Jeremiah

While the old folks are out to play for the next week, I'm watching the 4 kiddos here in Mzuzu. Yep, I'm a single mom for four children.
This may change my mind about wanting to be a parent some day.... :)


But, I wanted to share briefly with you the awesome thing that happened on Sunday, Mother Day. (Happy Mom's Day by the way Mom!)

Jeremiah asked Jesus into his heart!!!

Jeremiah, or Jeremy, is the 6 year-old.
It was pretty precious, but here was my favorite quote that happened the following morning:

"Its kinda cool I'm going to school with the Holy Spirit today!" 

Heh, I love that kid. 

Baptism Sunday

A couple of Sundays ago, the Laffoons and I had the privilege of going to a baptism out in the village at one of the churches. It was a pretty cool experience. The church meets in a store front and is fairly new. A few of the members got saved, so this was the first baptism this church had.

Here's the bridge over the river we had the baptism in.

 

We caught a woman taking her bath as we came up the river. :) 

We had our baptism a little further up though.

 And the Cosmos are in bloom so they are everwhere!

 

The tradition is you walk from the church to the baptism site. And while you walk, you sing a worship song. Here was the church walking up the path to the river.

 

This guy got in first to clean the algae off the top of the water.

 

 After each person comes out of the water, the crowd sings a song. It was really neat.

Cows in the background...what baptism would be complete without it?

Yay for Skype!

My cousin Savannah got married last Saturday. I hated that I missed it, but that is part of the "missionary sacrifice" -- missing out on events back home.

But Hallelujah! for Skype. My sweet cousin Kameron worked it out for her friend, Travis, to have his IPhone to skype me into the wedding.  Apparently, my parents and Travis tried for 20 minutes before the wedding to try to get the skype connection to work, but it wouldn't work at all. Then, suddenly, I got the call!

At first, I could only hear what was going on, but by the time Sav and her hubbie-to-be were in front of her dad, the pastor, Travis got the video to work! 

 

It was so amazing to get to see and hear the ceremony. It really made me feel I was a part of it. We tried to skype at the reception, but we could only get audio. What a blessing that I got to see the ceremony for an uninterrupted 20 mins!

I am so blessed to be a missionary in a time where I get to SEE my family when I talk to them. Thanks, Lord!

Learning How to Cook

When I lived back in my apartment, I was known as the "one who could cook." My poor roommate/best friend Michelle burned cheese once...in the crockpot. Don't ask, though it is a hilarious story.

But I prided myself on the fact that I could cook a supper from "scratch". Or so I thought.

Then, I moved to Africa. 

And I was humbled because I quickly realized I have no clue how to cook.

I'm ashamed to say this, but it actually dawned on my several months ago that you could make pudding and it doesn't have to come from a box. Shameful, I know.

But, I've come a long way. I still have so far to go, but I know my way around herbs, meat, and definitely the oven a whole lot better now.

Baking has become sort of therapy for me. I really started to enjoy the dessert side of it all. I've gotten pretty good at the sweets, so that's really helped my waistline (sarcasm).

Here's a couple of my favorite things I've made:

 

 This is my one and only batch of doughnuts I've made. It has mint chocolate icing on the top, and I made doughnut holes covered with cinnamon and sugar. They were quite yummy!

This is one of the many pie shells I've made. I've gotten pretty good at them, but not quite perfected. My recipe secret is Joy. She makes cooking fun.

 

 I made a birthday cake for Maggie, and since then she has asked me to make a few more. This one was for a friend's sister. Remember, no box mixes, no can's of icing...all from scratch. It sure is more time consuming.

 

This here is my favorite Saturday morning/late night meal: The Single Lady Pancake

Its a buttermilk pancake with bananas, pecans, chocolate chips, and maple syrup that I make myself. Its my comfort food. And it makes just enough for one giant pancake.

But I've tried cinnamon rolls, cheesecake, pumpkin pie, apple crisp, vanilla coconut pie, and so many others. I think the Laffoons like it because I'm always bringing over my newest recipe for them to try. 

Here are some things that are bit different than how Americans know them.

 

This is a lemon. When they get this big, they are actually yellow, but when they are smaller, they are green. Our oranges are green as well. But these crazy looking lemons these are just huge!

And here is a typical "head of lettuce." Its smaller than the lemons! You can only get lettuce seasonally of course, so a lot of the time you only find leaves...no heads of lettuce at all. I got pretty lucky with this one.


Cooking here has really just changed my perspective on so many things. I make most everything from scratch. Sometimes, its not that you can't get it here, its just so much cheaper to make it from scratch.

So listen up boys...I can actually do know how to cook now.
You know...just FYI.

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