think I’m finally getting the hang of it. Oh, and it looks like we are doing just fine with our stipends :) I admit, the thought of spending my savings on groceries was completely ridiculous…

Driving. The driving is weird and all mixed up! The driver sits on the right side of the car and drives on the left side of the road. Thankfully, I am not expected to be driving while I’m here. We have people who can take us to the places we need to go, or we can use the mini busses. This past week four different people offered to take us along when they went grocery shopping. The other missionaries here are so nice!

I have to keep reminding myself that I’m going to be living like this for the next nine months and not just one. At camp this past summer I got used to moving around to different camps and different locations for a little over a week at a time before moving on, and I’ve never gone somewhere with a COMPLETELY different culture. Most of the time I forget that I’m not just on a month vacation and am actually going to be living here for the next nine months, which is so cool because it will give us a chance to actually get to know the people here and share experiences with them.

The avocados here won’t be really good until December, so here is a picture of the baby avocados that will hopefully be taking a journey through my digestive system before Christmas!! Thank for your prayers and support!!

Teacher Talea

I walked into our apartment, dropped my bag, and flopped onto my bed, staring at the ceiling. What on earth am I going to do?   Having never gone to kindergarten as a child, and literally not remembering what it was like to not know anything at all academically, I have no clue what to do with these kindergartners. The one who speaks a little bit of English can hardly say her ABC’s, even with the song, much less recognize them. And the little local boy who doesn’t speak any English can hardly do any of it (but man, can he smile - so cute!!). The curriculum we were given for these two students is way beyond them, starting out with phonics, which of course requires the ability to both recognize and be able to sound out the letters plus different combinations of letters, which, we all know can have many different sounds in the English language (thank you, complicated languages). Goodness gracious. Do children in the states do phonics and assignments in kindergarten? I always got the impression that kindergarten was more of an enriched play time, where they had educational games - they played and learned at the same time! Genius, whoever came up with that wonderful idea. Seriously. I love you (even though I happily kindergartened at home with my sister and our beanie babies).

But over here in Malawi, playing all day doesn’t necessarily work. One: The two little kids are in the same room as the big kids, which won’t be changing and doesn’t leave a lot of room to set up stations or anything for different activities or “subjects.” Two: SUPPLIES. I keep reminding myself that this is a third world country, and no Talea, you can’t have everything and anything you think you need for the classroom, no matter how nice or helpful it would be. (Actually, we have a lot of good supplies and resources - not a lot aimed for kindergarten though.)  So, we are starting at square one, and I do not recognize it at all. I remember having trouble with the word “something” when I was in first grade, but that’s it. Well, I remember missing a word on my spelling test and not getting a gold star on it like I usually did - heart wrenching. If I remember correctly, I almost started crying. My 1st and 2nd grade teacher was and is a saint, and a wonderful model of patience and loving-kindness that I wish I could emulate.  I tried showing them letters, saying them, having them repeat them, and having them write them down. I had Laurel try something when I couldn’t think of anything else to try. Nothing really seemed to stick. Will this really work? Are they going to learn ANYTHING from me this year?

... That’s probably a little extreme. And I know I’m an overachiever (you should have seen some of my lesson plans!!! I fixed those…), and seriously Talea, that was only day one. DAY ONE. Stop freaking out, calm down and relax. You have 9 more months - they’ll learn SOMETHING at least.

I have as much of a learning curve as these two kids, but I guess that’s okay. A wise friend told me that the day you stop learning and growing you die. And besides, isn’t that part of why I’m here - to learn and grow? And to help other people? It all fits. This unexpected challenge must be part of God’s grand plans for me this year. Please keep us in your prayers as we tackle this challenge and slowly discover what will and won’t work. And God-willing, these two kids will be able to recite and recognize the alphabet and many numbers and do much more by the end of the year!!