Small Group. Day II.

(A new friend of mine is a guest blogger for a few days. His name is Dowa Manda and he is from the country of Malawi. I hope you enjoy his trip diary.)

Moni

Mr. John woke me up early this morning. He said we were going on a bargain hunting expedition to garbage sales. It was very different than I thought it was going to be. We drove around streets with homes where people sold their belongings like an open air market. I asked if this was how people supported their familes. Mrs. Jennifer said it was because people don't have enough room in their houses for the new things they buy, so they sell their old things for cheap. Mr. John found a chair that gives you a backrub!!! and a little green creature that cracks open nuts for you.

I was wearing the same chobvala (shirt and pants) as I wore yesterday, but Mrs. Jennifer says that it is fine and nobody here would even notice. Then she said that most people wear different clothes everyday, and probably don't wear the same thing for at least a month. That seems to me like a lot of clothes to carry in a suitcase.

People in fruit county must really like to kudya (eat) because there is a restaurant on every corner. We went to one restaurant that only sold coffee and a little chakudya (some food). It was really busy and I thought maybe this was a community gathering place, but everyone got their coffee and got back into their cars without talking to anyone. The coffee person seemed to know some of the customers names but the customers didn't know the coffee persons name.

Tonight we went to the home of Mr. Steve and Mrs. Julie for a church meeting. They were very gracious and gave me yum yum nkumba (pig) slices on bread. There were 5 couples and everyone brought their Bible and a book. We watched a pastor on what I thought was broadcast television, which later I found out was being played on a video disc player. It was good, lots of kuseka. This was a new experience sitting with strangers and watching tv together, but then we talked about God. Then people prayed for needs - like one person said they needed a bigger house, another said they wanted more fulfillment in their place of work, and another asked for healing for her kids who had a cold that was going around. I asked that people pray for the many people in Malawi who are also sick.

Tomorrow we will go to the big church, zikomo!