“Team Zebra”: Malawi 2009

Hello supporters,

             Sorry it’s been so hard to update you all. It’s a little difficult to try and get internet cards to sign on. So much has been going on, I’m just going through my journal trying to figure out what to write. God has been revealing his heart soo soo much during this week that we have been here, and there is still one more week to come. We have been hanging out with high school students, pastors and of course little kids. I can’t even explain to you the range of joy and pain throughout the days here. Sometimes, seeing the orphans or even little kids who are fortunate enough to have parents easily inspires tears. We come here thinking we can do so much, bringing suitcases full of soccer balls and school supplies, but still it isn’t remotely enough to cover the immensity of injustice. But most of the time, we are just constantly showered with blessings. Annie said a couple of nights ago, that the singing and exuberance here reminded her of the words “freedom” and “joy.” Malawians are exactly that.

 The sounds of the choirs and the rhythms of the dancing in worship is like nothing I’ve ever experienced, in the US or anywhere else in the world.

We are having so much fun together, bonding with Malawians and with each other. Preston made an awesome friend named Hope who gave him his Bible as a gift. I’m definitely down-playing the event. God just keeps answering prayers and keeps delighting us.

Tomorrow we will be working on a building project and then working on an outreach project in the “bush”. We will be showing the Jesus film to people who have never even seen movies. Under-the stars, with a film projector and sheet. Most of the villagers don’t know Christ and are usually more-so exposed to witch-craft, etc. FTS is great in that they just bring the movie, which becomes a community event, and then follow through with a discussion, and stuff later on. No pressure, just relationships, letting the Holy Spirit move. Ok so please pray for what’s up ahead. We are probably changing our plans, trying to move with God, so we might be up in the northern part of the country (near all the coffee plantations!- OMGoodness the Coffee is soooo good here), working with this amazing lady named Mpatso and her Faith-based AIDS organization.  We will see! The Lord is good, all the time, all the time the Lord is good! They say that here in Malawi too! – Kiana

Hello Supporters! Right now its 9:58 am local Malawi time. We just got finished with devotions, and we are waiting to head out to Nkhoma for a youth camp. We spent our first two days in Malawi in Lilongwe, the capitol city. We only lost one team bag, but it was found the next day. Prayer works people. I think everyone’s general first impression of Malawi is the extend of warmth and friendliness of the people here. The first day, we were welcomed with a party, experiencing Malawian worship and dance. God is revealed so organically here, its so refreshing.

Yesterday, we met up with Louise from FTS (fishers- trainer- senders). She is such an amazing woman and so confident and trustful in God. She taught us about complete obedience and relying on God to provide.  She had so much insight on missions in Malawi, outreach to Muslims and even relying on God in growing corn… we will explain that late perhaps.

Yesterday we also went shopping in the local woodcarver’s market and just got acquainted to things. We’re about to start roughing- it more than we have been.

So you guys can pray for that… Nkhoma apparently is hotbed for mosquitoes, we just bought some mosquito nets.

You can also pray for Paul’s foot. It is still a little swollen and uncomfortable.

Check back soon! God bless!

Its raining in London right now. Its about 9:30am California time, and some time around 5pm London time. We have a little lay-over before our next 11 hour flight to Johannesburg,… almost half-way there. Edwin, alexi and preston are playing Settlers right now. I’m obviously updating the blog. God was so good on this flight, it was fairly comfortable. I started reading the Shack and am halfway through it. I think already, God is strongly challenging my biases. Hopefully, the box I put him in is going to tear apart by the time we return to the US….

Come say goodbye and pray for us today!

4pm Newsong Irvine Parking Lot

18842 Teller Ave

Irvine, CA 92612-1615

I can’t believe we are leaving today. We have been preparing for so long, its crazy that today is the day. I’ve been packing throughout the week. I managed to fit everything into my backpack with lots of space to spare. We also have 5 suitcases full of soccer equipment and snacks to check in. I’m going to post some pictures from our silence and solitude/ shopping saturday.

This life is a crazy one! I found out we will be CAMPING in Africa. The youth conference that we will be helping out with had to move to a different site because of the number of kids attending! God is good! However, this will be the first time the Kims will go camping. I’m just praying the bug/rain situation will be under control. The forecast says there is a 30% chance of rain. Its good for Malawi I guess.

Soooo I still don’t know where I am going to live when I come back. We get back August 3rd, and my lease here in Newport Beach is up August 15th. At least that gives us 12 days to find a new place (don’t know who us is). But God is good, and this is totally a time where all he wants me to do is trust him. I’m so excited to experience what he’s already has in motion for me in Malawi, and whatever else once we return to the US.

Keep praying for us please!

I guess the title says it all! 9 more days until we leave on this trip. For me, this isn’t about the two weeks we will be spending in Africa, but more about the entire process. Getting to know the team has been great so far! We’ve been having awesome team meetings at the Kim’s. Last week Annie made Paella and Watermelon Cucumber Gespacho! 9 more days, and I think most of our funds are raised. However, we still need some more. If you would like to contribute last minute here is the link:

#mce_temp_url#

You have to create a username if you don’t already have one, but don’t worry, Newsong doesn’t spam 🙂

So we finally got an agenda for our trip. Here are some highlights:

– Departing from LAX 9:15pm Monday July 20th. Come to the Sendoff in the Newsong Irvine Parking lot at 4:30 to say goodbye and pray for us!!!!

– Arrive in Lilongwe, Malawi Wed. July 22nd, spend some time with the Y-Malawi team

– World Vision Child Sponsorship Visits and Project Overviews

-Help out with the Nkhoma Synod Youth Camp (approximately 900 students from all over Malawi).

-Construction Project with Fisher Trainers and Senders (FTS).

– Working/ Ministry  at the Nkhoma Hospital

– etc. etc.

Please pray for our safe journey and any difficulties we will encounter and that we trust that Christ is already working things out before we even get there!  (oh and that we can raise the rest of the funds before we go).

Zikomo! (thank you in Chichewa)

Our team, as well as the other Newsong tREX teams went to the mountains this weekend. It was an awesome weekend full of fun and definitely full of the Holy Spirit. I think our team got even closer. We found out we have a set of twins on our team: Alexi and Edwin (or Princess Alex). Both love Mexican food, hate spiceyness, and love to sing Aretha Franklin (among other things). That was interesting. Alexi and I started composing a song… more to come on that later.We also created a little competition/ friendly feud with the Thailand Medical Missions team.

I realized so much during this retreat regarding the attitude we should have towards serving. An emphasis of the retreat was knowing Him and loving Him, and letting go of the bars (whatever they are) and allowing God to catch us and direct us.Worship was awesome…. yay NOC worship team! Retreat was overall very very awesome.

We’re all back in Irvine/Newport. Exactly 8 weeks left until we leave!