Here's a photo of a place we spend a lot of time at in Blantyre, the second-largest city. It has a big store that sells toys and household items, as well as electronics and plastic storage boxes and all kinds of things! We are always excited to go to this store and we go up and down all of the aisles and look at everything three or four times. The kids are especially excited to see the toys, though the prices of these toys are really amazing. This year, Toby wanted to spend some of his Christmas money on four Hot Wheels cars. Price tag? $50. I am not kidding. I told him no way, that grandma would send him some that she can buy for $2 each. In the end, both kids got some things that they really liked and Kevin and I bought some things near and dear to our hearts: Me, a plastic salad dressing mixing bottle, and Kevin, plastic storage boxes for his tools!
We also took the kids to see Kung Fu Panda at the new movie theater there. We have seen the movie quite a few times already on our little DVD player with the 8 inch screen, but watching it on the big screen was amazing! It was Ben's first movie ever, and Toby and I hadn't been to the movies since we left the USA three years ago (Kevin went once in Kenya). Wow, movies are powerful.
In Blantyre, we also bought new tires for our car, which were desperately needed and hadn't been found in Nampula. When Kevin showed the tire salesman our old tires, he looked horrified and we were so glad to get new ones, thanks to a generous supporter! We also went to the dentist (clean bill of health)
and I got new glasses. It was also fun to visit a large African church that was more like the American churches we know (with sound system, large building, worship singing, a 3-point sermon). We are used to sitting in a small mud-brick building for church services, and listening to sermons that are usually not quite on the mark, so it was great to hear some real teaching.
After Blantyre, we spent four days near Zomba mountain and traveled up the mountain on two of those days to do some hiking and viewing off the mountain. Oh, it was so beautiful and green up there. We picnicked and walked in the woods and just soaked in the cool green.
From there, we went up to Lake Malawi for a week, where we spent Christmas Day with two other families, dear friends who are working in western Mozambique and came over to join us at the lake. It was great to spend time talking, laughing and sharing with them and the kids had a great time. There were 7 boys and one girl, and there was a great deal of swimming and running around the large yard. Christmas Day was totally different than in America, with only one very small gift opened in the privacy of our room, and stockings for the kids to open (other gifts had been opened before - don't worry, the kids got plenty!). We had a Christmas service with singing and the Christmas story, then spent the rest of the day swimming, caring for those who had come down with malaria, fixing the car, and grilling pork ribs and fish caught by the guys in our group. The next morning, we all packed up, said goodbye, and headed home. It was a great vacation and we were so thankful for the much-needed break. It is on trips like these that we remember who we are and can refocus and think about the coming year. There is always the stress of travel in Africa, like bad roads (almost all dirt roads on the twelve-hour trip home), border crossings and dealing with difficult police, stress of costs and things that need to be purchased, and the danger of criminals who prey on out-of-towners, but God really watched over us and kept us safe. It was a wonderful time of refreshment. -C
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