(Description of placement: Duke Divinity School is
partnering with Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, KS to send two students
(Kennetra and I) to Malawi UMC for the summer.
Church of the Resurrection regularly sends teams and resources to Malawi
UMC but we will be the first Duke students to visit. The field education placement involves
spending a week in Kansas for orientation before flying to Malawi for 9
weeks. More details to come!)
After driving 16 hours through eight states (North Carolina,
Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas),
Kennetra and I arrived in Leawood, KS on Tuesday evening. We are staying with a host family, the
Dickeys, who have a lovely home and an even lovelier family. They have embodied true hospitality through
Christian love… even though there has been some friendly banter concerning
which schools everyone roots for. (They
are Ohio State fans!)
On Wednesday, Cayce (the lead pastor of beyond Kansas City
missions AND our U.S. supervisor), took us to downtown Kansas City (KC) to
visit Church of the Resurrection’s downtown campus. It was a really awesome facility with the
worship space on the first floor and a coffee shop/kid’s area on the upper
floor. The building used to be a bar and
is located in the heart of downtown KC. After
our tour of COR’s facilities, we also checked out the Power and Light District
and walked around downtown. We ate lunch
at Jazz, a Louisiana Kitchen, where we enjoyed a sampler platter, shrimp po-boy
sandwiches, and beignets. (Yum!) We wrapped up our outing with Cayce by visiting the Plaza and picking up a few items at Walmart then we relaxed at home with the Dickeys.
 |
| Some scenes around KC. |
Kennetra and
I attended Kansas East’s Annual Conference yesterday (Thursday) which is
actually the last annual conference before Kansas East joins with Kansas West
and Nebraska to create the Greater Plains Annual Conference. We participated in opening worship, watched several
interesting video presentations, and listened to different people speak
including Bishop Scott Jones who will become the new conference’s bishop in
January. Then, last night, we had a
guest at dinner: Christopher, who is from Malawi and is working in the U.S. for
a year. Kennetra and I received our
first Chichewa (Malawi’s local language) lesson. Christopher spent two hours teaching us
different phrases and we even had a written quiz at the end! Here is some of what we learned:
Mulibwanji:
How are you?
Ndilibwino,
nanga inu?: I am fine, and you?
Ndilibwino,
zi komo: I am fine. Thank you.
Ndatopa: I
am tired.
Ndakondwa: I
am happy.
Ndimakukonda:
I love you.
Tikupita ku
Malawi!: We are going to Malawi!
Mulungu
Akudalitseni: God bless you.
Sadly, by
the end of our language lesson, most of what we had learned was all jumbled in
my head but I have lots of notes to study!
Just for clarification, English is also a major language in Malawi but
many people prefer to use Chichewa.
Hopefully I will learn more once I arrive!
Annual
Conference continues today (Friday), so that will occupy most of our time
today. However, this weekend will be
more relaxed because we will spend most of the time visiting with our host
family. (And hopefully trying some
Kansas City BBQ!) Two more days of
orientation on Monday and Tuesday then we are flying to Malawi on Wednesday!
Some last
thoughts:
It seems
like there is so much I want to do before we leave for Malawi, but I’m eager to
jump on the plane and go. There are some
things I’m nervous about (sporadic electricity, water that must be boiled,
etc), but I think the very things I’m nervous about will also be a refreshing
and new learning experience. From the conversations
with the people we have Skyped or called in Malawi, I know that the people
there are ready to receive us with open arms and that is all I can ask for at
this point. Malawi is known for genuine
hospitality and I look forward to learning more about the people and
culture. God will continue to guide me
in Malawi!
More to come
once I’m in Malawi!!!! Tionana (see you
later)!
