Happy Birthday Sis!

I taught her how to read.
I taught her how to play the piano.
I taught her how to get out of bed and get me a cup of water at night with her thinking it was a fun game.
All by the time she was 4.

She was a pain in my rear end, but we played together constantly when we were younger.
I remember playing "school" in our playhouse in our backyard on many occasions.

How we have countless home videos of me being pretty much her "second" mom.
Then, we started to grow up, and we are pretty different people.
She got old enough to where she was way smarter than me. I was always asking her how to spell a word or what something meant. (and still do!)

She almost got better than me at playing Super Mario too.
I was the athlete and she was the cheerleader, but we both got to be leads in the school play.

She is short, blond and blue-eyed, and I'm tall with dark hair and eyes...but we have really similar humor.

I love teaching kiddies, but it makes her want to claw her eyes out.
I hate law, but she thrives when in a law office/in an argument.

And today, she turned 22.
Ahh...22...what a young age! :)

Sis, no matter how different we are, I'm so glad to call you sister.
I'm so sorry I can't be there for your college graduation, but I couldn't be more proud!
You are so incredibly smart and talented, and you have accomplished so much even with big obstacles in your way! I miss you so much and can't wait to laugh with you when I get back. See you soon!!!

I love you! Happy Birthday!

Mission Meeting in Pictures

 This is when our tire just fell off...

 This is the lovely family that we broke down in front of. They pretty much stood there and watch us for a good 4 hours before they went back and sat down.

 Proof we were in the middle of nowhere.

 Here's the house we were next too.

 All the kids running up the street yelling, Mzungu!! It was pretty funny.

 

For money, she sells termites for eating on the side of the road.

Now, for when we finally arrived! 

This is Sally, me, and Jessica. Sally and Jessica are partners working in University ministry.

 Yeah, we would just lay out on the dock and look at this beautiful scenery in the afternoons! How cool is that?

 Good friends! Jessica and Blake and Sally!

The camel one I should put up is the one right before this one. I was leaning so far forward I thought I was going to fall off. So I have a look of sheer terror. Its pretty awesome.

 

Doesn't everyone ride a camel when they go to the lake?

I also participated in the talent show...hopefully those pictures are coming soon.

March Update

In case you don't get my update emails, here is this month's.

Dear My Wonderful and Cherished Friends and Family,

Six months to go.

Six months left to share my life with the African people.

Six months left to tell someone else about Jesus here in Malawi.

Six months left to hold orphaned babies, eat nsima, & speak Tumbuka.

Six months until my life is turned upside-down again.

Please lift me up to the Father these last six months. I know they will be incredibly hard, rewarding, exciting, and tearful. 

Please lift up my gardener's family and night guard. It seems like they will never come to know the True Way, but I know I can keep Asking for them.

Please lift me up as I start to consider my life after Africa. What to do? Where to live? These are weighing heavy on my heart.

Please lift up the Ngoni people that we work with each Sunday. Ask that they will grow in their Walk with Him and that they will be a growing body of Followers.

Praise Him that I've gotten to talk more with Maureen.

Praise Him that I got to share the Good News with a lady at my gate. 

Praise Him I have recovered from another bout with Malaria.

Praise Him that I was allowed to fellowship with over 150 other M's last week...to hear all the AMAZING things HE is doing all across Africa! Praise Him!!

School continues on with the boys, and it so encouraging to see how much they've grown. Jeremy is now reading, Joel can write in beautiful cursive, and Nathanel is a multiplication whiz! 

Some of my dear, dear friends left this month. They were an older couple who helped run and manage the Crisis Nursery. They invited me over to their house when I first arrived for movies and cookies (made with chocolate chips and brown sugar!) but also to listen as I shared my fears and my triumphs. They were so incredibly encouraging. Darlene was a member of our tea group, so her presence will be sorely missed. They have gone back home to spend time with grandkids. You can be lifting them up during their time of transition: Paul and Darlene.

I have also found that you mark your time here by events...things to look forward to. The thing that we have been looking forward to for months now is Annual Cluster Meeting! (in other words, all of our company's "m's" from the surrounding countries get together for a week at the lake and talk about what He's doing). There were volunteers from the US there to lead us in worship and teach us the Word in ENGLISH! In fact, I can say that is the most I've been "fed"  since I've left the States. It was wonderful! The bummer part was that what should have taken us just a simple 8 hour drive turned into a 36 hour trip...it has Griswold written all over it. A case of Malaria, 3 breakdowns, lost keys, and so much more! Here's the blog about that one.

Lisa and I have started a Co-Op with the two South African families that live here. Once a month, we get together and do school-oriented activities with our students. We've had our very first one this month, and it went so well!

This month's snippets:

• I've been pursued by more men than I EVER care to...so I wear a fake engagement ring when I go out in public now.
• I rode a camel on the beach with the mountains of Mozambique in the background--AHHH-mazing!
• Drove 2 1/2 hours to get to church, met in an all-grass hut that was packed with Followers, and had one awesome chicken and nsima meal afterwards. I love Sundays like that!
• Drove 2 hours to try to find a church we heard was there, but found out they disbanded some time ago. So while the Laffoons went off in search of the old church leaders, I stayed back in the very small town and played with kids, talked with women, and just got to share time with them. An hour later, I had a lot of new friends, and hopefully brothers and sisters in Him in the future! I love Sundays like that!
• Pretty sure I was given the ribs? or something around where the chicken heart is...because I had to eat around some awfully large arteries or something. It was pretty interesting. I let Anna Marie have the heart. :)

Love you all incredibly much.

Love to hear from you and would love to know how to lift you up!

Live each day for Him.

See who you can show the Son to today.

Love,

Lauren

"Despite all the little problems it's fun isn't it?"

The Reeder family has always been a little "Griswoldly" as in Clark Griswold..and apparently I have brought that with me here to Africa.

People say to me a lot "only you Lauren, only you"...I'm not sure why "only me" but crazy things do happen to me a lot.

Anyway, let's start this story last Sunday...



I wasn't feeling well on Sunday, so I decided to stay in town and go to church with my South African friends. Eric had a speaking engagement in the village so he left early to go do that. Lisa also was not feeling well, so it was just Eric and the kids that headed out to the village. While I'm sitting in church with my friends, they get a call from Eric. (whoops, I didn't have my phone), saying that he has broken down and they need him to come and rescue him.

Problem with that: we HAVE to take this car on our 8 hour long awaited journey to our Annual Meeting at the lake the next day.  We have to pull our trailer behind us, etc...etc...

So, we get back and find out the AXLE has fallen down. Yes, axle. Apparently the bolts weren't tightened on some joint, and the entire Axle fell. So, we got it all fixed up and it seemed that this would just be a little blip on the radar, and that we were going to be ready to ride at 5am the next morning.

Later that night, I get worse. Pain, nausea, weakness, and finally fever starts overtaking me. In my delirium, I remember someone maybe weeks ago mentioning to me to check the lake shore road we were going to take the meeting...something about a bridge being out. I tell Eric that night around 7ish, and a hour later we find out yes...that road is out. We have to divert to the capital adding at least an hour to our drive. Well, at least we found out before hand...

Then, Eric comes into the room and says, "where are the keys to the car?" We have spare keys, but the original has the key to "The Club" (the steering wheel lock) and so we can't drive with that still on.

We decide we will find them at some point before 5 am, and the Laffoons have to drive me home and put me in bed because I'm so sick now.

I wake up at 4:30...and wait...and wait...5 o'clock rolls around...5:30...STILL NO KEYS! We are stuck in Mzuzu because we can't get the steering wheel lock off!

Around 8:00am, Lisa drives me to the hospital to get tested for Malaria. I get meds for it and we hear the decision that we are going to "saw-off" the club so we can get on the road.

So, by 10:00 we are on the road! We are dreaming of having supper at the lake with all of our friends...well, i was feeling so horrible I was just dreaming about not being in the car anymore.

Around 11:30, the car kind of slips on the road...
Hmm...
As we are looking for a place to pull over, we hear a big thud, and our car is scraping on cement.
And I look over and our TIRE is rolling past us...We all watch is just roll past us and in front of our car.

Oh gosh.

We are parked by a mud hut in the middle of nowhere...
Everyone we know is already at the lake, but crazy enough some of our colleagues were in a wreck the day before so they were still in town to arrange help for us.
-a car is being sent to pick the family up.
-a wrecker is being sent to get the car.
-our colleagues are coming to get Eric and the trailor
-they will be there in 4 hours.

About 3 hours into this, 2 mechanics stop by and help us get the wheel back on. They say its drivable to get to Lilongwe.

Two kilometers later, we have to pull back over because the brakes are rubbing and may start a fire.

One hour later, our van comes, gets our car drivable and we finally head to Lilongwe.

We have offically been on the side of the road for 6 hours.
I'm going to be honest; having Malaria while on the side of the road, missing out on being at the lake...probably ranks up there with one of my horrible days ever.

Finally we get to lilongwe 11 hours after we first left Mzuzu.

Our replacement car will be ready by 9am and then we will make our last 4 hour ride to the lake...

We find out at 10 our car has horribly bent tires and needs alignment.
Finally at 1 we get on the road to the lake.

No kidding here...1 hour into the trip we get a FLAT TIRE!
hahaha.

Well...what should have taken 8 hours...took 48, but we finally made it.

To add insult to injury, I had to be wheelchaired to my room because I was so sick when I got there, and the wheelchair got a flat tire. So I had to be driven the rest of the way.

I told you...it was like a Griswold family vacation!!
No one can ever say my life is boring.

Do I have a wing in my teeth?

My good friend Kathryn and her family live in Uganda. She blogs all the time (way more consistent than me) and she always does a good job of explaining life overseas, like little everyday things that I guess us living over here take for granted...like hand plowing fields, women carrying wood on their head, a baby on their back, walking uphill, and crocheting all at the same time. Anyway, you should check out her blog sometime...(its on my sideboard - Livin' the Good Life).

So, I mention Kat because this post is kinda like that. I hadn't really thought twice about the flying ant season this year, but I figured I would share that experience with you because it isn't something we experience in America.

Maggie and I decided to go out to eat the other night. Taryn, one of the friends I saw in Madrid, thought it was quite funny about the 5 places I have to choose from to eat at here in Mzuzu.
So here they are:
Foodland
A1 Indian Cusine
Graceland (malawian cusine)
Hot n' Spice Indian Cusine
Big Bite
(They basically all sell the same thing: Chicken n' chips or nsima.)

Well, Foodland is the new "hip" place in town so we decided to go there. It is owned by an Iranian guy and they sell the typical chicken n' chips, nsima, the african version of pizza, and that's pretty much it. Well, as we walked into the restaurant since it was dusk, the flying ants were everywhere, and they were really attracted to the lights.

As we were standing there talking to one of the waitresses, white ants are flying all around us. I felt them crawling up my legs, hit me in the face, and land in my hair ...you just kind of ignore them. They are covering the floor, and you can't really step without stepping on one of them. No lie: I saw one guy just kind of pick it off him and eat it. heh.

I mean, can you imagine that happening in the states? Talk about not getting an "A" for the health code! I think the most bizarre part was that I was okay with it and it seemed pretty normal.

Side note: the 60 year-old Iranian guy that runs the place? I thought he was just being nice and chatting with us all that time...nope. Find out later its because he wants me to be his wife.

And that my friends is another reason I'm now wearing my fake engagement ring!

Ooo! I smell steak!

I had a bit of a rough afternoon the other day. One of those days where not much seems to go right...

I had finished school with the boys. It went fine. No problems there. It has been serious rainy season here, and I'm as pale as a ghost because of the cloud coverage everyday. I haven't seen the sun since November! But that day was paticularly sunny and gorgeous.

We have a retreat at the lake at the end of March, so I was attempting to build up a bit of sun resistance so I don't turn into a lobster the first few hours I'm there...so I decided to go outside, sit in my chair basking in the sun's rays, and read a book.

Well, while I was thoroughly enjoying my Lori Wick novel, my Jack Russell was just barking and barking and barking just on the other side of the flower bed.

I finally got up to try and make her stop, when I saw what she was barking at: a green snake.

My first thought was MAMBA! He was much smaller than my previous one, only about 2 feet long. I called and called at the top of my lungs for my gardener to come and help me. But no one came running. The kids just looked at me like I was screaming crazy Mzungu things, which I guess I was... So, I finally gave up and decided to deal with it on my own.

I ran and got a shovel and a stick.
Now, the stick was to hold down his head so I could analyze him and see if it was a harmless green snake or a green mamba (a.k.a one of the most poisonous snake in the world). I got his head pinned down and inspected this thing for a good 3 minutes, but I just couldn't tell him his head was as flat as a mamba's is supposed to be.

I figured that a one dead green harmless snake was better than letting a Mamba go free, so I chopped him in half and carried him away. (I found out later it was just a harmless green snake). Right as I was putting the snake away my gardener appeared. Talk about timing.

So, I decide to head inside from my little snake adventure.
I had bought some fresh green peanuts in the market and I wanted to boil some. Unfortunately, my housekeeper wasn't aware of a southerner's affinity for "boy-eld pee-nuts" so she had shelled them for me.
I figured I would try and boil just the nuts...I mean, it couldn't hurt right?

So, I put the nuts in some water and salt and threw them on my stove on high. I watched them for a bit and then realized I needed to pee. So, I went and did that  (sorry, is that too much information?), but while I was in my room, I totally pulled a ADD classic move....

I saw my computer on my bed and thought, "Oo! I didn't finish that NCIS Season 2 episode last night! I should watch that before dinner!"

So, I pulled up my computer and started watching a 45 minute episode. Now, my windows are open and my fan is on in my room. I have a great crossbreeze going through my room. About half-way through the show, I notice it smells like someone is cooking steaks in my backyard. "Mmm, I thought...that smells so good! I should do a braii one of these days!"

I kept watching my show, and when I finally finished it, the smell of something cooking over a fire was really strong. I stuck my head out of my window to see if it was my gardener, but the smell was not strong outside at all. I thought that was a bit weird.

I turned around and looked into the room across the hall and saw it filled with smoke. I ran into there to see if there was a fire outside the window but there was nothing.

So, I came into the hallway and was shocked to see my entire hallway was filled with smoke! It was so thick that I thought my house was on fire. The only way to get out of my house was through the kitchen, so I really thought I was going to be stuck. I ran up the hallway and looked in all the rooms thinking that my house going down in flames. The smoke was incredibly thick! I ran into the kitchen only THEN did I actually remember that I had put peanuts on the stove over 45 mins ago!

There was no fire, just very, very, very burned nuts in the bottom of my pot on the stove.

I finally got the smoke cleared out.
When I walked into the Laffoon's house that night, Lisa said, "What smells like smoke?"
It was ME!
5 days later, my house still smells like smoke.

I tell you what, my guardian angels should get paid overtime.

whoa...it's March?

I can't go to the hotel to do my internet anymore because a young fellow has decided that he loves me and tends to wait around for me there. So that has seriously cut into my internet time.

Also, I feel like not much has been going on that is "blog" worthy.

And Mr. Laffoon just told me that he needs the internet, so we'll just put stories of my house filled with smoke, killing another mamba, being attacked my flying bugs while eating my food at a restaurant, and Sunday in a grass hut on hold.

I'm coming back...I promise.

Love,

Lauren