Ba sobo!

Since a lot of our English friends come from Dutch heritage you will understand the warning ‘Pas op!’ To our great surprise, this phrase has even entered the Chichewa language which we are learning. ‘Ba sobo!’, also meaning ‘watch out or be careful’, Cees and I had a big laugh. With regards to language learning, we have covered a lot of theory and we are now learning how to make nouns from verbs.

Last week we had a funeral of the 84 year old neighbor next door. He was a Seventh-day Adventist and church members came to sing from 6 am to 1 am, 2 days in a row! Beautiful singing, many songs familiar to us since we used similar hymns in Zambia. I am sure the singing is very comforting to the mourning relatives. Interesting how people, who now live in town, still use the traditional customs when it comes to a funeral. All furniture is taken out of the house and the floor is covered by the traditional mats. Everyone sits on the floor, women with the legs stretched out. Also all women must wear a traditional wrap on top of their skirts to show respect. We went and did the same. Everyone brings something to contribute to the funeral. All the women have the duty to wail, all the young men from the neighborhood have the duty to dig the grave. A truck is hired to transport the coffin and all the people to the graveyard. This man reached a high age; in sense old people have escaped the recent epidemic. People between 40 and 60 are much fewer. Often it’s the (great) grand parents who take care of children.

Hard to imagine that we will be in North America within four weeks, Lord willing! June 19 is the last school day for Joash and Rhoda. Then they will have finished their first full school year in one place (Malawi). Previous years the home school year was always broken up with a few weeks of school in the Netherlands in December. We will pick the kids up from school, exchange the uniforms for travel clothes and go to the airport, traveling from Lilongwe to Kenya to Amsterdam. From there we continue to New York and arrive there June 22, all Lord willing!

We hope to spend three Sundays in our sending church, the HRC New Jersey to re-connect and fellowship and present the ministry in Malawi. From there we drive to Michigan, where we lived from 2002-2004. Cees will be speaking at the HRC youth camp and we will do presentations as well. From Michigan we drive to Canada, Ontario and visit Burgessville and Jordan. We are looking forward to meet all our church friends, and share with you the work of the Lord. We will come with all six of us…Ba sobo! The kids are very excited! I have to tell myself not to worry too much when I start to feel tired when I think about all the details (Few days airplane ride with a 2 and a 3 year old…).

After our presentation tour through NA we hope to spend 3 weeks with our relatives in the Netherlands on our way back to Africa. My shopping list is growing…home school stuff for the little boy’s, shoes and clothes that can last a year, gluten free flour, birthday gifts, etc, etc.

Did you know missionaries lose at least a couple teeth while at the field? I lost one just two days ago when we were eating rice…ping…I hadn’t seen the white rock in it. But what a relief, there is an Indian dentist in town. Amazing how she could help me with so little equipment!

Wishing you a Good Sunday!