Day 24 - Celebrating God's Faithfulness & Love

As we gather may Your Spirit work within us

As we gather may we glorify Your Name

Knowing well that as our hearts begin to worship

We'll be blessed because we came

We'll be blessed because we came

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases

His mercies never come to an end,

They are new every morning

New every morning

Great is Your faithfulness, O Lord

Great is Your faithfulness

I went to bed last night to a few friends already wishing me a happy birthday and woke up this morning to a couple more messages. It truly put a smile on my face! What a wonderful way to start the day! As I went into the kitchen to make my breakfast and get ready to go to work for the day, I found this sweet treat set on the table.

Thanks for the treat Lu! What a nice surprise. The elephant card is so cute!

Apparently Luisa had bought this French lemon tart from the bakery yesterday at the garden when I went in for my appointment. What a thoughtful friend. I was very surprised! It tasted so good with my morning coffee =)

With the sun shinning on us, Luisa and I were able to spend some time doing our devotions while sitting on the swings as Kathy had her weekly prayer meeting at her daughters’ school. While we were there, the students had their weekly chapel. We saw them file in nicely and sing unto the Lord very loudly. We also saw one of Kathy’s daughters smile and wave at us as she walked by.

Another morning at the preschool includes more hugs from the kids as you walk in and out of the rooms, as well as seeing the children’s progress during the therapy sessions. I had one child, A, though sneaky at times, was very hard working as we worked to improver her hand function.

On a minibus that was not squishy! What a surprise!

This afternoon, we got to do something special. Luisa and I went with one of the rehab techs (on the minibusses!) out into the community for home visits. It was such a unique experience, to be awkwardly packed like sardines in a van, and saw Lilongwe, even Malawi, in a different way. We walked through dusty and crowded streets with vendors yelling at you to buy their stuff. As we walked down the streets and approached the centre of the market, I felt as if everyone was staring at us. I felt like I did not belong at all. We had people pointing at us, we had people yelling “China” at us. It made me very self conscious and slightly uncomfortable at times. It mattered how I present myself in some ways, although I will probably never see these people again, I do represent certain groups of people who live in Malawi. For the first family, we called grandma to let her know that we were in the area, she then sent her grandson, who is 10 years old, to come meet with us and take us back to their house. I was a little surprised when we arrived at this first family’s house. Although it doesn’t compare to the houses we live in, this house had electricity, had furniture, a television, and a couple of beds. It was amazing to see that the great-grandmother lives there with them too. The second house that we went to was a little more difficult than the first. We took the minibus to the bottom of a hill and then had to ask many people directions on how to get to a certain landmark in the area. We walked uphill on pavement and uphill on winding dirt roads. When we came to a house, I thought that we were there already, but it turned out that we didn’t know exactly where this child’s house was and needed to ask this family who knew the neighbourhood to take us there. So we walked some more and finally got to the house. Unfortunately, the family was not home and their next-door neighbour told us that the mother has been busy working and the siblings were busy with school, hence why the child has not been coming to preschool the last couple of days. It was still good to know where the child resides and even the outside of their home was already a sight to see. We made the trek back to the office, walking a couple of kilometers to squish back onto the minibus (we had about 18 or 19 people in the van as well as some of their bags of maize amongst other things). The community visit was definitely an unique and eye-opening experience. I felt that we were truly experiencing what Malawi is actually like.

The second home we visited. The child's house is on the left.

When we got back home, I was once again surprised by what I found on the counter.

We then went over to the Bowler’s for a delicious dinner. Funny story, on Wednesday night, my care group and some other care groups and friends were telling me that they were going to wings, so it made me crave eating wings. I guess God heard because we had wings for dinner. They also made me a chocolate fudge birthday cake. We played a game called ’30 seconds’ while we ate our dessert. It was a very fun game filled with lots of laughter. Kathy and Steve are such a cute couple! They’re so much fun to be around, they like to make fun of each other, tell stories and then interject with their comments, and also sing together. Lots to learn from them and their many years of marriage. At the end of the night, we also played Mad Gab. I was very confused for some of the clues.

Later in the evening, I came home to light the sparklers on the goodies that Tracey bought for me.

I love sparklers! =)

Luisa then gave me a final surprise. She had re-written a song and recorded it for me. You’re super thoughtful and amazing Lu! We had such a good laugh (apparently I walked in on her recording it a few nights ago). Thanks for the beautiful song and singing! Here are the lyrics to the song.

Say Something (Gecko Version)

This, this is a story about a gecko who loves a girl named Yoyo. 

Say something, I’m giving up on you

I love you but you just don’t want me to

Anywhere, I would’ve followed you

Say something, I’m giving up on you

And I am feeling so small

You walked in the room

And I was on your wall

And you, you screamed when I moved

I was just climbing the wall

To get a better look at you

Say something, I’m giving up on you

I love you but you just don’t want me to

Anywhere, I would’ve followed you

Say something, I’m giving up on you

You called, you called for the dog

And the next thing I knew

My tail she did rob

But still, I won’t stumble or fall

I was learning to love

But you won’t let me at all

And I will swallow my pride

You’re the one that I love

And I’m saying goodbye

Say something, I’m giving up on you

I love you but you just don’t want me to

Anywhere, I would’ve followed you

Say something, I’m giving up on you

Say something I’m giving up on you

Say something

I had a sweet (literally) birthday. Thank you so much to my family here in Malawi. It was very special and memorable!

Made To Worship

Before the day
Before the light
Before the world revolved around the sun
God on high
Stepped down into time
And wrote the story of His love for everyone

He has filled our hearts with wonder
So that we always remember

You and I were made to worship
You and I are called to love
You and I are forgiven and free
When you and I embrace surrender
When you and I choose to believe
Then you and I will see who we were meant to be

All we are
And all we have
Is all a gift from God that we receive
Brought to life
We open up our eyes
To see the majesty and glory of the King
Even the rocks cry out
Even the heavens shout
At the sound of His Holy name
So let every voice sing out
Let every knee bow down
He is worthy of all our praise