Highlights Live

Olipa is the World Vision spokeswoman who visited St. Andrew’s last summer with the HIV/AIDS tent that was set up in our parking lot, and she was able to speak to the congregation about the HIV/AIDS situation in Malawi. Kelly and I were very excited to visit with her in Malawi. Olipa is doing very well. We thought that since many of the St. Andrew’s family might have met her, or would recognize her, that it would be fun to share the picture.

Kelly and Dustin with Olipa

The kids at the Ministry of Hope feeding center we visited put on this performance and we thought it would be fun to share. We all really enjoyed our day at the feed center as we put on afternoon activities and crafts for about 200 kids. Even though we are already back, it’s still fun to share some of our experiences. Enjoy!

Dustin

Hey all,

Well we finally arrived home yesterday in LAX around 3 p.m. safe and sound. Other than a small issue with a ticket (that was fixed very quickly) our trip home went very smoothly. After 36 hours of traveling, our arrival was not a moment too soon. As everyone left for home there were some mixed emotions. I will definitely miss the team, but was also incredibly anxious to get home.

Our team wants to thank everyone who supported and prayed for us on this trip. We definitely viewed you all as a vital piece of what turned out to be a challenging but still very successful trip to Malawi. Throughout the next few days, I will still post some pictures and video (yes, they are actually loading successfully) that our team still wants to share with you. I have posted two videos this morning (below), one that Andrew took while walking through a village and another of Karen teaching a worship song to the high school kids at the weeklong camp that we put on (check them out while you’re here).

Again, I want to thank everyone for your prayers and support, our trip could not have been done without you.

Dustin and the Malawi Team

Well here we are, sitting in South Africa trying to figure out what to do with our time in Malawi. The experience hit everyone differently and everyone seems to be processing it differently. We left Malawi yesterday after spending the morning with Partner’s in Hope, a ministry that is providing free HIV/AIDS care to Malawians in need. Our journey out of Malawi went relatively smoothly. Ironically, it was the two correspondents, Carrie and I, who ended up with a little bit of the Malawian stomach. Fortunately for me, I was not feeling so hot during our time at Partner’s in Hope. There is no more convenient place to be sick in Malawi other than a hospital run by American doctors. Dr. Jantz gave me some anti-nausea pills and some electrolyte packets to keep me hydrated. While our flights to South Africa proved to be tough for me we made it and today I am feeling much better. Unfortunately, Carrie seems to be a day behind me and is not doing as well. Your prayers for a quick recovery would be greatly appreciated.

Our internet here at the hotel in South Africa seems to be a bit better so I am hoping data files will send. Despite our internet troubles, Carrie and I still have a number of photos and pictures to post so we will continue to do so even after our return home to the states on Sunday.

Our team would appreciate your prayers as we try to figure out how to sort through all that we have seen and experienced.

Dustin and the Malawi Team. Check out some of the latest pics below!

Andrew with the Kids

Cindy with the Kids

Andrew with the Kids

Keren with the Kids

Jason Holding a Baby

Once again, the internet is so sparse that it makes it hard to send any pictures. However we figure written words are still better than nothing. Today was a great day in many ways. First of all, Hillary and LJ’s bags FINALLY arrived. Here we are only two days from leaving and they finally got them. Better late than never I guess. We have a suspicion that Hillary’s bag has been sitting in the airport since Tuesday though. Yesterday our team went to the Nchisi Presbyterian church which is in the general area of St. Andrew’s ADP (Area Development Program) in Nthondo and one that St. Andrew’s is partnering with in ministry to the area. It was a fun morning spent worshiping with our brothers and sisters in Malawi (although it was a three hour service). After the service our friends provided lunch for us which consisted of rice, nsima (it is Malawi’s staple and is basically like grits but made out of corn), chicken, and what we were told was “beef” but eventually was told it was goat. Yes that’s right, I said GOAT! So some of us decided to follow the rule we keep hearing: “When in Africa, do as the African’s do…”, and no, it does not taste like chicken.

Today we got to visit and meet our sponsored children. From a personal standpoint, it was an amazing experience. For so long many of us have been praying over World Vision pictures and info cards and to finally meet them was a very humbling experience. Humbling because of how big our Lord is and how small I realized we are. Many of us had gifts for our children but were even more amazed at the generosity of the people we were visiting. Nthondo is a very poor area in Malawi and is off the road (we had to take 4-wheel drive vehicles for about 20-30 minutes to get to them) and yet these families still managed to show up with bags of food. Hillary’s family (who she was visiting for the second time) actually carried two huge bags of soy beans about 15 km which I believe is roughly 9 to 9.5 miles! To be given so much by people who have so little to give is a hard thing to accept but we humbly did so as not to offend anyone. After we said our goodbye’s World Vision took us on some more 4-wheeling expeditions and showed us a bit about how they are developing the community. We visited one family who had recently been given a cow and then also made a visit to a fish farm that World Vision had helped build. The personal highlight of the day for me was the children, who when word spread that we were in a certain area, would come running in large numbers from all over the place to see the “azungu” or white men. We definitely were the circus of the day for some of these children. I went up to one baby that a mom was carrying on her back and looked at the baby and smiled and waved. Apparently I might have been the first white face the baby had ever seen because he immediately screamed and started crying. Apparently I am not off to too good of a start with the whole baby thing… We ended up the day with some more nsima and goat (although some thought they were eating beef and did not realize the truth until later) and we all did our best to eat while trying hard not to think about the American food we are really starting to miss. The day ended with a surprise visit from Olipa, the World Vision spokeswoman that many of us met last summer when she and Ethel visited St. Andrew’s with the World Vision HIV/AIDS tent. She is doing very well and had just got back from a visit to Canada.

Overall, I would say that our team has been amazing. There have been many different challenges on this trip from flights to bags to hotels cancelling on us at the last minute, but our team has handled them superbly. While we knew flexibility was a necessity on this trip, we did not know how much, but everyone has remained in good spirits and we are all having an amazing experience. God has been faithful in caring for this team – all are doing well physically.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Malawi and we will be visiting one of Ministry of Hope’s feeding centers. Wednesday we will make a last visit to a crisis nursery and then will fly to South Africa in the evening for a few days of needed rest and time to absorb all we have experienced. Hopefully we can get to an internet connection that will let us send data files so we can share some pictures. Until then keep praying for our team and our last few days in this amazing country. Many of us are not ready to leave…

In His Name,

Dustin and the Malawi team

We are currently at the Ntchisi World Vision office getting ready to see our sponsored children. We had a very nice time yesterday at the CCAP church in Ntchisi. Several of our team members shared testimonies and words of encouragement. The church honored us with several presentations. Prior to arriving in Ntchisi today, Dhaka from World Vision brought a few of us by the aiirport and we found the lost luggage. Glory!

“LJ” Laurie Jaworski

The Camp ended yesterday and it was a great time. Good news: Out of the 54 teens who were tested for HIV, none of them came back positive! The students really enjoyed the time at the lake. For many of them, it was their first time to ever see the lake. A lake highlight that happened was that a hippo came out of nowhere and put on a great show for us.

Thurs. afternoon a teen cut his head on a rock and Betty saved the day by attending to him. The reality is the cut is really deep and he most definitely needs stitches. However, health care isn’t exactly easy to get here. Please keep this young man in your prayers. The likely hood of an infection is great.

We are back in Lilongwe today and are enjoying experiencing more of life in the city. Tomorrow we are headed to CCAP Church to worship.

Hilary just tried to send an email to her family but got caught off. So HELLO to Hilary’s family!
Betty now has 180 Malawian grandchildren.
Erin has played more net ball than expected
Andrew is learning the art of Malawian bartering
Matt is still wondering what the Angel’s stats are
Jason is sick of protein bars
Kelly is raspy but continues to sing
Cindy has been in a developing country for 7 days and is still the world’s nicest person
LJ is still without her bag
Dustin’s favorite Malawian word is Mazungu
Keren has about 123 fans
Mary bought some nice fabric
Marilyn was first to dance with Malawians
Carrie still has something up her sleeve…

All is well. See you all in a week!

Here are a few recent pictures!

Our team is doing well and really enjoying our time at the high school camp. However, some of the harsher realities hit us these last few days. Yesterday they had HIV tests and one third of the kids volunteered to get tested. We don’t know how many were positive but expect there to be a few. We would love to have you pray for the kids who may have learned they have HIV. We all have many more stories and will hopefully find the internet in the next couple of days as we conclude our camp tomorrow. Just know our team is doing very well and the Lord has been faithful. LJ and Hilary are still without their bags, so please keep that in prayer as well. More updates to come…

Dustin and the team