I'm sorry, but the first time I posted this for some reason only half the blog loaded! (We don't have an internet connection anymore, so I didn't realise)
I can honestly say this was one of the most frightening moments of my life! But firstly the tick. Both of these events came about while walking the dog. The tick someone else saw on my leg, I hadn't noticed. Man they are hard to get out. In the end I burned it with a match before pulling it out head and all - which was a relief as the head often gets left and goes septic.
Now, on the the Cobra! While walking Chippy in the Maize field, he jumped into some grass about 5ft ahead of me, up reared a black Cobra that was my chest height! Upon research I found this means it was at least 8 ft long! I was so grateful to find it more interested in the fight it had on it hands with the dog. This gave me the time to gather myself and run. Incredibly, even though I saw the snake lunge at the dog, Chippy came after me unscathed. What a close thing!
Well, on top of that excitement things have been going so well. One day particularly stands out for me. It was a day when I go to Kudoko village (Flood Church work side of life), and the Chief who has been attending the course was there. At the end I always give a chance for people to chat through stuff and pray and he hanged around. Chiefs are very high and mighty here, and even this could have been a bit embarrassing for him. Anyway, he asked us to pray with him as he's struggling with alcohol (a big issue here) and also with feeling really bitter towards people. It was quite a small event, but one that really sticks out as significant for me. Later that evening, Prince (a friend of Lusekero - a footballer I'm mentoring) was round our house for dinner. Prince plays for a rival team, he's not a Christian. Anyway, I was chatting outside with him and he just opened up about his Mums death, how devastated he was that his Dad hadn't looked after him or supported his dream of playing football, and how his career hadn't fulfilled it's potential. When he was 19 he was signed for a large amount of money, for the biggest club here. He is really famous in Malawi - but 2 years later he was let go as he hadn't lived up to the hype. He now plays for a mediocre team, but still has the fact that everyone knows him in Malawi. He also talked about the girls, the drugs and the drink! He's not a Christian, so it was weird when he started asking me about being one. I ended up praying with him, and really hope the future holds something for him.
It's not like these conversations were huge life changing events - but they were steps towards these guys doing something life changing. The chief is actually really significant for the whole village, and maybe his actions will end up causing changes across the whole of Kudoko.
Loads of other things have been going on. One big event is the sudden growth of our baby! About 3 weeks ago Jo started to seriously feel it kick. So much so that the baby gave her a good kick in the ribs! In terms of health Jo is doing really well still. We really appreciate your prayers for her and the baby.
2 weeks ago we moved out of town to house sit for some friends. It's weird being out of the city again. You realise again how lucky we are to live near shops, lights, other Westerners, etc etc. We are there until the 9th of March.
I could go on and on with the various things we are doing, it's really so exciting at the moment. The really sad thing is that we only have 4 weeks until we come back to the uk! Oh how time has flied! We are already organising things for while we are away. It only just feels like we got things started. But we can't wait to have our baby and see everyone again.
Lots of love x x x
Hooray! After a couple of days of trying I've managed to upload a picture of our house! We share with an American called Danny, and we live in a Duplex. Our Neighbor is Father Christopher and his large family, who run the Anglican college that we live on. Opposite is the student dorm, behind the house is the carpenter work shop and some fields of Maize. Behind the camera are the class rooms and chapel. You can also see the nice fence that I built with James, meaning Chippy can go out and we can sit out at night. We also have 16 watch dogs out at night! (Due to the fact we have no fence, and only one night watchman for the whole college)
