The first morning in Africa was incredible. After settling into our room the night before (John had turned on the generator for a few minutes - this was RARE! - so that we could find our beds and put down our luggage after two straight days of traveling), we started our time together in Malawi with a nice cold shower at Esther's House.

The giggles of the little residential girls came floating down the long concrete hallway and knocked cheerfully on the rugged wooden door of our room, "Wake up, wake up" their laughter joyfully spoke, "Now is the time to wake up" they seemingly sang in harmony. Jeleah had warned us that the little girls giggled as they went about their daily morning routine at 6:30 a.m. each day. If we were going to get a shower at all it had to be now before they got in there (it was 6 a.m. on the first day).

I gathered my belongings and headed down to the showers. The water came out frigid and strong, splashing on all of my clothes in the corner of the tiny dark stall...I shivered as I shampooed and rinsed. Military style showers are truly a wake-up call...no going back to sleep after that! (A blessing after such severe jet lag)

Next we went to breakfast. To my surprise and delight, breakfast was not nsema and rice, instead our team had prepared eggs and toast...so simple, so satisfying...just like the life style here in Malawi. The simplest pleasure is taken from a smile, a handshake, a song...simple isn't "lacking" like we think of it here in the states, simple is a boiled down concentration of the best of something! Simple is powerful, simple is focused, simple is humble, steadfast, and pure...

After breakfast we met our interpreters. Lauren and I had a young woman named Esimay. She was an intelligent and humble woman. As we shared with each other it was obvious that someone had prayed diligently over who would translate for each of us. Immediately we felt like we had been given just the right interpreter.

God had been prompting and speaking and moving mightily already and we had only just gotten there. We left with our translators on buses for a nearby village. We took two buses down a long and dusty road. Phinnley, our bus driver was amazing...the way he manoeuvred the bus over huge bumps and drops in the road and around people on bicycles and those walking with water and food balanced precariously on their heads was beyond words!

We were told that when we got to the village, our pastors (Abusas), the team leaders and two women, would go to the village Chief to ask for permission to go from hut to hut evangelizing. When we arrived I was excited to have been chosen as one of the two women and was expectant to see what would happen when we met with the Chief.

We walked behind the Abusa up to the Chief's home. A woman came out and laid out a large reed mat on the ground for us to sit on (they always gave us their very best). When we sat down I was expecting the Chief to come out to greet us next. I had assumed that the woman was either his wife or sister, but I soon realized that she herself was the Chief! (Apparently this is a matriarchal society and all Chiefs come from the same family lineage).

The conversation went back and forth between the Chief and the local Abusa. It was slow and respectful, courteous and focused, I watched fascinated as the Chief agreed to let us go into her village...but she said that we had to meet with another under Chief, as a mission-team had already gone into part of her village a few weeks before, and she wanted us to pick up further away where they had left off so as not to miss anyone.

She got on the bus with us and we drove to the next part of the village where we would meet her under Chieftain. This Chief was also a woman (she was very young). She invited us to sit along the brick wall of a home. Her house was made with stucco and had a full porch and had been painted. She sat on the ground, stretched out on her side. She drew in the dust on the ground as she welcomed us to come into her village and share about Jesus. She was a beautiful woman who immediately gave off the fragrance of wisdom as she thoughtfully spoke to us. I could not help thinking of the time in the bible where Jesus wrote in the dust asking "he who was sinless to cast the first stone".

When we returned to our group the entire village had come to see what was going on and hundreds of people were sitting in the field. Our team had already gathered them into groups of children woman and men (we found out later that they would all learn separately even at church...the Sunday school is separated into Little kids, teens, men and women)

I was ushered in front of 60 women with Leslie Jacobs, the other woman team member who had gone with me to the sit with the Chiefs. We were placed standing in front of the group and told to "start". Lol, no pressure...So I grabbed my evangi-cube out of my backpack and began talking about why Jesus came...They wanted to know more and I just kept speaking. About a half an hour later a woman right in front asked me, "How can I know this Jesus?" I told her that she need only ask with all of her heart. She stood in front of all of her peers and held my hands and prayed with me. I led her in prayer, making sure that she knew that she needed to mean every word that she said. We stood together, holding hands in front of all of the women in her tribe. She spoke with abandon, she gave her life to Christ gladly. She had fixed her gaze on me when I was speaking, when I saw her in the crowd, when I looked into her eyes, I had recognized that look, the hunger that she had for peace and joy...before she ever said a word I knew that she was searching...

She sat and listened as Leslie shared a story from the bible, but God kept nudging me to speak with her alone, to pray over her...When Leslie had finished, I asked her (her name was Katie),to go and speak with me and my interpreter privately. The three of us went off to the side in front of a hut. We sat on a brick wall there and began to pray. I told her that it wasn't enough for just her to know Jesus, just like I had said earlier that it wasn't enough for just me to know Jesus, but that I had come thousands of miles to let others know about Him as well. I told Katie that she needed to share what she now knew with other women in her village. Katie told me that she felt different than when she had walked down to the field. She said she couldn't describe it better than she felt peace and joy! ?My heart lept inside me and I am certain I didn't stop smiling for a long time.

Next we were put in front of a group of men. This was a much smaller group ranging from teens to old men. As I spoke, one boy seemed to hang on every word...I was completely being led by the Spirit, never quite knowing what would come out of my mouth next, and this boy just kept looking me right in the eye. He was studying the words that came out of my mouth - not my words, but God's words to him - (Thank you for sending me there Lord) I felt prompted suddenly to share Jeremiah 29:11-13 :

" For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart."

As the translator spoke these words of scripture for me, as I told them that you had plans for them Lord, for each of them, that you loved them Lord... I prayed for them all. After I prayed, I felt like I was supposed to ask if there were any questions or if anyone wanted individual prayer.  The young man got up and went to the interpreter and started speaking...the three of us went back to the hut where I had just  been with Katie earlier. We sat down and he began. He said that he didn't understand what he read in the bible. He didn't have a bible and had only read one a few times. (we were leaving a bible at the Chief's home for this village to use, so now he would have a bible to read whenever he wanted!). He had accepted Jesus a year before,but he was frustrated by the words in the bible, he wanted to know what they meant...he was longing for more.I told him that you would help him Lord, that you would explain your word to him if he asked you for help.  I told him that you wanted to have a relationship with him. I told him that I didn't understand the bible either when I first began reading it and that he would begin to understand. Then I told him that Jesus spoke in parables because people had trouble understanding. I told him that he could look around in nature and see God's truth. I shared the scripture for example when Jesus says "I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." -

John 15:5

As he looked in the field beside us
I could see that he understood!

I told him that most of all, God knew how he felt, and that he had sent me thousands of miles to sit here and talk with him, to encourage him and pray with him. I prayed for this young man fully knowing in my spirit that he will be a great leader, a strong man of the Lord and that he will one day be explaining the gospel to others just as I was on this wonderful day.

Thank you Lord for caring so much about these hearts that you brought us to be there for them, that you allowed me the privilege of being your voice encouraging, your hands holding, your Spirit ministering...

And this was only day one...