Sunday Best

The road to Namitambo clinic - so
blessed to be working in this beautiful place! 

My church back in Virginia is like a second family to me, and I absolutely love getting to be a part of the worship team there. And although I doubt there is any church in Malawi that's quite like Relevant, I really wanted to attend a local church while I was here.

This morning, I put on my Sunday best to visit St. Paul's Church, which is part of the Anglican Church of Malawi and is located just up the road from us. I debated whether or not to try to arrive for the service at the time advertised on the church wall. I've shown up to enough church services and events in Zambia on time to know that the advertised start time is usually more of a very rough estimate. But alas, I showed up on time, and much to my surprise, the preacher was already walking in. I quickly grabbed a song book and Eucharist, and took a seat in the beautiful cathedral. 

A few things that made it great:
1. It started at 7:30am and was packed! (and I still got to sleep in 2 hours later than I do during the week!)
2. It was an Anglican church, so it was a total England throwback (minus the fact that the Eucharist was half English/half Chichewa which added a slight element of confusion).
3. I got to be that visitor who stands up and says who I am and gets clapped for.
4. We sang songs we used to sing at International Baptist in Zambia!

5. The only other mzungu there sat next to me and kindly pointed me to all the right pages and prayers throughout the service - it was so nice of her! And it turns out she is a trustee for the organization I'm working for here. Small world.

Sweaty but still smiling after my first solo clinic
at Ndakwera!

On Friday I was in charge of a feeding clinic on my own for the first time! It was both exciting and challenging, but all the kids were seen! We even drove to a nearby village afterward to find one kid who hadn't shown up - and not only did we find her, but she graduated from the program! Yay!

Also, yesterday (June 1) was World Milk Day; who knew?! Lots of milk-drinking and singing around Blantyre in celebration, and we even saw a couple hundred people gathered wearing Milk Day chitenjes!

We're enjoying a restful afternoon in the sunshine and breeze (current temp: 82!), walking to get internet and buy bread, and hanging out at Kabula - before getting back to the clinics tomorrow!