Glory, Glory, Halleluiah!

Dear Friends,

Today was our second full day of teaching. Teaching music to these children has been exhilarating and exhausting! Our days here are incredibly busy. We start off each morning with prayer time with the ROS's (Rafiki Overseas Staff, which are the long term missionaries who serve a minimum of two years) at 7:30am then we head over to the "Workers Bible Study." This is a short half hour Bible study for the national workers (laundry staff, kitchen staff, construction, etc.) that is led by the Plant Manager here. The plant manager, by the way, is a sweet, sweet man who is so humble and gentle and hard working, it is just unbelievable. He is so good with the national workers because he works and sweats with them every day, gets down to their level, respects them, and still teaches them about Jesus Christ. Just amazing... anyway, after the Bible study Nick goes off to slash the grass with the slashers and Rebecca goes off to the cottages to mend clothes with Sandy Lu and the Mamas. At 9:10 Nick and Rebecca, "Neek and Reybeyka," as they pronounce it here in Malawi, go to teach the 3 year olds. At 9:45 we teach the kindergartners, then at 10:00 we teach the 4 year olds. After this lesson we have a short break, then head off to lunch at 11:45. After lunch, Nick and Rebecca play with the Standard One children on the playground and "football" field. We then get another short rest, which is usually when we review our lesson plans for the afternoon and practice any music we will be playing. At 2:00 we teach the standard one children (this is basically first grade). At 3:30 activity time starts, and the children have a rotating schedule of where their activity is. One of the activities on the schedule is music in the gazebo, which we provide daily from 3:30 to 5:00. We then head directly to dinner, then depending on the day we either have free time until bed, a devotion in one of the cottages, a meeting, or a Bible study with the ROS's. The sun is down and it is completely dark here by 6:00. Perhaps now you can see why 9:00pm is considered "missionary midnight."

Nick with his "slasher," and a piece of

sugar cane given to him by the national

workers with whom he slashed!

So as we mentioned before, teaching here is both exhilarating and exhausting. Perhaps one of the biggest challenges is the language barrier, especially with the 3 and 4 year olds. The native language of all children and nationals here is Chitumbuka, which means "language of Tumbuka," the language of the Bantu tribe. By the time the children are in standard one they are fluent in English, but before that it can be difficult to teach them. We have been trying to learn some chitumbuka to make it easier - knowing the words for "quiet, thank you, yes and no, hello, good morning, and good" make things easier in the classroom. We mostly just sing a lot and dance and try to get the children smiling and laughing, which is not really too hard. The standard one class is a true joy to teach. These children are absolutely brilliant, funny, eager, and loving. Despite all the troubles that this nation faces, the heart of a Malawian seems to be light and warm, and these children are the very essence of that. On top of all these things they are true believers in Christ Jesus, and they are proud of it, and they rejoice about it. Yesterday we taught a lesson about keeping the steady beat of a song. We used the Battle Hymn of the Republic. By the end of the class we had started a parade and the children were marching in time, singing in perfect harmony and at the top of their lungs, with rejoicing hands raised. Nick led the parade with his trumpet. Try to imagine a line of 18 Malawian children rejoicing in the Lord with hands lifted high, smiles beaming, singing "glory, glory hallelujah, his truth is marching on!" It just made us feel so close to Jesus. Truly, the kingdom of God belongs to ones such as these.

Auntie Rebecca and Uncle Nick play a rhythm

game with the children.

It is impossible to tell you how God has blessed us so abundantly while we've been here. Malawi is known as "the warm heart of Africa," and it truly is. We have yet to meet a Malawian who is not bursting with joy and gratitude. Even when you ask them something as simple as "is this the right way to the Secondary school?" they will say "Oh yes, Madam, yes. You are most welcome, Madam, thank you, thank you. Have a good day, Madam, thank you!" They are always smiling and laughing. They count everything as a blessing. To tell you the truth, we feel that we are infinitely more blessed by them than they are by us, but they would protest that if they heard it!

Curious Rafiki children crowd around to see
Auntie Rebecca and Uncle Nick play their
instruments.

We have one more day of teaching, then Friday is a national holiday. It is Freedom Day, which commemorates the day that Malawi gained its independence from England in 1963. Malawians do not celebrate holidays quite like we do - honestly, they cannot afford it. Those that have the most resources simply take the day off, but many people continue business as usual - not many can even afford to lose a day of work. On Friday we will go to the market in Mzuzu and get a taste for the "city." By our standards it is not a city, but by Malawian standards it is - a grocery store, gas station, and market place.

A Duet for the children during their post-snack
activity time.

Please pray that God would show himself more and more each day to these children and especially the national workers. Please thank God for his goodness to us and to these former orphans, who are now priviledged children living with loving Mamas and Aunties - learning about and loving Jesus.

In Christ,
Neek and Reybeyka :-)