Last days in Senga Bay

It’s August 17 at 6:45 in the morning in Chipata, Zambia. I couldn’t sleep very well last night in the tent, so at about 5 this morning I decided to move to the car and try to sleep there. It’s cold here though, and Kate has our only blanket in the tent. So no more sleep for me. Oh well…I put the iPod on and listened to some Caedmon’s Call and organized pictures on the laptop. Now I’m listening to Derek Webb (big leap, right?) and writing what you are reading. It’s nice that for a couple of days we don’t have any real responsibilities. We’ve been working 7 days a week since we got to Africa. Kate’s been working until 9 or 10 at night for the last few weeks keeping soccer organized and getting the slideshow ready for the awards ceremony. We’ve both been wearing a lot of hats the last few weeks. I have been a window installer, shelf builder, the guy trying to find the right equipment to build shelves (someone needs to open a home depot here), chauffer, generator repair man, musician, technology support guy, preacher, soccer judge, painter, cook, photographer, composting teacher, and recruiter of additional help. Kate has been a painter, artist, teacher, calmer of nerves, rice cooker (Kate can cook some rice, let me tell you), soccer league administrator, organizer of just about everything, playmate to the kids, photographer, shopping expert, first aid technician, navigator, substitute Samantha (a very tough job indeed), among other things. We’ve had a lot of help the last few weeks. Gretchen and Callie are Americans who were staying with margaret at the Baptist Clinic. They Spent their last few days in Malawi organizing books at the library, which was huge. Thank you ladies! We recruited Julie and Stephanie from Belgium last week to continue their work. They will be in Senga Bay for a few more days to finish up all of the books and start to put them on the shelves. Barry from Holland is backpacking his way from Cape Town to Nairobi. He wasn’t planning on coming to Malawi, but while he was in Mozambique he decided to come through Senga Bay. He asked if he could help with the library. He has since changed his plan of being at cool runnings for 2 days to being there for at least 2 weeks. He will continue building the shelves and helping Sam with other projects in our absense. Thank you Barry!
So now we have left the people of Senga Bay. After our 2 days off in Zambia (the only way to extend our visas), we will be back to work in Muzuzu. We’re not exactly sure what we will be doing there, but we know that God will provide work for us. We look forward to that work, and to getting to know Randy and Marty, with whom we will be staying. Keep us in your prayers, and we will keep you in ours.
Jarrod and Kate