2014 is BUSY!

Hi blog readers!

I am still alive and doing well, and I apologize for the long period of silence - January and February have been really hectic!  I have quite a few ideas swirling around in my head, and am working on getting them recorded to share, so please to expect to see some more action around here!   (I will be posting updates this week and backdating them to the appropriate weeks from the past month and a half.)

Even just this weekend was crazy busy - I had my final graduate school application due (applying to teachers college), a job application due (I really, really want to stay here in Malawi, in case my many posts professing my love for this place haven't clued you in yet!), and a paper for my program due.  Work with the Jesuit Refugee Service in Dzaleka Refugee Camp has been going well, and the special needs class is well-established with regular attendance from children who are learning so well!  I will have a post on work coming shortly!

The commissioning service.

My church, Integrity Family Church, had a really big day today - two church members were ordained as Pastors within the church, and seven other members were commissioned into various leadership roles.  We had a really big service at a local events venue that has a huge and beautiful garden, with about 250 people showing up - and when the church is regularly around 50, that is a huge increase!  I had my Mumsie bring my violin to Germany at Christmas, and have been added in to the worship band, so I was at church nice and early to practice and get warmed up for the service.  Let me just say that flexibility is huge when a member of an African worship team - we started the service off with songs that we had rehearsed, but a few extra songs got thrown in, and I just had to find my way through them!  It is definitely a stretching experience for my classically-trained brain to think through songs without sheet music, but I am so glad that I have the opportunity to play again and worship with fellow Christians through my violin.  Also unlike my worship team experiences at home, there is no real pattern to verse and chorus repetition, keys can be decided on as the guitarist begins, and if we feel like it, some people who were not originally in the band may get added mid-service!  Anyhow, the service went wonderfully, followed by a huge banquet meal as a community, where we got to spend time together.  I love my church! :)

Practicing pool-side over New Years. (Photo courtesy of Gino Moura)