As we all walk through various stages of jet-lag, re-entry, and recovery, I would like to wrap up this blog by saying thank you to all of you who have checked in on us during this adventure; thank you to all who have prayed us there and back; thank you to all who have generously supported us in many ways!  We close this chapter by recognizing that this is only the beginning of a whole new book in many of our lives.  We have met and loved another branch of our family, God's beautiful family, and we all have the same, generous Father!  We now face a time of reflection, thinking, wrestling with where God is leading us, and why God even put us on this trip.  Most of all, as Will Phillips will be very quick to remind us, we need to be ready to hear God, and ready to listen.  

Signing off, for now,

Kristin Gort, for Team Malawi, 2013!

Waiting in Chicago for our first flight.  We had no idea what was ahead of us.

The group of 7 is now home in the USA.

I do have to say that was the first time I spent the 4th of July in England.  It was no big deal there.?.
Well we landed in Chicago at about 2:40pm, about 30 min late, but after traveling that far 30 min is no big deal. As I am writing this we are driving home from O'Hare.  Other then coming out the wrong door and coming up behind the people that were waiting for us, it all went well.  More later, but thanks for all the prayers for the team and TMC.

We are now packing for the ride back to Blantyre for a Wednesday
afternoon flight to South Africa. Everyone is feeling better again,
and returning to them self. We look forward to the getting home but
not so much the flights. We have some great memories here and will
remember Will and Pam for a long time. They have done so much for us
as we were so far from home. I hope we have returned it.
Yesterday, (Monday) the girls got a parachute and took time with each
class of students to play with it. Some got a little wild, but the
girls said that the preschoolers did the best. After school and
before supper the girls then took on the older boys in volleyball.
The girls did pretty well. I think the boys were impressed.
Prayer request:
Pam in now sick with malaria and might delay our heading to
Blantyre. Which we understand. Pray for her to get better in a quick
time. She is on meds.
Pray for our travels and the connections.

Might be our last update until we get to other internet connection.

Brad for the group

Sometimes I have to sit back and think “Wow, is this really my life?” I had many of those moments today. We had church this morning with all of the kids and staff members that stay with the kids. I have never been to such a vibrant church service before. It was full of dancing, singing, and personal testimonies. I loved every second of it. There is something amazing about seeing an entire congregation dance with everything they have. I never knew that church could double as a workout. After church there was more dancing while music played through portable speakers until lunch time. After lunch some of the smaller kids came over to Will and Pam’s house to watch a movie. The older kids watched one on Saturday so it was only fair that everyone gets their turn. At about 4:00 I headed over to spend some time with the preschoolers. They love to play games so I always love going over there. While I sat on the ground with them they all wanted to show me what they had learned in school. I had about 12 children each count to 30, say the ABC’s, and tell me the days of the week. I started to sing some songs with a couple of the kids which soon turned into the whole class singing and doing motions together. I had to leave when they had dinner but not until I gave many high-fives and hugs. I will never get tired of hearing “Good night auntie Beth!” Today was an amazing day but we are all starting to feel sad when we think that tomorrow is our last full day here. Please pray for us as we start packing up and make our final good-byes. Also, three of our team member, Sarah, Brad, and Katelyn have spent most of the day in bed because they were not feeling well. Katelyn seems to be doing better tonight but Brad and Sarah are still feeling down. Pray that they feel better before we make our trip home.

Beth Bouwkamp

 

Church on Sunday morning

 

Update for Saturday
We got the emails that the "group of 4" have arrived home in safety.
We are glad for that as we await our 15 guess from the UK today. We
also got word that another 6 from South Korea are arriving today also
and will be spending the night. So everyone is chipping in to clean
up, bake in the kitchen, and get places for them to sleep.
But that is today; yesterday we had our puppet show that we were
going to do on Saturday it went well and I will post a picture of it.
This all came about when we got the call that the people from South
Korea where coming and spending the night, so we moved our show up a
day. After the puppet show and supper, Will said to show the Jesus
film which he had on DVD and in the Chichewa language. So we setup
the projector and a sound system and connected it to a computer that
came from Canada. We set up a screen that could be seen from both
sides. I will post a picture also, but what the picture doesn't show
is the 200+ from the surrounding community on the other side of the
wall watching the movie. It was very humbling to think where we were
in Malawi Africa watching the Jesus film with them. We could not
understand a word of it, but watching the movie we knew which part of
the story we were at. Of course every girl had about 5 kids sitting
on them during the movie.
We have to go get ready for our guests. Wow you know that is funny
saying that like we live here.
Prayer request: That we stay healthy, and we have to start thinking
about packing up and heading home. With all the stress of it all, and
mixed feeling of home and wanting to stay.

Brad for the group

Latest update. The rat is back. He has ventured into many suitcases. He has eaten many things, especially the licorice. And now the day has come where it comes to an end. The food is gone, and the suitcases are duct taped. We lie awake at night wondering where he is, but we know we are protected by our mosquito nets. Besides the rat, we have had many new experiences with the “group of four” gone. We spent our mornings and afternoons working on accounts that Will needed done. We are also in the process of putting a puppet show together for the community this upcoming Saturday. This will be with the choir program and a movie at night. Yesterday we went to the market to buy our final souvenirs. It was really hot, well for us at least. Other than that, we haven’t done much except for playing with the kids in our free time. We are enjoying every last minute with them as our time comes to an end. We thank you for your prayers and support. We appreciate all that you have done for us.      

 

Sarah and Libby

 

Just an add on.  We were just going outside and herd a crowd and ask if there was a futbol match going on and the answer was yes.  We ask if it was ok to go to and the answer was yes.  So with some people from TMC away we went.  We got there in the first half and it was tied 1-1.  We ask the people with us what team we should rout for, the answer was the yellow team, and we were one with the crowd now.  Not long after the blue team scored and some people ran onto the field from their bench to give high fives.  Then was half time and everybody goes onto the field to play soccer until the start of the 2^nd half.  Then the second half started and the yellow team scored and everybody went nuts.  About a third of the 1000 + people watching ran onto the field celebrate.  What a sight, and great time.  Beth said she was going to run on the field next time.  But we had to go to supper and will have to find out who won tomorrow.  Talking to people we found out this is the semi-finals and the finals are on Saturday same field.  With a visit from the group from UK I don’t know if we will be able to see any.  But we are glad we got to see one match.

 

Brad