Lusaka, Zambia

It was interesting stay overnight at the home of Mark Katsonga Phiri. He is quite a national leader. He has also been a long-time member of the Blantyre Chamber of CommerceHe was President of it for four years. Servants prepared a tasty breakfast for us before we packed up in the same vehicle we traveled in yesterday and Peter drove us to the Blantyre Airport. On to Lusaka! The flight first went to the capital Lilongwe and then the one hour 40 minute leg to Lusaka. Shirley and Kambani Banda were there to greet us. How good to see them again!! Kambani Banda has been an excellent minister in Zambia, an excellent manager and one who has made our LifeNets projects intending to change people’s lives for the better a phenomenal success. I have a great deal of trust in their capacity to make things happen…simply because they HAVE made things happen. Always, the strength of LifeNets has been our competent delivery at the beneficiary’s end. Other organizations such service clubs and churches have noted this about LifeNets. I tell them that we use our ministers and old-time acquaintances to deliver our programs. We are strict regarding accountability and if we make mistakes we correct them and determine not to make them again. We stopped at Manda Hill mall to change money. The Zambia Kwacha is 3850 to one US dollar. We got about two million Zambian Kwachas for $500. Bev was commenting to Kambani Banda who is a certified public accountant that you need an accounting degree in this country just to manage the money and exchange rates. We headed out to Feast site which is at Paray’s game park just outside of Lusaka. The entire church greeted us outside the camp ground with a wonderful welcome sign for Bev and me. They sang a few greeting songs. It was very touching to us. We settled into our chalet and prepared for the afternoon church service which didn’t start until almost 4:30 PM. Compared to keeping the Feast in the Mumbwa area in Zambia’s interior, this shelter was superior. There were nice chairs for everyone instead of wooden benches and actually no seating in year’s past. As in Malawi, we are becoming more familiar with the people and feel we know them so much better. I gave the sermon. The special music was exceptional! The choir sang beautifully, in harmony with no accompaniment in perfect rhythm. The voices were skillfully blended. The people look great! So much better than our first years. The dress, appearance, even the demeanor is a tribute to Kambani Banda’s management of livelihood development programs that are working beyond our expectations. Mr. Banda tells me that an indicator of improved conditions is the tripling and quadrupling of church tithes. Just as we were leaving the hall Mr. James Mphulah stopped by. He is deputy permanent secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs here in Zambia and a member of the United Church of God. He is a man of great humility and competence. Under his administration is the Zambian police and control of the borders. Dinner was brought to our chalet. There are lots of bugs and Bev yelped at the five inch spider. Kambani Banda and Apren Momba got a mosquito net put up more for keeping out all the critters than the mosquitoes of which there are few. Another day of excitement comes to a close……tomorrow I’m sure there will be more!

Blantyre, Malawi

This is our last day at the Feast here in Malawi and saddens grips me. We love the Malawian people, they truly have the warm heart of Africa as the travel advertisements go. Bev and I have gotten into the personal lives of so many of the Malawi brethren and feel satisfaction in being providers of hope not only spiritually, but vocationally as well. We have taken at least ten application for livelihood development projects to consider and to fund before the beginning of the year. Most projects to this point, both in scholarships and livelihood development have been successful. We try to tell them about the LifeNets mission of providing practical aid that makes people self-sustaining and then helps them help others. Bill Jahns and I both gave sermons, Bill about the Resurrection and I spoke about marriage. Since we enjoyed the children’s choir so much earlier, I made a special request for them to sing again. They did. Then the church choir sang as well. It was beautiful. After the service was complete, Beverly addressed everyone about LifeNets and gave some important pointers about our programs Then the lunch. Today we invited everyone over to the Nkopola Lodge for a lunch. All 140 people came and enjoyed a delicious lunch, provided by brethren in Boston, Houston South and Central Illinois. Time to go. Our driver is “Peter” from the Customs and Excise Office of Malawi. He works for my Rotarian friend Agnes Katsonga Phiri who is the head of that division. Rotarians help one another and this was a BIG help as the 100 mile distance from Lake Malawi to Blantyre is difficult to arrange. I cannot say enough about Rotary’s support for what we are doing to help people. We were taken to the home of Mark and Agnes Katsonga Phiri. Agnes has gone to visit her daughter in London, but the house is made available to us. Mark is a bit late coming from work. He is also a major poultry producer in Malawi. He had been President of the Chamber of Commerce. He has dinner with us served by home servants. A young orphan girl Loughan who is Agnes’s niece lives with them. She is a senior in high school. She is very friendly with us and we enjoy her presence. Mark Katsonga Phiri is a very competent person who is intimately acquainted with the politics and economics of Malawi. We do see him as the President of the country in the future. The six of us carried on an animated conversation until 10 pm. It was fascinating and enlightening.

Mangochi, Malawi

Today I borrowed a bicycle from one of the staff at the hotel to go some exercise. It’s not just a bike ride, it’s an eyeful of local Malawi life. The area is predominantly Muslim. I pass mosque and mosque and madressa. The people are very peaceful and gentle Muslims and very friendly. The Catholic Church and the Muslims compete for the hearts of the people in this region. I biked about 20 miles and enjoyed seeing the sights of fields being worked up to be planted in anticipation of the rainy season. Women carried incredible loads on their heads of water, wood and everything else. Trucks hauled a dozen or more men in the back to who knows where. It was just plain interesting to see all this activity. Children continually wave in friendly innocence. When coming back to the Nkopola Lodge, I saw officers in military dress and a prominent-looking woman with a dress saying “Fight Corruption.” We found out from brethren that she was Speaker of the Parliament who is often seen on television. Mililtary personnel in full colors were also present. We found out later that they were there for funeral of a Malawian official who was from this area of the country. On to Church services. Bill Jahns gave a good sermon about the education and how that knowledge is powerful and how it benefits our lives. After services we took group photos of extended families. The Salawilla family was the biggest with almost 20. The Chimbuzo family was probably second. They had about 15 of their family at the Feast. Then the Mapinda’s. One thing I really enjoy at the Feast is watching the families relate to one another and work together. In the afternoon I had three people come by to talk about various matters. In the evening we had another barbeque. Henry Khembo along with his wife Cindy have really been servants and have given themselves so much to these people. He had bbq’d guinea fowl and chicken along with rice or nsima, the maize staple. In the United States the closest thing to nsima is grits. Afterwards we got together with Bill and Cheryl and had some good conversation. We are sad to have to leave this Festival site midway. We have really gotten to know the people well and would like more time with them, but Zambia calls. Tomorrow we go back to Blantyre and stay with Rotary friends and fly to Lusaka on Wednesday. Bill and Cheryl fly back to South Africa where they will continue the Festival in Uvongo on the Indian Ocean.

Mangochi, Malawi

Today we broke another record in Malawi UCG history. Yesterday the attendance was 137. Today it grew to 141. The meeting hall is filled to capacity and the four air conditioners are working at full capacity, but it’s still hard to give a sermon with a suit coat on. I gave the morning sermon entitled “What God Has Begun, He Will Finish.” I feel that the people need encouragement to know that God knows what He’s doing in working in a poor country like Malawi. He has a special plan for everyone He calls. After services as a minister I spent time talking to people about personal matters and LifeNets projects and grants. Overall the people have done wonderfully in the livelihood development area as well as the scholarships that we introduced here only two years ago. Afterwards we took the three principle people in the Maize Mill Project out to lunch to talk about how things were going. We are pleased as to how the maize mill project is working. It is working with a commodity, so there will always be an income generated. Eliphazi Salawilla, Fred Chimbuso and Mr. Chikaza have formed a three-part association. Our aim is to make this maize mill a model of good business practice and customer service. We found that the the daily bus transportation for Fred Chimbuso and Mr. Chakaza were exhorbitant, but a problem that could be resolved if they could get to work by bicycle. We will get them bicycles and cost them $100 each. In the evening we had the variety/fun show which was really great. Kids recited poems, various people sang and jokes were told. It was so enjoyable to see people having a good time in this land of poverty and hopelessness. It gave me a great deal of satisfaction to see the values of the Church translate into such a wonderful display. Afterwards, we had the game feed, although when the game was being hunted earlier in the day, elephants unexpectedly showed up and drove them away from the hunters. So, goats were butchered instead and we had some guinea fowl. Bev and I walked home along the beach in utter darkness.

Mangochi, Malawi

Today is the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles and we have two services scheduled. We had breakfast at the Nkopola Lodge with Bill and Cheryl Jahns. It’s quite windy on the lake, but absolutely beautiful. It’s about a quarter mile walk from where we stay to the meeting hall and you need to walk right along the lakeshore which is public access. It’s quite an experience seeing all the ladies and children doing their washing and laying the clothing out on the sandy beach. It’s amazing to see how nice the people do look dressed even with such primitive methods of washing and doing normal life chores. It was wonderful seeing everyone at the meeting hall before services. This is our third Feast of Tabernacles in Malawi in four years and we recognize most everyone and know many of the names. Because we work with so many people on livelihood and scholarship projects, we have become quite close to them and feel a bond of genuine friendship. Lewis Salawilla leads songs, elder Gladstone Chonde gives the sermonette and I gave the sermon that was translated into Chewa by Mr. Chierwa. All went well. The afternoon sermon was given by Bill Jahns. We talked a long time after the afternoon service before having dinner back at the lodge. We invited two families to join us. It was unbelievably enjoyable to have this time with them.

Mangochi, Malawi

We leave for the Lake Malawi today. It’s been pleasant staying with the Chilopora’s at their home. We have visited here several times and always enjoy coming here. We feel very comfortable with them. This morning I was able to get Chiku’s computer fixed. We pack up and head to the lake. The Chilopora’s bring all their food with them. They also bring plenty for others. They are very generous people and God has blessed them for it. Because there is so much, Dr. Chilopora asks his nephew to drive some of the items to Mangochi in his pickup truck. It is Friday and as we drive the 100 mile distance we see faithful Muslims walking to their place of worship at the mosque. This area has been Muslim since the Middle Ages when the Arabs invaded this area. It became a primary area for slave trade for several centuries where the inhumane practice of forcing thousands of people into slavery from the villages. Local chiefs were guilty of selling their own people for profit to Arabs who shipped them all over the world, including the United States. We got to Mangochi mid-afternoon and settled in. We are very happy with our accommodations at the Nkopola Lodge. We have a nice round home. We are familiar the setup here and look forward to our stay. We met Bill and Cheryl Jahns who came up the day before and went to dinner with them. We are so blessed to be with these people and in this land. Our plans are to stay until Tuesday when have to get back to Blantyre and stay overnight. We have been invited to stay at the home of a Member of Parliament Mark Katsonga Phiri. As mentioned previously, his wife Agnes is the Assistant Rotary Governor for Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Mozambique and very kind and partial towards us. They will not think of us staying at any hotel and want us to stay with them. We are concerned about how we will get back from the Lake to Blantyre, because there are only four vehicles here at the Feast. Henry Khembo’s camper and our two ambulances and one more family with a car. Agnes has offered to drive us on occasion and I did help them quite a bit last summer when they stayed with us in Indianapolis. We called her and asked if she could send a driver from Blantyre to Mangochi to take us back to Blantyre She obliged and within an hour arranged for a “Peter” from her office at Excise and Customs to come and get the Jahns’ and us on Tuesday. Agnes herself flies to the United Kingdom tomorrow to see her daughter in London.

Balaka, Malawi

This is another WOW day as we see some tremendous progress in our Malawi projects. Bev and I are just so excited to see this first-hand and how people’s lives are changed for the better. Dr. Sam Chilopora drove from Blantyre to Balaka. He was to have a trailer connected to the ambulance so that the Chilopora’s, Bill and Cheryl Jahns and Bev and I could all go together to Lake Malawi for the Feast of Tabernacles. The trailer never got delivered and it was decided that Bill and Cheryl would go directly from Blantyre to the Lake with Henry and Cindy Khembo. Dr. Chilopora is 77 years old, but amazing in his energy level. He still sees 20-30 patients every day at the Chizeni fifth Health Centre along with his nurse wife Esther who is 74. He wanted me to drive the 100 miles back to Balaka which I really enjoyed doing. We passed by one of the biggest open air markets that is open on Friday. Hundreds of vendors were selling EVERYTHING. For fifteen miles past the open air market we saw people walking away from the markets carrying unbelievable loads on their heads. At points past the market they were already reselling the items they had bought at market. We drove directly to the Chizeni Clinic in Balaka where a portion of the 200 orphans of the LifeNets Orphan Care Centre were waiting to greet us. It’s always such an exciting event as they noisily greet us with singing. At first we were greeted by the grandmothers, then by other guardians and the orphans. This time I was able to meet some of the managers of the program besides Dr. Chilopora. One was a competent young woman named Irina James that seemed to be the “traffic director” of all the activity. She is the chairman of the LifeNets Orphan Care Centre. There is a committee of four that includes a treasurer and secretary. The Centre provides food, medicine and education for the guardians. We have also provided clothing and blankets. We were able to see the 230 blankets that the ladies in the Portland and other Northwest United Churches of God provided. They are safely stored for distribution when the weather turns colder. Right now in Malawi it’s spring and time for the rainy season to begin. For this season mosquito nets are needed. Part of our visit with the orphans was to distribute mosquito nets. Christina Davis, and eighteen year old young lady from Portland, Oregon raised $5000 for mosquito nets mostly to be distributed from the Chizeni Clinic here in Balaka. We started that distribution here with Beverly handing out nets. The initial distribution is for 500 nets with more than 2000 to follow. We have also provided nets in Lilongwe, Blantyre and for the Zambians. Dr. Chilopora is able to get four poster nets as low as 80 cents apiece through a subsidized program, so Christina’s fundraising is going a LONG WAY! This the fifth year that LifeNets has sponsored the care of 200 orphans under age five. They come from an adjacent village to Balaka called Mpulula. This area is predominantly Muslim. The chief from Mpulula came to greet us this time. She had written to us before, but this is the first time I had met her. She is Muslim, very modest and very kind and very caring about the children. We were told that if this orphan program would not be in place, mortality of the children under age five would be as high as 50% in the five year period. Life is not easy here and it’s so difficult to get things turn our right. Animals get into things, people steal things, the government interferes and the weather is unpredictable. In the midst of all these obstacles we still are joyful that we can get SOME things right. From Balaka we drove on about 30 miles in the ambulance to Ntcheu where Dr. and Mrs. Chilopora live. Things do see a bit better than in former visits. We passed by the witch doctor on the way to their home in Ntcheu. Even she has spruced up her place. It was dark and the road very dangerous with many bikers and pedestrians. There are many bikers hit by vehicles and I can see why. At the Chilopora’s we had dinner. We gave their granddaughter Chiku an mp3 player and tried to help her with some computer problems on her laptop. What a full day! Bev and I are just happy to be here and visit.

Blantyre, Malawi

WOW!!! What a day!! Today was our day to see several of our LifeNets success stories for the Malawi people. We want to give special commendation to Henry Khembo who has driven us around all day long today. It was a hard journey. I had NEVER been on roads as bad as the one we traveled on and we stayed all within Blantyre today. We were in the within the Ndilande and the Chirinda sections of town. Ndilande is densely populated compacted into a neighborhood, some of which has no electricity or running water. We walked through sections of it. We were an hour late getting going, but that is Africa. With all the things that go wrong, it is a miracle sometimes that we get done what we do. At 11:00 Henry and Cindy Khembo with their young son Jordan came to get us in their travel trailer. Off we go to Eliphaz and Celia Salawilla’s home. We were here two years ago and what a pleasant difference with the improvements we have seen. Mr. Salawilla keeps the UCG office in a separate room in his home. Two years ago there were gaping holes in the sheet metal roof. There was only a basic bench where he stuffed envelopes with literature and Good News magazines. Since that time LifeNets helped him with a new sheet metal roof which will keep water out during the rainy season. Also there are various sorting bins for various literature and a nice desk. It really looks great. Mr. Salawilla has such a warm heart. Mrs. Salawilla and her daughter, daughter-in-law and niece prepared lunch that included chicken, nsima, rice and vegetables and always the bottle of soda pop. We all talked, laughed and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Myriads of children peered through the doorway at us white people visiting the Ndilande neighborhood. Off to see the LifeNets maize mill which was right next door. Three families manage the maize mill which is called the Chachisa (named after the three families who manage the mill – Chakaza, Chambuso and Salawilla). We were impressed! A steady stream of customers was streaming to the mill with women coming to get their maize milled. The humming and whirring electric motor in no time would grind up a whole pans of maize. The women would collect the finished product, put it on their head and head on down the street. The busiest hours of operation are from 10 to noon when there is a line of women waiting with their maize. Then they go home and prepare the evening meal. We were so excited to see all this activity – also knowing that it provide a GOOD living for three families. Mr. Fred Chimbuzo was unemployed for six years. He has 15 children. He used a paltry government pension to pay for support his family. Now he can support himself. LifeNets goal is to help people become self-sufficient where we do not have to continually support them. Our LifeNets maize mill project was one of our more expensive ones: $9,500, but it is very solid, profitable and serves a commodity interest of the community. From the maize mill we went on to Mr. Chipendo’s “homes” in an extremely poor part of the Ndilande neighborhood. LifeNets had helped him a year ago to put new sheet metal roofs on the tiny dwellings which still have dirt floors. He rents them out and some of the rent is only $2.25 a month. With the new roofs he can double the rent. If he were to put in a concrete floor, the value of the property would double again. What would a concrete floor cost? Amazingly, only about $25 per floor and the cost could be recovered in a year’s time. I often hear the expression that Africa is a “black hole.” That is not necessarily untrue, but I do find that a well-thought through project can help people be able to sustain themselves in their own economies and cultures. It helps change attitudes, makes them feel better about themselves and helps lift them out of a poverty mentality. We have seen this work over and over again. Yes, Africa needs a new infrastructure, but along with it, it needs a lifting of the spirit with spiritual values to give it dignity. From Chipendo’s neighborhood which I could never possibly find again in a the maze of twisted alleys we go on to another neighborhood called Chirenda where Lewis and his wife Kuda live. Henry Khembo does a masterfool job navigating the camper through the almost non-existant roads and steep climbs. I have NEVER been on anything so challenging, even the Lusaka – Mumbwa road in Zambia. Lewis and Kuda along with their children live in a more open and nicer area of Blantyre. They own a modest home around which they are building a security wall. LifeNets has helped Kuda with a “Freezes” shop. It is basically owning a freezer and selling frozen treats. Lewis works for the Sobo bottling company and is able to be a reseller of various sodas. They family is able to have a substantial income supplement with the Freezes shop. They plan to put it outside at the security wall and make it more convenient for passing customers. On the new LifeNets water well funded by my Rotary District in Central Indiana as well as my home Rotary Club also in the Chirinda neighborhood. There was road here that I thought was completely impassable, but Henry got us through. He used to be a truck driver and had a good sense of the terrain, but we would come to an obstacle and he would make the right maneuvers to get us through. There were at least two times that I said, “We can’t make this.” But, we did. We made it up to James and Mary Mapinda’s dwelling on the side of a hill. We knew immediately what house it was because there was a crowd of women and a long string of water buckets around the new Rotary-financed well. It was so exciting to see this! The water well has been operating for over a month and has provided over thousand people much more easily accessible water. The well before was nearly a mile away that included an up and down a steep incline. The Mapindas, for example, had their daughters make seven trips a day to bring 5 gallon buckets of water on their heads to provide for the family’s water needs. Now the well is in their backyard and provides water for all their neighbors. We took lots of pictures and video. What a buzz of activity. The hours are moving quickly towards sunset and we have two more stops to see a four acre vegetable farming project at Peter Kawinga’s that LifeNets is interested in helping become self-sufficient by providing treadmill pumps and fertilizer for the first round. We got there as the sun was beginning to set and saw the work that he done in preparation for November which is planting time. Being on the side of a mountain he was able to build a reservoir for collecting water that he can then pump up to the garden. The day ended with most of our group eating dinner at a close-by Indiana restaurant by where we are staying. The Salawilla’s and Mr. Chimbuso, Bill and Cheryl and Bev and me had a great finish to an exciting day!!!

Blantyre, Malawi

Today spent much of the day with United Church of God deacon Eliphaz Salawilla. He is a man of amazing spiritual strength coupled with humility. He has been faithful for years and has set the pace for the church in Blantyre. He lives in a poor township in Blantyre. A number of other UCG families, including his children, live close by. He came by at 11:00 am and we discussed the LifeNets projects in greater detail. He is our manager for the various livelihood projects here. The last one was the drilling of a borehole on the property of James Mapinda who lives about a mile from him. This project was financed by my Rotary District of Central Indiana. The well was drilled on his property and provides fresh water for his family and for those around which is many. We are looking forward to seeing the well tomorrow. We were given photos showing people lined up with buckets drawing water. . Another successful project has been the maize mill LifeNets financed right next to Mr. Salawilla’s home. It provides a decent living for three families and a service to the community. We discussed more details about that operation. We also have scholarships, sewing, knitting, food production and more. One person has a freezer shop. We discussed the various level of success of the other livelihood and scholarship projects. Bev and I have developed a set of policies for the consideration of the various grants and how they will be managed. Overall, we are very pleased for how they are working. We just wanted to make sure that our programs were working and they are! Mr. Salawilla has been exceptional in distributing our funds and keeping track of the progress of the projects. About 1:30 pm we went to the Curry Corner restaurant at a nearby walled shopping center for lunch. I am saddened by the economic inequities. Our modest lunch for the three of us cost $27, not an unusual amount. However, this is the amount that Mr. Salawilla earns working in telecommunication at a modern western-type hotel in Blantyre that charges $100 a night for rooms. It just doesn’t make sense. Ultimately the world must work towards economic parity. After lunch Mr. Salawailla took the bus to the center of Blantyre to meet Henry Khembo and go to the airport to pick up Bill and Cheryl Jahns who were flying down from Lilongwe where they kept the Day of Atonement. Bev and I walked back to Chichiri Lodge. We are getting ready for Agnes Katsonga Phiri to take us to her home for dinner. She is the Deputy Commissioner of Excise and Customs for the nation of Malawi. She had been in charge of the all Inland Revenue for the southern half of Malawi. She is Rotary’s Assistant District Governor for the nations of Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Her husband is a member of Parliament, but was up in Lilongwe. We had a wonderful dinner. They live in a very fine home on the south side of Blantyre. Another guest was a chicken producer from Holland. Mark Phiri, her husband, is also a major chicken producer along with other businesses. The walls have photos of their daughter who graduated from Cambridge University in the United Kingdom. She now works for Goldman Sachs in London. On the way home Agnes took us to her imposing office, a clean government building just across the street from where we are staying. She is the Deputy Commissioner of Customs and Excise for the nation of Malawi. When we got back we met Bill and Cheryl Jahns. Their room at the Chichiri Lodge is really BAD. There is no other way to describe it. Our room is nothing to shout about, but it is so much nicer. Their ceiling fan is hazard….we called it a floppy fan that looks like it’s about to take off. We got a video of it. Bill and Cheryl couldn’t stay in that room and there was nowhere else, so we all stayed in our room in two small beds that were not quite a double, but larger than a single each. Each one had a mosquito net. The next day the Jahns were able to get a better room, but we determined that this is our LAST time at the Chichiri Lodge.

Blantyre, Malawi

Today is the Day of Atonement. Mr. Eliphazi Salawilla will be coming for us at noon for a 1:00 pm service at a hall within walking distance. The Chichiri Lodge where we stay is just barely adequate. It is secure, but not exactly five-star. But, $28 a night is not bad either. We enjoy taking in of the sights and sounds of Africa. Mr. Salawilla came about 12:15 pm with his son Bilton, the musician who carries the electric keyboard with him. LifeNets has helped Bilton expand a private music school that has provide a service for people in Blantyre as there is only one other private music school that is pricey. It also provides him with a living. He is a talented musician. He has been able to teach more than 20 students. The latest achievement has been to write new music with students and record it. Some of the new music has been played on the local radio station in Blantyre. Altogether we walked to the meeting hall which is right past the property of the Worldwide Church of God which included the church building and where the pastor lived and perhaps still does. The property is now a school called the “Young Ambassadors” and was quite busy with children entering the gates. The gate into the property has an imposing “Worldwide Church of God” sign. United Church of God members filed into the hall for services. Beverly and I knew almost everyone. It was a warm and wonderful reunion. We had more than 60 in attendance for the Day of Atonement. The Malawian nature is warm, quiet and meek. They area pleasure to talk to. This is the fifth Feast of Tabernacles we are keeping with them: two times in Zimbabwe and now the third time at Lake Malawi. I asked Dr. Sam Chilopora to translate into Chewa for me. While it slows the message and lengthens the service, it really helps the women who marginally understand English. While English is the public language in which business is conducted, Chewa is normally spoken by the people. School is taught in English and children don’t learn English until then. When we are not there, services are conducted exclusively in Chewa. After services we fellowshipped for about an hour and a half. I also called my Rotarian friend Agnes Katsonga Phiri. She is an active member of the Blantyre Rotary Club. Next Year she will be Rotary District Governor that includes the countries of Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Last year she and her husband were our guest in Indianapolis and stayed at our home. We went together to Rotary’s 100th anniversary convention in Chicago. Her occupation is being in charge of excise and customs for the entire country of Malawi. Before that she was in charge of Inland Revenue for the southern half of Malawi. She met us in the evening and invited us to her home for dinner the next day. Her husband Mark is a member of Parliament and was in Lilongwe, the nation’s capital. They wanted us to stay at their home while in Blantyre, but we have so many items of Church business to take care of that we just couldn’t do that…..our time would get taken up with other things. We always appreciate their hospitality. Agnes met us in the evening after our dinner and it was good to see each other again. She is quite the capable lady! We had dinner with New York Malawians Henry and Cindy Khembo. He married Cindy, an American, after she came to the Feast in Malawi in the early 90’s. On business he travels to Malawi three or four times a year. He is quite the colorful character. We had dinner at a restaurant called the Hotel Training School in the center of Blantyre. It’s a place where waiters get training to serve Malawian style. It was a fun evening and very satisfying after the Day of Atonement. Tomorrow Bill and Cheryl Jahns arrive at 5:00 pm. Mr. Eliphazi Salawilla will come to meet us 10:00 am. Maybe I can find an Internet café to send these messages.