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A WORD IS A WORD . . . or is it?     The importance of learning Greek paled today in comparison to knowing more Chichewa!!  Since all Malawians finishing high school are fluent in English (all secondary schools here are taught in it), all of our classes are taught in English.  Although we have picked up quite a few words here and there, it does not compare with really speaking and understanding Chichewa. Standing in front of the classroom, waiting for my Greek class to begin, I was suddenly confronted with students running and screaming, "Njoka!" "Njoka!" they cried as they ran from the room.  Not quite aware of what the problem was, I stood in place as an approximately 2 1/2 foot snake (later identified by the students as the deadly, Green Momba) slithered up and around my foot!  As soon as that cool snakeskin touched my foot, I was instantly aware of what the panic was all about and joined in with the screaming!  The male students, the women were all with me, chased it down and killed it. I told them that I would remember this day when they tried to feed me to the snake!

Stories from Africa...

Some things happen here in Africa that are not newsworthy, but could only happen here!  Sometimes we jokingly refer to things as "AWA" (Africa Wins Again).  We thought you might enjoy some of these kinds of things as well as those "important" stories you will find on the other pages and links.

Hitch-Hiking in Malawi! One time when we were traveling back from a remote village a few hours away from ABC following an invitation from one of our students to preach in his home prayerhouse, our car died.  Since it was getting late in the day and knowing the danger of being out in the bush at night, we began to hitch-hike in hopes of getting a ride back home. (Here in Malawi, you don't put your thumb out to catch a ride like in the USA, instead, you hold your arm out in front of you angles towards the road and wave your hand.)  Well, car after car passed and finally we were rescued by a Catholic priest.  He took us back to our vehicle, which by then was being swarmed by young men interested in our vehicle. We tied it to his little truck and towed it to the nearest town where he new a safe place to store it for the night.  He then took us to the next police check point on the road (every so often, the police, armed with automatic weapons, will stop all cars on the road).  At the check point we waited while the police asked each car that they stopped if they were going to Lilongwe.  They finally located a van full of Philipinos who were headed there and they agreeded to squeeze us into their already full van and take us to Lilongwe.  At the end of the day, we were most thankful for God sending His "angels" to us in the form of a Catholic priest and a van full of Philipinos!

Just thought you might enjoy seeing some of the "friendly little critters" that live around here. This is a Monitor Lizard, and although it may not show up well in the photo, he is about three foot long.  They get quite a bit bigger than that, so we figure he is a young one. This cute little guy lives behind our house and comes out frequently.  He will even climb up in the trees.  The other day, I looked out my back window to see him sunning himself on the steps (about 10 feet behind the back door).  Being camera shy, he scooted away before I could get a good shot.