I can't believe Africa is finally here. I didn't assume much about Africa before I got here, but I did assume that it would be the most challenging leg of the trip. I was perfectly right about that. It is challenging physically, emotionally and spiritually. 

    The physical challenge is possibly the biggest struggle. We live in tents and sleep on air mattresses. If you ever go on a trip like this or do some small time casual camping never buy the classic orange "thermarest" brand. It deflates in less than an hour and then your right back to rocks and sticks. Its possible im not using it correctly. Either way, its just not a good time. We have the opportunity to take bucket showers but a good portion of the team bathes in the lake, if AIM is reading this we definitely don't bathe in the lake. The African sun is really unlike anything else. It drains you so quickly, its to blame for the 4 sodas i have everyday. Our day starts anywhere from 5am-6:30am depending on the chore your team has that week. There's gardening, where you chop branches with machetes for the first hour awake that day. Animal duty, where you move the goats twice a day, once at 6am, and make sure they get in their pen at night. Hygiene duty, where you fill the bucket outside the bathroom full of water in order to flush the toilet that day. And Kitchen duty, where you work day in and day out preparing food for 30+ people every meal, which also requires a lot of water. The reason why the water need is worth noting is that it takes a half a mile walk to get 20 liters [40 pounds] of water to then carry back another half mile in the hot african sun partly uphill. Sometimes-three times a day. Our food is also a struggle often. Sometimes its not, we have rice, beans and sometimes bread. But we do eat a lot of nsima, the staple food of Malawi. It is just two simple ingredients- flour and water. It tastes alright if you mix it with other foods. But in all honesty, its growing on me. Lately our workload has been harder. We planted 500 trees in two days, it was 11 hours of total work and we did struggle a bit. We ususally all fall asleep before 8:30 at night and do it all again the next day. Usually sore, sunburnt and have bug bites all over. 

     Emotionally it can be tolling as well. Its hard not to focus on home. We are so close and all the lack of comfort makes it all so much easier to have our minds on America. We also all have our fair share of battles that we are learning to put in Gods hands. Also, in the country we have had the least communication with our friends and families and that takes a toll as well.

    Spiritually its a battle as well. In a country filled with islamic beliefs and satanic people, its much harder to fight the devil in his ways to bring us down. Our contacts here, Johan and Marie, told us that spiritual warefare is more alive than where we have ever been before. Although it is evident and sometimes poses as a bump in the road- the Lord has overcome and we are all empowered because of it. The withdoctor that lives near our mission site, Zehandi, asked the site to make a new path (because the old path was too near to her house)  so all the missionaries that came before us wouldnt be too close. She had said the light of all missionaries was too bright and too overpowering that it kept her from being able to do her witchcraft. 

     In all that Africa had to offer, the good and harder to handle- i love it here. Its exactly where God wants me.

                                                        God is good all the time, all the time God is good. 

This is me and Tiffany's Home

This is our stuff tent or formerly known as the "garage". 

This is Tiffany, Sarah and I with the best chips in the world. They are only sold in Africa. :(