Saturday has come and gone. I can’t believe that we’ve been in Malawi for a week already. The week has flown by—which means that in a few days—we will be jumping on a plane and heading back to America. Our team is bonding very well and becoming attached to these children which will make it even more difficult to leave this beautiful country.

This morning our team hosted the Passion Center Olympic Games for all of the children in the Passion Center. There were around 150 beautiful children running around, smiling and laughing. They competed in various games including the disc toss, bowling (using water bottles as bowling pins), relay race, and the bear crawl and run.

Medals were given to the winners of each event. The children who received medals were excited about their prizes, but I think that the rest of the children were just as excited to get high fives, hugs, and smiles from our team. I wish that you could all experience the excitement and joy that these children have. It’s contagious!

After the olympic games, we went to an “up-scale” restaurant as a team. We treated the Passion Center staff to lunch which consisted of the usual chicken with rice or chips, and pizza. The service is not like going to a restaurant in Ohio. Half of the team was served about an hour and a half after putting in our order. It took at least another half hour before the whole team had their food. Eating in Malawi has taught us a lot about patience. While we waited, we were entertained by a couple small monkeys and a baboon playing in the trees as well as Pastor Mark trying to teach us how to whistle by holding our bottom lip and sucking in. It brought a lot of laughter to the group.

We ended our day with some shopping with street vendors on top of Zomba mountain, outside of a nice resort. After bargaining with the help of a trusted Malawian friend, we all walked around with hand-crafted gifts and souvenirs. We are just finishing about an hour of down time before having dinner which will most likely consist of rice, noodles, chicken, ground beef, potatoes, and maybe some cooked veggies. In Malawi, it’s not difficult to guess what will be on the dinner menu. Tonight, we do get a rare, very special treat…chocolate cake and ice cream. Some of us may skip the dinner part and go straight for dessert!

I wish you all could experience what we are experiencing here in Malawi. Words don’t do it justice. Please be praying for us as we finish our time with these children and the staff of the Passion Center. Pray that we will be able to encourage them and show them the love of Christ with our actions and words. Thank you for your support back home!

—Becky