Back in Malawi

I thought it would be hard to transition back to life in Malawi, but it feels more like slipping into a pair of running shoes after spending a few months in high heels. The plane landed and it was like a switch flipped – no more preparing or worrying, just diving back into life and friendships here. We did hit the ground running, from picking up new sim cards for our phones on the way back from the airport to getting our car’s Certificate of Fitness the first afternoon we were back. (Our Subaru Forrester failed its test before we left, so we were so thankful it passed). We are so thankful for all those of you praying for our first 48 hours back. Everything flowed supernaturally smoothly, and so many wonderful friends here took care of us as we sped from Lilongwe to Nkhoma and back again, and again. We’ve collected up most of our things, which fit perfectly in our new house. We have a big yard which the dogs are already starting to enjoy, and Greg was thrilled to see some monkeys in the trees this evening. It’s a bit surreal, but we’re actually here, we’re finally home. I am hoping to meet the team and start working in the next week. Nkhoma is hosting a large (250 nurses) life-support training conference, so that will keep everyone busy, I’m sure. I can’t wait to start seeing some of my old patients back in Lilongwe on Wednesdays, so please join me in prayer that details work out for that quickly. Greg is set to start teaching week after next, and planning to teach Systematic Theology and Church History at the Nazarene college again. This month, please pray for: - Safety and a peaceful end to the unrest following Malawi’s election - Wisdom as we settle in to our new house and new roles - Health as we transition back into our Malawi lifestyle Thank you for your prayers, support, and communication, - Greg and Christina

Delayed Flight

We knew something was wrong when we arrived to check in for our flight and it offered us an option to drive to another airport an hour away if we wanted to fly out and get to our destination on time. I hadn’t slept much the night before, and we were in the next county over greeting friends, saying goodbye, receiving things to take back to Africa, and assisting with a baptism service. Then we rushed over to the airport, only to find that the plane was delayed 3 hours and we would miss our connection. I wonder if we were the only people in the airport who saw that as a grace. We had been going and going on little rest – work, seeing people, traveling to San Diego and Monterrey and San Bernardino in a matter of days. Our bodies and minds craved a down-day before settling in a conference in the middle of the country. And so we rested. We enjoyed delicious airport food with the free vouchers, we slept in our nice, unexpected hotel room, used the gym, and checked out as late as we could. We used the seven hours after that to connect with almost two dozen people. The first day, we were able to find rest and peace and see the delay as grace. When we went to board our flight the following day and found that we had somehow been bumped from that, now that was difficult. We’d already missed the first day of a 5 day conference, we waited 26 hours for a new flight, and now that flight we were supposed to get on – we even had first-class boarding passes for as a concession – that flight was completely full and our seats had been given to others. We sat to the side as everyone else boarded the plane. Now that was hard, not knowing what went wrong or what we were going to do. I don’t know how they worked it out – I think they might have had to go back in and take a couple stand-by passengers out, the details were very unclear. But they found space for us – I was in the last seat and Greg was in the front of the plane. They gave me free snacks to make up for the trouble, and that was nice. We arrived at 3 am, in time for 4 hours of sleep before the second day of the conference. But I was much less exhausted than I would have been if we got there directly. Praise God for knowing what we need (and for our conference leaders being gracious when we came a day late)

Green Tea

I just learned about the gyrokuro variety of green tea. In Japan, they make this from a specialized variety of tea plant and grow it slowly in the shade, so it produces a sweet and delicate tea. It is steeped at lower temperatures, sometimes not much higher than body temperature, and it is valued as some of the most expensive tea in the world. It can be steeped again and again, bringing out different flavors with subsequent brewings. If tea could represent a life, I think this would be mine. Sheltered in a comfortable environment, brought up with everything I could even think to ask for in one of the wealthiest countries of the world. If Paul was a pharisee of pharisees, how much more so me? Baptized by the time I was in Kindergarten, equipped with scholarships and inheritance and the ability to travel the world, trained at one of the leading institutions with a medical degree worth hundreds of thousands. I don’t know why I would benefit so much in a world where so many suffer, but I do know “from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” Though much of the value of tea comes from before it is harvested, the quality of tea comes from its processing – drying, roasting, fermenting. And then the tea doesn’t fulfil its purpose until it is steeped to produce the aroma and flavor. I think it’s Biblical to see our lives a bit like this – through the trials we become who God created us to be, and through the leaching out of our selves we become an aroma pleasing to the Lord. I would surmise that David was a pu-erh tea, fermented to a refined savor through years of persecution under Saul, able to produce a fine cup over and over without the bitterness other leaves would produce. A man after God’s heart. I think my Malawian doctor friend is a ceremonial-grade matcha. Hand-picked in Malawi from unforgiving soil, crushed to a powder and whisked up frothy until there is nothing left of himself.

He’s the type of tea that forms the cornerstone of an incredible zen experience, a praiseworthy masterpiece in preparation, perceiving, and partaking. How different life is for him, working under difficult circumstances without pay or appreciation. And here I am, still in America, still being refreshed and nurtured. It’s hard being tea – our experiences so single-dimensional, our understandings incomplete. How great it will be in that day when we can all gather together at the banquet of the Lamb, poured-out offerings and pleasing aromas, those whose tears God has gathered up in His bottle and those from whom He has given and expected much. It’s been nice being gyokuro, but I know the purpose I was created for. The hot water is coming soon, and after that, the celebration.