Rhoda's Journal

This is the first year we could not go on furlough due to the financial situation of our mission board. We used to have 8 weeks of furlough each year, as of now every other year. With our recent move Cees and I are very busy preparing for our new assignments (Cees Masters director / professor and I 5th grade teacher). However, we took a one week break with our children and visited a few places. Rhoda wrote a journal which I share with her permission. It saved me a lot of work. Thanks Rhoda!

                                                                                                                           By: Rhoda Molenaar

The Seven Days of Fun

One Saturday morning, it was very bright and sunny outside . We, the Molenaar family, were going on a trip. We just moved to a house closer to the school. We left our German Shephard Lassie, in the previous compound for the week we were gone on a trip. Our new house doesn’t have a fence around it because we live in campus. My dad is the new director for ABC Masters program and my mom is the teachers for 5^th grade at the academy.

Well our car, which is a land rover, was packed! Literally, the roof was all loaded, and of course the back of the car was full. The seats of the car were full too. We are a family of six so it was three in front and three in the middle. There was my dad, mom, my older brother Joas who is fourteen, and two little brothers, Obed who is five (almost 6), and Moses who is 4. My name is Rhoda and I’m twelve! To keep ourselves busy we had some things at our feet, but Joas only needed his phone, earphones, and a book, so he didn’t have anything at his feet, that’s why we put Lassie at his feet just to drop her off. She loved the wind and put her face out of the window. Everyone laughed.

     After that we started driving to a missionpost called Ekwendene. It was about five hours to get there. We started at about eleven o’clock. After 4andhalf hours of non stop driving Obed and Moses were  losing their patience. Ekwendene has two Dutch Missionary families. Today, 5^th of July 2014 we’re probably going to be more sitting than standing, and going to be more inside than outside. Joas is just listening to music and reading his book the entire four hours. He’ll probably do it for the last hour toJ. Outside the window you see mountains, Eucalyptus trees, and grass. Creation is so beautiful. The sky is blue and has white and fluffy clouds. We’ll so far so good, and so far its being very exciting.

We now arrived safely in Ekwendene. The first Dutch family (Visser) invited us for a dinner with them. So we ate dinner and went to the CCAP guest house in which we will stay for two nights Joas and I slept in one room, and next to us where my mom and dad. There was a bathroom which connected to Obed and Moses’ room.

The next morning Joas and I had breakfast in bed which was wonderful, but  got the news we  had to get out!! That was because we had to go to church which started at eight o’clock in the morning.

      After the church service it was very terrific. The entire rest of the day was yummyJ. First we went to the other Dutch family (VandeBoogaart) for coffee and there was delicious cake. We all had about two pieces. After that we ate lunch with the other family (which was great as well). My mom brought chocolate cake so we ate a piece of that too. Well, I know that its very confusing but after that we went back to the second Dutch family we visited and ate dinner which included Chips & Chicken with some veggie’s. Now this is the last switch. We did praise and worship at the other families house. After that we went to the guest house and slept all night.

     The next morning we had breakfast and the first family showed us their children’s school and dad’s office. Then we stepped in the car and started on the next part of the journey.

Now we are on our way to a place at Livingstonia called Lukwe. That’s a location on the mountains. The trip was beautiful. There are lots of ridges and everlasting mountains. We drove through two actually. We saw monkeys, and lots and lots of Banana trees (that’s probably why the monkeys where there). The road that we where driving on was right past the river, there were 21 sharp hairpin bends to take. Well, we arrived at Lukwe. Joas and I slept in a cute grass hut, overlooking the mountains . We could hear the waterfalls from our hut. My parents, Obed and Moses slept together in a big tent. Their tent was under a grass roof. We had to do self-catering. We couldn’t sit still so we went on a hike. My mom washed the boys dirty clothes. Lukwe is eco...that means cooking on woodfires, pumping the water by hand and flushing the "toilet" with sand and ash...:)

     First we tried to walk to two waterfalls. The road was not really a road or trail. It became so bad (dangerous) that mom said we should turn back. Fortunately there was an other trail leading to those waterfalls.

     It was awesome because there was a cave where the slaves used to hide. That happened centuries ago though. The cave in which we were sitting in was right below the waterfall, which dropped about 100 meters. We then kept on walking (crawling through jungle) until we finally saw the first waterfall.

Then we went back home had dinner, and turned in. The next day after breakfast we went to a mountain called Combe platue. It took about one hour to climb to the top.

Then after lunch we went to the town Livingstonia (Missionpost). Then after that we visited an old church which was a hundred and twenty years old!!!

We climbed its tower all the way to the top. Then there was a museum which used to be Dr. Robert Laws’ house but then they changed it partly into a museum. Its called the Stone house. We went back to Lukwe, had a campfire, and went to sleep. Then the next day we went to Sangilo, a place in the cove at the lake shore.

There were rocks everywhere in the lake. We  enjoyed the food, beach and our time. Now we are on our way to Luwawa Forest Cottage. It was about four hours there. The road was so bumpy! When we were driving through the valley’s it seemed like we were in Germany; the pines, the rolling hills, the mountain lake.

     When we arrived, we first looked at the cottage. The place looked beautiful. There were lots of pretty flowers and many different kinds of birds. There were two dogs, and five rabbits. They looked so cute. Our cottage was called Avocado Cottage. It was huge; two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, living room with a fire place, and a dining room. That afternoon we took a hike that was about fifty minutes. We went over a bridge, crossing a huge swamp. Well we went back to our cottage. Obed and Moses loved the playground which was right in front of our cottage. We lit the fire because it was freezing cold. An other reason we didn’t feel like we were in Africa!

     After dinner I tried to take a shower but it was freezing. After that I watched a movie and went to bed. Next we looked at the program and saw lots of activities. One of them was archery, so Joas and I went to go do that. My dad and little brothers tried as well. Joas, my dad, and I went mountain biking, and we all got a perfect and splendid ride and view. In the afternoon we took another trail.

But when we got back I went to go bath and that time it was warm, and my mom went for a walk with the owners wife, and the rest went canoeing. That where so many activities for one day!! We ate at the fire, had hot chocolate, and turned in.

     The next morning was hilarious, because my brother and I had a very good and funny fight. First my brother fell of his bed, and I tried to stuff a very dirty, stinky, and sweaty sock in his face. At last I succeeded and did it. Then my father told us to pack our bags and put them in the car. After that my mom, Joas, and I went for a wonderful walk for about twenty five minutes. While we were doing that my dad packed the rest or the stuff. Obed and Moses played in the playground. Then we were finally ready to go. Then we were driving for home. And when I say home I mean Malawi, Lilongwe, Area forty seven, Sector one, ABC campus, the house with the canoe in front of the garden. How wonderful this week was! Then we arrived home!!!

The End