For I know the plans You have for me...

Mulibwanji! Dilli bueno!!!
Well the team left on Friday, and I am thankful to say that they have all returned home without any hiccups in their travel plans. We had such a great team, and it was such a neat opportunity to spend with my brother, I will truly miss all of them. The girls and I really bonded, which made saying goodbye that much harder. I am now here on my own, and to be honest, the start was a bit daunting. At the time, I didn't know my role in terms of what I would be doing, what my schedule would look like, and how my living situation would unfold. I am staying with a wonderful woman named Keta, who I enjoy very much. I already know that the Lord is going to reveal so much to me through her, as she is such a prophetic woman, with a superfluous amount of knowledge. She is one who challenges me in my faith, insisting that we never be stagnant, and is always asking "those" questions that no one wants to ask. Our first morning together we ate breakfast together and ended up talking for 4 hours... It seemed like 10 minutes. I know we are going to get along quite well. So I will be staying with Keta for the remainder 5 weeks, and she lives in a beautiful house. She occasionally has girls from the villages that come and stay with her, some of which are coming mid-week, (2 of which I have already met) so that will be fun. She also has another girl that comes form college and stays with her on the weekends. Her name is Vanessa, and Keta has given her a bedroom at her house. Vanessa and I get along very well, as she is 22 ANd is in her 2nd year studying Nutrition (who would have thought?.. God is good). Vanessa has her finals next week, and then is on holiday for 2 months, where she will be spending most of her time at Ketas, so I'm very excited to get to know her and her story. I have been catching up on my sleep these passed couple days now that the team has left. I was never jet lagged once I got here, but I think it caught up with me this weekend. On Friday night i went to bed at 7:30 and Saturday night I fell asleep at 8; both nights getting 12+ hours of sleep! I now finally feel rested and refreshed. Keta continues to make fun of me.. as my sleep habits are wearing off on her, as she is used to staying up late, but I must have put a sleep spell on her as well. Keta likes to spend the weekends watching movies and tv series, so I will have had my movie fix and be quite relaxed upon my return home. I start working with the youth this week in terms of soccer, and I am excited, and anxious. Keta and I have been talking about it, and she is saying that I am the forerunner for this Girl Empowerment MOvement (thru soccer) and so I am the one breaking the ground. One way in which I am doing that is coaching the girls soccer, as well as bringing them shorts to play in. We are hoping that the communities are open to this, as it is very unusual to see any girls or women in the villages exposing their legs. It is more common in the city, but in the villages, girls wear 2 sometimes 3 skirts (or wraps) at a time to ensure that their legs are covered. Please pray that with the introduction of soccer, it does not ruffle too many feathers, and that the communities are accepting what we are trying to do. I am not trying to introduce shorts to the community, we are trying to use Soccer to empower the girls; to give them something that is all their own; a skill, a pair of shorts, a ball, a team, a sense that they can be a part of something that is bigger than themselves.

The food here is getting better, as long as I am not in the villages. Haha. I will say that I have never drank so much soda and rolls in my life...Im just crossing my fingers that I will be able to fit in my bridesmaids dress when I return home for my cousins wedding, which is 2 days after I get home! :)

Please pray for me to have an open heart, and for the people in the villages to have an open mind to this great opportunity that we have to offer the girls. Pray for courage, and determination, as I am stepping into a role that neither I, nor the staff here knows what to expect. Miss you all

Unceasing worship

Ohhhh the last few days have been busy, and interesting.. To say the least. Let's see- where Do I start? We did a vision clinic in Mngona on Monday which is in the slums whch we thought was going to be completely chaotic. The Lord was faithful and it was by far the smoothest clinic we have had yet. Kelly and I were able to go into the market and explore a bit, and bought some techingis (wraps) so that we could wear them over our pants in the villages. Tuesday we spent in chikudizlire and then spent the night there with the youth group. We slept on the concrete with some of the girls, while the guys cuddled up on the schoolhouse floor. We started singing and dancing at around 4 in tr afternoon - and didn't stop until 11 at night. Malawians can sing and dance.. And they never stop! We played trivia games with them by yhe light of a kerosene lamp, and went to bed at 11 to wake up at 4am so that we could start worshipping again. It was humblig to see them in unceasing worship. They are so dedicated, so faithful.. And I am so challenged in this... To see 12 year old girls worshipping our God, shouting praises to His name... Waking up at 4 am so excited to do it again.. Gosh, it brought me to my knees-- literally. God is good, and His presence was so obvious that night. 

We hung up mosquito nets the next day (well the guys did) in the girls secondary school dorms, and then went home and out to dinner for a nice meal. We are so sick of the food that is served here in the villages- not sure how I'm going to stomach it here the next 6 weeks.. Ugh. I'll find a way--I'm slowly learning how to make it bearable to eat ( try eating bait fish whole; head, eyes, bones, fins ... Everything). We went back to the same village today to bring them seeds to plant a garden, and were able to help them plow their small plot of land and we began to plant the seeds. The girls an I were instructed to go fetch manure for fertilizer so we walked back to a hut and started scooping manure into buckets to brig back to te garden. The women carry everything on their heads here- from firewood to tree trunks ( seriously) to suitcases and buckets of water. So the girls and I heaved 25 lbs each of manure in the buckets onto our heads and delivered it to the men. We all had a good laugh. There was a celebration in the village today where we were honored, along with Theresa, who has really been the one to help sustain these villages by spreading the love of God. It was a wonderful day, an spent tonight at Theresas house for dinner with the rest of the staff from SomebodyCares. The team leaves tomorrow mornig and I will say I am very sad for them to leave. We have had a wonderful team dynmaic this trip and I have really been welcomed by all of them, especially since the first time I met them was when I set foot in Malawi. Please pray for safe trAvels home for them, and for courage for me. I am anxious for these next couple weeks as I'm transitioning into my new role here, and sense some apprehension in myself. I've been told that I will be workig with 9 girls soccer teams- a number that is expected to increase, and I will be starting on the 5th of June. In the mean time, I'm trying to polish up on my chechewa! Haha. Zicomo con beelie! 

Things are going well here. On Saturday  I split from the group and went to the girls empowerment conference in a new village. It was great, but with little translation, which made for a long day. On the way to and from the conference (almsot 2 hour drive)  we had 28 people, yes, 28 packed into a mini van. Figure that one out! 
We get to spend the night tomorrow night in the village ( so excited) and some girls are coming from nearby villages (meaning 15+km) to come stay the night with us in the village. Some of those girls are the soccer players, so that will be a neat experience for me. Oh, and I just found out that I don't have to wear a skirt while playing soccer!
Yesterday was a relaxing day with church and then we drove out to Dedza pottery place. Apparently it's known world wide, but we were able to buy some things that were made here in Malawi-- defintely a tourist hot spot as there were only azungus ( remeber our chechewa? Haha it means white people) there. It was on an asokute gorgeous plot of land, and while we were there a thunderstorm rolled in, which the smell of rain reminded me of Seattle. Apparently we are getting into the rainy season but it was probably around 80 degrees today with high humidity. We did another vision clinic today in Mgona. It is considered the "slums" but things went fairly well. Probably the highlight of my day was when I heard a little girl say "Kelsey" ( they pronounce it "kow-sey" and i turned to see Ellen, a 10 yr old girl I had met on Thursday in mnguangwa. Mind you these 2 villages are probably 25-30 miles away, and she's an orphan, so I was very shocked to see her, let alone that she rememebered my name. 
Tomorrow we are spending the day in chikudizlire and then venturing a bit further north in that village to do our last vision clinic, and I'm bringing a few soccer balls for the kids up there. Chris and Steve got to go up there earlier last week for a few hours, and they said it was evident that most of the people up there had never seen white people before. The pastor was so excited about them taking the time to go up there that he literally could not speak- so tomorrow is going to be a special day for us, paired with spending tr night in the village. We are told that the kids have activities planne for us til midnight, and they wake up at 4, so we know it could be quite a long night. No one has ever been allowed by the SomebodyCares organization to spend the night in the village, which shows how much these villages have really grown over the years, in terms of responsibility and whatnot. Please pray for safety and some decent shut-eye, and that the Lord will continue to work thru us as a team. The team leaves on Friday, and it will be hard to see them go, as we have had a great team dynamic! Ok, off to bed for a decent night sleep in preparationfor tomorrow!

Mngwuangwa and Chechemba

The past 2 days we spent in 2 different villages; continuing with our vision clinics. We are greeted with a warm welcome at each village-- the children screaming 'azungu azungu' (white people white people!) and they crowd the van once we open the doors. They all want to touch you and shake your hand. The 6 yr olds that have the babies strapped to their backs come up to you and want you to touch the baby, they all just want a simple hello from you. It's incredible. Yesterday during te clinic we had a man who was completely blind in one eye, and was almost blind in the other give us his prescription. As it was very strong, an we didn't know how much we could help him, we began scowering thru the thousands of glasses that were layed out across the floor.. And the Lord answered. We found a pair almost exactly as to what he needed. The second he put them on, his eyes widened and his arms went into the air. He could see! He started to read out of the bible and continued to dance. Praise Jesus! He then had to tell everyone that he could see and made his way back home as we watched him walk down the road.. Looking at Gods creation. Hallelujiah! Tomorrow I am going with Edward, the youth pastor to a girl empowerment conference while the team takes a break and heads out to lake Malawi. I will have the honor of meeting some of the girls I will be working with in the coming weeks and get a feel for what this new movement is all about. 

Yesterdays recap

So I wrote this last night in regards to what happened yesterday. I don't have time on our Internet card to post a blog about today, so I'm a day behind. Whoops, but I willsay one thing about today was giving glasses to a man that was blind in one eye, and almost blind in the other, and he was able to see- it brought us to tears.. Okay .. So here's yesterdays blog:
Today we spent more time in the village of Chikudzilire. We were welcomed with songs and dancing by the older women, and the 2 Kellys and I were encouraged to dance along and sing. Although they worship our Father in an entirely different language, I have never been so moved by worship than from my experience today. I was "cooing" along... Trying to muster up any word from their language as I could remember.. And I finally picked up on "Hosanna" and tapped my feet along in a somewhat choreographed manner to mimic the rest of them. After about an hour or so of dining an dancing, we spent time in the community center that Mission Church helped build on their last trip here, and I was able to play soccer with the kids. They are a bit weary seeing a girl trying to play with them, as they all Stand scattered aroud trying to kick 1 of 3 "balls" that may come near them, and then I began the chase ( which soon was never ending).  Once you try and take the ball away from a kid, they try and dribble passed you, and all the kids begin to chase after this one kid. I must say I was schooled pretty good by a few kids, and I'm not making excuses, but you can't say anything until you've tried to play soccer in a floor length skirt.. Yea, you step over the ball and the ball gets stuck between your legs and the skirt, and you proceed to fall in the dirt if not cautious.. Don't ask. We handed out more glasses today; Jeff the optomitrist must have examined 100 people, and we were able to find glasses for all of them. I had the privelege of finding glasses for the chief of a nearby village, and cannot even describe his reaction as he looked down upon the words of Bible and was able to see clearly. What an unbelievable moment. We spent all day in the village;  from 9am-430pm.. So we were exhausted. One of my favorite things about today was getting my Chechewa (their language) name. I opened up my piece of paper and read 'Chimkiemioe' (Che-mey- mey) which means "joy" . It's been a long day, and we are exhausted. Headed to a new village tomorrow so I'm excited to meet all new faces. Zicomo (thanks)!!! 

Made it!

So this will be Short and sweet but I made it to Malawi without any problems! Thank you for your prayers, as I was a little nervous flying into london as the airport was closed when we had left LAX. All my bags made it here, and the soccer balss made quite the commotion in the airport in Malawi- with police questioning me and people nagging for balls. We spent some time in the village today doing a vision clinic, and singing Songs with the children. Can't put words to describe it yet, just trying to grasp that I am here. I will be starting the soccer camps with the girls the first week of June, and Edward the youth director has told them all about this "Kelsey girl" who is bringing them soccer balls. I am very excited to be here, and slept almost all the way here on my flights, so I'm quite rested. I will blog later when i have more time! Love you all!

Departure in T-7 Days: My first post

I've never "blogged" before; so you will have to forgive me as I get used to this new form of mass communication. I am seven days from embarking on a new journey, and I find myself trying to overprepare- getting this, picking up that.. and now I've learned that my "have to plan everything" self is coming out in full force. I haven't had a hand in planning any aspect of this trip, which has been a challenge for me, as I'm such a planner, it can sometimes be "too much." The Lord has definitely grabbed hold of my heart, and given me peace of mind about my lack of planning in this trip! The anticipation is killing me,but I have much to do before my flight leaves at 9:20pm next Sunday. Last week of work (I am going to SOB saying goodbye to those kids!), parents and sisters coming into town, graduation (yippee!), grad night, and saying too many goodbyes before I leave! Please pray for calming nerves, and an open heart! Love you guys!