The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music - Month 3 in Malawi

Hey friends!

As if it's December already (though the weather here tends to disagree - will we ever feel cold?) and we've been in Malawi for three months!?! Coming into this festive season has been very strange, and made us miss family, friends and traditions back in the UK more than before, but we are enjoying being creative and working out ways of making Christmas special, Malawi style. We are so grateful for thoughtful post we've received from family members who have also lived abroad at Christmas time and understand it can be hard, zikomo kwambiri!

Up Michiru Mountain

This month has been a massive learning curve for me (Bekah), and I've had some of my hardest days, and also some of my best days. In early November it hit me quite suddenly that I wasn't coping, in fact, I was really struggling with my mental health. So much so that I went to the doctors, and have been seeing a counsellor over the course of the six weeks. As hard as it was to acknowledge and admit I wasn't coping, I am actually so grateful to have gone through these tough times, because they've led to so much good fruit.

We are learning how to rest better, and have asked around for places nearby that are safe and accessible for walking. Finding these places has been a total godsend. I've always needed to get out of the house and into nature to rest well, and for a long time we didn't think that was an option here. Knowing where these little havens of quiet are has been a huge part of me feeling like I can rest here, and live here. A favourite of ours is Mount Michiru National Park; lots of trees, mountain views, and a massive troop of baboons. Oh, and the well signposted 'hyena caves' which we've not yet ventured too close to!

Baboon at Mt. Michiru

The day after my visit to the doctors I was due to preach at the women's ministry about how God loves it when we bring all of our emotions to Him, and that no emotion is off limits with Him (talk about ironic timing, right?). I was so not in the mood to preach, and especially not to preach about emotions! But I did (yay!) and it was my first step into being open and broken with my church family here. I admitted I was struggling, cried, and was prayed for and hugged; all the things I knew I needed, but had feared I wouldn't receive.  To spare you too many details, being able to open up with church family (both here and back in Notts), Ben, and my counsellor have been totally transforming in helping me navigate the stress and emotions of living in a new country and culture, and I'm feeling SO much better now, largely because of the relationships that have developed through me opening up.

In the course of navigating all of that, I have developed a deeper appreciation and love for both Malawi and the UK, especially our communities in both these places. I am so thankful for WhatsApp calls and conversations with people back in UK, and for sweet times of community here in Malawi. Let me share some of my favourite friendship moments from the last few weeks.

Firstly, shout out to Bambo and Mayi Phiri (Esau and Theodora) who we had over for lunch recently. We could not love this couple more and admire so much about them. We love their faithfulness, commitment and dedication (and their time-keeping skills!). We love how they lead their ministries with humility and honour, and seek to build other people up, and give others the opportunity to grow in their giftings. We also think they are absolutely hilarious and we love just hanging out with them, and laughing with them. Theodora is also my biggest encourager in learning Chichewa, she is very kind when I make mistakes, and celebrates with me when I get words right. We love the Phiris.

We've also had the opportunity to hang out with Danny and Cathie Kamanga in the weeks recently. Particular highlights of mine were watching Cool Runnings with them (SUCH a good film) and introducing them to sweet popcorn, and having a girls lunch with Cathie, which turned into about 3 hours of chatting, sharing our testimonies, and encouraging one another.

I also got to attend my first Malawian baby shower with the women of the church. This was probably one of my favourite days so far, and what an absolute privilege and honour not only to be able to witness a Malawian tradition, but to be included and a part of it. It's moments like that I'm reminded just how blessed we are to be able to be here, and be part of this church. The baby shower consisted of baby cuddles (already excellent!), giving advice to the new mum (I was the only one who was not a mum, so my advice was not especially practical!), praying together, a short word from the Bible, and then an awesome and hilarious song and dance with the baby to finish up. There was much laughter, and much joy. Very special.

In terms of church things, we're excited to have a bit more time to be proactive in visiting more families and church members, and to look at the 2020 Vision as a church team over the next couple of weeks. We have been able to visit the Baluti plant recently, and it was such a joy to see the love, commitment and community that has been an integral part of this church, from it's very beginning. We loved the spirit of team that we saw there, and we loved seeing so many people stepping into new roles and leading various aspects of the service. One of our favourite moments, was seeing the whole church congregation wait around at the end of the service, so they could all walk back to their homes in one group. That is a precious community.

We also experienced our first mountain-top prayer meeting this month! It was so much fun to pray into the churches vision, with astounding views of the city of Blantyre and its surrounding mountains. Another fun and bizarre aspect of the day was that practically the whole mountain was covered with other church groups also having prayer meetings - and we arrived at 9am! It's a very common thing here to hold prayer meetings on the mountain, and seemingly Mount Soche is the prescribed prayer mountain. You know the song from the Sound of Music? "The hills are alive with the sound of music?" I've never known that to be truer than climbing up Mount Soche to snippets of "You are faithful", "Yahweh you are Yahweh", "We bless your name" and a host of other melodic Chichewa songs.

Prayer Gang up Mt. Soche L to R: Esau, Annie, Ben, Mercy, Cathie, Danny, Theodora, Dumie, Me!

Thanks for reading, friends. I'll leave you with this photo of our ingeniously titled Christmas TREE-V (stand), in place of the real thing! 

Much love, B&B xx

P.S. Ben would like you all to know that in a recent game of Yahtzee he threw a Yahtzee in one roll. It was five fives too. I think it might be his proudest achievement ever. Feel free to send messages of congratulations to him, or write folk songs about him…