2012 is on a roll!!!!

How quickly these first few weeks of 2012 went!! As of last Saturday (Jan. 21), Kayla and I have been in Malawi for exactly four months and have just over one month to go before we’re heading back to the United States. It is with mixed emotions that I think of returning home. I feel like we’ve just gotten started with these students, and now I have to begin transferring their learning back to their main teacher – we’ve only got about two weeks left of actual teaching left because they have their mid-term tests and holiday break coming up.

I’ve already started to miss them – I find myself spending more time with them in the afternoons after school and sometimes at lunch time if it isn’t too hot or raining. I bring my camera out with me as well – wanting to capture as many memories, smiles and laughter as I can. I know as I get closer to going home, I will get more excited about seeing my family and friends again because I have missed them a lot, but I also know that I am leaving pieces of my heart in Malawi and will miss the children very much!

I think that some of the older children are also beginning to realize that we are leaving very soon. We have had a lot of the Standard 6 learners asking us about when we’re leaving and asking us questions about home & our families – they also ask us when we’re coming back and it is hard to not have a definite answer for them. On our last trip, Kayla and I were both certain that we would return to the school in a year, so it wasn’t as bad to say goodbye, knowing we would see many of them again. This time I don’t know when I will return (though I have a strong feeling that I will) and it is hard to tell the kids that I don’t know when I’ll see them again.

Prayers & Praises:

-       My cough is gone – thank you so much for your prayers!!! It has been wonderful to breath normally again. I still have a random cough once or twice every couple of days, but even those are dwindling

-       This afternoon (Friday), one of our students in Standard 1 slipped in front of the minibus and was partially run over – the Deputy took him to the hospital and as of right now, we don’t know much more than that; his face, hand and arm were injured and they said he lost a lot of blood – neither Kayla or I saw it, but the kids came down to tell us about it

-    Dorothy says thank you for the prayers!! She has been able to repair her house for now and she almost has enough funds to build a new house (which she has been planning to do for a long time anyway); She’ll have to wait until May (I think that’s what she said) when the rainy season is over to start building her new house, but her current house should hold up until then – at least that’s what we’re praying for!